That was quite cool seeing that. I've never heard of that thing. but after looking it up, it looks like it's from 1982-1983, so at least 13 years prior to Mario 64 on N64 in 1996. I wonder how that would have been perceived back in those days(?)

@mjparker77 ; Yeah, for Nov 1993 release date hardware, it's pretty good considering the limitations. kind of funny seeing that chomp thing though which looks bad but still kinda of funny

If I took a guess, I would guesstimate importing was more of a thing outside of the USA(?). because at least in my day here in the USA in the 1990's (all of my teen years were in the 1990's) it just never crossed my mind. we just waited for standard game releases at places like Toys-R-Us etc. so I was one of the 9% who answered 'no' to the poll in the topic.

p.s. but if I had to sum up 1990's gaming for me in a nutshell... the 2D Mortal Kombat games would basically be 'the' game series that was most dominate for me in the 1990's when looking back on that decade as a whole (and those 2D MK games are still easily my #1 fighting games of all time to this day).

@madsonweb ; Yeah, but nowadays it's hard to beat emulation on a PC with stuff like Mesen for NES/SNES. it's free and works well. buying a physical device is generally not worth it due to higher costs and a person is largely buying it for the look more than anything else.

@Skipph ; I agree with you. but at the same time you can tell a generally quality movie vs more simple ones that might be amusing enough, but are nothing special etc. but I get the kind of movie this is, obviously one will have to keep expectations down etc.

because ultimately I always judge movies based on one primarily thing... how much I am interested/entertained on some level or another regardless of the type of movie it is. the ones that do that on a higher level I score high and the further they get away from that the lower the rating. it's by far the best way to judge movies as I always score movies in relation to all movies I have seen.

or put it this way... I have seen more than enough movies (i.e. 2,400+) to know it's very unlikely it will get more than a 6/10 for me (which is my minimum score for a Thumbs Up) and could be lower. but even if it's a 6/10, ill take it (which will basically at least slightly exceed what I am roughly hoping for). but if I took a guess as to what I would give it, probably a 5/10 (i.e. average, which is ultimately a Thumbs Down, but... could still manage to be at least okay enough for a one time viewing. so not bad).

but like I said above I am hoping it's at least a little better than the 1994 movie overall which was forgettable as it mostly boiled down to Van Damme (which with Van Damme we are seeing more Van Damme instead of the character) and Raul Julia to keep that okay enough for a one time viewing (which I actually saw for the first time in Aug 2026 (for the record... I am old enough to potentially have seen that movie when it was new back in 1994 though, but never did. but I did see Mortal Kombat (1995) opening day in theaters which was Aug 18th 1995)). but generally when I watch movies I hope they are interesting enough for me to re-watch from time to time as that's where movies are ultimately made or broke long term.

Obviously I am not expecting too much from it. but I am hoping at a minimum it's at least a bit better than the 1994 movie though.

Max Dood (and others like Justin Wong etc) might have a cameo in it as he posted a 10 minute video hours ago about it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkGzRevrMRs

p.s. but in all honesty, when it comes to these types of movies that were based on games I tend to back the two Mortal Kombat movies from 1995 and 1997 (yeah, I get the 1997 movie is 'bad' but it's a good example of so bad it's sort of good) and the recent 2026 'Mortal Kombat II' movie which was actually a bit better than I expected. so far those three are the only fighting games turned movies worth mentioning. but hopefully this can join those three. then again, maybe not.

@JTTHEGAME ; I would still put NES ahead of SMS overall as when you think of the very best games of each console, NES tends to win in my book. hell, just on Mike Tyson's Punch-Out alone tends to lock NES as king, for me at least. because if there is only one 8-bit game as my #1 it's probably that long term. I have a feeling SMS can't compete with NES when you get into the very best games from each console.

but like others have already said around here, SMS is not as big even in UK as some make it out to be given what others said in here like lilock3 etc. like SMS was a legit console there but it was not exactly blowing away NES from the looks of things where as here in USA it seemed SMS was off the radar unlike NES which is the clear peak of the 8-bit days here etc.

@pinkyShy ; hell, I am not a fan of wireless controllers as even if the controller is built to last, the battery will likely be the weak link long term. so at $70, like you, no thanks, as that's just too much for a controller in general. I think 8BitDo controllers is hard to beat for bang-for-the-buck.

even if I was to go wireless I want a more long term solution, which is running on regular AA batteries as then one can use quality rechargeable NiMh batteries like Eneloop (which is the original modern quality NiMh battery that hold's it's charge for years as these have been around since like 2005 off the top of my head as I still have my original 8-pack AA's from 2013 and they still work well (capacity has dropped from using them but they are still more than usable)) which will easily last years.

NiMh AA/AAA are far superior long term to your typical lithium BS that seems a lot of devices use nowadays (as lithium is good when it works well but long term NiMh is a better overall choice for a device you want to use more than say about 3-5 years). because the battery will tend to go bad far sooner than the device and ends up making the device junk far sooner than it should be.

p.s. but as a general guideline with random brand NiMh rechargeable batteries is that you can assume if it's 'made in Japan' it's built-to-last. if they are 'made in China' they tend to fail a lot quicker. like with Japan made ones you can generally assume they will 'easily' last years with many recharge cycles. China on the other hand tend to fail much sooner.

That game never worked like the original did. the original is one of my favorite N64 games (probably top handful). Blue Storm on the other hand never clicked for me as it's pretty much what I bought a Gamecube for initially but was basically disappointed as that's one console I pretty much regret buying back in the day.

but what makes Wave Race 64 (on N64) still remain strong to this day is the feel of it. it's basically my #1 non-vehicle racing game hands down. even counting ALL racing themed games it's still likely in my top handful or so.

p.s. but with Nintendo in general I always felt NES/SNES/N64 was Nintendo's hey-day for me personally as after that they were never quite the same.

@mjparker77 ; Question is... is that 'lag' have a noticeable real world effect or is it technically there but not really noticeable to have a real effect on gameplay? ; because I to am more of the mindset that this obsession over CRT is overrated. I used them back in the day but generally speaking have no desire to go back to those days.

because for example I can play the NES game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out on a PC and beat Tyson (there is not much room for error there either, so if lag was a legit issue it would likely be a problem here) and I don't notice any obvious issues there. I am NOT using any frame roll back either. so I am playing it straight up.

@mattitudemf ; you said, "While you’re not wrong about PC’s emulating games, playing on original hardware with the original controllers is just a better experience from a nostalgia standpoint."

Fair enough. but even here, I figure this would mainly be for a select amount of consoles/games (like ones you are more peak nostalgia on and not the more casual stuff) due to physical space they take up. so by and large I think emulation (on a PC) is king for older consoles.

@mattitudemf ; you said, "I’m in my mid 40’s and I’m thinking about how I don’t want to deal with hauling it around for the next 30-50 years of my life."

Exactly. personally besides any sentimental value, or potential selling stuff for thousands of dollars, it's not really worth collecting large amounts of physical games when a half decent PC can play all of these old consoles really well and don't take up any physical space besides the basic PC. besides, on any random console like NES/SNES/Genesis and the like, how many games are of any real worth (like actually playing them from time to time as the years pass)? ; ill bet only a small minority of them as apparently there is about 700 games for NES in the USA but I would argue very few are worth playing (even trying to account for varying tastes in games I can't imagine there is more than around 20-30 games worth playing, maybe 50 or so being very generous), especially on any semi-regular basis.

hell, just the amount of physical storage space a NES and roughly 700 games would take up, no thanks as even a NES and 20-30 games will start to add up, especially if someone does similar across other consoles like SNES/Genesis etc.

@Martin_H ; I completely agree. you basically nailed the core of it. it's not really about physically owning the stuff, but having a digital backup in our possession that we have 100% control over. because with computers thankfully we can easily backup the NES/SNES/Genesis and the like. hell, one could even burn the roms to a DVD recordable for long term backup besides having copies of data on HDD if they wanted etc.

ultimately a PC is king as playing games on a official console is not really that necessary anymore outside of nostalgia since emulation is basically just as good and a lot more convenient and it takes up a lot less physical storage space that way to, especially if a person starts collecting tons of games for any random system.

you said, "I like having physical things. I like paper books, vinyl albums, films on VHS and DVD, and games on discs and cartridges and floppy disks and on tapes. That isn't preservation. It's me owning stuff."

on a personal level... ill stick with CD's over Vinyl hands down as it's just a superior all-around physical format (as it's still the best format for listening to music outside of online/computer type of tech as Vinyl is just a outdated technology straight up unlike CD's as while I get most have moved on from music CD's and the like, it's still the peak of music playback format for a former mainstream way to play music and it's sound quality can never get outdated since it exceeds human hearing ability).

even with movies I prefer to store those digitally and locally on a hard drive and the like. this way I have access to it anytime I want. pretty much everything I care about I have a local copy be it music/games/movies on my hard drive or the like. takes control from corporations to the common person where it should be.

with VHS, it was good in it's day but that's it as anything older than DVD is just not worth keeping anymore from a practical usage and video quality standpoint, although HD is typically the sweet spot since I am confident that even good quality 720p videos/movies will never look bad even as technology advances. like 20-30+ years from now I still don't see 720p video looking anywhere near truly outdated. worse then it is now, maybe (but even if so, I don't think it will be by much overall). but will always remain closer to higher quality than lower quality as I feel TV technology has mostly plateaued (take say a 50" quality flat screen TV (which is basically like modern stuff) from about 2005 and compare it to a typical TV today, overall not that much has changed) and even physical size of TV can only get so large before it's overkill for a typical room size and I feel we are pretty much there for many years now. hell, even good quality DVD video, while obviously somewhat dated it still not what I could call 'bad' though, especially when you consider it's pretty much a late 1990's to early 2000's tech. so call it 25-30 years or so. basically I would say 720p is hard to beat in terms of bang for the buck (i.e. file size to image quality combo), maybe 1080p tops.

Personally I think watches like this are more for look (or potential collecting) than real world use.

p.s. I still use my basic Timex digital wrist watch (I always preferred digital over analog hands as it's more practical) I had for decades as I think the watch itself is roughly from early 1990's (runs on a CR2016 battery which I have to change roughly once every 5+ years (four small screws on back plate with two even smaller screws inside holding battery in-place inside of watch)) and what's great about my watch is it holds time quite accurately as time drift is very minimal, roughly a second or two after several months. because some clocks lose several seconds relatively quickly and makes them pretty much junk. like for example... I have another general digital clock in my room that displays seconds and syncs to atomic time four times a day which keeps it very accurate to the second. but if it was not for the time sync it would drift noticeably within a week or two which would make it so-so at best without the time sync it does (only way to semi-fix clocks like that would be to find out how much it drifts every six months, say it was 6 minutes forward, one could just set it 3 minutes behind real time and then by the six month mark it would be about a few minutes ahead as this would at least keep the clock always within a few minutes either way of the real time). because any half-decent clock should be able to retain very close to the atomic time after months pass. none of this being off by minutes or more in a fairly short period of time.

@CookieByte ; I have heard about the DS version (but I pretty much dumped handheld consoles after original Gameboy and Sega Gamegear days in about early-to-mid 1990's). while the DS port has extra stuff, from what I could tell, it's a watered down version compared to N64 overall. so I can see why the N64 was the preferred port overall back in the day.

@flomartin ; To be honest the only wheel I used was the official XBox360 one on games like Forza Motorsport etc. but honestly, I can play better (on Forza Motorsport series with all assists off of course since it's more challenging and makes you feather the gas/brake as it's less forgiving) with a controller. not just steering but especially gas/brake since, like I say, I don't think it's really possible for ones foot to be as precise as ones fingers with the finer details of brake/acceleration.

so while if I took a guess there are fancier setups with wheel etc, I can't see it being a significant enough difference for me to prefer it over a standard controller with analog stick/pressure sensitive triggers like usual on sim racers like Forza Motorsport and probably even more arcade ones overall.

so in short, I have zero desire to go back to a wheel using ones foot etc all-things-considered.

UMK3 is the clear cut peak of fighting games if you ask me as the games speed with run button, drop-in combo's, dial-a-combo really helps seal it and it's not overly complicated to play either. so while visual wise I can see some arguing in favor of MK2, actual gameplay UMK3 is better.

but nowadays when I play the arcade version of UMK3, I typically opt for the 'UMK3+ BETA II' through RetroArch using FBNeo etc. even for a console port to mix things up I usually opt for the Sega Genesis one by nemesis_c which is 6MB vs official versions 4MB as it restores missing content like Sheeva, sounds, pictures etc (i.e. https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3158/ ; it's a xdelta patch for Sega Genesis ROM. I load the general game through RetroArch). it's likely what we would have gotten had it not been for storage limitations back then on Sega Genesis. even with MK2, I go with 'MK2+ BETA II', which is basically this... https://www.zpaul2fresh8.com/game-hacks/mk ; no game data is there so it's safe to link to as it's basically IPS patch data you can use with programs like LunarIPS to patch the UMK3 or MK2 arcade data to convert it from regular to UMK3+ BETA II and MK2+ BETA II.

I get the general mindset of what's said in the article and I don't disagree. but I guess it just depends on a persons general viewpoint as some people don't really give a damn about enjoyment of the learning process, or challenging themselves to learn more etc etc and just want it to work (like even for random computer tech stuff I know that the common computer user might not know, they just want it to work and have no desire to learn much if anything about it even if it's not that difficult to learn as some people just have zero desire to learn certain things. but I get it as some stuff I have a interest to learn others won't and vice versa etc). but for those who do code, I totally get that persons mindset as you don't want to be too reliant on AI as he just uses it for limited amount of things to point him in the right direction as then he does it himself like usual, which he then likes since he basically did it all himself and will be more thrilling for him that way.

but as a person who knows nothing about coding (or the like), AI has helped me a bit from time to time with creating '.sh' files for use on Linux and the like to do certain limited tasks. in that regard it allows people who know nothing about coding or the like to do stuff they otherwise could not do at all and would have to rely on a limited ammount of humans who can do it (which one may or may not get any help at that point). so it gives more power to more people instead of it all with a limited amount of people. because truly learning what a lot of that convoluted stuff does is going to take a insane amount of time and I would have no idea where to begin etc. so realistically learning to code or thereabouts is not going to happen for me (which I assume sums up a very high percentage of people in general). plus, I am not even sure if I have the mind to do it as it's hard to say as I always wondered if I could get to a certain minimum point that doing some limited stuff might be doable for me. it's just reaching that minimum point (or as others said around here 'barrier to entry' (which is fairly high)) seems like a insurmountable task. so in the end I don't bother and I just stick with stuff I can more easily learn or at least nothing too strenuous that taxes the mind too much.

@Daric ; lol at your 'like most AAA games' comment ; it's funny because I can't really disgaree with it on a serious level which makes what you said a bit funny cause it's likely true. because while there is some exceptions here and there, it seems a lot of AAA games rely more on established series that have been around for decades now more than creating something new that people like a lot. so in the end they are sort of going through the motions for a decent cash grab is our typical mindset of the majority of AAA games.

It's still the best Mario game ever made to this day

p.s. I naturally run the PC port though nowadays though since it's just the best all-around way to play it due to improved camera, 60fps, HD graphics pack etc.

@flomartin ; Honestly, I think wheels make racing games more difficult to play as you got better all-around control with a standard controller, especially since your fingers are much more precise when applying brake and accelerating vs using ones foot. hell, even general controlling the vehicle is easier with a analog stick.

@slider1983 ; That's a fair point. although... I would probably argue if I was buying stuff to sell second hand, the disc would have to be at least reasonable shape otherwise I would offer them very little for it on the chance it just won't work. unless those 'scratch remover' things are quite reliable to return a scratched disc to near like-new state.

@carlos82 ; Exactly. because prices of $3,000-5,200 is rich people only level outright (as even on the low side it would be upper-middle-class at a minimum which eliminates a large portion of the general public right from the get-go).

because I figure around $2000 is pushing it hard (like for any general PC tech related stuff straight up) but much beyond that is just crazy money, especially for a handheld device like this. but realistically for a portable device even $1000 or so is bad enough, but at least still sane even though I would never pay it as for $1000 I would rather put it towards desktop PC stuff which is far more for your money overall.

I never understood disc scratch removers as anyone who actually cares about their optical media tends to take care of it so it's not damaged in the first place.

because while I get a person might not be able to keep their disc 100% flawless (like completely nick or scratch free), it's easy to keep it near 100% by taking basic measures when handling optical media. so anyone who has very scratched discs are the type who don't take care of their stuff in general, which I never understood as people like that would not be anywhere near my stuff.

@DanijoEX ; I have generally been sticking with Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden standard discs. they tend to offer a lot of bang-for-the-buck and are a bit more proven reliable as I got some from about late 2000's to early 2010's etc that still scan well in recent memory with KProbe. but generally if initial burn quality is good, it will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future.

I have heard of MDisc but I never bothered with them given their high cost and I suspect they don't offer a large enough benefit over standard quality discs. because the way I see it, even assuming MDisc last noticeably longer then what I have been using, I don't think it will be enough to matter.

like for example, say standard quality discs like I have last 'at least' 30-40+ years at least (which I think is plausible), chances are by the time those go bad I won't even care as ill be quite old etc. so even if say a MDisc lasted 100+ years, in practical terms it probably won't matter.

another factor with optical media in general is... lets assume what I have and MDisc's both last a long time. I would not be surprised if finding optical media drives becomes a issue before the discs themselves degrade to a unreadable state. because I don't think finding say a typical DVD burner with a SATA connection will be a problem for the foreseeable future, so that's good (I prefer DVD over BluRay recordable mainly because it's far more common). but who knows in say 20-30 years time if finding those and still using them will be a option. but my guess is as long as SATA connections on PC's remain common for the foreseeable future we don't have much to worry about. but if those are phased out, or if manufacturers stop making CD/DVD burners etc, then it might not be too long after that before being able to use those discs to read data starts to become a problem.

@MSaturn ; to me having 'physical' (or equivalent) is not really about asthetics etc etc, but has to do with practical long term use, especially on anything a person really cares about.

because anything that requires some sort of online connection to work gives too much power to the corporations as while when it works, I can see many saying it's 'good enough' as it's convenient, but the problem is they could easily cut you off and there is nothing you could do. like with games or movie streaming and the like.

that's why pretty much everything I care about when it comes to games/movies/music I always have a local way to use it with no internet needed. puts power back into the consumers hands this way instead of the corporations nickle-and-diming everyone to death.

I get if someone is a big fan of online games, then this might not be as much of a factor for them. but by and large I think single player games are better than multiplayer, although there can be some exceptions once in a while though.

with that said, it seems like nowadays many people just don't care and have a disposable mentality and never think long term. but I guess if you are the type who plays a random game, thinks it's good enough for a one time play, then moves on to the next game shortly after and pretty much forgets about the previous ones, then the direction things are headed probably won't bother these types.

so if gaming was total streaming, I would likely lose interest very quickly as something would have to be pretty damn good for me to deal with that BS. so if that happened, I would be be nearly exclusively sticking with the past. because I am generally not a fan of subscription based gaming.

like for example... say a person liked 'Game A' and had a monthly subscription of $20 to access it on a stream etc. if a person played a lot of new games each year it's possible that rate might be worth it as that would be $240 a year (or roughly equivalent to four new games currently). so you might come out ahead there 'on some level'. but say a person only played a more limited amount of games, that $240 a year would be too much at that point. or even factoring in people who can dodge the expensive subscription month-after-month and say only wanted to play say a couple of games a year and say they can finish each within a month. so call it $40 in that case (two seaprate months @ $20 each). that's a way to save some money, but say occasionally some of those games are all-timers people would want to revisit once in a while as the years pass. they would have to re-buy the $20 subscription to replay it and at this point between their initial price of $20 on initial playthrough and the replay say a few years down the road, that's now at $40 and if they replayed it again it's now $60. so you can see my point it will end up costing more long term with this 'steaming' than if they just bought it outright to where they can play it anytime they want offline etc.

Ultimately it's more about having a way to use games, movies, music etc completely offline more than physically needing it on say a disc etc. because requiring some form of online connection to access stuff can be a potential big problem for long term use as they could easily pull-the-plug and cut you off.

in that regard pretty much all of the stuff I care about, be it movies or games or music, I pretty much have a offline copy of.

p.s. I still burn some stuff to optical media though as it's still a decent option for long term backup for a limited amount of stuff. like general hard drive backup is a lot more convenient and what I generally do, but a smaller amount of higher importance things it's nice to have on DVD recordable as data backup. hell, I still occasionally burn a Audio CD for playing on CD players as for something outside of 'online' (like on a computer or the like), that still the best way to listen to music. but generally I listen to music (FLAC or MP3 etc) on my PC since it's speakers (Klipsch Pro-Media) I have had for probably close to 25 years now and even when I got these I knew I would never need to upgrade them since their all around sound quality is solid.

@Pawsebutton ; Yeah, looking back I can easily see why 3DO flies a bit TOO far off the radar since pretty much everyone who had the 'good stuff' in those days was on Genesis or SNES. even going to the 'very expensive consoles' standard, that would have favored the Neo Geo. so it just puts the 3DO in a bad spot as there is no real win with it even among people with money to burn.

so ultimately the 3DO is a novelty console for rich people. because at the end of the day it did not have the games nor a good price going for it (and having at least something in one of those two categories (price/games) is critical). so it's a lose/lose. so those with any real nostalgia for the 3DO have to be VERY limited.

@Deuteros ; I am not saying what I person can or can't give a high score, nor to what extent. I am simply stating people need to judge things more properly is all in the grand scheme of things of everything 'they' have seen (like based on their own personal opinion). it makes their ratings far more honest this way.

so I don't see any particular 'major issue' what what I am saying here(?) as it's very fair and honest. this applies to anyone. but as for what scores what, that will obviously vary some from person to person (so no problem here).

but for some reason you apparently have the mindset of I am 'telling people what to do'(?). it's not like that at all. like for example... put aside my opinion or your opinion on a random game or movie etc and just simply taking a random person and have them use that basic rating system. it's well thought out and reasoned since a 5/10 is middle-of-the-road-average and then things scale up and down fairly evenly from there (it's really that simple). I figure 7's and higher are where the true gems start, which makes sense. because as I previously mentioned you can see the masses have a tendency to skew scores a bit too high on stuff they likely will forget about not long after etc. which if this is the case, something around a 5/10 sounds a lot more reasonable/honest.

but even in regards to myself, like I said, about 80% of everything I have seen is a 5/10 or less. which if you think about it sounds roughly correct simply because on any random movies or games or music etc, to ask any random person a very simple question... how much of it is of any real worth long term to most people?

sure, there is some. but right off the top a 'easy' majority of it is largely forgettable (hence, how I have rated stuff pretty much reflects that obvious truth). I don't really think this is a opinion, it's just the way it is and I think I could safely claim that for most people to. surely you don't disagree with me on this very basic point, correct? (i.e. that most stuff on random games or movies or music is nothing special)

so if you agree with me here, I don't see how you could disagree with my basic rating system even though I get scores for stuff 'will' vary from person to person (so no issue here) as, like I said, I have no issue with that at all, just that they are honest is all, which the rating system I use is well tuned in that regard.

p.s. I am not arguing with anyone etc, I am just making a simple/honest point. which is actually beneficial for people in general to judge things that way or thereabouts.

Hell, I just stumbled into Alisia Dragoon looking around on YouTube (on random retro stuff of Genesis vs SNES games and the like) and I got to say this is a quality game as I think what partially makes it, besides it having a good feel to it (although it took me a while to get used to jumping and attack) it's a bit unique to.

I am playing it on the PC through RetroArch with my 8BitDo Ultimate 2C wired controller. in about 3.5hrs of playtime, as this was my first time playing, I got to the end of Level 4 boss so far playing straight up. but after dying a fair amount, I ended up creating a save state just before the boss to learn it a bit more (by playing it over and over) and then proceeded to get past Level 5 and it's boss (I think that Level 5 boss is probably easier than Level 4 based on my limited experience so far). I am currently trying to take out 'Level 6' etc, which that level is weird (given you are on a weird angle and it's tricky to figure out how not to get hit and do damage etc) as I am going to have to learn how to play it more. but I 'hope' to eventually get good enough so then I can make a proper run to beat it straight up without a save state. but the save state stuff is good for practicing. but without the save state the furthest I can claim is to have gotten to the boss on Level 4.

p.s. but I don't get the overpraised box art on the Japanese version compared to what's shown there which is better if you ask me.

@Deuteros ; you clearly missed the point. it was not as simple as that. the core of my point was a proper way for people to judge things in the grand scheme of things instead of spamming high scores for fairly standard stuff. it's really that simple.

it's hard to respect peoples opinions when they are not honest is all. it's nothing personal. it's just the way it is. I am basically trying to help others judge things more honestly is all. but instead it's taken as a 'disrespecting others' or 'arguing'. o well, some people you can't reason with.

anyways, have a good day. ill end it here and thanks for your time.

His voice for Shao Kahn (MK2/MK3/UMK3 etc) and the general announcer (who's Kahn) is THE standout among ALL fighting games if you ask me.

the only one who can challenge him is Chris Sutherland from Killer Instinct (1994) (and he's in the 2010's Killer Instinct to as the alternative announcer). all other fighting games pale in comparison to these two.

but Ritchie takes it mostly because you can tell Sutherland's 'Ultra Combo' etc, while sounds great, is heavily modified where as Ritchie actually sounds like that (from some sound clips of the old days I have seen on YouTube etc).

p.s. for the record... the 2D MK games are still easily my #1 fighting games of all-time to this day (with UMK3 (arcade) being the all-around peak).

@slider1983 ; honestly, I think T2 No Fate was solid as it does what it does well overall. which is quick pick-up-and-play like a more old school arcade type of game but with a T2 theme. while I can't say I have played past terminator games etc, I can't see something topping that overall as it does the old-school 2D type of game it is well.

it's even challenging to as I think in terms of difficulty it did that pretty well as the easiest setting is for people who just want to go through the game to see it play out and who don't want a real challenge as I would suggest most people don't play it on easiest setting but 'at least' one up from that (i.e. normal) as I think normal or hard is the sweet spot (there is four settings off the top of my head).

in fact, for games I played for the first time from 2025 to date (meaning any games from any time period) it would rank #4 based on total play time in the game (at about 26-30hrs) behind... 1)Hollow Knight (2017) 2)Expedition 33 (2025) 3)Absolum (2025) 4)T2: No Fate (2025).

@Deuteros : I don't know about everyone else but I am not a person who routinely gives movies overly high scores. in fact, less than 150 movies out of 2,450+ total movies I have seen managed to score a 7/10 or higher.

any movie I score a 7/10 or higher is among my favorite movies. it's just that only about 6 percent of everything I have seen managed to pull it off. if I count movies a bit shy of being a favorite that total rises to about 225 movies, or roughly 9% of everything I have seen etc.

hell, I would argue movie quality in recent memory (say the current 2020's decade) has been the all-around worst in a long time as the volume of movies that stand out have taken a solid hit.

p.s. for the record... only 17 movies in total of all movies I have ever seen managed to score a 9/10 or higher for me (i.e. five 10/10's and twelve 9/10's). to state the obvious I always rate movies based on how much I enjoy watching them all-around as it's the only honest way to judge movies long term. because in a very basic sense movies are in one of two categories for me... A)ones I re-watch here and there as the years pass. or B)movies I don't re-watch once in a while. based on that standard only around 20% of everything I have seen manages to be re-watch worthy. but like I say it's more towards the 6-9% range that 'stands out' from the pack to be among my favorites or thereabouts. basically if ill re-watch a movie it cannot score below a 6/10. if I won't re-watch a movie I cannot score higher than a 5/10 (which is ultimately a Thumbs Down). that's by far the best all-around way to judge movies since it's honest. because ultimately the general point of watching movies is to find ones you want to re-watch here and there as the years pass as it's what separates the truly good movies from 'just another movie'. so as you can see I tend to use the 1 through 10 rating scale more properly where as the masses tend to spam high scores too often. like they will give a movie a rather high score and then forget about it and move onto the next thing which if they are doing that a 5/10 sounds a lot more realistic as a 5/10 is not a bad score but ultimately I consider it a negative given the re-watch vs not-watch thing is the dividing line.

@Exerion76 ; it's simply people with too much money and the disordered obsession to acquire more useless stuff that only the extreme rich would bother with.

hell, even if I had money to burn (like billionaire level), there is only so much one can realistically buy/want before people are just buying stuff to buy stuff. but it's like many people always have this disordered desire to buy a lot of useless stuff. like with houses or cars etc etc, you can only buy to a certain point before it's overkill/largely pointless.

hell, I would argue if any random person had say $10 million or so tops it's plenty to last a very long time (i.e. spend a average of $125,000 a year over 80 years is $10mil and those who already got a bit of age on them could spend that much more and still struggle to spend it. like say $250,000 a year for 40 years would be $10mil) and one could still easily live a more than comfortable life. just none of that major overkill luxury stuff no one really needs.

Total insanity. anyone who does stuff like that is corrupt as hell. courts should just flat out reject his BS. people who sue for next to nothing like this are just bad people outright.

@jygsaw : ill make it clearer for you... mobile gaming sucks ; no real gamers use smart phones to play games on. it's either a PC or console and that's pretty much it. always has been, always will be in my mind. because smart phones by default are not meant for gaming given the touch screen is a joke for playing games on (I am aware of people connecting a controller of some sort here and there, but even here it's still not a proper gaming device but sort of a hacky way to play games on it).

so gaming (at least any games of any real worth) on a smart phone is basically a hard no from me.

p.s. PC gaming is by far the best all around gaming device long term though. especially given we can emulate the best consoles on it for a rather long time now. hell, I would argue console gaming's hey-day has already passed (i.e. NES through the 1990s, maybe 2000's tops). nowadays it seems like maybe Nintendo is about the only one that makes consoles still appealing on some level due to exclusives. but outside of that PC dominates in my mind at this point in time (and probably for 'at least' the last 15 years or so).

Original Gameboy Tetris is still my favorite version of that game. NES would be a alternate choice for me and then everything else is pretty much crap as I don't like those variations of Tetris, just the standard stuff from Gameboy or NES.

Like already mentioned... it's quite simply NOT worth it at a $300 price increase. it was already too expensive before the price increase. now it just makes no sense at all, especially since it's not like a fairly high end device or thereabouts either as at $800-950 it had better be a device that can easily play the latest games etc for many years to come.

makes one wonder if prices of PC hardware will ever return to semi-normal(?) or if things are going to remain inflated for the foreseeable future.

I get AI can be good for some uses, but when it starts really screwing over most people (on general prices of PC hardware etc), it just ain't worth it overall. but sadly, AI ain't going away. so whatever happens, it's going to play itself out for better or worse.

p.s. but given all of the price BS on pretty much everything lately, ill just continue to hang onto my desktop PC's 3rd gen i5 + NVIDIA 1050 Ti setup. I had my NVIDIA GPU since 2017, which is the longest I ever owned a primary GPU for. hell, my motherboard I had for 14 years this month which is easily the longest I had a primary PC for as my previous high was 6 years and 2 months. but basically when I got my GPU back in July 2017 I think I paid $135 for it at the time which was a decent price for a respectable GPU. but it seemed like not all that long after that prices started to shoot up with Bitcoin BS etc and now it's just getting worse because of AI. but basically one should be able to get a half-decent GPU for no more than $200, maybe $300 high side. but at the rate things are going it's going to price a lot of people out of stuff that used to be reasonably priced to where you are going to have to have money to burn to buy any half-decent PC hardware. because I don't need anywhere near high end, just something that can do 1080p @ 60fps (although I could get-by on 30fps+ since 30fps is still easily playable) for a fair price.

@TakahashiYellow ; naturally ; emulation is still the best by far for bang-for-the-buck when possible.

but like mentioned above... anyone who has a moded Wii, which is easy enough to do, can just use the built-in drive to rip games from original disc.

@Bot_Bot_69 ; Yeah, that XBLA (through Xenia emulator on PC) works and feels just like original, but with a bit better graphics (I briefly played it roughly a year ago for the first time). I think that leaked one was roughly from the 2006-2007 time frame if I recall correctly. but was never released due to some BS rights issues etc from what I heard.

but as far as the general topic... the feel of the GoldenEye game is unique as I particularly like the feel of the DD44's.

The answer is obvious overall as there is no real debate here... Software Emulation.

because to state the obvious... there is too small of a real world difference to justify hardware that costs $100-200+ (and the higher the hardware costs the bigger this gap gets) over something that's basically free (assuming you got a half-decent PC) and just as good in the real world for pretty much everyone. because those who claim 'lag' as a primary excuse for hardware being better, I think that's greatly exaggerated, especially if you are using a decent software emulation setup.

my evidence... if there was any real noticeable difference to where it was a real problem, then it would be unlikely I could beat Tyson six times in a single day (back in Sep 2025) on Mesen2 emulator for the PC using my 8BitDo Ultimate 2C wired controller (it's a solid bang-for-the-buck controller) which they say has a 1000Hz polling rate for whatever that's worth and I am NOT using 'Run Ahead' at all as it's on it's default of '0', so I am playing it straight up. because on say Tyson specifically ones room for error is minimal and if there was any obvious controller lag on that fight specifically, it would be most noticeable.

or to put it another way... those who 'claim' to notice a difference, if I was playing the odds, I doubt the vast majority of those types could notice it in a double blind test. like if they had to tell the difference purely from playing using exact same controller and screen etc on FPGA or real hardware vs software emulation and without them knowing which it was running on and do it say twenty times with it being random of whether they are using software emulation or real hardware/FPGA etc. I am sure you get my point

p.s. even for the more hardline nit-picking types (like even trying to go out of ones way in favor of real hardware)... I would be curious to see what someone like 'Summoning Salt' (record holder for Punch-Out) would say about hardware vs software because I figure if it's not a big deal there, or even if there are some differences but nothing that a very high percentage of gamers could notice, then ultimately it's a non-issue short of the extremely talented pro-level types which excludes nearly everyone. because I figure for something to be a legit issue it would need to be something the common gamer or so could easily notice and makes them do noticeably worse on a game because of it.

@pocketmoon ; While I get it's a popular series, I tend to agree with you. I don't get it's appeal either. there is much better games out there to say the least.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I just got this going on Linux. I turned on bilinear filtering as it's a bit too pixelated without it and raised resolution to 1920x1080 (as without doing that it starts in a small window). I was using a fairly recent version of MAME but ill likely stick with this new emulator since they claim it's better. I never looked into the online stuff, but this supposedly has it.

the final usable game size is "92.0 MiB (96,474,783 bytes)" which the programs they give you to create it, name it "kinst.bighard" which you load into main emulator.

p.s. besides the 2D MK games, which are my clear #1 fighting games of all-time (with the peak being UMK3(arcade)), I would say Killer Instinct (1994) is probably my favorite outside of those as it's really the only one of any real worth outside of the MK games back in those days (I never understood the appeal of Street Fighter series etc as those just ain't as fun to play as 2D MK games are easily #1 and for a non-MK game Killer Instinct (1994) would likely be my choice). but one things for sure, when it comes to announcers no one tops Steve Ritchie(MK2/MK3/UMK3 etc) or Chris Sutherland (KI(1994) etc). although you can tell Sutherland is heavily modified unlike Ritchie who basically sounds like that.

@sdelfin ; Speaking of 'Super Mario World' (on SNES) I beat that for the first time not long ago now on Mesen2. but I did use a infinite lives cheat, although other than that I played it straight. but I find that game more frustrating then fun. I would say I had more enjoyment out of Donkey Kong Country (I played for first time Aug 2025 using infinite lives cheat) even though I like Mario more in general (primarily because of Super Mario 64).

NOTE: I enjoyed watching Max Dood (popular fighting game channel on YouTube) playing World for the first time not long ago (he happened to 100% the game (which I did not do)), which he has a real SNES, than actually playing it though as for Mario games 'Mario 64' is easily my #1 as it's stuck with me the most long term (I played it when it was new) that I still enjoy the most to this day. I play the MorsGames PC port nowadays as it's the best because it's got widescreen, 60fps, improved camera and a HD graphics pack etc (the backwards long jump exploit still works, but I did not take advantage of it) and I 100%'ed it on my last playthrough last year (likely my first time 100%'ing it).

my playthrough of Punch-Out in Nov 2024 I basically went 10-0, lost to 2nd Don Flemenco, so 10-1, then won straight to Tyson for a 13-1 record (so I was 13-1 going into Tyson fight). but after beating Tyson my final record was 14-46, so I lost 45 times in a row on Tyson before winning (NOTE: I just reloaded a save state after losing on 2nd Don Flemenco (to start of Round 1) and counting it as a loss 'if' I decided to reload a save state to Round 1 on Tyson. but I don't think I did it much if at all on Tyson since anytime I did it, I counted it as loss just to see how I would do. so I likely just played it as best as I could and if I lost, I lost). I suspect that's probably the best run I had (like playing game from start to finish) or not far from it (although I can't say for sure, since I generally never count that stuff, so I did it that time just to see how I would do). but when I did this, I was looking up some strats on YouTube as there is definitely some stuff I learned to use that helps on characters (Tyson, Super Macho Man and maybe a bit more) that I did not know in the old days in the early 1990's when I beat it on a real NES. so in a way I consider that a bigger accomplishment than my more recent stuff even though I do think I have gotten better at the game lately than in the old days (but I was early teens tops back in the early 1990's as all of my teenage years were in the 1990's).

also, on that playthough I beat Tyson with TKO in Round 3 at 2min46sec mark with 9,340 points. if I waited another 14 seconds I would have won by decision as winning by decision I think requires a minimum of 5,000 points. but usually on my random Tyson fights 'if' I do win, there is a decent chance it will be Round 2 as if the fight goes on too long I might end up losing even though I have won in Round 3 here and there. because even when I do generally beat Tyson I would guesstimate a large portion of the time I have gotten knocked down twice within that first 1min30sec on timer of Round 1 (which is basically the hardest part), so it does not leave me much room to breathe for the rest of the fight.

@sdelfin ; I did not use Run-Ahead at all (it's set on '0', which is the default, which is basically disabled) as it's basically cheating. I played NES Tyson straight up when I beat Tyson six times in a single day (I did beat Tyson in the old days on a real NES back in the early 1990's).

side note on Tyson... save states are nice for practicing though, like if a person is struggling to get out of the first round, once they do, it's a good idea to create a save state before Round 2 starts, this way if you lose you can reload (at start of Round 2) and keep practicing until you feel you are good enough and then do a proper run from start to finish playing straight up. when I won I played straight up. although I likely did load a save state when losing though, but it was before Round 1 started, so it's basically legit unless someone is full-on nit-picking or trying to set records in which case any use of save states are not allowed. but basically what I did is legit as it just saves me time re-entering the Tyson code each time you lose (but I am sure I have beat it here and there with entering the code without using any save state whatsoever).

prior to getting that 8BitDo Ultimate 2C wired controller at the end of 2024 (on Linux any kernels older than 6.12 require setting up a udev rule for it to work in the controllers preferred Xinput mode) I was using a official wireless XBox360 controller and it's USB dongle (which I had since I think 2006) and, as you probably already know, it's dpad pretty much sucks. so the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C was a solid upgrade over that. on a side note, I still have another brand new XBox360 controller in box (I doubt ill ever open it at this point).

but yeah, I can't complain with the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C overall as it's hard to beat for performance/price combo (and has hall-effect sticks/triggers which supposedly don't develop stick drift). hell, when I got that controller I bought two since given the shipping costs it was not much more for me to get two controllers, so I did that instead. but I have not even opened the second one as it's still new in the box.

also, I think some people are obsessed with "input lag" even though in the real world it's too small to matter. maybe there is some scenario's where it's a issue(?) but I think it's exaggerated by-and-large. because at least with Mesen2 (on Linux) using that 8BitDo controller I can't say I notice any obvious issues on NES Tyson as it feels normal/good to me.

also, I have used a Sega gamepad before, I don't remember having any obvious issues with those, but I have probably not touched a real one since the 1990's. I had a Sega Saturn at one point to back in the 1990's (I still have my Dreamcast but it's dpad, while not horrible, I would consider it a downgrade vs the 8BitDo controller I have for PC usage).

p.s. on a side note... a while ago I was using Run-Ahead on a Wii with a emulator playing NES Tyson just to mess around and ramped up the run-ahead a lot and it was blatantly obvious it was cheating as you could basically see Tyson swing to where you would definitely be knocked down, but yet you could still fairly easily dodge (it looked weird on screen to).

@-wc- ; I can't complain about SNES dpad ; I have never touched a Neo Geo, but when it comes to dpads in general it's hard to go wrong with a Nintendo-like dpad as I feel that's the best all-around dpad design as it's the one that stuck with me the most long term.

p.s. my current general use controller on PC for playing games, or even old school games on Mesen2 (NES/SNES emulator etc), is 8BitDo Ultimate 2C (wired). I have not touched a real SNES controller in probably 30+ years now, but that 8BitDo controllers dpad feels similar off the top of my head (there might be differences but nothing I would complain about). or put it this way... it's good enough for me to take out Tyson in NES Punch-Out (on Mesen2 emulator for PC) six times in a single day last year and that's one game you can't afford to have a so-so dpad or reaction time.