Back with another list, and this time we're looking at fighting games. There wasn't as much participation this month, participants for this list were myself, Whynotzoidberg, and Crabmaster2000. There were still some games that came across as consensus favorites, with two series conspicuously absent.
What makes a good fighter? Quick action, interesting move sets and combos, a variety of characters, among other criteria. With the lower participation, there were 10 games that stood out as the top of the genre.
Today I'm reviewing an adorable action game for the Sega Genesis. It's a platformer with elements of adventure and roleplaying. But it's also got a bit of a metroidvania flavor that I quite enjoyed. While it starts out a bit slow, it really grew on me.
In the 80's and early 90's, ninjas were a big deal. They were everywhere in media, from cartoons like G.I. Joe to movies like the American Ninja series, those of the adolescent mutant amphibious variety, and of course, video games. For those who played on Nintendo consoles, we had a number of options, but the most obvious of those was the Ninja Gaiden series, at least through the 8-bit days. On the Sega side of the fence, there was Shinobi, which received a Master System reinterpretation of the arcade game. The series branched into 3 paths, 1 being the more straight-forward Shadow Dancer which followed the original arcade game (and had a different, but similar outing on the Genesis), and then the 2 Super Shinobi games for the Mega Drive, which we know in the West as The Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi III, respectively. The 3rd path is the 2 GG Shinobi games on the Game Gear, but whether or not those are canon in the series I cannot say. The final 2D entry, prior to the series' soft reboot on PS2, is often ignored, or worse, frequently either forgotten or maligned. With the RF Generation Community Playthrough group focusing on the series' 16-bit entries this month, I thought it was timely to look at the final original 2D game from the venerable series.
I've been itching to get back to Final Fantasy for a while, and I've had an arrangement of this track sitting around for a couple of months, so the time was finally right to put my spin on this one! This is a track I've had my eye on covering since my Final Fantasy IV Zeromus cover from about five months ago. The Zeromus cover has always been my favorite, and, with both tracks being pretty similar, it just seemed inevitable that I would get around to this one eventually. I hope you all enjoy it!
I first started seeing trailers for Free Guy last summer. The teasers showed Ryan Reynolds as a polite, happy-go-lucky bank teller in a fictional online multiplayer game called Free City. One day, after putting on a pair of sunglasses left behind by one of the players, he discovers through their augmented-reality HUD that there's so much more going on in his world than the endless daily loop he's been living. Like so many things, the global pandemic put the brakes on Free Guy's release, but it's finally in theaters. It doesn't appear to be on any streaming services yet, so let's see if the film is good enough to warrant a trip out into the real world.
In Episode 037, Addicted and MetalFRO welcome in Ed from the Bullet Heaven series on YouTube to discuss the game that Bullet Heaven awarded its top honors to for the year: Project Starship X! Do the Rogue-lite elements enhance the fun, or get in the way? We talk about that, and much more!
Finally found a way to upload another video, one that I've had completed for months. This time, it's XIII, a game based off of a comic franchise of the same name. I bought it purely because of how well it was presented, since it reminded me of Comix Zone. I actually wrote a review for it after I beat it years ago, but my opinion has changed. Its amazing presentation, graphical style, and story tricked me into thinking this was a good game. Unfortunately it is not. No amount of graphics can excuse bland gameplay.
I hope to be putting out more videos soon enough. I already have the rest of two LPs finished as well as another review in the works. Stay tuned, and remember to subscribe on Youtube and follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
Insomniac, Universal, and Sony all stumbled into a smash success with the release of Spyro the Dragon. It was inevitable that a sequel would be developed and released, and that sequel would be Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage. Ripto's Rage released in 1999 with mostly the same list of credits when it came to key positions. The game would be renamed to Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer in Europe. Ripto's Rage adds much to the base of the formula of the first game while maintaining the highly consistent quality. It's a great example of a sequel which built upon the strengths of the original game while adding features to the game that do not make it feel bloated and work in line with the basic idea of platforming, exploration, and collecting that was established with the first Spyro.
Super Mario 64 is an old favorite of mine and is still a game that I enjoy going back and playing to this day. I've always thought this rockin' tune from the Bowser fights was cool, but after listening to the soundtrack recently I felt like I absolutely had to cover it at some point, and I didn't wait long to do it. I was able to break out the 7-string again for the first time in about 6 months, and it was cool to be able to use it again. It's hard to believe, but after starting my channel over a year ago, this is the first Mario tune I've done, and I think my first time covering a Nintendo track in general. I wanted to try adding some original stuff to this one, so the bridge section is pretty much my own original riffs, for better or worse haha! This cover was a lot of fun to work on and I hope you all enjoy it!
Around this time last year, I wrote a very popular entry about my goal to drastically reduce my game collection and the work I was doing to achieve said goal. Reading this back a year later, I can tell I was writing from a peak point of games outgoing. I spoke about reducing shelving units from three to two, and how I'd like to go from two to one. I noted that I had gotten on the shelf physical titles down to about 750 pieces. So, what has happened since then? In twelve months was I able to get down to that magical goal of one shelving unit for games? Am I buying any games anymore? Perhaps the answer will be surprising.
It was two years ago that we had our inaugural 'Test and Repair Table' at the 2019 Cleveland Classic Console and Arcade Gaming Show. One thing I think most can agree on, that in-between block of time has been unusual and the time before it seems long ago. Finally, thankfully, this year's show came around and it was as excellent as we all hoped!
[img align=right]https://i.ibb.co/B6gLZbS/PSX-20210728-150832.jpg[/img]The first REAL computer sport?
Back in May 2020 an article appeared, somewhat bizarrely, on the BBC Sport website about a 1985 videogame designed to teach people how to surf.
It was a fascinating piece that I'll link at the bottom and I thoroughly recommend you read, but with little interest in surfing my imagination was particularly captured, so much so that I tracked down and bought myself a complete copy of the game, by the game's bespoke controller; a plastic surfboard shrunk down to a size a little smaller than the original model of ZX Spectrum. This device was designed to sit on top of the rubber keys and claimed to offer the player scientifically developed 'realistic' movement.
It's a brilliantly bonkers concept, but how does it work? And is the game any good?
Well, perhaps unsurprisingly (especially if you've read the aforementioned article) the game has the air of being put together by someone who's never made entertainment software before. It's worrying enough when the loading splash screen looks to be comprised of the in game graphics which were, it should be said, very simple even by 1985 standards. But furthermore, once loaded, you're immediately presented with the questions "Choose your board 1-5?" and "Gear Selection 1..5", the latter of which inexplicably requires you to enter more than one number and then, for some reason, enter an "X" to move to the next screen.
This is a menu system that is entirely impossible to navigate without constant reference to the game manual, and once you're in-game things only slightly improve.
First up, you have to plod up and down the beach as you choose the best time and place to paddle out... or risk being washed back the way you came. How far you paddle is a variable, as is when to mount, how to turn, how to re-mount... and all this is must be achieved while watching an energy bar that constantly depletes, and is impossible to refill.
On the underside of the game's 19cm surfboard controller are a central pivot, and several little nubs around the edge that press down onto certain keys. Placing a hand on the board, you press in the various areas, relative to where you would press with your feet when real-world surfing, to perform turns, dip the nose over waves, and replicate other surfing moves that I have little knowledge of... I think you can even "hang ten".
So I figured that instead of using my Instagram to post devlogs (never do that sort of thing on any social), I would just use RFGeneration since I've been on there a few years, and you guys are listed in the opening splashes after all; truly, after putting some time into actual developing. amazing job bickman how do you do it so good*
So, recap, I've been working on this thing for a few months. It's been...
..
interesting, to say the least.
but rewarding when you actually get something working.
As of this week, I have made a grand total of 4 whole songs for it and added a title screen and tutorial.
I want to add a dialogue box soon, and actual dialogue.
*Shadow Kisuragi, you are good too. To all the developers who may be reading this, good job.
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.
