ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

It is tough out there. I wonder if it's OK if I shill my own YT channel here?

ARC Arcade Racing YT: https://www.youtube.com/@ArcadeRacing_0

I cover arcade racers and driving games exclusively, retro and new. Lots of PC, Arcade & console classics, with a huge focus on the newer wave of indie racers and hidden gems.

Namco neGcon vs EVERYTHING: https://youtu.be/Oed-5VqUPus
5 MUST PLAY PS2 Arcade Racers https://youtu.be/dtOtSJJlrpk

FF MD is excellent. Still, I'm glad Mauro can move onto his other projects in a fuller capacity sooner rather than later.

The Driftin' Rage demo was AWESOME, and the Legend of Drakonnus looks exactly like the kind of game I'm drawn to. I was always into the Amiga ports the MD received, and this looks like one of those, but modern-ish

@Right_Said_Brett We've all been there, mate.

On this end, red wine + the internet is a match made in hell

@Right_Said_Brett That's an incredibly over-the-top, dramatic statement.

@Right_Said_Brett "Eww, there's only one true way to play retro pixel art games and that's on a CRT."

This statement suggests gatekeeping, just so you know for next time.

Older games were meant for a CRT, that's all there really was. But pixel art has also evolved to be clean and sharp over the years, thanks to HD displays, so it's a bit more layered of an argument now.

It's not wrong to view the clean pixel of a SNES HD output. You'd just prefer not to do so yourself

@Right_Said_Brett You don't have to educate or convince me. I'm CRT filter all the way - it's how I personally choose to play.

But I'm saying that it doesn't matter how it was intended to be played, people have different preferences, and a freedom of choice for how to play is one of the most awesome things about retro gaming.

We shouldn't be gatekeeping.

@Right_Said_Brett There's no one true way. Options are always good and people should play in whatever fashion they want. The important thing is that they're playing 😁

It makes zero-sense to me that I buy an AUD $100 game that I have no interest in playing, that takes up 60gb of HD space and keep it installed on my hard-drive JUST to play these retro games that range from <100mb to a couple of GB.

A collection is the way to go, surely. SEGA are so disappointing these days...

@tektite_captain As a Saturn kid, I think it's the PERFECT selection of characters

I've been following this one for a while, it looks so good!

Curse of Darkness is up there with my favourite CastleVania games, 2D or 3D. I love the vibes and music of the 64 CV games, too. <3

@jberg Probably Beetle Saturn in RetroArch or standalone Mednafen. They're my go-to emulators for accuracy. I haven't tried them with this yet, though!

It's fantastic to see you review this. Final Fight MD is an incredible achievement, and I'm glad to see it get the exposure it deserves.

@hste Gamesir have been killing it in the last year. I grabbed the PSX-style Tegenaria Lite (great budget wired with Hall Effect) and the Tarantula Pro (TMR sticks with buttons that can mechanically swap between Xbox & Nintendo Layout), and both have been my go-to controllers. They also do a lot of great Xbox-style controllers, but I haven't tried them out yet.

But yeah, for Xbox-style, I really like the BIG BIG WON controllers. They've re-branded to MOJHON now, but I adore the Rainbow 2 SE and the Rainbow 2 Pro. They only have potentiometer sticks, but I adore the layout of all the extra buttons and function buttons on it. I can't wait to try their new Rainbow 3 controller, it looks like a nice upgrade

@hste The brook adapters are awesome. I use one on my 360 all the time. I'm not sure most third party controllers are inferior to current Xbox & PS2 controllers, though. I have a bunch of Chinese ones that pretty much blow them out of the water in nigh-on every way possible. Especially when it comes to Xbox controllers; they've been lacking for me ever since the Xbox One pads.

Looking forward to putting the Hunter 360 through it's paces. I pre-ordered mine a while ago, it feels like it's been a year?

Retro Fighters is very, very hit & miss for me. More miss, since I've never really stuck to their controllers for any length of time.

I was mildly impressed by the Hunter Crystal, but the sticks on that have a few issues. For being hall effect, there is still a slight dead-zone, and diagonals are weak on it, even after the updates.

I'm hopeful that they've improved on them with the Hunter 360.

It'd be really awesome if Time Extension played these games for further articles. News items are OK, but opinions and analysis on stuff like FFMD and Driftin' Rage would be brilliant.

It's meatier stuff to chew on than just headlines and Twitter quote-age.

It's better that Peter Molyneux swung and missed, than hit it out of the park every time with a focus-tested hit.

I firmly believe that the vast majority of his games are actually pretty great. Still unique, still inventive.

AUD $300 is a fantastic price. Definitely tempted, maybe it'll be a birthday present for myself next year, if stocks last

The DOS, PS1 and SNES versions are already available in a terrible Piko Interactive collection. Its easy to extract the ROMs from, so there's that, haha.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1672340/Street_Racer/

I'll pick this one up too

@NoirConceit Well, that's a take.

@hste Your algorithm on X, like anywhere is as Nazi as you choose to engage in. I follow tons of awesome indie devs and post lots of Arcade Racing love, and I can count the amount of times drama and distateful things have popped up on one hand over the last couple of years.

Admittedly, that is all I do on there. But I think all social media should be like that. I know it's not, but it should be.

Yes please! These would be an awesome pick up. I've got a few new cassettes over the years, and gotta love that FM synth!

@smoreon Yeah, I wasn't a Chao guy either. I hope it's more balanced and rewarding here in Star Garden

No comments on this one yet? That's a shame!

I've played the demo a bit, and it's pretty fantastic so far. The Y2K vibes are strong, and not only does it feel like an on-point Dreamcast x Gamecube mashup, but I'm also getting some NiGHTS Into Dreams vibes from it.

Brilliant soundtrack too, I'll be grabbing this one on Bandcamp sometime soon!

This will be a no-brainer for me. An FPGA solution with power to run what I care about in a form factor that appeals? This'll be the moment I dive into the FPGA stuffs.

I'll finally be able to use my neGcon! My PSX died the moment I got it, and it's been sitting there staring at me all this time.

This makes me so happy, these guys are doing some fantastic work here, and hey, everybody can play SEGA Rally 2 again!

"Remute has primarily sold his music physically through websites like Bandcamp, but it appears that in order to satisfy a small portion of his fanbase he also recently started distributing his music through the streaming site Spotify as well, to make sure those who couldn't afford buying physical media would be able to listen to his music."

Bandcamp is primarily a digital platform - you can download .mp3 and .wav versions of every album you buy on there, as well as stream any album without charge through the website/app if you want.

It's all DRM-free, too. I have hundreds of album purchases via the platform, it's awesome. You an get physical discs, LPs and tapes too, to support the artists even more.

Brilliant platform, I'm a big supporter.

I got rid of Spotify last year, and just stream stuff I can't buy DRM-free on YouTube Music, which I get with my YT Premium sub.

@retrosumus That's completely understandable, not knocking your choices. I just offered up why I didn't personally back it, and it's because I find him counter to my tastes. No disrespect meant, you don't have to like everybody out there

I got turned off when they beat us over the head with Adam Koralik voice acting. Ego and celebrity do nothing for me, fortunately.

All of them, I want all of them

@Shaw_Brothers There's those of us out here who are happy to finally see all these early 3D arcade racers come home. They're still fun to play, and I love mastering the courses & bettering my times. I've played SEGA Rally Saturn for almost 30 years, and that only has 3 cars and 4 tracks.. never gotten tired of it once.

It's like any Arcade Archives game - you get out what you want to put in. I see a ton of value in this, and will be grabbing it on release

@axelhander Is 'slop' the latest trendy term? It seems like it's used over-dramatically to criticize everything in an opinion without giving a reason as to why.

@Porco The 'scene' has gotten pretty out of hand. I've even un-subbed from Retro Game Corps, although I do still watch the occasional PC/Gamepad related video.

I started turning off it whilst watching stuff like Retro Handhelds - they're just so nonchalant about owning so many devices - it's obvious they love getting stuff sent to them for free, and those devices will never see much play.

There's nothing wrong with a hobby, but most have gone straight past that into total addict territory. Owning your FOMO and online shopping addictions these days isn't noble or honest, it just shows the world there's a big void in your life needing to be filled with superfluous stuff.

@1040STF I agree that things should evolve, but it was literally devolving. WipEout IS the dual air-brakes; that's it's gameplay identity.

Instead of looking to the future, it started looking back, both in terms of setting and gameplay.

You can look to BallisticNG to see how WipEout officially could have evolved. Old-school gameplay, but refined and expanded, with tonnes of original ships, tracks, new modes and user-generated content. It's the parallel-universe version of WipEou4 that could have been, but you can play it today

@BausRifle Yep!

I can't get enough old-school game music

@turboxray I need to play it more, but yeah, it is good, for sure. It hasn't quite grabbed me yet, but I have to play more. A/V presentation is off the chain, and the gameplay is just fine.

I've played plenty of belt scrollers more revered that don't play as well.

@WileyDragonfly It's not anything special, but it definitely doesn't suck. There's no need for internet hyperbole; some justice is being served now that is out there in the wilds now

It warms my heart.

@Shiryu Indeed! I was iffy about that aspect before playing it, but it's great. The music, especially in mission 4, is brilliant too!

@Shiryu I was just about to say that. Cleared Hot is AWESOME. A more kinetic take on the Strike games, but it's a welcome evolution of the concept

I'm still waiting for 'Vespertino' to come out, haha! It looks stunning for the system! https://youtu.be/YAcd47eUZF4?si=h5wCsN8YfRNgpLqz&t=92

The relatively recent Pinball Dreams port was incredible, too.

Stunning stuff! I've always wanted a CPC - such a gorgeous machine. I love the colour scheme <3

The sprite in this version looks fantastic, and the music is pretty impressive too! I wonder if the framerate could be upped a tad?

Congrats team!

A racing collection would be cool, too! But yeah, I'd get this, for sure

@Ekkobelli You were saying?

@SlangWon My thoughts exactly. I can't see past the double-dip thing. Physical collectors are the whales these days, as publishers see it. Pessimism exists for a reason, and most everybody is out for theirs in the current gaming climate. I don't like it, but it is what it is.

I actually owned this one on the Dreamcast. Great game! I am pretty sure I have the XBLA release on my 360 too, from way back when.

I always loved the capture-and-swing mechanics

This was one of those famous Dreamcast games that came out after it 'died'. This, Under Defeat, Border Down, Radirigy, Psyvariar 2 and more all came out after it's death, which is quite insane.

And it's still a console that refuses to quit to this day - it warms my heart

@Peteykins It was a bad game when it came to controls, but if they've fixed it, then it could turn it into a super-fun platformer. The game design was fun, and only really let down by the bad controls. I'm looking forward to seeing just how well they've given the spit-n-shine.

Either way, it's awesome for preservation.

This is one of the most exciting things I've come across in ages. I was one of two kids at my school who I knew had a Saturn, so I feel like this exact aesthetic and design ethos is literally made for my tastes.

Love the colours, the shading, the chunky models, EVERYTHING!

@Quick_Man The same way you can appreciate prototypes. Nothing is worthless, man!