|
Those of you who follow me on Twitter are probably already aware, but about six months ago I created a YouTube channel where I am arranging and recording covers of various video game music. This had been a goal of mine for nearly two years prior to actually starting my channel, but I had a hard time getting started. Playing music has always been an important part of my life since my mid-teens and especially during my college years, but in recent years I had sort of fallen out of it despite my best efforts to stay motivated. It wasn't until I had the epiphany that I could combine my two major interests, music and gaming, into something I could be passionate about again.
Some of you may remember the progress videos for the 2019 NES Challenge that were made by fellow forum member Wempster, and the NES-themed medleys I recorded for these videos was a good way to dip my toe into the arranging and recording process. This all came together at the perfect time, as I was already interested in doing my own VGM covers at this time but was unsure how to get started. The first medley was a 25-minute behemoth that was pretty overwhelming to work on for someone who really didn't (and mostly still doesn't) know what they're doing, but it turned out pretty well in the end and is something I'm still proud of.
Continue reading My New YouTube Channel!
[img width=505 height=512]http://i.imgur.com/sHn6TdX.jpg[/img]
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins is an action stealth game developed by Acquire and published by Sony Music Entertainment Japan in Japan, and Activision internationally. It released in 1998 and was Acquire's first developed game. 1998 was an insane year for the burgeoning stealth genre, it saw the release of both Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation and Thief: The Dark Project on PC. Tenchu would actually release before either of these other two classics, and as a result, may be a bit more forgotten.
Tenchu follows the tale of two ninjas, Rikimaru and Ayame. Both characters have distinct personalities. Rikimaru is an honorable warrior, respecting his adversaries if they show honor and skill with their weapon and combat style. Ayame is much less tactful than Rikimaru, often berating her enemies, which leads to some encounters throughout the game playing out differently. Both characters progress through the exact same levels, but their motivations and goals differ slightly. The game starts off grounded in reality, with both ninjas hunting down corrupt merchants, doing illegal border crossings, and going on rescue missions. In usual video game fashion this leads down the rabbit hole until the supernatural masterminds are revealed.
Continue reading Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
Hey everyone, just wanted to give a heads up that there will be some down time soon. The OS that the server is on is going end of life soon, so we need to upgrade. Unfortunately, in this case, that means that we have to take it down and deploy a new server because of the version that we're moving to.
What does this mean? Well, I don't anticipate this taking an incredibly long time, but the site will be down while this is happening. We'll have the URL redirect to a Wordpress blog that we have set up for situations where there is an extended down time. You can watch for updates there in case something majorly breaks, but you can also hop in the Discord or follow the site on Twitter as well to get additional updates or if you want to hang with the community while this is being worked on.
Sorry in advance for the inconvenience, but hang with us while we get this done and we'll be back soon. So, while you may end up changing inputs temporarily, be sure to change it back to channel 3 when we return.
[img width=500 height=452]http://rfgeneration.com/podcasts/shmupclub/images/2020-11-19_stcc_ep_028_darius_twin.jpg[/img]
In Episode 028, MetalFRO and Addicted tackle the first console-exclusive entry in the Darius series! Taito brought the aquatic-themed series home after 2 entries in the arcade, and brought a 2-player experience to the SNES, when most shmups of the time were still single-player experiences. Is this game still worth playing in 2020?
You can download the episode directly, or stream it on the website, right here:
http://rfgeneration.com/podcasts/shmupclub/?name=2020-11-19_stcc_ep_028_darius_twin.mp3
Check us out and subscribe (and rate!) on Apple Podcasts!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/shoot-the-core-cast/id1432819542?mt=2
Continue reading Shoot the Core-cast Episode 028 - Darius Twin
Come delve along with Neo in this month's "A Brief Look At"
This month, we check out Delver for PC!
[img width=700 height=393]https://i.imgur.com/KIyfupq.jpg[/img] Swarm Riders
Shortly after I bought my Nintendo Switch, I caught wind of the trend of ultra cheap games on the eShop (shout-out to our very own Russ Lyman for making a video on these which was one of the things that initially got me into them). Since then, I've been adding about ten bucks to my account every few months and checking the eShop weekly to see what games are on sale for under one US dollar. I have many games on my Switch now. Make no mistake, many of them are not very good, but the low risk and potentially high reward have yielded some diamonds in the rough that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Here are a few of them.
Continue reading The Nintendo eShop is a haystack. Here are some needles.
[img width=200 height=445]http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/watermark.php?ID=U-240-H-00040-A;type=hw;number=00;sizex=200[/img]
As a guy who has stood in long lines more than once for a new console, the impending release of the new gaming hardware generation this time around just had not lit the same fire. A combination of more strained finances, a gaming backlog of comical proportions, and a lack of day-one gotta-have-'em games meant while I would like to eventually own the new hardware, I was fine waiting. But it just so happens, I have a wonderful Beloved (and also several now-spent gift cards and rewards points) and after a sudden opportunity we now have a shiny PlayStation 5. As the title suggests, I'd like to offer my initial impressions.
Continue reading Initial Impressions On The Playstation 5 and Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch
"Well, I've explained this many times on the RFGeneration Discord, and also explained this in my last article, but my original article for October got deleted when my browser crashed as I was entering in my password to upload/publish it. Thus, I am remaking the article for my article in November."
(All original text will be marked in '' and edits in "". Due to the original text being in '' I will be replacing all 's with `s)
'Well, it`s been a while since we first got into quarantine, hasn`t it? I don`t know about you, but my sense of time is pretty much eradicated. A lot of the time I`ve been sitting around, playing video games, and watching YouTube. So, here is another list, this time Multiplayer Online Games to Play.' "5, it ended up being." 'This list isn't in any particular order, just games I`d recommend.
'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the latest installment in the Super Smash Bros. series, following Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.' "(Sidenote: I know a lot of people will say that Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U are the same game, but in a Famitsu column [hope I'm spelling that right] Sakurai said that he thinks of them as two separate games.)" 'and preceding [REDACTED]. When you are at the main menu for the game, you can select Online from the modes, which brings you to a screen with Quickplay, Online Tournament, Spectate, and Arenas. Pressing Quickplay will bring you to a screen with 3 options, Solo Battle, Local Battle, and Preferred Rules. Solo Battle will randomly match you with a person with one or more same or similar Preferred Rules (if none are set, it'll be random) and Local Battle will let you team up with up to 2 people in the same lobby and choose randomly to play online with someone and their teammate. Spectate will let you spectate a match. If you have Gold, you can bet that on a person, and if that person wins, you get double the money. If they don`t, then you get 10-40 Gold depending on your GSP. Online Tournament will put you in a tournament of 64 people with predetermined rules based on events. Arenas are areas with 4 different areas. You can be on the sidelines, where you Spectate the current match (same rules as usual Spectating), Battle Lines, a waiting room for people that don't get in, and The Ring, where people battle each other.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a raci-wait. Of course, you know what Mario Kart is. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe`s online system is perfect, in my opinion. When you boot up the game past the title screen, you get 4 options, 2 of which we`re not going to be focusing on: Grand Prix, Vs Race, Online (1 Player), and Online (2 Players). Online (1 Player) and Online (2 Players) work in almost the same way. In Online (2 Players), there is a split-screen for each of the players. When you click either of these modes, you are brought to another mode selection screen, with four options: Random, VS Race, Clubs, and Battle. Randoms will have you race 12 people, randomly selected. VS Race is just the VS race from the start screen, but with 12 randomly selected players. Clubs are, well, clubs, that you can join. They are organized into the most popular. In clubs, makers can choose when they will be online, what games/modes they will orient through, and cap the number of players.
Minecraft Dungeons is a 4-player dungeon crawler set in the Minecraft universe.' "Hey past me, shouldn't it be up to? Anyways..." 'In the game, you can enchant stuff for things like extra damage and hitting opponents close to your general location. That's about all I have to say about the general gameplay. It is fun, though, don't get me mistaken. When you load your game, you have to pick the character that you have saved to. Other people can join by pressing buttons on their controller if your game is set to Offline. If you have your mode set to Online, people whom you invite over Xbox Live.
Super Mario Party is yet another Mario Party. This is actually the first one to have online play, surprisingly. When you select Online from the main menu, you can make or join lobbies. The online isn't that great, depending on who you encounter, but I felt like it deserved the list because of the amount of replayability. I was going to have Mario Maker 2 take this spot, but...
Super Mario Maker 2 is a game-maker made by Nintendo in 2019. When you select Online Play from Coursebot, you are given four options: Multiplayer Versus, Multiplayer Co-op, Local Play,' "(Sidenote: Why is Local play in Online Play?)" 'and With Friends. Multiplayer Versus will have you matched with up to four people to race for the goal of a randomly selected course, depending on four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Expert, and Super Expert. There is a level-up system, but this article is already long to begin with, and I'm planning on making a The Brilliance Of article for Mario Maker 2, so I think I won't go over it in this article. Multiplayer Co-op is like regular multiplayer in the New Super Mario Bros series, but with a randomly selected course based on the four difficulty levels again. With Friends lets you set the stage, difficulty levels, and mode from Multiplayer Versus and Multiplayer Co-op. The host can set a password for the room too, just in case you have friends that want to... I don't even know. Local Play behaves almost exactly like With Friends, but with LAN now instead of friends, and only the host has to have Wi-Fi.
I apologize for all the rushing of this article. I was trying to touch-type this one (I still suck at touch-typing) so that's where most of the issues arose.
Welcome one and all to this very special 10th Anniversary Edition of...
THE 2020
[img width=700 height=228]http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/1f/0a/f6/podcast4748829450/920!x300!_7078778.gif[/img]
NOT-SO-SECRET SANTA
GIVE-AWAY!!![/size]
To celebrate both the 10th NSSS and my 10th anniversary on RF Generation, I offer 10 humble items for your first-come, first-served consideration! Just remember the rules:
- Just one selection per person.
- The first person to claim the item gets it. First come, first served.
How to make your claim:
- Take note of the number of the item/lot you desire, and...
- Post that number in the Not-So-Secret-Santa blog's comments section. Only claims made in the blog comments section will be honored.
All RF Generation members from anywhere in the world are welcome to take advantage. Just be aware that, that unless otherwise noted, all games being given away are NTSC U/C coded for use in machines for the North American market.
As for shipping costs: I'm covering it. Just note that I'll be mailing this stuff out using the cheapest shipping methods possible, so it might be a while before your claim gets to you. You'll receive a PM informing you of your successful claim, and either requesting your mailing address, or confirming the one I have on file.
And now, it's time to count down the swag, starting with...
10.) NAKI lanyard
[img width=700 height=535]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50599295896_0d6f7fc496_o.jpg[/img]
9.) PlayStation 2 lanyard
8.) Benjamin Bumchen Vorsschulspasse for Nintendo DS
7.) Loot Crate TEAM FORTRESS 2 pinback button collectors set
6.) Mega Bloks Skylanders Possessed CYNDER mini-figure
5.) K'Nex WARIO mini-figure
4.) Wendy's Design-Your-World 8-BIT ARCADE playset, sealed
3.) Dragon Advance Boy GBA game cartridge vertical stand with box
2.) Sealed cube of Super Mario sticky notes
1.) SUPER MARIO BROS. & DUCK HUNT for NES
[img width=700 height=698]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50599296221_2d2fedc64a_o.jpg[/img]
Whelp, that's it for this year. My most profuse thanks go out to all who have participated in this silly little give-away over the last decade... here's to ten more years!
Until next time...
...'Late
In October, we looked at the top games for the Game Boy Advance
[img width=640 height=480]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Nintendo-Game-Boy-Advance-Purple-FL.jpg/1024px-Nintendo-Game-Boy-Advance-Purple-FL.jpg[/img]
The successor to the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, the Game Boy Advance, or GBA, could reasonably be described as a portable Super NES. In fact, several games originally released for the Super NES made their way to the GBA as portable re-releases. With several hundred games to choose from, it may be a slight surprise that out of six participants, only 59 different games received a rank.
The participants for this list:
EZ Racer
blcklblskt
MetalFro
Crabmaster2000
Disposed Hero
Normatron
But while several games were on multiple lists, there was a lot more variety on exactly where they should fall. This also caused several logjams in the ranks. As you'll see below, there were several spots in which 1 or 2 points made the difference, especially in the mid-teens, where there was only a 4 point gap between 13th and 18th place. That's equivalent to the difference between a single 11th place vote versus a 9th place vote.
It's also apparent that strategy games and metroidvania games were prevalent on the system, as they took up 9 of the 20 spots. And for how many games received multiple votes, only two were on all six lists, not coincidentally falling into the #1 and #2 spots on the final list.
There were plenty of great games that fell just short of making the top 20, and you can find more about those games on the submissions page- http://www.rfgeneration.c...19437.msg274464#msg274464
Continue reading RFGen Top 20 Games Game Boy Advance Edition
I was given two controllers from a friend to customize. He wanted a Freddy theme and a NES Jason one. I had a blast making these controllers for him. I use some epoxy sculpt and acrylic paint to create the look on both of them.
[img width=700 height=429]https://i.imgur.com/ryBaPUy.jpg[/img]
Here we are! It's already November and that means Secret Santa time is upon us again! Come and join the merriest retroiest fanboyiest Secret Santa on the internet! Rules and signup information can be found below.
The deadline to sign up is Saturday November 14th so ACT NOW!
http://www.rfgeneration.c...19450.msg275038#msg275038
[img width=640 height=853]https://preview.redd.it/cc2oxpgmlts31.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=c64b5250335944cfba7a6471729ac4832ad3d3c0[/img]
I've been inspired, over the last few months, to play more video games. I assume my participation in the RF Generation Community Playthrough through the year has been a bit of an indication, at least in part. I would hope my articles through the year have signaled that, as well. One thing I haven't been spectacular at over the years is time management. As a more task-oriented person, I tend to focus on one thing, and then move on to another. But with anything in life, setting goals is important to getting ahead. As many games as I own at this point, I have more than I'll realistically ever really play through. But at least I can make some plans on how to begin evening the odds.
Continue reading Chipping Away At The Backlog
[img width=700 height=476]https://i.imgur.com/gMzJwEe.png[/img]
I decided I would take a different spin on my Halloween post this year and resurrect a dormant RF Generation topic that looks at the wonderful world of video game music. As we all know, music can play a vital role in setting the tone and atmosphere of a game, just as with movies and TV shows. And few genres are more enhanced by a quality soundscape than horror.
That said, as I was compiling the list of games below, I started to realize that most horror-themed games have soundtracks that are more orchestral and ambient in nature (Dead Space, Alien: Isolation, and Resident Evil VII are three recent examples that come to mind). Interestingly, a lot of the tracks I consider effectively creepy are from games that aren't particularly focused on being scary. But that doesn't mean they can't have a similar effect. Take a look at my list below, and let me know if there are any scary tracks from games that come to mind for you.
Continue reading RF Jamz: Spooky Plays Edition
[img width=700 height=393]https://i.imgur.com/gTnlFyN.png[/img]
When we think of good games to play during the Halloween season, typically anything with a general horror theme comes to mind as a good fit for the holiday. Truth be told, there aren't many games that are specifically about Halloween, so if you wanted something tailor-made for the holiday, pickings are slim. However, the two Costume Quest games are the exact opposite, not at all scary but focused specifically on Halloween. Having played and enjoyed the first Costume Quest many years ago, I have always wanted to play the sequel and finally made it happen this October.
Continue reading Costume Quest 2
|
|
|
|
Blog Navigation
Browse Bloggers | My Blog
|
We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our entries, rantings, and completely unrelated series of thoughts. We write for you to read, so we certainly hope that you enjoy our material.
|
|
Hot Community Entries
|
|
Hot RFG Blog Entries
| |
|
