In Episode 019, Addicted and MetalFRO take a critical look at the Konami shooter, Otomedius Excellent. A spiritual successor to the Parodius series, and heavily inspired by the Gradius games, we dig into what works, what doesn't, and what bothers us about this title, as well as looking at how cultural differences can sometimes affect perception of a game, and its design, throughout the world. We hope you'll enjoy the discussion!
Posted on Jan 12th 2020 at 01:00:00 PM by (Pam) Posted under video, top 10
2019 has been a great year for games, it was a struggle to narrow this list down to just 10 of the 31 releases I played this year. But I did it. Here are my top 10 games of 2019.
If anyone's interested, here are all the 2019 releases I played (didn't necessarily finish them all though):
[img width=700 height=393]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81hyAlSYb0L.jpg[/img] Image shamelessly linked from Amazon.
I started a tradition a few years back, where I pick a "new to me" indie game, and play it on New Year's Day, in an attempt to either beat it on day one, or see how far I can get, then continue with that game, until I can beat it. New Year's Day 2015, I played through Shovel Knight, and ended up beating the game in a single day, which I was very pleased with. The following January 1st, I played Freedom Planet, which was a much longer game, and also fairly difficult in spots, so I didn't manage to take it down that day. The following year, I sunk my teeth into Axiom Verge, and while I sort of knew it wouldn't be a one day game, my first time through, I managed to knock it out in just 4 days, and it has since become one of my favorite games of the last decade. Unfortunately, due to moving for a job, I was unable to keep this tradition going in 2018, but January 1st, 2019 heralded the return, with me taking on The Messenger and really enjoying that experience, despite some frustration with the precision platforming, and my own meager skills.
Hey guys Russ Lyman here, and I'm excited to share with you another custom controller I made. I love DIY stuff, and creating something new out of something old. My friend MegaDan29 reached out to me to make him a controller themed to his favorite NES game Punch Out. I brainstormed for a bit, and released the simplest solution. Lets make it look like a boxing glove. I used a two part clay called Apoxie Sulpt to shape most of the controller, and YES it still functions. Its a little awkward to hold, but you can still use it. If you want to see a more detail build of the controller check out my full YouTube video on it here. ____________________________________________________
**Please join us in welcoming our newest staff member to the front page, Russlyman. Russ is a long-time member of RF Generation and we are looking forward to all of his awesome video gaming DIY content! - singlebanana**
Call it a new year's resolution, call it an epiphany, call it whatever you want, but I decided I wanted to do things a little differently this year. It seems like every year I say to myself "life is busy, I didn't play as much as I wanted." But rather than ape that sentiment yet again, I figured it would be better to turn it into an opportunity. The games industry is more than just the games themselves. I feel that most people who love video games naturally share an interest in the ancillary aspects of the business. And so, in that spirit, these are the most notable things about the games industry to me in 2019. The good, the bad, the ugly, and sometimes, the infuriating. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below, so feel free to let me know what you thought about any of the items listed here, or if there was something else about the year in games you felt was particularly worthy of attention.
To get straight to the point, we did not make our goal of beating every North American licensed NES game in the year 2019. Is that a disappointing outcome? Heck no! We ended up conquering 514 of the 669 game list in a single year. We had 30 members participate throughout the year! Some of which I havn't really had a good opportunity to interact with before and it gave me a chance to get to know them better. Beyond those 30 players we had several other members offer advice and support and simply cheer us on. Even though we fell short at the end we had an incredible time exploring new worlds, gritting our teeth over challenging areas, mashing buttons faster than ever before and most importantly, sharing our accomplishments with our peers.
It was quite heartwarming to see people scratch games off their backlog, overcome childhood hurtles and discover new favorites. Every game is not a winner, but I do feel there is something valuable to learn even from playing a stinker. I hope that every player feels that the time they invested in this community challenge was as worthwhile as I did. Whether you joined us for 1 game or 100 I'm incredibly thankful for your participation.
With 2019 coming to a close, we can expect to see all the obligatory GOTY lists rolling in. Rather than do the usual Top 10 GOTY list myself, I wanted to reflect on all the games I played instead of just the new releases. 2019 turned out to be a very productive year for me gaming-wise, as my number of games beaten for the entire year sits at 125 games, so I wanted to do more of a stream-of-consciousness reflection of the highlights from my year.
In 2010, one of the fastest rising games in terms of popularity on the planet was Minecraft. Ten years later and one of the biggest games on Earth is... still Minecraft. An insane number of people have bought and played this game since its days in early alpha, and now its had well over a decade of continuous development. Minecraft continues to get some major updates long after its official 1.0 release that brought it out of its beta. So, what are some of the changes that have come over the years? And how have these updates and continuous development kept both a large number of long time players interested, and continued to bring in new players?
Anyone who grew up in the Super Nintendo era remembers that slogan, a spin on Nintendos highly effective marketing campaign for their 1st system, the NES. And while the NES is littered with titles that would set the standard for what video games could potentially be, the Super NES showed us what the pinnacle of 2D gaming could be, with games like Zelda: Link to the Past and Super Metroid often considered among the greatest games ever. Of course, like its predecessor, it had its share of clunkers as well.
In 2016, Pat Contri, with the help of others, produced a reference guide that looked at each game in the vast NES library. Each review had an overview, screenshots, developer and publisher info, a grade from 0 to 5 stars, as well as random and often comical thoughts the reviewer associated with the particular title being reviewed.
Fast forward to 2019, Contri took on the Super NES library in similar fashion, looking at each game individually. After enjoying my copy of the "Ultimate Guide to the NES" I had little doubt I would enjoy the Super NES iteration, and eagerly awaited its arrival. But I wondered what differences I would find, what improvements had been made, and what, if any, changes were made in the way its writers approached their reviews.
I'll get this out of the way right off the bat. While expensive ($60 plus tax/shipping), if you enjoy the Super NES and want brief info on the hundreds of titles for it, this book will fulfill your needs and then some. Most of the reviews run from about 250-350 words. Like the NES book, the reviews are meant as short overviews of the games features, not necessarily deep, comprehensive looks. Because of this, many of reviews can be a little dry at times, and the reader may find themselves looking at the Reflections section first, then the actual review.
This is also where I noticed the first subtle change from the NES guide. Each reviewer in the book has their own distinctive writing style, and conforms those to the books needs. But Ian Ferguson, a heavy contributor to the NES guide, is missed. While he has publicly stated his indifference to the Super NES, his writing seemed to strike the perfect balance between charm and information, the way a friend might describe the game over a beverage of choice. While all are skilled, none of the current set of writers quite hits that note of charm. Though to be fair, all demonstrate solid writing ability and appreciation for games they review. Its more of a "seems to be missing the cherry on top" feeling with Ferguson not present.
However, there are several subtle changes in the Super NES book that when taken in as a whole add so much to the book's quality. One nice addition is the inclusion of all PAL released games having full reviews. As someone who admittedly is not that knowledgeable of the PAL exclusive titles, I was able to find several games that fit my gaming interests, many of which I would have had no idea existed without the book.
One less obvious but terrific change was one to the layout of the pages. The reviews in this book just look sharp. This is due some small but extremely effective changes. One of these is a different placement of screenshots. The first book included four with each review, set on a 2x2 grid at the bottom of the page. While it worked, the end result made the pages a little clunky, with the pics feeling more like an add-on than a cohesive part of the review. Here, 2 shots are placed directly under the cartridge pic and info, and 2 more are placed between the review and reflections section. This makes for better page organization and more emphasis on the pics. The other change to the layout was to make the cartridge pic a close up of the label, set at a dynamic angle, and placed on a background of either the primary or secondary color from the label. And boy does that little detail make the pages pop.
The book also does a good job of covering the accessories of the system, and contains several articles about relevant issues associated with the Super NES at the time.
Like many who will pick up the book for the first time, I found myself looking up several games I was familiar with, to see if the star rating matched my rating. Where I give the book a lot of credit is that the reviewers were critics, not cynics. They would approach each title wanting to like it, but not afraid to point out the flaws. For me personally, I wanted to see how F1 ROC II rated, because its a game in which my personal opinion differs from the limited reviews I have seen that have covered it. Without giving away too much information, I have a lot of respect for reviewer Jim Evans' thoughts and approach on that particular title.
So what's missing? That depends on what you are looking for. What this book provides is a great introductory look at every game in the Super NES library, giving you both a sense of each games merits as well as covering the lesser known titles most casual gamers have never heard of. Want an in depth look at the history behind some of your favorite games? That's not the vision behind this book. But like the NES book, it is a great reference book for those who may not know the systems library of games inside and out, and still worthwhile for those who do.
One last note: the few complaints I have with the book are of a nitpicky variety, with one glaring exception. The binding of both books does not hold up well to the weight of the pages, which are of nice, heavy gloss-type paper. Unfortunately, if storing the book standing up, on a bookshelf for instance, eventually the binding will begin to fail. This hamstrings the storage options for the book, for to keep it in good condition means always having it sitting flat.
With that said, I have been very pleased overall with both books, and am looking forward to whatever the next addition to the Ultimate Guides is.
The first Final Fantasy game I completed was the Playstation version of the first game in 2012. I hated it. I've written about the insanely high encounter rate in that version of the game before, but it bears repeating because I never see anyone else mentioning it. Last year I played the PSP version of Final Fantasy IV on one of my Vitas and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I knew the series deserved a second chance and I'm glad I gave it one. With those two completed, I've been thinking for a long time about which game in the series would be next for me. All of the games seem interesting to me, and each title (except for IV and VI maybe) has its fans as well as its major haters. Although I thought I might skip to the Playstation era of the franchise, I decided to go to the Playstation 2. I remember the time I was a guest on the Collectorcast, Chris spoke highly of Final Fantasy XII but Bil was very persuasive making his case for the tenth game in the series. So a few weeks ago I decided once again to play through a Final Fantasy title, once again on the Playstation Vita. This is not a review, as I am not finished with the game, and I don't think I'd want to review this game even if I was. Rather, I feel a desire to share some thoughts on this very strange game.
It's been quite a year for retro game remakes, ports, and compilations, during which I have played well over one hundred different games, many for the first time. Now, I have to admit that I am burnt out a bit and in need of some gaming R&R, but before I do so there is one more title that I need to play, one which has garnered a reputation for pushing the envelope on port quality. That game is Sega AGES: Phantasy Star on the Nintendo Switch.
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.
