Razieluigi

@Poodlestargenerica No, I'm saying they don't exist!

I'm sure they'll work fine once they're released. It's just inexcusable that this thing has been out in the wild for 2 years and one of the main selling points is still up for pre-order with no set ship dates.

Be nice if they'd announce that they're finally following through on all the overdue support on the Analogue Pocket. It hasn't had a firmware update since May.

It's almost two years since this thing was released and:

Still no DAC support.

Still no FPGA display mode support.

Still no Lynx/NGPC/PCE support or adapters.

That last one is especially galling since all that compatibility is advertised as one of the core functions of the device.

I used to love Analogue when they were riding high on the Super NT and Mega SG. But the gaming press needs to start holding their feet to the fire more and stop giving them free advertising without any pushback regarding their deteriorating customer service, inability to properly support their hardware, and refusal to communicate anything clearly beyond posting animated GIFs of games that may or may not be supported by anything they currently sell.

One day when I'm feeling splurgy I plan to upgrade to a Mega Everdrive Pro so I can just play all this stuff on my Mega SG. It's nice that this entire piece of hardware can now be spoofed by a flash cart.

Shame there's no way to do the same with the 32X. I'd love to mess around with that catalogue a bit more.

@Gamecuber It's a good point that until relatively recent history, there wasn't much way to preserve anything at all. And certainly not in comprehensive personal collections.

I'm often more interested in deeper dives — books about developers and the actual talent behind these games, stories about the artists involved, contextual information about how these games fit into whatever was going on in the industry at the time. You know... actual history.

I'm all for efforts to preserve gaming history. I think it's an important part of popular culture, and that it's gone comparatively ignored next to other audio/video media. But I do think we get a little precious sometimes.

I'd love to see an effort to determine what percentage of other media are also lost to time like this. Is it really higher in games? Or have lots of shows and movies faded into similar obscurity and the gaming community is just more eager to see things like that preserved?

The link above goes to an article where Kelsey cites the hypothetical example of Titanic only being available on old VHS tapes, but that's kind of a silly example seeing as Titanic is one of the biggest movies ever released. Games of that cultural magnitude are still generally available.

It's the obscurities that aren't. I can think of all sorts of dumb sitcoms and things that I watched as a kid that aren't available for streaming or purchase anymore, but I don't see a movement to make them available.

I love the VGHF and what it's trying to do. But given the preponderance of ROMs and emulation options, I do sometimes feel like these efforts are just trying to formalize something that is already happening well enough out in the wild. The enthusiasm of the retro gaming community has functionally ensured that these games are ubiquitous and available to anybody interested enough in playing them. And since digital preservation of ROMs is essentially perfect, we're not even dealing with the challenge of masters degrading over time.

Best of luck to Kelsey, regardless! I wonder what projects she might be hinting at.

Kind of fun as a display piece, I guess. But leave it to audiophiles to imagine they can hear any difference.

"this opening series feels much more self-contained and less focused on establishing the second helping of episodes"

This is kind of a weird take. It ends on a nail-biting cliffhanger with the main characters in extreme peril and almost nothing resolved, along with a massive wink at the next helping of episodes.

That said, I absolutely loved it. I've really enjoyed all the seasons so far, but the change in scenery has been nice. I'm excited to see what's next.

@RupeeClock I have a lot of issues with Analogue as a company, but I've never even heard a rumor of cartridge slot issues on the Pocket much less that there's a general reputation regarding it.

I have a Pocket. As a piece of hardware, the Pocket is nearly flawless. Lovely screen, good inputs, feels solid. It's the overly complex OS, poor software support (the last update was in May), dodgy Dock implementation, and broken promises about features that I find galling.

Analogue just isn't what they used to be. I'd love to see them get their act together, but I'm afraid they peaked with the Super NT and Mega SG (both of which are phenomenal).

Mix of both, but leaning toward big-screen play as I get older.

I've always liked playing slower-paced games like RPGs on handheld devices. They lend themselves to curling up and enjoying them like a good book. Although my middle-aged eyes are starting to struggle with the smaller screens, it's nothing that reading glasses can't fix.

But I prefer playing bigger action-oriented titles on a larger screen with the benefit of a more comfortable controller. My hands were more resilient when they were younger, but nowadays extended play makes my thumb joints ache something fierce. Plus, I really appreciate niceties like the back paddles on my Elite and 8BitDo controllers.

One of my favorite things about the Switch, though, is how easily it lets me hop to whatever mode of play I like. It's a great concept, and I hope Nintendo sticks with it from now on.

Excellent article. And for those interested in a deeper dive on some of these games, I can't recommend Jeremy Parrish's video series enough.

The GBA was such an incredible console it's hard to argue with anything here, but easy to suggest even more. I feel like this could have gone on for another few pages without much depreciation in quality.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is the most glaring omission for me. It might be my favorite puzzle-platformer of all time, and was a great pick-up-and-play game for this format.

And just to quibble, I'd also suggest FF5 over FF6 for inclusion here if we're only going to list one of them. Not because it's the better game (although it is one of my favorites), but because it feels more indispensible. FF6 is just a straight-up better experience on the SNES, while the GBA version of FF5 was hands-down the best possible way to play it at the time.

For starters, it's not clear what he means by "viable." Is he talking about time and cost at the developer end? Or predicting that consumers will increasingly reject it?

I do think that pixel art will, sadly, become less common, especially as the current generation of indie developers that finds the form nostalgic is replaced by a younger generation raised on polygons. We're already seeing plenty of games meant to evoke the 5th generation. But that's not a matter of it being "viable," so much as aesthetic trends coming and going.

But it's the second part of his statement that really has me scratching my head. I'm entirely unsure what he means about "still evolving and creating content for" something "10-20 years down the road." Is he seriously suggesting that releasing a pixel art game in 2023 is going to somehow have ramifications for what the company is doing in 2033 and beyond?

The Pocket hasn't had an update in 4 months and multiple promises like additional display modes and DAC support remain behind schedule and unfulfilled. The Dock continues to feel jury-rigged with limited resolution options compared to prior Analogue hardware.

But at least they made a glowy version?

What the hell is going on at Analogue? The Pocket remains a nice piece of hardware if you have the time and patience to get the most out of it. But Analogue is quickly turning into a weird reclusive company that sells only one product, can't bother to support it correctly, and thinks the best way to address customer communication is to ignore it.

Excellent article. There's nothing else like this out there. Keep up the good work!

Incredible memories of this one, and I'll stull pull out the old Cube to play it now and then. My reflexes have gotten much rustier in the two decades since release — I look at some of my old times and wonder how they were possible.

I'm not sure I've ever played anything that felt faster than this. When you really find the line and take full advantage of the GCN's excellent analog triggers, it's like piloting a lightning bolt. And all these years since, it still looks phenomenal. Everything pops off the screen in a mad flurry of color.

And so soon after the demise of the Dreamcast, the Sega collaboration made the game feel downright historical at the time.

Might have to pour one out and play a bit later today.

As much of a mess as the 32X was, I really regret not getting one when they were around.

Looking forward to exploring it's (small) library when I finally go in on a MiSTer in the next year or two.

I've seen it in NYC, and it brought back memories of seeing it in Nintendo Power as a kid.

Haven't been by the store in quite a few years, but I always enjoy the artifacts they have on display. I should try to get there again, but it was easier when I had family living in the area.

This is fascinating. And it's worth noting that I've never seen anything like this on any other gaming site.

Keep up the good work!

Blows my mind how much excellent work these people do.

This doesn't really mean anything at all. It's just a boilerplate "no comment".

They're not going to answer the question with "absolutely not. We have no plans to make games in those franchises, and I promise that we never will."

The question could have been asked using literally any Sega IP to fill in the blanks and the answer would have been exactly the same.

While the games are primitive, this is really impressive. Since these can't just be emulated ROMs, there must have been a ton of work put into recreating the graphical elements accurately.

Looking forward to these when they become available!

Wow, this is really nice. These are the kinds of quality of life options I'd expect from an emulated M2 release, so it's awesome to see them working on native hardware using the original ROM.

Also, I love that they made "hold" and "toggle" versions of the patch. Since I mostly play using 8BitDo M30s nowadays, the "hold" variant will be a great use for those shoulder buttons.

Kudos to the team behind it!

Funny to see this the same week 8BitDo released white M30s.

This looks incredible, but your final sentiment sums it up. While I want one, I do wonder if I'd really make use of its real potential.

Don't really need one of these since I have a Pocket, but I'm eagerly anticipating some reviews of the Nano when that comes out.

That thing is small and novel enough to be worth having.

Ahhh, the fresh smell of thinly-veiled racism in the morning.

Shame to see so much of it in the comments section here.

Most of what's going on in this thread seems more like tired old console war nonsense that should have died out in the 90s rather than a real discussion of gaming history.

I don't think gaming history really has a "Nintendo problem" at all. I'm extremely interested in gaming history, and I find that the community tends to have a very diverse interest in platforms and technologies.

I'm a frequent listener to podcasts like Retronauts and Cane and Rinse, all of which touch on all sorts of platforms. Video content is similarly diverse with channels like Atari Archive and Kim Justice shining attention on all sorts of games and hardware. And even Jeremy Parish's previously Nintendo-centric "Works" series has shifted its attention to platforms like the 7800, SG-1000, Master System, and Atari Lynx in order to properly contextualize what was happening in gaming at the time.

Point is, there is absolutely no shortage of excellent, well-researched material about all corners of gaming history.

It's quite possible that audiences tend to flock more to Nintendo-centric content, but that's a different problem. It's like saying that history has a WW2 problem because pop culture tends to focus on it more than WW1.

@killroy10 Sure, but I feel like you're just weirdly assuming that people who are actually interested in gaming history aren't aware of all that.

The FDS is fascinating, as is the fact that mapper chip advancements rendered it effectively obsolete (which is the main reason it didn't come to the US — it was just plain unnecessary).

There's no revisionism happening here. People who follow this stuff already know that. And people who don't aren't interested enough in gaming history to bother knowing it. That's not unique to Nintendo fans, or even to gaming. Most people just enjoy what they enjoy without knowing or caring about the history of it.

@killroy10 It's a bit weird that you go out of your way to note that the NES was inferior to the FDS as evidence that gaming history is Nintendo-centric.

Setting aside that I'm not sure the NES really was inferior to the FDS (that's a complex discussion for another day), your premise about Nintendo-centrism seems to rest on the NES being over-appreciated relative to... another Nintendo console?

I've bought a few of Remute's albums and I have yet to regret one. Good stuff.

Intrigued and subscribed!

Probably a fair deal as far as absolute dollars and cents go, especially with the $700 payout, but the stuff he traded is likely to continue appreciating in value while the stuff he got will not (especially if his plan is to use that Switch).

But assuming he's a collector (which is a fair assumption if he's got these things in his possession), it's an absolutely baffling trade. The Pokemon set is a crown jewel, and I'm not even a big Pokemon or N64 fan.

Shame that this guy has been reduced to contributing absolutely nothing to gaming except clickbait hot takes from the peanut gallery.

I'd suggest he put up or shut up, but the last time he put up was Drawn to Death and that didn't really impress anybody with its visuals or its gameplay.

Really conflicted about this. If Analogue can get back to basics with a purpose-built console as nice as the Super NT and Mega SG, then I'd love to have one of these.

But just knowing this thing will be saddled with Analogue OS is a big flashing warning sign that even after it ships late (anybody who thinks this is actually shipping in 2023 is delusional) it's going to spend a good 18 months with an incomplete feature set.

"the PS3 version proves that the game can exist without Kinect"

The XBox version didn't require Kinect either. I played it and loved it with a standard controller.

Rediscovering this game has been one of the unexpected pleasures of getting a Series S.

@graemebuchan It's a really lovely device from a hardware standpoint, but the support and customer communication have been shameful.

I adore my Mega SG and Super NT. They are some of the nicest pieces of consumer electronics I have ever purchased, and will probably remain centerpieces of my gaming setup for the rest of my life. They are feature-complete devices that do exactly what they are meant to and do it well.

But the Pocket feels like world-class hardware saddled with beta software. Features remain absent almost 2 years after release. Dock functionality remains limited, especially if you want to adjust resolution (Analogue's own OS spills off the TV screen!). Lynx, NGP, and PCE adapters remain nowhere to be found. And against this backdrop, Analogue provides absolutely no communication to buyers. They just post animated GIFs of games that may or may not even be playable on hardware they currently sell.

And that's before you get to the insane business model of discontinuing all but one of your products. Their store page feels less like a store and more like a museum.

I know I'm a broken record about Analogue, but it's only because I used to be a massive fan and now I don't understand what the hell is going on over there. The Pocket will likely be the last Analogue device I buy unless they get it together.

Considering it's been 4 months (!) since the last Pocket update, this seems like a pretty scant list of improvements with too many promised features (DAC support, display modes for FPGA) still unfulfilled.

Man, I've been looking forward to this.

Was lucky to find a cartridge in-box at a used game store 2 years ago. A little more expensive than I wanted (especially given the poor condition of the manual), but as a huge GB fan it always felt like a hole in my collection.

@HammerGalladeBro Thou must!

I'm sure it's a combination of both reasons, but yeah... that name should be changed.

@TransmitHim I was wondering this, too.

Regardless, I'm surprised to hear Atari has enough cash lying around to buy a sandwich.

Fantastic article!

I love this game and just played through it again last year. I had a Genesis in those days and EGM gave this a solid review. I was so excited to see a well-regarded "Zelda-like" that I could play.

Sadly, this game also represents one of the most regretful gaming-related decisions I've ever made. I sold the cartridge on eBay back in grad school. It hadn't skyrocketed in value at that point, so I didn't get much for it. Probably just used the money to buy a different used game.

Maybe if it ever gets a reprint, I'll be able to add it back to its rightful place. But the original carts are idiotically expensive, so I doubt I'll otherwise ever be able to plug such a glaring (and self-inflicted) hole in my collection.

It's still Tetris DS for me. It controls great (setting aside arguments about infinite spin), and I'm a sucker for the branding.

But Tetris Effect gets an honorable mention. It's an excellent rendition. The only problem is that it's so vibey that I really have to be in the right headspace to enjoy it compared to more pick-up-and-play versions. Even more so if I want to play it on PSVR, which is a hell of an experience.

@Geonjaha It really is difficult. I really like mine and I'm glad I have it, but it's taken almost a year for it to reach a fraction of its potential and almost entirely due to the work of others.

It really wish they had just continued focusing on their core strength of good hardware with even better FPGA hardware emulation. But they've gotten lost in the weeds the past few years.

The Pocket has been let down by a needlessly complex OS and half-assed support, and is now literally the only thing they sell (if you're willing to wait). The excellent Super NT and Mega SG (easily their best products) are sold out and being discontinued with no stated plan to replace them, just like the NT Mini before them. The only new piece of hardware they've announced is the Analogue Duo which shows no sign of even existing despite being revealed 3 years ago. And their customer communication is nonexistent outside of a constant barrage of teaser posts featuring games that may or may not be playable on any device currently available from the company.

Perhaps they have reasonable answers to every one of these concerns, but you'd never know since their company policy is to never say anything ever.

Even forgiving the challenges of the pandemic, I don't understand what Analogue thinks their own future looks like with this insane business model. You can't build a brand around discontinued hardware and IOUs.

I'm glad external developers are actively working on the Pocket. There hasn't been a firmware update in 3 months. It's a great piece of hardware, but Analogue's support has been embarrassing.

I used to happily sing their praises based on my top-notch experiences with the Mega SG and Super NT. But they really bit off more than they could chew with this "Analogue OS" thing, and I'll think twice about buying anything else from them in the future.

One of the side-effects of Nintendo releasing so many versions of the 3DS is that I ended up with several units. My plan is to leave my NEW 3DS the way it is, and hack my Zelda LBW 3DS to do what I want with it. I had to sever it from my account when I upgraded anyway (another annoying anti-consumer Nintendo thing), so it just sits there empty and unused.

I still frequently buy old games and collections when they're made available, and I believe firmly in supporting developers. But I have less interest in protecting corporate license-holders that are just squatting on intellectual property. I've spent such an insane amount of money on games over the years that I really have no moral compunction against this kind of thing.

@bryce951 Yeah, it's not worth spending $20 knowing that they might just disable it there eventually, too.

That's the problem with trying to do this kind of thing on a console. The manufacturer has too much power to reach in to your hardware and make changes without your permission.

Shame. I was hoping to set my Series S up with PS2 emulation, but I guess that's no longer in the cards.

This would look great on my shelf next to the OUYA and Intellivision Amico.

I mean, I don't have such a shelf because I'm not an imbecile with more money than sense. But if I did, it would look great there.

@Hydra_Spectre Thanks — good clarification.

I meant that the 3DS can play DS games, so you can jailbreak one and pretty much get the whole shebang.