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Post by TrekMD on Feb 20, 2021 17:04:26 GMT -5
Ultimate Brain Games sounds awesome! It's a cool mix of games! Pretty fun! What the heck's RJ's Dragonfly? It's a flashcart for the Atari 7800. It also has added memory, POKEY and Yamaha chips for games that are enhanced with those features. Trippy artwork on Xenocider! Yes, it sure is!
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Post by wyldephang on Feb 21, 2021 21:39:02 GMT -5
My latest acquisition came in the mail recently: the indie game Carrion for Nintendo Switch. I ordered the special edition from Special Reserve Games. It comes with a few bits and bobs: some stickers, an art print, a gummy figurine made to resemble the Carrion antihero. I say "antihero" because, in Carrion, you actually control a horror movie monster (think The Thing meets The Blob) in its quest to escape captivity and kill everything in its path. I haven't played the game yet since it just came in, but I have heard good things. Ultimate Brain Games sounds awesome! What the heck's RJ's Dragonfly? Trippy artwork on Xenocider! How're you all holding up? I understand that your area got hammered with bad weather.
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Post by VectorX on Feb 21, 2021 21:55:40 GMT -5
It was utterly horrible. I've been planning on bringing that up on another thread.
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Post by wyldephang on Feb 23, 2021 23:09:57 GMT -5
It was utterly horrible. I've been planning on bringing that up on another thread. O.K. I'm looking forward to hearing your take on it. And, first and foremost, I am glad you're still hanging in there.
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Post by TrekMD on Sept 11, 2021 15:18:46 GMT -5
I got these over the past week...
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Post by wyldephang on Nov 21, 2021 19:53:11 GMT -5
My collecting has slowed down over the last few months due to some non-gaming-related things, but I did manage to acquire some more cartridges since my last post. In May, I picked up Kirby's Avalanche for the Super Nintendo. The little I do know about it indicates that it is a puzzle game in the vein of Puyo Puyo. It came at a time when it was popular to see puzzle games featuring Nintendo licenses, like Tetris Attack and Yoshi's Cookie. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but the two-player mode looks fun. For the Nintendo 64, I bought Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA and Glover more recently. I don't recall if I shared a few years back the story of my attempt to replace my lost copy of San Francisco Rush for the Nintendo 64, but essentially, I found the game on eBay at a great price and won the auction only to have the purchase reversed due to the seller's inability to process my payment. Thankfully, my purchase of Rush 2, the sequel, was quick and easy. The sequel differs from the first game in that it is more about the racing than level exploration, but the addition of a create-a-track mode in Rush 2 is a fun feature that was quite addictive to play around with back in the day. I still need to pick up San Francisco Rush someday.
Glover is a quirky 3D platforming game where you control a disembodied hand (Glover) as it attempts to push, bounce, throw, or otherwise navigate a ball to a goal at the end of each stage. The ball can be transformed into a number of different objects, like a rubber ball and a bowling ball, which allows you to clear the various obstacles throughout the levels. Modern reviews are tough on Glover for its lack of variety in level design and shallow narrative--both valid criticisms--but I had fun playing it in the '90s and was happy to add it to my collection all the same.
For the Game Boy, I purchased Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters. The former game is one of my favorite Mario games of all time, and offers a unique take on the series where Mario navigates a series of themed, whimsical levels en route to a final encounter with Wario, who makes his Nintendo debut. I think 6 Golden Coins holds up really well to this day and is one of my must-haves on the Game Boy. Unfortunately, as with San Francisco Rush, I misplaced my original copy and had to rebuy it. (If the save battery still works, I might actually try to beat it this time.) Kid Icarus is a Game Boy adaptation of the original NES game, albeit with a unique quest and different gameplay. It's regarded as a worthy successor to the original, and it would be the last Kid Icarus game released for 20 years until Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS. Weird, right?
The last pick-up is Captain America and the Avengers for the Super Nintendo. I have the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive version of the game, which I think is the superior port, but I do have some fond memories playing the Super Nintendo version as a kid. In my opinion, the graphics and presentation are better on the Super Nintendo, so the port isn't completely without its purpose. More importantly, with this game, I'm nearly at a milestone with 99 cartridges collected for the console. I am hoping to find something special for No. 100, and I have some ideas, so I will keep everyone posted. (If it's something lame like Batman Forever, I fully expect to receive the hazing of the century from my collector friends.)
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Post by wyldephang on Dec 5, 2021 19:27:00 GMT -5
Achievement Unlocked! I've just rounded out the first 100 of my Super Nintendo collection with a title that's been on my watchlist for the last 10 years: Sunset Riders. Published by Konami, Sunset Riders is a run-'n-gun shoot-'em-up game that takes place in the Wild West. You control one of four bounty hunters tasked with tracking down dangerous fugitives and pacifying them via superior weaponry. Gunslingers can wield either dual revolvers or shotguns, and they can upgrade their weapons via power-ups scattered throughout each stage. Bounties get increasingly tougher with time, with bosses in the later levels presenting more complicated attack patterns and soaking up more damage. Sunset Riders supports two-player co-op, so it's best enjoyed with a friend. I own the Sega Genesis version already, but I've heard the Super Nintendo port is closer to the arcade game with more stages and characters to choose from. Now that I've reached 100 cartridges, I'll have to set my sights on a new goal for my collection. I'm sure I'll keep you all updated as I think about what that might be.
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Post by VectorX on Dec 5, 2021 22:07:17 GMT -5
Crazy stuff with that 100 goal reached!
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Post by TrekMD on Jan 6, 2022 19:47:12 GMT -5
These arrived over the past couple of weeks. Some of the 5200 carts I already had but I wanted to get boxes for them, so here they are.
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Post by VectorX on Jan 6, 2022 21:22:03 GMT -5
Wow @ at the Bitmap Brothers collection! That's a name you don't hear of much. I really liked Gods for the Genesis.
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Post by wyldephang on Feb 9, 2022 20:11:15 GMT -5
My recent gaming acquisition is an exciting one, indeed: the Sony PlayStation 5. It's been difficult finding these consoles in store, and online listings are almost always bought out by bots and resold at exorbitant markups. I have a friend who bought an extra PS5 back in October and wanted to resell it to a friend at cost. I sat on the offer for a week, but once I found out that the console can play all my PS4 games, I decided to take him up on the offer. So far, the only games I own for it are Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate and Demon's Souls, but I will be looking to build my PS5 library in the future, especially as I clear aside some time to game.
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Post by wyldephang on Oct 28, 2022 18:51:24 GMT -5
As it turns out, I haven't been drawn to my PlayStation 5 much this year. Most of my gaming has been on PC via Steam with the occasional Switch game sprinkled in. I did manage to add a few games to my PlayStation 1 collection, however. The first one is a game that I've been eyeballing for years but only recently managed to buy: Vagrant Story. It is an action RPG with a striking art style made by the undisputed masters of the craft, Squaresoft. Vagrant Story very regularly shows up on Top Ten lists for the console, so it is no small joy to finally add it to my collection. The next game is another Squaresoft title: Legend of Mana. Based in the Mana (Seiken Densetsu) universe, Legend of Mana is a quirky RPG that, while not strictly open-world, allows the player to flesh out their own adventure on a nonlinear path. I am looking forward to trying it for myself. (The Mana series was recently redone for current-gen consoles, so if anyone was interested in checking it out, now is a good time.) The last acquisition comes from another favorite series of mine: Mega Man X5. Featuring no-holds-barred robot carnage in a futuristic timeline, Mega Man X5 offers fast and addicting gameplay to those who brave its treacherous hazards. Mega Man was my favorite game series as a child, so it's been fun to revisit some of the games in the series I've missed over the years.
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Post by wyldephang on Nov 14, 2022 19:53:54 GMT -5
So, it turns out that I was bitten by the collector's bug after my last post. Pretty soon thereafter, I returned to eBay in hopes of scratching some more games off the bucket list. I believe I was fairly successful in that endeavor.
For the PlayStation, I purchased a few new games and repurchased some old games that I had managed to lose over the course of life. The ones I rebought were Twisted Metal III and Crash Bandicoot. The former game is the third installment in the popular car combat franchise. I sank way too many hours into this game in the '90s. Even though the plot and cinematics were awful, and the game is more commonly remembered today as one of the weakest in the series, I enjoyed the gameplay and found myself beating it multiple times with different characters. One thing that had me returning to the game was its heavy metal soundtrack, which featured tracks by Rob Zombie. If memory serves correctly, putting the Twisted Metal III game disc into a CD player would play some Rob Zombie tracks. Rob Zombie would later serve a more direct role in the sequel, Twisted Metal 4, which featured the singer in his trademark vehicle, the Dragula. Now that's what I call "heavy metal!" Crash Bandicoot is a game that doesn't need introduction. It was in my collection until it got damaged in a move. Bummer. But it's been replaced now, so all is well.
The new additions to the PlayStation library were Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Fighting Force. If you're familiar with the Street Fighter games, there's little I can say about Alpha 3 that you don't already know. The Alpha series debuted in the mid-'90s as the first evolution of the franchise post-Street Fighter II. Alpha introduced some new characters and gameplay mechanics, and overall, the game became more finessed as some important fighting techniques and counters were added. Alpha 3 is considered the most complete game in the Alpha series, with Alpha serving as sort of a proof of concept and Alpha 2 being the next stage in refinement. Though a lot of people look at Street Fighter III as a sort of high mark for the series, I still think back on the Alpha series fondly, and I'm actually looking forward to reliving it sometime soon. Fighting Force is a 3D beat-'em-up published by Eidos. I rented this game a few times as a kid, and I really enjoyed the co-op mode.
The final games in the haul come from a sprinkling of different systems. For the NES, I bought Galaga: Demons of Death. What else can I say about this one other than that it's a pretty solid port of an arcade classic. If you're feeling like a game or two of Galaga, you can't go wrong with the NES port. For the Sega Genesis, I bought Jurassic Park, Twin Cobra, and ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. Jurassic Park needs no introduction: it was one of the first games that really showcased the power of the console. The realistic graphics certainly made me take notice as a kid. (We actually rented a Sega Genesis from Blockbuster just to play it.) Twin Cobra is a classic vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up. The gameplay is similar to other games in the genre, like Raiden Trad, where the goal is to progress through the levels without getting hit by enemy fire. I tend to suck at these games, but I always buy them expecting I'll improve. (I never do.) The last game is a different take on the popular ToeJam & Earl franchise. Instead of navigating a sort of open-world environment, Panic on Funkotron is a fairly straightforward platformer. As such, many critics have derided this game for straying too far from what made the original game successful. On the other hand, I think it's a solid platformer and a good game if you're willing to look at it based on its merits alone. On the Nintendo 64, I acquired two import games: Virtual Pro Wrestling and Virtual Pro Wrestling 2. I did a two-part video review of this series for RetroVideoGamer several years back, so it's cool to finally own physical copies of the cartridges. The Virtual Pro Wrestling games were localized in the U.S. with some changes to give them more of a Western flair. VPW became WCW vs. NWO: World Tour, whereas VPW2 was never localized and remained a Japan-only title. Finally, I made a long-awaited acquisition to the Super Nintendo library: Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals. This one has been on my bucket list for years. It's an RPG that serves as a prequel to Lufia & the Fortress of Doom. Though I wasn't a huge fan of Lufia, I have heard Lufia II is a totally different game that deserves to be considered among the other great RPGs on the console. Whether that is true or false, I look forward to having the opportunity to forming my own opinion on the game.
That about wraps it up for this latest haul. As you can see, I was a bit more prolific over these last few weeks. If I score anything else, I'll be sure to come back and update you all! But it's good to be back, all the same.
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Post by VectorX on Nov 14, 2022 21:25:40 GMT -5
Twin Cobra's a port of the arcade game. I enjoyed playing that. I need to get the Genny version.
Jurassic Park was a bit funny where you could play the lead guy as well as the T-Rex, making the game different!
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Post by wyldephang on Dec 3, 2022 0:13:38 GMT -5
Yes! And I think most of us in the '90s preferred to play as the dinosaur. (Who wouldn't?) So far, Twin Cobra has delivered on the fun and is also proving to be rather challenging. It's about on par with other Genesis shoot-'em-ups, which is to say that it's not so difficult that I can't have fun playing it, but I'm not likely to complete it anytime soon. One of my planned projects in the future, actually, is to complete a playthrough of one of the Thunder Force games, probably either TFIII or Lightening Force. I really enjoy the gameplay, art style, and music of the games, but they always manage to kick my butt. If I ever conquer it, I will be sure to come back and gloat. Despite me knowing better by now, I returned to eBay after my latest haul to look for some other games to add to the collection. I managed to keep the bidding to a minimum this time, though, which means the eBay haul ended up being a little smaller than usual. I picked up Gauntlet Legends and Nightmare Creatures for the Nintendo 64. The former is the first Gauntlet game to feature a fully 3D environment. The gameplay is still classic Gauntlet fare wherein you progress through stages, search for keys, collect treasures, and power up your character until you've conquered a zone and move onto the next one. The Nintendo 64 port supports four player co-op if you have the required Expansion Pak, which I do, so if I can ever get three other people together, it might be fun to give Gauntlet Legends a go. Nightmare Creatures is a sort of Gothic-inspired action-adventure game. I remember it being haunting and quite difficult when I first played it. It deserves the modern-day comparisons to the Souls games. Since I've been home on parental leave, I've not had much time to leave the house. So, when my friend offered to check out a retro game store on Black Friday, I took him up on the offer and sent him some titles to look for. He ended up finding several of the games on my list, and thankfully, the store was running a 20% off sale that day, so I was able to make some key additions to the library for less than I'd expect to pay on eBay. Those games are Gex (PS1), Blazing Chrome (PS4), Mega Turrican (Genesis), Shadow of the Ninja (NES), and Ninja Gaiden III (NES). It definitely felt good to add some of these "bucket list" games to the collection.
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