Messages

16

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!

« on: June 17, 2023, 11:43:55 am »

28. Shadow of the Colossus Remaster (PS4)

Simply put, one of the greatest games ever made. The music, the atmosphere, the multiple feelings it elicits…now looking better than ever.
*Chef’s kiss*

My personal favorite is #13 (Phalanx). Unforgettable ever since the first time on PS2, and the most tragic since it is a beautiful, awe-inspiring creature who seems completely benign (it is the only colossus who never directly attacks you).

17

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!

« on: June 13, 2023, 11:39:14 pm »

26. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Put simply: overall fun but flawed game. Has a few technical issues, like bad model pop-in during cutscenes and the worst loading times I’ve seen for a while. Watching the end credits now and because I beat the final boss with only a sliver of health left, another glitch is causing a heartbeat sound throughout the credits (which you normally hear at low health)…funny 
Still worth a playthrough despite the technical issues and a few questionable design choices (the sliding sections can go to hell and burn there for eternity).

18

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!

« on: June 12, 2023, 01:13:01 pm »

24. Mega Man 10

And with this, I have now beaten every game in the mainline Mega Man series (1-11).
I first bought this on PS3 back when it originally released but ended up abandoning it when I just hit a wall in the first Dr. Wily level. MM Legacy Collection 2 gave me a chance to try again and I finally completed it.

It’s a very strangely balanced game. Overall, IMO it might have the most difficult assortment of Robot Masters of any MM game, and none has any weakness to the basic arm cannon. Additionally, some mid-bosses, like the Keeper and the boulder guy, are MUCH harder than many of the end-stage bosses. Contrarily, the final battle against Wily might be the easiest boss in the game (I beat him with no problem first try, didn’t even need an E-Tank). Also, after the extremely fun weapons in MM9 that were very useful outside of boss battles, 10’s weapons are disappointing and don’t offer much use other than defeating a boss with a weakness to them.

It still has that classic gameplay and is worth a playthrough, it just doesn’t reach the heights of the better games in the series like 2 & 3. I also have to give a shout out to the level theming; Strike Man’s level is great with its stadium background and enemies like the aforementioned soccer goalkeeper, lockers, and ball baskets that shoot baseballs and footballs. Blade Man’s level is also fun with its medieval castle filled with weapons.

19

General / Re: Your Top Video Game Franchises

« on: May 30, 2023, 08:33:42 pm »

Wow, this was harder than I expected.
There are a few franchises/series that I like only one or two out of them all, so I didn’t think it would be right to list those as favorites.
In no particular order:

Final Fantasy
Mega Man
Bioshock
Streets of Rage
Castlevania
Batman Arkham series
TMNT
Street Fighter
Darkstalkers
Mass Effect
Metroid
EDIT: How could I forget KATAMARI! I own every game except the PSP one. My wife and I played the hell out of it when we first got together.

Honorable Mention:
Tekken
Zelda (Link to the Past is excellent, Link’s Awakening is great, the rest range from above average to meh)
Resident Evil (I was big into the series until the disappointing RE5, haven’t bought one since)
Dragon Quest (only played 1, 8, and 11. 8 & 11 are two of the best RPGs ever, but I’ve never played the rest so I can’t include it)

20

Classic Video Games / Re: True Lies (SNES): a funny example of 90's Germany's censorship

« on: May 27, 2023, 05:28:39 pm »

And toys had changes due to censorship. I bought M.A.S.K. toys there that had bombs and weapons removed because of restrictions.

Nowadays you can buy electrified mag fed full auto nerf guns for your kids here

were you stationed in Germany at that time? I was born in '88 so I kind of missed out on the arcade era unfortunately...

Haha, everyone asks that. I lived there between the ages of 10-13 but I was not an Army brat. My dad worked for UPS and was transferred there. I attended F.I.S. (Frankfurt International School) located in Oberursel.

It was the son of another UPS worker who introduced me to the NES while I lived there. A Dutch friend from school introduced me to a number of PC games (Battle Chess, Defender of the Crown, and Sierra’s adventure series like King’s Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, etc.) and I also played his Sega Master System (Hang On, Time Soldiers, Shinobi, Rocky, etc)

21

Classic Video Games / Re: True Lies (SNES): a funny example of 90's Germany's censorship

« on: May 26, 2023, 07:27:55 pm »

I lived in Germany for a few years in the late 80’s. I can’t speak about the censorship of German SNES games since we moved back to the US in 1990, and my NES was NTSC anyway so it couldn’t play German releases, but I am familiar with some of the rules there at the time. Arcade games were off limits to minors because they were considered “gambling” machines, which is ridiculous. Fortunately the bowling alley we went to allowed kids to play their arcade games (one time they got raided by police because of it, but they only stopped letting us play them for a few weeks).

And toys had changes due to censorship. I bought M.A.S.K. toys there that had bombs and weapons removed because of restrictions.

22

General / Re: Mortal Kombat Appreciation Thread

« on: May 22, 2023, 02:49:51 pm »

MK has been fun over the years, but never my favorite fighting series. The gameplay has always felt…..messy, if that makes any sense. Not that I’m anything close to a fighting game expert, but series like SF, Tekken, Darkstalkers, and SoulCalibur just feel more polished to me.

I still remember the first time I ever played the first game. Passed by it in the arcade multiple times before trying it. While I played (as Raiden) someone else came up and challenged me. I admitted I had never played it before so he gave me some pointers before destroying me and performing a Fatality. Eventually got the SNES game (which, unlike most gamers, I liked better than the Genesis port; much better graphics & sound, and I could live with the nerfed Fatalities. Raiden’s is better in the SNES port anyway )

MK2 and 3 were the height of my interest in the series. With help from the SNES port and a strategy guide, I memorized almost every move, Fatality, Babality, and Friendship. My college dorm had an MK2 machine in the lobby and occasionally I would go down there and kick the AI’s ass. I worked at a mall arcade when MK3 came out and I remember the lines for that thing.

I know Ultimate MK3 gets a lot of praise, but since I never really played against other people, it was a big disappointment because the AI was altered to be SUPER DUPER CHEAP, to the point it wasn’t fun to play. MK Gold suffered from the same problem.
MK4 looked and played like ass so I ignored it.

I did get the Mileena edition of MK Deception on Xbox and Konquest mode was a fun diversion, but I was never a fan of the new gameplay, with every character sporting 2 different fighting styles. I rented Shaolin Monks and it was fun but I never actually bought it.

I fell out of the series until MK9, which was pretty fun. However, I don’t buy many new fighting games anymore because I just don’t have the time to spare to relearn the characters, so I haven’t bought an MK game since then.

23

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!

« on: May 16, 2023, 06:40:54 pm »

18. Blasphemous (Wounds of Eventide DLC)

Without a doubt, in my top 5 Metroidvanias ever. Maybe top 3.

Didn’t start out that way. When I bought it a couple years ago, I loved the graphical style, music, and atmosphere, but it was just a little unpolished and had some frustrating enemy placement, so I quit for a few months. Then I heard some things like that had been patched, so one day I tried it again….and didn’t stop for days. In a rarity for me, when I finished it I immediately started a NG+. Got good enough to decimate the bosses, but I’m out of practice now.

Didn’t get around to the DLC until recently due to my huge backlog. The developer has really done an amazing job providing free updates that add so much, and now the game has a new final boss and new true ending. It does have a couple of small issues; jumping onto ladders is very finicky and more than once I fell to my death because the Penitent One just wouldn’t grab it, and twice I encountered bugs during boss fights (had to defeat the new final boss twice because of a bug). But overall it’s an exceptional game with a surprising amount of story depth if you take the time to look for it. Everyone talks about Hollow Knight, but IMO this game tops it in every way.

24

General / Re: Video Game Inspired Baby Names, Would you consider it as a parent?

« on: March 13, 2023, 09:29:15 am »

I would consider naming my daughter either Zelda, Samus, Peach or Daisy.

This reminded me, Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda after the game series.
Pro wrestler Chris Sabin got his ring name from the Final Fantasy VI character, but that’s not his real name so it doesn’t really count 

I have a dog named Daisy but it wasn’t after the game character.
My kids do not have game-related names but we’re not planning to have any more so that ship has sailed.

25

General / Re: Which game or console (if any) made you fall in love with gaming again?

« on: March 13, 2023, 09:20:09 am »

Yeah, I never fell out of love with gaming either. Been into it consistently since the days of Space Invaders, the Atari 2600, and the Nintendo Game & Watch.

26

Classic Video Games / Re: What are your most wanted or top ten wanted Sega Genesis games

« on: March 05, 2023, 09:26:12 pm »

Yeah, I noticed last year how much Streets of Rage 3 has skyrocketed. I don’t really understand why, either. It always seemed to be pretty common, and not really in demand because of its weak reputation compared to the super-popular SoR2.

27

General / Re: Rarest Items in Game Collection?

« on: February 24, 2023, 09:59:11 am »

I mostly don’t collect for value, so anything I have that’s “rare” is just through sheer good luck and the fact that I rarely sell anything off.

Unquestionably my rarest item is Clay Fighter Sculptor’s Cut for N64. Bought it directly from Blockbuster back when the local store was selling off their N64 rental inventory.

I don’t really own anything else considered super rare, just a handful of harder-to-find games for various consoles:
PS1 - Castlevania Chronicles, Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete with almost untouched Omake Box, Strider 2, Arc the Lad Collection
SNES - Mega Man 7 & X 1-3, Castlevania Dracula X, Ninja Gaiden Trilogy
Game Boy - Mega Man IV & V

Also, I own 11 old-school Nintendo Game & Watches from my childhood, including Zelda.
Only valuable item I recall selling is Fire Emblem Path of Radiance for GameCube, for $50. Kinda regret it but not really, since we needed the money at the time and I didn’t really like the game anyway.

28

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!

« on: February 18, 2023, 11:13:31 pm »

1. Horizon Forbidden West

FINALLY beat my first game of the year. I just don’t have a lot of time to play and I’ve been playing some long games. More long ones coming up too…maybe I need to get some short ones under my belt before I start another.

29

General / Re: Your Top 10 Consoles of All-Time

« on: January 09, 2023, 10:47:48 am »

My top 10 consoles…
Wow, I really had to put some thought into this.

1) SNES
The amount of quality games for this console is truly amazing. 3 of my all-time favorites are SNES originals (Zelda: Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VI).

2) PS2
This thing blew me away right off the bat with Tekken Tag Tournament and SSX Tricky. Then there was Final Fantasy X & XII, Dragon Quest VIII, Ico & Shadow of the Colossus, the God of War series, Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3, Katamari Damacy…

3) PS3
I had an XBOX 360 first so I played many of the era’s multiplatform classics on there, but technical issues and lack of wireless connectivity forced me to buy a PS3 instead. This is the first console I bought downloadable games for and I still play it from time to time.

4) PS1
Castlevania SotN, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy 7-9, the Resident Evil series, plus it was the first console where I could play true emulated arcade classics.

5) PS4
May climb higher in the future, but ATM many games I have on this are remakes, remasters, or collections of older games. The fact that all that content is available just on PS4 is why it’s already so high. Plus great stuff like the Horizon series, Blasphemous, Bloodstained, Streets of Rage 4, and Dragon Quest XI (which to me became an instant classic).

6) NES
Can’t understate its significance in my gaming life, though some of the games just don’t hold up nowadays.

7) Genesis
4 series make this console for me: Streets of Rage, Sonic, Golden Axe, and Shinobi.

8 ) Saturn
Wouldn’t be on the list at all if it wasn’t for how it helped me discover the world of import games. Arcade-perfect conversions of X-Men vs SF, Marvel Super Heroes vs SF, Vampire Savior, and King of Fighters were mind-blowing.

9) XBOX
I didn’t have many games for it, but what I had was great. Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2, Outrun 2, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and Morrowind. Plus I enjoyed Tron 2.0 though it is far from a great game.

10) Game Boy Advance
IMO best portable console ever. Large volume of software and many great games.

Interesting how no non-portable Nintendo consoles released after the SNES made the list.
I never really liked the N64 much (I understand what Nintendo was trying to do, but zero load times did not make up for ugly muddy graphics, inferior sound, a weird controller, and ridiculously expensive cartridges).
The GameCube was basically Metroid Prime and not much else noteworthy.
The Wii is the only console I’ve ever just flat-out sold along with all games.
The Switch is alright, but it’s my kids’ console so I don’t play it much.

30

Classic Video Games / Re: The PS3 in 2023

« on: January 05, 2023, 11:42:23 am »

I still play my PS3 regularly. One of my kids loves to play NBA Jam On Fire Edition with me, and I will play Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection or Pinball Arcade (it still has the Williams/Midway tables you can’t get anymore). I also use it for PS1 emulation; not the ideal choice if you’re going for a perfect non-compressed picture, but it works for me. Since my X360 CD drive went kaput I can’t play my ESIV: Oblivion disc so I’m planning to get the PS3 Game of the Year edition soon.