smoreon

There was also an original Game Boy version of the Bible text, but I'm pretty sure that one actually saw a release in its time. This GBA version looks like it would have been a lot more readable, though, thanks to the smaller text with smoothing.

@-wc- Judging by the different shades and textures there, it looks like there is a lot of blending (using dithered patterns, of course).
The extremely saturated R/G/B shades that the Spectrum uses probably wouldn't blend as well, and wouldn't they also be really garish by comparison?

So basically: "We're technically allowed to work on whatever projects we want, but we're all deathly afraid of rocking the boat."

The source that claims Samus is only 190cm with the suit is derived straight from the original Japanese manual for Metroid II, if I recall correctly. Between that and the less-specific reference in the American promo image, I'd say the former seems more likely to be "canon".
Still, Samus is pretty tall, regardless (nice try, Team Ninja).

Not that it really matters, but does she even wear heels inside the suit? That seems silly, not to mention those are a new addition. More likely that the Power (or Varia, Phazon, etc.) Suit's boots add 1-2 inches, and the Zero Suit effectively adds nothing to Samus's height when she's in the Power Suit.

@Guru_Larry Haha, glad I'm not the only one who was bothered by that!
However, images like the one above reveal that her shoulders don't really extend outside the torso section- she has to lift her arms out towards the sides a bit, even when the suit's arms are down, and the shoulder pieces are always basically empty.

@Tobunari The F-Zero series wasn't a flop- just nowhere near as big a cash cow as Mario Kart.

I have to wonder, too, how a new F-Zero would be received today, after 20+ years of people gushing about how good GX was- and as many years of the series protagonist bringing his infamous "Falcone Pawnch!" in Smash Bros. Elements of the series have gained a lot of exposure in those two decades, though it remains to be seen if it would boost sales today.

Valid point around the graphics, though. GX was reportedly made on a fairly modest budget, but AV worked magic with that game, not to mention that topping those graphics in a Switch game now would cost more.

While there are many of us who crave a new F-Zero, some of us are a bit skeptical as to whether Nintendo could do the series justice now. Bringing the Ryu ga Gotoku team back would probably be the best bet, but this is all wishful thinking.

Never did play this one (yet, anyway), but there's a charm to the early CG stuff (along with the design sensibilities that tend to accompany it).

If it's anything like an action-less Resident Evil 1, distilled down to puzzles and cheese (which is how I imagine The 7th Guest), then it could be a good time.

@JJtheTexan Square Enix, apparently. Daikatana is still available on stores such as GOG (for $1 at the moment!) and Steam, and SE is listed as the publisher.

Probably not much need for a remaster, then, and a remake or reboot would be a seriously risky move (even if the likes of Bubsy, Shaq-Fu, and Ikki have made this a bit of a trend lately). But SE should make the GBC version properly available, for sure! Just put the unedited ROM up on Steam for $5. I'd buy it.

@-wc- First place was a tie between Dinosaur Planet and Vexx. The latter is a platformer in the style of Super Mario 64, and its tumultuous development mirrored that of DP/Star Fox Adventures: half of the environments, several game mechanics, and most of the story were removed, and what was left was awkwardly pieced together with a whole "bad guy blew apart the planet" backstory.

Of course, DP's ROM was released a couple of years ago, so that leaves Vexx as the remaining Holy Grail of prototypes- in my estimation, anyway!

Conker would probably take third place after those two. It's just so different from what we got, and parts of it look like a bizarro alternate universe version of BFD, where Conker doesn't touch alcohol, and no one swears or throws poo at him.

After that, maybe Kameo for GameCube, followed by Zelda 64? There's probably something I'm missing, but I can kick myself over it later.

@Sciqueen Conker's Bad Fur Day is strange and unforgettable, whereas Twelve Tales seems like a very generic game that could have easily gotten lost in the avalanche of late-'90s 3D platformers.

That said, not all of BFD is nearly as funny as it thinks it is, and the gameplay is oddly clunky for a game from 2001 (about a nimble forest critter, at that!).

I feel like the original vision might have been more fun as a game, but wouldn't have made nearly the same impact.

@N-MCMXCIX That would be really cool to see, but how far in development was Conker?
Star Fox 2 was almost finished already, so that's a different matter.

Even if it's not practical to try to finish Twelve Tales, I'd still love to see the ROM released in some form. Rare Replay could include it and some other protos (like Dream!) as unlockable content, and put up a disclaimer stating that it's not a finished product.

I hope the ROM gets released, one way or another. This is in my top 5 most wanted prototypes to play- probably top 3, even.

It's kind of ironic: much of the infamously slow SNES's reputation is not because it was actually slow, but because it had to be underclocked to properly handle the cheap cartridges. Run it at stock speed, and things don't look so bad!

@blackknight77 The PC version is, as usual, basically an HD remaster already!
Same goes for the Xbox 360 version, if you have an Xbox Series console to play it on.

Just replayed it recently, and it still looks great, aside from some rough shadowing on characters (which is noticeable maybe 1% of the time, if even that).

Er, I think you meant to post this reply from BAFTA:
"Not sure we can endorse this 🤣"

Stamper's questioning the exclusivity of this chocolate award doesn't really prove whether BAFTA supports the licking of said award!

@-wc- Little Big Adventure is pretty clunky, to the point that someone used to modern standards would be just as well off playing the original Tomb Raider or something. So there is potential to make it more accessible.

But will this remake do so without losing the soul of the originals? So far, this is looking like quite a departure. Time will tell...

@-wc- I don't know- Twinsen himself looks like a pretty faithful interpretation of the original model, without looking too awkward (no small feat!), and that dune buggy shot looks like this style has potential.

On the other hand, it bothers me that HD = flatter and more cartoonish, in so many cases. Admittedly, I've barely played the original LBA/Twinsen games, but the fine-grained textures and oddly shiny lighting of LBA2 really appealed to me, and those are lost in the remake.

@-wc- I feel like a lot of mid/late PS2 games already started to look a fair bit more drab (albeit more detailed!), while some of the early PS360 games again leaned into that pre-rendered CG look for a time. (See Rare's work, especially in 2005.) And then Gears of War happened, and we know the rest.
But anyway...

Looking it up now, it seems that SoulCalibur on Xbox systems does include the art gallery, even though it drops the Mission mode. It also unlocks everything from the start, reducing the incentive to play Arcade mode as every character. The main reason most people give is the file size, but that doesn't add up: mission mode has few unique assets, whereas the gallery is full of them. Considering the way unlockables were handled, this all seems like a misguided attempt to focus in on the core gameplay for a purer fighting experience. (Didn't Guilty Gear XX do the same thing? Re-releasing the game with less content to "accent" the "core"?)
I really liked Mission mode as well, and played all the way through it more than once! SC2 had the same mode, but it didn't hold my interest quite as well- largely because of the dungeons being a bit of a slog. And then SC3 onwards went in different directions, of course.

@-wc- Was I just imagining it, or were console graphics heading in that direction for a short time, before abandoning it in favour of higher object density, more complex texturing... and bloom lighting?
Some of the earlier 6th (and even 7th) gen games had a lot of emphasis on crisp textures, high poly counts, and hard shadows, but this gave way to a more muted, drab look.

If Retro ever does another Donkey Kong Country, they should make it look like DKC3- except in 3D, of course.

@Muriustar It's always good to have a legitimate way for people to purchase the game, though. Right now, SC1 is only on Xbox, and that version lacks some of the Dreamcast's content (the mission mode and art gallery, as I recall).

As more companies keep their games perpetually available on long-running platforms like PC (and Xbox now), then there should be less need for studios to spend their time on (re)remastering everything every decade.

Not expecting to actually see a full collection, as great as that would be, but even a remaster of the Dreamcast original that doesn't cut any content would also be cool.

All of the blurry scenery is just a pre-rendered background (also see the windmill screenshot), so the amount of actual geometry should be well within the N64's capabilities. But the resolution and colour depth are above those of even Conker's backgrounds- which were already technical wizardry in themselves.

I've really warmed up to the N64 over the years. There's something special about exploring those early 3D environments, even in games like Quest 64 (or Aidyn Chronicles, which I'll get if I can find it for cheap... like that'll happen).
Though it's all the better when the gameplay is also engaging- and some of the better games of that era, like Mario 64 and Perfect Dark, have a level of depth that newer games often lack.

@bryce951 Hey, I'm no hipster: I liked the GameCube before it was cool!
(Oh, wait a minute...)

But seriously, the GameCube was an amazing system with an equally amazing library, and millions of us recognized that at the time. Just not as many millions as there were on the PS2 side of things!

This looks more like early Dreamcast to me... unless there's some kind of insane palette or tiling wizardry going on, textures of that resolution/colour depth wouldn't work on the N64.

I'd love to see this become an actual game, though, whether fitting N64 spec or not!

GameCube, hands down:

• Powerful hardware (Imagine Nintendo selling a console that performs on par with XSX today. Unthinkable!)
• Comfortable controller (the ABXY layout was brilliant, and the analogue sticks are unmatched)
• An entire fleet of flagship titles (2 Zeldas, 2 Metroids, a Mario, an F-Zero, a Mario Kart, and the best Smash Bros.)
• New, imaginative games and franchises (Eternal Darkness, Pikmin, Viewtiful Joe, DK Jungle Beat)
• Third party support like we've never seen (Resident Evil 0/REmake/4, Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, MGS: The Twin Snakes, Rogue Squadron 2 and 3, and multiplats that were often the best version available)

I could ramble on about the GCN's library of quality exclusives, or how it punched above its weight in performance- often edging out the Xbox- but for brevity's sake, I won't. For now.

It's like Feperd looks for great games that sorely need a sequel, but aren't getting one, and then he takes it on himself to right that wrong. A few years ago, it was Sonic Adventure. Now, F-Zero!
What's next, Metroid Prime? (If it is, he'll probably have it finished before MP4 comes out.)

@Bunkerneath Those ships look really fast, either way. They must be doing at least 800 knots an hour!
But if all this bothers you, maybe you should go buy an RPG game instead.
If you need some cash, just enter your PIN number at the nearest ATM machine.

Interesting topic, and I've enjoyed reading the stories (both the article and the comments)!

There are so, so many different games which bring back memories of either where I played them, or where I bought them, but I'll just share what might be the weirdest one:
I was sharing an apartment with two other guys, and one of them had the idea to put up a giant cardboard snowman on the wall for Christmas, and to arrange some lights so that the snowman appeared to be shooting lightning from its hands. Besides the humour in it, this also cast a strong pink/purple glow over the whole living room.
It was in this setting that I played Paper Mario for the first time, and so that game always brings back the image of late-night gaming under the warm glow of a snowman that shoots lightning bolts out of its hands.

@Kiwi_Unlimited I just replayed Castlevania 64 a few months ago, and still enjoyed it. It obviously has its flaws, but I'd definitely like to see some more games that take after it, with the greater emphasis on 3D platforming and exploration.

There are already so many 2D Metroidvanias out there that I could easily spend a full year just catching up on the good ones, and 3D combat/action games in the vein of Devil May Cry or old-school God of War aren't exactly scarce either. But the more open 3D designs haven't gotten as much attention lately.

Very cool addition, and fitting for a game best known for its meme-spawning dialogue!
It's a little disappointing that most of the English was cleaned up here, but on the other hand, introducing CATS's infamous line with "translation error" on the screens, and then following it up with "What are you saying?" was a brilliant touch.

I've heard some complaints about traditional JRPGs getting stale lately, or having too much "anime BS", but it still seems like a stretch to consider the term "JRPG" an insult.

I think the real question is whether something is an RPG at all: what do RPGs have to do with role playing, anyway? The connection is obvious in a lot of older and/or western RPGs, where you create and develop a character, make lots of decisions, etc. But a Final Fantasy game from the '90s? It's a linear, story-driven tactics game with RPG trappings. And when you swap out the battle system for DMC-style action, while dialling down the RPG elements further?

Not saying we need to reclassify Final Fantasy or other RPGs all of a sudden! Genre labels like "RPG" mean something, and most people understand what they mean. I just think it's interesting how definitions drift over time.

@gojiguy My PS3 hard crashes when I click the wrong options in the store.
I'm getting this update, as it can't possibly make things worse, right?

...er, right?

I had never heard of Mabel Addis until now, but it's fascinating to see some of her work now, and to think just how long ago it was that gaming pioneers like her came up with certain designs and concepts.
In general, gaming in the '60s is a mysterious subject that I don't know or hear much about.

So this is technically the original box art! That changes things.
It would be inexcusable if, like so many other games, the Japanese box art already existed, but was thrown out in favour of something supposedly more appealing to western audiences.

TIL that Eveline Novakovic composed some of the original DKC's best* tracks! I knew about DKC3 (and Griffey's Winning Run) already, but not that she'd worked on the first DKC as well. Nor about Kameo's sound design.

And I agree, definitely an underappreciated composer- which is all too common among Rare musicians not named Grant or Dave.

*in my opinion, of course

It's great to finally see the true story of Alexey Pajitnov coming to light!

@Serpenterror Iguana actually stayed around for several years (under the name Acclaim Studios Austin) after Retro Studios was founded. While Retro was working on Metroid Prime, Iguana released Turok 3 (2000), Turok Evolution (2002), and Vexx (2003), as well as several sports titles.
But yeah, Retro was largely made up of former Iguana staff, like you said, and more ex-Iguana guys moved over to Retro and worked on the Prime series when Acclaim went bankrupt.

It's interesting to follow a game's DNA, and see the expertise and influences that the various members of the team brought to the table!

@sdelfin Yeah, this stuff was too common, especially in the past. First examples I can think of are Mega Man Anniversary Collection on GameCube (button mapping is backwards) and Ufouria on the Wii(U) Virtual Console (music plays at the wrong speed, and sounds horribly out-of-tune).

You paid them for the game already, so what's it to them if you source a copy elsewhere to actually play it?

PS: Honourable mention to Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Collection, on Steam. Its emulation has some issues (despite some neat features, like mods and region-switching), but the ROMs are included in a folder for easy access. So you can buy the games there, but play them in another emulator. 100% legal by any standard!

@Thunderchi1d It's not unheard of for companies to download their own resources from third parties on the internet. As I recall, Rare couldn't use the original assets for Donkey Kong Country when porting to GBA, so they ripped the graphics from a ROM. Also, OSTs have used fanmade track titles (and possibly even downloaded audio rips, but that's harder to confirm). And countless classic re-releases have been advertised using clips and screenshots from gaming channels on YouTube. There are other cases, as well, but I can't think of them at the moment.

While it is within their rights to do all this, the way it's handled isn't always the most classy. Since Nintendo is so harsh towards anything they see as a threat to their bottom line, it seems especially distasteful and hypocritical for them to silently take advantage of the very service they hate.

@ParadoxFawkes It really does run on a real N64, as Kaze briefly demonstrates.

About textures, the N64 is notorious for its poor texture quality, so getting good results out of it isn't easy. Any one texture can only be 4 KB in size (as opposed to a typical photo from a phone or camera, which is at least 4 MB, or 1024 times as large)!

A few studios back in the day had some kind of workaround involving reading uncompressed textures straight off the cartridge, but putting high-res textures in that way would quickly balloon the ROM size beyond what a cartridge could hold, not to mention that it would slow the N64 to a crawl.

"But, if people resort to sourcing a game online without paying for it, what incentive is there for publishers to make that game available legitimately?"

Fortunately, we've seen time and time again that people are willing to pay to legitimately own their games, even if illegal downloads are readily available.
Whether it's GOG, Virtual Console, mini consoles, compilation discs, etc., there have been (and still are) lots of ways to buy games that are also floating around on the internet for free- and most of these appear to be very financially successful.

It's encouraging to see (faith in humanity, and all that), and I hope game companies continue both re-releasing old games, as well as exploring pro-consumer approaches such as DRM-free stores.

@Gamecuber It's even worse than that. If I remember correctly, they bumped the difficulty levels up by two, and then doubled the enemies' health on top of that. Or something along those lines.
Though the NA version has barely any penalty for spamming your special moves, so that makes up for it a little bit.

Rocket Knight Adventures by Konami was another one with a ridiculous difficulty upgrade, with NA Easy corresponding to JP Hard, as I recall. In that case, though, Easy still lets you play the whole game, and it feels like a well-balanced experience.

@lacquerware Yeah, her criticisms were not at all the first things I'd think of. Pacing is annoyingly sluggish in the NA version specifically, thanks to the enemies' health bars all being multiplied, but the gameplay itself is the fastest (and I'd even say best) in the series.

For me, it's largely the presentation. Graphics are still great, as is some of the music (most of the better tracks ironically coming from the new guy, Kawashima), but both of these aspects lack the style and flair that really made SoR2 stand out.

@-wc- I think Nintendo's Virtual Console/eShop was a great idea, and I'd love to see a Sega one- not just the usual collection of Genesis/MegaDrive titles, though, but also Dreamcast, Saturn, arcade systems like Model 3, etc.

Having to buy specific hardware would be a bit of a turn-off for me, though. Instead of paying for a pricey mini console that can handle Dreamcast games, I'd rather just buy them for PC/Xbox.

The idea sounds exciting at first, but when I think about it, a Dreamcast 2 wouldn't really bring anything interesting to the table.
The whole appeal of it lies in the games, so Sega would need to step up and deliver a ton of Dreamcasty* titles on the new platform- but if they're able to do that, then why not just release them on PCs and existing consoles now?

*I'm mainly thinking sequels to dormant franchises like Jet Set Radio, but also some innovative new games, and of course, ports from Dreamcast, Atomiswave, and even more recent arcade games.

@carlos82 Fortunately, very few N64 games used battery-backed SRAM (apparently only a dozen or so), with the others all using non-volatile storage that will last a long time with light/reasonable usage. Unfortunately, the list of games with batteries includes some of the most popular ones, like Super Smash Bros. and Ocarina of Time.

No love for the OG Xbox Controller S?
The black and white buttons are a poor substitute for shoulder bumpers, but the thing feels so good to hold- just the right amount of heft. (I guess the Xbone/Series do objectively edge it out in functionality.)

GameCube has probably the best analogue stick of any controller ever, and that button layout is brilliant, but it has too many flaws holding it back: not enough buttons, D-pad is too small, and the triggers feel a bit delicate and are sometimes prone to getting stuck.

@NatiaAdamo Nor is a patient the same as a patent.

@Poodlestargenerica Bit of a difference between those two games, haha!
Nuts and Bolts is still worth playing, if you approach it as a sort of puzzle game that rewards experimentation and thinking outside the box. It does take a while to get good, admittedly, and it's not a real Banjo-Kazooie sequel, so it's important not to have false expectations.

A lot of Bad Fur Day fans hated Live and Reloaded... I can see why they dislike some of the changes, but I personally think some of the issues get blown out of proportion. It can't replace the original, but it's a visually gorgeous take on the original 1P game and its story.

@Serpenterror New throwback consoles like this are cool and nostalgic and all, but I agree that a focus on games makes more sense these days. There are so many major and mini consoles to choose from, and I'd rather just pick one or two platforms and buy games for it/them.
The much-desired "Dreamcast 2" is a similar one, where the idea sounds exciting, but when I think about it, we don't really need one. (Nothing stopping Sega from making a new Jet Set Radio, Sonic Adventure, or Space Channel 5 as a third party now, is there?)