Comments 341

Re: Mega Drive / Genesis Shmup 'ZPF' Smashes Kickstarter Goal In Just 19 Minutes

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@GOmar I apologize for assuming. Most of the time it's an internet way of passive-aggressively telling people to basically love it or leave it, I definitely read it wrong then.

And I don't feel like I should support them that way. I mean, I have in the past: I backed Mikael Tillander's Tanzer on Kickstarter years ago, and I'm a big fan; we got digital copies with that too. I've also purchased most of the games Mega Cat Studios has physically on their site via Itch or other means, which is why I'm not a fan of this wave of suddenly making things physical only.

Physical games are great, but also I feel even the retro development community is reaching a point where it's quite obviously exploiting people, their nostalgia, and their love of just buying things and accumulating stuff.

It just rubs me the wrong way, I guess.

My issues with this are beyond gaming though, and is a global thing that drives me crazy in general, though.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I'd love a ROM option in the Kickstarter to legitimately support the devs. If they don't want a distribute a ROM file out there themselves, then that is their prerogative, but somebody else will do it for sure. I'd rather just not play the game that way. We should have learned the lessons of that whole thing already.

Re: Mega Drive / Genesis Shmup 'ZPF' Smashes Kickstarter Goal In Just 19 Minutes

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@GOmar Why highlight 'plastic and cardboard' like I'm the one in the wrong for not wanting them? Retro gamers come in many different shapes and forms these days, and I've gone from a physical collector to preferring to keep a mostly platform-agnostic digital library.

Also, that's a convoluted way of helping them out and getting access to the rom. Admittedly one I've thought of, but it just feels wrong to wait for a ROM dump when I could have had the option to just straight-up pay for a ROM myself.

Ultimately, it's their decision in how they choose to distribute their game. I'll wait and see if they end up offering the ROM file for purchase after the fact, but if not, then I can definitely live without the game; no FOMO here.

Re: Mega Drive / Genesis Shmup 'ZPF' Smashes Kickstarter Goal In Just 19 Minutes

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@belmont Yep, I'm out too. Which is a shame, because I'm generally not shmup fan, but I really, really loved my time with the ZPF demo rom.

I have a few handheld emulation machines and that's how I choose to get my retro fix these days. I'm pretty minimalist in general at this stage of my life, and have mostly sold off my large physical collection because I live in what is basically a Tiny House now.

I'd love to support the team, but not all of us want shelves and walls stacked with plastic and paper just to play video games :/

Re: Meet The Solo Dev Whose Sega Rally Tribute Could Become An Official Sequel

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

Literally my favourite game of ALL TIME. I do hope this can shake the typical Unreal Engine look though, and really take on a SEGA Rally vibe. The whole charm was in the hand-crafted tracks and their iconic scenery. I really dislike the look of stuff like UE5's nanite, because it just screams procedural generation. I know it is, but I dunno, I guess it looks sterile to me. Although, at least I can tell which parts of which track each of these featured screen shots are - that's promising!

I did actually try the 2022 demo, and it ran like garbage on my gaming laptop back then, so I'm hoping it was an optimization issue and UE5 will run on my laptop

Also, please please PLEASE nail the physics, and base them on SRC. I don't even think any of the rally sequels got near the OG handling, despite being a lot of fun!

Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of Jo's New Look In Perfect Dark?

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

As a gay dude, I miss the days when characters of all sexes were unapologetically going for sex appeal. By making characters more true to life, they're looking lazy, boring and forgettable to me. Besides, real people irritate me these days, why would I want them in video games I play?

So yup, not a fan of the new Joanna. I have a soft spot for early 2000s Joanna, because the Y2K styling was ON POINT, haha!

Re: Nightdive Studios Teases 'The Thing' & 'Killing Time' Remasters

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

This is amazing. I'm all down for Nightdive doing whatever they want - I'll be here on day one for both games. The Thing is an brilliant game too, I used to own it on OG Xbox.

On a related note, I can't believe people had the nerve to complain about PO'ed being released instead of 'something good'. Preservation isn't just for those top games. PO'ed is actually playable and fun now, thanks to the remaster.

It wasn't released in place of other games, it came out in addition to the other stuff they have cooking.

Love Nightdive and I'll be picking up each and every game they do. It's like they know my exact gaming tastes

EDIT: Killing Time now has High-Res sprites, and they look even sharper than the 3DO version! It now looks like the screenshots/bullshots that they promoted the game with in Next Generation magazine back in the day! So cool!!!

Re: Mullet Madjack Is A New Retro FPS Inspired By Classic '80s & '90s Anime

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

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!

Re: Limited Run Games Apologises For Shipping 3DO Games On CD-Rs

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

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

Re: FPGA Vs Software Emulation - Which Is Best? We Asked Four Experts To Find Out

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

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.

Re: All Is Not Well In The World Of FPGA Retro Gaming

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@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.

Re: Anniversary: Daytona USA Is 30 Years Old This Month

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

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

Re: Best Sega Console - Every Sega System, Ranked By You

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

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

Re: Midnight Challenge Is An Awesome Ridge Racer Homage Created In Game Maker Studio

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

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.

Re: Going Back In Time - Do You Play Retro Games To Reconnect With Your Past?

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

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.

Re: Review: Piko Interactive Collection 1 - One Evercade's Best-Value Carts

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

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

Re: The Making Of: Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within, Square's Groundbreaking Box Office Bomb

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

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!

Re: Best WipEout Games, Ranked By You

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@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

Re: Best WipEout Games, Ranked By You

ArcadeRacingCENTRAL

@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