Latest Haul: Sega Saturn Stunner
June 28, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
This was a busy week for new retro game stuff. As I mentioned in one of my Sunday posts, I picked up a couple NES games and a Genesis game. On top of that, a recent eBay purchase arrived — a Sega Saturn Stunner ($9.99 plus shipping, brand new). That, in and of itself, does not make for a very interesting post. More importantly, it gives me a chance to tell a story and share some trivia. And that is what blog posts are all about…
What it comes down to is that I finally dropped the dough on an accessory that I should have bought about 10 years ago. I’m one of the many that adopted the Saturn when Sega was running its “Three Free Games” promotion. If you’re not familiar with it, Sega packed in three free games with each Saturn sold during the 1996 holiday season: Virtua Fighter 2, Daytona USA, and Virtua Cop. This was a fantastic deal and led to such good sales numbers that they ended up running the promotion for about six months when they originally planned six weeks!
Strangely, the box that the free games came in had a label promoting the deal which stated that the three games were a “$189” value. $189? Where the hell did that number come from? Regardless of how it was promoted, it was very difficult to pass up a Saturn and three of its best games for $199. So that’s how they hooked me.
But like I said, one of the free games was Virtua Cop. Unfortunately, the package did not include the light gun that really makes the game what it is. For one reason or another, I never decided to get one, so the few times that I did play Virtua Cop, I played it with the controller. I actually got surprisingly good at the game like that, but really, it’s not the way it was meant to be played.
With my decision to start The Retro Review Project, I had the perfect excuse to finally break down and get the Stunner. After all, how could I possibly give Virtua Cop a proper review without it? Of course, now that I have the Stunner, that gives me the perfect excuse to get Virtua Cop 2 and House of the Dead… Collecting is a vicious cycle.
RetroTube: Rock Out with Lords of Thunder
June 26, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
Back when I knew almost nothing about the TurboGrafx-16 and Turbo Duo, I did know one thing… That there was a game called Lords of Thunder and it had the best damn soundtrack of any game, ever. I knew this because I had a single, two-minute, low-quality .aiff audio clip that contained just a portion of one of the game’s songs. And that two-minutes absolutely rocked. In fact, I used to put that one clip on loop and listen to it for a half hour at a time! Unfortunately, I lost the file in a hard drive crash and never found it again. But never fear, the story has a happy ending. I just recently bought the actual game and now I can enjoy the music any time I want! (Along with a great game, to boot.)
But not all of you have a TurboGrafx-CD or Turbo Duo, so you can’t do the same. That’s a shame, but at least there’s another way. Now, thanks to YouTube user vertexguy, I can share with you the very same song that entranced me when I first heard it… Enjoy!
Latest Haul: R.C. Pro-Am, Nightshade, Landstalker
June 24, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
I said it in The Snatcher Mission, and I’ll say it again. Even though I’ve given myself the task of reviewing each and every one of my old games, I’m going to buy more — I can’t help it! Do I have a problem, or do I have a hobby? I think of it as a hobby, since so much of the fun comes from learning about an old game I may have never heard of in its heyday. It’s enjoyable, satisfying, and now that I’m running this site, it’s also somewhat productive!
And so, with three games now covered in The Retro Review Project, I’ve added three more to the queue. (D’oh.) Here’s my latest haul:
- R.C. Pro-Am (NES): Add this to the list of “NES games I should have owned a long time ago.” I played this game with friends a lot and have very fond memories of it. I need to flesh out my NES collection, and this is a step in the right direction. $6.99, cart-only.
- Nightshade (NES): GameSetWatch had an absolutely wonderful write-up of this game yesterday, and after reading through it, I really wanted to try it out. It’s from the same people that made the excellent Shadowrun for the SNES, so it’s part of a good lineage. I decided I didn’t want to mess with the hassle of eBay, though. So imagine my surprise when I saw it today at a brick and mortar! I couldn’t pass it up. $2.99, cart-only.
- Landstalker (Genesis): The thing I love about the game store I shop at is that they have a whole bin of Genesis games at two bucks a pop. It’s mostly a bunch of outdated sports games, but each time I go in, there are one or two gems in the pile. This time, it was Landstalker. I’m a big fan of its spiritual sequel for the Saturn, Dark Savior, so I’ve been meaning to play this one for some time. Now’s my chance! $1.99, cart-only.
Sonic R (Sega Saturn)
June 24, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
I debated for a while over which Saturn game I would review first. The Sega Saturn is one of my favorite platforms of all time, and I felt like it needed a worthy introduction. Would I pick one of its well known classics for a glowing review? Or one of my favorite lesser-known titles? Or something absolutely terrible so I could have a little fun with the review? In the end, I decided I’d take a look at a fairly well-known game where I might have a different view than most.
Most of the time, when people talk about Sonic R, (or Sonic 3D Blast or Sonic Jam) they start off by lamenting a bit about how the Saturn never got a true 3D Sonic adventure, and how, if it had, things could have been so much different. Well, I don’t want to talk about that. For one, it’s cliché and been done to death. On top of that, we’ve seen how the 3D Sonic games have turned out since then, and frankly, I don’t think we missed much. And most of all, I think taking all that into consideration taints the view of the game itself. How could you possibly enjoy a Sonic racing game if you’re harboring resentment that it’s not a platformer the entire time?
With that viewpoint explained, I feel confident enough to say that, quite simply, I like this game. If you strip away all the baggage that came with its release, (especially the fact that the Saturn was really struggling at the time) you’ll find an entertaining game underneath. It’s a simple but engaging game — bright and cheerful almost to a fault — and a nice technical demo of the kind of horsepower the Saturn actually had.
The Snatcher Mission
June 21, 2007 by Tim · 4 Comments
While the main purpose of this site is to give me a forum to review the games I’ve already collected and played over the years, I can’t quite stop myself there. I can’t avoid the fact that I’m going to buy more games. That’s just the way it is for me! But sometimes a game deserves a little more attention than “Oh hey, I picked this game up cheap, it’s pretty cool, give it a look.” If that’s the case, then I want to properly document my experience with it. So every once in a while, I will embark on a mission… The first one begins now.
The Snatcher Mission:
I know, virtually for a fact, that I will like Snatcher. First of all, it’s an adventure game. Second of all, it has a gorgeous 2D graphical style. Third of all, it’s not only for a retro system, but a failed retro system. What can I say? I have a serious soft spot for failed retro systems. Oh yeah, and it has cyber-punk themes. And it’s created by Hideo Kojima! (I think I need a longer list…)
So if I know I’d love the game, why haven’t I played it? It’s been a matter of access, really. Sure, I could download the game and play it on an emulator, but that wouldn’t be doing it justice. I want to play the real thing. And therein lies the problem.
You see, back in the 16-bit days, I was an SNES fan. All my friends had the Genesis, but I decided to buck the trend and go the Nintendo route. That means I got to play fantastic games like a plethora of wonderful Mario games (World, Kart, RPG), Chrono Trigger, Zelda, StarFox, Tetris Attack, and plenty more. But it also means I picked up on the Genesis extremely late in the game. So the only Genesis I have is a Genesis 3. Which is incompatible with the Sega CD. And Snatcher is a Sega CD game. And on top of that, it’s best played with the Justifier light gun. Beginning to understand where I’m coming from?
So my mission is clear. I want to play Snatcher, but in order to do so, I must first obtain the necessary setup. These are the objectives:
- Purchase a model 1 or model 2 Sega Genesis
- Purchase a model 1 or model 2 Sega CD
- Purchase a Justifier light gun
- Purchase a copy of Snatcher
- Play and review the above
Objectives #1 and #2 may be combined in the form of a JVC X’Eye or CDX. I’m tempted to go with a Japanese X’Eye (a Wondermega) because it has S-video and stereo output, but then I would have to region mod it. Then again, I could get S-video and stereo mods on a domestic X’Eye and be in similar shape. Obviously, I have some research to do and decisions to make.
Maybe I’m a geek, but I’m already finding the process of researching these parts fun and interesting. Hopefully, by documenting and sharing what I learn, you will, too. Stick around!
RetroTube: Commodore 64 and Famicom montages
June 18, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
A couple of cool retro-gaming-themed YouTube videos have been making the rounds this week, so I thought they’d make a good introduction to another regular mini-feature I had in mind. YouTube is a veritable treasure trove of obscure video game minutiae, and I love almost every minute of it! So, I plan to share some of my favorites in the future. In the meantime, let’s get started with these two:
100 Commodore 64 games in 10 minutes
I found this video especially interesting, having never played a Commodore 64 before. (I know, I know, some retro gamer I am, right?) In fact, I’m pretty tempted to get one now! I recommend watching the video and then checking this link, where the fine folks at the DigitPress forums have managed to identify the majority of the games.
Every Famicom title screen, ever!
After you’ve exhausted yourself watching 100 Commodore 64 games, you can move on to every Famicom title screen. Ever. The coolest part is that I think they’re even in chronological order! I think it’s interesting to see how the title screens generally started out with similar templates, but became more complex and more interesting to look at as time went on. Oh, and notice the duplicates? I’m thinking that’s because of games that got released on both cartridge and the disk system. Ooh, and notice the “Namcot” logos? Too cool… Man, I love this stuff.
Marble Madness (NES)
June 16, 2007 by Tim · 2 Comments
It seems there have been a plethora of marble-based maze games in the last several years. I think the recent trend started with Super Monkey Ball and was soon followed by Mercury, Marble Blast, Kororinpa: Marble Mania, and others. Well, they’re all rip-offs. Every last one of ’em! Marble Madness is The One True Thing and will always be the game that the others are compared to. And for good reason, really: it rocks.
New “classic” games for 3DO, C64, Saturn, and more
June 14, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
Nothing warms my heart quite like seeing old game consoles get new releases. There’s just something uplifting about knowing there are other people out there that remember and are recapturing the same good times I had with my old games. Plus, it’s just plain fun to finally see “what almost was” back in the day.
With all that said, I’m happy to say that OlderGames.com has blown away the (admittedly small) 3DO community with the announcement that they’re not releasing just one, but four new games! And not only that, but they’re releasing new Saturn content, a new Commodore 64 game, a new classic PC game, and a DVD of classic game commercials, too! Here’s the list:
3DO: Icebreaker 2, Decathlon, Onside Soccer, Powerslide
Commodore 64: Silo 64
Saturn: Lost & Found 2
PC: Pathquest
DVD: Video Game Archives
They’re now accepting pre-orders and will officially release the games at the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas on July 28-29. Check out their announcement for more details.
It looks like Icebreaker 2 will really be the gem of the bunch. It’s essentially a complete game that has sat, unpublished, for about 13 years! The game’s creator gives a great demonstration of it in the video below:
Update: OlderGames has now posted trailers for Powerslide, Decathlon, and Onside Soccer.
Pac-Man Excel port… What the!?
June 14, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
I don’t know how old this is, but I just discovered it. Therefore, it’s new to me, and so it’s still cool. I stumbled upon this link today and discovered probably the most advanced Excel application I’ve ever seen. That’s right, you read the headline correctly… This is a port of Pac-Man. To Excel! It’s actually quite cool, with sound effects and everything. The only problem is that the controls aren’t the most responsive, but I’m not sure I should be expecting much more out of a spreadsheet program!
Update: It looks like they’ve actually ported several classic games to Excel, including Tetris, Space Invaders, and Columns. Check it out!
Bonk’s Adventure (TurboGrafx-16)
June 12, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
I find it interesting to think about the 16-bit era and look at how the success of each console’s mascot parallels the success of the hardware itself. Mario and Sonic were bitter rivals, but ultimately, I’d say Mario proved to be the stronger mascot. Likewise, the SNES and Genesis were bitter rivals, with the SNES winning out in the end.
And then there are Bonk and the TurboGrafx-16. Poor little Bonk. Poor little TurboGrafx-16. Though he’s appeared in many games on several different platforms, Bonk’s spiritual home is the TurboGrafx-16. Unfortunately, he just didn’t have the star power to carry the system. In the bitter playground wars of Mario vs. Sonic, Bonk was the oft-forgotten third player. And, likewise, the TurboGrafx-16 was largely overlooked.
Was it poor marketing by Hudson and NEC? Was Bonk just not an appealing enough character? Or were his games just not good enough? Poor marketing could be a solid argument, but I don’t think that tells the full story. And Bonk, with his big head and goofy smile, is certainly appealing enough to sell games, so that theory is out, too. That just leaves the games.
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