Comments 305

Re: Evercade's Atari Carts Are Being Discontinued

no_donatello

@XiaoShao I agree! I was thrilled when they announced the Lynx carts because that's a console I never experienced. And sure, emulation can give you access to everything, but owning an officially licensed version somehow makes it feel more worth my time.

And the Jaguar should be experienced by more people. Almost all of its polygon-based games are bad but in a formative years of 3D, "we have no idea what we're doing" kind of way that makes them interesting. And some of them are genuinely fun.

Re: Evercade's Atari Carts Are Being Discontinued

no_donatello

@samuelvictor Yeah, my brother went all-in on the Jaguar and bought the CD as well. I want to say it actually came with Myst and Blue Lightning. He also had a game called Vid Grid, I think, where music videos were divided into squares and scrambled and you had to move them around to make the video display correctly. Less a game and more showing off the fact it could play full motion video, but, admittedly, I was impressed! He also had a Highlander game that was maybe just a demo... It was really bad, and I don't know if it ever released the full game.

As far as I know, his Jag CD still works. You need to place a book on it to keep the drive door closed, but not the biggest deal.

Re: Evercade's Atari Carts Are Being Discontinued

no_donatello

@XiaoShao Would love to see this, but you know the best game for the system (Aliens vs Predator) would not be included. But would love to see Tempest 2000 and Ruiner Pinball, etc. My brother was one of the few people who bought the system at (or near) launch, so I do have some fond memories.

Re: The Making Of: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - Sam Barlow's Wii Masterpiece

no_donatello

This is the only Silent Hill I've completed, so I can't compare it to the main entries, though I know it's very different. This game left a huge impact on me when I played it over a decade ago, I guess. The helplessness in "combat" and listening to voices through the Wii remote, the way the environment reacted to your choices... it was really great. As with many games that really embraced the Wii's gimmicks, I wonder how it holds up today. I will return to it eventually. I seriously loved this game.

Re: Best GameCube Games Of All Time

no_donatello

A fair list. I was a big GameCube fan back in the day, picking that as my "preferred" console for multi-platform games (until they started skipping the GC versions once its popularity waned). That controller is still one of my favorite. The button layout was smart, and they should have stuck with it, IMO.

I would personally disagree that Skies of Arcadia Legends is the best way to play that game, though it's complicated. They reduced the number of random encounters, which is a big plus. The Dreamcast version was a bit excessive. But to my ear, they destroyed the music on GC. The Dreamcast game came on two GD-ROMs (each with 1.2 GB), but the GameCube game was on a single 1.5 GB mini DVD. Something's gotta give, and I've never been able to tolerate the downgraded audio. I always end up picking the DC version.

Re: Best Sega Dreamcast Games Of All Time

no_donatello

Greatest console of all time! This is a good list, but of course, it doesn't even scratch the surface. Despite its short life, Dreamcast has an amazing library. So much creativity. Though they did a much better job than with the Saturn of bringing the best games to the West, it's still worth exploring the Japan-only library, which is of course much larger. Tokyo Bus Guide — one of the most simultaneously relaxing and insanely frustrating games I've ever played. Lack of Love — if that game came out once indie games became popular, it would be a cult classic. So many shmups! I could go on and on and on.

Re: Poll: Handheld Or TV - How Do You Play Retro Games?

no_donatello

It's a mix. I play games on my Retroid, particularly translation-patched games. Plus the machine translation feature on RetroArch is just incredible. However, there is never a substitute for real hardware, so I do play the OG consoles quite a lot, either on a CRT or with upscaling HDMI cables.

Re: Best Game Boy Color Games Of All Time

no_donatello

There's no question that these are good games, and I played and enjoyed several of them. But it really is the weakest of Nintendo's handheld consoles, in my opinion. Considering it came out almost 10 years after the original Game Boy, it was a really minor update.

Re: It's Time to Celebrate the PSP, Sony's 21st Century Walkman

no_donatello

I remember the first time I saw a PSP. I was a senior in high school, and my one classmate had it and whichever Spiderman game released at launch. Not sure if that was a good game, but I was legitimately blown away. Add to that the pretty weak launch lineup for DS (Super Mario 64 DS — a game that was designed for analog on a console without an analog stick), and I thought Nintendo was finished. Didn't turn out that way, but the PSP didn't do half bad!

I had a lot of fun with the PSP. It has probably my favorite version of Ridge Racer on it. My original PSP did have some stuck pixels that I tried very hard to unstick but never could. But still, very ahead of its time. The homebrew scene was really fun, too. Still have a lot of games to return to on it. There have been some great translations released for it in the past couple years, so I've been enjoying that (The Yakuza spinoff games, Disaster Report 3...)

Re: Best Original Xbox Games Of All Time

no_donatello

I have a soft spot for the OG Xbox (not really a fan off any of its follow-ups). So many Sega titles got shifted over to Xbox after the cancellation of the Dreamcast that it was almost a Dreamcast 2 — at least initially. Sega started spreading their properties around as the generation dragged along. But there are still games that require me to always have a working OG Xbox around, Shenmue II, JSRF, Orta, Outrun, etc. Plus there are a lot of other exclusives. It's an interesting platform and, probably because it's fairly unpopular nowadays, still pretty cheap to collect for!

Re: The GameCube & Wii Emulator Dolphin Adds New WiiConnect24 Support & More

no_donatello

Recreating WiiConnect24 is very cool, just like the efforts to get Dreamcast games back online. As others have said, it is tough to recreate the experience of the remote and sensor bar. I know it can be done, but it's a lot of work. I just recently reconnected my Wii to a CRT and have been really enjoying it. Mario Galaxy 2 still looks and feels great.

Re: Best Nintendo 3DS Games Of All Time

no_donatello

Had a lot of fun times with the 3DS for sure, and there are still plenty of backlog games I need to return to, Zelda Link Between Worlds and Yokai Watch 3 (thankfully bought before the price went crazy) being big ones.

I bought my 3DS on day one because the 3D blew my mind (and still does) and because the DS was so great. If you remember, the console was overpriced and the launch lineup was bad. Rayman 2 rerelease? Steel Diver? Pilotwings Resort was genuinely good, and I spent a lot of time with it. But the crappy launch led to the Ambassador Program and all those GBA games they gave me that never got released otherwise.

It obviously did not live up to the DS though. While there were third party games, it doesn't compare to the almost limitless releases on DS. I still occasionally find hidden gems on DS, like Air Traffic Chaos (which turns out to be a localization of the "I am an Air Traffic Controller" series). Streetpass was really fun though, especially when my wife and I visited Japan and got more Streetpasses in a day than we ever did walking around our city in the US.

Re: Daytona USA For The Dreamcast Is Now Back Online, Thanks To Fans

no_donatello

I love this, and I can't wait to try it! It blows my mind that so many Dreamcast games are back online now. Kudos to the people making this happen!

My dream game to see back online is Propeller Arena, which never released but would have had voice chat. That game is so much fun single player. Multiplayer with voice chat would be amazing.

Re: Former Sega Boss On The "Huge Strategic Blunder" Of 32X And Saturn

no_donatello

I appreciate the Sega CD not getting lumped in as a "mistake." I personally view it as similar to PSVR. Bleeding edge technology that should be viewed as an add-on and thus never going to sell as well as the main console. Plus the Sega CD has a respectable library. Also remember, back then, even playing audio CDs on the Sega CD was appealing.

No question though, 32x was a bad idea all around. So, naturally, I own two of them.

Re: HyperMega Tech's 'Super Pocket' Is A Game Boy-Style Handheld Which Plays Evercade Carts

no_donatello

Hmm... This is cheaper than the EXP, and I kind of like the design of this one better. The shoulder buttons look awkward, but most games on Evercade don't use them much. I am guessing this won't have the wifi features that EXP has, though that's not really a big deal. If I'd known this was coming, I might have held off on the EXP...

Also it is unfortunate that these more major company games are relegated to pack-in titles. I do like that Evercade highlights a lot of mid-tier games, but I'd also like some cartridges from major developers.

Re: Shocking Study Reveals 87% Of Classic Games Are "Critically Endangered"

no_donatello

I agree that Titanic is a bad example. Like a famous blockbuster movie, blockbuster games tend to get rereleased and remastered ad nauseum, which is fine (just don't buy it again if it bothers you). But there are tons of lesser titles that will grow in rarity as the years drag on. Modern video games (say, post-crash) only accounts for around 30 years. Yet already many games are extremely difficult to obtain. That will only get worse. Besides piracy, I don't know what the solution is though. No one is going to rerelease Virtual Hydlide, but it is worth remembering. PC is even worse than consoles. Abandonware sites are great for preserving these games, but even getting them to run once you have them can be really hard.

Re: Atari And Polymega Maker Playmaji Are Joining Forces

no_donatello

@smoreon Gotcha. I agree Polymega is a niche product, especially at the high price point it is. That's why I want to get it as soon as possible. How much money can this company be bringing in realistically? That's why I'm glad to hear about the investment — maybe I'll actually get my preorder!

And, yes, he's a lucky boy.

Re: Atari And Polymega Maker Playmaji Are Joining Forces

no_donatello

@smoreon for me, I have a huge retro collection, but I did pre-order one of these. The big draw for me was when they announced it would support Sinden for light gun games on hdtvs. I love light gun games, but they're a bit of a pain to play, either have an old crt or emulation solutions that take a lot of setup. This should be plug and play.

Another reason is I have a son who I want to play these games, but particularly my saturn collection is so valuable that I don't want him touching the original games (since you can install games on polymega). Again this is a plug and play emulation system, so a little boy will be able to handle it.

Obviously, my preference will always be real game on real hardware, but this will be nice to have.

Re: "We Are Killing Sony" - Leaked Docs Shine A Light On Sega's Ill-Fated Battle With PlayStation

no_donatello

Interesting but sad look at a time when even I left Sega behind (being a Genesis kid) for N64 and then later PlayStation. Honestly, as a kid under 10 in 1995/1996, N64 was an obvious choice. I still feel bad though. I returned to the Saturn library after buying a Dreamcast and realizing my terrible mistake of leaving Sega behind. Now, Dreamcast is my favorite console, and Saturn is number two. Thankful I started collecting before the prices went absolutely insane.

There were a lot of missteps, but I would disagree with the author when they question Sega's assertion to focus on 3D games. Saturn could do amazing things with 2D, but growing up in that era, I remember everything that was 2D on a home console being looked at as "last gen" and undesirable.

Re: Best Light Gun Games Of All Time

no_donatello

Great list. As people pointed out, Area 51 should be included. Rambo really is great. I have no love for the license, but that game is wild and I wish it had gotten a console port.

In my opinion, light gun games are a genre where it really pays off to delve into some of the lesser praised titles. I don't care what anyone else says. Death Crimson OX is fun! Just turn off your brain and enjoy it. Then you have really interesting hybrid games like Resident Evil: Dead Aim.

Re: The Making Of: Cosmic Smash And C-Smash VRS - Reviving Sega's Cult Classic

no_donatello

It's been interesting to watch these revivals of Sega classics being farmed out to passionate fans/developers. I really enjoyed the Panzer Dragoon remake. As for this game... I would love to try it. I have the original PSVR and enjoyed it enough but probably not enough to invest in PSVR2. So I may never get to play this, but I appreciate the developer reviving a forgotten classic.

Re: The Making Of: PlayStation 2, The World's Most Successful Video Game Console

no_donatello

@nocdaes Seriously? There's arguments made about the attach rate for the Wii, that it was basically a Wii Sports machine. Third parties definitely struggled to break through sometimes on Wii. But PS2, no way. Wikipedia says over 4,000 games were released for it. Yes, DVD was a huge deal. The first DVD I ever watched was on a launch day PS2, but it had the games to back up its success.

Re: The Making Of: PlayStation 2, The World's Most Successful Video Game Console

no_donatello

Ha, I've always had a little contempt for the PS2 because it killed my beloved Dreamcast (yes, there were LOTS of other issues, I know). But I can't deny how amazing the game library on PS2 is, and I own well over 100 games for it. There are so many games that I still occasionally find out about ones that slipped my notice, which I then head to eBay to buy (like Seek and Destroy, which I was shocked to find was another localized Choro Q title — just with the MOST generic name and box art).

For me, the sixth generation was when gaming hit its peak. After that, budgets grew and creativity declined.

Re: Talking Point: Does Video Game History Have A "Nintendo" Problem?

no_donatello

Yes, I believe gaming history heavily skews toward Nintendo. This site in particular covers a lot of topics, and I really appreciate that. An article on Crusader of Centy? Amazing. I think maybe it has to do with retro gaming being so synonymous with Nintendo for some reason. Genesis gets okay representation (though even a lot of its titles are obscure at this point). I'm always pleasantly surprised to see a Saturn game or Dreamcast game on a speed run marathon. It's usually just Mario and Metroid over and over (of course, those runs are very impressive).

But I guess that's life. There are places that chronicle the other aspects of video game history, so they're not forgotten. This makes me think of Turbo Views, a Youtube series that reviewed EVERY US TurboGrafx16 game, and the guy only has 17k subscribers. That's dedication.

Re: Everything Revealed At The Evercade Showcase Vol. 1

no_donatello

@Andee Physical cartridges instead of a store Nintendo will close in less than 10 years after the Switch is replaced.

Interested in some of these. The Piko cartridges are always fascinating time capsules of lost and forgotten games. Duke ones look great. Sunsoft is a maybe as well.

Re: New Video Takes A Look At A "Lost" Port Of 40 Winks For The Game Boy Color

no_donatello

Always interesting seeing cancelled projects get shined up and released. Adding bosses (unless they were already partially implemented) is a big task though. This footage also reminded me how so many GBC games were quite bad. Probably the fault of the hardware more than the developers. It was just underpowered. It's almost certainly my least revisited Nintendo console.