@CO_Andy I see you still haven't realized that London's native population has fallen to 37% because of immigration policies. So the last thing you should be worrying about is "racism."
@BLAZINOAH How curious, I only knew Jontron from the meme, but I didn't know about the controversy with Playtonic and now that I decided to investigate a little you're absolutely right, it's incredible that just for having an opinion about something they come and censor you.
@slider1983 That Rare is dead, and Microsoft doesn't know it yet. The real Rare is now called Playtonic, and even then, it's far from being what it once was.
I'm a huge fan of Incube8 Games. The simple fact that they've dedicated themselves entirely to Game Boy games motivated me to promote them on any channel where I talk about retro games. They've been kind enough to provide me with some games to review on the site where I write, and they've been very pleased with the scores I've given them. I reviewed the demo of Dracula: Dark Reign some time ago and was impressed by all the technical achievements they accomplished, especially considering it has the blessing of Bram Stoker's descendants. When it could have easily been a more ambitious game for current consoles, they chose to put all their hopes on a Game Boy Color game, and that makes me feel that even older platforms are an excellent business, especially since the Game Boy Color never had a Metroidvania.
But years passed and I never found out what happened to this game. For a while, Incube8 Games didn't even show any signs of life with new releases, which worried me, so I wrote to them asking what happened (they didn't reply). Now this news has come up and given me hope. I visited Incube8 Games and they've updated their website. This year will definitely be one of their best (and I hope I can live up to expectations if they let me review the game).
Of all the developers I still miss to this day (Rare, Silicon Knights, Free Radical, Left Field), I can't leave out Factor 5 for any reason. It's true they returned in 2017, but it's been almost nine years and they still haven't announced anything new. I understand that Julian Eggebrecht is working at Epic Games as Chief Technology Officer, but if he brought Factor 5 back, I hope it wasn't just to relaunch the official website (which is outdated, by the way). People want to see new releases, not just revisit past games.
And finally, if he's so busy that he can't dedicate himself to new games, why not re-release Lair or the Rogue Squadron trilogy on Nintendo Switch? People still remember them and long to hear something from Factor 5 again. Back in the '90s and 2000s, they never ceased to amaze us with games that seemed technologically cutting-edge, but more importantly, were enjoyable.
@Tasuki We'll never know the full story of what really happened inside Rare and why they decided to leave Nintendo, especially when the Stampers seemed to be comfortable. But I've also read that it was Rare's management that betrayed the Stampers and made decisions behind their backs, especially since we know that Ken Lobb was the first to leave Rare for Microsoft and gave a pathetic interview explaining his decision. But it's implied that it was Lobb who must have initiated talks with Rare's management to separate from Nintendo.
On the other hand, buying developers doesn't guarantee anything. Microsoft has bought several, and then the creative team left, leaving them with just an empty office, and that happened to them several times.
Nintendo understands this and therefore does not make purchases unless they are assured that there will be no programmer leaks; they already made the mistake of buying Retro Studios, although with Monolith the move worked out wonderfully for them.
@N00BiSH Gregg was the last programmer at the original Rare before leaving the company last year, but he can't have an opinion now that all the programmers are gone, the Stampers are gone, and the magic of the company is gone. I'm sure that if they had stayed with Nintendo for another 5 or 6 years, the Stampers would have said, "Let's close this trilogy."
Their arguments didn't convince me at all. I believe the Stampers might have been frustrated with Nintendo, since they were among the few who dared to contradict Yamauchi and Miyamoto by pursuing their own ideas. Even Rare was competing against Nintendo itself, creating the same type of game but improving it in their own style. I still think about Donkey Kong Racing (I was dying to try that underwater race with Enguarde), Kameo in its original form (which was a more mature Pokémon; I'll never know if Monster Hunter drew inspiration from those ideas), or Perfect Dark Zero with the original design of Johanna Dark.
But the Stampers ended up twenty times more frustrated when they went with Microsoft. They made fewer games, several were canceled, and even finished ones were delayed. In the end, all that frustration they were going to unleash on Microsoft left them worse off.
You can't say Nintendo creates new IPs at a slower pace while Rare is constantly experimenting, especially when their release rate is practically zero compared to Nintendo's. This guy is clearly defending the company he worked for. Dennis Dyack at least admitted that leaving Nintendo was the worst mistake of his life.
Let's face it, Rare was never the same again. They were never in the spotlight again, and many former members have said that going with Microsoft was a fatal error, something they still can't get over. What would Rare have done if they had stayed with Nintendo? What could they have achieved with the Wii and now with the Nintendo Switch 2?
I don't usually buy retro games unless they're digital. I only buy digital copies from Limited Run Games, and I've often been tempted to buy physical copies... but I want to know why it's always the same production problem.
Is there not enough plastic left in the world to make cartridges?
Have the chips used to make the cartridges gone up in price?
Do they make things too complicated when designing the manuals and boxes?
Weren't Software Creations the same people who programmed Tom & Jerry for the NES, which turned out to be better than the SNES version?
Among other games, they also made Terminator 2 for the NES, Cutthroat Island, Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage and Separation Anxiety, Hexen 64, and others. Looking through their game history, I hadn't realized they were a big part of my teenage years. Are they really going to be worried about losing 40 million, when they made several important cult classics? By the way, I have a habit of collecting logos of companies that no longer exist, and Software Creations' logo is one of the few I haven't been able to find in a decent resolution.
This kind of hardware should be sold and not just left as a tricked-out car. I still have my old NES and I have no plans to modify it; at most, I'll buy another one and make the necessary changes.
@Thad I don't know if your message is serious or sarcastic, but I'm one of those who thinks that as long as I don't use insults or disrespect anyone, I'm free to say what I think, and here I've already been expelled twice without disrespecting anyone.
@Thad If they hadn't deleted my post you would surely understand, but they don't even respect my right to express myself; that was two or three months ago, I don't remember.
The last time I touched on a political topic here, I was banned for two days, but the editors come in and talk about it at length. I suppose the ban could apply to them too. Anyway, the reason I'm here is precisely because I want to get away from political news and talk about video games.
The funniest thing is that back in '97 I was so obsessed with Doom that I decided to make a comic in a graph paper notebook, drawn with a graphite pencil. I had the whole story written in my head and I stuck as closely as I could to the story in the SNES manual. Sadly, it all ended up being two or three pages because I didn't have enough information (I didn't have internet at home back then, not until 2002) and I felt awkward calling the protagonist "marine" all the time.
Why am I telling this?
Because after I saw the movie (the worst part is that I can't remember if I saw it in theaters) and compared the story to the one I had written, I couldn't help but wonder how people get paid to write and direct something they don't understand or care about, while I, out of love for a franchise, give my best effort and have something that makes much more sense.
In my comic, at least I had explained why man came to Mars, why the toxic waste, why the demons used metallic implants and the need to use interdimensional doors; I had even created a narrative arc for the protagonist that explained his hatred, his anger and how he used it to survive.
I think Atari is the only company with a record of bankruptcies throughout its history, but the curious thing is that some bright spark always appears to save them, only to repeat the same mistake... and the cycle repeats itself with each successor.
It still pains me to see a company like Infogrames, which was doing everything right and could have been a direct competitor to Ubisoft (which would have generated quality products in France), irrationally adopt the Atari name. At first, they were doing well (especially when they acquired the licenses for movies like The Matrix, Terminator, and Mission: Impossible), but out of nowhere, they fizzled out, and then bankruptcy again. Thankfully, Atari revived Infogrames independently, although they lost all their licenses and are starting from scratch.
And just now, when Atari is starting to do things—not exactly well, but at least with the purchase of NightDive Studios—they make the stupid mistake of investing in things outside the realm of video games.
Years ago, Sunsoft disappeared in America for the same reason: the president of the Japanese branch decided to invest in golf courses in the USA, and that caused bankruptcy.
I still remember when Nintendo announced FX Fighter and Star Fox 2 for the SNES and I was thrilled to see those graphics in the magazine, but they never mentioned those games again. Later, when a reader asked them about them, I finally found out they'd been canceled.
Years later, I was able to play Star Fox 2 emulated, but with FX Fighter... I've only just learned that they did release it, but for PC, and that it had much better graphics than the screenshots shown for the SNES. I would love to see this game completely remade, especially with gameplay improvements and, if possible, the implementation of new mechanics.
Awww... 1993, what a great year! I finished difficult video games like Street Fighter 2010, Tom & Jerry, Castlevania III, Double Dragon 2, Contra Force, and of course, Battletoads.
In the case of the Rare game, it originally belonged to my cousins. They hated it because they never got past the Turbo Tunnel stage, and in fact, when we played with two people, we kept losing lives and continues.
One day they lent me the game, and I played it at home. I lost, lost, lost, lost, lost, UNTIL I started memorizing every single path. It was a difficult and arduous task, but I managed to finish the game in mid-1993, and although the ending was disappointing, at least I had the satisfaction of having completed it 100%.
And although I haven't played Battletoads for years, I know it like the back of my hand and in fact I finished it the last time without any problems. The same thing happens to me with Street Fighter 2010; it was like learning to ride a bicycle. Sometimes you might forget some things, but it doesn't take long to correct them.
It's incredible how a Bond game from the '90s still hasn't been surpassed, despite all the subsequent films that raised the bar and all the technological advancements that could have overtaken GoldenEye. The EA era is perfectly forgettable because none of their games convinced me in the slightest (I might mention Nightfire on the GBA, since seeing an FPS running so well on that hardware was revolutionary).
While during the Activision era, I'd highlight Quantum of Solace. From the beginning, its developers declared their intention to surpass GoldenEye. The idea of mixing first-person with third-person when Bond was close to a wall always fascinated me, as did the melee attacks when you had an enemy nearby. That, to me, felt like a true evolution of GoldenEye. Unfortunately, the game was left unfinished due to pressure and haste from Activision, who didn't allow their programmers to continue exploring ideas and rushed the game out. I hoped the sequels could improve the formula, but no, Bloodstone was another fascinating game, but it ended up being too simplistic, and Activision didn't allow their programmers to implement more ideas either. To make matters worse, they overshadowed both games with the unnecessary GoldenEye remake, which I personally would have liked to see continue in the footsteps of QoS, but they only clumsily implemented melee combat, and the weapons they added were all identical, with minimal differences like a laser sight, a telescopic sight, or no sight at all.
And First Light will sadly be another game where we see beautiful graphics but no intelligent gameplay.
P.S.: I miss Pierce Brosnan so much, the last real Bond.
I'd like someone to explain why Natsume allowed Tecmo to modify the game that was originally intended to be the sequel to Shadow of the Ninja, ultimately resulting in Ninja Gaiden Shadow. Is there a story behind this? Is it legal for one company to know another company's internal plans and modify one of its projects?
@GodlessPreservation My apologies, I didn't mean to be offensive, but if I had any knowledge of programming and design, I would include the two missing characters from Megaman Powered Up, complete with their music.
That would make the NES game more interesting and make people want to replay it.
This is by far my favorite Contra game, and one I have a special fondness for. My cousin got it back in '94, and we enjoyed it together. I was able to finish it when he lent it to me for a couple of weeks while I was sick.
Sadly, my cousin passed away in 2016 at the age of 34, and I think of him every day—the moments we spent together, his voice still echoing in my head, when we played NES, rented games, and especially when we enjoyed Contra Force. While I was hoping for a sequel, this news still makes me happy because it will have all those qualities that could have made it even better. T_T
I'd like to know why Taito Milestone 3 wasn't released on the eShop in my country. I know no one from Taito will answer me, but I'd like to know if there's any way I can get it digitally.
In my opinion, it's the best of the three R-Type games, and the one that gave me the most trouble back then, since I could never finish it. I bought it for Game Boy Advance, and it wasn't half as great as the SNES version.
I don't know why I still feel like it's a Jaleco game instead of an Irem one.
Sadly, I don't know all the writers at Retro Gamers, but a significant loss is always felt and affects you in some way. Nick Thorpe passed away knowing he fulfilled his purpose in this world, and if he had fans, then his work will always be remembered. I write articles for a Spanish-language magazine, and sadly, I'll never reach the level of brilliance of an English-language writer. At least Thorpe will be remembered. Long live him.
I saw this game only once in the arcades and it captivated me for life, but for years I didn't know its name. I'd even forgotten about it for a couple of years, but once I learned it, I never forgot it again. Later, I found out that the creator was the same person who worked on several Capcom franchises.
I'm so glad that Hamster Games is finally bringing it to consoles. I think Rock 'N Rope deserved at least two more sequels; its concept had so much potential for evolution.
I'm still waiting for them to release Cabal, Blood Bros., the three Golden Axe games, Double Dragon 3, Joe & Mac, the two Robocop games, Iron Horse, Miki, The Legend of Cage, Sunset Riders, The Simpsons, King Of The Jungle, Lightning Sword, The Lost Castle in Darkmist and Vendetta.
The last time I saw him was in the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie (I didn't watch Tekken, and I only dropped The Man in the High Castle halfway through the first season), but this news hit me like a ton of bricks, a sign of how the '90s are fading from our lives and how actors who defined our childhoods are leaving us.
That's what happens when you have passion but no brains. You created something incredibly lucrative, believing it was worthless, but Valve saw the potential and bought it for pennies.
Now they're earning millions every month, and you're left with nothing.
This part of the story makes sense to me, because according to one of Nintendo's former engineers, when Yokoi was planning the Game Boy (which was the evolution of the Game & Watch), they were negotiating the monochrome screens with Company X but couldn't reach an agreement. Then they negotiated with Company Y, who sold them much cheaper, and they closed the deal. BUT, when the executives from Company Y left Nintendo's offices, representatives from Company X arrived and approached Yamauchi, offering him a monochrome screen at a much lower price. Yamauchi was in a bind and asked Yokoi to come up with an excuse to back out of the deal with Company Y. Yokoi asked one of his engineers to handle the matter, and this engineer created fake documentation for a portable console with a color screen. They presented it to Company Y, and they understood that this wasn't the screen Nintendo was looking for (wink, wink).
It's rumored that the people from Company Y approached Sega and presented them with the same falsified documentation, proposing to manufacture a handheld console with a color screen so they wouldn't lose the units they had already produced.
The same engineer who came up with the idea of creating the falsified documentation bought a Game Gear, disassembled it, and was nearly shocked when he saw that it had been manufactured according to the specifications in the documentation he had created.
This part of the story makes sense when I combine it with what's reported in this news article: Sega didn't want to switch to a monochrome screen because they thought the idea that Nintendo "rejected" would work for them.
Just kidding, any death is regrettable, and she earned her place in heaven for her immense contribution to the world of video games.
P.S.: I would like to ask the TS moderators not to delete the comments. I would like to know what kind of things they would say to someone who left us, so I have something to point them out to.
Alex Josef is absolutely right. The original Acclaim based its entire game library on licenses. I understand that nowadays it would be extremely expensive for them to re-release the WWF games, since before, Vince McMahon sold them the complete package at a reasonable price. But now they would have to pay not only for the WWE rights, but ALSO for the likeness of each and every wrestler individually, which is extremely unfair to the consumer.
The same would apply if they were to re-release movies like Alien 3, Judge Dredd, Stargate, Terminator 2, True Lies, Beetlejuice, etc. I imagine they would now have to pay for the movie rights AND ALSO for the actor's likeness rights.
And I suppose the same principle applies to games based on sports franchises like the NBA, NFL, and MLB.
But Josef is wrong about one thing, Acclaim did have its own sagas (Revolt, Xtreme-G, Tiger-Heli, NARC, Super Smash TV, Forsaken, Iggy's Reckin' Balls, Fur Fighters, 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker, ZooCube, Headhunter, Vexx, Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance).
I practically devoured the shmuplations report, I'm very surprised that nobody has left comments here or there, that's a terrible sign that the public is forgetting what made the world of video games great.
There was nothing more glorious for a next-gen console than releasing all those arcade classics from 40 years ago. It drives me crazy to think that I can only now enjoy all those games I so longed to have in my house in their original versions. I have to admit that the console ports were never faithful and that the experience wasn't the same; both graphical and gameplay details were lost. I know what you'll also say: that this could already be enjoyed in the mid-90s with the MAME emulator, but getting those games to run was always complicated for me, and I could never figure out how to get several of them to run. The BIOS might be missing a file, the ROM might be outdated, the game might have no sound or sounded very different. They never managed to simplify things. But now I can play in handheld mode and on my own TV.
Personally, I still consider this to be one of the biggest mistakes Nintendo ever made, as the SNES was one of the most beloved consoles, and the world yearned for its lifespan to extend for a good handful more years. Everyone was even willing to buy that peripheral, but Nintendo never explained why it was canceled. For years, I heard the excuse was that CD-ROM technology was too slow to transfer data, and that wasn't what Nintendo was looking for. Now I find out it was because Sony was going to collect royalties from the software. What was the problem with that? But what I still don't understand is why, if the hardware was Nintendo's, Sony was able to use it without any problems on the PSX. The irony is that after the cancellation and the promise of the N64, the PSX often reminded me of the canceled CD-ROM, and I didn't even know the real story.
Comments 68
Re: Turrican: Director's Cut Gets Another Chance To Shine, In New Cartridge Release From Columbus Circle
@CO_Andy I see you still haven't realized that London's native population has fallen to 37% because of immigration policies.
So the last thing you should be worrying about is "racism."
Re: Turrican: Director's Cut Gets Another Chance To Shine, In New Cartridge Release From Columbus Circle
@BLAZINOAH How curious, I only knew Jontron from the meme, but I didn't know about the controversy with Playtonic and now that I decided to investigate a little you're absolutely right, it's incredible that just for having an opinion about something they come and censor you.
Re: Turrican: Director's Cut Gets Another Chance To Shine, In New Cartridge Release From Columbus Circle
@slider1983 That Rare is dead, and Microsoft doesn't know it yet.
The real Rare is now called Playtonic, and even then, it's far from being what it once was.
Re: "The First-Ever Stoker Family-Authorised Dracula Video Game" - 'Dracula: Dark Reign' Is A Castlevania-Style Title For Your Game Boy
I'm a huge fan of Incube8 Games. The simple fact that they've dedicated themselves entirely to Game Boy games motivated me to promote them on any channel where I talk about retro games.
They've been kind enough to provide me with some games to review on the site where I write, and they've been very pleased with the scores I've given them. I reviewed the demo of Dracula: Dark Reign some time ago and was impressed by all the technical achievements they accomplished, especially considering it has the blessing of Bram Stoker's descendants. When it could have easily been a more ambitious game for current consoles, they chose to put all their hopes on a Game Boy Color game, and that makes me feel that even older platforms are an excellent business, especially since the Game Boy Color never had a Metroidvania.
But years passed and I never found out what happened to this game. For a while, Incube8 Games didn't even show any signs of life with new releases, which worried me, so I wrote to them asking what happened (they didn't reply). Now this news has come up and given me hope. I visited Incube8 Games and they've updated their website. This year will definitely be one of their best (and I hope I can live up to expectations if they let me review the game).
Re: Turrican: Director's Cut Gets Another Chance To Shine, In New Cartridge Release From Columbus Circle
Of all the developers I still miss to this day (Rare, Silicon Knights, Free Radical, Left Field), I can't leave out Factor 5 for any reason. It's true they returned in 2017, but it's been almost nine years and they still haven't announced anything new. I understand that Julian Eggebrecht is working at Epic Games as Chief Technology Officer, but if he brought Factor 5 back, I hope it wasn't just to relaunch the official website (which is outdated, by the way). People want to see new releases, not just revisit past games.
And finally, if he's so busy that he can't dedicate himself to new games, why not re-release Lair or the Rogue Squadron trilogy on Nintendo Switch? People still remember them and long to hear something from Factor 5 again. Back in the '90s and 2000s, they never ceased to amaze us with games that seemed technologically cutting-edge, but more importantly, were enjoyable.
Re: "That Made Me Feel Good" - Xbox Co-Founder On The Rare Game "Strongly Echoed" By Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
@N00BiSH Hopefully Playtonic will hire him; his talent will be very important for future sequels and new games.
Re: "That Made Me Feel Good" - Xbox Co-Founder On The Rare Game "Strongly Echoed" By Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
@N00BiSH The answer is quite obvious: Yooka Re-Playlee.
That leads me to the conclusion that Gregg Mayles was wrong.
Re: Interview: "The Stampers Had Been Frustrated Working For Nintendo" - Xbox Co-Founder Ed Fries On The Deal That Shook The Industry
@Tasuki We'll never know the full story of what really happened inside Rare and why they decided to leave Nintendo, especially when the Stampers seemed to be comfortable. But I've also read that it was Rare's management that betrayed the Stampers and made decisions behind their backs, especially since we know that Ken Lobb was the first to leave Rare for Microsoft and gave a pathetic interview explaining his decision. But it's implied that it was Lobb who must have initiated talks with Rare's management to separate from Nintendo.
On the other hand, buying developers doesn't guarantee anything. Microsoft has bought several, and then the creative team left, leaving them with just an empty office, and that happened to them several times.
Nintendo understands this and therefore does not make purchases unless they are assured that there will be no programmer leaks; they already made the mistake of buying Retro Studios, although with Monolith the move worked out wonderfully for them.
Re: "That Made Me Feel Good" - Xbox Co-Founder On The Rare Game "Strongly Echoed" By Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
@N00BiSH Gregg was the last programmer at the original Rare before leaving the company last year, but he can't have an opinion now that all the programmers are gone, the Stampers are gone, and the magic of the company is gone. I'm sure that if they had stayed with Nintendo for another 5 or 6 years, the Stampers would have said, "Let's close this trilogy."
Re: Game Boy Color Spin-Off 'Mega Man Xtreme' Gets New Fan "Revamp," With A Range Of Cool Features
I'm disappointed that it wasn't an improved ROM like they did with the colored Mega Man games for GBC.
Re: Interview: "The Stampers Had Been Frustrated Working For Nintendo" - Xbox Co-Founder Ed Fries On The Deal That Shook The Industry
Their arguments didn't convince me at all. I believe the Stampers might have been frustrated with Nintendo, since they were among the few who dared to contradict Yamauchi and Miyamoto by pursuing their own ideas. Even Rare was competing against Nintendo itself, creating the same type of game but improving it in their own style. I still think about Donkey Kong Racing (I was dying to try that underwater race with Enguarde), Kameo in its original form (which was a more mature Pokémon; I'll never know if Monster Hunter drew inspiration from those ideas), or Perfect Dark Zero with the original design of Johanna Dark.
But the Stampers ended up twenty times more frustrated when they went with Microsoft. They made fewer games, several were canceled, and even finished ones were delayed. In the end, all that frustration they were going to unleash on Microsoft left them worse off.
You can't say Nintendo creates new IPs at a slower pace while Rare is constantly experimenting, especially when their release rate is practically zero compared to Nintendo's. This guy is clearly defending the company he worked for. Dennis Dyack at least admitted that leaving Nintendo was the worst mistake of his life.
Let's face it, Rare was never the same again. They were never in the spotlight again, and many former members have said that going with Microsoft was a fatal error, something they still can't get over. What would Rare have done if they had stayed with Nintendo? What could they have achieved with the Wii and now with the Nintendo Switch 2?
Re: Limited Run Games Announces Widespread Delays, Concedes Delivery Dates Were "Too Aggressive" & "Overly Optimistic"
I don't usually buy retro games unless they're digital. I only buy digital copies from Limited Run Games, and I've often been tempted to buy physical copies... but I want to know why it's always the same production problem.
Re: 37 Years After Its Release, Friday The 13th's Notorious NES Game Has Been Recreated For A Classic Nintendo Handheld
@Serpenterror ummm...creative freedom?
Re: "I'd Never Seen My Boss So Angry" - How A Family Holiday Cost A Studio Mortal Kombat & "$40 Million In Royalties"
Weren't Software Creations the same people who programmed Tom & Jerry for the NES, which turned out to be better than the SNES version?
Among other games, they also made Terminator 2 for the NES, Cutthroat Island, Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage and Separation Anxiety, Hexen 64, and others.
Looking through their game history, I hadn't realized they were a big part of my teenage years. Are they really going to be worried about losing 40 million, when they made several important cult classics?
By the way, I have a habit of collecting logos of companies that no longer exist, and Software Creations' logo is one of the few I haven't been able to find in a decent resolution.
Re: "Is This My NES' Final Form?" - Retro Gamer Shows Off The Most Pimped-Out Nintendo Entertainment System You've Ever Seen
This kind of hardware should be sold and not just left as a tricked-out car.
I still have my old NES and I have no plans to modify it; at most, I'll buy another one and make the necessary changes.
Re: "War Is Not A Video Game" - White House Social Media Post Mixing Iran War Footage With Nintendo's 'Wii Sports' Triggers Outcry
@Thad I don't know if your message is serious or sarcastic, but I'm one of those who thinks that as long as I don't use insults or disrespect anyone, I'm free to say what I think, and here I've already been expelled twice without disrespecting anyone.
Re: "War Is Not A Video Game" - White House Social Media Post Mixing Iran War Footage With Nintendo's 'Wii Sports' Triggers Outcry
@Thad If they hadn't deleted my post you would surely understand, but they don't even respect my right to express myself; that was two or three months ago, I don't remember.
Re: "War Is Not A Video Game" - White House Social Media Post Mixing Iran War Footage With Nintendo's 'Wii Sports' Triggers Outcry
The last time I touched on a political topic here, I was banned for two days, but the editors come in and talk about it at length.
I suppose the ban could apply to them too.
Anyway, the reason I'm here is precisely because I want to get away from political news and talk about video games.
Re: DOOM Star Says The Movie Was "Probably One Of The Worst Films Ever Made"
The funniest thing is that back in '97 I was so obsessed with Doom that I decided to make a comic in a graph paper notebook, drawn with a graphite pencil. I had the whole story written in my head and I stuck as closely as I could to the story in the SNES manual. Sadly, it all ended up being two or three pages because I didn't have enough information (I didn't have internet at home back then, not until 2002) and I felt awkward calling the protagonist "marine" all the time.
Why am I telling this?
Because after I saw the movie (the worst part is that I can't remember if I saw it in theaters) and compared the story to the one I had written, I couldn't help but wonder how people get paid to write and direct something they don't understand or care about, while I, out of love for a franchise, give my best effort and have something that makes much more sense.
In my comic, at least I had explained why man came to Mars, why the toxic waste, why the demons used metallic implants and the need to use interdimensional doors; I had even created a narrative arc for the protagonist that explained his hatred, his anger and how he used it to survive.
Re: Hewson's Puzzle Platformer 'Nebulus' Is Getting A Brand New Cartridge Release For The Game Boy Advance
Is it just me, or did they use the source code from the last level of Battletoads to create a whole game?
Re: "We Are Going Where No Slamming Death Metal Band Has Gone Before" - Party Cannon Is Releasing An Album On The N64
@The_Nintendo_Expat But this isn't a traditional format, boy.
Re: Atari's Grand Hotel Plan Is Reduced To A Single "Glowing Monolith Of Light And Motion" In Downtown Phoenix
I think Atari is the only company with a record of bankruptcies throughout its history, but the curious thing is that some bright spark always appears to save them, only to repeat the same mistake... and the cycle repeats itself with each successor.
It still pains me to see a company like Infogrames, which was doing everything right and could have been a direct competitor to Ubisoft (which would have generated quality products in France), irrationally adopt the Atari name. At first, they were doing well (especially when they acquired the licenses for movies like The Matrix, Terminator, and Mission: Impossible), but out of nowhere, they fizzled out, and then bankruptcy again. Thankfully, Atari revived Infogrames independently, although they lost all their licenses and are starting from scratch.
And just now, when Atari is starting to do things—not exactly well, but at least with the purchase of NightDive Studios—they make the stupid mistake of investing in things outside the realm of video games.
Years ago, Sunsoft disappeared in America for the same reason: the president of the Japanese branch decided to invest in golf courses in the USA, and that caused bankruptcy.
Re: Argonaut Has An "Exciting Announcement" Coming "Very Soon"
I still remember when Nintendo announced FX Fighter and Star Fox 2 for the SNES and I was thrilled to see those graphics in the magazine, but they never mentioned those games again. Later, when a reader asked them about them, I finally found out they'd been canceled.
Years later, I was able to play Star Fox 2 emulated, but with FX Fighter... I've only just learned that they did release it, but for PC, and that it had much better graphics than the screenshots shown for the SNES.
I would love to see this game completely remade, especially with gameplay improvements and, if possible, the implementation of new mechanics.
Re: "We Are Going Where No Slamming Death Metal Band Has Gone Before" - Party Cannon Is Releasing An Album On The N64
And they're releasing it in the most expensive format, geniuses.
Re: "You'll Be Missed, Friend" - Retro Gamer Pays Tribute To The Late Nick Thorpe
I remember that in the news about his death I dedicated a few words to him, but I never found out what he really died of.
Re: Community Challenge: Can You Beat Battletoads' Most Notorious Level?
Awww... 1993, what a great year! I finished difficult video games like Street Fighter 2010, Tom & Jerry, Castlevania III, Double Dragon 2, Contra Force, and of course, Battletoads.
In the case of the Rare game, it originally belonged to my cousins. They hated it because they never got past the Turbo Tunnel stage, and in fact, when we played with two people, we kept losing lives and continues.
One day they lent me the game, and I played it at home. I lost, lost, lost, lost, lost, UNTIL I started memorizing every single path. It was a difficult and arduous task, but I managed to finish the game in mid-1993, and although the ending was disappointing, at least I had the satisfaction of having completed it 100%.
And although I haven't played Battletoads for years, I know it like the back of my hand and in fact I finished it the last time without any problems. The same thing happens to me with Street Fighter 2010; it was like learning to ride a bicycle. Sometimes you might forget some things, but it doesn't take long to correct them.
Re: IO Interactive Says 007 First Light Is "Completely Different" To The "Fantastic" GoldenEye 007
It's incredible how a Bond game from the '90s still hasn't been surpassed, despite all the subsequent films that raised the bar and all the technological advancements that could have overtaken GoldenEye. The EA era is perfectly forgettable because none of their games convinced me in the slightest (I might mention Nightfire on the GBA, since seeing an FPS running so well on that hardware was revolutionary).
While during the Activision era, I'd highlight Quantum of Solace. From the beginning, its developers declared their intention to surpass GoldenEye. The idea of mixing first-person with third-person when Bond was close to a wall always fascinated me, as did the melee attacks when you had an enemy nearby. That, to me, felt like a true evolution of GoldenEye. Unfortunately, the game was left unfinished due to pressure and haste from Activision, who didn't allow their programmers to continue exploring ideas and rushed the game out. I hoped the sequels could improve the formula, but no, Bloodstone was another fascinating game, but it ended up being too simplistic, and Activision didn't allow their programmers to implement more ideas either. To make matters worse, they overshadowed both games with the unnecessary GoldenEye remake, which I personally would have liked to see continue in the footsteps of QoS, but they only clumsily implemented melee combat, and the weapons they added were all identical, with minimal differences like a laser sight, a telescopic sight, or no sight at all.
And First Light will sadly be another game where we see beautiful graphics but no intelligent gameplay.
P.S.: I miss Pierce Brosnan so much, the last real Bond.
Re: This Promising New Action-Platfomer Is Built From The Ashes Of A "Massive" Unreleased ROM Hack For An SNES Classic
added to my wishlist just in case.
Re: Mega Cat Studios Is Kicking Off The Year With A "Triple Launch" Of New NES & SNES Games
Anything that comes from Mega Cat Studios will always be an honor to play.
Re: "It's Been A Pleasure Meeting You All Over The Years" - Brooklyn Games And Arcade Is Closing Its Doors
The pleasure has been all mine.
Re: Game Boy Title 'Ninja Gaiden Shadow' Is Getting The Unofficial DX Treatment
I'd like someone to explain why Natsume allowed Tecmo to modify the game that was originally intended to be the sequel to Shadow of the Ninja, ultimately resulting in Ninja Gaiden Shadow.
Is there a story behind this?
Is it legal for one company to know another company's internal plans and modify one of its projects?
Re: This Classic Game Boy Tiny Toons Adventure Is Now Available In Colourised 'DX' Form
The people at Limited Run Games: "Damn, they beat us to it."
Re: The Original NES Mega Man Has Just Got A New "Revamped" Version, Courtesy Of A Fan
@GodlessPreservation My apologies, I didn't mean to be offensive, but if I had any knowledge of programming and design, I would include the two missing characters from Megaman Powered Up, complete with their music.
That would make the NES game more interesting and make people want to replay it.
Re: The Original NES Mega Man Has Just Got A New "Revamped" Version, Courtesy Of A Fan
When they include Time Man and Oil Man, then we'll talk.
Re: SNES Port Of The Much-Maligned Contra Force Is Now Playable
This is by far my favorite Contra game, and one I have a special fondness for. My cousin got it back in '94, and we enjoyed it together. I was able to finish it when he lent it to me for a couple of weeks while I was sick.
Sadly, my cousin passed away in 2016 at the age of 34, and I think of him every day—the moments we spent together, his voice still echoing in my head, when we played NES, rented games, and especially when we enjoyed Contra Force. While I was hoping for a sequel, this news still makes me happy because it will have all those qualities that could have made it even better.
T_T
Re: An Early Arcade Title From The Creator of Ghosts 'n Goblins & Bionic Commando Is Heading To Consoles
@KernCasey Not in my country.
Re: 'Taito Milestones 4' Announced With A Lineup That Includes Arkanoid, Syvalion, & Cameltry
I'd like to know why Taito Milestone 3 wasn't released on the eShop in my country. I know no one from Taito will answer me, but I'd like to know if there's any way I can get it digitally.
Re: The SNES Classic 'R-Type III: The Third Lightning' Is Getting A Remake For Modern Consoles & PC Next Year
In my opinion, it's the best of the three R-Type games, and the one that gave me the most trouble back then, since I could never finish it. I bought it for Game Boy Advance, and it wasn't half as great as the SNES version.
I don't know why I still feel like it's a Jaleco game instead of an Irem one.
Re: Retro Gamer's Nick Thorpe Has Passed Away
Sadly, I don't know all the writers at Retro Gamers, but a significant loss is always felt and affects you in some way. Nick Thorpe passed away knowing he fulfilled his purpose in this world, and if he had fans, then his work will always be remembered. I write articles for a Spanish-language magazine, and sadly, I'll never reach the level of brilliance of an English-language writer. At least Thorpe will be remembered. Long live him.
Re: An Early Arcade Title From The Creator of Ghosts 'n Goblins & Bionic Commando Is Heading To Consoles
I saw this game only once in the arcades and it captivated me for life, but for years I didn't know its name. I'd even forgotten about it for a couple of years, but once I learned it, I never forgot it again. Later, I found out that the creator was the same person who worked on several Capcom franchises.
I'm so glad that Hamster Games is finally bringing it to consoles. I think Rock 'N Rope deserved at least two more sequels; its concept had so much potential for evolution.
I'm still waiting for them to release Cabal, Blood Bros., the three Golden Axe games, Double Dragon 3, Joe & Mac, the two Robocop games, Iron Horse, Miki, The Legend of Cage, Sunset Riders, The Simpsons, King Of The Jungle, Lightning Sword, The Lost Castle in Darkmist and Vendetta.
Re: Mortal Kombat, Tekken, & The Man in the High Castle Actor Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa Has Passed Away
The last time I saw him was in the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie (I didn't watch Tekken, and I only dropped The Man in the High Castle halfway through the first season), but this news hit me like a ton of bricks, a sign of how the '90s are fading from our lives and how actors who defined our childhoods are leaving us.
T_T
Re: "I Do Have Some Regrets" - How The Creator Of Counter-Strike Gave Up A Money-Making Behemoth
That's what happens when you have passion but no brains. You created something incredibly lucrative, believing it was worthless, but Valve saw the potential and bought it for pennies.
Now they're earning millions every month, and you're left with nothing.
Re: "It Would Have Been A Huge Success" - The Pitch Behind The Sega Handheld That Might Have Rivalled The Game Boy
This part of the story makes sense to me, because according to one of Nintendo's former engineers, when Yokoi was planning the Game Boy (which was the evolution of the Game & Watch), they were negotiating the monochrome screens with Company X but couldn't reach an agreement. Then they negotiated with Company Y, who sold them much cheaper, and they closed the deal. BUT, when the executives from Company Y left Nintendo's offices, representatives from Company X arrived and approached Yamauchi, offering him a monochrome screen at a much lower price. Yamauchi was in a bind and asked Yokoi to come up with an excuse to back out of the deal with Company Y. Yokoi asked one of his engineers to handle the matter, and this engineer created fake documentation for a portable console with a color screen. They presented it to Company Y, and they understood that this wasn't the screen Nintendo was looking for (wink, wink).
It's rumored that the people from Company Y approached Sega and presented them with the same falsified documentation, proposing to manufacture a handheld console with a color screen so they wouldn't lose the units they had already produced.
The same engineer who came up with the idea of creating the falsified documentation bought a Game Gear, disassembled it, and was nearly shocked when he saw that it had been manufactured according to the specifications in the documentation he had created.
This part of the story makes sense when I combine it with what's reported in this news article: Sega didn't want to switch to a monochrome screen because they thought the idea that Nintendo "rejected" would work for them.
Re: "We Have Gone On So Many Adventures Together" - Video Game Icon Rebecca Heineman Has Passed Away, Aged 62
Did Sergeant Bertha Blast pass away?
Just kidding, any death is regrettable, and she earned her place in heaven for her immense contribution to the world of video games.
P.S.: I would like to ask the TS moderators not to delete the comments. I would like to know what kind of things they would say to someone who left us, so I have something to point them out to.
Re: Reviving Acclaim's Old IP Is "Not The Objective" As Some Of It Was "Not Great", Says New CEO
Alex Josef is absolutely right. The original Acclaim based its entire game library on licenses. I understand that nowadays it would be extremely expensive for them to re-release the WWF games, since before, Vince McMahon sold them the complete package at a reasonable price. But now they would have to pay not only for the WWE rights, but ALSO for the likeness of each and every wrestler individually, which is extremely unfair to the consumer.
The same would apply if they were to re-release movies like Alien 3, Judge Dredd, Stargate, Terminator 2, True Lies, Beetlejuice, etc. I imagine they would now have to pay for the movie rights AND ALSO for the actor's likeness rights.
And I suppose the same principle applies to games based on sports franchises like the NBA, NFL, and MLB.
But Josef is wrong about one thing, Acclaim did have its own sagas (Revolt, Xtreme-G, Tiger-Heli, NARC, Super Smash TV, Forsaken, Iggy's Reckin' Balls, Fur Fighters, 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker, ZooCube, Headhunter, Vexx, Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance).
Re: Ninja Gaiden Director Confirms Castlevania Was A Big Influence
I practically devoured the shmuplations report, I'm very surprised that nobody has left comments here or there, that's a terrible sign that the public is forgetting what made the world of video games great.
Re: "No One Ever Told Me Such A Conversation Had Taken Place" - Kojima Wasn't Aware Of The Wachowskis' Matrix Game Offer
Removed
Re: "No One Ever Told Me Such A Conversation Had Taken Place" - Kojima Wasn't Aware Of The Wachowskis' Matrix Game Offer
Removed
Re: Konami's Car Combat Game 'City Bomber' Is This Week's Arcade Archives Release
There was nothing more glorious for a next-gen console than releasing all those arcade classics from 40 years ago. It drives me crazy to think that I can only now enjoy all those games I so longed to have in my house in their original versions.
I have to admit that the console ports were never faithful and that the experience wasn't the same; both graphical and gameplay details were lost.
I know what you'll also say: that this could already be enjoyed in the mid-90s with the MAME emulator, but getting those games to run was always complicated for me, and I could never figure out how to get several of them to run. The BIOS might be missing a file, the ROM might be outdated, the game might have no sound or sounded very different. They never managed to simplify things.
But now I can play in handheld mode and on my own TV.
Re: It Was "Helpful" That Nintendo Killed The SNES PlayStation - Otherwise Sony Would Have Been "Stuck", Says Shuhei Yoshida
Personally, I still consider this to be one of the biggest mistakes Nintendo ever made, as the SNES was one of the most beloved consoles, and the world yearned for its lifespan to extend for a good handful more years. Everyone was even willing to buy that peripheral, but Nintendo never explained why it was canceled. For years, I heard the excuse was that CD-ROM technology was too slow to transfer data, and that wasn't what Nintendo was looking for. Now I find out it was because Sony was going to collect royalties from the software. What was the problem with that?
But what I still don't understand is why, if the hardware was Nintendo's, Sony was able to use it without any problems on the PSX.
The irony is that after the cancellation and the promise of the N64, the PSX often reminded me of the canceled CD-ROM, and I didn't even know the real story.