Fascinating. How did the Messiah chip bypass the security then? I got one pre-installed in my PS2, and it ended up being able to boot anything I threw at it.
@retrogamer1 Hello. Thanks for the comment and kinds words.
Games I have waited years to play are now fenced off from me forever. They will never be retranslated by humans, and this knowledge causes me physical pain. My chest and gut tense up, because it is almost if these games have been erased. That is how I see it. I refuse to play AI translations.
And so the topic makes me quite emotional. I find that Gen-AI is such an intense and overwhelming trigger point for me, given the long list of things I dislike about it, that I find it difficult to moderate my statements. As such, and because it also drains a lot of energy, I'm thinking of refraining from commenting on AI.
Many of my colleagues feel similarly about AI, so I know my POV is still conveyed. And my silence is not the result of changing my views.
But I'm going to step back from discussing this topic. I did not mean to offend any member of the community - I just wish I could make them feel, in their hearts, what I feel.
@metaphysician "...if it only lasts an hour with no prospect of replay value? That's a bad use of $80, if that is its price. You'll have one hour of fun, and then nothing until the next time you can afford an $80 entertainment purchase on your budget."
There is a huge debate to be had around game length, pricing ranges, sales, the used physical market, length, etc. I'd enjoy a robust discussion on it actually.
But to save time and space here, while I broadly agree with your statement over an $80 game lasting an hour, my specific example was a person on GameFAQs saying 40 hours for a game - which had cost me £20 used; would have cost him maybe $60 new. But even if we're going with $80, complaining that 40 hours is too short feels... Like the wrong argument.
I would want a cheaper game, not a longer game. I've finished thousands of games in my life. There were very few that were able to hold my interest beyond the 40 hour mark. I get bored and want a different experience. It's also why I rarely play sequels. Why would I want the same experience again?
I suppose fundamentally the implication is that what I want from games is different from what you or this GFaqs poster wants. I need constant novelty to hold my interest, so I prefer games which are between 5 and 10 hours.
@Razieluigi I can recall when less than a 7 was scathing, and 7 still worth checking. Then I recall less than 8 being scathing. Have we reached the era of less than 9 being scathing?
I don't follow modern reviews. But I can imagine it. Any good examples you've stumbled across?
I know youngers are pretty weird. Found a guy on GFaqs complaining 40 hours was too short for a game. "In this economy" he said, he needed to get his money's worth, so 80 hours, or maybe 60 at a minimum.
He seemed like the sort who would say 8 is a crap score.
I'm glad we can still openly discuss AI on TE. GameTalk's forum have implemented a new rule banning the criticism of AI.
"You will eat your slop and like it!" - is what I imagine the forum mods said silently in their minds.
Also I was banned from RHDN for criticising AI use in fan-translations. I stated that for 25+ years the community has been human beings working together to create these patches, and now we're increasingly seeing members suckle at the slop machine. Apparently this was seen as disruptive.
From my perspective it looks like those in power on other websites are circling the wagons. They want AI, they want you to learn to love AI, and any attempt to criticise it will be punished.
Which is frustrating and insane. I saw a few people reacting to the new rules saying this was good, since they don't want to be aware of how the majority hate AI slop.
The problem is, if you silence people through rules, and prevent anyone from speaking out, then you become oblivious to what people want or think. If 85% of users despise it, but can't say anything because of the rules, the silence you hear and the lack of opposition does not mean people suddenly love it.
To use an analogy: it's like injecting morphine into your leg and then setting it on fire and saying: "see! the burning doesn't hurt!"
It looks like there's no opposition to AI only because you've now silenced everyone.
I've said it before and I'll say it for as long as my lungs draw breath: **** AI.
I despise AI with every cell in my body.
It not only devalues human culture, it physically destroys it (books are shredded to feed the monster); it destroys jobs and livelihoods; it ruins the environment; it drives up energy costs; it drives up component costs.
It does a long list of real world horrors so that lazy people can cut corners and greedy corporations can profit more easily and quicker.
AI is not some disruptive new tool we've invented. It is the darkest of poisons that is now encroaching and overwhelming every aspect of our lives. It is the manifestation of evil born from the sins of sloth and greed.
@sbeng135 True! I've introduced it to several people who don't know any Japanese and they were able to enjoy many of the gags purely visually / interactively. It's a shame it didn't get a worldwide release, even without localisation.
But listening to the comedian's dialogue, I felt a longing to hear those words in English.
@Ruka I studied it at GCSE, A-levels, and university for 3 months. Altogether for 6 years. I could never get past a glass ceiling when it came to the kanji. I realised that my brain simply was not wired for languages. I wanted to be fluent so badly. No one made me study it at school, I voluntarily attended classes during my free periods. I made the study cards. Read the study books. I even sat with MGS trying to match the Japanese dialogue to the kanji, etc.
After 6 years I just could not progress further.
I firmly believe you either have the genetics to master a second language or you don't. Because 6 years of dogged determined study did not blossom into proficiency.
@GlamReaper If you follow the RetroGameTalk thread on the Shadowrun Sega CD translation, you'll see that RetchE recently posted saying he was going to incorporate AI deliberately now, since people were vilifying Madmorigan. I'm not sure if I can link to his post, since the forum is basically an extension of CDRomance, but here's what he posted:
Yesterday at 7:53 PM Honestly at this point I'll pass mine through AI so we're all on the same page - and that way no one is vilified.
So, just a heads up, every version of Shadowrun on Sega CD is now unplayable.
1) Iwakura - non-existent vapourware 2) Madmorigan - worthless AI slop 3) RetchE - threatening to turn his into worthless AI slop too
Playing this game has been a holy grail of mine for over 25 years. And now I will never be able to, because literally every fan-translation attempt, ALL THREE OF THEM, is a dumpster fire.
@Daniel36 We chatted about it before, but you owe it to yourself to play it again and see the three other levels after one, and also the bonus stage. Go on... Now is the time, Dan.
The year is 2030. Vibe coding is so realistic, literally anything could be AI. The uncertainty has gripped people in fear. You go to hug your wife. She is AI.
As a buyer of the £800 package I am of course disappointed. But I also respect the fact they just added another year on, rather than a month at a time like a lot of other delayed projects do. That sort of recurrent disappointment builds up. I've also worked on projects that face delays. It happens.
I'm just going to put it out of my mind and go through my backlog. See you all next year September.
EDIT:
Turns out it's AI slop trash. Ignore and move along.
OLD MESSAGE:
Not sure calling it a "port" is accurate, since all three games were by completely different studios, making their own independent and unrelated version.
Fantastic news. Given that Iwakura just sat on it for like a decade, I'm glad someone else stood up and handled it. Reminds me of the Princess Crown fiasco. This is good. This sets a valuable precedent.
We are no longer living under playground rules where someone can shout "dibs!" and then promptly do nothing, while everyone else avoids it. You either start what you finish or someone else will. Excellent.
The PAL optimisation is interesting. Does anyone have any more info on that? I have a switchable Mega Drive with flashcart. Does the PAL optimised version somehow make use of the extra scanlines? Is the music sped-up to counter the inherent slowdown of PAL? What if you run the PAL optimised version at 60Hz? What happens then? Too fast? Glitches?
@Andee As someone else said, almost all the factories that made the specialised parts closed. The people who invented and knew the tech are either dead or retired in 2026. And give the volume of legacy units, no one would pay the cost of a new one versus an old one, many of which were so robust they still work well. You just need to recap them.
Battle of Olympus is in my top 5 NES games, so this is an instant purchase. One of the things I especially liked in the original was how well it used the limited NES palette. Some of the screens were visually beautiful.
I'm really pleased to see this update retains that same mastery of colour, with similar gradations, but more detail and colours.
Curious if they'll adjust the balance. It could get quite difficult in places.
If I have a UK PAL Atari 2600, will these games work on it? Or will the colours be screwed up? Or will they make a PAL bundle too? I'd love to get these, but the US / UK colour differences do my head in.
As everyone has said: the thief knew what he was doing, targetted a specifically valuable set of esoteric items which would need to be sold via specialist outlets like eBay.
In fact...
I bet the community could investigate this better than the police.
He had 800+ games, so obviously including the highly rare and valuable ones. How many such rarities have been sold on eBay in the last 3 months? You can search for up to three months past sold auctions.
Was there a sudden glut of such valuable items, sold from a specific location in the US?
I'm assuming the seller would have opened multiple "burner accounts", but they'd all be shipping out of the same city.
If the police were sharp and on the ball, they'd get him to provide a list of specific games, which were the most valuable, perhaps consult with an expert, maybe Frank Cifaldi from the VGHF, and then once they know the values and rarity of specific titles, search online for sales of those same titles, and draw up a chart.
These are rare games. Not raw gold. Their sales are traceable and findable.
The alternative is the thief wanted them for his private collection?
My heart aches at such a loss. No amount of insurance is going to replace the emotional value of those items.
This also makes me think it's worth marking every item in your collection with a tiny fluorescent sign, for later tracking. Not enough to reduce value, but a small little mark, invisible to the naked eye, so if found later, can be identified as yours.
@roguetrooper
There are indeed many challenges with oral histories. In fact I'm currently wrestling with an interview quote that can't be accurate, thus requiring tons of adjacent research (not related to this book).
However, I still favour oral histories above opinion editorials.
The words of people who were there, even if human beings are unreliable, are still tremendously fascinating, and have real value in conveying the atmosphere at the time. Of course, as you point out, one needs to pay attention.
@Daggot I like the idea of these kinds of books, but I guess I what I want is a few pages of real history on key games. Basically what you can find on youtube videos.
This is my replying personally, not as a book contributor. 🙈
This comment I find quite painful, since the majority of YT vids covering games history I've seen, they don't do original research.
They crib from articles in Retro Gamer, or interview books such as my own, and then don't even give credit. I posted examples in the Norm Carusso news article on here.
I've not seen Patman. I don't know who that is, but will look them up.
But it is very rare to find YT channels that do interview research.
MyLifeinGaming does interviews. They're fantastic. There was another channel interviewing Saturn devs (I forget the name).
But most of the time I'll stumble on a vid and realise whatever channel it is, was just reading the latest Retro Gamer interview, or Time Ext interview, and then didn't credit them.
And this is personally frustrating, because we do the work of finding developers, convince them to talk, transcribe and write out features, then some YT upstart plonks out a low effort monologue over game footage and they get 100k views.
This is just rust me venting as a private individual.
But please look for the sources used by these YTubers.
Regarding developer input, I'd like to highlight the inclusion of several long form interviews, based on specific roles. There's one with a Japanese producer Paul did, which I found fascinating. Plus interviews focused on programming, graphics, etc. It's very much interview led.
@Daggot I can't speak for other books, but I feel ours might be what you're looking for. Obviously I'm biased. But our goal was very strongly to avoid a basic nostalgic overview. A mantra we had was: "Readers don't want to read our memories of playing Spacies down the pub, they want the inside story behind these games!"
Which even influenced the long form title of the book.
So every single game entry is like a tiny Making Of feature. So a small paragraph from one of us explaining the game and its legacy, followed by several hundred words from a dev talking about the process.
As the photos show, several games also feature developer documents, design sketches, etc. Not every game has dev material, some are just quotes, but wherever possible we strived to source actual dev materials. As the write up mentions, Paul even licensed material from the Strong Museum.
@Arcadia_Official @Martin_H Regarding the curation, I believe Paul will be discussing the process at various outlets. So he is better poised to explain all the decisions. But we had a fairly detailed curation system, including the availability of developers, and several other factors.
@gmar I only contributed so don't know Sam's plans regarding wider marketing. But Paul has seen the thread, and I would guess Sam keeps tabs on internet feedback so will see this.
@Arcadia_Official
Paul was very keen to make sure each decade was balanced - also taking into account the number of games released in each decade when curating the list. There's quite a bit from the 80s and 90s.
Just to be clear: every game has a small author intro, followed by a quote from a developer who worked on it, describing its creation. The dev quote constituting the bulk of the text.
The full list of games in alphabetical order:
1942, 720°, After Burner, Altered Beast, Area 51, Arkanoid, Asteroid, Asteroids, Battle Garegga, Battlezone, Berzerk, Bomb Jack, Breakout, Bubble Bobble, Cannon Dancer, Canyon Bomber, CarnEvil, Centipede, Chiller, Circus, Computer Space, Cruis’n USA, Crystal Castles, Dance Dance Revolution, Darius, Daytona USA, Death Race, Defender, Die Hard Arcade, Dominos, Donkey Kong, Double Dragon, Dragon’s Lair, Fantasy Zone, Final Fight, Food Fight, Gain Ground, Galaga, Galaxian, Gauntlet, Ghouls ’n Ghosts, Gorf, Gotcha, Gradius, Gran Trak 10, Gun Fight, House of the Dead, Hunchback, I, Robot, Ikari Warriors, In the Hunt, Joust, Killer Instinct, Klax, Krull, Kung-Fu Master, Lunar Lander, Major Havoc, Marble Madness, Marvel vs. Capcom, Metal Slug, Missile Command, Monaco GP, Moon Patrol, Mortal Kombat, Ms. Pac-Man, NARC, NBA Jam, NHL Open Ice, Out Run, Pac-Land, Pac-Man, Paperboy, Pit-Fighter, Point Blank, Pole Position, Pong, Primal Rage, Puzzle Bobble, Q*bert, Quantum, Qwak!, R-Type, Raiden, Rainbow Islands, Rampage, Rampart, Return of the Jedi, RoadBlasters, Robotron: 2084, S.T.U.N. Runner, San Francisco Rush, Satan’s Hollow, Shinobi, Silent Scope, Sinistar, Smash T.V., Solomon’s Key, SoulCalibur, Space Harrier, Space Invaders, Spy Hunter, Star Wars, Street Fighter II, Strider, Super Bug, Tank, Tapper, Tekken, Tempest, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Tetris, The Pit, The Tower of Druaga, Tron, Venture, Warrior, Wonder Boy, Xevious, Zaxxon.
@EarthboundBenjy I am officially, publicly apologising for that. I thought it was funny - but the fact it's preventing you from reading the words of Yoshitaka Murayama shows that I was way off, and I won't do anything similar in future.
I'm just a freelancer so don't have editing access.
But I have screenshotted your message, sent it to @damo, and asked that the FF7 spoiler be removed.
They say it's not a contact issue... But it might be. I had a Famicom cart which wouldn't run. Cleaned it repeatedly with isopro, scrubbing with a cotton bud. Assumed it was dead. Gifted it to a modder to mess about with, maybe re-use the shell. He used fine grit sandpaper to abrade the upper layer of the contacts and it worked fine. Which was a revelation to me. Sometimes isopro alcohol isn't strong enough, and you literally need to scrape the upper layer.
As for carts not working...
Yeah, that might happen.
But ROM burners are easy to come by and not too expensive, and you can get blank ROM chips to burn. The modder I mention makes personal repros.
So even if the ROM chips die, they can be revived again by burning new ones. For legacy hardware anyway.
I played it on a ferry a couple times, the proper thing, and then later finished it on MAME. Imagine if this had received an expanded home port for PS1 back in the day? I loved the world of it. Reminded me of Nausicaä and Panzer Dragoon a bit.
The year is 2030. Vibe coding is so realistic, literally anything could be AI. The uncertainty has gripped people in fear. You go to hug your wife. She is AI.
This game is still flawlessly designed even decades later. Please everyone, play the single player and savour the design.
Now, when I saw flawless or perfect, I don't mean the graphics or performance, I mean the layout, structure, versatility of weapons and tools, objectives, and general gameplay loop of the missions, along with how higher difficulties build on lower levels through increased objectives.
I recall a colleague once trashing Goldeneye, a few years back, not long ago, insisting it had aged terribly and was in fact trash, and people only liked it because of nostalgia.
I promptly decided never to listen to this person's views again.
Goldeneye has in fact improved with age!
Remember the remake of Goldeneye? Stupid tutorials, QTEs, long cut-scenes, absolute dumpster trash.
The N64 game drops you right into gameplay, and let's you learn the game through an easy, linear, and simple first level.
It is design perfection. And now everyone can play it.
Please, please go play it.
Play it now!
And ignore anyone who says its aged badly or is only fondly remembered due to nostalgia.
Why don't they just make more normal units to meet demand?
I've owned one for a couple years. It's excellent. But I pity those who can't get one, while the company is swanning around like a bunch of demented carnies, making increasingly daft and niche variations instead of just making more normal units.
A spokesperson for Analogue:oh but darling! Have you seen our new version made out of McVitties Biscuits! We've only made five of them! <squirts water from a flower on their shirt>
I recently played through Twinkle Knights (1995) on the 3DO, and seeing this... I now realise that TK was basically a clone / copy/ rip-off of Battle Skin Panic, albeit with live-action video footage, instead of anime style artwork. How bizarre - they are strikingly similar!
It was alright as a free download I stuck on my 3DO ODE, not sure I'd actually pay money for it though.
There are better eroge out there - notably Night Slave and Knights of Xentar.
@Oldretrogamer
I used to sell maybe a hundred or so items a year for like a tenner each. Not a lot - maybe £1000 minus postage. But it was good to clear out the little things that accumulate. So that 30 item limit ****s me completely regardless of the value limit. I just can't sell the little stuff any more.
And you're being terribly naive. "They won't take your money if it's just your personal stuff."
They are asking for your NI number.
This means you are then on their radar. You're being naive if you're thinking: "Oh, I only sold 35 items and it's only about £1500, so they're not interested in me." They use AI to monitor their database of eBay sellers, so you have no idea how being on their radar might bite you in the ass down the line.
That's waking the sleeping bear. Don't ever trust the government with anything.
@Kurokage
Click My Ebay, Account, Personal Information, scroll down.
It'll show: National Insurance Number Please provide this information.
Failure to provide it means eBay will withhold payments / withdrawals until you provide it. The UK government changed the rules so that all moneys made has to be reported to HMRC, so they can take their cut. They're forcing eBay to do it.
I've not sold anything for months.
I bought these items with money that had been taxed prior to my receiving it, and the items themselves had "value added tax" applied when I bought them, so when I sell my own things, my own games, which have already been "double taxed" in effect, the government can go **** itself if it thinks I'm paying a third layer of tax on any money scraped back by selling. They can **** right off.
@Slider2711
I was told, in no uncertain terms, that describing the events which led to my views on this, could result in legal action being taken against myself and possibly Hookshot Media.
So for the record: I love Songbird and regard Carl as a delightfully wonderful and upright human being.
Walked into a UK post office to send a copy of Retro Gamer and a comic to a friend in Japan. Under 500g.
Cheapest shipping option was £22.
For a mag and comic.
I asked is there nothing cheaper? Nothing the woman insisted. Post Office overhauled all prices in April. This was the CHEAPEST.
The whole world has gone insane with rising costs and it's only going to get worse.
If a flat magazine costs £22 from England to Japan, then a well packaged large joystick could be literally anything. A million dollars. It doesn't matter. We no longer live in a sane world. $89 is what, £60? I could post three magazines for that.
I tinkered with the Mario Artist series, and the rest, but my statement was mainly to address Cyxceven and anyone else who already dropped a large sum on an X7 (myself included). If you have an X7 it's not worth dropping €170 on a new cart just for the 64DD, especially given that they can be patched to run on an X7 anyway (most? all? I'm not even sure).
I nearly bought a 64DD years ago, but then looked into what was available. I was left unimpressed.
Yes, historically it's valuable. This was Nintendo attempting to the FDS again albeit for the N64. There were grand plans for it, including designing characters in Mario Artist and then seeing them walk around in games such as Sim City. I was so excited when reading the issue of N64 mag that broke the news. It looked so cool. But in the end it was abandoned before much could be done with it.
I'm glad the games are backed up. But for a general retro enthusiast, I would not recommend spending large sums just to try any of these. A well researched YouTube will have you covered.
I say this as someone who owns a Virtual Boy and other "failed" hardware. My interest, for myself, is always what can I play?
@sdelfin
Excellent points. And not just fun gameplay in a short time, but also immediately. Older games also had manuals, meaning you could pre-load the info needed to play without lengthy mandatory tutorials, which are now the norm since manuals stopped being made.
As a fan of the first Harvest Moon, which allowed you to jump right in, I decided to try one of the latest versions. I bailed during the tutorial because CBA wading through all that nonsense. I'd rather just go back to the old game, and the old design, which let me play immediately and trusted me to figure things.
Modern games treat players like idiots, while also trying to provide the same experience to everyone.
I genuinely hate most modern game design. And the few rare occasions a new game is released that's amazing, the critics don't understand it and hate on it. Case in point: Slitterhead. One of the best games of the last 10 years, and critics all whined about it, many complaining that its design is antiquated. WTF? This game is a straight up 10 / 10.
No, modern reviewers and modern game design do not align with what I regard as good.
The Hyperkin Mouse came out 2017, so pretty old at this point. I was about to buy one when a local CEX had a cheap Mario Paint with mouse for less, so got that instead. Has no one in the comments here used the Hyperkin? I'm curious as to how it compares.
@BaronRedWings It's not some random dev. He's the person who made the game. I heard his comment and concluded I don't like his attitude, which is obviously going to impact the game because the comment was about the game - the same game I now don't want to play because of what he said about his game that he made.
I dunno... It seems intensely logical to me.
It's like if a chef said he pooped in the soup, and I said I don't want the soup now, and then you said "writing off the soup because of something some chef said is childish".
Comments 978
Re: The PS2 Tough Nut Security Chip 'MechaCon' Has Finally Been Cracked Open
Fascinating. How did the Messiah chip bypass the security then? I got one pre-installed in my PS2, and it ended up being able to boot anything I threw at it.
Re: A Second English Translation For Sega CD Shadowrun Appears, And It's Also AI-Assisted
@retrogamer1
Hello. Thanks for the comment and kinds words.
Games I have waited years to play are now fenced off from me forever. They will never be retranslated by humans, and this knowledge causes me physical pain. My chest and gut tense up, because it is almost if these games have been erased. That is how I see it. I refuse to play AI translations.
And so the topic makes me quite emotional. I find that Gen-AI is such an intense and overwhelming trigger point for me, given the long list of things I dislike about it, that I find it difficult to moderate my statements. As such, and because it also drains a lot of energy, I'm thinking of refraining from commenting on AI.
Many of my colleagues feel similarly about AI, so I know my POV is still conveyed. And my silence is not the result of changing my views.
But I'm going to step back from discussing this topic. I did not mean to offend any member of the community - I just wish I could make them feel, in their hearts, what I feel.
Re: The Making Of: Strider II - One Of The Worst Sequels In Video Game History, And I Should Know - I Had To Test It
@metaphysician
"...if it only lasts an hour with no prospect of replay value? That's a bad use of $80, if that is its price. You'll have one hour of fun, and then nothing until the next time you can afford an $80 entertainment purchase on your budget."
There is a huge debate to be had around game length, pricing ranges, sales, the used physical market, length, etc. I'd enjoy a robust discussion on it actually.
But to save time and space here, while I broadly agree with your statement over an $80 game lasting an hour, my specific example was a person on GameFAQs saying 40 hours for a game - which had cost me £20 used; would have cost him maybe $60 new. But even if we're going with $80, complaining that 40 hours is too short feels... Like the wrong argument.
I would want a cheaper game, not a longer game. I've finished thousands of games in my life. There were very few that were able to hold my interest beyond the 40 hour mark. I get bored and want a different experience. It's also why I rarely play sequels. Why would I want the same experience again?
I suppose fundamentally the implication is that what I want from games is different from what you or this GFaqs poster wants. I need constant novelty to hold my interest, so I prefer games which are between 5 and 10 hours.
Re: The Making Of: Strider 2 - One Of The Worst Sequels In Video Game History, And I Should Know - I Had To Test It
@Razieluigi
I can recall when less than a 7 was scathing, and 7 still worth checking. Then I recall less than 8 being scathing. Have we reached the era of less than 9 being scathing?
I don't follow modern reviews. But I can imagine it. Any good examples you've stumbled across?
I know youngers are pretty weird. Found a guy on GFaqs complaining 40 hours was too short for a game. "In this economy" he said, he needed to get his money's worth, so 80 hours, or maybe 60 at a minimum.
He seemed like the sort who would say 8 is a crap score.
Re: A Second English Translation For Sega CD Shadowrun Appears, And It's Also AI-Assisted
I'm glad we can still openly discuss AI on TE. GameTalk's forum have implemented a new rule banning the criticism of AI.
"You will eat your slop and like it!" - is what I imagine the forum mods said silently in their minds.
Also I was banned from RHDN for criticising AI use in fan-translations. I stated that for 25+ years the community has been human beings working together to create these patches, and now we're increasingly seeing members suckle at the slop machine. Apparently this was seen as disruptive.
From my perspective it looks like those in power on other websites are circling the wagons. They want AI, they want you to learn to love AI, and any attempt to criticise it will be punished.
Which is frustrating and insane. I saw a few people reacting to the new rules saying this was good, since they don't want to be aware of how the majority hate AI slop.
The problem is, if you silence people through rules, and prevent anyone from speaking out, then you become oblivious to what people want or think. If 85% of users despise it, but can't say anything because of the rules, the silence you hear and the lack of opposition does not mean people suddenly love it.
To use an analogy: it's like injecting morphine into your leg and then setting it on fire and saying: "see! the burning doesn't hurt!"
It looks like there's no opposition to AI only because you've now silenced everyone.
I've said it before and I'll say it for as long as my lungs draw breath: **** AI.
I despise AI with every cell in my body.
It not only devalues human culture, it physically destroys it (books are shredded to feed the monster); it destroys jobs and livelihoods; it ruins the environment; it drives up energy costs; it drives up component costs.
It does a long list of real world horrors so that lazy people can cut corners and greedy corporations can profit more easily and quicker.
AI is not some disruptive new tool we've invented. It is the darkest of poisons that is now encroaching and overwhelming every aspect of our lives. It is the manifestation of evil born from the sins of sloth and greed.
Re: The Making Of: Strider 2 - One Of The Worst Sequels In Video Game History, And I Should Know - I Had To Test It
Strider 2 and Ranger X scored the same with two of the EGM reviewers. Incredible.
I've not actually played Strider 2, I only know it by reputation, but Ranger X is one of my all-time favourite games on any system.
Clearly I am now going to have to play Strider 2 for more of that Ranger X goodness.
Re: Mamma Mia! After 30 Years, Super Mario Bros. 2's Satellaview Exclusive Sequel Has Just Got An English Fan Dub
@sbeng135
True! I've introduced it to several people who don't know any Japanese and they were able to enjoy many of the gags purely visually / interactively. It's a shame it didn't get a worldwide release, even without localisation.
But listening to the comedian's dialogue, I felt a longing to hear those words in English.
Re: Mamma Mia! After 30 Years, Super Mario Bros. 2's Satellaview Exclusive Sequel Has Just Got An English Fan Dub
I love the increased fan dubbing by the community.
It gives me hope of enjoying Pole's Big Adventure properly one day.
Re: Sega CD Shadowrun's English Translation Was Developed Using AI
@Ruka I studied it at GCSE, A-levels, and university for 3 months. Altogether for 6 years. I could never get past a glass ceiling when it came to the kanji. I realised that my brain simply was not wired for languages. I wanted to be fluent so badly. No one made me study it at school, I voluntarily attended classes during my free periods. I made the study cards. Read the study books. I even sat with MGS trying to match the Japanese dialogue to the kanji, etc.
After 6 years I just could not progress further.
I firmly believe you either have the genetics to master a second language or you don't. Because 6 years of dogged determined study did not blossom into proficiency.
Re: Sega CD Shadowrun's English Translation Was Developed Using AI
@81632bit It looks like that to me.
Re: Sega CD Shadowrun's English Translation Was Developed Using AI
@GlamReaper
If you follow the RetroGameTalk thread on the Shadowrun Sega CD translation, you'll see that RetchE recently posted saying he was going to incorporate AI deliberately now, since people were vilifying Madmorigan. I'm not sure if I can link to his post, since the forum is basically an extension of CDRomance, but here's what he posted:
Yesterday at 7:53 PM
Honestly at this point I'll pass mine through AI so we're all on the same page - and that way no one is vilified.
So, just a heads up, every version of Shadowrun on Sega CD is now unplayable.
1) Iwakura - non-existent vapourware
2) Madmorigan - worthless AI slop
3) RetchE - threatening to turn his into worthless AI slop too
Playing this game has been a holy grail of mine for over 25 years. And now I will never be able to, because literally every fan-translation attempt, ALL THREE OF THEM, is a dumpster fire.
**** AI!
Re: Sunsoft's Second Retro Game Collection Includes Original 'Kusoge' Ikki And Obscure RPG Maharaja
@Daniel36
I bet you'll beat Ikki in 10 minutes. You just walk around and collect the little gold pieces. I think there's 6 in each stage?
Re: Sunsoft's Second Retro Game Collection Includes Original 'Kusoge' Ikki And Obscure RPG Maharaja
@Daniel36
We chatted about it before, but you owe it to yourself to play it again and see the three other levels after one, and also the bonus stage. Go on... Now is the time, Dan.
Re: Sega CD Shadowrun's English Translation Was Developed Using AI
OK, jokes aside, NOW WHAT?!
There seems to be THREE translations.
This one
RetchE
Iwakura
Iwa has dragged his ass on this for what feels like a million years. But apparently the script was finished by hand?
Could he supply it and it can be wedged in using AI? So at least the words are human translated?
Or do we just wait for RetchE?
Or is this like Segagaga? Where you either suck it up or go without?
Because I went without. The Segagaga translation looks utterly worthless due to lack of understanding nuance, due to AI usage.
I hate 2026. Every fan-translations that I've been waiting for is being ruined, forever, one after another.
Segagaga, Cyber Doll, and now Shadowrun.
FFS, I can't stand it.
<silently screams at the walls>
Re: Sega CD Shadowrun's English Translation Was Developed Using AI
The year is 2030. Vibe coding is so realistic, literally anything could be AI. The uncertainty has gripped people in fear. You go to hug your wife. She is AI.
Re: "We're Genuinely Sorry" - The Neo Geo AES+ Has Been Delayed
As a buyer of the £800 package I am of course disappointed. But I also respect the fact they just added another year on, rather than a month at a time like a lot of other delayed projects do. That sort of recurrent disappointment builds up. I've also worked on projects that face delays. It happens.
I'm just going to put it out of my mind and go through my backlog. See you all next year September.
Re: Sega CD Shadowrun Port Finally Receives Highly-Anticipated English Fan Translation
EDIT:
Turns out it's AI slop trash. Ignore and move along.
OLD MESSAGE:
Not sure calling it a "port" is accurate, since all three games were by completely different studios, making their own independent and unrelated version.
Fantastic news. Given that Iwakura just sat on it for like a decade, I'm glad someone else stood up and handled it. Reminds me of the Princess Crown fiasco. This is good. This sets a valuable precedent.
We are no longer living under playground rules where someone can shout "dibs!" and then promptly do nothing, while everyone else avoids it. You either start what you finish or someone else will. Excellent.
The PAL optimisation is interesting. Does anyone have any more info on that? I have a switchable Mega Drive with flashcart. Does the PAL optimised version somehow make use of the extra scanlines? Is the music sped-up to counter the inherent slowdown of PAL? What if you run the PAL optimised version at 60Hz? What happens then? Too fast? Glitches?
Regardless, this is a good day.
Re: Following Onimusha, Capcom Is Looking At 'Re-Activating' Dormant Franchises - What Would You Like To See Return?
Under the Skin
Re: "Relive The Glory Days Of Console Gaming" - New 4:3 Monitor Takes Aim At Retro Players
@Andee
As someone else said, almost all the factories that made the specialised parts closed. The people who invented and knew the tech are either dead or retired in 2026. And give the volume of legacy units, no one would pay the cost of a new one versus an old one, many of which were so robust they still work well. You just need to recap them.
I own 7x CRTs, and two were free!
https://youtube.com/shorts/FJonLUoU3RU
Re: "Relive The Glory Days Of Console Gaming" - New 4:3 Monitor Takes Aim At Retro Players
I would love to have seen the meeting that conceived of this crap.
Executive 1: did you see how much collectors are paying for CRTs?
Exec 2: how can we leverage this?
E1: make a new high quality CRT that's better than a PVM?
E2: ehhh. There's no longer factories making those and nobody knows how to even make them anymore.
E1: what if we sold them... Just a regular LCD, but make it look like a CRT?
E2: yes! And we cut the sides off...
E1: so it's the same width as a CRT!
E2: exactly! Then we stick it in a big cube to look even MORE like a CRT!
E1: but don't LCD screens allow a 4:3 ratio anyway, even though they're 16:9 in size?
E2: who cares! Less materials means lower cost and more profits!!
E1: genius!!!
E2: More cocaine, Executive #1?
E1: **** yeah Executive #2!
E2: (rubs face on his expensive executive desk)
Re: The Zelda-Influenced NES Classic 'Battle of Olympus' Is Being Remade By Its Original Husband-And-Wife Team
@Daniel36
High five fellow enthusiasts! o/
Battle of Olympus is in my top 5 NES games, so this is an instant purchase. One of the things I especially liked in the original was how well it used the limited NES palette. Some of the screens were visually beautiful.
I'm really pleased to see this update retains that same mastery of colour, with similar gradations, but more detail and colours.
Curious if they'll adjust the balance. It could get quite difficult in places.
Re: 'EVE Burst Error' Fan Translation Finally Gives NSFW Original An English Script, And There Are No Bill Clinton Jokes
I tried the Windows version. It was painfully slow and dull. Bounced off very quickly.
I'll give this another go, but there are more fun and "gamey" eroge out there.
Has anyone completed this? Does it get good?
Re: Feature: 5 Things A Short Trip Taught Me About Nintendo's Smallest Game Boy
Be careful with those batteries. Old batteries are prone to burning down houses:
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/03/psa-check-your-psp-battery-right-now
Re: "The Atari x Activision Collaboration Celebrates Our Connected History" - Atari Reveals Its Big Announcement
If I have a UK PAL Atari 2600, will these games work on it? Or will the colours be screwed up? Or will they make a PAL bundle too? I'd love to get these, but the US / UK colour differences do my head in.
Re: "I Don't Think I'll Collect Another Thing Again" - Prized NES Collection Of Over 860+ NES Games Stolen In Heartbreaking Burglary
As everyone has said: the thief knew what he was doing, targetted a specifically valuable set of esoteric items which would need to be sold via specialist outlets like eBay.
In fact...
I bet the community could investigate this better than the police.
He had 800+ games, so obviously including the highly rare and valuable ones. How many such rarities have been sold on eBay in the last 3 months? You can search for up to three months past sold auctions.
Was there a sudden glut of such valuable items, sold from a specific location in the US?
I'm assuming the seller would have opened multiple "burner accounts", but they'd all be shipping out of the same city.
If the police were sharp and on the ball, they'd get him to provide a list of specific games, which were the most valuable, perhaps consult with an expert, maybe Frank Cifaldi from the VGHF, and then once they know the values and rarity of specific titles, search online for sales of those same titles, and draw up a chart.
These are rare games. Not raw gold. Their sales are traceable and findable.
The alternative is the thief wanted them for his private collection?
My heart aches at such a loss. No amount of insurance is going to replace the emotional value of those items.
This also makes me think it's worth marking every item in your collection with a tiny fluorescent sign, for later tracking. Not enough to reduce value, but a small little mark, invisible to the naked eye, so if found later, can be identified as yours.
Re: The Arcade 1971–1999 Is Aiming To Be "The Definitive Text On The First 30 Years Of The Arcade Industry"
@roguetrooper
There are indeed many challenges with oral histories. In fact I'm currently wrestling with an interview quote that can't be accurate, thus requiring tons of adjacent research (not related to this book).
However, I still favour oral histories above opinion editorials.
The words of people who were there, even if human beings are unreliable, are still tremendously fascinating, and have real value in conveying the atmosphere at the time. Of course, as you point out, one needs to pay attention.
Re: The Arcade 1971–1999 Is Aiming To Be "The Definitive Text On The First 30 Years Of The Arcade Industry"
@Daggot
I like the idea of these kinds of books, but I guess I what I want is a few pages of real history on key games. Basically what you can find on youtube videos.
This is my replying personally, not as a book contributor. 🙈
This comment I find quite painful, since the majority of YT vids covering games history I've seen, they don't do original research.
They crib from articles in Retro Gamer, or interview books such as my own, and then don't even give credit. I posted examples in the Norm Carusso news article on here.
I've not seen Patman. I don't know who that is, but will look them up.
But it is very rare to find YT channels that do interview research.
MyLifeinGaming does interviews. They're fantastic. There was another channel interviewing Saturn devs (I forget the name).
But most of the time I'll stumble on a vid and realise whatever channel it is, was just reading the latest Retro Gamer interview, or Time Ext interview, and then didn't credit them.
And this is personally frustrating, because we do the work of finding developers, convince them to talk, transcribe and write out features, then some YT upstart plonks out a low effort monologue over game footage and they get 100k views.
This is just rust me venting as a private individual.
But please look for the sources used by these YTubers.
Re: The Arcade 1971–1999 Is Aiming To Be "The Definitive Text On The First 30 Years Of The Arcade Industry"
Regarding developer input, I'd like to highlight the inclusion of several long form interviews, based on specific roles. There's one with a Japanese producer Paul did, which I found fascinating. Plus interviews focused on programming, graphics, etc. It's very much interview led.
@Daggot
I can't speak for other books, but I feel ours might be what you're looking for. Obviously I'm biased. But our goal was very strongly to avoid a basic nostalgic overview. A mantra we had was: "Readers don't want to read our memories of playing Spacies down the pub, they want the inside story behind these games!"
Which even influenced the long form title of the book.
So every single game entry is like a tiny Making Of feature. So a small paragraph from one of us explaining the game and its legacy, followed by several hundred words from a dev talking about the process.
As the photos show, several games also feature developer documents, design sketches, etc. Not every game has dev material, some are just quotes, but wherever possible we strived to source actual dev materials. As the write up mentions, Paul even licensed material from the Strong Museum.
@Arcadia_Official @Martin_H
Regarding the curation, I believe Paul will be discussing the process at various outlets. So he is better poised to explain all the decisions. But we had a fairly detailed curation system, including the availability of developers, and several other factors.
@gmar
I only contributed so don't know Sam's plans regarding wider marketing. But Paul has seen the thread, and I would guess Sam keeps tabs on internet feedback so will see this.
@waiwainl
"Arcade after 2000" 🤣
@Himitsu
Dynamite Deka is aka Die Hard Arcade.
Re: The Arcade 1971–1999 Is Aiming To Be "The Definitive Text On The First 30 Years Of The Arcade Industry"
@Arcadia_Official
Paul was very keen to make sure each decade was balanced - also taking into account the number of games released in each decade when curating the list. There's quite a bit from the 80s and 90s.
Just to be clear: every game has a small author intro, followed by a quote from a developer who worked on it, describing its creation. The dev quote constituting the bulk of the text.
The full list of games in alphabetical order:
1942, 720°, After Burner, Altered Beast, Area 51, Arkanoid, Asteroid, Asteroids, Battle Garegga, Battlezone, Berzerk, Bomb Jack, Breakout, Bubble Bobble, Cannon Dancer, Canyon Bomber, CarnEvil, Centipede, Chiller, Circus, Computer Space, Cruis’n USA, Crystal Castles, Dance Dance Revolution, Darius, Daytona USA, Death Race, Defender, Die Hard Arcade, Dominos, Donkey Kong, Double Dragon, Dragon’s Lair, Fantasy Zone, Final Fight, Food Fight, Gain Ground, Galaga, Galaxian, Gauntlet, Ghouls ’n Ghosts, Gorf, Gotcha, Gradius, Gran Trak 10, Gun Fight, House of the Dead, Hunchback, I, Robot, Ikari Warriors, In the Hunt, Joust, Killer Instinct, Klax, Krull, Kung-Fu Master, Lunar Lander, Major Havoc, Marble Madness, Marvel vs. Capcom, Metal Slug, Missile Command, Monaco GP, Moon Patrol, Mortal Kombat, Ms. Pac-Man, NARC, NBA Jam, NHL Open Ice, Out Run, Pac-Land, Pac-Man, Paperboy, Pit-Fighter, Point Blank, Pole Position, Pong, Primal Rage, Puzzle Bobble, Q*bert, Quantum, Qwak!, R-Type, Raiden, Rainbow Islands, Rampage, Rampart, Return of the Jedi, RoadBlasters, Robotron: 2084, S.T.U.N. Runner, San Francisco Rush, Satan’s Hollow, Shinobi, Silent Scope, Sinistar, Smash T.V., Solomon’s Key, SoulCalibur, Space Harrier, Space Invaders, Spy Hunter, Star Wars, Street Fighter II, Strider, Super Bug, Tank, Tapper, Tekken, Tempest, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Tetris, The Pit, The Tower of Druaga, Tron, Venture, Warrior, Wonder Boy, Xevious, Zaxxon.
Re: The Making Of: Suikoden II, A JRPG To Match 'Game Of Thrones' In Intrigue And Impact
@EarthboundBenjy
I am officially, publicly apologising for that. I thought it was funny - but the fact it's preventing you from reading the words of Yoshitaka Murayama shows that I was way off, and I won't do anything similar in future.
I'm just a freelancer so don't have editing access.
But I have screenshotted your message, sent it to @damo, and asked that the FF7 spoiler be removed.
Re: This Dying Street Fighter II Cart Is A Sobering Reminder That Physical Doesn't Mean Forever
They say it's not a contact issue... But it might be. I had a Famicom cart which wouldn't run. Cleaned it repeatedly with isopro, scrubbing with a cotton bud. Assumed it was dead. Gifted it to a modder to mess about with, maybe re-use the shell. He used fine grit sandpaper to abrade the upper layer of the contacts and it worked fine. Which was a revelation to me. Sometimes isopro alcohol isn't strong enough, and you literally need to scrape the upper layer.
As for carts not working...
Yeah, that might happen.
But ROM burners are easy to come by and not too expensive, and you can get blank ROM chips to burn. The modder I mention makes personal repros.
So even if the ROM chips die, they can be revived again by burning new ones. For legacy hardware anyway.
Re: Helmets At The Ready! Namco's Motorbike-Themed Arcade Racer 'Cyber Cycles' Is Making The Jump To Consoles
@bring_on_branstons
A second vote for PROP CYCLE!
I played it on a ferry a couple times, the proper thing, and then later finished it on MAME. Imagine if this had received an expanded home port for PS1 back in the day? I loved the world of it. Reminded me of Nausicaä and Panzer Dragoon a bit.
Re: Try To Act Surprised, But It Looks Like That Zelda: BotW 3DS 'Demake' Was Vibe-Coded
@Zeebor15
Monkey's paw curls a finger...
Re: Try To Act Surprised, But It Looks Like That Zelda: BotW 3DS 'Demake' Was Vibe-Coded
The year is 2030. Vibe coding is so realistic, literally anything could be AI. The uncertainty has gripped people in fear. You go to hug your wife. She is AI.
Re: After 9 Years Of Work, GoldenEye 007 N64 Is Now 100% Decompiled
This game is still flawlessly designed even decades later. Please everyone, play the single player and savour the design.
Now, when I saw flawless or perfect, I don't mean the graphics or performance, I mean the layout, structure, versatility of weapons and tools, objectives, and general gameplay loop of the missions, along with how higher difficulties build on lower levels through increased objectives.
I recall a colleague once trashing Goldeneye, a few years back, not long ago, insisting it had aged terribly and was in fact trash, and people only liked it because of nostalgia.
I promptly decided never to listen to this person's views again.
Goldeneye has in fact improved with age!
Remember the remake of Goldeneye? Stupid tutorials, QTEs, long cut-scenes, absolute dumpster trash.
The N64 game drops you right into gameplay, and let's you learn the game through an easy, linear, and simple first level.
It is design perfection. And now everyone can play it.
Please, please go play it.
Play it now!
And ignore anyone who says its aged badly or is only fondly remembered due to nostalgia.
Re: This New Analogue Pocket Variant Is Designed To Give You Serious FOMO
Why don't they just make more normal units to meet demand?
I've owned one for a couple years. It's excellent. But I pity those who can't get one, while the company is swanning around like a bunch of demented carnies, making increasingly daft and niche variations instead of just making more normal units.
A spokesperson for Analogue: oh but darling! Have you seen our new version made out of McVitties Biscuits! We've only made five of them! <squirts water from a flower on their shirt>
Absolute clownshoes.
Re: "The More You Take Off, The Stronger You Become" - Gainax's NSFW 'Battle Skin Panic' Gets Translated And Legally Re-Released
I recently played through Twinkle Knights (1995) on the 3DO, and seeing this... I now realise that TK was basically a clone / copy/ rip-off of Battle Skin Panic, albeit with live-action video footage, instead of anime style artwork. How bizarre - they are strikingly similar!
It was alright as a free download I stuck on my 3DO ODE, not sure I'd actually pay money for it though.
There are better eroge out there - notably Night Slave and Knights of Xentar.
Re: CeX Is Revisiting Its 'Retro-Only' Store Concept And Returning To The World Of Imports, According To New Rumour
@Oldretrogamer
I used to sell maybe a hundred or so items a year for like a tenner each. Not a lot - maybe £1000 minus postage. But it was good to clear out the little things that accumulate. So that 30 item limit ****s me completely regardless of the value limit. I just can't sell the little stuff any more.
And you're being terribly naive. "They won't take your money if it's just your personal stuff."
They are asking for your NI number.
This means you are then on their radar. You're being naive if you're thinking: "Oh, I only sold 35 items and it's only about £1500, so they're not interested in me." They use AI to monitor their database of eBay sellers, so you have no idea how being on their radar might bite you in the ass down the line.
That's waking the sleeping bear. Don't ever trust the government with anything.
@Kurokage - be very careful how you handle eBay.
Re: CeX Is Revisiting Its 'Retro-Only' Store Concept And Returning To The World Of Imports, According To New Rumour
@Kurokage
Click My Ebay, Account, Personal Information, scroll down.
It'll show:
National Insurance Number
Please provide this information.
Failure to provide it means eBay will withhold payments / withdrawals until you provide it. The UK government changed the rules so that all moneys made has to be reported to HMRC, so they can take their cut. They're forcing eBay to do it.
I've not sold anything for months.
I bought these items with money that had been taxed prior to my receiving it, and the items themselves had "value added tax" applied when I bought them, so when I sell my own things, my own games, which have already been "double taxed" in effect, the government can go **** itself if it thinks I'm paying a third layer of tax on any money scraped back by selling. They can **** right off.
Re: CeX Is Revisiting Its 'Retro-Only' Store Concept And Returning To The World Of Imports, According To New Rumour
eBay now demands your National Insurance number to sell stuff. So I think lots of people might shift to trading stuff in at ReX.
Re: "Are You Having A Laugh?" - Commodore Is Reviving An Iconic Joystick, But There's An Unfortunate Catch
@Mayhem
It was in a thick padded envelope. So I think it was thick enough to get classed as a package.
Re: The Atari Jaguar Is Set To Get A New 3D, Multi-Directional Shoot 'Em Up & A New Virtua Cop-Style Shooter Next Year
@Oldretrogamer
Did you change your username and delete your profile picture?
Re: The Atari Jaguar Is Set To Get A New 3D, Multi-Directional Shoot 'Em Up & A New Virtua Cop-Style Shooter Next Year
@Slider2711
I was told, in no uncertain terms, that describing the events which led to my views on this, could result in legal action being taken against myself and possibly Hookshot Media.
So for the record: I love Songbird and regard Carl as a delightfully wonderful and upright human being.
Re: "Are You Having A Laugh?" - Commodore Is Reviving An Iconic Joystick, But There's An Unfortunate Catch
The shipping doesn't surprise me.
Walked into a UK post office to send a copy of Retro Gamer and a comic to a friend in Japan. Under 500g.
Cheapest shipping option was £22.
For a mag and comic.
I asked is there nothing cheaper? Nothing the woman insisted. Post Office overhauled all prices in April. This was the CHEAPEST.
The whole world has gone insane with rising costs and it's only going to get worse.
If a flat magazine costs £22 from England to Japan, then a well packaged large joystick could be literally anything. A million dollars. It doesn't matter. We no longer live in a sane world. $89 is what, £60? I could post three magazines for that.
Re: This New Suite Of Tools Aims To Make Developing NES & SNES Games Far "More Intuitive"
That trailer for his as yet unannounced SNES game, Flagrante Delicto: Cowgirl Rides Again, has me stoked. Look at her go!
Re: A New N64 EverDrive Flash Cart Has Been Released With A Dedicated 64DD Core
@mutenroshi
I absolutely AM a preservationist.
I tinkered with the Mario Artist series, and the rest, but my statement was mainly to address Cyxceven and anyone else who already dropped a large sum on an X7 (myself included). If you have an X7 it's not worth dropping €170 on a new cart just for the 64DD, especially given that they can be patched to run on an X7 anyway (most? all? I'm not even sure).
I nearly bought a 64DD years ago, but then looked into what was available. I was left unimpressed.
Yes, historically it's valuable. This was Nintendo attempting to the FDS again albeit for the N64. There were grand plans for it, including designing characters in Mario Artist and then seeing them walk around in games such as Sim City. I was so excited when reading the issue of N64 mag that broke the news. It looked so cool. But in the end it was abandoned before much could be done with it.
I'm glad the games are backed up. But for a general retro enthusiast, I would not recommend spending large sums just to try any of these. A well researched YouTube will have you covered.
I say this as someone who owns a Virtual Boy and other "failed" hardware. My interest, for myself, is always what can I play?
Re: A New N64 EverDrive Flash Cart Has Been Released With A Dedicated 64DD Core
Tempting, but then I look at the available games on Wikipedia and realise my X7 is fine:
Doshin the Giant
Doshin the Giant: Tinkling Toddler Liberation Front! Assemble!
Randnet Disk
Mario Artist: Talent Studio
Mario Artist: Communication Kit
Mario Artist: Polygon Studio
Mario Artist: Paint Studio
SimCity 64
F-Zero X Expansion Kit
Japan Pro Golf Tour 64
@cyxceven - you're fine with the X7.
Four lame art packages, a golf game, Doshin which is on GameCube, a Sim City game, and... I guess the F-Zero stuff is nice if you're a fan?
The 64DD is the most nothingburger imaginable.
Re: "I Don't Understand This Hate Towards Arcade Game Design" - Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance Dev Comments Trigger Fresh Debate
@sdelfin
Excellent points. And not just fun gameplay in a short time, but also immediately. Older games also had manuals, meaning you could pre-load the info needed to play without lengthy mandatory tutorials, which are now the norm since manuals stopped being made.
As a fan of the first Harvest Moon, which allowed you to jump right in, I decided to try one of the latest versions. I bailed during the tutorial because CBA wading through all that nonsense. I'd rather just go back to the old game, and the old design, which let me play immediately and trusted me to figure things.
Modern games treat players like idiots, while also trying to provide the same experience to everyone.
I genuinely hate most modern game design. And the few rare occasions a new game is released that's amazing, the critics don't understand it and hate on it. Case in point: Slitterhead. One of the best games of the last 10 years, and critics all whined about it, many complaining that its design is antiquated. WTF? This game is a straight up 10 / 10.
No, modern reviewers and modern game design do not align with what I regard as good.
Re: Exclusive: "It's Not About Putting An Old Game In A Nice Box For The Sake Of It" - Utopia Is Getting A New Physical Release On SNES
The Hyperkin Mouse came out 2017, so pretty old at this point. I was about to buy one when a local CEX had a cheap Mario Paint with mouse for less, so got that instead. Has no one in the comments here used the Hyperkin? I'm curious as to how it compares.
Re: "I Don't Understand This Hate Towards Arcade Game Design" - Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance Dev Comments Trigger Fresh Debate
@BaronRedWings
It's not some random dev. He's the person who made the game. I heard his comment and concluded I don't like his attitude, which is obviously going to impact the game because the comment was about the game - the same game I now don't want to play because of what he said about his game that he made.
I dunno... It seems intensely logical to me.
It's like if a chef said he pooped in the soup, and I said I don't want the soup now, and then you said "writing off the soup because of something some chef said is childish".