So, I had a topic for this post planned out a long time ago. I took the pics and was typing it up, but then it hit me. It's that time of year again. No, not Retro World Expo (well, it's that time of year too, and I'm looking forward to experiencing that for the first time). I'm talking about the annual Extra Life for Kids charity event. It kind of snuck up on me this year.
I decided that since my next piece for the site wasn't going to be due until the day of the event, and since I would need to make that post the first entry in our new community movie discussion, this was the last chance I had to write about this wonderful event and why it's so important to me. I know there are some of us in the RFGen community who participate already, and I've participated myself three times now, but I feel that I'm in a unique position this year to make the most out of the event and help more than I've been able to in the past. And so, much to my editor's chagrin, I'm sure, I decided I'd be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to share my story.
While I eagerly anticipate the arrival of October because of my trip down south to meet up with several rfgen members to once again attend the seminal Retro World Expo, I'm making sure I've got my wishlist in order and ready to rock. This trip gives me the opportunity to delve into the stock of dozens of stores and vendors that I'd normally never have access to while at home. My hope is to be able to find some of the more challenging games to obtain in different sets. Since completing my licensed NES and Turbografx 16 collections, I've been focusing on completing a few other full libraries. Some easier than others.....
One of the first pieces I wrote for RFGen was a love letter of sorts to movies that have video games as a central theme. The article was pretty well received, so much so that a couple of you were in favor of expanding the idea into a full-fledged movie watching club. I liked the idea, but wanted to focus mainly on pure games writing at the time. Well, here we are a year later; I've established myself on the site and with this great community, and I'm ready to revisit the concept. So it's with no small amount of excitement that I'm announcing the debut of the RFGeneration community movie discussion group (RF Cinema for short).
Welcome to the fifth edition of our game room series where we take a look at some of our site members gaming spaces! This month we are featuring longtime site member, Fokakis79. Join us as we explore this member's gaming space and learn more about how and what he collects, and how he makes his space work for his gaming needs.
**If you are a member and have a game room or gaming area that you would like to share, please send a PM to singlebanana and I will add you to our list.**
Despite being a huge fan of JRPGs for most of my life, I had never played a Dragon Quest game until earlier this year, with that game being Dragon Quest V on the DS. While I did enjoy that game, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would based on all of the praise I had previously heard about it. One thing that I can say about Dragon Quest V though, and I assume is true of every game in the series, is that it has a lot of charm, and that charm left me wanting to play more games in the series. So with the recent release of an enhanced version of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King for the Nintendo 3DS, the time seemed right to jump into my next game in the series.
As the storage size of digital media has increased, so too has the size of the video games that are played. Game worlds used to be quite tiny, and the length of games came from other areas of difficulty meant to make it hard to explore those worlds. Enemies were difficult and frequent; statistical balance was brutal. It would take players hours to get the right equipment, enough money, and high enough stats to be able to properly progress. Games have been expanded in many ways for decades.
The idea of playing through a game twice or more is quite old by now, with the earliest examples coming from some mid-80s hits and classics such as Ghosts 'n Goblins, The Legend of Zelda, and Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei. The rewards for this choice are varied, the true ending for Ghosts 'n Goblins, or an extra challenge in Zelda and Megami Tensei. It was only later when this idea was not only popularized, but received a name that has stuck with gamers for over two decades and counting now. Chrono Trigger rewarded players for multiple trips through its world by offering a variety of different endings that could be achieved by beating the final boss in any number of different ways and almost anywhere during the story.
Most people do not think of the NES when they think of pinball. They would be very right to forget the small library of sub par pinball games on the otherwise heralded system...but SOMEONE has to play'em right? While it only has a few titles, the NES is certainly one of the places you could play.
Image of Ace Combat: Infinity courtesy of Playstation
Since I played Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy on the 3DS last month, I had been craving more dogfighting, dive-bombing airplane action. I didn't realize how addictive the gameplay was until I was done with the game, when it dawned on me how much it left me wanting more. There's something about controlling a fighter plane, and methodically locking onto enemies and taking them out, one by one that is very satisfying.
Now that I'm forty, and being that it is the dog days of summer, it's about time I managed to accomplish something. I'm sure I did something this year, but my summer list seems a little heavy. Hmm. Still haven't fixed the fence. And all those branches in my backyard... are still attached to that bush for some reason. Well, I've managed to grow up some, I guess. Maybe. Gosh, this is really depressing.
Well, I did manage to do something this year; a certain thing that has dogged my steps for half my life now; a game I had a beef with from way back in 1997. But I was ready and attacked it full force, summons and limit breaks a blazin', and after quite a few gaming sessions I finally finished Final Fantasy VII.
[img width=360 height=490]http://media.nintendo.com/nintendo/bin/H046_DMqLS1vDuBChewr5h01OfubAvyW/pIvIRVTIZdQxUCEFwmP6irIPSANuTMMa.jpg[/img] Pic from Nintendo.com and my 9 Year-Old's-imagination
Some creative mash-ups end up working so well they seem obvious in hindsight. And then there are those that still don't make sense afterward, even if the end result is far greater than the some of the respective parts. I don't know what is the bigger surprise, that Mario Plus Rabbids: Kingdom Battle even exists, or that it is easily among my favorite games this year.
Last month, we joined our friends from the Cartridge Club in a dual site playthrough of Journey on the PS3 and PS4. In this episode of the RF Generation Playcast, hosts Rich (singlebanana), Shawn (GrayGhost81), brothers P1 and P2 (Cartridge Club), and Jake from the Polykill podcast as we discuss this short, but deeply moving effort from thatgamecompany. In this episode, we discuss the game's mechanics (or lack therefore), the story, the game's use of color and music, and what effect our individual playthroughs had on us. What peculiar organ did Rich believe he was tracking towards? How did Shawn's second playthrough compare to his original from years ago? Why would Ghandi have loved playing this game? And out of the five of us, who has the biggest scarf? The answers to these questions and many more in this month's episode of the RF Generation Playcast. You won't want to miss it!
As always, we are happy to hear your thoughts on this game on our discussion page (linked below). We will respond to your comments and are always happy to discuss the game more. We hope you enjoy our show. Please be sure to rate and write a review of the show on iTunes to help us increase our listenership. Thanks for the listen!
Today I'm reviewing one of the best point and click adventure games ever - The Secret of Monkey Island. It combines great music and visuals with laugh out loud humour. It also represents a departure from adventure games of its time by being much less punishing towards its players. I'll be mainly talking about the original but I'll also touch on the Special Edition released in 2009 and how it compares.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this month's edition of RF Generation's Site News! In this issue, we announce our spooky October community playthrough game, give a final update on Retro World Expo, discuss a little site maintenance, and of course, thank those members who sent in submissions to our site and registered approvals during the month of August. We are changing our submission "focus" again, so stay tuned to the end of our broadcast for more details. Thanks for tuning in!
REMEMBER: If you have any news about upcoming events or topics that you think the site needs to hear about, please PM singlebanana and put "RFG Site News" in the subject line. Who knows, maybe your news will make our front page!
Tetris is undoubtedly one of the biggest games ever. Not in terms of its size, but rather, it's reach. It has appeared on nearly every major game console in some form, been ported to most every retro computer, and is known by even the least informed person you might talk to about video games. Ask any random person on the street if they've ever heard of Tetris, and chances are, they'll at least have an idea of what it is, even if they can't explain it, or have never played it. The ubiquity of Tetris is largely thanks to Nintendo's wise choice of making it the pack-in title for the North American launch of the Game Boy, and probably one of the reasons Nintendo began the portable game console market at the top, and subsequently never left. Here are some thoughts about the game itself, as well as a bit of rumination about its legacy and impact. Enjoy!
There are few video game franchises more well-known or well-loved than Final Fantasy. There are also few franchises with a more interesting history. With numerous remakes, fan translations, and a once-bewildering numbering discrepancy, it's a dizzying series of games to keep track of for all but the most dedicated. The third and fifth entries, in particular, have always been the odd and underappreciated ducklings. However, for those who gave them a shot they've gotten high praise, and are some of the most intriguing in terms of their path to a Western release.
This makes it a perfect fit for the next entry in Boss Fight Books' series of video game reference tomes. As familiar as I am with FFV, I've never played through it myself, so I figured this was a good opportunity to learn a bit more about the game and what makes it so great, why it took Squaresoft seven years to bring it to American gamers, and the lengths to which its fans went through to make it playable here long before its official US release.
