 |
Posted on Dec 17th 2015 at 05:00:00 AM by ( noiseredux) Posted under PC |
[img width=500 height=368]https://i.imgflip.com/rjtrh.jpg[/img]
Another year ends, and another Top 10 lists needs to be assembled. I have to admit that this was kind of a weird year for me as far as new games went. There were actually a lot of unexpected disappointments really. I loved Wolfenstein: The New Order last year, but couldn't enjoy The Old Blood this year. I loved Shovel Knight last year, but the Plague expansion did nothing for me. Ori and the Blind Forest and Mortal Kombat X come to mind as well as let-downs. I also played a lot of indie games that just didn't leave a lasting impression.
The other weird thing is that this was a huge year for independent Dreamcast releases and a bunch of them were released in the latter part of the year. While many of these are either on their way to me now or still on my want-list, I unfortunately didn't get to play all of them. So for all I know, this list could have or would have changed by the time the year officially rolls to an end. I guess you could say that about any list of favorites: it's always going to be in-flux. But as of right now, at this very moment, as the words pour out from my fingers, these were my favorite games of the year. The top half feels really solid to me - the best of the best, but strangely, the lower half feels like games that were 'just good enough' to make it onto the list.
Continue reading Top 10 Games, 2015
|
Posted on Sep 7th 2015 at 11:32:55 PM by ( noiseredux) Posted under PC |
[img width=700 height=393]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/50986085907453476/AD46CA33BEE48E2D48EE7D4F3358491925B0EB01/[/img]
NOTE: Metagaming is a series where I force myself to play through Metacritic's highest rated PC games, working my way down the list one game at a time. There's no real goal other than giving myself an excuse to experience these critically acclaimed games. Sometimes I'll beat the games, and sometimes the games will beat me.
Half-Life 2
As I write this Half-Life 2 sits comfortably at #1 on Metacritic's list of the best PC games of all time. It holds a score of 96 - one of only 6 games to rank so high. Technically one of only 5 games, as one of them is The Orange Box which is a compilation of Half-Life 2, its expansions and Portal - all games that find themselves just slightly further down the list on their own. So this is how we begin; with the best of the best.
[break]
Now before we get the ball really rolling, how about a little background on the history of me and Half-Life 2. Our relationship started off in a very... very odd way. You see although I actually sorta love FPS games now, that wasn't the case several years ago. Though I had grown up playing stuff like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom back in the day, I became pretty much inept when the y-axis was introduced to aiming with a mouse. And attempting this stuff using twinsticks on a controller baffled me even more. Sometimes ending in feelings of "I have to vomit."
[img width=700 height=393]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/50986085932746199/1CE2F2A51CD550399AF085B98E17E9AAEC3BD09D/[/img]
And then something really weird happened a few years ago: I got this sick idea to attempt to play the unreleased port of Half-Life on the Dreamcast. This was mostly out of sheer curiosity. Not just for the port itself, but for how the controls would be handled on a controller that only had one analog stick. The experience was admittedly strange. But I was able to work my way through the game using this weird Southpaw controller style. And more importantly - I fell in love with the world of Half-Life. After that I immediately decided to move on to Half-Life 2, this time on the Xbox 360. This meant I'd have to get used to twinstick controls. I started my way working through the game, and it was tough. Eventually I gave up somewhere around the first vehicular section.
Not long after this I got bit by the PC gaming bug. And it's been a whirlwind ever since. After spending time with Quake, Quake III Arena and Quake 4, I actually became one of those people who plays FPS games with a keyboard and mouse. And now I can't go back to use a controller! I even got myself a nice mechanical keyboard produced by WASD and installed Cherry Red dampeners in it, along with the wonderful G502 mouse by Logitech - both gifts. And since I've become a keyboard & mouse convert, I've found myself enjoying first person shooters even more. The time was right to revisit Half-Life 2 and finish it once and for all.
[img width=700 height=393]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/436075560414366842/B6ADCF1FCBB75FB7CA6C420C314E5E131EC94659/[/img]
So is Half-Life 2 really deserving of such high praise - the #1 spot on Metacritics PC games list? Dudes... it is. For starters the great thing about Half-Life 2 is everything. It really just feels like it does everything right. Here's a game well over a decade old, and I struggle to find any faults with it. As much as it's gone on to influence countless other single player FPS games, I can't say that any other has nailed everything so perfectly.
What immediately comes to mind is the pacing. Indeed this is where HL2 truly shines. It is such a well designed game that you never really feel unsure of how to proceed. Yet there is no modern FPS trap of making levels entirely out of long hallways. Nope, there's actually lots to explore here. But there's such a natural flow - both to level design and the story itself - that it feels like the you're constantly a moth to a flame. You just know that you're always marching forward. Always making progress. It's genuinely quite brilliant.
The pacing is further applauded thanks to constant variety. In a sense it feels like you're on a rollercoaster ride for the entire dozen or so hours it will take you to get through. One moment you're sneaking through tunnels, the next you're speeding over water on some sort of jet ski. Even the tone of the game shifts abruptly in fantastic ways. The section known as Ravenholm feels like one of the scariest horror game settings and has a color pallet that will make you feel dread. A few hours later you're exploring a beautiful cliffside area.
[img width=700 height=393]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/436075560426395908/E8FC2A3FFD2324065D40B54CB56E1B51E007A503/[/img]
The storytelling is also superb. Much like the original game there are no cut scenes here. Everything happens in-engine. You never lose control of Gordon Freeman. You are always a part of the story - never a voyeur. The soundtrack - both musical and voice acting - goes a long way to reinforce this storytelling and the unique atmosphere.
The combat is wonderful as well. There's an excellent freedom to how you might address any given situation. Certainly there are some very satisfying weapons here - from the trusty crowbar, to a perfect-for-silent-sniping crossbow all the way down to far heavier artillery. But it's the gravity gun that will get you killing in all sorts of puzzle-solving ways. Ravenholm for instance leaves you with limited ammo, but a bevy of sawblades and explosives to throw around in a fountain of headcrab zombie blood-rain.
But ultimately no matter how much I gush about Half-Life 2, it's pretty impossible to put into words just why this game is so great. I'm thrilled that I finally pushed my way through, and I'll surely be delving into the expansions soon enough. If you're a fan of FPS games - and maybe even if you're not - you owe it to yourself to experience this one.
|
Posted on Aug 19th 2014 at 03:51:48 PM by ( noiseredux) Posted under PC |
[img width=700 height=393]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/778309180024878510/4A9C73F5AA73F2580B02133A254171B7E4B11637/[/img]
Question: what the heck is going on with sports games? I mean, if you're a console gamer, then they're considered over-abundant to the point of being cast off as nearly disposable. Each iteration of each individual series is being released annually so that the supply is so ridiculously high that eBay sellers of console lots need warn prospective buyers "L@@K! NO SPORTS GAMES!!!!" And yet PC gamers - the so-called "master race" seem to be struggling to find recent installments at all in some cases.
Continue reading The State of PC Sports Games, 2014
A couple years back I started blogging heavily here about my experiences collecting (and playing) Dreamcast games. But over time my focus would shift back and forth from Dreamcast to other stuff. The shifting tended to dilute what I envisioned in my mind as the proper way to display my DC collecting. Which is why earlier this month I decided to launch my own site called appropriately enough "noiseredux vs. Dreamcast."
[img width=700 height=393]http://i.imgur.com/X8lCTTF.png[/img]
The main reason was that I didn't want to keep this NRvsDC thing going as a blog... I don't really like that format for such an endeavor. I like organization that can only be accomplished via an actual site rather than a blog.
You can head over to http://noiseredux.weebly.com to see what I'm talking about.
The new NRvDC site offers up my write-ups (including ones I've migrated from my blog here) on Dreamcast and Neo Geo Pocket games as I explore my own collection. It's important to note that I don't really consider these "reviews." They're generally more anecdotal. Or rambling even. Consider it just a collector's journal. It also has its own blog that I'll use for chronicling my pick-ups.
As far as my blog here - I'll most likely use it for more scattered thoughts. It's not like I'm abandoning RFGen, but this noiseredux vs. Dreamcast site is just really the way I've always envisioned the presentation.
|
Posted on Dec 29th 2013 at 04:04:31 PM by ( noiseredux) Posted under List |
What a crazy year it was for me and gaming! After buying our house, I decided to scale back the obsessive Sega collecting, eventually branched out to PC gaming and found that the 3DS is my favorite portable in a long time. So with all this in mind, let's take a look at my Favorite Games of 2013:
[img width=700 height=393]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/703980853361169850/6E950780BE867FF51A563250F2DD0C254082BB5D/[/img]
1. XCOM: Enemy Within
Some of you (or at least one of you) might consider it lame to award an expansion for a 2012 game (Enemy Unknown) with my 2013 GOTY. But as my list is based solely on how much enjoyment I got out of 2013 releases, it would be an outright lie for me to not give Enemy Unknown this title. Moreover, Enemy Within is so much more than just some new maps and missions. It is an entirely new experience encompassing new maps, enemies, weapons, upgrades - and perhaps most import - mechanics. Indeed the additions of Bio- or Mecha- research for your own troops strips your squad of their earthly limitations while new human EXALT enemies pose a different kind of threat than EU had delivered. Add to this new covert missions and base defense missions which further add variety to even the sorts of missions you might encounter. Not to mention the addition of MELD which virtually turns the “slow and safe” approach to taking turns on its head and instead pushes you to march ahead with oftentimes poorly judged urgency. In a sense, calling Enemy Within “just an expansion” is doing it a huge injustice. It is far closer to an entirely new game built on EU’s engine than just a batch of DLC to expand upon the original, and I’d urge anyone who played Unknown to be sure they’ve experienced Within.
[img width=700 height=393]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/685969538598054114/6D9883445C42BC4105873F49A6CD376FF4C7EF12/[/img]
2. Bioshock Infinite
Now here’s a game that really took me by surprise. Bioshock Infinite was a game that I decided to play solely based on how pretty I thought it looked. And other than the prettiness of screenshots, I mostly went into it knowing nothing. A dozen hours later I walked away with an emotional experience on par with some of my favorite games of recent years like Shadow of the Colossus and Heavy Rain. Infinite is a staggeringly gorgeous game that incorporates various bits of history, theology, literature, architecture and much else as bits and pieces weaved together like a fever dream. That the FPS mechanics are so strong certainly propels everything else forward effortlessly. Add to this that the majority of the game is pretty much an escort mission, but one done so well that it begs the question “who was escorting who?”
[img width=700 height=420]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2013/161/711412_20130611_screen010.jpg[/img]
3. Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
As an adult have you ever gone back to your elementary school’s playground? That’s pretty much A Link Between Worlds. For those of us in a certain age bracket, Link To The Past pretty much remains the pinnacle of gaming. It’s that 16-bit Hyrule that I know the best, because that was the last time I spent so much time exploring every last nook and cranny of a game world. I can vividly remember staying up to ridiculous hours every weekend as I made my way through A Link To The Past, spending hours on stupid things like archery mini-games and feeling like that world was so vast, it could never possibly end. The idea of a sequel to my favorite game of all time was certainly something I felt optimistically nervous about. But it’s within that first hour that it all comes rushing back - the overworld, the music, the weapons and faces both friend and foe. There’s so much familiarity and yet you know you’re playing an all new adventure. And though I haven’t beaten it yet (as I just got it for Christmas), I’m thrilled to be re-visiting my youth in such an exciting way.
[img width=700 height=393]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/685968994397129995/3DD320116A779E8D00260C96EA9406BDA00BEA18/[/img]
4. Tomb Raider
Before the Crystal Dynamics ‘reboot’ of Tomb Raider, I considered myself a casual fan of the series. Starting with my exposure to the first game on PS1, I had always just cherry-picked certain games throughout the series to pay any attention to. Often I’d like the games. But that’s as far as it went. I liked them. They would keep me interested for a while. Then I’d move on to something else. But the 2013 Tomb Raider delivered to me the game that I had always wanted TR to be. It’s something bold, exciting and even a bit scary at times. From the opening hour of having Lara kill a deer to eat, to the next hour where she must kill a man to prevent her own demise, the game is a non-stop thrillride that kept my heart pumping and my eyes impressed by the ridiculously detailed environments. And while it was a prequel, Crystal Dynamics was able to successfully show us the heck that Lara had to go through before becoming the total badass she would soon become. Although by the end of the game she’s all guns-a-blazin’ she also spends a dozen or so hours looking like girl who just barely survives to the last reel of a slasher film. If any of you with even a passing interest in the franchise missed this one, go ahead and rectify that. Chances are you’ll end up looking further into the other Crystal Dynamics-developed titles in the series as well.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2013/091/672441_20130402_screen004.jpg[/img]
5. Shin Megami Tensei IV
When SMT IV was first released there was a lot of hubbub about it costing $10 more than most 3DS games. Yet one look at the wonderful artbook/strategy guide, soundtrack and box containing it all seemed to instantly justify the extra premium. In truth this was a game so awesome it demanded attention in a way that no puny 3DS game case could pull off. And in fairness that strategy guide really did come in handy! SMT IV was no joke. Sure, it offered up the option to drop its difficulty down to an easier setting - but this was only after you had been demeaned by Charon, the ferryman at the River Styx. While SMT IV was one of those RPG’s that just seemed to get everything right. The music, the animation, the settings, the demons, the conversations with the demons, the story, the difficulty, the morality, the weight of your decisions, and most importantly the ridiculously fun battle system.
[img width=416 height=504]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2013/010/643003_20130111_screen009.jpg[/img]
6. Fire Emblem: Awakening
There’s something to be said for the ‘if it ain’t broke” philosophy of Awakening. Perhaps it’s because handheld consoles seem so inviting for retro throwbacks, but what makes this new Fire Emblem great is the minimal additions of unnecessary bells & whistles. Oh sure there’s a story, though the cut-scenes of footless squads are all skippable. Admittedly, they’re also really great and you probably won’t bother doing so. And sure there’s a deep as heck system of leveling your characters, pairing them up and even spawning babies to go on and kill for you. But at its heart Awakening does best what all the best Fire Emblem games do best - it offers you the ability to recruit soldiers, get attached to them, and then feel awful when you allow them murdered. While the game offers you a more casual mode of play where you’re troops aren’t permanently killed off after a battle, it’s the Classic Mode that makes this game so compelling. It’s the perfect portable strategy game. One where you might spend months on a single battle - picking it up and failing after 20 minutes, throwing the 3DS aside until your next small chunk of downtime.
[img width=700 height=933]http://i.imgur.com/lg5x3O7.jpg[/img]
7. Alien: Colonial Marines
Snicker if you want, but I’m just keeping it real. Although I am a fan of the Alien franchise, it was the overwhelmingly poor reviews of Colonial Marines that made this one a must-play for me. And while I expected a “so bad it’s good” experience, instead I just got a “hey this is a hell of a lot of fun” experience instead. There’s nothing ground-breaking here. In fact there’s really nothing exceptional. Although there are brief moments of almost-brilliance - hinting, I suppose, that a far better game was possible. But none of that ultimately matters. What matters with games - and any form of entertainment for that matter - is that it entertains you. And I can honestly say I was fully entertained for the whole of the single player campaign. And yeah, I’m looking forward to Alien: Isolation.
[img width=640 height=416]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/9/4/7/gfs_229346_2_3.jpg[/img]
8. Sturmwind
The novelty of new games appearing on old consoles is always fun. But as is the nature of novelty, it can also soon wear off. What makes Sturmwind so special is that it’s not just a great shoot-em-up, it also pushes the Dreamcast to the absolute threshold of its capabilities and proves that to a certain degree this failed hardware from 1999 could still make brilliant 2D arcade games worthy of competing with the current generation. The appearance of Sturmwind is incredible - and viewed through the DC’s VGA output rivals any indie shmup released this year on more competent technology. The art-direction itself is fantastic, with brightly colored bullets, insanely detailed backgrounds, and memorable boss battles. Even the power-up system was an interesting take on an old formula. Add to this a bevy of extras from online leaderboards, to unlockable ‘achievements’ and even the capability to save replays to a 3rd party SD card adapter and you’ve got a serious argument that the true death-year of the Dreamcast is still anyone’s guess.
[img width=600 height=400]http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/720868005071632709/F9E62C6B429B853BC2A043D7B4DBBF74A6FDDFE1/[/img]
9. The Typing of the Dead: Overkill
Speaking of Sega hardware, if there was a Dreamcast 2 it would certainly be home to Typing of the Dead: Overkill. This was a pleasant surprise that popped up on the Steam Store on Halloween week. Much like how the original Typing of the Dead took House of the Dead 2 and mashed it up with a typing tutor, Overkill has HOTD: Overkill re-imagined via Mavis Beacon. The fact that Sega gave us a sequel to the cult-classic completely out of the blue is awesome enough, but the addition of online co-op and the stream of DLC that they’ve been releasing since October (some of it free, even) is an even better gift to longtime Sega fans. Next time you think that Sega is a horrible beast that is dead-set on destroying any lingering love you had for the Sonic series, try to remember that they’re all still a little crazy in an awesome way as made evident with TOTD: Overkill.
[img width=700 height=420]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2012/243/672440_20120831_screen007.jpg[/img]
10. Castlevania: Mirror of Fate
Here’s one I was a little nervous about. The GBA and DS Castlevania games have had a long history of sticking to the 2D Symphony of the Night style, so hearing about a sequel to a 3D Castlevania game coming to a portable that’s pushing the angle of its 3D capabilities sounded like bad news. But what we got was a really cool 2.5D adventure that I think probably went fairly overlooked this year. The series had gone in a similar direction on the PSP remake of Rondo of Blood. However that was a true 2D classic that had been retrofitted into a 2.5D mold. As such, it suffered. Mirror of Fate fares far better. The controls are great, the level-structure is fun to explore and the boss battles are brutally punishing making for a challenging experience for series fanatics.
[img width=640 height=737]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/1/8/6/643186_228507_front.jpg[/img]
Rock beats scissor. Scissor beats paper. Paper beats rock.
This is how simple the Dead or Alive concept is. And yet, it's seriously one of the deepest fighters I've ever played. Sure you can mash, like many other games. And there's no doubt you can have a good time mashing. But if you want to really get good you must understand the game. And to understand the game, you must understand "the triangle system," or roshambo. In Dead or Alive it works like this: strike beats throw. Throw beats grab. And grab beats strike. But the deepness comes from how you utilize all these. You see, "strike" is another word for punch or kick. And all of these punches, kicks, throws and blocks can be executed high, low or medium. It gets tricky. No wait, actually a better word is frantic. Because frantic is the word to use when you're talking about a fighting game where matches rarely make it to a minute in length. I mean to be honest in DOA5 even after you've saved a bulk of the data to the HDD to minimize load-times, the loading is still likely to be longer than your fights. But if you're a fan of the series, this is a thing of beauty. You know that each fight should be an amazing rush of blood to the head erupting in a violent ballet of well executed moves that are less chance than the roshambo of Alex Kidd's world.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2012/269/936978_20120925_screen071.jpg[/img]
Long has the DOA series been dismissed as just visual fluff. And to a certain degree that's understandable. I mean to be fair the developers spent more time on the physics of breasts than most others spend on their fighting engine. But throughout the progression of the series we've seen an arcade fighter come into its own. A definite high point was Dead or Alive 2 released on Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. And although subsequent releases - namely DOA 4 - would blow it away visually and roster-wise, it's hard to cast any stones against the second installment.
And I suppose before I go on I should just admit my bias. I am a big fan of the DOA series. I mean, I'm not a big 3D fighting fan. But I enjoy some Tekken. I think the SoulCalibur series is fun and worth your dollars. But DOA is what really grabs me. It's visceral, yet strangely brainy. But not overly brainy - nope, I'm a guy who enjoys the dumbness of the movie adaptation.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2012/227/936978_20120815_screen004.jpg[/img]
And I've spent a half-dozen hours this past week devoted to Dead or Alive 5. Specifically, the Story Mode. And this is exactly why I'm raving about this game. The Story Mode is actually one of the most impressive doses of fan-service I've ever seen injected into the single player mode of a fighting game. Normally, you get an Arcade Mode. So what's that? Fight a bunch of dudes, win the game. Easy right? Twenty minutes? This was basically an entire movie full of ridiculous plot twists, stupid dialogue and insane scenes. To note: for a moment I was upset that I thought a major character was dead only to find out it was a clone I saw slain; at one point Tina declares she is running for governor; and at one point Kasumi visits Antarctica wearing... well, very little.
[img width=700 height=393]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2012/268/936978_20120925_screen015.jpg[/img]
Dead or Alive 5 is a game so good that it actually renders its predecessors unnecessary. You've got an overwhelmingly awesome single player mode - one that will unlock countless extras including characters from Virtua Fighter. You've got a solid 2-player mode via local or online. You've got a roster that is impressive as hell. You've got stunning visuals that put the preceding games to shame (which is saying something when graphics have been so important to the series). Really, this is a game I strongly urge all fighting fans this generation to run out and add to their collections. Now.
So April turned out to be a crazy good month for adding to my collection. Let's take a look!
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/6XnVc1ol.jpg[/img]
First up was a couple of guides that I got using Barnes & Noble gift cards. I love Capcom Vs. SNK, so this was exciting.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/E3c6JpUl.jpg[/img]
A trade on Racketboy.com landed me these 3 Saturn titles. Always nice to get a fancy Working Design game.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/Dj7PjaNl.jpg[/img]
Fellow RFGen-er GrayGhost81 traded me this nice handful of Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine demo discs. By the end of April I was only now missing 2 of them.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/E518agAl.jpg[/img]
This giant lot came from a good buddy of mine. It started out as me taking just those two Saturn sports games which he had doubles of. Eventually the deal grew into what you see above, but he also surprised me with that sealed copy of Floigan Brothers which was really awesome of him!
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/PXg0H97l.jpg[/img]
Evolution I found locally for $7, and although that's pretty much the going price I like being able to buy Dreamcast games in person when I see them in such great shape.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/sD7bwsCl.jpg[/img]
Another trade through Racketboy got me these. That's a Dreamcast TopMax stick... it's not that great - especially compared to the excellent Agetec stick, but it was a great bargain so I was glad to add it to my shelves.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/ROBvvNCl.jpg[/img]
Yet another Racketboy trade got me Panzer Dragoon - a classic I've yet to play!
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/z9fpIoCl.jpg[/img]
My wife and I hit up a flea market while out furniture shopping and I came across these. Tetris Plus is in great condition and that Saturn Eclipse Pad is sealed. It was $15 for the both. But the real gem here is NBA 2K2, which is actually the hardest to find of the three 2K games on Dreamcast. I got mine for $2 which made me really happy.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/2OwxGIul.jpg[/img]
Another local game shop resulted in this awesome Saturn pick-up. That's right, an official racing wheel which is great for Daytona. The wheel was $20, which isn't spectacular, but buying one online would be a lot more once shipping is accounted for. Each of the three games were $10, which I felt pretty good about.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/2x8U0Snl.jpg[/img]
Here's one lot of games I got from my good buddy Mike. We went in together on a bigger purchase and split up what we each needed for our collections. I'm definitely really pleased with the items I got.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/iTcQeoQl.jpg[/img]
And another lot I got from the same friend - Sakura Wars 3 & 4 box sets complete my collection of the boxes. The third box is the best as it comes with a really classy and fully functional music box! The Saturn stick is a Hori V7 which is insanely comfortable and a purchase I'm very happy with.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/GVaHcDTl.jpg[/img]
And also from same friend - this is an official Dreamcast-branded DDR dance pad. This is really cool as there were no DC dance mats released in the US, so it's more common to see DC fans using a PlayStation 2 pad with a DC adapter instead.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/eeQci35l.jpg[/img]
And finally via another Racketboy trade I got a second Dreamcast - this is one of the black ones (sadly, the Sega Sports logo has been removed). This lot was really cool, and I'm especially fond of the Alien Front Online box set as well as the Double Impact release of Street Fighter III.
So yeah... pretty awesome month!
[img width=512 height=450]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-071/bf/U-071-S-00250-A.jpg[/img]
I think it's maybe an understatement to say that I'm a fan of Capcom fighting games. Pretty much my entire adoration for the genre comes from my first time playing Street Fighter II back in the day. As such, I've always identified most with that style of gameplay, character design, move-sets and so on. Which is not to say that I don't like other fighting game franchises or developers. It's not even to say I was ignorant of them 'back in the day.' Interestingly enough, I remember playing Art of Fighting (or was it World Heroes?) on a Neo Geo cab in a convenience store not far from my house around the same time. And I also had the SNES port of Fatal Fury in my collection right alongside Super Street Fighter II Turbo.
So then it's probably appropriate that in recent years I've also explored -- and gotten a lot more into SNK fighting games as well. As I mentioned I had certainly been exposed to SNK in the past, but to really tackle these games is daunting considering the sheer number of characters featured in the various games, spin-off's, sequels and crossovers. And while I've found a good handful of SNK games that I can continually come back to (and at least one solid masterpiece in Garou: Mark of the Wolves), I would still say that the six-button Capcom setup is preferred for me over the four-button SNK style.
[img width=561 height=463]http://i.imgur.com/sSkN4or.jpg[/img]
But what if you're the opposite of me? What if you grew up playing King of Fighters annually with only a passing respect for the various Street Fighter games? What if you're parents really spoiled you and got you an AES instead of a SNES? Well for any of us that fall into either camp, we have this wonderful game to help us meet in the middle.
Capcom Vs. SNK is a perfect balance of both developers' franchises. If you were to look at screens of Street Fighter III: Third Strike and Garou: Mark of the Wolves side-by-side, you could be excused for thinking they were from the same game. Here, that's sort of the philosophy. Surely competition can be good -- and over the years both companies have benefited from competition by pushing each other to constantly attempt to get the one-up on the other. It's only fitting that the combining of both sides would be so great.
[img width=561 height=463]http://i.imgur.com/1wzjEqA.jpg[/img]
Now it's important to note that at its heart, this is still a Capcom game (with SNK's answer being their SNK Vs. Capcom, sadly never ported to the Dreamcast). However for those of you Neo Geo fans thinking this means you'll have to get used to the six-button layout that most Capcom games utilize, fear not! You are actually given the option to choose which play-style (or 'groove') suits you best. Likewise the game can also be played in both regular and Turbo speed settings.
Graphically the game is top-notch, genuinely finding itself rubbing elbows with many of the system's finest examples of 2D fighting visions (the aforementioned Third Strike and Garou come to mind once again). The animations are fast and smooth, the backgrounds are ridiculously detailed, and each match begins with an impressive animation that leads right into the stage setting.
[img width=560 height=468]http://i.imgur.com/c8uvgGh.jpg[/img]
Now I hate to sound like a broken record but running this game through VGA is just astounding. Prior to the Dreamcast port I had played Capcom Vs SNK on the PlayStation and can honestly say they look like completely different games when they're running. This version looks and feels like you're playing an arcade game where the PlayStation port looks quite obviously like a PlayStation port. Though I suppose it's not really fair to compare the handling of such a game on such different hardware.
The music is just as compliment-worthy here, although that should probably be expected considering Capcom's fighter output at that time. Certainly folks would be likely to mention Third Strike and Marvel Vs. Capcom as favorite soundtracks from the genre.
And speaking of Marvel Vs. Capcom, I'm going to go ahead and make a statement here that could ruffle a few feathers: I personally think that the Capcom Vs. SNK games are better than the Marvel Vs. Capcom games. Seriously. Though in fairness I suppose it's true that I'm really not as big a comic book fan as some of you may be. In that regard there's probably way more SNK characters that I'm interested in playing with than their are Marvel characters.
And speaking of Roster, that is of course how many fighting games are measured. Including all the hidden characters, Capcom Vs. SNK sports a total of 35 characters to choose from across three different ratios. The ratios are an interesting tier system included to promote balance. Basically this means that it's possible to see matches where one player might have four characters from Ratio 1 against a single character from Ratio 3. This system certainly makes for interesting match-ups and breath-taking victories.
As if the game itself weren't enough, you've got two different end-bosses to make it through in Arcade Mode, as well as an insane amount of unlockables that will keep you busy for quite some time. I know I've been having a lot of fun experimenting with different characters while unlocking various pallet-swaps. Though sadly, I've yet to figure out how to unlock Morrigan. If it isn't quite obvious from my long-winded post, this is a fighting game well worth your time. Highly, highly recommended!
[img width=606 height=550]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-071/bf/U-071-S-02460-A.jpg[/img]
I know I've talked on this blog more than once about how Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 was my first introduction to the Dreamcast more than a decade ago. In fact I was so enamored with that game that when my college roommate moved out (and took his Dreamcast with him) I had to get my own copy along with its prequel. Though at the time I had a PlayStation 2 rather than a Dreamcast of my own, so although I was more than familiar with the original Pro Skater, it would be quite a few years before I got to play this particular version. And just recently I decided I was due for another race to the end-credits.
[img width=575 height=465]http://i.imgur.com/JHuaJLH.jpg[/img]
There's a lot to love about Pro Skater. It's got an excellent soundtrack (I really wish an official soundtrack had been released), it's got a pick-up-and-play quality to it, and plays great. That said, it's always slightly tough to go back to the original game because it's easy to forget that manuals weren't introduced until the second game. This means that chaining combos together was actually a far more difficult affair back then. But once you get over this small snag, it's easy to see that the first game was already pretty close to perfection.
[img width=575 height=465]http://i.imgur.com/SclmdA0.jpg[/img]
The original Pro Skater is also the hardest game of the series, at least as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps it's because there are actually less goals per level, and they can often be tough ones. Take for instance the Downhill Jam. This level is probably the one I'd consider the hardest of the entire series. But of course some of that could be my own personal play style. But what was fun about my recent playthrough of the game was that I purposely forced myself to patiently complete every single goal in the Downhill Jam. That definitely made it feel like a bigger accomplishment than just coasting to the final tournament by completing goals in other levels instead.
Alright so this past month my wife and I moved into our first home. As you might guess this means that March was super-busy, and I really didn't have much time (or disposable income) for collecting. But I did manage to pick up some stuff actually. Let's take a look...
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/hxB7diNl.jpg[/img]
First up was a couple of found surprises. The Sonic comic my wife found while packing. I guess she got it free a few years ago when we went to a video game store on Comic Book day. The Game Gear was mine from childhood and my parents happened to find it in their basement. It works and even has Sonic 2 inside it, though the speaker no longer works. Oh well.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/5CPG2khl.jpg[/img]
I finally decided to use some Barnes & Noble gift cards I received for Christmas. These are two of the items I purchased. The PSO guide was huge for me as I've been so absorbed in that game lately. Sadly the poster wasn't included in it. The Sega Dreamcast Official Games Guide is a cool book that has tips and tricks for various games.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/udR2flFl.jpg[/img]
I also used up some eStarland credit I had been sitting on since before the move. Capcom Vs. SNK has been one of my go-to games this month, and I'm so excited to finally have Grandia II.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/DAwmwsTl.jpg[/img]
Also from eStarland credit was these two complete Neo Geo Pocket Color games. I know NGPC isn't technically Sega, but I consider it the Dreamcast's little sister seeing as how it had connectivity with the console.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/3gVeAvcl.jpg[/img]
While moving I also boxed up a lot of random video game junk I didn't need and finally brought it to my local shop to trade in for credit. So I scored some common Dreamcast games along with Virtua-On which I've actually never seen in the wild before.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/eYjH2ypl.jpg[/img]
...and also got this CIB Make My Video: Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/n75iGGvl.jpg[/img]
...plus an awesome Blue Mary figurine!
So yeah, all in all a pretty good month and not a dollar of my own money spent on any of it. And really the best addition to my collection this month was that I finally have my own dedicated game room!
[img width=610 height=550]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-071/bf/U-071-S-01560-A.jpg[/img]
Hi. My name's noise. And I'm a PSO addict.
I'll be completely honest here: I never thought I'd see the allure of Phantasy Star Online. In the past I'd heard fellow gamers refer to the game as "video game crack," in which every session left you wanting just a tiny taste more. But to me it just sounded pretty unappealing. For one thing I'm not a fan of extremely long games. So something like PSO with its online world which makes it something of a never-ending game was a turn-off. I'm also not all that interested in hack-n-slash battle systems within RPG settings. Nor have I ever found myself drawn to games that focus on hoarding loot. So while I was certainly a fan of the Phantasy Star brand, I just couldn't see myself interested in an MMO.
But one night several months ago while browsing the Dreamcast-Talk forums I thought it might be fun to get my console online and test it out with PSO. After spending some time Googling for free dial-up ISP's in my area, I was able to configure my conole's modem and get connected to the Sylverant private server. Of course I had never played Phantasy Star Online before, so once connected I hadn't the foggiest clue what I was supposed to be doing. So I just sort of walked around and marveled at the excellent graphics and music.
[img width=571 height=472]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/pso/phantasystaronline_0130_screen029.jpg[/img]
And then soon enough I noticed two characters just standing and talking to each other. Right away I realized that I was seeing actual players since everything they were saying was being typed into word-bubbles above their heads. I admit that for a moment I was severely intimidated. But i approached, introduced myself and warned them that I was a total n00b. "Wait... right now is your first time playing PSO? You mean, like ever?" And these guys were nice enough to then spend the next hour or so giving me a crash-course in the basics. They had my back with monomates to heal me and watched me hit level 2 while playing the game online.
All in all the experience was fun, but I knew I'd need to spend some time offline with the game to really grasp how things worked and try to get myself to at least a respectable level before attempting to seriously play online. So basically the game sat untouched on my shelf for the next several months. Sure I had a good time messing around with it online that night, but it would be a serious committment to play a game so demanding. Hell, you can't even pause PSO!
A few months later we got hit with a pretty impressive snow storm, and I found myself with one of those lazy snow days that gives you an excuse to dive into a game you normally wouldn't have the time for. Immediately I thought of PSO and popped in my copy. The version of I've been playing by the way is Ver. 2, which is (as I understand it) the same exact game as the original Dreamcast release, but with some bug-fixes and some additional quests.
And so I spent that afternoon going back and forth between shoveling and and exploring Ragol. At first my progress seemed slow and I'd find myself consulting the manual often to try to figure out what all the buttons did and what my objectives were to begin with. But once the ball started rolling I was making my way through quests and getting myself familiar with the Forest and genuinely having a great time to my own surprise. In fact I was having so much fun with the game that as my wife and I packed up all of our belongings to prepare to move into our new house, I spent most of February with Phantasy Star Online being one of only two games I left accessible (the other being Sega Smash Pack).
[img width=568 height=468]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/pso/pso_0103_screen020.jpg[/img]
Which reminds me, I should take a moment to point out that over the months I've spent with PSO, it became a big enough part of my gaming habits to actually justify some further purchases. Perhaps the most obvious is the official Versus Books strategy guide. This book is definitely very handy to have around for reference on such confusing matters such as what to feed your Mag, and of course maps are excellent to have around if you don't want to tie up a big chunk of your screen with the in-game map. PSO also make my decision to obtain a large lot consisting of both the Dreamcast VGA box and Broadband Adapter a much easier one to make. Let me just say that this game looks stunning in VGA mode (though in fairness, so don't most Dreamcast games that take advantage). And although I haven't had the time to hook up the pricey BBA yet, it's certainly nice to have the option to do so.
At any rate, I'm currently making my way through The Mines. I'm now at level 19, and have put about just as many hours into the game. And yet my addiction shows no signs of slowing down. Perhaps the absolute sickest part of it is that I keep thinking that once I get through Offline Mode, I can actually start to play Online. And hey, perhaps I can start a second character when I pick up a copy of Ver. 1...
[img width=511 height=450]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-071/bf/U-071-S-01910-A.jpg[/img]
Before my wife and I moved, I had to make a very tough decision. You see we had just about a month to pack everything up. This meant I’d have to pack pretty much my entire video game collection. But of course I’d have to leave at least something out if I had a spare hour here or there to actually play games. I decided that the one console I’d leave out would be my Dreamcast (kind of a no-brainer I suppose). And I’d need to also leave a small handful of Dreamcast games unpacked. But how do you choose? Who knows what you’re going to want to play, right? By the time all was said and done I had narrowed it down to just two final games -- Phantasy Star Online Version 2 (more on that in another post) and Sega Smash Pack Volume 1.
It might seem kind of funny to leave out a console to play a bunch of emulated games. But ultimately I was really pleased with my decision. When I wasn’t getting sucked into PSO, I had “12 Great Games” to explore -- most familiar, but some new to me -- and from various genres depending upon my mood. So with that in mind I ask that you get pretty comfortable as this is probably going to be one of my longest blog posts ever. That’s right, I’m gonna tell you about every single game on here…
[img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen001.jpg[/img] [img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen003.jpg[/img]
Sonic The Hedgehog is obviously a game we all know pretty well. Indeed I was a convert to the blast-processing hype of the day, and my Genesis was bundled with this very game. Oh how jealous my NES-owning friends all seemed at the time. Though I swear I beat this game as a kid, I had no solid memories of the ending. So had I actually done it like I thought I had? Well… I think so. But I can’t be certain. In recent years this original entry has appeared to be one of the harder games in the original 2D series. I can blow right through Sonic CD usually only losing one life in haste. But going back to OG Sonic always seemed difficult.
When I found myself with a limited selection of games I realized something really important about this game -- it’s really not all about speed. In fact, the levels I hate the most (water ones) really require a lot of patience. When I’d try to rush through, I’d get nowhere. But if I took the time to just get an air bubble every time I had the chance, I’d survive no problem. And so that seemed to show me a certain genius in Sonic’s design. It’s a flashy, bright and fast game that’s maybe also meant to be savored. And I must add that doing so via VGA adapter is totally worth it. Like I said, I’ve owned Sonic since its release and not until seeing it in its VGA glory have I realized just how incredible those sprites really looked. And the compilations’ audio issues aside, this game really had some incredible music. I can’t go back and tell you if I did or didn’t beat the game as a child for sure, but I can tell you I felt totally triumphant sitting down and beating it in a single sitting this past month.
[img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen014.jpg[/img] [img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen015.jpg[/img]
Golden Axe was a game I always enjoyed back in the day. I obtained my copy as part of the Sega Classics Arcade Collection which was a pack-in with the launch Sega CD. And though I enjoy beat-em-ups quite a bit, this one seems to have not aged as well as I wish it did. It’s totally possible I’ll get a bit of hate for this as Golden Axe seems a pretty beloved franchise, but I just don’t really think the original is all that great if I’m to be honest. Honestly, I’d much rather play Streets of Rage any day of the week.
[img width=500 height=375]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/8/9/3/gfs_45478_1_3.jpg[/img] [img width=500 height=375]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/7/a/e/gfs_45478_2_5.jpg[/img]
I didn‘t actually play Shining Force this month, but I did get my first taste of it on this collection a year or two ago. And since then I’ve become a total convert to the franchise. The original Shining Force is a ridiculously awesome strategy RPG with excellent (albeit repetitive) music, cool (albeit repetitive) animations and a gigantic cast of characters considering the time of its release. I must admit I’ve long been a sucker for S-RPG’s though. There’s something about combining the grid-based movement and strategy of chess with the attack/magic/heal/etc combat of a traditional turn-based JRPG. Like I said this game made me a fan, and I’ve recently spent a good deal of hours plugging away at Shining Wisdom (an Action RPG) on the Saturn.
[img width=320 height=224]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/6/1/a/gfs_8690_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/9/8/0/gfs_90097_2_3.jpg[/img]
Wrestle War is a game. I don’t have a whole lot to say about it outside of that. Well… I suppose as a curio it’s kind of neat addition by Sega since it’s not exactly one of their most popular releases. But to be frank I found it totally boring. It’s a lot of button-mashing as far as I can tell, and that doesn’t really help a game based around something I’m already not interested in (wrestling). So I really didn’t spend much time looking into this one.
[img width=320 height=224]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/c/b/8/gfs_45481_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=448]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/0/a/8/gfs_45481_2_6.jpg[/img]
Streets of Rage 2 is really pretty awesome. I think we can all agree on that one. But would you think less of me if I said I still prefer the original game? Perhaps it’s nostalgia. Again, the original SOR was part of the Sega Classics pack-in on Sega CD and I spent countless hours on that one. The music of the original is still so iconic to me. Fast-forward some years and Streets of Rage was semi-responsible for not only making my wife a gamer herself, but even helping her realize that she had a new favorite genre (beat-em-ups).
But while I still prefer the original, there’s no denying that the second is fantastic. And truthfully I applaud Sega for putting the sequel on this collection rather than the original. It would have been so easy for them (I’m guessing) to have included the original four games from that Sega CD collection but instead they opted to deliver what is considered the fan-favorite of the SOR Trilogy. I’m reminded that I still need to beat this one, though most beat-em-ups get reserved for co-op with my wife nowadays.
[img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen016.jpg[/img] [img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen018.jpg[/img]
Columns was in fact one of the other games that was part of the Sega CD collection I’ve been mentioning. If you’re not familiar it’s a blocks-drop-from-the-sky puzzler that I guess was Sega’s attempt at a Tetris-alike. Though unlike Tetris you can only move the order of the jewels, which are arranged in vertical lines always three-pieces long. It’s a pretty good, if not remarkable arcade puzzler. Sure it’s simple as heck -- and I’d far prefer any number of puzzle games. But I was also able to find a lot of enjoyment in it for several nights in a row. I played through equivalent of Tetris’ B Type game on multiple difficulties -- though admittedly I could never seem to beat the hardest one.
[img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen019.jpg[/img] [img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen020.jpg[/img]
Another game I could get some hate for is Vectorman. I actually first played it as part of fellow RFGen-er Crabmaster2000’s short lived community game club back in 2009 or so. For whatever reason this game has just never clicked with me. And I am a fan of run-n-gun style platformers. But there’s something just off about it for me. Even worse on this particular port is the default button configuration, though you can change it to whatever you like in the options menu so don’t let the deter you. But like I was saying, I just can’t seem to make myself enjoy Vectorman. I’m not sure if it’s that I feel like there’s just a lot of blind jumps, or if I find the combat a little wonky… whatever it is it just seems like every time I give Vectorman another chance it still does nothing for me.
[img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen010.jpg[/img] [img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen011.jpg[/img]
Phantasy Star II is… a Phantasy Star game so I’m a fan. Having first discovered the original Phantasy Star several years back as part of Racketboy’s Together Retro game club, I have since become a total sucker for the franchise. In fact I recently came to the shocking conclusion that I actually prefer Phantasy Star as a series to Final Fantasy. The characters, universe, music, setting, story and pretty much anything else just seems to appeal to me so much more. And this is coming from a guy who defends Final Fantasy XIII.
Beating the original Phantasy Star felt like a huge achievement to me. And I’ve raved about that game ever since, insisting that it outshines its immediate 8-bit contemporaries Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior in many ways. But it had also occurred to me that I hadn’t taken the time to really delve into other games in the series until fairly recently. So I figured the Smash Pack was a good excuse to start making my way through the second game. Though I haven’t beaten it yet, I’ve sunk probably 6-8 hours into it and am quite impressed. Though the music isn’t as good as the original, it’s still totally memorable. And everything looks great in 16-bit. Though the confusing first-person dungeons are gone from this one, they’re replaced with equally confusing overhead dungeons which for some strange decision in design feature weird pipes above your characters that often block your view. I’m guessing these were featured to show off some processor that Sega was proud of on their Genesis hardware, but man… it’s rough. But having said that, if you let yourself use maps for the dungeons it’s a fantastic (but grind-heavy, be warned) RPG that any admirer of the series should look into.
[img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen004.jpg[/img] [img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen006.jpg[/img]
Altered Beast on the other hand is such a terrible game. Though the graphics were at the time well-detailed and the game does feature some voice samples that show the original Genesis hardware off, it’s just such a boring, sluggish and awkward game to actually play. And unlike Golden Axe or Vectorman, I feel like I probably won’t get a whole lot of disdain for proclaiming this.
[img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/3/4/3/gfs_44401_2_3.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/2/5/2/gfs_44401_2_8.jpg[/img]
Revenge of Shinobi fares slightly better. And as a side-note, how confusing did the Shinobi series get during the Genesis days? There was Shinobi 3, Shadow Dancer and this one all around the same time, right? I know I often have trouble keeping track of which is which. When I saw Revenge listed on the back of Smash Pack I got really exciting thinking “oh man, I hope this is the really awesome one with Batman, Spiderman, Godzilla and that forced-scrolling horse level!” But no. It’s not. Instead it’s a pretty good Shinobi game. But I don’t know… maybe it’s just because I was hoping for a much better game in the series, and then comparing the two unconsciously. Or maybe it’s because I have no idea how to even beat the first boss… but I guess I just kind of feel like Revenge is a game that looks a bit better than the original but seems to actually play a bit worse. Just me again?
[img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen023.jpg[/img] [img width=658 height=437]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/segasmashpack/segasmashpack_screen024.jpg[/img]
Virtua Cop 2 is one of the other non-Genesis games on this collection and holy crap is it awesome! Now understand that I had to play this version with the control pad because I’ve yet to track down Dreamcast light guns, but even then the game was just incredible. Sega really knew what they were doing with light gun games, eh? I mean, I’m a really big fan of the House of the Dead series so I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into here. But damn, Virtua Cop 2 is just some amazing arcade fun. And like I mentioned earlier, here’s a game that really benefits from having a VGA box for your Dreamcast. Oh, and since experiencing the game here for the first time, I did manage to track down the Saturn port of the game along with a couple of Stunner light guns for my CRT TV in my new game room.
[img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/9/2/3/gfs_34969_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/3/f/3/gfs_34969_2_2.jpg[/img]
And finally Sega Swirl is the one new game to this compilation. Though certainly a simple game -- and let’s be honest, not even a wholly original puzzler. But it did offer something that makes it a very notable game in the Dreamcast’s library… online play. Some of you may be aware that a small number of Dreamcast games are still actually online to this day, but Sega Swirl has the distinction of probably never going away. That’s because the game used POP3 email as its means of getting online. So anyone with a POP3 enabled email account can pretty much always get a move-by-email round of Sega Swirl going with a friend. And with that, we’re left with another one of those little reminders just how stupidly ahead of its time the Dreamcast really was.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i.imgur.com/UNbm09d.jpg[/img]
February was an extremely busy month for my wife and I due to moving, so this collecting blog post will be a bit different than previous months. I really didn’t have time to take pictures of all my additions or even catalog them in my RFGen collection yet for that matter. Although this is going to look like a huge update, the funny thing is that almost everything you’ll see was purchased in January but didn’t actually arrive until February.
In fact the bulk of my pickups for the month all arrived in a single box. A couple of my friends and myself put some cash together and basically bought an ex-collector’s entire Saturn and Dreamcast collection. And to be honest, their collection was insane. So here’s what my third of the lot turned out to be:
SATURN:
AnEarth Fantasy Story
Angelique Special 2
Battle Athletes Daiundoukai
Black/Matrix
Blue Breaker
Blue Seed
Bootleg Sampler
Bootleg Sampler (loose)
Cotton Boomerang
Crusader No Remorse
D-Xhird
E'tude Prologue
Farland Story
Fushiginokunino Angelique
The Game of Life DX
Grandia
Hexen
Kakyusei
Nightruth
Nights Into Dreams Sampler
Ogre Battle
Refrain Love
Riglordsaga
Riglordsaga 2
Ronde
Sakura Wars Steam Radio Show
Sega Screams Volume 1 (loose)
Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner (x2)
Shiroki Majo
Slayers Royal
Slayers Royal 2
Super Robot Wars F Final
Virtua Cop (NFR) (x2)
Virtua Cop 2 boxset w/ Stunner lightgun
Wachenroder
Wizardry VI & VII Complete
Wizards Harmony
Yukyu Gensokyoku 2nd Album
Yu-No
Action Replay Plus w/ manual
Mouse w/ mousepad
Netlink modem w/ SegaNet disc, manual
S-Video cables
DREAMCAST:
Sakura Taisen LE boxset
Sakura Taisen 2 LE boxset
Broadband Adapter
Keyboard (loose)
Performance rumble pack
Vibration Pack (boxed)
VGA Box (boxed)
VMU (boxed, grey)
You may notice that almost all the games are Japanese. As such, I’ve not yet fully decided which games I’m keeping and which I’ll be getting rid of. Certainly some of them are at least somewhat import-friendly. But there’s an abundance of RPG’s and Adventure games that without an understanding of English will honestly just sit on my shelves untouched. But even saying that I know I’ll hang on to Grandia and the Sakura Wars box sets no matter what. There are some games that are just too cool to get rid of regardless of a language barrier.
I definitely have to thank my buds for hooking this deal up though, as I got a whole lot of incredible stuff here for about the cost of just the Dreamcast Broadband Adapter and that copy of Cotton Boomerang alone.
My other acquisition was actually bought all the way back in December. I got another Neo Geo Pocket Color console -- this time a nice silver one. It’s actually a Japanese edition because I really had been wanting a minty boxed system. As it happens, this one came bundled with a Japanese Pachinko game which I’ve yet to delve into. But I have played a whole lot of Bust-A-Move Pocket in the last month. Anyway, sorry about the lack of great pics this month. I’ll make up for that next time…
[img width=342 height=338]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/6/1/9/919619_52186_front.jpg[/img]
There was a time when I thought that the shoot-em-up was the dullest video game genre out there. I'm serious. I'm not afraid to admit my ignorance. It's totally true. But there was a chain of events that led me to discover three very important games (at least to my own gamer development). Games that caused me to fall deeply in love with the genre. Not surprisingly all three games were very different from each other -- but those differences caused me to realize that shmups were not the boring "everything is just Space Invaders with different sprites" that I had originally thought.
The first game that led me to this conclusion was Galaga and I was introduced to it as part of Racketboy.com's Together Retro game club back in early 2009. I remember dreading the thought of playing such a game for a full month, but then getting completely sucked into it for 30 days. To this day I consider Galaga one of my favorite games of all time. It's the one game that I seek out the second I find myself inside an arcade. I love the rare chance to get to play this masterpiece on original hardware. And I've since purchased way more Namco Museum collections than I care to admit.
The second game was Chaos Field -- introduced to me here on RFGeneration all those years back when Crabmaster2000 was still doing his "Unloved" series of blog posts. I remember him comparing it to Shadow of the Colossus in space -- a description so odd that I had to look into it. And really the game is odd, or rather unique in that it's basically just a boss rush with stunning music, incredible visuals and a solid dual-field mechanic that is addictive as all get-out.
But the third game I discovered totally on my own.
[img width=700 height=471]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2006/012/reviews/919402_20060113_screen001.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=466]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2006/012/reviews/919402_20060113_screen008.jpg[/img]
Shikigami No Shiro II (or Castle of Shikigami II as it's known in America) is a truly unique shmup. Rather than space ships you've got tiny little flying characters, all animated so impressively. The characters are definitely something that the developers Alfa Systems obviously cared a great deal about. Unlike most shmups which offer you three or so ships to choose from, Shikigami II gives you eight. And each character has an insane storyline to play through. Of course if you're playing the DC port it won't matter if you're an English speaker. But the translation (available on the PS2 port) proves that the story is so bat-poop insane that it doesn't even matter if you're following it or not. In fact, you have the option to turn off the dialogue which is often helpful as it can actually interrupt the flow of things.
What really matters is the game. And the game is just incredible to look at. Though the sprites are tiny they are well detailed. And the Dreamcast version does in fact offer a tate mode for those of you (like me) who are deranged enough to have monitors that you can rotate. And trust me it's totally worth it. This game looks incredible in its original vertical display mode. And audio-wise the game offers up one of my absolute favorite shmup soundtracks of all time.
[img width=689 height=480]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2006/012/reviews/919402_20060113_screen013.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=466]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2006/012/reviews/919402_20060113_screen017.jpg[/img]
The gameplay is incredible though, and that's why you're really reading this. You've got this tiny little character with an even tinier hit box. Each character (remember there's a lot of them) plays completely differently -- with different "Shikigami Attacks." Believe me when I say that each character can feel like you're playing completely different games. It's a very deep system. But what's even more intense is that you get far more points if you kill an enemy when grazing bullets. This alone adds an insanity to the game that is riveting. It's a truly unreal risk vs. rewards system where you must put yourself in constant danger in order to score higher. And this system alone means that once again, playing the game for score or playing the game for survival are two totally different games.
Though Shikigami No Shiro II is not the true bullet-hell that games (such as releases by Cave) would be later, they are also not quite as borderline old-school as say Psikyo's (Gunbird, etc.) would be. In this sense it's a similar bridge-game from old school and bullet hell though leaning far more toward the latter -- and of course you've got the crazy grazing dynamic to consider. This game is intense, and incredible and highly, highly recommended.
So post-holidays meant I had a bit of mad-money to blow. And I had no problem finding a whole lot of awesome Sega stuff to buy with it. Let's take a look...
[img width=600 height=800]http://imageshack.us/a/img41/2748/img20130131193741.jpg[/img]
Some Sega CD games. I'm especially happy to have a copy of Fatal Fury Special.
[img width=600 height=800]http://imageshack.us/a/img138/3820/img20130131193833.jpg[/img]
I found this boxed Lethal Enforcers gun for $10 locally... except look! The box actually has two of them!
[img width=700 height=525]http://imageshack.us/a/img819/5605/img20130131193948.jpg[/img]
A few games for my US Saturn library. Puzzle Fighter FTW!
[img width=700 height=525]http://imageshack.us/a/img51/3951/img20130131194004.jpg[/img]
These Saturn promos were from my RFGen Secret Santa, Tynstar. I've always wanted that Virtua Feeling sampler.
[img width=600 height=800]http://imageshack.us/a/img818/6858/img20130131194359.jpg[/img]
JJGames had an after-Christmas sale, so I nabbed a bunch of US Dreamcast games on the cheap.
[img width=700 height=525]http://imageshack.us/a/img841/3711/img201301311945391.jpg[/img]
A couple of indie games from Goat Store. The Irides is the limited edition which came with that coin and a nice poster (not pictured).
[img width=700 height=525]http://imageshack.us/a/img839/4619/img20130131194603.jpg[/img]
A couple of Dreamcast Japanese imports, also from Goat Store. They were dirt cheap so I couldn't pass them up. July was a Japanese launch title.
[img width=700 height=525]http://imageshack.us/a/img838/5953/img20130131194627.jpg[/img]
Fellow RFGenner dsheinem sold me these -- the one in the sleeve is the less common Version 2.62 Web Browser.
[img width=600 height=800]http://imageshack.us/a/img5/5783/img20130131194654.jpg[/img]
Planet Ring was a PAL exclusive, and the box set comes with a microphone. There's been rumors of this game getting a private server, so I'm all set if it does. This was also snatched from Goat Store at the very reasonable price of $14.
[img width=600 height=800]http://imageshack.us/a/img14/164/img20130131194715.jpg[/img]
This fight pad is not so good, though I guess some folks like the programmable buttons. However, it was only $3 and I already had the box to complete it. Also from Goat Store.
[img width=700 height=525]http://imageshack.us/a/img515/3519/img20130131194744.jpg[/img]
Another boxed VMU, along with a sealed US one. The sealed one came from JJGames, and the blue one I found locally. It's so hard to pass up boxed DC stuff if I see it in my travels.
[img width=700 height=525]http://imageshack.us/a/img7/6850/img20130131194806.jpg[/img]
A boxed US keyboard! I had a loose one, but I really wanted a boxed one to match my Japanese one. The box isn't in the best shape, but again I found it locally at a good price so couldn't leave it behind.
[img width=600 height=800]http://imageshack.us/a/img826/3982/img20130131194825.jpg[/img]
And finally a boxed US controller to match my PAL one. This was also from dsheinem.
|
