I thought that was a typo, Shin. They were still making OG X Box games in 2008? The game looks surprisingly good as well, even better than some modern sports titles I play on PS4.

I'm still on my SEGA GameCube kick and playing through my copy of Skies of Arcadia I bought 15 years ago. You can tell Overworks were proud with their presentation because they slow the game right down to ensure you take in every single detail. Unfortunately for them, the graphics haven't aged well so what you're left with is this belabored JRPG that still borrows cues from Final Fantasy. It's so disappointing that a game built around being a sky pirate is essentially a game about collecting crystals to prevent the evil empire from destroying the world. It's a shame that the cliche narrative takes the forefront, because there's plenty of interesting mechanics on show. In every town you can scout the wanted board to check out bounties of other sky pirates and bring them to justice. There's also plenty of info about buried treasure around and if you follow their instructions you can get all sorts of goodies. You'll need it as well since you have to run your ship, which means buying new parts and recruiting new crew members to help you progress through the skies.

I wouldn't be surprised if the game picks up later on. Most JRPGs really don't get good until about a third of the way through and you can open up a lot of the side content and take on the more interesting and unique challenges the game has to offer. Right now it just feels like a solid JRPG with a shallow story, shallow characters and a slow story. It's taken me 15 years to realise the tutorial lasts a good 3 hours and you don't even get a sense of what's happening until later.

Jul 24, 2018 8:36:02 GMT Big Pete said:

I thought that was a typo, Shin. They were still making OG X Box games in 2008? The game looks surprisingly good as well, even better than some modern sports titles I play on PS4.

I'm still on my SEGA GameCube kick and playing through my copy of Skies of Arcadia I bought 15 years ago. You can tell Overworks were proud with their presentation because they slow the game right down to ensure you take in every single detail. Unfortunately for them, the graphics haven't aged well so what you're left with is this belabored JRPG that still borrows cues from Final Fantasy. It's so disappointing that a game built around being a sky pirate is essentially a game about collecting crystals to prevent the evil empire from destroying the world. It's a shame that the cliche narrative takes the forefront, because there's plenty of interesting mechanics on show. In every town you can scout the wanted board to check out bounties of other sky pirates and bring them to justice. There's also plenty of info about buried treasure around and if you follow their instructions you can get all sorts of goodies. You'll need it as well since you have to run your ship, which means buying new parts and recruiting new crew members to help you progress through the skies.

I wouldn't be surprised if the game picks up later on. Most JRPGs really don't get good until about a third of the way through and you can open up a lot of the side content and take on the more interesting and unique challenges the game has to offer. Right now it just feels like a solid JRPG with a shallow story, shallow characters and a slow story. It's taken me 15 years to realise the tutorial lasts a good 3 hours and you don't even get a sense of what's happening until later.

Yeah to me the series peaked with 04 and 05 on PS2 and XBOX. They overhauled that engine for the next gen consoles, Madden 06 through 09 for PS3 and 360 are huge downgrades and total shite. Meanwhile they where still pumping out ports for PS2, XBOX, and GC those years that were further refinements of that 04-05 engine and way better than their next gen counterparts. I was really surprised by how good the Gamecube port of 06 was, runs really smooth with a better frame rate and fewer bugs than the 360 port. Madden 09 was the final XBOX game ever released and it is really great, its like Madden 05 on steroids. Infinitely better than the PS3/360 ports.

I finished Skies of Arcadia.

My opinion didn't change the 20 or so hours it took from that post to this one. The game continued to follow all the usual tropes you'd see in a Final Fantasy or Tales of game and the game never got too strategic. One area that improved over time was the ability to manage random encounters. Fortunately this is one of those games where they give you an item to tone that stuff down and run away from battles, which sped the game up nicely.

Unfortunately there wasn't a lot that could be done to speed up the back-tracking or air-ship battles. In theory, the air-ship battles seem like a good idea since it gives you more control of who attacks when and how to co-ordinate attacks. Unfortunately, the game insists on playing every animation, so turns can last up to a few minutes pending on the output. There's nothing worse than selecting a bunch of options in 3 seconds, then having to watch 3 minutes of cut-scenes. When battles usually last 10+ minutes, it really drags the experience down and I found myself fretting the battles whenever they'd appear. Especially when it'd be an hour or so between saves and I really needed to get some sleep.

So ultimately it was a meat and potatos JRPG with sluggish combat and a cliche story. It's a solid alternative to Final Fantasy, but given the rarity and relative niche following I don't think it's an instant classic.

As much as I shit on the game, the one aspect I thought was really good was the colour palette. A lot of JRPGs from that era tended to be grey or relatively serious, so it was fun to have this adventure that didn't take itself so seriously, had plenty of personality and was vibrant game all-up.

Bottom line, Skies is a solid deep cut. I could think of far cheaper alternatives that offer grander experiences, but for those seeking a stock JRPG that isn't Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy and want it to be 3D, this is a solid edition.

So shit, that was my broadstrokes take on Skies of Arcadia, after catching up on some of those sleepless nights, I'll go further in-depth.

So during my last playthrough, I didn't bother starting with a fresh new save file. I had actually played through the opening 2 hours about 7 years ago and it's the one section I've played through 2-3 times by that point, so I just wanted to get straight into it. Basically, Vyse (the main character) was on his home island that had just been under attack by Valua's (the evil empire) troops and his father and the mysterious girl you encountered had been captured.

Never the less, Vyse and his plutonic tomboy best-friend Aika link-up with Drachma, this old tank of a dude who gives you a lift to Valua because they happen to carry this weapon he needs to hunt down this legendary whale. After going through the sewers, you happen to stop the execution of your father and Fina (the mysterious girl) and make a daring escape through their impenetrable wall ala Indiana Jones.

Fina then tells the group that Valua plans to collect all the moon crystals to summon the gods who can destroy entire civilizations in a blink of an eye and asks the group to help her retrieve the crystals from their dungeons. Thus the game really begins and it's your typical Final Fantasy collect all the crystals to save the day. On top of all that, the game really opens up and you get introduced to the core mechanics that set the game apart. Through out the story, each new town and dungeon will carry three collectables you'll need. Moonstones which unlock new special attacks, cham which is used to upgrade Fina's weaponry and some other delicacy you need for a side-quest. On your travels, you're introduced to a little girl who carries this weird bird thing. Every time you bring it something new to eat, the girl's father will give you a rare item. Moonstones are found in chests, cham is found when the controller starts rumbling and the fish things around found through a Marco/Paulo esque beeping device. Once you're in position, all you have to do is go to first person mode, locate the fish and shoot it.

Anyways, you get to the town near the fire dungeon and Drachma takes off to go chase after a whale. With no boat, you explore the town and end up hitching a ride with an exotic dancer. The dungeon itself is basically a tomb where you've got to reach the bottom where you take on this giant fire-breathing insect. The trick is for Vyse to hit his Sp. Attack, Fina to Cast Ice and for Aika to worry about buffs/healing when things get tough. It's not a tough fight and eventually the thing goes down. Outside, it turns out the exotic dancer was one of Valua's generals all along, and she summons the god of the dungeon. Drachma happens to be in the vicinity, and this leads to the first non-tutorial ship battle. First you take out the exotic dancer (Belleza) then you distract the god. From that point on, the game develops the pattern that every temple has at least two boss fights you have to do to proceed.

I forgot to mention, whenever you reach a new town, it's always important to check out the Pirate HQ. There you can report Discoveries & Bounties. Discoveries are easy enough, when you're in the ship, you'll come across perculiar landmarks. If the compass starts spinning eratically, you know to press A and you'll have found a new discovery. At first they basically give you pocket change, but later ones will fetch a nice price. Bounties are side-bosses and can either be hand to hand or ship battles. I didn't really do too many of them in my playthrough since I was in a rush, but it's cool to have that extra content available.

After that, it's time to head west to the grass dungeon. You come across this village that happens to be filled with all these savages who don't want anything to do with your party. After talking to the head of the village, you find out Valua has been imprisoning a lot of their inhabitants in a nearby mine, and you've got to put a stop to it. So you take care of that and they eventually let you in on how to find the temple. Unfortunately for me, it involves finding discoveries, and they're not all plain as day. I was stuck for an hour trying to find this one thing, fighting all these annoying random fights before I eventually made my way to the grass temple. I can't remember anything about it, other than once again it turned out to be a double cross and the villagers summoned the grass god to take care of Valua. More ship battles ensue before you finally walk away with your second crystal.

En route to the yellow crystal you run into Drachma's whale. Unfortunately the whale is also being chased by Valuan troops and in a dramatic moment, your ship gets blown from the sky and everybody gets separated and Drachma seemingly does down with the ship. Vyse wakes up on a deserted island and you've got to do all these odd errands to ensure he survives. Aika & Fina end up back in one of the villages where they bind their time and save up money for a new ship. This eventually leads to another dungeon where you've got split parties. Aika & Fina, Vyse and a Han Solo wannabe Gilder. It eventually leads to a double boss fight where you've got to quickly take out one of the monsters before it hits you with a deadly attack. I failed at that as it had one tiny slither of health left, but somehow survived and made it through. Anyways, the reason you came to the dungeon was for this gold that could afford you a new ship, but as it turns out it was merely a good hearted trick to get two old friends back together again, so you walk away with nothing.

This is where my memory gets foggy. I believe it goes something like you have to save up 100,000 gald to make the necessary improvements to your ship and home-base and then you're captured by Valua. The first part is the first real spot where the game forces you to grind if you haven't already. Fortunately I had about 75K already and the game is pretty generous when it comes to gald. At that point in the game, there's a nest you can grind where each battle drops about 2K and there's discoveries that can drop about 10K. It's a lull but not the worst one. It's also around this time you can return to the little girl and exchange all those fish/worm things for rare items. One cuts down encounter rates and allows you to escape more easily, virtually eliminating random encounters altogether. On top of that, since you now have a base, you can start recruiting crewmen. These will either improve stats during ship-battles or grant access to better items/weapons through out the game. A lot of these crew members are tied in with side missions, so there's more incentive to explore the game. Since I was in a rush, I didn't really go out of my way at any point, but that was certainly a positive.

Anyways, you end up back at Valua and after being rescued by Gilder's stalker, you save the girls, including Aika who was just about to be raped before you saved the day. You escape Valua, retrieve the moon crystals and the prince who's had enough of Valua's greed joins your party and grants you access to the best ship in the game. You destroy the wall and make your way to this sleepy boozy town down south. Eventually the Valua army catches up to you, leading to a lengthy 3-part ship battle, but the ships go down with relative ease. After seeing your victory, the town perks up and they tell you about a nearby wormhole that can lead you to another crystal. The wormhole acts like a dungeon, except you're controlling the ship and it's more or less a maze. Once you reach the end, you have to fight a giant monster inside the ship.

Once through, you're on a new-side of the map which is based on Japan. There's another ship battle which is a pain in the ass because the ships have high evasion, so you can't do anything other than slowly chip away at their health. It's not a difficult fight and eventually you end up in this Japanese inspired town. After some backstory, you eventually talk to this one guy who will take you to the Water Temple. You go through that, take care of the puzzles and eventually come up to this tortoise like boss that blocks all of your attacks. I'm not sure what the real method is, but the GameFAQs had this cheese method I ended up going with. One of your attacks inflicts petrification for a few turns, giving you enough time to wail on the creature without it defending or healing itself.

Returning to the Japan village, a hostile takeover is taking place with a few power-hungry guys teaming up with Valua to take over the town. You make a run from it, end up visiting the exiled prince of that kingdom and enlist their help to take care of the betrayers and Valua. A bunch of fights ensue and they all go down relatively easily. After restoring peace to Japan, they give you the 411 on how to improve your ship so you can access the last couple of dungeons.

Now this is where my memory gets foggy. I don't think you actually go through a Yellow Temple, rather you locate where it was and find the giant whale from earlier. Miraculously Drachma is still alive and is watching out for the whale since it saved his life. While the story was mostly cookie cutter, this is one of the few that felt like it belonged in a Sky Pirate adventure and wouldn't work as well elsewhere. After watching the whale go through it's final moments, it drops the moon crystal and Drachma is able to let go of all the anguish the whale caused him. It was the whale that destroyed his first ship and along with it, his crew and his son. Drachma releases his son's feather collection across the ship in a nice moment and you agree that it's best he goes on his own adventure and starts a new.

Then there's the Ice Dungeon which I can't really remember at all. You collect that crystal and return to the island to map out what you've got to do next. It's decided Fina needs her original ship to reach her home planet, so you go sort out that seeking through a vortex via sonar radar ala minesweeper to find her ship. While you're down there, you're attacked by a Valua General and the ship battle is difficult because you're given no indication when it's right to land all your hits, so you just have to guess. After taking care of that, you stumble upon Garcian's secret base and realise he's just using Valua for his own selfish means. The Prince leaves the party to warn Valua of what's going on and when you return you run into Fina's brother who is destroying your base. He makes you surrender the crystals and reveals that the silver crystal was inside him & Fina all along and now with all the moon crystals they can destroy humanity and save the world. Fina rejects the proposal, sticking with you even though everything looks lost.

You decide to go visit Fina's planet to see what the deal is. As it turns out, it's a giant space-craft filled with a bunch of futuristic old geezers who turn out to be misanthropic. However, Fina tells them how out of touch they are with society and convinces them to stop Garcian. Stuff happens, you return to the Garcian's base where all his old generals end up abandoning Garcian and doing things to aid your group. This pisses off Garcian and he destroys Valua, but before he can do more damage, you take him on. Thank god I had a guide for this, because there's no way I would have been ready for his trick where he constantly spams death. Fortunately Aika has an attack that blocks negative status' so it makes the rest of the fight relatively breezy. You fight him and a bunch of ship battles, before a cut-scene plays where Belleza sacrifices herself to kill Garcian.

Ramirez then goes through a giant transformation where he becomes every JRPG Final Boss ever and opens up the final dungeon. It's at this point, the Prince, Gilder & Drachma return and you can select one of them to accompany you. Drachma was the best pick since he has an attack that will allow you to hit more Special Moves inside one turn and is a tank. So you make your way to the bottom of the dungeon, it's basically a linear path minus one room with teleporters and then you have the final three fights. The first is hand to hand where the goal is to buff Vyse, protect against status' and hit Vyse's Super Attack 8 times before it's over. The second is a ship battle where you've got to cast silence on the ship and slowly chip away at it's health. This took me about 40 minutes, so that battle wasn't great. Finally the home stretch is another hand to hand, where Ramirez has this annoying attack where he'll control one of your characters at random and use one of their special attacks on the rest of the party. If it's Fina or Aika, you're safe. But if Vyse uses his group attack, it can really set you back. Otherwise it's the same strategy as before, except you can also use all your items to make short work.

When it's all over, you get credits which tells you what became of all your crew members which range from funny to kind of sad. Drachma basically gives up on life straight after, while Vyse, Fina & Aika live on as legends.

Phew, I'll have to jog my memory, but after such a build-up of 14 years, I felt I owed it to myself to write a more in-depth run-through of the game.

Dec 9, 2017 15:54:26 GMT Big Pete said:

Just bought myself a copy of Space Station Silicon Valley.



Got a decent deal on it and was in the mood to expand my N64 collection. The game was developed by DMA, and is one of the better 3D platformers to ever come out. In the game you control a robot named EVO who has crash landed on the mysterious Space Station and must repair his ship while conducting an investigation on the animals. The kicker is that when you start off, you're reduced to a micro-chip. Fortunately EVO is resourceful and can possess the carcass' of the robot animals. So in each stage you go along and work your way through the stage using each robot form you can find, collecting ship parts and completing other objectives.

I used to rent the game a lot when I was younger but had a hard time getting through it. I'm curious to see whether it was because I was a dumb 8-year old or whether the game really is that tough. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to experiencing one of Rockstar's earlier efforts. Right now they're one of the powerhouses in game development, so to see them produce a child friendly game should be an enjoyable break.

It's been awhile since I last bought an N64 game. The last game I bought was Pokemon Stadium 2 during the Christmas of 2015 in what I considered my Xmas miracle game. I believe I got it for half-price after learning my original copy had a faulty battery. I wouldn't mind getting more active with the collecting, and playing through all the 7s that will likely never see the light of day on the Virtual Console. Games like Beetle Adventure Racing, Hybrid Heaven, Body Harvest, Buck Bumble, Chameleon Twist, Rocket: Robot on Wheels etc.

If you could collect for one console, what would it be and what's the one game you'd like to add to your collection?

I beat this earlier in the week.

Pretty enjoyable early 3D platformer. Like a lot of it's contemporaries, certain parts have aged like milk, but there's enough variety to keep the experience fresh. There's still nothing quite like it either. The closest game I can compare it to is Blast Corps where you're constantly using different vehicles to reach an end goal, but even that's missing the cynical sense of humour. I haven't played a game where you're constantly forced into a position to trade up and have to lure unsuspecting victims to their death to possess their bodies.

I enjoyed how open a lot of the missions were. There's 31 stages in total and most of them can be beaten with completely different approaches. Usually there's a 'kill them all' approach, but there's also more creative options where you can use the environment to kill them, or have them turn against one another which is also satisfying. I also enjoyed how the game mixes things up. One level can be heavy action, the other can be platforming and another can just be problem solving. It never feels like you're playing the same stage over and over again which is sweet. Plus the bonus levels are enjoyable. They feel like clones of other games - one is Star Fox 64, the other is Mario Kart 64, then you've got an on-rails FPS shooter, a boxing then the finale is a godzilla style beat em up.

Overall, I rate it as a good deep cut for the generation. It isn't as polished as say Mario 64, Ocarina of Time or Banjo Kazooie but it's ambitious and really deserves more attention then it receives.

From what I understand, they released a PS1 port a year later. Outside of the music, everything else received a downgrade which is most likely why they gave it a different title.

I've been in the mood for more third-party N64 games. With Shenmue only a few days away, I'll hold off for now but I'm far from done with my N64.

Since my soft modded XBOX is dead I had to drag out a few systems for my niece who has been bugging me to play some games. I hooked up the top loader NES so she could play Little Mermaid and some Mario & Da-Weejee. After she went home I spent some time playing Tecmo Super Bowl, started a season with the Saints. I picked the Saints because of that epic linebacker corp they had plus they had Ironhead Heyward and they are in the same division as one of the best teams in the game in San Fran so 2 games against them would be a good challenge.

I started 3-0, absolutely trucking dudes with Ironhead who may be a bit underrated in Tecmo Super Bowl lore, you always hear about how great Bo Jackson and Christian Okoye is in this game but I was fucking wrecking dudes with Ironhead, I got almost 400 yards just in the first 3 games.

Then I just got merked by the Vikings 35-7, they held me to 10 yards rushing, I threw 4 interceptions and Herschel Walker burned me for 188 yards rushing.

Man this game never ceases to amaze me, for so many limitations with the NES hardware for graphics that look like absolute shite they sure did a pretty epic job of capturing the game as far as the gameplay, a lot of the teams play exactly like what their real counterparts did back then.

Nintendo included Tecmo Super Bowl as apart of their new online service. I suck at the game, but it could easily pass as a modern indie game with a few minor adjustments. Only played the one game as Minnesota, beating Chicago 35-26, in a game where the Vikings threw too many interceptions. It was the same play down the western touchline, I couldn't figure out how to change my targets until the 4th quarter, at which point I was finding easy targets through the middle and down the other touchline. Fortunately the Vikings defence, run game and kick returning was impressive.

Been playing Final Fantasy VIII, loved the game did almost every side quest and thing you could do..then never finished it after getting up to Final part.

Hopefully finish it, a bit tedious to redo from the start.

Sept 19, 2018 4:12:29 GMT Big Pete said:

Nintendo included Tecmo Super Bowl as apart of their new online service. I suck at the game, but it could easily pass as a modern indie game with a few minor adjustments. Only played the one game as Minnesota, beating Chicago 35-26, in a game where the Vikings threw too many interceptions. It was the same play down the western touchline, I couldn't figure out how to change my targets until the 4th quarter, at which point I was finding easy targets through the middle and down the other touchline. Fortunately the Vikings defence, run game and kick returning was impressive.

Actually it's just plain Tecmo Bowl. It's still an impressive game for '89, I'll have to get my hands on the real thing later on.

Had myself an NES marathon. Donkey Kong 64 and The King of Kong have made me into the Billy Mitchell of the original Donkey Kong and years later, I still suck at Nintendo Tennis.

Sept 19, 2018 16:00:26 GMT Big Pete said:

Sept 19, 2018 4:12:29 GMT Big Pete said:

Nintendo included Tecmo Super Bowl as apart of their new online service. I suck at the game, but it could easily pass as a modern indie game with a few minor adjustments. Only played the one game as Minnesota, beating Chicago 35-26, in a game where the Vikings threw too many interceptions. It was the same play down the western touchline, I couldn't figure out how to change my targets until the 4th quarter, at which point I was finding easy targets through the middle and down the other touchline. Fortunately the Vikings defence, run game and kick returning was impressive.

Actually it's just plain Tecmo Bowl. It's still an impressive game for '89, I'll have to get my hands on the real thing later on.

Had myself an NES marathon. Donkey Kong 64 and The King of Kong have made me into the Billy Mitchell of the original Donkey Kong and years later, I still suck at Nintendo Tennis.

OG Tecmo Bowl is pretty great, one of those rare cases of a console port being way better than the arcade source material. The Game Boy version is really good, its got to be one of the best cases of an NES game ported to the Game Boy, other than the color i cant think of any differences. i was bummed when it didnt make @ness countdown i need to find another copy i lost mine, one of my favorite game boy games, honestly i cant even think of a better football game for any of the old school portable systems. Maybe Joe Montana for Game Gear but really its just a tecmo bowl clone.

Watching the 1997 Seahawks vs Raiders game on Youtube got my interest piqued on the 97 Warren Moon Seahawks team. I tried to start a season on my Genesis cartridge of Madden 98 and the fucking battery is dead so you can't save anything. It is crazy that every single Sega Genesis Madden cartridge I have from the original Madden up to Madden 98, all the batteries are dead but my 1991 Tecmo Super Bowl NES cart still works like new, I still had my data on there from my last season I played with the Oilers where I went 11-5, threw for 46 touchdowns and 6 interceptions with Moon, lost to the fucking Bills in the AFC Championship Game.

Finally finished my season of Tecmo Super Bowl with the Saints, im sorry @theshow i tried hard bro but could not get them into the playoffs, i finished 8-8. You know its a good 8 bit game when it makes you want to smash a controller, the feeling i got in the second to last game of the season against the Raiders, the legendary Bo Jackson.

I was 7-7 fighting for that last playoff spot, i fought my ass off to shut Bo down and had a 10-3 lead with like 1:30 left in the game when i gave up back to back qb runs by Jay Schroeater where he just outrun my whole defense. They tied it and then i fumbled the kickoff in overtime setting them up with the winning FG.

Beat the Cardinals in the last game but lost tiebreaker to 8-8 Bears for last wild card spot. Vikings ended up beating Broncos in Super Bowl.

They got all the rosters spot on but definitely underrated the Saints linebackers, they dominated in 91. In the game my D wasnt very good, not as good as the Redskins and Oilers seasons I played. The QB sucks bad and Ironhead seems to fumble a lot, not as much as Lorenzo White of the Oilers but still pretty frequently.

Fun season though, this game is definitely one of the best ever made. This was my third season and i seen a couple cut scenes that i never noticed before.

Finished up A Link to the Past.

I forgot how important some of the sidequest items are. Dungeons are a real battle of attrition and I found myself having to backtrack on a few so I could replenish my stock before some of the boss fights. It wasn't until I got the Magic Powder before the last dungeon I realised how handy it is and how it balances out the cheap difficulty the game throws at you.

Finally, A LttP may have my least favourite OST of any Zelda game and this song is an abomination.



Also played through a campaign of Street Fighter II Turbo. I was always more of a Killer Instinct & Mortal Kombat fan, so this was my first time going through and it took 30 rounds to beat. I just played as Ryu and predominately kept my distance and if the enemies tried to bridge the gap I'd give them a jumping leg kick. What I enjoyed about the game is that I constantly had to change my strategy. Against Vega for instance, I had to play a lot more aggressive and bridge the gap between him otherwise he'd just jump everywhere. Similarly with Bison, I'd have to rope-a-dope him, block his initial attack, hit him with one of mine and then just keep baiting him into my projectiles.

Made a trip to town yesterday and stopped by the retro game shop to pick up some goodies, mostly looking for stuff for my little niece since my soft modded Xbox bit the dust. I found 102 Dalmations: Puppies to the Rescue for the Dreamcast. This was everything I needed it to be, PERFECT for a 3 year old girl, nice simple controls and fun easy gameplay, the graphics and voice work is really solid. She had a blast with it and it turned into a major event so I'm very pleased with my purchase.

Also picked up a USB Super NES controller and was hoping to download some roms but it looks like Nintendo has aggressively attacked all of the rom websites and put a stop to emulating their stuff: www.theoldcomputer.com/roms/index.php?folder=Nintendo

This sucks in a lot of different ways, for starters I was planning on downloading some more games to install on her SNES Classic Mini I got her for her birthday. This is pretty gay move by Nintendo I got to say, I mean what about all the games they don't sell on any of their minis or e-stores? I wonder if they have the power to put a stop to all the retro pi's and soft modded XBOXes that are being sold online?

Wow, check this out: www.analogue.co/mega-sg/

"We set out to design the definitive way to explore Sega's 16-bit and 8-bit era. A reimagining of the underdog that led a 16-bit revolution. Engineered with an FPGA. No emulation. 1080p. Zero lag. Total accuracy. Mega Sg is not a plug n' play toy. Compatible with the 2,180+ Sega Genesis, Mega Drive and Master System game cartridge library. Explore and re-live one of the greatest video game systems of all time with no compromises.

Just like Super Nt, Mega Sg uses the most advanced retro-gaming video upscaling on the planet. No other game system is like one from Analogue. Every pixel is razor sharp with accurate, stunning colors. Not to mention true lagless video output.

Mega Sg plugs directly into your original Sega CD & Mega CD with it's edge connector, hidden behind an expansion door. Just like the original. But now in stunning, lag free 1080p.

You can finally play Sega wirelessly and lag-free with 8BitDo's high quality retro M30 controller. We partnered up with 8BitDo to offer matching controllers for Mega Sg, including a wireless 2.4g receiver at discounted price.

With the YM2612 at it's helm, Sega's 16-bit era is home to some of the most iconic music in video game history. Music this significant should be experienced in high fidelity. Mega Sg outputs the highest quality digital audio: 48KHz 16 bit stereo. It's like hearing Sega for the first time.

Mega Sg uses an original-style cartridge slot and controller ports. Included in every box is a special made Sega Master System adapter. Mega Sg even has an edge connector for the Sega CD and Mega CD. This means it is compatible with the original Sega Genesis, Mega Drive and Master System game cartridges plus the original hardware and accessories. All the way from the Game Genie to the Sega CD.

Mega Sg has the same unparalleled compatibility as Super Nt. The core functionality of each system is engineered directly into an Altera Cyclone V, a sophisticated FPGA. We spent thousands of hours engineering each system via FPGA for absolute accuracy. Unlike the knock off and emulation systems that riddle the market today, you’ll be experiencing Sega's 16-bit and 8-bit era free of compromises. Mega Sg is designed to preserve video game history, with the respect it deserves."

This looks really great, 1080p, SD card compatible, wireless controllers, just looks like an extremely well made piece of hardware all the way around, may have to pick this up.

I could understand Nintendo's position if they actually did a good job of curating their own retro titles, but they're awful at it. We're 18 months into the Switch's life-cycle and we barely have 20+ NES. One of the big draws for the Switch was the idea I could potentially have a portable N64/GameCube and it's a feature that doesn't look like it's going to take shape for another 12 months.

The problem with retro gaming is how expensive it is. There are games I'd love to pay, but I'm not going to pay some yokel $200 to play a 20 year old game on an out-dated piece of technology that's a pain in the ass to set-up. Especially when I can just pay $9 for the Rare Replay, get all of those games plus more on technology that runs it better than the original. I just don't understand why Nintendo couldn't take a more reasonable approach like banning all of their first and second party games but letting everything else be. Sony took that approach and it was reasonable because they were selling a lot of those games and usually ran sales where they had them at reasonable prices.

The ROMs are still out there. They'll never disappear completely, I just hate this mind-set and how Nintendo doesn't care enough about those older games.

The SEGA console looks fantastic. You're definitely paying for what you're getting though and you can understand why SEGA half-ass like they do to keep costs down. Still, if SEGA was your childhood, that would be the console to get. I'm actually in the market for a flash cart myself and I'm weighing up getting an N64 Everdrive. The problem with that is obviously price - it's hard to justify $200 and apparently you still have to use a Controller Pak for games that require it. I was hoping you could use save states on the cart and avoid having to rely on that flimsy tech but here we are. I already own about 25 N64 games, so I'd only really want it for all the games that aren't available on Virtual Console like Virtual Pro Wrestling 1-2, Castlevania, Rocket Robot On Wheels, Mario Party 1 & 3, Snowboard Kids 2, Super Smash Bros etc.

I'm also holding off because an N64 Classic is set to be announced and if they get the collection of games right and the emulation is good enough I'll feel better about supporting Nintendo.

Man CRT TV’s are actually hard to find now. Looking on Gumtree and Marketplace and it’s either people selling them for more than a current tv Or pickup only from the democratic republic of Congo.

Hopefully find one and get my retro gaming room set up soon.

Nov 12, 2018 3:55:05 GMT System said:

Man CRT TV’s are actually hard to find now. Looking on Gumtree and Marketplace and it’s either people selling them for more than a current tv Or pickup only from the democratic republic of Congo.

Hopefully find one and get my retro gaming room set up soon.

Yeah they are going to become more and more rare over the next few years. I'm hanging on to the 2 I have just for retro gaming, even though I have nowhere to put them, one is turned up on it's side in a small closet and the other is crammed onto a shelf in my little mini-gym room, I refuse to get rid of them. Sooner or later I'm going to build a sweet custom arcade cabinet with one of them, keep the other one for a backup for whenever I want to play Corpse Killer or Snatcher. :lol:

Got one, retro gaming room all set up!


TV was free so great find, but goddamn the photos are deceiving.
It weights an absolute ton, it barely fit in the car and I feel like I almost pulled my back out trying to move it. It’s definitely not moving from that spot 😂.

Nice digs, my inner child is jealous of that Megazord.

Are all those amiibos yours?

NICE! love the rock'em sock'em robots that is a nice touch. Now all you need is some Sega in there to make it legit.

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of converting my gym room into a game room. I never work out in there anymore, I moved my treadmill out to the back porch last year. I need to do something with the weights and finally build that arcade cabinet I've been wanting for a while.

Nov 14, 2018 15:45:32 GMT Big Pete said:

Nice digs, my inner child is jealous of that Megazord.

Are all those amiibos yours?

When I was 4, my parents told me they would buy it for me if I slept in my own bed for a month, I succeeded 😂.

Yep, I’m only a few off from having all the Smash Bros line.

That makes sense, I didn't think JRPGs were your forte.

Unfortunately Nintendo is going to keep stringing you along. Soon you'll have to go pick up King K. Rool, Ridley, Simon Belmont, Solid Snake etc. and you'll have to get the five DLC characters.

@nobi that Xbox is one of the modded ones with 500+ old games on it. I want to finish Shadow Dancer as my dad has that on his Sega and I never get time to finish it when I visit.

Nov 15, 2018 1:29:21 GMT Big Pete said:

That makes sense, I didn't think JRPGs were your forte.

Unfortunately Nintendo is going to keep stringing you along. Soon you'll have to go pick up King K. Rool, Ridley, Simon Belmont, Solid Snake etc. and you'll have to get the five DLC characters.

I actually really enjoy JRPGS 😂.
I used to be obsessed with Final Fantasy, I have a tattoo of Sephiroth. (Not finished yet)

I'm not even a fan of FF7 and I still think that looks cool as hell.

I remember you were a fan of Final Fantasy 8 but thought it may have been a generational thing. I know tons of people who enjoyed those PS1 era FF and left it there.

Nov 15, 2018 1:50:47 GMT System said:

@nobi that Xbox is one of the modded ones with 500+ old games on it. I want to finish Shadow Dancer as my dad has that on his Sega and I never get time to finish it when I visit.

Damn I'm jealous now. My modded XBOX bit the dust. Shadow Dancer is wicked, both the Gen/MD version and the original arcade version, great to play with an arcade stick, I have the X-Arcade dual tank stick and it's held up really well.

My 256K N64 Memory Card just arrived, now I'm just waiting for my Everdrive which should either be here on Thursday or Friday. I figured the N64 Classic is still a good year away and as the years go by, I'm going to have less and less time to enjoy these classic games, so I may as well make do while I've got the time. Plus, it will save my N64 in the long run and save me from having to replace the battery in every N64 cart.

Keen for some Mario Kart 64, Pilotwings, Lylat Wars, Conkers Bad Fur Day and Snowboard Kids 2.

The Everdrive is here and I had to make sure it was done right. Every game on the N64 library is numbered according to the US release date, with the few UK only games thrown into the mix. It's amazing how much of a difference going from PAL to NTSC does for the system. Going back to the N64 at times felt like I was playing in low gravity, everything felt super sluggish and I remember just how boring my childhood was at certain times. Stepping it up to NTSC, the games feel so much smoother and again I question just how different my life would have been if my Old Man had have just taken the job opportunity in New York. I mean I'd probably have Stage 2 Diabetes, and be on a 600 Pound life, but my video game collection would look bonkers.

Naturally when you're testing out an N64, you've got to start off with Super Mario 64. The game to me is like the moon landing, sure there were other ships launched into space, but until Neil Armstrong said his 'it's one small step for man' that's when it became the real deal. To this day, I feel like no other 3D platformer has truly surpassed what Super Mario 64 brought. Then I had to test a few things out - how's Virtual Wrestling 1 & 2? Virtual Wrestling 2 seriously takes me back to 2004 when the Chris Benoit DVD came out and that's all I'd ever watch. Learning that Japan had their own version of Wrestlemania 2000 and it was actually heaps better was one of those things that entirely changed history. It felt like I'd been in this cult, led to believe I don't know, Randy Jackson invented currency, only to realise he was just some pudgy judge on American Idol. Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 now works on my OG N64 and it was at that moment the world truly lived as one. I definitely had a John Lennon moment, and if I had a lighter, I totally would have swayed back and forth like it was the Beatles reunion tour we never got. Meanwhile Virtual Fighter 1 worked, I kicked Sting's ass with Ric Flair and that was all I needed to know really. Virtual Wrestling 1 and I have this strange history where we're off and on. Sometimes it works like a dream, others it's just a blank screen. Otherwise, I just realised they gave Hogan Flair's Finisher in Revenge which was easily one of the worst design choices in that game. To this day, it still bothers me.

So the fun doesn't stop there, let's check out Ocarina of Time. This time 20 years ago, I was hitting up every N64 kiosk in suburbia just trying to get my hands on this game. Back then, this was the game with the cutting edge presentation and seriously felt like I was playing a movie. 20 years on, the game looks knaff, but handles a lot better than I remember. The last time I played the OG N64 version of Ocarina of Time was when I had my wisdoms out and looked like Stan from American Dad. The game felt like it was in slow motion and I was sort of sad to see what this once great game became. Again, this was the NTSC effect and it felt like I was playing the GameCube version which is how I tend to remember OoT. Dated, but still playable.

So grab bag time, let's go with the initial launch games. I've never actually played Pilotwings before, so I give it a shot and it's truly a basic game. There's like 3 vehicles you control and you go through these hoops in 5 different scenario for each vehicle and that's the game. Execution wise, it's classic Nintendo but if this was on the Classic, I'd feel short-changed. Next up was Mortal Kombat Trilogy which is based on the MK game that resonates the most with me, MK3. I was too young to appreciate MK1 and MK2, but when my cousin got a hold of 3 and would just own the AI with Cyrax over and over again, it instantly became my favourite game and really laid the groundwork for my eventual love of Pro Wrestling. Fighting games are such where the more you put in, the more you get out of it, so if I put in enough time into MK and learned the Meta I'm sure I'd enjoy it, as a quick preview, I got my ass kicked so it wasn't so much fun. Still, the nostalgia it evoked was incredible. It felt like I was in '96 all over again, waiting for American and Australian Gladiators to come on and also getting paranoid about the X-Files and Unsolved Mystery themes which would spook me as a kid.

Wave Race was next and after all these years, the game is still amazing. It's one of those games that justified the hardware of the console and the physics of the game is remarkable. It's not exactly a dense game, but I kind of appreciate the arcade feel of it and the core gameplay is so tight, I find myself revisiting it all the time.

Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey was another game I had no experience with before. It was an enjoyable enough Hockey game, albeit it felt way too easy to score goals. I think the end score was 9-7 to the NY Rangers and I hadn't even learned all the controls yet. Fun stuff though and I kind of regret not having it in my collection earlier.

Cruisn' USA was one of those games from my youth that made me want to go to the US. Driving around in the big pine forests, through the city of San Fran at break-neck speeds, it just seemed like such a cool experience that felt similar, but just better. I had completely forgotten when you get first, a hot babe presents you with a trophy and you get to put your license plate on the record list. The music kind of sucks though and makes me yearn for Daytona USA.

NBA Hangtime takes me back to my Space Jam phase and just how bummed I was Michael Jordan wasn't in the game. Yeah, Pippin is OK, but seriously where's MJ at? Returning to the game all these years later, I was just overwhelmed by how fun the game was and how much I suck at it. I forgot all the controls so I ended up getting smoked twice, once by the Bulls and then by the Pacers (of all teams). It's a shame this game didn't have a real single player mode, because the core gameplay was incredibly fun and I still remember going back to that game well and truly at the end of the N64 lifecycle. It was always a blast to bring out with the cuzzies.

Finally, I had to have a round of Mario Kart 64. I fancy myself a decent MK driver, but MK64 is the one where I've never really perfect the turbo boosts so I usually just rely on getting good weapons and driving conservatively. To this day, the game still has my favourite music and it's the one MK game that I still feel has the best multiplayer.

I bought Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 off Ebay after listening to the soundtrack on YouTube as I played THPS5 in shame.

OG Xbox controls taking awhile to get used to again so I can’t pull off the crazy combos I could as a 12yo just yet 🛹.

Starting to warm up to buying one of these Retro PI systems, they sell some really sweet ones on ETSY, I like the one modeled like a mini-Genesis. The only thing that scares me is all these issues I keep reading about problems with controller lag, also not really fond of the idea of playing retro games with a playstation style controller, worst d-pad ever. But I'd hate to buy another soft modded X-Box and then it craps out on me after a year.