I just have to wonder: who thought it was a good idea to have the primary button on the right, and the secondary button on the bottom? No human's thumbs reach across the buttons at such an angle!
Nintendo must have already realized the insanity of this by 1990, as they used B as the jump button in Super Mario World... but that's a launch game, which makes me wonder why they didn't just move the buttons around so that A is on the bottom!
Even stranger is that they switched to the more ergonomic setup of B on the left and A on the bottom with N64, but then reverted to the weird layout for systems like DS, Wii U, and Switch. Meanwhile, Nintendo and PlayStation games alike have been a hodgepodge of B to jump, A to jump, triangle to cancel, X to cancel, circle to cancel, etc. etc., and this still hasn't been fully settled!
@Spider-Kev Well, to be fair, you can "cross" something out when it's false... However, we have the early PS1 instruction manuals on our side! Early game releases with the long boxes actually spelled out the button names, and sure enough: "EKS BUTTON"
All it took was Sony Europe's community manager making a single post on Twitter, and suddenly everyone switched to "cross".
@GravyThief Yeah, it's only fair that people not have their original ideas stolen, when applicable.
What really bugs me is how wide and far-reaching some of these patents can be (as some trademark registrations have also been). Sometimes a concept is simply the logical solution to a problem, and it's only natural that many different parties would have that same idea, independently of each other. But the first one through the gate claims it, forcing everyone else to come up with convoluted workarounds- or just leave the problem unresolved.
Hmm, it seems that the egg references are no coincidence: this is quite Tamagotchi-inspired. I might've had my fill of virtual pet shenanigans for one lifetime, though this is on a whole other level compared to the original Tamagotchi...
It's unfortunate that a tool like this has never been implemented at a system/emulator level, but it's apparently way harder (if not impossible) to do that on PS2, compared to something like GameCube (which has had Free Look for a long time now).
On the plus side, this per-game camera mod sounds a lot more full-featured! I wonder if the game even knows the camera is being moved, and adjusts the culling to match, as that could be interesting.
Is it just me, or is there something unintentionally funny about the name "Marble of Souls"?
I guess it's the way they took a typical Castlevania-sounding name and then injected this ordinary-sounding object ("Marble") into it.
PS: I'm gathering that some people don't already know... look up Konami's pachinko/pachislot games based on their best franchises. And then weep.
What's this bit about the Cowabunga Collection (CC)? If I'm understanding it correctly, LRG recorded (or outright copied) the OGG files from a jukebox feature in the CC's bonus content?
They could've just downloaded the NSFE (a file containing the exact music data extracted from the ROM, with track names and timings added), played it from start to finish, and logged the output. It would've produced better results, and taken less work at the same time!
(Before anyone mentions it: yes, they could use a real NES, but that's a lot harder, and I imagine that the CC tracks were recorded from emulation, anyway.)
Looking forward to seeing more of this, for sure! I'd already be down for what seems to be "Quest 64, but better", but seeing Lambert's technical wizardry used in a real game is an exciting prospect. And I hadn't encountered pyroxene's work before, but their 3D art here looks great, from the small sample that we've seen!
PS: The name "Spellcraft" has already been taken, but I suppose that's not as much of an issue yet, seeing as this is just using it as a working title. It would probably be good to get a new name soon, however.
@nocdaes Fortunately, they still showed more effort than just rehashing the same few titles of yesteryear, as there are only so many different combinations, and I think most of them have been used up: Fight'n Rage, The Rage, Raging Justice, Final Vendetta, etc.
And I have to agree with Poodlestargenerica on "brawl" evoking bar fights, etc... with the one exception being a certain unusually sedate fighting game where everyone floats around in slow motion, and the most intense action and violence is caused by tripping over one's own feet.
More on topic: old-school Ys is great (the Turbografx version of 1&2 even holds up surprisingly well), and I'm intrigued by Anodyne 2, despite not having gotten around to playing it yet. (Classic backlog problem.) If this new game combines the two, then that sounds like a good sign!
@Sketcz Yeah, I don't know if it's a setting or what, but it seems your Steam installation was hit with a glitch of some kind, rather than intentional sabotage.
I can't say I use folders quite the way you do (alphabetical sort + liberal use of subfolders does it for me most of the time!), but I was still pretty annoyed at the removal of that option. I didn't realize it was still there in 7 (albeit hidden). Supposedly, people were "losing" icons by stacking them over top of each other- and rather than just keep it disabled by default, M$ saw fit to just remove the feature to serve the lowest common denominator. (sigh...)
Linux Mint allows fully manual arrangement, and it has been such a relief to be able to push icons around in arbitrary groupings, in the handful of cases where I need that. It has tabs in explorer windows like Win11, too, which is the feature I didn't know I needed! And of course, it doesn't restart itself without asking.
Unfortunately, not everything is sunshine and roses, and game compatibility has been a bit more hit-or-miss than I'd like, even with Proton. I have a similar plan as you, where the next rig will probably be just for gaming, the Win7/Mint desktop can remain as the main workstation, and the old XP computer(s) will continue to handle specific cases.
@Sketcz That's strange, as mine just shows an empty threat of "Windows 7 will stop working in 0 days", while otherwise working fine. You might be able to get your installed games working via workarounds like Steam emulation, swapping/removing certain DLLs, etc., but I've never delved into this myself to see how easy/effective it is.
Regardless, having games that aren't tied to a launcher (i.e., everything on GOG) is preferable, especially in the long run!
PS: In case any busybodies feel the need to point out that Windows 7 is EOL, I'll preemptively point out that we're quite aware! I sometimes need to hop over to it for various reasons.
@UK_Kev It's all right, not a big deal. I was just kind of curious, as everything I'd heard indicated that some/most of these were native 720p (in the actual rendering). For those games that are upscaled- whether that's all of them, or just some- that's a lot less interesting, especially considering the TV can already do that itself!
@UK_Kev Yeah, ports and remasters can be a messy business, even to this day. I'd go as far as to say that almost all of them downgrade something, whether the issue is with graphics, performance, art direction, censorship, or bugs. But that's a whole other topic! Despite all that, a system two generations out-of-date can receive a feature-complete port these days, which was completely unheard of in the past!
Do you have any sources regarding the OG Xbox's 720p mode? From what I can find, a bunch of games apparently do support true 720p, but there are also quite a few that upscale and/or are only 480p (despite reporting 720p on the back of the box). I've never gotten to try out the system's "HD" modes myself, so I'm just going by what I've read.
@UK_Kev The old consoles were so interesting, and I think this kind of thing is a big part of that!
I would also include the GameCube, though, as its fixed-function GPU had specific things it could or couldn't do in hardware. This made it more like an old console in some ways, as opposed to the modern-style Xbox. And it could apparently do a lot of tasks and effects faster than the Xbox for this reason, despite being a lot weaker on paper. (In some ways, it kind of parallels the Genesis and SNES, with one having more advanced features, and the other being faster.)
But yeah, it has become a lot more uniform since then. There are still pros and cons to each system, and they have their own quirks, but it's nowhere near what it was before.
Didn't 720p Xbox games usually run in true 720p, or close to it? I know the 360 cheated a lot, though, especially with the supposed "1080p" titles.
@Poodlestargenerica That's what I love about these basic enhancements like HD, 60fps, widescreen, or extended draw distance: were getting all of the original artwork as-is, but we're seeing it look cleaner than ever!
It's not like a remake (or even a lot of remasters), where things are refined or reworked, and the art direction is tampered with. Even if those look stunning, they're still different, and they can fail to capture the appeal of the original.
@LowDefAl From my (limited) understanding, the PS2 was able to render 480i games at 240p internally (either 512x240 or 640x240), which helped performance and saved RAM. This meant there was a real incentive for games to be interlaced only!
In contrast, the GameCube and Xbox almost always did full 640x480 or higher, so only supporting interlaced mode (480i) was kind of a waste: in a 60fps game, only half of each frame would get scanned out, and the other half would be wasted, so why not just allow progressive scan so players can see the whole frame?
Additionally, I've heard that Sony allowed and even encouraged devs to use a resolution of just 512x448, even in 480p mode. This again saved on RAM and performance, but made many games like the Ratchet series look noticeably fuzzier. On the other hand, you had a lot of GameCube games going higher than 480p internally for some reason, and many Xbox games even did full-blown 720p!
Early PS2 games' low resolutions, lack of de-flicker, and forced interlacing made for some muddy or jagged-looking graphics, which had a lot of people wondering if the Dreamcast was actually the more powerful console at the time. (And I didn't even mention the PS2's shimmering textures!)
@UK_Kev Just picked up Ultimate recently, and it still looks amazing, as does 2001's Dead or Alive 3. Those were wild times: not only did each generation bring mind-blowing graphical improvements*, but even the improvements within a generation were larger than what we'd call a generation leap today!
*The original Super Smash Bros. and Dead or Alive 2 were just one generation apart- and not only that, but they came out the same year, 1999! (The arcade version of DOA2, that is, though the Dreamcast port was a few months later.)
@BulkSlash LowDefAl could probably elaborate, but from what I remember:
The Dreamcast and arcade versions have better textures
The PS2 versions have slightly more natural lighting/fog
The later releases (such as Hardcore) have slightly better character models (the giveaway is that Kasumi has either octagonal sleeves and braided hair, or round sleeves and a ponytail).
And of course, that Japanese PS2 launch version is ugly and jagged. I forget the resolution, but probably a 512x240 back buffer, with forced 480i output?
I like the way Hardcore looks, but I think the last Japanese DC release is objectively a bit better, combining the best models and textures.
EDIT: That PS2 lighting, though! I'm undecided. I will say that I think the US PS2 version beats the US DC version, at least.
This actually dates back to 2020. It was originally called Stay at Home, and it had Banjo collecting the most valuable resource at that time: rolls of toilet paper. (That's not a joke!)
Kurko has been expanding this mod, and also decided at some point to make its themes a bit less... dated, or limited to a certain specific year. It should be amazing when it's done, if his other work is anything to go by!
@AJB83 Always great to hear when game soundtracks (most often on Genesis/Mega Drive) use a recognizable synth sound that can be heard in '80s pop music... or vice versa!
Also, I figure one's appreciation of early '90s Redbook soundtracks hinges a fair bit on an appreciation of mainstream music from around that time.
@Sketcz Them's fightin' words! I love how the Redbook soundtracks really bring that late '80s and early '90s sound, in a way that many cartridge-based games couldn't. And the SNES's music chip can produce great results in the right hands... it just doesn't sound good when the publisher cheaps out and makes the sound team pack an entire soundtrack into 100 KB of ROM!
But I will concede that some Redbook soundtracks are really cheesy-sounding (Golden Axe on Turbografx), or lean more into an atmospheric style instead of catchy, hummable tunes.
@Daggot Yeah, it's no doubt a case-by-case thing, with some games being literally impossible to cover this way (due to no materials still existing), and others being too obscure or expensive, etc. etc.
I think Nintendo would be a great candidate for this, seeing as they love re-releasing their games at premium prices, and a really good set of bonus materials would go a long way in making this more palatable... but then, they usually go for minimum effort, and still make piles of money.
If any other companies (especially Rare!) are listening, though, maybe we can meet in the middle: even if your games can't get the full documentary treatment, playable prototypes could be a huge draw. Hint, hint!
@Daggot I'm still in favour of basic emulation, if it keeps old games perpetually available for purchase.
But the Karateka and similar collections (documentaries?) look fantastic, and I'd also love to see more like that. Though I have to admit that the games covered so far wouldn't be my first choices, I still do plan to pick these up eventually, as the overall package is really compelling.
The thought of my all-time favourites getting this treatment, though? Downright mouth-watering! Imagine collections of Nintendo/Rare/Sega classics with the full slate of documentaries, concept art, and playable prototypes from different stages of development!
@Azuris Yeah, DRM-free places like GOG are great! As much as I like physical media, these DRM-free digital releases will outlast even those cartridges and discs- and it doesn't matter what happens to the companies, licensing agreements, or distribution servers, because these games don't need to phone home in order to keep running! It makes me a lot less reluctant to buy digital games.
Software all the way, as the main reason I use emulation is for the enhancements, particularly on 3D games that can benefit from improved resolution and performance. Real hardware is preferable for most older games, though, and I'll be more likely to consider FPGAs as the most authentic substitute if/when my cartridge-based consoles start dying... though software emulators for those old consoles are already so accurate that this might be a moot point!
I got a pretty decent Mad Catz SNES controller for just a few dollars (brand new!) in the early 2000s. It was slightly bigger and more ergonomic than Nintendo's own design, and I got years of use out of it. However, its D-pad didn't have the usual plastic rocker under it to prevent opposing directions from being pressed, and this could cause odd effects in a few games: by pressing all four directions at the same time, Mario could moonwalk at high speed in Super Mario Bros. 3! It also could cause Aero the Acro-Bat to crash when manually panning the camera in opposite directions at the same time.
Ah, the internet. If you're not seeing incorrect/incomplete info from a single source, regurgitated ad infinitum by search engines and AI, then you're seeing this done by other humans!
@UK_Kev @poodlestargenerica Sorry, I should have been more thorough. There are a lot of conflicting numbers, but (TL;DR) my point stands, in that the actual game data appears to fit within DC/GCN media specs.
The PC version of GTA3 came on 2 CDs, so the data can definitely fit in some form! This doesn't tell us how much (de)compression is involved, though I see that the system requirements say it needs just 700 MB of free space for installation.
CHDs, 7Zs, etc., are indeed compressed. These often come pretty close in size to the amount of actual game data, as most games already have compressed assets that don't re-compress well. But this can be very misleading in other cases! Download sizes for PS2 and Xbox ISOs appear to be between 500 MB and 1 GB, for what it's worth.
Raw rips of DVD-based games always end up the same size (4.3 GB for a single-layer disc), because the discs are made that way. Rarely is there 4.3 GB of actual game data on the disc. (See also: GameCube games always being 1.35 GB, even though Animal Crossing is just 32 MB!)
The PS2 version of GTA3, when unpacked, has 2.4 GB worth of actual files. However, this includes 1.3 GB of duplicate IMG files which are 100% identical, so we can probably disregard those as padding: junk data added for performance reasons. (There's also a 50MB file explicitly listed as padding.) This brings us just under the 1.1 GB limit of a Dreamcast disc.
@Serpenterror The GameCube version of RE4 (along with the Wii, 360, and PS3) was only 30fps. But it did look considerably better, with way more geometric detail and lighting effects. The PS2 made all kinds of smart downgrades that aren't too noticeable at a glance, but do make it look a little less impressive overall. And then there are its cutscenes, which were just recordings of the GameCube graphics!
As a general rule, the GameCube could handle PS2 ports just fine, with few/no downgrades, whereas the PS2 always struggled with GameCube ports: halved framerates, less geometry, worse textures, etc.
@KGRAMR I wouldn't be surprised, but on the other hand, I wouldn't know how to check. Pretty sure Evans was using the same sample library across different games, at least (a common practice- see Sakuraba's work across Golden Sun, Mario Golf Toadstool Tour, and Tales of Symphonia, as another example).
@KingMike Yeah, it's only later games that had region locking, IIRC. I thought I had lucked out by finding one of the relatively few PAL games that would work on my console without issue... though again, that copy of GnG might have technically been a western release.
@UK_Kev This claim about disc space keeps circulating around the internet, but it's false: GTA III is under 1 GB, so it could have fit on a Dreamcast or GameCube disc.
San Andreas, on the other hand... its audio alone is too big to fit on a GameCube disc!
@Spider-Kev If I'm understanding this correctly, it is saving, but it keeps missing the last part of each play session? I wonder if Minish Cap has invisible checkpoints like the Metal Gear series, where you can save at any time, but it still rolls you back to the last checkpoint, with any progress after that being lost.
(I can only guess. I picked up Minish Cap for Wii U recently, but ended up putting it on hold after having had enough of a Zelda binge for the moment!)
Hardware/battery failure doesn't seem too likely, as I'm pretty sure the 3DS family uses a form of solid-state memory, just like all Nintendo systems from the past 20 years.
I don't know, might be more of a European thing? All of the cartridges I've encountered in Canada have been North American, aside from a PAL copy of Ghouls 'n Ghosts, which works flawlessly without modding. (And from what I've read, this may have actually been sold as the Canadian version at the time- our games market was a little more separated from the US back then, with games like Sonic the Hedgehog using the PAL box art.)
@jesse_dylan The Game Boy's CPU wasn't a Z80, though I think it had some similarities. There was a ton of famous game hardware that used the actual Z80, though, including various Sega and arcade systems.
Speaking of bad games with great music, Dean Evans teamed up with Barry Leitch (San Francisco Rush series) on Eek the Cat for SNES. It's a frustrating game that's essentially made up of awful escort missions, but it has a surprisingly good soundtrack! A couple of the tunes on there resemble Evans's work on Waterworld.
This would seem to tie in with the wave of casual DS titles aimed at adults. Brain Age 1 and 2 immediately come to mind, and there were also some standalone Sudoku games. And, of course, the wine-tasting and astrology games mentioned in this article!
I can't see that article about the DS's audience being kids, as it's paywalled (could try getting around that later), but I'm taking statistics like that with a grain (if not a whole shaker) of salt.
@Daggot It's frustrating to see the game industry taking so long to figure this stuff out, but I think you're right that they'll come around eventually- if only because they realize there's money in it!
Even as live service nonsense dominates, and as companies are experimenting with streaming, re-releases of classic games continue to provide a slow, but seemingly endless, revenue stream. And behind-the-scenes content and dev materials have made their way into commercial releases as a selling point, so I'm somewhat optimistic.
I wanted one of these as a kid, but only got to play when my friends lent me theirs. The idea of playing video games on a long, boring car ride seemed so cool!
A friend/coworker gave me his old Game Boys about 15 years ago, complete with a few games and that super-rad box art showing the robot hands. I've managed to have many hours of gaming on those since then, but the days of being a passenger on four-hour car trips were mostly behind me!
A Genesis/PC hybrid, as well as Myst-like CD-ROM games releasing in 1989 (predating Ys Book I&II, but following the TG16/PCE's first CD games)? Must've been a really exciting time for those who could afford cutting-edge tech (and who were old enough to play games back then)!
@RetroGames Yeah, I'd agree that there have been some cultural changes (including the internet's role in our lives) since around 2010, but things like YouTube, online gaming, gaming discussion, and social media were alive and well even before then. Doesn't the very existence of these videos on a major gaming channel make that self-evident? (I don't know, I suppose this could vary depending on perspective and age. But 2010 wasn't that long ago!)
Good point about Doom 2016: until that, the last entry was what, Doom 3? That was definitely not a "rip and tear", speedy, action shooter! (The more action-heavy "BFG Edition" didn't exist back in 2010, either!)
Comments 481
Re: This Game Boy Won't Fit In Your Pocket
Finally, a handheld system that doesn't cause hand cramps!
Re: Ever Wondered What The Symbols On The PlayStation Controller Really Mean?
I just have to wonder: who thought it was a good idea to have the primary button on the right, and the secondary button on the bottom? No human's thumbs reach across the buttons at such an angle!
Nintendo must have already realized the insanity of this by 1990, as they used B as the jump button in Super Mario World... but that's a launch game, which makes me wonder why they didn't just move the buttons around so that A is on the bottom!
Even stranger is that they switched to the more ergonomic setup of B on the left and A on the bottom with N64, but then reverted to the weird layout for systems like DS, Wii U, and Switch.
Meanwhile, Nintendo and PlayStation games alike have been a hodgepodge of B to jump, A to jump, triangle to cancel, X to cancel, circle to cancel, etc. etc., and this still hasn't been fully settled!
Re: Ever Wondered What The Symbols On The PlayStation Controller Really Mean?
@Spider-Kev Well, to be fair, you can "cross" something out when it's false...
However, we have the early PS1 instruction manuals on our side!
Early game releases with the long boxes actually spelled out the button names, and sure enough: "EKS BUTTON"
All it took was Sony Europe's community manager making a single post on Twitter, and suddenly everyone switched to "cross".
Re: Konami Once Held A Patent For Transparent Walls In Video Games
@GravyThief Yeah, it's only fair that people not have their original ideas stolen, when applicable.
What really bugs me is how wide and far-reaching some of these patents can be (as some trademark registrations have also been). Sometimes a concept is simply the logical solution to a problem, and it's only natural that many different parties would have that same idea, independently of each other. But the first one through the gate claims it, forcing everyone else to come up with convoluted workarounds- or just leave the problem unresolved.
Re: Cruis'n Blast Team's NBA Jam Spiritual Successor Is Called NBA Superstars
@GhaleonUnlimited Yeah, I'm sure they'd use the name if they actually had the rights!
I was just making fun of the lazy reboot titles that have been so common for the past decade or two.
Re: Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago Is A Game Boy-Style RPG With Digital Pet Mechanics
Hmm, it seems that the egg references are no coincidence: this is quite Tamagotchi-inspired.
I might've had my fill of virtual pet shenanigans for one lifetime, though this is on a whole other level compared to the original Tamagotchi...
PS: "A Long Tamago"? 😆
Re: Cruis'n Blast Team's NBA Jam Spiritual Successor Is Called NBA Superstars
@Guru_Larry As far as lazy titles go, this is all right. At least they didn't call it "NBA Jam"... not to be confused with the 1993 NBA Jam.
Re: Zeebo Emulator Makes "Lost" Double Dragon And Crash Bandicoot Games Playable Again
I've always found the Zeebo interesting, especially after seeing that it has an N64-style demake of Resident Evil 4!
Re: Peter Molyneux Declined McDonald's Video Game Because "Kids Imagine Ronald Skewering Them"
"the prospect of working with McDoland's"
Is "McDoland's" a really sketchy knock-off of McDonald's, possibly featuring as its mascot a misshapen duck that says and does vulgar things?
Re: Handy PS2 Camera Tool Lets You Have A Good Look Around The Console's Best Horror Titles
It's unfortunate that a tool like this has never been implemented at a system/emulator level, but it's apparently way harder (if not impossible) to do that on PS2, compared to something like GameCube (which has had Free Look for a long time now).
On the plus side, this per-game camera mod sounds a lot more full-featured! I wonder if the game even knows the camera is being moved, and adjusts the culling to match, as that could be interesting.
Re: Konami, This Isn't The New Castlevania We Wanted
Is it just me, or is there something unintentionally funny about the name "Marble of Souls"?
I guess it's the way they took a typical Castlevania-sounding name and then injected this ordinary-sounding object ("Marble") into it.
PS: I'm gathering that some people don't already know... look up Konami's pachinko/pachislot games based on their best franchises. And then weep.
Re: Konami, This Isn't The New Castlevania We Wanted
@PinballBuzzbro That's modern Konami for you.
Re: Limited Run Under Fire For "Horrible" Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vinyl Release
What's this bit about the Cowabunga Collection (CC)? If I'm understanding it correctly, LRG recorded (or outright copied) the OGG files from a jukebox feature in the CC's bonus content?
They could've just downloaded the NSFE (a file containing the exact music data extracted from the ROM, with track names and timings added), played it from start to finish, and logged the output. It would've produced better results, and taken less work at the same time!
(Before anyone mentions it: yes, they could use a real NES, but that's a lot harder, and I imagine that the CC tracks were recorded from emulation, anyway.)
Re: Portal 64 Dev Shows Off New N64 RPG, Spellcraft
Looking forward to seeing more of this, for sure!
I'd already be down for what seems to be "Quest 64, but better", but seeing Lambert's technical wizardry used in a real game is an exciting prospect. And I hadn't encountered pyroxene's work before, but their 3D art here looks great, from the small sample that we've seen!
PS: The name "Spellcraft" has already been taken, but I suppose that's not as much of an issue yet, seeing as this is just using it as a working title. It would probably be good to get a new name soon, however.
Re: Streets Of Rage-Like Beat 'Em Up 'Fallen City Brawl' Gets Updated Steam Demo
@nocdaes Fortunately, they still showed more effort than just rehashing the same few titles of yesteryear, as there are only so many different combinations, and I think most of them have been used up: Fight'n Rage, The Rage, Raging Justice, Final Vendetta, etc.
And I have to agree with Poodlestargenerica on "brawl" evoking bar fights, etc... with the one exception being a certain unusually sedate fighting game where everyone floats around in slow motion, and the most intense action and violence is caused by tripping over one's own feet.
Re: Angeline Era Is A New 3D "Bump-Slash" Adventure Inspired By Hydlide & Ys
More on topic: old-school Ys is great (the Turbografx version of 1&2 even holds up surprisingly well), and I'm intrigued by Anodyne 2, despite not having gotten around to playing it yet. (Classic backlog problem.) If this new game combines the two, then that sounds like a good sign!
Re: Angeline Era Is A New 3D "Bump-Slash" Adventure Inspired By Hydlide & Ys
@Sketcz Yeah, I don't know if it's a setting or what, but it seems your Steam installation was hit with a glitch of some kind, rather than intentional sabotage.
I can't say I use folders quite the way you do (alphabetical sort + liberal use of subfolders does it for me most of the time!), but I was still pretty annoyed at the removal of that option. I didn't realize it was still there in 7 (albeit hidden). Supposedly, people were "losing" icons by stacking them over top of each other- and rather than just keep it disabled by default, M$ saw fit to just remove the feature to serve the lowest common denominator. (sigh...)
Linux Mint allows fully manual arrangement, and it has been such a relief to be able to push icons around in arbitrary groupings, in the handful of cases where I need that. It has tabs in explorer windows like Win11, too, which is the feature I didn't know I needed! And of course, it doesn't restart itself without asking.
Unfortunately, not everything is sunshine and roses, and game compatibility has been a bit more hit-or-miss than I'd like, even with Proton. I have a similar plan as you, where the next rig will probably be just for gaming, the Win7/Mint desktop can remain as the main workstation, and the old XP computer(s) will continue to handle specific cases.
Re: Angeline Era Is A New 3D "Bump-Slash" Adventure Inspired By Hydlide & Ys
@Sketcz That's strange, as mine just shows an empty threat of "Windows 7 will stop working in 0 days", while otherwise working fine.
You might be able to get your installed games working via workarounds like Steam emulation, swapping/removing certain DLLs, etc., but I've never delved into this myself to see how easy/effective it is.
Regardless, having games that aren't tied to a launcher (i.e., everything on GOG) is preferable, especially in the long run!
PS: In case any busybodies feel the need to point out that Windows 7 is EOL, I'll preemptively point out that we're quite aware! I sometimes need to hop over to it for various reasons.
Re: The Dreamcast Version Of Dead Or Alive 2 Has Been Unofficially Remastered
@UK_Kev It's all right, not a big deal.
I was just kind of curious, as everything I'd heard indicated that some/most of these were native 720p (in the actual rendering). For those games that are upscaled- whether that's all of them, or just some- that's a lot less interesting, especially considering the TV can already do that itself!
Re: The Dreamcast Version Of Dead Or Alive 2 Has Been Unofficially Remastered
@UK_Kev Yeah, ports and remasters can be a messy business, even to this day. I'd go as far as to say that almost all of them downgrade something, whether the issue is with graphics, performance, art direction, censorship, or bugs. But that's a whole other topic!
Despite all that, a system two generations out-of-date can receive a feature-complete port these days, which was completely unheard of in the past!
Do you have any sources regarding the OG Xbox's 720p mode? From what I can find, a bunch of games apparently do support true 720p, but there are also quite a few that upscale and/or are only 480p (despite reporting 720p on the back of the box). I've never gotten to try out the system's "HD" modes myself, so I'm just going by what I've read.
Re: The Dreamcast Version Of Dead Or Alive 2 Has Been Unofficially Remastered
@UK_Kev The old consoles were so interesting, and I think this kind of thing is a big part of that!
I would also include the GameCube, though, as its fixed-function GPU had specific things it could or couldn't do in hardware. This made it more like an old console in some ways, as opposed to the modern-style Xbox. And it could apparently do a lot of tasks and effects faster than the Xbox for this reason, despite being a lot weaker on paper. (In some ways, it kind of parallels the Genesis and SNES, with one having more advanced features, and the other being faster.)
But yeah, it has become a lot more uniform since then. There are still pros and cons to each system, and they have their own quirks, but it's nowhere near what it was before.
Didn't 720p Xbox games usually run in true 720p, or close to it? I know the 360 cheated a lot, though, especially with the supposed "1080p" titles.
Re: Crash Team Racing For PS1 Just Got A 60FPS Widescreen Mod
@Poodlestargenerica That's what I love about these basic enhancements like HD, 60fps, widescreen, or extended draw distance: were getting all of the original artwork as-is, but we're seeing it look cleaner than ever!
It's not like a remake (or even a lot of remasters), where things are refined or reworked, and the art direction is tampered with. Even if those look stunning, they're still different, and they can fail to capture the appeal of the original.
Re: The Dreamcast Version Of Dead Or Alive 2 Has Been Unofficially Remastered
@LowDefAl From my (limited) understanding, the PS2 was able to render 480i games at 240p internally (either 512x240 or 640x240), which helped performance and saved RAM. This meant there was a real incentive for games to be interlaced only!
In contrast, the GameCube and Xbox almost always did full 640x480 or higher, so only supporting interlaced mode (480i) was kind of a waste: in a 60fps game, only half of each frame would get scanned out, and the other half would be wasted, so why not just allow progressive scan so players can see the whole frame?
Additionally, I've heard that Sony allowed and even encouraged devs to use a resolution of just 512x448, even in 480p mode. This again saved on RAM and performance, but made many games like the Ratchet series look noticeably fuzzier. On the other hand, you had a lot of GameCube games going higher than 480p internally for some reason, and many Xbox games even did full-blown 720p!
Early PS2 games' low resolutions, lack of de-flicker, and forced interlacing made for some muddy or jagged-looking graphics, which had a lot of people wondering if the Dreamcast was actually the more powerful console at the time. (And I didn't even mention the PS2's shimmering textures!)
Re: The Dreamcast Version Of Dead Or Alive 2 Has Been Unofficially Remastered
@UK_Kev Just picked up Ultimate recently, and it still looks amazing, as does 2001's Dead or Alive 3.
Those were wild times: not only did each generation bring mind-blowing graphical improvements*, but even the improvements within a generation were larger than what we'd call a generation leap today!
*The original Super Smash Bros. and Dead or Alive 2 were just one generation apart- and not only that, but they came out the same year, 1999! (The arcade version of DOA2, that is, though the Dreamcast port was a few months later.)
Re: The Dreamcast Version Of Dead Or Alive 2 Has Been Unofficially Remastered
@BulkSlash LowDefAl could probably elaborate, but from what I remember:
I like the way Hardcore looks, but I think the last Japanese DC release is objectively a bit better, combining the best models and textures.
EDIT: That PS2 lighting, though! I'm undecided. I will say that I think the US PS2 version beats the US DC version, at least.
Re: The Banjo Kazooie Mod 'BK: Nostalgia 64' Lets The Bird & Bear Visit Other N64 Classics
This actually dates back to 2020. It was originally called Stay at Home, and it had Banjo collecting the most valuable resource at that time: rolls of toilet paper. (That's not a joke!)
Kurko has been expanding this mod, and also decided at some point to make its themes a bit less... dated, or limited to a certain specific year. It should be amazing when it's done, if his other work is anything to go by!
Re: Sega Saturn Is Getting A Fan-Made Remake Of Revenge Of Shinobi
@AJB83 Always great to hear when game soundtracks (most often on Genesis/Mega Drive) use a recognizable synth sound that can be heard in '80s pop music... or vice versa!
Also, I figure one's appreciation of early '90s Redbook soundtracks hinges a fair bit on an appreciation of mainstream music from around that time.
Re: Sega Saturn Is Getting A Fan-Made Remake Of Revenge Of Shinobi
@Sketcz Them's fightin' words!
I love how the Redbook soundtracks really bring that late '80s and early '90s sound, in a way that many cartridge-based games couldn't.
And the SNES's music chip can produce great results in the right hands... it just doesn't sound good when the publisher cheaps out and makes the sound team pack an entire soundtrack into 100 KB of ROM!
But I will concede that some Redbook soundtracks are really cheesy-sounding (Golden Axe on Turbografx), or lean more into an atmospheric style instead of catchy, hummable tunes.
Re: The ESA Says Its Members Won't Support Plans For Online 'Game Preservation' Libraries
@Daggot Yeah, it's no doubt a case-by-case thing, with some games being literally impossible to cover this way (due to no materials still existing), and others being too obscure or expensive, etc. etc.
I think Nintendo would be a great candidate for this, seeing as they love re-releasing their games at premium prices, and a really good set of bonus materials would go a long way in making this more palatable... but then, they usually go for minimum effort, and still make piles of money.
If any other companies (especially Rare!) are listening, though, maybe we can meet in the middle: even if your games can't get the full documentary treatment, playable prototypes could be a huge draw. Hint, hint!
Re: The ESA Says Its Members Won't Support Plans For Online 'Game Preservation' Libraries
@Daggot I'm still in favour of basic emulation, if it keeps old games perpetually available for purchase.
But the Karateka and similar collections (documentaries?) look fantastic, and I'd also love to see more like that. Though I have to admit that the games covered so far wouldn't be my first choices, I still do plan to pick these up eventually, as the overall package is really compelling.
The thought of my all-time favourites getting this treatment, though? Downright mouth-watering! Imagine collections of Nintendo/Rare/Sega classics with the full slate of documentaries, concept art, and playable prototypes from different stages of development!
Re: The ESA Says Its Members Won't Support Plans For Online 'Game Preservation' Libraries
@Azuris Yeah, DRM-free places like GOG are great! As much as I like physical media, these DRM-free digital releases will outlast even those cartridges and discs- and it doesn't matter what happens to the companies, licensing agreements, or distribution servers, because these games don't need to phone home in order to keep running!
It makes me a lot less reluctant to buy digital games.
Re: FPGA Vs Software Emulation - Which Is Best? We Asked Four Experts To Find Out
Software all the way, as the main reason I use emulation is for the enhancements, particularly on 3D games that can benefit from improved resolution and performance.
Real hardware is preferable for most older games, though, and I'll be more likely to consider FPGAs as the most authentic substitute if/when my cartridge-based consoles start dying... though software emulators for those old consoles are already so accurate that this might be a moot point!
Re: Please Don't Ask Who's In The Sonic Costume In This Rare Rosie O'Donnell Clip
@PinballBuzzbro
So basically if Sonic Man turned out to be the villain in Sonic '06?
(Or, for a real twist, if he came back in Frontiers 2!)
Re: This 15-Year-Old Just Utterly Destroyed Tetris
"He has also 'Summoned Satan'"
Er, that's one way to gain insane, ungodly Tetris abilities, I guess?
Re: Did Mad Catz Really Create "The Worst Video Game Controllers Ever"?
I got a pretty decent Mad Catz SNES controller for just a few dollars (brand new!) in the early 2000s. It was slightly bigger and more ergonomic than Nintendo's own design, and I got years of use out of it.
However, its D-pad didn't have the usual plastic rocker under it to prevent opposing directions from being pressed, and this could cause odd effects in a few games: by pressing all four directions at the same time, Mario could moonwalk at high speed in Super Mario Bros. 3! It also could cause Aero the Acro-Bat to crash when manually panning the camera in opposite directions at the same time.
Re: Random: This Bulk Slash FAQ Has Been Puzzling Fans For Almost 20 Years
Ah, the internet. If you're not seeing incorrect/incomplete info from a single source, regurgitated ad infinitum by search engines and AI, then you're seeing this done by other humans!
Re: Grand Theft Auto III Likely Wouldn't Exist Without The Sega Dreamcast
@UK_Kev @poodlestargenerica Sorry, I should have been more thorough. There are a lot of conflicting numbers, but (TL;DR) my point stands, in that the actual game data appears to fit within DC/GCN media specs.
Re: Grand Theft Auto III Likely Wouldn't Exist Without The Sega Dreamcast
@Serpenterror The GameCube version of RE4 (along with the Wii, 360, and PS3) was only 30fps. But it did look considerably better, with way more geometric detail and lighting effects. The PS2 made all kinds of smart downgrades that aren't too noticeable at a glance, but do make it look a little less impressive overall. And then there are its cutscenes, which were just recordings of the GameCube graphics!
As a general rule, the GameCube could handle PS2 ports just fine, with few/no downgrades, whereas the PS2 always struggled with GameCube ports: halved framerates, less geometry, worse textures, etc.
Re: Dean Evan's Spectacular Waterworld SNES OST Is Being Released On Vinyl
@KGRAMR I wouldn't be surprised, but on the other hand, I wouldn't know how to check. Pretty sure Evans was using the same sample library across different games, at least (a common practice- see Sakuraba's work across Golden Sun, Mario Golf Toadstool Tour, and Tales of Symphonia, as another example).
Re: Did You Butcher Your Mega Drive / Genesis Carts To Overcome Sega's Physical Region Lock?
@KingMike Yeah, it's only later games that had region locking, IIRC.
I thought I had lucked out by finding one of the relatively few PAL games that would work on my console without issue... though again, that copy of GnG might have technically been a western release.
Re: Grand Theft Auto III Likely Wouldn't Exist Without The Sega Dreamcast
@UK_Kev This claim about disc space keeps circulating around the internet, but it's false: GTA III is under 1 GB, so it could have fit on a Dreamcast or GameCube disc.
San Andreas, on the other hand... its audio alone is too big to fit on a GameCube disc!
Re: Survey Reveals Japanese Gen Z Gamers Still Love Nintendo's DS Handhelds
@Spider-Kev If I'm understanding this correctly, it is saving, but it keeps missing the last part of each play session? I wonder if Minish Cap has invisible checkpoints like the Metal Gear series, where you can save at any time, but it still rolls you back to the last checkpoint, with any progress after that being lost.
(I can only guess. I picked up Minish Cap for Wii U recently, but ended up putting it on hold after having had enough of a Zelda binge for the moment!)
Hardware/battery failure doesn't seem too likely, as I'm pretty sure the 3DS family uses a form of solid-state memory, just like all Nintendo systems from the past 20 years.
Re: Did You Butcher Your Mega Drive / Genesis Carts To Overcome Sega's Physical Region Lock?
I don't know, might be more of a European thing?
All of the cartridges I've encountered in Canada have been North American, aside from a PAL copy of Ghouls 'n Ghosts, which works flawlessly without modding. (And from what I've read, this may have actually been sold as the Canadian version at the time- our games market was a little more separated from the US back then, with games like Sonic the Hedgehog using the PAL box art.)
Re: The Processor Used In Pac-Man Is Being Discontinued, 48 Years After It Launched
@jesse_dylan The Game Boy's CPU wasn't a Z80, though I think it had some similarities. There was a ton of famous game hardware that used the actual Z80, though, including various Sega and arcade systems.
Re: Dean Evan's Spectacular Waterworld SNES OST Is Being Released On Vinyl
Speaking of bad games with great music, Dean Evans teamed up with Barry Leitch (San Francisco Rush series) on Eek the Cat for SNES. It's a frustrating game that's essentially made up of awful escort missions, but it has a surprisingly good soundtrack! A couple of the tunes on there resemble Evans's work on Waterworld.
Re: Random: Did You Own This Bizarre Anti-Smoking Game For DS?
This would seem to tie in with the wave of casual DS titles aimed at adults. Brain Age 1 and 2 immediately come to mind, and there were also some standalone Sudoku games. And, of course, the wine-tasting and astrology games mentioned in this article!
I can't see that article about the DS's audience being kids, as it's paywalled (could try getting around that later), but I'm taking statistics like that with a grain (if not a whole shaker) of salt.
Re: The ESA Says Its Members Won't Support Plans For Online 'Game Preservation' Libraries
@Daggot It's frustrating to see the game industry taking so long to figure this stuff out, but I think you're right that they'll come around eventually- if only because they realize there's money in it!
Even as live service nonsense dominates, and as companies are experimenting with streaming, re-releases of classic games continue to provide a slow, but seemingly endless, revenue stream. And behind-the-scenes content and dev materials have made their way into commercial releases as a selling point, so I'm somewhat optimistic.
Re: Anniversary: The Game Boy Is 35 Years Old Today
I wanted one of these as a kid, but only got to play when my friends lent me theirs. The idea of playing video games on a long, boring car ride seemed so cool!
A friend/coworker gave me his old Game Boys about 15 years ago, complete with a few games and that super-rad box art showing the robot hands. I've managed to have many hours of gaming on those since then, but the days of being a passenger on four-hour car trips were mostly behind me!
Re: Sega TeraDrive Version Of Myst Forerunner 'The Manhole' Found And Preserved
A Genesis/PC hybrid, as well as Myst-like CD-ROM games releasing in 1989 (predating Ys Book I&II, but following the TG16/PCE's first CD games)? Must've been a really exciting time for those who could afford cutting-edge tech (and who were old enough to play games back then)!
Re: PS1 Doom Has Been Backported To PC, Along With Its Amazing Soundtrack
@RetroGames Yeah, I'd agree that there have been some cultural changes (including the internet's role in our lives) since around 2010, but things like YouTube, online gaming, gaming discussion, and social media were alive and well even before then. Doesn't the very existence of these videos on a major gaming channel make that self-evident? (I don't know, I suppose this could vary depending on perspective and age. But 2010 wasn't that long ago!)
Good point about Doom 2016: until that, the last entry was what, Doom 3? That was definitely not a "rip and tear", speedy, action shooter! (The more action-heavy "BFG Edition" didn't exist back in 2010, either!)