Messages

46

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022

« on: September 05, 2022, 02:21:05 am »

35. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

Quite simply, one of the finest action-platform games ever made. Difficult, but fair in that it gives you the tools and control to improve your skills with practice. High-end play is possible with mastery of blocking and ninja magic.

47

Classic Video Games / Re: What are some incredible older games you remember that people may have missed?

« on: August 29, 2022, 01:58:17 pm »

The first game that comes to mind is Vice Project Doom on NES.
No one ever talks about it, but I think it’s one of the best games on the console. It combines action, driving, and first person shooting in a way Adventures of Bayou Billy only wishes it could, and they’re all actually FUN. Add in the Ninja Gaiden-style cutscenes along with pretty good music, and you have a great yet underappreciated game.

One more: the arcade game Food Fight. A pretty obscure game that has been kind of forgotten, and I believe has only been rereleased once via some defunct online service years ago. I only ever saw and played the actual arcade cabinet once during my childhood. It’s actually a LOT of fun plastering the evil chefs in the face with watermelon or peas, and IMO deserves much more recognition.

Actually, both games you mentioned here are totally unknown to me. Gotta check those out ... !

Great, I hope you like them as much as I do 

FYI, Vice Project Doom is available for free with a Switch online account.
On the other hand, unfortunately Food Fight is not currently available through any conventional means, so emulation is the only option. Just make sure you play it with an analog stick, a standard d-pad doesn’t do it justice

48

Classic Video Games / Re: What are some incredible older games you remember that people may have missed?

« on: August 28, 2022, 04:49:35 pm »

The first game that comes to mind is Vice Project Doom on NES.
No one ever talks about it, but I think it’s one of the best games on the console. It combines action, driving, and first person shooting in a way Adventures of Bayou Billy only wishes it could, and they’re all actually FUN. Add in the Ninja Gaiden-style cutscenes along with pretty good music, and you have a great yet underappreciated game.

One more: the arcade game Food Fight. A pretty obscure game that has been kind of forgotten, and I believe has only been rereleased once via some defunct online service years ago. I only ever saw and played the actual arcade cabinet once during my childhood. It’s actually a LOT of fun plastering the evil chefs in the face with watermelon or peas, and IMO deserves much more recognition.

49

Off Topic / Re: CD's, Vinyl (etc) Music Collectors Unite

« on: August 18, 2022, 03:47:41 pm »

I personally think CDs have the best sound quality. I agree completely. My whole family gives me crap cause I picked up a 10 disk changer that I want to add to my Fiat cause "you can just listen to digital stuff from YouTube or whatever."

If there’s any WWE music anyone is looking for, I can probably get it for you   Aww man, this is freaking awesome. Are they available on Spotify? I use that when I gym and nothing would be cooler than Goldberg or DX entrance music when you are pushing weights.

A few versions of DX’s music are officially available digitally.
However, the one Goldberg uses currently (the same track he used in WCW back in the day) comes from a production music library; WWE did not produce it and therefore have no rights to release it. I have the track though, PM me if you want more info.

50

Off Topic / Re: CD's, Vinyl (etc) Music Collectors Unite

« on: August 13, 2022, 05:25:38 pm »

What is meant by quality?

Just to build on what others have said…

If we’re talking about CD vs vinyl, it’s a matter of opinion which sounds better. I personally think CDs have the best sound quality, but a big reason vinyl has made a comeback is because many think it has a better sound.

Now, if we’re talking compression formats, it’s basically a matter of “lossless” vs “lossy”.
Lossless means there is no audio data lost from the original recording, so no reduction in sound quality. A WAV file is the raw original audio and is completely uncompressed. Lossless compression algorithms include FLAC and ALAC, and slightly reduce file size without affecting sound quality.

Lossy compression, like MP3 or M4A, cuts out many of the wavelengths inaudible to human ears to greatly reduce the file size, but also cuts out some that are audible, which affects sound quality. Many people can’t tell the difference, but nitpicky audio snobs like myself can

Anywho…
I’ve mentioned on this site before that I collect pro wrestling entrance music. I do my own curating, editing, mixing, and mastering. I try to get everything in the best quality possible and make the music arena-accurate (I’d estimate 50% of the music WWE has officially released does NOT match the actual arena-used music, whether it’s a different mix, different edit, has extra sound effects, etc).
If there’s any WWE music anyone is looking for, I can probably get it for you 

51

Classic Video Games / Re: A big box PC game sealed question

« on: August 07, 2022, 09:09:21 am »

Yes, it was common for big box PC games of that era to have the contents shifting around inside the box. They would often have 2 sets of floppy disks (5.25” & 3.5”), an instruction manual, registration card, and copy protection material all loose in the box with little or no packing material. Obviously later on the floppies were replaced by CD-ROMs but the jewel case was also often just loose in the box.

52

Classic Video Games / Re: What is the best PS2 launch title?

« on: August 03, 2022, 12:03:19 pm »

I basically bought a PS2 for Tekken Tag Tournament. I spent almost as much time playing Tekken Bowl mode as the regular game, it was so flippin’ addictive. Also had Timesplitters, which was fun.
Surprisingly, never played any other games on that launch title list, other than Summoner which was a birthday present and I played it for like 5 minutes. Now, SSX Tricky, that game was amazing.

53

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022

« on: August 03, 2022, 11:51:19 am »

10. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Something I actually was looking forward to play each day even if I couldn't. I liked it better than SoTN for sure. Got stuck a few times and had to go do side quests or try to get materials to make things or rank up shards. So basically had to level up and I think maybe each time I ran into one of those tough bosses I ended up beating them later being overleveled. I had to use walkthroughs and the steam forums a bit to figure out some things, where to go and especially how to get something other than the bad ending. I only got the first bad ending (game over) where you kill Gebel but not the second bad ending. I'm not sure I can get that one now without starting over. I beat this and got credits and resumed the save. I still have to beat the OD boss but I will need to work on some other grinding first because he destroys me easily. Maybe I will try to get all of the achievements, maybe except the complete the monster or shard list because I'm not sure I can win the Ninja race to get his shard.

Bloodstained helped get me through recovery from heart surgery, and it’s the only game I’ve been motivated to platinum. After recently replaying Symphony of the Night, I find myself debating which I like better. It really was worth the extra time Iga took to polish it.

Just keep trying, you’ll win the ninja race eventually. Try using your shards in creative ways…for example, you can use the Reflector Ray shard to constantly teleport ahead.

54

General / Re: Shadowbox Project Completed -- My Gaming Wall of Fame.

« on: June 15, 2022, 10:34:51 pm »

I’d love to see one for Shadow of the Colossus. That would be EPIC.

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General / Re: Shadowbox Project Completed -- My Gaming Wall of Fame.

« on: June 13, 2022, 07:36:22 am »

Wow, very nice!

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Classic Video Games / Re: How Many Of You Played A Round Of Klondike (Microsoft Classic Solitaire)?

« on: June 10, 2022, 10:33:29 pm »

Hell yes.
My parents got me my first very own PC when I went to college, and it was state of the art at the time with a CD-ROM drive :0

Played the hell out of 7th Guest, which was included, but also discovered Klondike and Minesweeper, which sucked up a number of hours I should have been studying.

Did it have a Pentium 1 or 2 Processer? I remember when CD-ROM's were a big thing too, now your lucky to find a PC with Any kind of physical Drive and some PC cases don't even have room for a CD-ROM/DVD/Blu-Ray dive either

(edit) maybe a 386 Processor since the 7tyh guest came out in 1993?

I started college in ‘94, and I honestly don’t remember the processor, but it may have been a Pentium 1. I know it was an IBM PC running Windows 3.1 and it came bundled with 7th Guest, which was my first CD-ROM game of any kind since I never owned a Sega CD or Turbo CD.

57

General / Re: Did You Ever Play, Or Try Any Casino, Mind or Video Board Games? Thoughts?

« on: June 09, 2022, 10:24:19 am »

Way back in the late 80’s-early 90’s we (my parents and I) had a bunch of TV game show games on 3.5” floppy, like Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Card Sharks, and Classic Concentration.
I have Monopoly on NES, which was an ok time-waster back then, but like the SNES one mentioned earlier in the thread, it seemed to cheat.

IMO board game games work better on portable consoles because they are good time wasters. I have Life/Yahtzee/Payday for GBA and it’s ok in a pinch.

Never really played any gambling games, they just don’t interest me.

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Classic Video Games / Re: How Many Of You Played A Round Of Klondike (Microsoft Classic Solitaire)?

« on: June 09, 2022, 08:29:22 am »

Hell yes.
My parents got me my first very own PC when I went to college, and it was state of the art at the time with a CD-ROM drive :0

Played the hell out of 7th Guest, which was included, but also discovered Klondike and Minesweeper, which sucked up a number of hours I should have been studying.

59

General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: May 23, 2022, 07:51:36 pm »

Tried to beat the original Ninja Turtles on NES again...got to the underground battle against the Technodrome.

Farther than I ever made it, which was Metalhead.

I've owned this game since I was 6 or 7, I'm 39 next month and I still can't beat it...I'm a terrible gamer.

Ehhh.... It's a ridiculously hard game (even though I think the difficulty of the Dam is overstated).  I think you're fine.

Yes, people always bring up the dam level but once you get the hang of it, it’s not that hard. After that level, though, there’s a big difficulty spike. I did beat it once back in the day, using the “give each turtle a crapload of scrolls” trick, and it worked well. Had no motivation to play it very much after that.

60

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022

« on: May 03, 2022, 06:27:53 pm »

20. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS5) 5/2/22

GOD I FUCKING LOVE THIS FRANCHISE! Every minute of this game was just perfect, I didn’t want it to end. I know I have Lost Legacy to play, but there’s just something a little sad about finishing up Nathan’s story; I really hope they bring him back for a new game soon.

I couldn't have been less excited when they announced part 4.  I just felt like they had a good run and were just trying to milk the franchise.

It's far and away the best in the series.  Couldn't believe it.

100% agreed.
Uncharted 4 seemed like it would be a cheaply-made money grab, and turned out excellent. For me, UC2 is just a hair better, but UC4 is right up there.