Thanks for going to the trouble of buying and reviewing this. @Jellyscare
Does the mouse open up to turn into a Trackball?
As much as I'd like one of these, practically it makes no sense for me personally unless there's something exclusive that only the Z can provide. So at least for now I'll stick with an emulator on my Mac.
@AceGrace what does the dev kit add? And is there a community of otaku Devs like us?
@themightyant of course we don't need apps, we don't need mobile optimised websites. But the experience is better with them. If only to open it more quickly and prevent me browser tabs building up.
A compromise would be making the mobile site a PWA so it can be added as an icon to your home screen.
No app!? They could launch an app that is their mobile website in a wrapper and go from there. I mean, this is Lesson 1 of app making.
And they really need a way to do mass import from CSV or similar, so they can attract users or collections from competing services such as RFGeneration, GameEye, Price Charting, etc.
Basically, they're making it too difficult for new users.
It's not about people... it's about damage to the company that's marketing the game. Nintendo didn't delay Advance Wars because it was worried about you and me, perhaps not even because it was being compassionate, most likely because it didn't want any negative press.
@wiiware I've never suggested banning the game, that was you. I had simply said that it's not a great time to market such a game all things considered.
There are many examples of such consideration, with the most recent example being the Switch Advance Wars remaster, and perhaps the most famous being Dreamcast game Propeller Arena.
Just to give a bit of context to the claims that RPGs were largely unknown in Japan at the time of The Black Onyx. The year before its release in the November 1983 issue of Japanese LOGiN magazine, starting on page 98, there's an article "What is an RPG?" by N. Ohnishi which (translating using Google or iOS) describes the concept of an RPG, includes some free games that readers could type in and play, and encourages readers to create their own RPG. https://archive.org/details/login-november-1983/LOGiN%20-%20November%201983/page/n99/mode/2up
I think Henk likes to paint a rose coloured picture of the past. He was featured in the same magazine im the 1984 April issue: https://archive.org/details/login-april-1984/LOGiN%20-%20April%201984/page/n117/mode/2up the feel no need to explain RPGs, but D&D does get some coverage, and they note the don't understand some of the made up terms used in The Black Onyx.
Their shipping costs are ridiculous. You could say that they don't really care about the buyer.
I've been told that their distributor ultimately controls the available shipping logistics options and related costs, which doesn't sound like a healthy relationship. Especially since shipping can be less expensive with other providers.
With the Super Pocket it's not just about resolution but also how pixel aspect ratio is honoured.
Bubble Bobble seems to be centred, which makes sense given it runs at 256Γ224. Though maybe it should be stretched slightly to maintain the correct aspect?
Street Fighter 2 runs at 384Γ224 (even though it's 4:3 aspect) so would need to be compressed horizontally to fit.
On high resolution displays these odd pixel aspect ratios can be honoured without much loss of visual clarity, but on a 320x240p this could only result in either blurring or missing pixels. At least they let you choose which.
So I'd still like to see some macro shots of the display!
The resolution of the screen means the games don't really fit. I find the lack of closeup screenshots a bit worrying. But from the shots above the screen seems pretty bad quite grainy. And only 4 hours on a charge? And 9/10? In the same breath as the RGB30? You're having a laugh.
Have Limited Run ever made any statements about their similar delays? It's such a bad way to do business, yet these companies are all doing it the same way! Even the UK outfit Lost In Cult is doing it.
@-wc- I posted a wayback link to the oldest archived post but i understand some UK mobile and broadband ISPs block internet archive unless you call them to enable access to all "unsafe" websites (i guess somebody found a picture of a cartoon boob on internet archive and reported them)
Great to read this again. At the time my friends and I considered any GBC/GBA game with the Crawfish Interactive "crustacean" title screen to be solid gold, even before playing, and they were heralded everywhere by the press which is even mentioned in this interview. So I'm not sure they were "underrated," but I do agree they were gone too soon and have largely been forgotten since.
Great list! The only additions I'd suggest would be: the weird, isometric, terraformed Robotron-like game called Square Resort, a T&E SOFT golf game (though they're better on PC98), and recent homebrew game Ball und Panzer Golf (which I'm making a version of for Playdate).
PipitanTV is my favourite YouTube channel for X6800 content. And the refuge.tokyo website has good game listings with screenshots.
I'd add T&E SOFT's Golf to this list. The performance of that game compared to contemporary T&E SOFT golf games on other platforms goes to show just how powerful the Virtual Boy was: PlayStation-level, certainly.
Pilotwings Resort remains my favourite. Being able to perfectly complete it took all my skill and a ton of hours. I tried it again recently and I must have had a lot more time back then as it seems like far too difficult a task today. Also, on New 3DS it plays with a smoother frame rate!
Couple of things that have been lost in translation for this article: 50fps is the maximum full screen refresh rate on Playdate, for games that draw the whole screen every frame update.
But, the display can go much higher if you're only updating part of the screen - for example 200fps if you're updating one third the screen, or 60fps if you're updating two thirds of the screen. It's a little more complicated than that, because it's measured in the number of rows that you're updating rather than individual pixels. A bit of extra work and some tricks are needed to do this, but it's possible and has been done.
Yeah the problem here is not the location of the files inside Activision (which of course is both ridiculous and unfortunate) it's the stopping of Microsoft's backwards compatibility endeavour.
@KingMike they didn't, the controller in question was made by a third party company HPI (Hot Products Inc). There were others: I have a couple of Logitech controllers and a couple of HPI controllers.
I'm saying that, in my humble opinion, T3K isn't hugely better than T2K. It is the better game, but not by much. Often you will read that T3K is some sort of giant leap better and by far the greatest version of Tempest, but I feel this is overblown hyperbole because it's so rare not many people can check the validity of such claims. T3K is the best looking of Minter's versions, due to there being no visible pixels on NUON (some might call it too blurry) but in terms of gameplay each version is better than the last but not by any great leaps.
Still have my NUON, controllers (multiple) along with half of all the games (T3K, Merlin, Freefall, Ballistic) and most of the remaining games as CD-R.
I had great times with the VLM and saw some pretty trippy things appear on the screen (like seeing shapes/things in clouds, I guess). Ballistic is good and on par with the PS1 version.
NUON T3K is for only slightly better than Jaguar T2K, low frame rate being the major issue. I am hoping they somehow get T3K playable on the forthcoming Digital Eclipse Llamasoft anthology (shhh, I heard it's supposed to be a secret).
@killroy10 the version of Sensible Soccer is also great because it's to fast and smooth and the visible area of the pitch is larger than other versions.
Loved MiniDisc. My webpage about my collection is still online even though 99% of my collection is long gone. I value instant streaming too much to be making MD compilations these days. I do still pine for my old MD 515 hi-fi because it sounded so good and still looks like the future 20 years later, but I know in my heart I'd never use it.
Surprising you've not covered any of the dozens of Playdate Catalog games released since the store opened? There have been 7 waves of new releases so far, since Catalog opened in March. That's a handful of new games every couple of weeks.
Comments 283
Re: BioFury Is A New Doom-Inspired FPS For 3DO, Now Available For Pre-Order
@Poodlestargenerica I'm very used to it, I have a lot of time for AI art and AI in general, as a user and a creator.
My point was simply that the examples on the pre-order page are simply bad, regardless of its source.
I have no idea what you mean about Two and a Half Men, though.
Re: BioFury Is A New Doom-Inspired FPS For 3DO, Now Available For Pre-Order
More dodgy AI art on the pre-order page.
Re: Poll: What's The Best WipEout?
1. Wipeout 3 SE
2. Wipeout 2097 (don't call it XL)
3. Wipeout Pure (PSP)
Re: The SX1-Mini Plus Is An Awesome Integrated MSX
This is the direction I'd have preferred to see from the new MSX.
Re: Zanac, Aleste And Gunhed Devs Join Forces For NES Shmup 'Chouyoku Senki Estique'
Very cool. Mary!
Re: Yep, More Analogue Pocket Limited Editions Are On The Way
At this point the "Limited" moniker is just dishonest.
Re: The Long-Awaited English Fan Patch For Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 Is Out Now
TE should totally review this as if it was a new game.
Re: Review: Zuiki X68000 Z - An Expensive But Appealing Substitute For The Real Thing
Thanks for going to the trouble of buying and reviewing this. @Jellyscare
Does the mouse open up to turn into a Trackball?
As much as I'd like one of these, practically it makes no sense for me personally unless there's something exclusive that only the Z can provide. So at least for now I'll stick with an emulator on my Mac.
@AceGrace what does the dev kit add? And is there a community of otaku Devs like us?
Re: PC-88 Classics 'Thexder' & 'Relics' Land On Nintendo Switch
RELICS has to be one of my favourite game logos. So cool and stylish.
It's still a buzz whenever I spot it whilst reading old video Japanese game/PC magazines.
Re: How Online Store Retroplace Aims To Become 'Discogs For Retro Games'
@themightyant exactly. there's a right way to do a PWA.
Re: How Online Store Retroplace Aims To Become 'Discogs For Retro Games'
@themightyant of course we don't need apps, we don't need mobile optimised websites. But the experience is better with them. If only to open it more quickly and prevent me browser tabs building up.
A compromise would be making the mobile site a PWA so it can be added as an icon to your home screen.
Re: How Online Store Retroplace Aims To Become 'Discogs For Retro Games'
No app!? They could launch an app that is their mobile website in a wrapper and go from there. I mean, this is Lesson 1 of app making.
And they really need a way to do mass import from CSV or similar, so they can attract users or collections from competing services such as RFGeneration, GameEye, Price Charting, etc.
Basically, they're making it too difficult for new users.
Re: A Kickstarter For A Hogs Of War Remaster Has Just Gone Live
It's not about people... it's about damage to the company that's marketing the game. Nintendo didn't delay Advance Wars because it was worried about you and me, perhaps not even because it was being compassionate, most likely because it didn't want any negative press.
But, yeah, happy to leave it there.
Re: A Kickstarter For A Hogs Of War Remaster Has Just Gone Live
@wiiware I've never suggested banning the game, that was you. I had simply said that it's not a great time to market such a game all things considered.
There are many examples of such consideration, with the most recent example being the Switch Advance Wars remaster, and perhaps the most famous being Dreamcast game Propeller Arena.
Re: The Making Of: The Black Onyx, The Game That Hooked Japan On RPGs
Just to give a bit of context to the claims that RPGs were largely unknown in Japan at the time of The Black Onyx. The year before its release in the November 1983 issue of Japanese LOGiN magazine, starting on page 98, there's an article "What is an RPG?" by N. Ohnishi which (translating using Google or iOS) describes the concept of an RPG, includes some free games that readers could type in and play, and encourages readers to create their own RPG. https://archive.org/details/login-november-1983/LOGiN%20-%20November%201983/page/n99/mode/2up
I think Henk likes to paint a rose coloured picture of the past. He was featured in the same magazine im the 1984 April issue: https://archive.org/details/login-april-1984/LOGiN%20-%20April%201984/page/n117/mode/2up the feel no need to explain RPGs, but D&D does get some coverage, and they note the don't understand some of the made up terms used in The Black Onyx.
Re: A Kickstarter For A Hogs Of War Remaster Has Just Gone Live
@wiiware old news? tell that to the people whose lives have been affected.
Re: Lost In Cult's Premium Gaming Journal 'Lock-On' Now Funding A Sixth Volume
Their shipping costs are ridiculous. You could say that they don't really care about the buyer.
I've been told that their distributor ultimately controls the available shipping logistics options and related costs, which doesn't sound like a healthy relationship. Especially since shipping can be less expensive with other providers.
Re: A Kickstarter For A Hogs Of War Remaster Has Just Gone Live
With the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the West Bank I can't help but feel this is not a great time to be releasing a war game.
Re: The Future Of The MSX0 Has Just Been Revealed
I expected so much more from new MSX than rebadged existing products.
Re: Review: Hyper Mega Tech Super Pocket - A Wonderful Game Boy-Style Retro Gift
@Damo Fair point regarding the RGB30 comparison.
With the Super Pocket it's not just about resolution but also how pixel aspect ratio is honoured.
Bubble Bobble seems to be centred, which makes sense given it runs at 256Γ224. Though maybe it should be stretched slightly to maintain the correct aspect?
Street Fighter 2 runs at 384Γ224 (even though it's 4:3 aspect) so would need to be compressed horizontally to fit.
On high resolution displays these odd pixel aspect ratios can be honoured without much loss of visual clarity, but on a 320x240p this could only result in either blurring or missing pixels. At least they let you choose which.
So I'd still like to see some macro shots of the display!
Re: Review: Hyper Mega Tech Super Pocket - A Wonderful Game Boy-Style Retro Gift
The resolution of the screen means the games don't really fit. I find the lack of closeup screenshots a bit worrying. But from the shots above the screen seems pretty bad quite grainy. And only 4 hours on a charge? And 9/10? In the same breath as the RGB30? You're having a laugh.
Re: Strictly Limited Games Issues Statement On Lengthy Shipping Delays
Have Limited Run ever made any statements about their similar delays? It's such a bad way to do business, yet these companies are all doing it the same way! Even the UK outfit Lost In Cult is doing it.
Re: Random: Music Fans Are Modding Early PS1 Consoles To Use As CD Players
@-wc- I posted a wayback link to the oldest archived post but i understand some UK mobile and broadband ISPs block internet archive unless you call them to enable access to all "unsafe" websites (i guess somebody found a picture of a cartoon boob on internet archive and reported them)
Currently live link is https://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/708play/index.html
Re: Random: Music Fans Are Modding Early PS1 Consoles To Use As CD Players
This has been happening for decades! Since 2008 at least https://web.archive.org/web/20080814043424/http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/708play/index.html
Re: Could MiSTer Rival MARS FPGA Be The New King Of Retro Gaming?
No system needs two of its logo on the case! Bleurgh.
In terms of FPGA I'm more interested in the Tang Nano 20K for a tiny device capable of 8-bit and 16-bit platforms.
Re: Flashback: Xbox Got Its Name Because The Other Suggestions Were "F**cking Appalling"
I like OM (Odyssey of the Mind)
Re: Japanese Feature Phone Preservation Has Just Made Some Incredible Strides
Fantastic. On that thread there's a lead that some i-app games were featured in Bomber Land 3 on PS2.
Re: Transparent Analogue Pockets Are On The Way, But You'll Need To Be Fast
@imgrowinglegs that is reasonable, but to UK the shipping is $70, plus import duty.
Re: Transparent Analogue Pockets Are On The Way, But You'll Need To Be Fast
Are the shipping costs still extortionate?
Re: The Making Of: Street Fighter Alpha 3: Upper, The GBA's Best Fighter
Great to read this again. At the time my friends and I considered any GBC/GBA game with the Crawfish Interactive "crustacean" title screen to be solid gold, even before playing, and they were heralded everywhere by the press which is even mentioned in this interview. So I'm not sure they were "underrated," but I do agree they were gone too soon and have largely been forgotten since.
Re: What's Happening Over At Sega Forever, Sega's Dedicated Retro Channel?
This is how rumours start.
Re: Best Sharp X68000 Games: 20 Titles We Want On The X68000 Z Mini
Great list! The only additions I'd suggest would be: the weird, isometric, terraformed Robotron-like game called Square Resort, a T&E SOFT golf game (though they're better on PC98), and recent homebrew game Ball und Panzer Golf (which I'm making a version of for Playdate).
PipitanTV is my favourite YouTube channel for X6800 content. And the refuge.tokyo website has good game listings with screenshots.
Re: PS1 Puzzler Devil Dice Was Never A 'Net Yaroze' Title, So Why Does The Internet Think It Was?
PS1 open world game Panekit also came out of the Game Yarouze endeavour.
Re: The Making Of: TOTAL!, The Nintendo Magazine That Had To Be Made In Secret
Refreshing to see them push back on the somewhat loaded questions!
Re: Best Virtual Boy Games Of All Time
I'd add T&E SOFT's Golf to this list. The performance of that game compared to contemporary T&E SOFT golf games on other platforms goes to show just how powerful the Virtual Boy was: PlayStation-level, certainly.
Re: NES Endings Compendium Vol. 1: 1985-89 - The End Is In Sight
Limited Run? No thanks.
It's a shame because I love Rey's work in all the years I've been following them.
Re: Flashback: Who Created The Arcade Classic Frogger?
Don't miss the 3DS update of Frogger, a hidden gem produced by the "extreme" legend Tak Fujii & developed by ALPHA UNIT. https://www.retrogameboards.com/t/rgb-recommends-frogger-3d-tak-fujis-extreeeeme-30th-anniversary-frogger-celebration/2783
Re: Best Nintendo 3DS Games Of All Time
Pilotwings Resort remains my favourite. Being able to perfectly complete it took all my skill and a ton of hours. I tried it again recently and I must have had a lot more time back then as it seems like far too difficult a task today. Also, on New 3DS it plays with a smoother frame rate!
Re: Sunsoft Releasing OST Of Cancelled Neo Geo Hebereke Game In Japan
I spotted a moai in this and also in another game mentioned in the twitter thread! now listed at https://moai.games and see https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/09/feature_one_mans_quest_to_catalogue_every_moai_in_video_games
Re: The Making Of: Gun Trails, A Killer Playdate Exclusive & The Most Surprising Shmup Of 2023
@JackGYarwood no worries. Gun Trails is a phenomenal achievement!
Re: The Making Of: Gun Trails, A Killer Playdate Exclusive & The Most Surprising Shmup Of 2023
Couple of things that have been lost in translation for this article: 50fps is the maximum full screen refresh rate on Playdate, for games that draw the whole screen every frame update.
But, the display can go much higher if you're only updating part of the screen - for example 200fps if you're updating one third the screen, or 60fps if you're updating two thirds of the screen. It's a little more complicated than that, because it's measured in the number of rows that you're updating rather than individual pixels. A bit of extra work and some tricks are needed to do this, but it's possible and has been done.
Re: Talking Point: What Was Your First Video Gaming Experience?
The one I count is a Joust arcade cabinet at Royal Video, Breckfield Road North, L5. Must have been 1982β1984.
Re: Activision Might Have "Lost" A Bunch Of Amazing Transformers Video Games
Yeah the problem here is not the location of the files inside Activision (which of course is both ridiculous and unfortunate) it's the stopping of Microsoft's backwards compatibility endeavour.
Re: Ultimate Guide: Nuon, The DVD Player That Tried To Be A Games Console
@KingMike they didn't, the controller in question was made by a third party company HPI (Hot Products Inc). There were others: I have a couple of Logitech controllers and a couple of HPI controllers.
Re: Ultimate Guide: Nuon, The DVD Player That Tried To Be A Games Console
@-wc- NO, I'm not saying that at all.
I'm saying that, in my humble opinion, T3K isn't hugely better than T2K. It is the better game, but not by much. Often you will read that T3K is some sort of giant leap better and by far the greatest version of Tempest, but I feel this is overblown hyperbole because it's so rare not many people can check the validity of such claims. T3K is the best looking of Minter's versions, due to there being no visible pixels on NUON (some might call it too blurry) but in terms of gameplay each version is better than the last but not by any great leaps.
Re: Ultimate Guide: Nuon, The DVD Player That Tried To Be A Games Console
Still have my NUON, controllers (multiple) along with half of all the games (T3K, Merlin, Freefall, Ballistic) and most of the remaining games as CD-R.
I had great times with the VLM and saw some pretty trippy things appear on the screen (like seeing shapes/things in clouds, I guess). Ballistic is good and on par with the PS1 version.
NUON T3K is for only slightly better than Jaguar T2K, low frame rate being the major issue. I am hoping they somehow get T3K playable on the forthcoming Digital Eclipse Llamasoft anthology (shhh, I heard it's supposed to be a secret).
Re: 'Video Game Of The Year' Is A New Book Charting The History Of Games, One Game At A Time
They have the wrong year for Tetris. It's 1985. But then they'd have to choose between it and Mario Bros. As for the rest of the list... π
Re: Best Atari Jaguar Games
@killroy10 the version of Sensible Soccer is also great because it's to fast and smooth and the visible area of the pitch is larger than other versions.
Re: Why MiniDisc, Sony's Precursor To The PSP UMD, Is Still Alive In 2023
Loved MiniDisc. My webpage about my collection is still online even though 99% of my collection is long gone. I value instant streaming too much to be making MD compilations these days. I do still pine for my old MD 515 hi-fi because it sounded so good and still looks like the future 20 years later, but I know in my heart I'd never use it.
Re: Round Up: Every Game Showcased At The First-Ever Playdate Community Direct
Surprising you've not covered any of the dozens of Playdate Catalog games released since the store opened? There have been 7 waves of new releases so far, since Catalog opened in March. That's a handful of new games every couple of weeks.