ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@honuk Is this really true? Because I've never, ever had a SEGA controller conk out on me. Be it Mega Drive or Saturn, or any other to be honest; they all still work. I haven't heard of it either.

Just for the unit with no games, it's under $100 AUD from Ali Express, which I find quite insane. Totally in the realm of a day-one , no-brainer insta-purchase for me.

I'm prepping an SD with the entire GBA library for its' arrival

This looked great, but I tried the demo and hated it.

This kind of gimmicky FPS game is definitely not for me. The aesthetic is very nice, but I don't think the constant visual crazy thrown at your eyeballs is actually in keeping with its inspirations; these Anime Cyberpunk 90s classics had a lot of down-time inbetween the visceral over-the-top bits, and this has none of that.

Also, the gameplay just does nothing for me. A bit of a shame, really!

Yeah, that character design is completely off-putting for me... it's a shame, because technically it looks great.

But those with this kink look well served

@Sketcz Noooooo, Redbook is UNDERATED!!!

Seriously, I love chip-tunes, but I love Redbook more; it's a snapshot of a certain golden era of 80s and 90s Synthesizers, Samplers, Drum Machines and MIDI modules.

It's probably why I love the Mega Drive sound chip so much, because it sounds so much like a DX-7

@KitsuneNight Yeah, the FOMO is right there in the company name - Limited Run Games.

Limited Run basically turned me off Physical media. I kinda figured if the only real choice we have to nab physical copies of games was a company quite obviously and shamelessly capitalizing on the death of physical gaming media, then I'd rather just go all digital.

I've been going more and more minimalist these days generally, and GOG, ROM and ISO collections are the ultimate in preservation anyways, so I think it's more fun to find devices you can tinker with and play ALL your games on. I've even still got ROMS floating around on a hard drive somewhere that I downloaded when I was in High School...

I think finding suitable controllers take you most of the way there anyways. 8bitDo and Retro-Bit have the PSX, SNES and SEGA Experiences down pretty well.

There's definitely something to be said for the original hardware experience, but I'll always have those memories and that is enough for me.

That was the long way of saying that I've never trusted Limited Run Games and their overt exploitation of the last bastion of gamers who want to hold onto physical media

I love to tinker, so as soon as an FPGA solution comes out that is affordable AND lets me customize the look to make it look like a legitimate console (similar to the mini Mega Drive & SNES cases for Raspberry Pi units), then I'll be all over it.

At the moment though, it is prohibitively expensive to get into, and I get absolutely fine results from software emulation, so I don't feel like the cost is worth it to jump on board just yet.

@ShawnS A native PC port with high framerates and configurable controls would be awesome!

Never heard this particular soundtrack until I just checked it out on YouTube, but yeah, it's pretty amazing!

The OST had me at 'Map'

Absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. I am really looking forward to this, it's looking so faithful to the franchise.

Yeah, this is great, and still super impressive to this day.

I also remember the UK Press completely ripping on this and the sequel back in the day in all the mags. They were whipping boys for some reason, which I never understood, because whilst they weren't amazing racers, both were definitely good enough.

@jbrodack Agreed. FPGA emulation HASN'T revolutionized retro gaming. Ripping ROMS and ISOS and using Software Emulation did, way back in the 90s. Because of those things, flash carts are possible. I'd argue that dedicated handheld emulation machines have revolutionized retro gaming too. So many options to have 100,000 + retro games on your person at any one time.

FPGA hardware emulation is amazing, but definitely isn't as user-friendly as software emulation solutions, and has yet to reach any point of critical mass.

And if all this in-fighting is an indication, it'll take a while for that to happen.

Agree with Lara - she was absolutely everywhere, and hasn't really let up with games or movies. But she could easily be interchangeable with Mario, Sonic or Pikachu. The rest of the list though? There's some bizarre choices in there. Sackboy???

Looks great, but I'd love to see this without the HD-2D filters, effects and lighting. If it was straight-up 2D sprites in a 3D engine, I think it would look brilliant. I'm always a fan of that SEGA Saturn/PSX style

@mariteaux Spell Effects for an RPG would be a good one! 😁

Very early footage, but it's very impressive so far. If he can keep the framerate where it is right now, then yeah, I'm all for this

This is FANTASTIC news for NES owners. I'll never own a physical unit again, but opening up new controller options and all the rest is brilliant for NES fans

Aaaand I haven't stopped playing it in all those 30 years.

From the Arcade, to the Saturn ports/versions, the Dreamcast game, the Xbox 360 port and also via Model 2 Emulator, I've never not had Daytona on tap.

Classic gameplay, timeless visuals and tech and amazing music; I'd say Daytona is in a class of its own, but SEGA Rally Championship also exists

@_NetNomad Yeah, it totally looks very Dreamcast to me with the higher-res sprites!

This looks amazing; I'll jump on this when it goes early access. It looks like it plays well, so I'm pretty hopeful!

Yeah, this looks AWESOME! From Steel Talons (on the Lynx) to all the shareware flight sims I tried to play when I was younger, this looks like it'll hit a very specific spot.

Wishlisted instantly.

The easiest 60-odd comments ever

@alexybubble Didn't know they had a Discord, will check it out! And thanks for the info

This definitely sucks though, one of the few genuinely great sites on the internet. An absolute treasure trove of forgotten gems and hacks that deserve to be out there and loved by everybody.

@wiiware not if you're into 80s/90s anime it isn't!

Not really surprising, since that whole Top 10 is GOLD. SEGA Rally would be my number 1, for sure.

There's too many games I love for me to make a Top 10. Keio Flying Squadron 2 would definitely be Top 3 , though!

The most successful was obviously the Mega Drive, but my number one will always be the Saturn.

The Saturn had an amazing software library. People talk ***** on the PAL experience, but I had many, many games I adored... I had more than enough to play during its life-time. Then when I was a little bit older, I got myself a Japanese Saturn and got educated on the Japanese library.

Also, you rarely find it mentioned much these days, but the Redbook CD soundtracks you found on the discs were GOLD. That was as much a part of the experience for me. Making mix-tapes, then mix CDs and finally building MP3 libraries was a whole heap of fun. I'd listen to many of them in my Discman while I was going to sleep. I ripped all my Saturn soundtracks years ago now, and have a huge collection of amazing music. I've even contributed some of them to KH Insider

Gave this a crack just now. Controls are great - most definitely getting there. It needs some fine-tuning, but for a Beta, it's very impressive.

My only issues are with the visuals. They're going for that PSX look, but the textures are a bit bland and clinical. Some shading and texture variation will do wonders.

The music is OK, but definitely needs work too.

Will keep an eye on this one - hopefully it can develop a personality of its own, because it's screaming 'Indie Ridge Racer Clone' at the moment, which is fine, but there's so much promise here that I'd like for it to aim higher than that.

I voted 'somewhere in the middle', but really, I never ditch anything that I like. Movies, music and games that I love don't every disappear into the past; they stay in rotation with me forever.

I don't chase trends, so I don't drop things for the next shiny thing, I keep enjoying what I love.

Nostalgia is only ever a part of it because it's inevitable - a certain game will have memories and feelings attached to it over time, but even then, it's never just in one state - those memories evolve.

"No, the Casino was an original idea from my imagination. Any similarity is a coincidence."

A pretty galling statement. I don't see any coincidence here. The monitor and lights are nigh-on carbon copies.

Cheers for the review! Just a bit of a nitpick, though...

"Now, it's fair to say that not all of the bundled games are worth your attention or time, but despite a few bum notes, the vast majority are decent."

It's a shame that there's no mention of all the actual games on the cart here, that way I could decide this for myself

For those interested:

• 8 Eyes
• Brave Battle Saga
• Canon: Legend of the New Gods
• Dorke and Ymp
• Drakkhen
• Dragon View
• Exploding Fist
• The Humans
• The Immortal
• Iron Commando
• Jim Power: The Lost Dimensions
• Magic Girl
• Nightshade
• Power Piggs of the Dark Age
• Power Punch II
• Radical Rex
• Switchblade
• Tinhead
• Top Racer
• Water Margin: A Tale of Clouds and Wind

I think time has proven that it was most definitely a Final Fantasy movie. It was its own thing, just like every subsequent game. This one was militaristic sci-fi, and all the games have had their own setting; steam punk, dark fantasy, high fantasy, time-travel.

I think the movie would have worked better with better characterisation, because the basic plot was fine.

I did love the movie though, and that Lara Fabian song was great!

Talk about a series that needs a comeback!!!

Lucky there are indie devs willing to keep this particular candle burning; hat TXR-inspired game Night Runners is shaping up super nicely

@RadioHedgeFund I used to be a d-pad die hard too until I discovered BallisticNG. Before it even hit Steam and was buried in the WipeoutZone forums, people had healthy debates on d-pad vs analog. It took me a while to learn, but yeah, analog is my preference now. I still love the d-pad controls though, they've always been super playable that way

Also, Wipeout 64 has very different controls to the main games. The physics are a bit different, maybe that's why you don't get along with it either? EDIT: Or you do... I should learn to read properly

@RadioHedgeFund Not quite - Saturn 2097 and Wip3out both have analog stick control. There's also NegCon support for the first two PSX titles, so really, there's been analog options since the beginning

@RadioHedgeFund

Yeah, pretty much! I played that game for years on end. When Pulse came out, I was kinda disappointed in it.

There are some amazing PSP iso hacks for both.

One for Pure that includes all the DLC content, and another for Pulse which includes ALL THE PURE CONTENT. Insane, and unarguably the best versions of both, since you can either play them on real hardware, or emulate

It warms my heart to see 2097 and Wip3out in the top two spots, but Wip3out SE is the version of the third game I'm seeing instead of the vanilla version.

I'd also put 64 waaaay up at third, just above WipEout in my fourth, Pure in my fifth spot and and the Omega collection in my sixth.

Everything else can go underneath

Wow, it looks pretty stunning! Loving the colour and design, and the boss sprites are pretty enormous too!

That music is pretty terrible though. It sounds like a really bad amiga game, which bizarre percussion panning. And every track has that grating pipe lead instrument.

One to play on mute, I think

AC IV Black Flag for SURE! I loved my Wii U, and it was one of the first games I got with it. Ended up grabbing it on PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One too, eventually

@cyxceven Yep, I hope the whole entire original trilogy leaks

Looking forward to this! I ended up getting a Powkiddy RGB10Max3 Pro to compliment my RGB30 recently. It feels great, but sadly I got a dud screen out of the box, so I'm waiting on a replacement screen at the moment. I got it mostly for PSP and Dreamcast, and also for multiplayer.

The Retroid Pocket 4 Pro might be my first Android handheld console though... I've been waiting for something with the Retroid aesthetic that can handle PS2 and Gamecube well, so I might get this for myself as a birthday present next year.

Then I'm done with buying handhelds... everything I want to emulate will be fully covered

@-wc- I just don't think they had much identity initially. I didn't like the gameplay in the first game, and the second game didn't grab me either. I feel like Tekken 3 was when it found it's groove and became a series to be absolutely mentioned in the same breath as Virtua Fighter 2. I felt the same way about Soul Edge... Calibur changed that series forever.

I wish it was simple brand loyalty to SEGA, but I really dig the PSX at the time too, so I can't blame my teenage brain, haha.

Don't take me too seriously, I'm not very good at fighters, but I love them all the same, haha! Hell, I still love the first couple of Toshinden games to this day, although I think that's more because of the character designs and stellar music, if I'm being honest

@Ryu_Niiyama Yeah, it's a great game, and it is still gorgeous

What I love about the VF series is that you can go all the way back to the first game and still have an experience that is fantastic. They nailed it right from off, which was an astounding achievement, considering it was the first 3D fighter out there! VF1 is just pure arcade goodness, and VF2 is just as brilliant now as it was on release. The same goes for 3 and mostly 4. 5 is timeless also.

I didn't like Tekken until Tekken 3, and I stopped caring about the series after Dark Resurrection.

@-wc- I was a SEGA kid, and owned a Saturn, and therefore, lots of Saturn Magazines ( ) , so I knew the Dreamcast was coming well in advance. Man, the hype, haha! It was very, very real.

Amazing launch too, there were so many games at release, making choices was HARD.

@-wc- Agreed! The Dreamcast was the first console I purchased with my own hard earned money.

I remember back when just standing in Electronics Boutique, ogling the Sonic Adventure demo. And then SoulCalibur started to play and my jaw hit the floor. I'd never seen anything like it, and neither had anybody else. That's what made it so special. It made VF3 look a generation behind, and that's saying something, because VF3 was the gold standard!

@-wc- I have two games like that, haha; the Saturn port of SEGA Rally Championship and SoulCalibur on the Dreamcast.

I love Demons of Asteborg. It's a great game that plays really, really well. I do wish the audio (including the amazing SavagedRegime OST) were in this one too, as I really don't get along with roguelikes like Astebros, but what's there is great, just not as refined as Astebros, unfortunately.

RecalBox comes with the Astebros demo, and I really tried to give it a shot, but yeah, the roguelike nature of it is incredibly off putting to me.

@UK_Kev You can use analog controls with pretty much any emulator these days, so give it a try if you want!

It took me a while to come around to Wip3out, but when I did, it quickly became my favourite, just piping out 2097 to the post.

To be honest, I really loved Pure when I got it at the PSP launch, but I am not really a fan of the floaty controls these days. The controls are FANTASTIC, they're just not for me. The Pure vibe though, is brilliant. I love its' style, it's got it's own thing going on. Pulse, not so much... never got along with that one for some reason.

@UK_Kev The original games did have analog control. Neg-con support for the first two, but Wip3out had full dual-shock support.
The digital controls are great, but the analog control options for the original trilogy are superlative.

@UK_Kev Respectfully completely disagree. The control system of the earlier WipEout trilogy was and is still amazing. Pure is great, but I don't revisit it nearly as often as the older titles.

Although gameplay-wise, BallisticNG outdoes both kinds of WipEout, since it has refined and contains each style of gameplay.

I'll be getting the CD pack as a Christmas gift for myself... I've had this on my wishlist since he announced it.

I've got the the previous remastered releases too, but this one looks to sound even better.

I looooove WipEout and Tim Wright, a more perfect pairing there never was.

@BulkSlash I'm genuinely curious to as what the ROM size would be in that particular case, haha!

I mean the Road Rash games legit scaled its sprites, but in software, so it was super slow. But yeah, having lots of versions of the sprites to smooth out the steps in between appearances would be killer to see somebody tackle!