@KingMike Lol. I’ve definitely purposefully bought awful games, but that’s more of a recent thing… and usually Gamepass has me covered for my morbid curiosity.
@samuelvictor You’ve got me beat by 8 years in age. The late N64, early PS2 era too, I’d say I’d transitioned to being a PC first gamer, which sounds ridiculous to me now, given that I’m most certainly as far pro-console over PC that you could be now. I just prefer the simplicity of dedicated hardware, I suppose. But anyway, I’d get a random gaming magazine here or there, but I didn’t stay up to date, definitely not like I do now. To use an example of my ignorance, when Pokémon cards were a thing, my dad got my sister and I both three packs one day and I had no idea what they were. I had a first edition Charizard in one of the packs. My “best friend” of that time stole it and I had no idea it was worth something until probably three or so years later.
I do appreciate the Switch for that reason. There’s so much garbage on the console, but unlike the Wii and PS2 libraries, you have to look for the trash. It’s sort of brilliant. Meanwhile, I remember going to the store with the desire to buy a PS2 or Wii game (or my parents just picking one up) and you’d just sort of get what you’d get, based on what the store would have and what you’d already have. There was no eshop to buy what you wanted. I’m not sure how big Amazon was in those days. It was mercy of the marketplace. Speaking of that and consoles that died immediately, man, I do remember the Jaguar launch. The hype on that was real. So many people felt Atari would be back to shake up the Nintendo vs Sega dichotomy. How wrong those people were! In looking at the Jaguar’s sales though, I do always get surprised, given how many people I knew that had them. I do remember my parents considering getting one, only to decide against it because they didn’t like any of the games they tried at Funcoland.
Mascot platformers and, by proxy of how that generation developed, party games were my bread and butter of the 64 era. I would not at all be surprised if Mario Party has more hours on it than any game I’ve played in the last 10 years. I would say that the 64 has a better line-up in mascot platformers than PS1 did, but that’s just my preference. And often, if a platformer was on both consoles, it usually played better on 64 than PS1. Take Glover for example. Nothing exclusive on PS1 comes close to touching Mario 64, let alone DK64… for me, of course. Well, maybe Ape Escape touches DK64 tier for me, now that I think about it…
@samuelvictor Yes, for me, N64 smashes everyone else when it comes to 3D platformers that generation, which is honestly what I was playing mostly at the time. For me, I had no idea FF7 was on PS, as this was in an era where I was younger and didn’t exactly look into these kinds of things online. After all, I was still largely in an era where my parents dictated my gaming choices. I think my mom bought me Final Fantasy titles because it encouraged reading, you know?
I do hope that Panzer Dragoon Saga one day finds its way onto modern consoles. I know it’s code has been reportedly lost and it’s notoriously difficult to port without that origin code, but I do hope Sega figures something out, as I’d love to legally invest in the title after enjoying it without spending a cent on it all these years. Lol.
For me, it’s hard to really rank Saturn, PS1, and N64 as they had such dramatically different libraries. If I were to rank on first parties, I’d likely say N64, Saturn, PS1. If I were to rank on exclusives, PS1, N64, Saturn. If I were to rank on cumulative library, PS1, Saturn, N64. Funny how that works out.
PS2 both has the best and worst libraries of that era. The PS2 had so many games! The PS2 and Wii both are such weird systems in that I’d bought so many actual garbage titles for both consoles (Ah, the internet has grown to be quite helpful in curating a good library). I think that’s part of my lack of nostalgia for PS2 perhaps. I had my own money by the time that console rolled around and gaming wasn’t what it is today, in that many gamers were less than tasteful. I remember being recommended Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer because I enjoyed Tony Hawk 3 by a friend. What an idiot was that friend. And myself! I bought it! It was terrible. I think I owned more bad games than good games and tapered off into Wii casual land for the next generation til I saw Fallout 3, which promptly gave the voice in my head the strong desire to be a more hardcore gamer than ever before and I bought a PS3 and Xbox 360 within the year, with an insatiable desire to play every game. So my thanks to my lack of nostalgia in the PS2. Had I owned a GameCube, I likely just would’ve been a blind Nintendo fanboy. Lol.
@samuelvictor I’ll always remember that feeling of playing FF7 and MGS on PC, only to realize later that they were tentpole PS titles, and realizing how Sony’s marketing actively pushed me away when their console ecosystem was in-line with what I liked as a gamer more than I realized. Today, I would argue that PS and N64 have competitive libraries and the Saturn’s library is better than it was regarded at the time. I’ll be honest, my early experiences with N64 blew me away, whereas I felt like Saturn was clunky, but I was biased in not being a Sega guy. Ironically, I started liking Sega more when they became a publisher. I definitely wish I would’ve played the Phantasy Star series 25, 30 years ago. I’m curious if that would’ve changed my perspective as a gamer.
I agree with you 100% that 64 aged like milk. Perhaps worse than any other major console. I’m not talking about you, Jaguar. You don’t count! Lol. The games that hit really hit, but there’s not that many (and even those that did, I acknowledge that my nostalgia may be painting my opinion). I always think the 64 had more good games than it actually had, whereas the Saturn is the total opposite. I was a diehard for Nintendo until the GameCube/PS2 era. I fell off the Nintendo wagon the year I asked for both consoles for Christmas one year and got the PS2. Lol. My parents dictated that generation for me then and there, which is ironic because my entire family is usually Nintendo-centric. They decided it was time for me to become console agnostic there, I suppose (I’d be an Xbox guy the next generation and I’d say I’m Nintendo first now). The PS2 arguably aged about as well as the 64 for me too. Odd how that is.
@samuelvictor Totally agree with you that PlayStation made this illusion that the Saturn was an overpriced nothing console, and arguably Sony played the same card on the Dreamcast. I really wish I would’ve know better about both consoles, as I would’ve enjoyed having them both in my youth. But Sony’s advertising never did much for me either as I thought PS1 was awful in comparison to the N64 in those days as well. I mean, Sony advertised Crash, Tomb Raider and Twisted Metal, Sega advertised Nights, Virtua Fighter, and honestly nothing else, it seemed. Meanwhile, the 64 was boasting Super Mario 64, Ocarina, and Goldeneye. PS1 and Saturn seemed like nonsense in comparison to me in ‘95 or ‘96 or so. I didn’t realize how good either console’s library was until… totally legal alternative means to play the games existed. Lol. Sony, unlike any other third party (at the time), figured out how to totally disrupt the industry, sending Sega to its “doom.” I don’t think Sony has ever totally understood what Nintendo does and why they succeed, nor did Sega, though they both tried.
@samuelvictor I feel like it started with teaching Nintendo lesson, but turned into something more aggressive to Sega, honestly. PlayStation predominantly stole Sega’s fanbase right from underneath them, in my recollection of the console wars of the day. The Nintendo kids largely remained Nintendo kids, but Sony really out Sega-ed Sega in price and “edgy,” mature games. Back in those days, I knew more people that had a Jaguar than Saturn, but PlayStation and N64 were really the only consoles competing.
Karateka and Pong are both Day 1 for me, whenever we get them, and I’ll be honest, I might want them on more than one platform. I hope Pong is announced soon too!
@GhaleonUnlimited That is a fantastic idea. I’m totally telling my son that he’s Sonic’s cousin now too… or Balan’s cousin since he actually liked Balan Wonderworld and, by proxy, gave me appreciation for the title. I’ll bet he’ll like NiGHTS too.
That’s exactly how I felt! I posted on PureXbox that it looked like the game could be good, but I’ve already played Bioshock Infinite, so I’m not sold on it. I mean, people literally lampooned Foamstars because it looks like a copy of Splatoon, but this is almost shot for shot similar to Bioshock Infinite’s trailer and people are like, “whoa, this is NOT a potential copycat title. It looks great.”
Seriously, Jaffe is an idiot sometimes. Entertaining, yes, but he’s such an intentional troll. He has to be. No one could just mean everything he says… at least I hope not.
In another universe, we might have had Nic Cage as Mario and Tom Hanks as Luigi. Matthew Broderick and Keanu would’ve been wild choices for Luigi too. Michael Keaton as Mario is just mind melting. I think they actually got the cast right here… I mean, Bob Hoskins is the most Mario looking actor they could’ve asked for…
@Guru_Larry Exactly. What IP are people going to be excited about seeing in theaters? I’d take a Jet Set Radio film any day, but that’s not Sonic money
Loved Child of Eden at release. I would definitely put it above Rez as an experience. Man, I would love to see this game get an immersive imax version. It would be incredible!
@EarthboundBenjy I somewhat agree with you. The Wonder Boy series is like a solid 7/10 tier series for me. I prefer where Hudsonsoft went with the idea with Adventure Island, personally.
That said, I enjoyed Monster Boy considerably more than the mainline Wonder Boy titles as well.
Whoa, man, I’ll definitely get this. The NES game was sort of awful, in that it was a real challenge to me as a kid and it never seemed to work the way it was supposed to, but I’ll welcome a second chance with the series.
For me, personally, if I had to pick, I’d honestly probably… not care! Give me a level based one, a Metroidvania, a 3D one, whatever. Just make sure it’s good!
Edit: After blitzing through that Dead Cells DLC just now, I’ve got to say that that was pretty much perfect. Loved it. Absolutely incredible. Can’t believe 0.1% of PS players have beaten Dracula yet though, according to the trophies. Get at it, all?
@-wc- Agreed. MGS is, to me, the pinnacle of gaming, despite some of the goofiness in the systems from time to time. It’s just so “itself.” If only Konami would just give Kojima the rights to his series, and tell him, “If you use it, you use it. If you don’t, you don’t. Thank you for everything.”
Didn’t realize Third Strike was so popular, but I agree with that assessment. SF2 and 3 are fantastic. 4 was ok, but in all honesty that was sort of a nadir season for fighting games when it released. I feel like I was pretty disappointed in every fighter I picked up in the PS3/360 era with 3D visuals, outside Virtua Fighter 5. 5, I liked well enough, but it didn’t feel essential at release the way 2 and 3 did. Hoping 6 is top shelf. The beta made it seem like it could be possible. I’m not competitive with fighters anymore, so I’m hopeful for a good story mode nowadays.
Yeah, definitely. The strongest one I have is of Cuphead. When my son was born, there were complications from his birth, so my wife and I were at the hospital for hours a day every day for two weeks or so. It was exhausting. When the hospital made us leave, my wife and I went home and played Cuphead and watched Over the Garden Wall. Our life was really scrambled in that time, but if you can beat Cuphead, you can do anything, right? And oddly enough, my son was really drawn to the characters as he’s gotten older too, even before he knew the story of his birth. Cuphead reminds me of the hospital though. There’s plenty of other games that give me distinct spatial memories too, but that one stands out to me.
I’m totally ok if the rpg genre coalesces back into one. Back in my youth, we didn’t call FF4 or Chrono Trigger a JRPG or ARPG or whatever. It was just an RPG. It wasn’t til maybe PS2 or PS3 era that a distinction was made. Recent FF outings haven’t even really felt like traditional jrpgs anyway, so I can see his logic here.
Really happy to see Castle Crashers make the list. I feel like I’ve played through the game about half a dozen times with so many different people and always had a great time with it. It’s one of the ultimate party games in the genre.
Comparatively to other things in this current economy, gaming is still a relatively cheap hobby. $70 for a game is considerably cheaper than doing anything socially in my area. If I take my family to the museum, I’m spending nearly $200 for admission for a day out and then I’m spending $70 on food and don’t even get me started on paying for gas to get there. Ridiculous. I can’t complain about the cost of gaming when it’s the cost to take my family out to dinner at a restaurant. And the less said on the cost of groceries, the better. I bought a house last year out of necessity and I pay DOUBLE what all my direct neighbors pay due to increased interest rates and inflated pricing in my area and lucky me because the pricing isn’t going anywhere for now (and my mortgage is cheaper than some of my friends who had rent increases in the upwards of +$500 a year the past two years). If gaming costs rose outside of relation to other things, that’d be one thing, but I have no ill will toward Nintendo for having one $70 title and it’s Zelda. It’s worth it.
Samurai Shodown 2… man, what a game. I prefer the NeoGeo Pocket game to the actual mainline series for some reason. It’s just so simple, so perfect as a fighter.
While I was a huge advocate for piracy about 10 years ago and still do feel there’s issues with getting enough retro releases expediently on modern hardware, I only purchase retro releases legally at this point. In a way, some retro releases feel as exciting as new games these days.
But, saying that, man do I pine for Megaman Legends, Adventure Island 2, and Chibi Robo to get official releases in some capacity!
Joycons, all day every day. Man, it’s great to be able to really lounge to the full extreme and have joycons in hand. Feels like controlling the game with you mind, except not your mind… feels like pure instinct.
And honestly Dualsense is in second place for me. Love that haptic feedback. At first, I thought it was clunky otherwise, but as time passes, the design grows fonder and fonder to me where it just “feels right” in a lot of places. It’s like the PlayStation’s controller finally got to level up from a Squirtle all the way to a Blastoise, if you know what I mean.
GameCube is in third place. Never even had a GameCube and every day I probably regret it a little bit.
Let’s be honest about the old controllers. They feel weird to return to at this point. The NES controller feels like the most awkward feather in the world at this point. For all my time playing mine, it just doesn’t seem right when return to it all these years later. The N64 controller is almost more natural feeling now… almost….
IV, VI, and XV are criminally underrated in this list and IX, XI, XIV are criminally overrated. Love FF forever though. Everyone has a different list and it’s amazing for that.
The NES Castlevanias are underrated as they always are, I see. Just once I’d like to see the original beat Castlevania 4… and Simon’s Quest crack the top 10 (and Castlevania 3 in its rightful place at #3, tied with Rondo, of course).
Love this list though. Oh the hours I’ve spent with the Belmont clan over the years!
Of all my time in gaming, my biggest regret perhaps is skipping on the GameCube in middle school. That regret is mostly because I’ve wanted to play Chibi-Robo.
Comments 147
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@KingMike Lol. I’ve definitely purposefully bought awful games, but that’s more of a recent thing… and usually Gamepass has me covered for my morbid curiosity.
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor You’ve got me beat by 8 years in age. The late N64, early PS2 era too, I’d say I’d transitioned to being a PC first gamer, which sounds ridiculous to me now, given that I’m most certainly as far pro-console over PC that you could be now. I just prefer the simplicity of dedicated hardware, I suppose. But anyway, I’d get a random gaming magazine here or there, but I didn’t stay up to date, definitely not like I do now. To use an example of my ignorance, when Pokémon cards were a thing, my dad got my sister and I both three packs one day and I had no idea what they were. I had a first edition Charizard in one of the packs. My “best friend” of that time stole it and I had no idea it was worth something until probably three or so years later.
I do appreciate the Switch for that reason. There’s so much garbage on the console, but unlike the Wii and PS2 libraries, you have to look for the trash. It’s sort of brilliant. Meanwhile, I remember going to the store with the desire to buy a PS2 or Wii game (or my parents just picking one up) and you’d just sort of get what you’d get, based on what the store would have and what you’d already have. There was no eshop to buy what you wanted. I’m not sure how big Amazon was in those days. It was mercy of the marketplace. Speaking of that and consoles that died immediately, man, I do remember the Jaguar launch. The hype on that was real. So many people felt Atari would be back to shake up the Nintendo vs Sega dichotomy. How wrong those people were! In looking at the Jaguar’s sales though, I do always get surprised, given how many people I knew that had them. I do remember my parents considering getting one, only to decide against it because they didn’t like any of the games they tried at Funcoland.
Mascot platformers and, by proxy of how that generation developed, party games were my bread and butter of the 64 era. I would not at all be surprised if Mario Party has more hours on it than any game I’ve played in the last 10 years. I would say that the 64 has a better line-up in mascot platformers than PS1 did, but that’s just my preference. And often, if a platformer was on both consoles, it usually played better on 64 than PS1. Take Glover for example. Nothing exclusive on PS1 comes close to touching Mario 64, let alone DK64… for me, of course. Well, maybe Ape Escape touches DK64 tier for me, now that I think about it…
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor Yes, for me, N64 smashes everyone else when it comes to 3D platformers that generation, which is honestly what I was playing mostly at the time. For me, I had no idea FF7 was on PS, as this was in an era where I was younger and didn’t exactly look into these kinds of things online. After all, I was still largely in an era where my parents dictated my gaming choices. I think my mom bought me Final Fantasy titles because it encouraged reading, you know?
I do hope that Panzer Dragoon Saga one day finds its way onto modern consoles. I know it’s code has been reportedly lost and it’s notoriously difficult to port without that origin code, but I do hope Sega figures something out, as I’d love to legally invest in the title after enjoying it without spending a cent on it all these years. Lol.
For me, it’s hard to really rank Saturn, PS1, and N64 as they had such dramatically different libraries. If I were to rank on first parties, I’d likely say N64, Saturn, PS1. If I were to rank on exclusives, PS1, N64, Saturn. If I were to rank on cumulative library, PS1, Saturn, N64. Funny how that works out.
PS2 both has the best and worst libraries of that era. The PS2 had so many games! The PS2 and Wii both are such weird systems in that I’d bought so many actual garbage titles for both consoles (Ah, the internet has grown to be quite helpful in curating a good library). I think that’s part of my lack of nostalgia for PS2 perhaps. I had my own money by the time that console rolled around and gaming wasn’t what it is today, in that many gamers were less than tasteful. I remember being recommended Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer because I enjoyed Tony Hawk 3 by a friend. What an idiot was that friend. And myself! I bought it! It was terrible. I think I owned more bad games than good games and tapered off into Wii casual land for the next generation til I saw Fallout 3, which promptly gave the voice in my head the strong desire to be a more hardcore gamer than ever before and I bought a PS3 and Xbox 360 within the year, with an insatiable desire to play every game. So my thanks to my lack of nostalgia in the PS2. Had I owned a GameCube, I likely just would’ve been a blind Nintendo fanboy. Lol.
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor I’ll always remember that feeling of playing FF7 and MGS on PC, only to realize later that they were tentpole PS titles, and realizing how Sony’s marketing actively pushed me away when their console ecosystem was in-line with what I liked as a gamer more than I realized. Today, I would argue that PS and N64 have competitive libraries and the Saturn’s library is better than it was regarded at the time. I’ll be honest, my early experiences with N64 blew me away, whereas I felt like Saturn was clunky, but I was biased in not being a Sega guy. Ironically, I started liking Sega more when they became a publisher. I definitely wish I would’ve played the Phantasy Star series 25, 30 years ago. I’m curious if that would’ve changed my perspective as a gamer.
I agree with you 100% that 64 aged like milk. Perhaps worse than any other major console. I’m not talking about you, Jaguar. You don’t count! Lol. The games that hit really hit, but there’s not that many (and even those that did, I acknowledge that my nostalgia may be painting my opinion). I always think the 64 had more good games than it actually had, whereas the Saturn is the total opposite. I was a diehard for Nintendo until the GameCube/PS2 era. I fell off the Nintendo wagon the year I asked for both consoles for Christmas one year and got the PS2. Lol. My parents dictated that generation for me then and there, which is ironic because my entire family is usually Nintendo-centric. They decided it was time for me to become console agnostic there, I suppose (I’d be an Xbox guy the next generation and I’d say I’m Nintendo first now). The PS2 arguably aged about as well as the 64 for me too. Odd how that is.
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor Totally agree with you that PlayStation made this illusion that the Saturn was an overpriced nothing console, and arguably Sony played the same card on the Dreamcast. I really wish I would’ve know better about both consoles, as I would’ve enjoyed having them both in my youth. But Sony’s advertising never did much for me either as I thought PS1 was awful in comparison to the N64 in those days as well. I mean, Sony advertised Crash, Tomb Raider and Twisted Metal, Sega advertised Nights, Virtua Fighter, and honestly nothing else, it seemed. Meanwhile, the 64 was boasting Super Mario 64, Ocarina, and Goldeneye. PS1 and Saturn seemed like nonsense in comparison to me in ‘95 or ‘96 or so. I didn’t realize how good either console’s library was until… totally legal alternative means to play the games existed. Lol. Sony, unlike any other third party (at the time), figured out how to totally disrupt the industry, sending Sega to its “doom.” I don’t think Sony has ever totally understood what Nintendo does and why they succeed, nor did Sega, though they both tried.
Re: Anniversary: Famicom At 40: How Nintendo's Console Faced An Uphill Struggle For Supremacy
@samuelvictor I feel like it started with teaching Nintendo lesson, but turned into something more aggressive to Sega, honestly. PlayStation predominantly stole Sega’s fanbase right from underneath them, in my recollection of the console wars of the day. The Nintendo kids largely remained Nintendo kids, but Sony really out Sega-ed Sega in price and “edgy,” mature games. Back in those days, I knew more people that had a Jaguar than Saturn, but PlayStation and N64 were really the only consoles competing.
Re: 'The Making of Karateka' Is A New Interactive Documentary From The Makers Of Atari 50
Karateka and Pong are both Day 1 for me, whenever we get them, and I’ll be honest, I might want them on more than one platform. I hope Pong is announced soon too!
Re: 'Dark Souls Pro Skater' Isn't The Mod You Asked For, But It's The Mod You Need
Looks outstanding. Thank you for this!
Re: You Can Now Enjoy Nights Into Dreams At 60FPS On PC
@GhaleonUnlimited That is a fantastic idea. I’m totally telling my son that he’s Sonic’s cousin now too… or Balan’s cousin since he actually liked Balan Wonderworld and, by proxy, gave me appreciation for the title. I’ll bet he’ll like NiGHTS too.
Re: Round Up: The Best Retro Gaming Gifts - July 2023
Seems a little Sonic heavy.
Re: Thought Clockwork Revolution's Trailer Looked Like BioShock Infinite? You're Not Alone
That’s exactly how I felt! I posted on PureXbox that it looked like the game could be good, but I’ve already played Bioshock Infinite, so I’m not sold on it. I mean, people literally lampooned Foamstars because it looks like a copy of Splatoon, but this is almost shot for shot similar to Bioshock Infinite’s trailer and people are like, “whoa, this is NOT a potential copycat title. It looks great.”
Re: Anniversary: 'Resident Evil' And 'Street Fighter' Maker Capcom Turns 40 Today
The best developer and publisher in the game right now, outside possibly only Nintendo. I can’t wait to see where Capcom goes next!
Re: Wario Land-Esque Antonblast Gets Explosive New Steam Demo
Why no Switch demo? C’mon!
Re: God Of War Creator David Jaffe Enlists AI To "Fix" Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
@GeneJacket I was talking about Jaffe. I like Corey Balrog just fine, even if I’m not a fan of GoW.
Re: God Of War Creator David Jaffe Enlists AI To "Fix" Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
@HandheldHaunter It must be God of War.
Seriously, Jaffe is an idiot sometimes. Entertaining, yes, but he’s such an intentional troll. He has to be. No one could just mean everything he says… at least I hope not.
Re: Random: Super Mario Bros. (1993) Memo Reveals Keanu Reeves Was Considered For Luigi
In another universe, we might have had Nic Cage as Mario and Tom Hanks as Luigi. Matthew Broderick and Keanu would’ve been wild choices for Luigi too. Michael Keaton as Mario is just mind melting. I think they actually got the cast right here… I mean, Bob Hoskins is the most Mario looking actor they could’ve asked for…
Re: Sega Looking To Build On Success Of Its Sonic Movies With Other Franchises
@Guru_Larry Exactly. What IP are people going to be excited about seeing in theaters? I’d take a Jet Set Radio film any day, but that’s not Sonic money
Re: Mega-Man-Like Metroidvania 'Hayaku! Island Of Darkness' Announced For PC
This needs to come to the Switch! Looks wonderful. At least Bat Boy’s coming up soon to satiate my Megaman itch though
Re: Maniac Mansion NES Receives Brand-New "Uncensored" Version
10/10 Director’s Cut Version.
Re: Want Child Of Eden To Get The 'Rez Infinite' Treatment? Ask Ubisoft, Says Tetsuya Mizuguchi
Loved Child of Eden at release. I would definitely put it above Rez as an experience. Man, I would love to see this game get an immersive imax version. It would be incredible!
Re: Rockstar Co-Founder Explains Origins Of Rockstar Games Presents: Table Tennis
I, in fully earnest fashion, enjoy Rockstar Table Tennis so much. I love the game.
Re: Guide: Best Wonder Boy Games, Ranked By You
@EarthboundBenjy I somewhat agree with you. The Wonder Boy series is like a solid 7/10 tier series for me. I prefer where Hudsonsoft went with the idea with Adventure Island, personally.
That said, I enjoyed Monster Boy considerably more than the mainline Wonder Boy titles as well.
Re: Murtop Is A New Dig Dug & Bomberman Inspired Arcade Game, Out May 18th
Sounds like something right up my alley. I may get this to sort of balance my Zelda playtime
Re: Poll: What's The Best Wonder Boy Game?
Cursed Kingdom for me probably.
Re: The Atari Lynx Was Closer To Being A Sega Console Than You Think
Is that Toby McGuire?
Re: Random: This Frasier Beat 'Em Up Mock-Up Needs To Be A Real Game
I wish this was real. I want this to exist as a gaming reality.
Re: Go Go Ackman 2 For Super Famicom Gets Improved English Fan Translation
I need this game in my life
Re: Rumour: A New Jet Set Radio Is In The Works
Make it official, Sega.
Re: The Toxic Crusaders Are Back In An All-New Beat 'Em Up Adventure
Whoa, man, I’ll definitely get this. The NES game was sort of awful, in that it was a real challenge to me as a kid and it never seemed to work the way it was supposed to, but I’ll welcome a second chance with the series.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Want From A New Castlevania?
I don’t care as long as we get more! Come on!
For me, personally, if I had to pick, I’d honestly probably… not care! Give me a level based one, a Metroidvania, a 3D one, whatever. Just make sure it’s good!
Edit: After blitzing through that Dead Cells DLC just now, I’ve got to say that that was pretty much perfect. Loved it. Absolutely incredible. Can’t believe 0.1% of PS players have beaten Dracula yet though, according to the trophies. Get at it, all?
Re: Hideo Kojima Claims Konami Wanted Metal Gear Solid 3 To Be More "Normal"
@-wc- Agreed. MGS is, to me, the pinnacle of gaming, despite some of the goofiness in the systems from time to time. It’s just so “itself.” If only Konami would just give Kojima the rights to his series, and tell him, “If you use it, you use it. If you don’t, you don’t. Thank you for everything.”
Re: Poll: What's The Best Street Fighter?
Didn’t realize Third Strike was so popular, but I agree with that assessment. SF2 and 3 are fantastic. 4 was ok, but in all honesty that was sort of a nadir season for fighting games when it released. I feel like I was pretty disappointed in every fighter I picked up in the PS3/360 era with 3D visuals, outside Virtua Fighter 5. 5, I liked well enough, but it didn’t feel essential at release the way 2 and 3 did. Hoping 6 is top shelf. The beta made it seem like it could be possible. I’m not competitive with fighters anymore, so I’m hopeful for a good story mode nowadays.
Re: Talking Point: Are Video Games Linked To Physical Places In Your Memory?
Yeah, definitely. The strongest one I have is of Cuphead. When my son was born, there were complications from his birth, so my wife and I were at the hospital for hours a day every day for two weeks or so. It was exhausting. When the hospital made us leave, my wife and I went home and played Cuphead and watched Over the Garden Wall. Our life was really scrambled in that time, but if you can beat Cuphead, you can do anything, right? And oddly enough, my son was really drawn to the characters as he’s gotten older too, even before he knew the story of his birth. Cuphead reminds me of the hospital though. There’s plenty of other games that give me distinct spatial memories too, but that one stands out to me.
Re: Poll: Should Japanese-Made Role-Playing Games Still Be Called JRPGs?
I’m totally ok if the rpg genre coalesces back into one. Back in my youth, we didn’t call FF4 or Chrono Trigger a JRPG or ARPG or whatever. It was just an RPG. It wasn’t til maybe PS2 or PS3 era that a distinction was made. Recent FF outings haven’t even really felt like traditional jrpgs anyway, so I can see his logic here.
Re: Best Beat 'Em Ups Of All Time
Really happy to see Castle Crashers make the list. I feel like I’ve played through the game about half a dozen times with so many different people and always had a great time with it. It’s one of the ultimate party games in the genre.
Re: Rare Cheekily Compares Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom To Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
I mean, Nuts & Bolts was fine, but it’s a long shot from a BotW sequel.
Re: Maniac Mansion Getting Physical Rereleases For PC & NES
I don’t usually buy these types of things, but if LRG does Switch for this someday, I’ll jump for it.
Re: Upset By Zelda Being $70? We've Arguably Never Had It So Good
Comparatively to other things in this current economy, gaming is still a relatively cheap hobby. $70 for a game is considerably cheaper than doing anything socially in my area. If I take my family to the museum, I’m spending nearly $200 for admission for a day out and then I’m spending $70 on food and don’t even get me started on paying for gas to get there. Ridiculous. I can’t complain about the cost of gaming when it’s the cost to take my family out to dinner at a restaurant. And the less said on the cost of groceries, the better. I bought a house last year out of necessity and I pay DOUBLE what all my direct neighbors pay due to increased interest rates and inflated pricing in my area and lucky me because the pricing isn’t going anywhere for now (and my mortgage is cheaper than some of my friends who had rent increases in the upwards of +$500 a year the past two years). If gaming costs rose outside of relation to other things, that’d be one thing, but I have no ill will toward Nintendo for having one $70 title and it’s Zelda. It’s worth it.
Re: Best Neo Geo Pocket Color Games
Samurai Shodown 2… man, what a game. I prefer the NeoGeo Pocket game to the actual mainline series for some reason. It’s just so simple, so perfect as a fighter.
Re: Talking Point: Where Do You Stand On "Ethical Emulation"?
While I was a huge advocate for piracy about 10 years ago and still do feel there’s issues with getting enough retro releases expediently on modern hardware, I only purchase retro releases legally at this point. In a way, some retro releases feel as exciting as new games these days.
But, saying that, man do I pine for Megaman Legends, Adventure Island 2, and Chibi Robo to get official releases in some capacity!
Re: Missing Wario Land? Then You'll Love This Ridiculous New Steam Game
Man, I hope this comes to Switch sometime soon. It looks excellent.
Re: You Can Play This Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Remake Right Now, For Free
One of the most underrated games of all time. Really want to play this remake!
Re: Poll: So, What's Your Favourite Controller Of All Time?
Joycons, all day every day. Man, it’s great to be able to really lounge to the full extreme and have joycons in hand. Feels like controlling the game with you mind, except not your mind… feels like pure instinct.
And honestly Dualsense is in second place for me. Love that haptic feedback. At first, I thought it was clunky otherwise, but as time passes, the design grows fonder and fonder to me where it just “feels right” in a lot of places. It’s like the PlayStation’s controller finally got to level up from a Squirtle all the way to a Blastoise, if you know what I mean.
GameCube is in third place. Never even had a GameCube and every day I probably regret it a little bit.
Let’s be honest about the old controllers. They feel weird to return to at this point. The NES controller feels like the most awkward feather in the world at this point. For all my time playing mine, it just doesn’t seem right when return to it all these years later. The N64 controller is almost more natural feeling now… almost….
Re: Best Final Fantasy Games - Every Mainline Game Ranked
IV, VI, and XV are criminally underrated in this list and IX, XI, XIV are criminally overrated. Love FF forever though. Everyone has a different list and it’s amazing for that.
Re: Best Castlevania Games - Every Castlevania Game Ranked
The NES Castlevanias are underrated as they always are, I see. Just once I’d like to see the original beat Castlevania 4… and Simon’s Quest crack the top 10 (and Castlevania 3 in its rightful place at #3, tied with Rondo, of course).
Love this list though. Oh the hours I’ve spent with the Belmont clan over the years!
Re: Best Commodore C64 Games
No Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders?
Re: The Making Of: Chibi-Robo - How Miyamoto Saved A Cult Hit From The Scrapheap
Of all my time in gaming, my biggest regret perhaps is skipping on the GameCube in middle school. That regret is mostly because I’ve wanted to play Chibi-Robo.