smoreon

@Poodlestargenerica It already happened!
The Conker remake (Live and Reloaded for Xbox) starts with the Rare logo turning into a toilet paper roll.

@sdelfin It's always more interesting when a retro-styled game is running on the original tech like this. If it's using a modern engine like Unity, then it's no longer technically impressive- it's just a modern game with outdated graphics. (Not saying those can't also be a lot of fun!)

@sdelfin But there was some 128-bit functionality somewhere in there, so that's naturally what marketing latched onto. Can't have the Dreamcast looking weaker than the 64-bit Nintendo 64!

Now that I think of it, wouldn't it be fun to see manufacturers still trying to use "bits" to advertise their modern consoles? I'd like to see what kind of math it'd take to come up with "1024-bit" branding.

@SpriteCell I thought of this when reading the article as well! As an example, I distinctly remember Castlevania (64) being criticized for looking like a "first-generation" N64 game.

About Wikipedia, it's both interesting and concerning how a simple edit (whether unsourced or backed by a weak or unrelated source) can propagate so widely and shape the way people think of and discuss things!

The generation system is flawed for sure, but it has its purpose. You could argue that more descriptive names would be better (e.g., "PS2 era"), but those are inevitably going to be flawed as well. (Is Perfect Dark from the PS2 era because of its release date, or is Sonic Adventure from the PS2 era because it's on Dreamcast? Or both, or neither?)

Like the article touches on, it's like human generations, where we try to group people into these different categories based on when they were born/raised, but it doesn't really hold up under scrutiny. What "generation" titles do, however, is offer a quick, simple way of referring to a general time in tech/culture/history.

Composite.
Used a mix of RF and composite back in the day. RF is a little too muddy and noisy, but composite is crisp enough for me-especially when it comes to 240p content, in which case it preserves the detail while still looking smooth.
From what I've seen of RGB at 240p, it tends to look too sharp, to the point of pixelation. (Not for me, thanks.) It'd be a better fit for newer 480p stuff.

Nice! This is not at all subtle about its inspiration, but hey, there aren't really that many games like this out there right now.

I, for one, am glad to see indie games starting to embrace 3D, after a decade of Gorgeous Pixel Art™, and even the N64 style has its charms, especially in the lighting department. (Though in that regard, Valkie 64 is a strange hybrid that looks more like those N64-era CG renders that mixed in-game assets with fancy rendering tech.)

Great article! Always fun to hear some stories and learn some new tidbits of info about N64-era Rare.

And I still consider DKR to be one of the best kart racers ever made. Though while it remains fun even on an old N64, a couple of Gameshark codes to get 60fps + widescreen + music in multiplayer can really make it shine today!

@MeloMan Imagine the fatalities Timber could pull off in Mortal Kombat 9!
Oh, Mario Kart? I guess that'd be cool, too.

@AJB83 My mistake- I see it now. (Must've been too tired to see straight the first time.)
I missed out on Rallisport, unfortunately, as I only recently heard how good it was. I've just started watching for it at the used game stores.
And yeah, from what little I've seen (RS 1 or 2, I forget which), it was right up there with the best of the generation. It just goes to show that choosing 30fps doesn't really make the graphics better!

It's kind of ironic: the Xbox was the "cool" console back in the day, and the GameCube was dismissed by many.
These days, everyone's realizing how great the GameCube and its games were, and it's the Xbox that doesn't get much attention.
I feel like the Xbox is underappreciated by game enthusiasts now, with its games forgotten and its tech specs no longer relevant.

@AJB83 PGR2 and Forza ran at only 30fps (as did many of the games in this article, actually), but the original PGR was 60.

The Xbox still had quite a lot of good-looking 60fps games, including Ninja Gaiden, DoA3, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Gunvalkyrie, the entire Burnout series, etc. etc.

It's ridiculous how well some 20-year-old games hold up now, as long as you play them on a CRT or an emulator!

Forgotten Sands is pretty impressive, as it runs at 60fps on Wii while the HD version only does 30fps. IIRC, quite a few people preferred the Wii version at the time, between its extra fluidity and the gameplay being more like Sands of Time.

I didn't get to play it back in the day, but it's on my short(ish) list for games to play in the near future.

CoD: World at War (for Wii) didn't make a good impression when I tried it, though. The graphics and performance were weak, and it kept crashing. (Defective copy, possibly?)

@belmont Agreed! I'd like to see this kind of thing become common in the near future. There's clearly a demand, seeing as people have been paying for the likes of Sega Genesis Classics (despite the ease of finding these games via... other means).

There are a few other cases out there, however unusual: I just picked up the PC versions of Street Racer and Super 3D Noah's Ark, and both came with a SNES version ROM included in the folder. And I hear that many of Piko Interactive's games come with an accessible ROM as well.

I was excited for the Bleem! store when it was announced a year or two ago, but it went silent and seemingly vanished before getting off the ground. I hope it's still in the works, or at least that someone else will step up. There are tons of old games that we all missed, which deserve another chance.

These look really nice, but after factoring in shipping and taxes, it'd cost hundreds of dollars to cover my N64 collection alone. (Those outside Canada may find that this is a better value proposition for them!)

Seems like a niche product: it's great for those who care about having their collections look nice, and don't mind paying extra. But wouldn't many of those same people insist on having all their games complete in box already?

Regardless, I hope it does well, and I'm curious to see if it results in new products covering additional consoles.

@Gamecuber It gets even weirder than that: while the obvious Batman, Godzilla, and Rambo lookalikes were altered to avoid copyright infringement, the Spider-Man wannabe was instead turned into Spider-Man himself, licensed from Marvel!
(The Terminator just slipped under the radar, apparently.)

Correct answer: all of the above!
But seriously, there are so many great games in Sega's back catalogue that a lot of us missed out on.
Even if mini consoles aren't practical, re-releases on PC and modern consoles would be welcome. They could do a Saturn collection, a Dreamcast collection, maybe even a 32X collection...

@Damo I liked Gain Ground, but to be fair, it's probably not why most people are buying this console!

I fully agree with you and @Serpenterror about the Sega CD selection. There's some great and surprising stuff here already, for sure, but buying this mini console would be a no-brainer if it also had the likes of Lunar, Snatcher, and Keio. Oh, and Popful Mail, for good measure.
As-is, it's a tougher sell, speaking as someone who already owns most of the previous classic Sega collections on PS2 and PC.

PD doesn't need a PC port nearly as badly as Ocarina of Time or Super Mario 64 did, seeing as it already got that Xbox 360 remaster. (Also, 4K60 is achievable even on the original N64 version, thanks to emulation.)

Even so, this could eventually lead to some really interesting things. New campaigns, perhaps?

Yeah, Kynan has been digging up a lot of cool stuff lately! And also this.

RIP Acclaim, the world wasn't ready for all your edge.
...and probably never will be.

Seriously, though, I doubt that this stunt would've done Vexx any favours, had Acclaim gone through with it. The oh-so-edgy marketing was, in my opinion, at odds with what was really a Mario 64 clone. A well crafted and criminally underrated Mario 64 clone, I'd add.

Sonic Adventure 3 is one of my dream games, and considering that the Adventure (and Adventure-like) series just got worse with each entry, a major comeback and redemption is welcome- or even needed!
I've always felt that of all the 3D games, it was Adventure 1 that came the closest to capturing the essence of 2D Sonic, and that the Adventure format in general has far more potential than the boost gameplay that's come to define Sonic over the past decade or so.