@jygsaw
Back in the day I preferred them to Tekken. I didn't like Tekken or Virtua Fighter at all. Very drab, in terms of characters, moves, backgrounds, and actual fighting.
BAT though, incredible! So full of energy! I was stuck with the original Tekken for a month, as the pack in game, hating it, and was so glad to trade it in for BAT.
Would try the sequels as they came out, and every time I found myself left cold by Tekken and VF.
Psychic Force ended up my favourite PS1 fighter, but the BAT trilogy follows close by.
To this day I still feel a bit confused by the love Tekken and VF titles still get, while PF and BAT are forgotten.
I've always preferred the Japanese boxes and the art, and find the US designs garish. The console redesigns too.
The US just seemed to arbitrarily do the exact opposite of Japan for no good reason.
This sentence from the guy is laughable:
"Our role, therefore, lay in the re-interpretation of Japan-originated games and rebuilding that content for American audiences."
They didn't reinterpret anything!
They slashed and burned. They destroyed beautifully creative and iconic artwork, and then just churned out their own junk in place of it.
The smug hubris of this man is off the scale! Unbelievable.
I know lots of people feel a warm happy nostalgia for the NES and SNES packaging, and that's nice. But objectively speaking... I think it's all awful. Really pause to look at it and assume you have never played games.
Look at Zelda.
US box: who knows what it's about. Maybe an edutainment game about the British monarchy? Some coat of arms. Lame!
Japan: guy with a sword! A huge map to explore! The distant horizon and adventure beckoning!
I think this guy has an inflated sense of self. To put it constructively. Classic case of thinking they knew better, throwing everything else out, so as to showcase only their own "superior" ideas.
Nobody will ever convince me the US Zelda box art has any merit whatsoever.
The sad thing is we will never know how the market would have reacted with the original art.
@devil76
There was an interview with the GameCube Star Wars guys. In EGM. Way back when. And they said in this interview: everyone hates escort missions, so we decided to put the escort mission early to get it out of the way.
I read this interview 25 or so years ago. And even at the time I thought: why not just not do it?
Every time I see Pop'n Magic, I think of that Jonathan Ross special, introducing manga and anime to British audiences in the late 1990s. For some reason they edited a fair bit of footage of Pop'n Magic into it, despite it not really having anything to do with the subject matter.
@Blast16 Indeed. I also recall getting to know various shop staff on a first name basis - it was more than just an employee & customer dynamic. And when an exciting new release came out you'd chat about it, because obviously they had first access to it.
The kids today will never be able to understand this.
Feels like a punch in the gut. The past really, really was better. It's not just nostalgia. I don't think any of us realised how good we had it back then.
I was in South Africa at the time, and it's interesting to note how similar the shopping malls looked in 1994, just with a few different names. Someone came up with a template for commerce and exported it globally.
Love the Keikzz brand and entire range of carts. I've never had problems with Krikzz. Build quality is solid. Sturdy. High compatibility.
To the point where I'm more than happy to pay the premium prices. I've seen various carts on places like AliExpress for a fraction of the price, and alongside them complaints on forums about things not working or damaging hardware.
Buy cheap, buy twice.
This GB X7 works great on Analogue Pocket, Super Game Boy, and GameCube GB Player. I can move it between each while retaining all my save data, which is why I never went with a GB core on AP.
@bring_on_branstons I think we chatted in the comments years ago about this topic, but worth repeating. Spot on about the fabricated drama of the dam level. I died once, on my first play through, and then forever after this found it not only easy but really enjoyable.
I don't understand how or why people get stuck on it. There's like what, three branching paths? And only one of them requires taking and doubling back.
There were maps in magazines back in the day.
It's such a short maze anyone with a basic attention span can get through it. And by the end there's always plenty of time left over. The whole urban myth about the dam being impossible for everyone to complete feels like an egregious fabrication.
I used to suck at games when I was a kid. And I did not like difficult games. But this dam level was not one of them.
As for the rest of the game... I really like it, but I can appreciate if others don't.
Does this port include SRAM saving between levels? Failing that I suppose the level select still works...
Anyone else secretly hoping Danielle enters the ring to throw counter claims at Harry, airing his most sordid of secrets, so we have a proper 1980s style WWF wrestlemania grudge match ?
@KGRAMR Carl Forhan is such a nice, friendly, reasonable, well adjusted person, isn't he? I get the feeling you too have enjoyed delightful interactions with this perfectly normal human being?
There is nothing wrong with old monochrome low-res images. They add charm, to be honest.
My imagination is perfectly good at colourising the b&w photo inside my mind.
And everyone is right. It's going to become exponentially more difficult to preserve history, now that AI exists. Even now, researching anything via Google is a nightmare because the algorithm brings up slop or Reddit, rather than actual old information, and the proliferation of AI written text and images makes good sources harder.
I genuinely feel I would not be able to produce The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers if I'd started the project in 2025. The tools available are broken and less functional than they were in 2013.
I had such an awful wretched experience dealing with Songbird once, including being directly threatened by the owner with legal action if I spoke negatively about them in public tha...
Songbird is a lovely company and I will happily buy from them again. So professional. So pleasant.
Look at the photo from 2022. NATO ships training alongside Japanese maritime defence ships.
The flag is still being flown! It's still in use! This is not something anyone should compare to Nazism. Please enjoy some further reading on the topic.
"At present, the flag is flown by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and an eight-ray version is flown by the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. The rising sun design is also seen in numerous scenes in daily life in Japan, such as in fishermen's banners hoisted to signify large catches of fish, flags to celebrate childbirth, and in flags for seasonal festivities."
The flag is still being flown, right now, in Japan, as you read this statement.
The rising sun flag with rays is still in use. You can still find it in real life in Japan, unlike the German Nazi flag which is illegal. The Germany government needs to allow special dispensation for films, like Indiana Jones, to be shown in the country if it depicts the flag. Unlike the rising sun flag - ergo the comparison is wrong.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with this flag, it is a part of Japanese cultural heritage which predates WWII.
I do not have first hand knowledge of what executives at Capcom and Nintendo personally think. But given that it is not illegal, my guess - and this is pure assumption on my part - is that removal of the flag is due foreign sensitivity outside Japan, either in neighbouring East Asian countries, or in America which is especially sensitive to such things.
If you notice, one of the big complainants regarding the flag at the Olympics in 2020 was Alexis Dudden, from Connecticut. As far as I'm concerned, I'm filing complaints against the Japanese flag in my mind under tearing down statues and other benign historical artefacts.
Some people might not like the flag and feel triggered, but please, let's stop being inaccurate and saying this is like the Nazi flag, when it 100% is nothing like it.
@BrianJL I bought that Gravis pad. The shell was replicated 1:1 for the Philips CDi controller. So I reskinned my CDi pad, so it looks like a clown now. The CDi pad didn't have numbers or letters, but rather: • •• •+••
When I was a contestant on Games World they had import copies of this from Japan, which is how I discovered it. Loved it.
Square was on fire during the PS1 era. Einhander, Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Tobal series, Ehrgeiz, not even counting its "other" flagship RPG series. (I realise the fighting games were only published by Square, not developed by them, but the sentiment is that the company was publishing so many great games.)
@Kazin
@BrianJL
You know, I never thought to try using the stand to alleviate some of the weight. I'd just seen photos of it resting directly on a person's face, so attempted that. I'll give this a try later. Thanks.
My usual set up is a weighted shoe box on a desk. The stand on the box. A lowered chair. Thus I can sit with my back bolt upright, resting slight on the chair back; it's pulled in under the desk, and the shoe box offers some slight overhang. It's almost comfortable, but at this elevation the controller cable isn't quite long enough for my hands to rest in my lap.
Also if anyone gets a VB, buy a third party power adapter. Don't use batteries, lol.
Also just to reiterate the article text and various comments:
Please take the official health recommendations seriously; they aren't just there due to overzealous precaution. I never play for longer than 30 minutes now without breaks.
@KingMike Intriguing. Not seen that AVGN episode. Or played the SFC version, truth be told. I only played the VB game and concluded it's a bit pointless when there are nice full colour versions of it. Had I known about the oddities on SFC, I'd have asked Yokoh about it. Ah well.
@mariteaux
Sitting and thinking about it: I actually genuinely agree with you. Something I've found is I dislike very recent modern sports games, because they're excessively complicated and just not fun for me. But the older sports games, the good ones, are simple enough to convey a basic recognisable facsimile of any given sport while being intuitive, and thus excelling in multiplayer since it allows friends of any skill to join in. I still pick up and enjoy a game of Super Soccer on SNES, single player or two player, but when I tried the newest FIFA, I was absolutely lost and got bored quickly. Same thing with NBA Jam. Sadly, as pointed out, older sports games across the generations tend to be dismissed due to not looking very pretty compared to the newest titles, even if playing them is still fun today.
The Virtual Boy has multiple flashcarts available, and high quality repro carts are also available, as are repro boxes and manuals.
Unless you're a hardcore collector who absolutely needs to own the originals (fair play and respect to you), the rest of us have plenty of means of playing these games.
I got a flashcart, tested every single game, then bought repros of what I liked. Jack Bros was fantastic, and the repro cost £30, as did repros of other carts.
I have no moral problems owning a repro, because ***** ebay scalpers charging £1000 for Jack Bros. I'm very happy with my £30 repro.
Not owning a Gizmondo I don't know where to find it or how to get it running. But it seems like an essential thing to try finding? Like it did more with the system than anything else.
Lost Levels ran a feature on it. There's a super disturbing gameplay element where if you get arrested you can choose to bribe your way out of prison with money, or... voluntarily submit to being sexually assaulted by other inmates. The Lost Levels link below covers the game and this aspect, so consider yourself warned about the content.
As for the sticky coating, my old MP3 player had that same crap on it. I just got some 98% isopropyl alcohol and it rubbed off real easily. I would guess the Gizmondo is the same?
@wollywoo
Exactly! I'd had the Monster in my Pocket toys several years before, and they were dumb silly fun, and Pokemon leant into that psychological feeling, before playing it - at least, before it blew up and gained its own identity.
I'm just re-reading various comments from people on their feelings of discovering Pokemon as kids, and loving it, and I'm chuckling at these executives, thinking: COME ON! It's a no brainer. Just read the one line elevator pitch.
"You collect and swap monsters and they fight!"
And you had executives going: "We don't know what we're looking at? Is this a thing kids will want? Do kids like monsters? Do kids like trading stuff? There's only one Mickey Mouse!"
Like, WTF?
I'm sure everyone who "didn't get it" would be defensive now. But like, I want to sit them down and have them talk me through their thinking, in baby steps, so I can somehow understand how people in the business of toys just couldn't get it.
This is the like New Coca Cola of business mistakes!
If you wanted to convey it via what already existed, you could say:
"Imagine the world of trading cards, but it's like Monster in my Pocket. Kids trade the monsters in the game, and we can make toys, and cards, and lunch boxes, to go with it."
Pokemon wasn't even really that "new" of an idea at the time. It was a collection of pre-existing ideas mixed together and repackaged as an RPG. And it was fantastic.
I imported the US version on release day, ages before it even reached the UK. I got Red, my brother got Blue, and we both got 150 monsters, enjoying it before it went huge. (We did a trade and game restart to get all 3 of the starting monsters.)
I recall N64 magazine hyping the Japanese GB game long before it got localised.
I struggle to understand how no one saw the appeal.
Had they never seen kids trading stickers, trading cards, or other stuff? That concept is like pure opium to a kid's brain. They literally call them "trading cards". Kids also trade toys, especially if it's something where you can end up with duplicates.
So a game where you trade in-game monsters, even as a kid I knew that was going to be big.
All these big toy people going: "Derp derp, trade stuff? Kids don't like that, derp derp!"
Amusing as heck, LOL.
I'm not saying I'm smart for thinking it would be big; I'm saying that in the business of selling crap to kids, anyone who couldn't see it, is not fit for their job. A blind man with one could have SEEN the explosive potential here!
The full tweet by JayF encapsulates things perfectly. My biggest concern with a Panzer Dragoon Saga remake is that by smoothing and cleaning up the low poly, low resolution graphics, you'll lose that gritty broken feeling. The distinctive Saturn 3D actually enhances the feeling of an alien, post-apocalyptic wasteland.
The rough look is part of its identity.
I didn't like the PD1 remake, and I don't like the look of this.
@smoreon Exactly! My feelings are because so much of games history was the result of groups who couldn't predict how big or important they would become. I'd say almost every interview regarding 40 or 30 years ago has similar sentiments.
I suppose there's an argument to be made that not knowing this in a way fostered a carefree creative attitude?
It is what it is. But I still look back at some decisions and wonder... What do other timelines look like.
A little shocked, surprised, and saddened that all these games, which meant so much to so many, were partially the result of pawning them off to some clueless ad agency.
@Johnny_Arthur I forgot I'd posted here! So a while back Steam stopped supporting Windows 7, which is what my main game rig runs on. I had to permanently disable it updating, since once updated it also locked me out of running any of my Steam games on that computer. It's to do with the browser the Steam client is based on. I tested it with my laptop - updated Steam, and then every single Steam failed to load. It just auto-crashed every time. They officially said they were no longer supporting Win7, despite there at the time being more Win7 users than Linux.
Since this post I was gifted a handheld gaming PC, so I am again able to use Steam.
A remaster of Panzer Saga is my dream too. But only a gentle remaster. Increase the draw distance. Keep everything else the same - including the dirty blocky textures. They really enhanced the feeling of it being a ruined and decayed world.
I'm not sure Snatcher needs a remaster. Konami redid the PC-88 version for PCE and MCD, then redid those for PS1 / Sat. The 32-bit versions were inferior, replacing crisp pixel art with cheap CG.
Could a remaster incorporate parts from all the versions, so you can toggle between them? PC-88 synth audio with PS1 CG visuals?
Apple is a large company today with iconic logo. It's right there in full colour on the unit. Surely anyone who uses any technology today will recognise it as an Apple product, not a Microsoft or MS compatible one.
I am now convinced this has to be rage-bait to encourage viewer interaction. Like when Starbucks "hilariously" writes your name wrong so you post on social media and give them free advertising.
@MontyMole
Internet Archive has the full series of Spartakus, dubbed, uploaded by the original creator using the highest quality transfers I've seen. Enjoy!
@MontyMole Your mentioning of Cities of Gold caught my interest. Did you also ever watch Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea? It was often broadcast alongside Cities of Gold in various places.
@Soupbones Shame! Give the poor thing a blanket and some warm soup. But if it needs repairing, there are several Vectrex repair people out there. I can think of two or three in the UK (I used Rude Dog Retros). Not sure about the US. It probably just needs a full recap.
@CopyX1982 I found a Vectrex at a market for like £20 once. Bought it, loved it, sold it for £100, regretted it, and then to rebuy cost me £300+ in addition to mods and a full repair clean.
So these are extremely expensive. And PC emulation is not great - it doesn't "look" right.
I bought a flashcart where I could add homebrew, since there are... Hundreds of homebrew games? Checking my folder shows a tightly curated list of 89 games. There's lot of stuff I deleted because I didn't like them. Plus the official list. And new homebrew comes out all the time. I actually dropped £70 on A Crush of Lucifer. I even owned the 3D visor at one point.
I'm not saying all this to brag - I'm saying this because I am super happy that people who are not collector maniacs (such as myself) can now enjoy not just the games, but also the form factor. It will allow one to enjoy the experience, better than just emulation.
I hope so anyway. Emulation can't replicate the perfect lines of a vector display. But I'm wondering about this new fancy screen they're using. With a high enough resolution it might? Hopefully you get the "feel" of the device.
I dislike the controllers though. The original ones are serviceable, because they're large. Something that tiny looks very uncomfortable, especially for games that require fast reflexes.
I bought a modded NeoGeo CD controller which runs on the Vectrex, and it is sublime. Massively improved my game at the annual Vectrex tournament. About 50 enter on the Veccy forums, and I went from a position in the mid-teens to... I think 7th or 8th place last year? You need a decent controller. Hopefully if it's wireless it will allow other controllers to be used?
My only question now is: the annual Vectrex tournie mandates only original hardware. Not emulation. How will we categorise this? Perhaps we can run it alongside, OG and Mini veccies. It's a friendly community.
The homebrew coming out for the system is also incredible. There's a lot of love and passion put into creating something which only a few people can access. More need to experience it.
Comments 649
Re: James Pond Is Getting His Own Collection On PC, PS5, Xbox And Switch 2
What about the unreleased NES port of 2?
Review copies were sent out, but it's never been dumped.
Re: The Battle Arena Toshinden Trilogy Is Coming To Modern Platforms
@jygsaw
Back in the day I preferred them to Tekken. I didn't like Tekken or Virtua Fighter at all. Very drab, in terms of characters, moves, backgrounds, and actual fighting.
BAT though, incredible! So full of energy! I was stuck with the original Tekken for a month, as the pack in game, hating it, and was so glad to trade it in for BAT.
Would try the sequels as they came out, and every time I found myself left cold by Tekken and VF.
Psychic Force ended up my favourite PS1 fighter, but the BAT trilogy follows close by.
To this day I still feel a bit confused by the love Tekken and VF titles still get, while PF and BAT are forgotten.
This BAT trilogy sounds a treat!
Re: It Looks Like That Bizarre Scarface PC Reissue Was Too Good To Be True, After All
@devil76
The impression from the EGM interview was "we have to have an escort mission"
Like, he felt obligated?
Re: Feature: "This Is Where The Game Truly Begins" - The Secret Weapon Behind Nintendo's Most Iconic Box Art
I agree with @bring_on_branstons
I've always preferred the Japanese boxes and the art, and find the US designs garish. The console redesigns too.
The US just seemed to arbitrarily do the exact opposite of Japan for no good reason.
This sentence from the guy is laughable:
"Our role, therefore, lay in the re-interpretation of Japan-originated games and rebuilding that content for American audiences."
They didn't reinterpret anything!
They slashed and burned. They destroyed beautifully creative and iconic artwork, and then just churned out their own junk in place of it.
The smug hubris of this man is off the scale! Unbelievable.
I know lots of people feel a warm happy nostalgia for the NES and SNES packaging, and that's nice. But objectively speaking... I think it's all awful. Really pause to look at it and assume you have never played games.
Look at Zelda.
US box: who knows what it's about. Maybe an edutainment game about the British monarchy? Some coat of arms. Lame!
Japan: guy with a sword! A huge map to explore! The distant horizon and adventure beckoning!
I think this guy has an inflated sense of self. To put it constructively. Classic case of thinking they knew better, throwing everything else out, so as to showcase only their own "superior" ideas.
Nobody will ever convince me the US Zelda box art has any merit whatsoever.
The sad thing is we will never know how the market would have reacted with the original art.
Re: It Looks Like That Bizarre Scarface PC Reissue Was Too Good To Be True, After All
@devil76
There was an interview with the GameCube Star Wars guys. In EGM. Way back when. And they said in this interview: everyone hates escort missions, so we decided to put the escort mission early to get it out of the way.
I read this interview 25 or so years ago. And even at the time I thought: why not just not do it?
Re: It Looks Like That Bizarre Scarface PC Reissue Was Too Good To Be True, After All
About 5 years ago I downloaded a fan-made package containing the PC version with numerous bugfixes and QOL improvements for modern hardware.
I very quickly realised the game relied on randomly generated escort missions.
You'd need to do these little missions, which the game would generate: take person X to place Y, etc.
In every instance the person to be escorted would start opening fire on police, resulting in a maximum wanted rating, and quick game over.
It was relentlessly difficult. Like doing self dentistry.
I deleted with extreme prejudice.
Any game which so feverishly relies on badly design escort missions is in fact trash. And can stay forgotten.
Insufferable.
I actually can't understand why a particular era of games was obsessed with adding escort missions to everything. They are universally awful.
Re: Six PC Engine Games From Telenet Japan Are Being Reissued On Nintendo Switch Early Next Year
@KingMike
It was def Pop'n Magic, since I recall the big smiling tree. Also tell a lie, not the late 90s, the mid 90s! Found it on YT:
https://youtu.be/NM77Rrnu1Wc?si=_I8_j5TVTYH59ObE
I've not seen this in 30 years. I make no apologies for the duration of PnM. Lol.
But I have vivid memories of wanting to know what the game was but not having internet access. I only discovered it many years later.
I played Magical Pop'n at a concention once. 15 years ago. Guy was saying how expensive it was. Comparitively it was much cheaper then!
Re: Six PC Engine Games From Telenet Japan Are Being Reissued On Nintendo Switch Early Next Year
Every time I see Pop'n Magic, I think of that Jonathan Ross special, introducing manga and anime to British audiences in the late 1990s. For some reason they edited a fair bit of footage of Pop'n Magic into it, despite it not really having anything to do with the subject matter.
Re: "Not A Funko Pop In Sight" - Step Back In Time With This Amazing '90s Electronics Boutique Footage
@Deuteros
A fellow Game Zone collector? I have every issue, bar two. How's your set look?
Re: "Not A Funko Pop In Sight" - Step Back In Time With This Amazing '90s Electronics Boutique Footage
@Blast16
Indeed. I also recall getting to know various shop staff on a first name basis - it was more than just an employee & customer dynamic. And when an exciting new release came out you'd chat about it, because obviously they had first access to it.
The kids today will never be able to understand this.
Re: "Not A Funko Pop In Sight" - Step Back In Time With This Amazing '90s Electronics Boutique Footage
Feels like a punch in the gut. The past really, really was better. It's not just nostalgia. I don't think any of us realised how good we had it back then.
I was in South Africa at the time, and it's interesting to note how similar the shopping malls looked in 1994, just with a few different names. Someone came up with a template for commerce and exported it globally.
Re: McDonald's Japan Launches Special Street Fighter-Related Burgers
@Brilliant_Bird_Man
You must defeat Sheng Ronald to stand a chance!
Re: Capcom Almost Didn't Reissue Resident Evil 1-3 On GOG Because We Already Have Their HD Remakes
"Munee? What is this so-called mah-knee you keep talking of, and why do we want it?"
= a Capcom executive, allegedly
Re: McDonald's Japan Launches Special Street Fighter-Related Burgers
Am I the only one secretly hoping for a SFII rom hack that makes this real and playable?
Every character with Maccy D related special moves and sprites?
Re: Review: EverDrive GB X7 - The Best Game Boy Flash Cart, Now With Save State Support
Love the Keikzz brand and entire range of carts. I've never had problems with Krikzz. Build quality is solid. Sturdy. High compatibility.
To the point where I'm more than happy to pay the premium prices. I've seen various carts on places like AliExpress for a fraction of the price, and alongside them complaints on forums about things not working or damaging hardware.
Buy cheap, buy twice.
This GB X7 works great on Analogue Pocket, Super Game Boy, and GameCube GB Player. I can move it between each while retaining all my save data, which is why I never went with a GB core on AP.
Re: "We Are A Community Geared Toward Authentic Creativity" - OC ReMix Makes Its Position On GenAI Music Clear
@hisownsidekick
"Imagine 'culinary arsenic' getting popular enough that a bakery felt the need to assure us it doesn't use any."
I love this analogy so much.
Welcome to 2025!
Re: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Is The Next NES Classic To Get A Native SNES Port
@bring_on_branstons
I think we chatted in the comments years ago about this topic, but worth repeating. Spot on about the fabricated drama of the dam level. I died once, on my first play through, and then forever after this found it not only easy but really enjoyable.
I don't understand how or why people get stuck on it. There's like what, three branching paths? And only one of them requires taking and doubling back.
There were maps in magazines back in the day.
It's such a short maze anyone with a basic attention span can get through it. And by the end there's always plenty of time left over. The whole urban myth about the dam being impossible for everyone to complete feels like an egregious fabrication.
I used to suck at games when I was a kid. And I did not like difficult games. But this dam level was not one of them.
As for the rest of the game... I really like it, but I can appreciate if others don't.
Does this port include SRAM saving between levels? Failing that I suppose the level select still works...
Re: Random: "F**K YOU, DANIELLE!" - NSFW Fighting Game Variable Geo's English Translation Has Equally NSFW Patch Notes
Anyone else secretly hoping Danielle enters the ring to throw counter claims at Harry, airing his most sordid of secrets, so we have a proper 1980s style WWF wrestlemania grudge match ?
Bring the HEAT!
Re: Random: "F**K YOU, DANIELLE!" - NSFW Fighting Game Variable Geo's English Translation Has Equally NSFW Patch Notes
"a second patch is included here that removes the adult content so you can focus on the gameplay"
Is there a third patch that instead removes the gameplay? Asking for a friend...
Re: The Atari Jaguar Is Set To Get A New 3D, Multi-Directional Shoot 'Em Up & A New Virtua Cop-Style Shooter Next Year
@KGRAMR Carl Forhan is such a nice, friendly, reasonable, well adjusted person, isn't he? I get the feeling you too have enjoyed delightful interactions with this perfectly normal human being?
Re: "You Are Vandalising Your Own History" - Taito Caught Using AI To "Undermine" Its Gaming Past
I feel a bit sick to be honest.
There is nothing wrong with old monochrome low-res images. They add charm, to be honest.
My imagination is perfectly good at colourising the b&w photo inside my mind.
And everyone is right. It's going to become exponentially more difficult to preserve history, now that AI exists. Even now, researching anything via Google is a nightmare because the algorithm brings up slop or Reddit, rather than actual old information, and the proliferation of AI written text and images makes good sources harder.
I genuinely feel I would not be able to produce The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers if I'd started the project in 2025. The tools available are broken and less functional than they were in 2013.
We have regressed as a species.
Re: The Atari Jaguar Is Set To Get A New 3D, Multi-Directional Shoot 'Em Up & A New Virtua Cop-Style Shooter Next Year
I had such an awful wretched experience dealing with Songbird once, including being directly threatened by the owner with legal action if I spoke negatively about them in public tha...
Songbird is a lovely company and I will happily buy from them again. So professional. So pleasant.
Re: Ghost In The Shell On PS1 Happened Because Masamune Shirow Loved Jumping Flash
One of the absolute best games on the PS1, Ghost in the Shell.
Regret selling my copy for peanuts.
The ability to walk on any surface is still mindblowing.
Re: "Nintendo Has Made Serious Objections" - Last Ninja Collection Delayed On Consoles
Just to double down on this.
The flag is NOT like the Nazi flag!
https://www.pacom.mil/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/3058491/nato-ships-train-with-japan-maritime-self-defense-force-in-mediterranean-sea/
Look at the photo from 2022. NATO ships training alongside Japanese maritime defence ships.
The flag is still being flown! It's still in use! This is not something anyone should compare to Nazism. Please enjoy some further reading on the topic.
@Zach
@jfp
@JohnnyMind
@RupeeClock
@Exerion76
@Damo
Direct image hotlink:
https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jun/09/2003014981/600/400/0/220606-O-ZZ099-0101.JPG
Re: "Nintendo Has Made Serious Objections" - Last Ninja Collection Delayed On Consoles
It is not remotely like the Nazi flag - everyone saying this is putting my teeth on edge due to the sheer wrongness of such statements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun_Flag
"At present, the flag is flown by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and an eight-ray version is flown by the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. The rising sun design is also seen in numerous scenes in daily life in Japan, such as in fishermen's banners hoisted to signify large catches of fish, flags to celebrate childbirth, and in flags for seasonal festivities."
The flag is still being flown, right now, in Japan, as you read this statement.
The rising sun flag with rays is still in use. You can still find it in real life in Japan, unlike the German Nazi flag which is illegal. The Germany government needs to allow special dispensation for films, like Indiana Jones, to be shown in the country if it depicts the flag. Unlike the rising sun flag - ergo the comparison is wrong.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with this flag, it is a part of Japanese cultural heritage which predates WWII.
I do not have first hand knowledge of what executives at Capcom and Nintendo personally think. But given that it is not illegal, my guess - and this is pure assumption on my part - is that removal of the flag is due foreign sensitivity outside Japan, either in neighbouring East Asian countries, or in America which is especially sensitive to such things.
If you notice, one of the big complainants regarding the flag at the Olympics in 2020 was Alexis Dudden, from Connecticut. As far as I'm concerned, I'm filing complaints against the Japanese flag in my mind under tearing down statues and other benign historical artefacts.
Some people might not like the flag and feel triggered, but please, let's stop being inaccurate and saying this is like the Nazi flag, when it 100% is nothing like it.
Re: Here's Why Controllers Have 'A, B, X & Y' Buttons, And Not 'A, B, C & D'
@BrianJL
I bought that Gravis pad. The shell was replicated 1:1 for the Philips CDi controller. So I reskinned my CDi pad, so it looks like a clown now. The CDi pad didn't have numbers or letters, but rather:
•
••
•+••
Re: Remember Square's Einhänder? The Developer Behind Metal Crisis Certainly Does
When I was a contestant on Games World they had import copies of this from Japan, which is how I discovered it. Loved it.
Square was on fire during the PS1 era. Einhander, Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Tobal series, Ehrgeiz, not even counting its "other" flagship RPG series. (I realise the fighting games were only published by Square, not developed by them, but the sentiment is that the company was publishing so many great games.)
Re: You Can Now Grab Two Of The Best Castlevania Games For Less Than $5 On PS4/PS5
Nonuple dip? Why not!
Re: "I Still Think The Virtual Boy Was Probably Just Too Ahead Of Its Time" - Japanese Developers On Nintendo's Most Infamous Flop
@Kazin
@BrianJL
You know, I never thought to try using the stand to alleviate some of the weight. I'd just seen photos of it resting directly on a person's face, so attempted that. I'll give this a try later. Thanks.
My usual set up is a weighted shoe box on a desk. The stand on the box. A lowered chair. Thus I can sit with my back bolt upright, resting slight on the chair back; it's pulled in under the desk, and the shoe box offers some slight overhang. It's almost comfortable, but at this elevation the controller cable isn't quite long enough for my hands to rest in my lap.
Also if anyone gets a VB, buy a third party power adapter. Don't use batteries, lol.
Also just to reiterate the article text and various comments:
Please take the official health recommendations seriously; they aren't just there due to overzealous precaution. I never play for longer than 30 minutes now without breaks.
Re: "I Still Think The Virtual Boy Was Probably Just Too Ahead Of Its Time" - Japanese Developers On Nintendo's Most Infamous Flop
@KingMike
Intriguing. Not seen that AVGN episode. Or played the SFC version, truth be told. I only played the VB game and concluded it's a bit pointless when there are nice full colour versions of it. Had I known about the oddities on SFC, I'd have asked Yokoh about it. Ah well.
Re: These New SNES ROM Hacks Aim To Make The Super Star Wars Trilogy A Whole Lot Fairer
"Snowspeeder side scrolling level removed"
I never played this, but extra lives and continues, why remove a level?
Is it really that bad?
Re: Sega Dev Kit Raid "A Preservation Disaster" For "Collectors, Archivists, And The Gaming Community"
This latest update about private companies being given access to a civilian's place of residence is... insane and horrifying.
That's not how the law works. This isn't Shadowrun, where the megacorps own the police.
If a crime was committed only the police are allowed access to investigate.
Is this being escalated somewhere? Some sort of watchdog?
Absolute insanity.
Re: The Best-Selling Sega Saturn Game In North America Might Surprise You (But Then Again, It Might Not)
@mariteaux
Sitting and thinking about it: I actually genuinely agree with you. Something I've found is I dislike very recent modern sports games, because they're excessively complicated and just not fun for me. But the older sports games, the good ones, are simple enough to convey a basic recognisable facsimile of any given sport while being intuitive, and thus excelling in multiplayer since it allows friends of any skill to join in. I still pick up and enjoy a game of Super Soccer on SNES, single player or two player, but when I tried the newest FIFA, I was absolutely lost and got bored quickly. Same thing with NBA Jam. Sadly, as pointed out, older sports games across the generations tend to be dismissed due to not looking very pretty compared to the newest titles, even if playing them is still fun today.
Re: One Of The Virtual Boy Games Coming To Switch Is "Worth $10,000"
The Virtual Boy has multiple flashcarts available, and high quality repro carts are also available, as are repro boxes and manuals.
Unless you're a hardcore collector who absolutely needs to own the originals (fair play and respect to you), the rest of us have plenty of means of playing these games.
I got a flashcart, tested every single game, then bought repros of what I liked. Jack Bros was fantastic, and the repro cost £30, as did repros of other carts.
I have no moral problems owning a repro, because ***** ebay scalpers charging £1000 for Jack Bros. I'm very happy with my £30 repro.
Re: Here Are The Best-Selling Dreamcast Games Of All Time (In The US)
@Deuteros
Indeed! A top 25 where I stopped at 23, with Illbleed. I'm sold on it already. Cheers for the link.
A few I dislike but it doesn't matter - all 25 showcase the breadth of what was available. So many charming oddities and solid core games.
Re: Here Are The Best-Selling Dreamcast Games Of All Time (In The US)
I genuinely love so, so many games in the DC library.
Sadly very few of these are in either of the top 20 lists.
I guess I was playing weird stuff while everyone else was really into sports?
Re: "The Worst Console Of All Time" Turned 20 This Year – Is Gizmondo Worth A Look In 2025?
@Damo
I believe Colors was leaked. This guy on YT is playing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr-rohPdYqQ
Not owning a Gizmondo I don't know where to find it or how to get it running. But it seems like an essential thing to try finding? Like it did more with the system than anything else.
Lost Levels ran a feature on it. There's a super disturbing gameplay element where if you get arrested you can choose to bribe your way out of prison with money, or... voluntarily submit to being sexually assaulted by other inmates. The Lost Levels link below covers the game and this aspect, so consider yourself warned about the content.
http://www.lostlevels.org/200609/
As for the sticky coating, my old MP3 player had that same crap on it. I just got some 98% isopropyl alcohol and it rubbed off real easily. I would guess the Gizmondo is the same?
Re: Nintendo Of America Didn't Think Pokémon "Was Going To Take Off In The US", And It Wasn't Alone
@wollywoo
Exactly! I'd had the Monster in my Pocket toys several years before, and they were dumb silly fun, and Pokemon leant into that psychological feeling, before playing it - at least, before it blew up and gained its own identity.
I'm just re-reading various comments from people on their feelings of discovering Pokemon as kids, and loving it, and I'm chuckling at these executives, thinking: COME ON! It's a no brainer. Just read the one line elevator pitch.
"You collect and swap monsters and they fight!"
And you had executives going: "We don't know what we're looking at? Is this a thing kids will want? Do kids like monsters? Do kids like trading stuff? There's only one Mickey Mouse!"
Like, WTF?
I'm sure everyone who "didn't get it" would be defensive now. But like, I want to sit them down and have them talk me through their thinking, in baby steps, so I can somehow understand how people in the business of toys just couldn't get it.
This is the like New Coca Cola of business mistakes!
If you wanted to convey it via what already existed, you could say:
"Imagine the world of trading cards, but it's like Monster in my Pocket. Kids trade the monsters in the game, and we can make toys, and cards, and lunch boxes, to go with it."
Pokemon wasn't even really that "new" of an idea at the time. It was a collection of pre-existing ideas mixed together and repackaged as an RPG. And it was fantastic.
I imported the US version on release day, ages before it even reached the UK. I got Red, my brother got Blue, and we both got 150 monsters, enjoying it before it went huge. (We did a trade and game restart to get all 3 of the starting monsters.)
Re: Nintendo Of America Didn't Think Pokémon "Was Going To Take Off In The US", And It Wasn't Alone
I recall N64 magazine hyping the Japanese GB game long before it got localised.
I struggle to understand how no one saw the appeal.
Had they never seen kids trading stickers, trading cards, or other stuff? That concept is like pure opium to a kid's brain. They literally call them "trading cards". Kids also trade toys, especially if it's something where you can end up with duplicates.
So a game where you trade in-game monsters, even as a kid I knew that was going to be big.
All these big toy people going: "Derp derp, trade stuff? Kids don't like that, derp derp!"
Amusing as heck, LOL.
I'm not saying I'm smart for thinking it would be big; I'm saying that in the business of selling crap to kids, anyone who couldn't see it, is not fit for their job. A blind man with one could have SEEN the explosive potential here!
Re: "Reject This Ugly Husk And Play The Original" - Panzer Dragoon II Zwei Remake Isn't Going Down Well With Fans
The full tweet by JayF encapsulates things perfectly. My biggest concern with a Panzer Dragoon Saga remake is that by smoothing and cleaning up the low poly, low resolution graphics, you'll lose that gritty broken feeling. The distinctive Saturn 3D actually enhances the feeling of an alien, post-apocalyptic wasteland.
The rough look is part of its identity.
I didn't like the PD1 remake, and I don't like the look of this.
Re: How Super Mario 64 Fixed Princess Peach's Ad-Agency Induced Naming Mishap
@smoreon
Exactly! My feelings are because so much of games history was the result of groups who couldn't predict how big or important they would become. I'd say almost every interview regarding 40 or 30 years ago has similar sentiments.
I suppose there's an argument to be made that not knowing this in a way fostered a carefree creative attitude?
It is what it is. But I still look back at some decisions and wonder... What do other timelines look like.
Re: How Super Mario 64 Fixed Princess Peach's Ad-Agency Induced Naming Mishap
A little shocked, surprised, and saddened that all these games, which meant so much to so many, were partially the result of pawning them off to some clueless ad agency.
Re: 'Chasm' Creator's World War II Metroidvania 'Wolfhound' Looks Better Than Ever In This New Footage
@Johnny_Arthur
I forgot I'd posted here! So a while back Steam stopped supporting Windows 7, which is what my main game rig runs on. I had to permanently disable it updating, since once updated it also locked me out of running any of my Steam games on that computer. It's to do with the browser the Steam client is based on. I tested it with my laptop - updated Steam, and then every single Steam failed to load. It just auto-crashed every time. They officially said they were no longer supporting Win7, despite there at the time being more Win7 users than Linux.
Since this post I was gifted a handheld gaming PC, so I am again able to use Steam.
But I will never forget Gabe's turncoat betrayal!
Re: "Life's Too Short, You Know?" - Atari's CEO Wants To Remaster Snatcher And Panzer Dragoon Saga
A remaster of Panzer Saga is my dream too. But only a gentle remaster. Increase the draw distance. Keep everything else the same - including the dirty blocky textures. They really enhanced the feeling of it being a ruined and decayed world.
I'm not sure Snatcher needs a remaster. Konami redid the PC-88 version for PCE and MCD, then redid those for PS1 / Sat. The 32-bit versions were inferior, replacing crisp pixel art with cheap CG.
Could a remaster incorporate parts from all the versions, so you can toggle between them? PC-88 synth audio with PS1 CG visuals?
Re: Random: "Surely They're Trolling" - After The NES-Cart-In-A-SNES Debacle, The BBC Marks Windows 95's 30th With An Apple Mac
Apple is a large company today with iconic logo. It's right there in full colour on the unit. Surely anyone who uses any technology today will recognise it as an Apple product, not a Microsoft or MS compatible one.
I am now convinced this has to be rage-bait to encourage viewer interaction. Like when Starbucks "hilariously" writes your name wrong so you post on social media and give them free advertising.
Re: "With Love, Anything Is Possible" - Could Parodius Finally Get A Genesis / Mega Drive Port?
As pointed out by @RupeeClock - Treasure games explode with colour.
I was playing Gunstar Heroes today on a CRT.
If the MD can run GSH and Dynamite Heddy, it can run anything.
It's less about raw colours, and more about clever visual design and using what's available.
Re: Vectrex Mini Is The Next Micro Console You'll Need To Own
@romanista
https://vectorgaming.proboards.com/board/20/vectrex
Re: "It's The Game We Wish Had Existed 40 Years Ago" - Ulysses 31 Is Finally Getting A Video Game
@MontyMole
Internet Archive has the full series of Spartakus, dubbed, uploaded by the original creator using the highest quality transfers I've seen. Enjoy!
Re: "It's The Game We Wish Had Existed 40 Years Ago" - Ulysses 31 Is Finally Getting A Video Game
@MontyMole
Your mentioning of Cities of Gold caught my interest. Did you also ever watch Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea? It was often broadcast alongside Cities of Gold in various places.
Re: Vectrex Mini Is The Next Micro Console You'll Need To Own
@Soupbones
Shame! Give the poor thing a blanket and some warm soup. But if it needs repairing, there are several Vectrex repair people out there. I can think of two or three in the UK (I used Rude Dog Retros). Not sure about the US. It probably just needs a full recap.
@CopyX1982
I found a Vectrex at a market for like £20 once. Bought it, loved it, sold it for £100, regretted it, and then to rebuy cost me £300+ in addition to mods and a full repair clean.
So these are extremely expensive. And PC emulation is not great - it doesn't "look" right.
I bought a flashcart where I could add homebrew, since there are... Hundreds of homebrew games? Checking my folder shows a tightly curated list of 89 games. There's lot of stuff I deleted because I didn't like them. Plus the official list. And new homebrew comes out all the time. I actually dropped £70 on A Crush of Lucifer. I even owned the 3D visor at one point.
I'm not saying all this to brag - I'm saying this because I am super happy that people who are not collector maniacs (such as myself) can now enjoy not just the games, but also the form factor. It will allow one to enjoy the experience, better than just emulation.
I hope so anyway. Emulation can't replicate the perfect lines of a vector display. But I'm wondering about this new fancy screen they're using. With a high enough resolution it might? Hopefully you get the "feel" of the device.
I dislike the controllers though. The original ones are serviceable, because they're large. Something that tiny looks very uncomfortable, especially for games that require fast reflexes.
I bought a modded NeoGeo CD controller which runs on the Vectrex, and it is sublime. Massively improved my game at the annual Vectrex tournament. About 50 enter on the Veccy forums, and I went from a position in the mid-teens to... I think 7th or 8th place last year? You need a decent controller. Hopefully if it's wireless it will allow other controllers to be used?
My only question now is: the annual Vectrex tournie mandates only original hardware. Not emulation. How will we categorise this? Perhaps we can run it alongside, OG and Mini veccies. It's a friendly community.
The homebrew coming out for the system is also incredible. There's a lot of love and passion put into creating something which only a few people can access. More need to experience it.