Messages

466

Classic Video Games / Re: Favorite hidden gems from last gen (PS3/360/Wii)

« on: March 20, 2016, 08:04:04 pm »

The Wii in particular is ripe with hidden gems considering how many dismissed it as having no decent games 

1) The Munchables (Wii)

The multicoloured, caffeine-soaked offspring of a basic 3D platformer and Katamari. You have to scoff space pirates who are all composed of food while rushing around big lush levels. An absolute treat with a cracking soundtrack.

2) Eledees (Wii)

A weird mix of physics game, shoot em up and hide and seek. Thrown on the casual-crap pile by almost everyone (myself included), later levels require a strategy and time management in order to gain access to the little sods before the time limit ends. Everything in Eledees has a weight, so you can't throw heavy objects to check them for varmints before levelling up. In later levels you start with small items of furniture but end up chucking small buildings around. It's a hoot, with a touching story too.

3)  Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts (360)

The game nobody wanted, yet locked under the vehicle tinkering is the same Rare platforming magic that's always been there. A truly quality game in a sea of third-person open-world shooter greyness.

4) Bladestorm: The Hundred Year War (360/PS3)

Though re-released and added-to under the title Bladestorm: Nightmare on newer systems, this remains a slightly flawed but fun sprawling battlefield game ready to kick your butt at a moment's notice.

5) Dante's Inferno (360/PS3)

A full-priced title and certainly not a hidden one by any means, nor a terrible seller, but nonetheless now seemingly out of mind. Wasn't perfect, not enough enemy varieties for my liking, but epic bosses, not least Satan's wobbling Johnson, a terrifying battle.

6) Project Sylpheed (360)

Early release from Squaresoft, X-Wing meets anime, fun game which gets even better with New Game +.

7) Sacred 3 (360/PS3)

Another one which nobody wanted and sank without a trace, but it's actually a fun combat-centred Diablo 3-alike. A little repetitive, but a perfectly fun game.

467

Modern Video Games / Re: "Limited Run Games" is Producing Physical Copies of Games in Limited Quantities

« on: March 12, 2016, 02:41:02 pm »

Despite having bought the first two LR games and liking the company's attitude and enthusiasm, I've got to admit my interest in their output has declined to almost zero.

Having no pre-order system or the like means that adults with busy lives get funnelled into a clicking contest with scalpers in order to 'win' something instead of just buying the damned game. The company's nonsensical answer to this, from what I can gather, is that the IP owners 'like' the ultra-limited numbers, though quite why any company would love the idea of annoying and frustrating their customer base is beyond me.

What Limited Run is doing is by no means unique or impossible for other companies to do, I just hope they either figure out a way of letting their customers buy their products without this ridiculous hoop-jumping or that someone else who can steps in.

468

Classic Video Games / Re: What does your collection specalise in?

« on: March 11, 2016, 04:10:51 pm »

Overall my collection falls under the 'anything I'll play' category, which is pretty much anything apart from deep strategy games, sports and most types of racing.

I'm less interested in puzzle, adventure, music and fighting games (IE 1-on-1s like Street Fighter) ambivalent about FPS and open world games (Far Cry, GTA etc.) and more interested in RPGs, Beat 'em ups (Streets of Rage), platformers, arcade style games, shoot em ups, survival horror, metroidvania's, roguelikes and anything related to them.

I have a longstanding interest in Musou (Dynasty Warriors + spin-offs) games, collect fishing games for some weird reason and love picking up obscure Japanese-developed titles, crusty computer games and budget/download console titles which have been released on disc.

As far as merch goes it starts and ends with soundtracks and strategy guides, both of which I pick up wherever possible for cheap.

469

Classic Video Games / Re: Does anyone own any super rare games

« on: March 11, 2016, 04:04:23 pm »

It's difficult to guage what is rare, or even on the scale, and what isn't, particularly with officially released console games. Some of the stuff i have which is probably 'rare' is a PS2 promo of Project Zero 3 (Fatal Frame 3), a UK copy of Car Racing Challenge for the PS2 (obscure entry in the Simple 2000 series released in PAL regions and Japan only, obscure even for those releases) and some obscure PS1 PAL releases like Monsterseed and Blockids.

With old computer games it gets more interesting, but I've only fairly recently started collecting so there's little to talk about apart from a few Electron games which won't show up so often on Ebay.

470

Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Category/Platform Requests

« on: March 09, 2016, 03:33:23 pm »

Sounds good, I can start now with some consistency I'm very happy to fall inline with whatever the community decides in the future. Thanks for your input on this.

471

Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Category/Platform Requests

« on: March 08, 2016, 06:56:06 pm »

It's difficult to say which market the dual-format games are aimed at.

The Electron is effectively a cut-down BBC microcomputer, it would be like Sega releasing the Genesis then later removing and downgrading components and releasing the resultant Master System (or equivalent).

The BBC Micro was aimed as being an educational machine and had high specs which priced it out the range of many households, so to compete with the likes of the ZX Spectrum the cut-down Electron was released as a games and general purpose machine. I'm no expert, but I suspect the dual format games were originally designed for the BBC and then rendered more simplistic for the Electron, though they could be created independently.

Currently Electron is listed as a sub-category of BBC, I would propose rolling with that and listing dual-format games as being BBC and noting Electron in the notes as you suggest. Does that sound good?

472

Site Feedback / Re: Move "Submit New Item" button

« on: March 06, 2016, 04:13:29 am »

A good point well made 

473

Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Category/Platform Requests

« on: March 04, 2016, 01:49:38 pm »

Sorry tripredacus, that went over my head, is what you're saying that rather than a new category being added, I should just add the dual format games to an existing category? If that's so, I'll just add future BBC/Electron games to the Electron category as that was released after the BBC.

474

General / Re: Strategy Guides

« on: February 28, 2016, 03:56:43 pm »

Goodwill/charity shops - check the non-fiction books (usually taller than novels, as are many if not most strategy guides) , also check the kids books as a lot of volunteers associate anything mangaish or fantasy with children and will missfile guides even for mature games in the kids' section.

475

Classic Video Games / Re: What was your first horror game and did it scare you?

« on: February 27, 2016, 02:20:45 pm »

Hmm, the first game I played which I'd class as horror would be Frightmare on the ZX Spectrum http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0001877, basically a flick-screen platformer with different monsters and macabre scenery. What really creeped me was the zombies who'd just rise out of the floor. It also had.. 'interesting' artwork, those eyes *shudder*.





There weren't many other proper horror games around to play until the previously mentioned Alien Trilogy FPS and of course the first Resi.

476

Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Category/Platform Requests

« on: February 27, 2016, 02:13:06 pm »

The Electron is a derivative of the BBC microcomputer series, so is newer, but most sites I've seen consider the BBC the primary model so refer to them as BBC + Electron games. Not sure what to suggest TBH.

477

Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Category/Platform Requests

« on: February 26, 2016, 06:51:22 pm »

*Blink* was Acorn Electron always there in the database or has one of you wonderful people added it recently?

It was added sometime after your request

Ah, many thanks to whoever uploaded it and for your response Karyann.

Sorry to be a nuisance but could I put a few other requests in please?

In the user stats screen, under 'collection breakdown', my Electron listings (15 of them) are counted as separate to the rest of my games (currently 1050), so does a box need ticking behind the scene to qualify them as games?

Would it be possible to have a dual-format option for BBC Micro and Acorn Electron please? Many games were released with both formats on one cassette, for example: 

Despite this, many games were released separately on both formats or only on one format. Even Acornsoft themselves had different packaging for their games on the two systems, compare (BBC Micro version of Hopper) with  (Acorn Electron version of Hopper).

A lot of sites lump the two together, which I get in a way, but they both have their own unique games. Many thanks!

478

Classic Video Games / Re: Bronkie The Bronchiasaurus worth buying as an investment?

« on: February 22, 2016, 12:14:42 pm »

I'd agree with Turf and everyone else that the buy and hold strategy won't work for video games in general, these aren't fine wines after all and retro-gaming has a considerable 'fad' taint at the minute. That's not to say that retrogaming is going to go away, or that those who collect or play for the love of it are going to disappear, but for obscure, niche titles like this, there's going to be a very limited number of people interested in owning a copy, the value's probably not going to keep spiking.

479

General / Re: Playing games chronologically

« on: February 22, 2016, 12:05:49 pm »

I always go via series order, without exceptions. To me sequels and prequels build on the original rather than displace it within the chronology.

480

Video Game Database Discussion / Re: Category/Platform Requests

« on: February 22, 2016, 12:01:05 pm »

*Blink* was Acorn Electron always there in the database or has one of you wonderful people added it recently?