Tendo City

Yeah, I don't think Bad Street Brawler is considered any good.

DS
--
PuchiPuchi Virus - $4, complete - Crazy Japanse stuff.

PSP
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Super Collapse 3 - $2.50, complete - Samegame-inspired puzzle game, but with a field that constantly moves upwards.

Wii
--
The Munchables - $5, disc and case (no manual) - fun but easy topdown action-platformish game.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:So I got a few games myself recently.

I found a complete (box and all) version of Tetris & Dr. Mario for SNES on the cheap. It's a fun game with a unique vs mode that sets up the possibility for one player to be playing one game and the other player to be playing the other, with "sent" blocks converted to match the other game world (though it would be interesting to see the sent blocks NOT converted in some future version, having to play with both rule sets in mind).

I also picked up three new Virtual Boy games, of all things. The system had few games and fewer I'd actually be interested in, but these were ones I had wanted for a while (well two of them, I picked them up as a set). I picked up Teleroboxer, which is a Punch Out clone with robots. It's got very nice controls on the VB. I've mentioned before how much I love the layout of the VB's controller, with the L and R buttons placed in the most natural positions I've ever seen them in, and a second d-pad before a second analog stick became a thing (the controller's left and right are mirror images of each other, a rarity that really lends itself to a boxing game of this sort). Teleroboxer isn't as good or even as long as Punch Out, but it's enjoyable and has very nice controls. The 3D is decent, with the enemy punches having the most "pop".

I only have four VB games myself (Wario Land, Red Alarm, Vertical Force, and Mario's Tennis; I like all four games quite a bit), but I'd love to have some more... they're just a bit pricey, and I don't have an even more expensive AC adapter so I need batteries for anything and the VB gets bad battery life. Also my VB has some resetting issues -- sometimes it resets during play, which is ... not fun. I think it's a controller cord issue -- it's not the system itself. So either I need to use it with a stand, or I need a new controller too. And I just haven't gotten myself to spend the amount of money replacing all that stuff on EBay would cost, so my VB collection is kind of in stasis...

The resetting issue is also why I haven't beaten Red Alarm; haven't managed to get more than three levels into it without either getting a game over, or having it reset. Good game, but ... wish I could get farther.

As for Teleroboxer, I generally have no interest at all in boxing games, but the 3d and the dual-dpad controls do sound interesting. I wouldn't buy it on its own, but if it comes with VB games I buy at some point, I'd definitely try it out. I have heard it's extremely difficult, as you can only fight the real final boss if you have a perfect record or something... it does have battery save though.

Quote:Then there's Galactic Pinball. This one is pinball with a space theme, so boring so far, but it's got some fun board designs. Personally I'm still waiting for a pinball game with a powerful board designer built into it, but this one's nice. Again, the L and R buttons are just so naturally fit, but it also shows my inferiority at pinball because I'm still just not very good at the genre. Neither was the original owner. The game saves high scores (no erase option either), but I noted that whoever owned it last never broke onto any of the score boards. It's saved my pitiful "just barely" score beating out the last place pre-set entry on "UFO", so I know the battery is working. The 3D here is a lot better than Teleroboxer, which is surprising considering what I'd expect. The boards really pop out with the use of perspective.

Galactic Pinball is the VB game I don't own that I want the most. I'd love to have this game, I like pinball games of course and have always wanted to play this one.. but it just seems to sell for a bit more online than I'm willing to spend and seeing loose VB games locally is not exactly something that happens often.

After Galactic Pinball, the VB game I want the most is probably the Japan-only Insmouse no Yakata...

Quote:The last is the best of the bunch, Mario Clash. It's Mario Bros (original Mario Bros, not even "Super Mario Bros") but in 3D. Much like Wario Land, the "3D" really consists of two different "planes" of 2D action, with the added ability to throw shells back and force between planes. While that's fairly dissappointing, the 3D effect still looks very solid and well done in this game and the added layer does add a lot of fun to the original game design. It's pretty addictive.

I'd like to play this one too. I never loved the original Mario Bros, but Mario Clash does sound like it'd be fun enough to play at least.

Quote:The 3D effect, when programmed right, works well enough that I wish the system was capable of true filled polygons instead of just wire frames and sprites. The VB has a unique "feel" to it, with the "goggle" design making you feel like you're sucked into your own private little universe whenever you play it. Granted, I'd never rank that higher than the pure usability of a superior design like the no-glasses 3D screen of the 3DS, but it's certainly a notable trait. My own VB may be showing it's age. Earlier when I was playing it I noticed that the left display was badly aligned, with parts of the image "bounced" up. Oddly, this has corrected itself now, but I should keep an eye on it. The two displays (I hesitate to say screen) in the VB are very strange to begin with. They aren't LCD or CRT but a sort of oddly designed LED system. Extremely fast on/off speeds in an LED were a rather expensive thing when this system came out, and even then that sort of speed was only available in "red" variety. The cost and size of a full fledged LED screen, even limited to red, was too much so instead they set up two "rows" of LEDs. In order to produce a 2D "field" for each eye using these essentially "1D" lines, two mirrors were set up that vibrated with exact timing to bounce the light from any one individual LED light into position just at the right time. With this creating the illusion of two 2D images, the split with the visor did the rest to create the illusion of one 3D image. However, since the mirrors had to be exactly alligned and exactly timed, any deviation would screw up the image. That seemed to have happened with mine earlier, but it seems fixed now.

Apparently the most common thing that goes wrong with VBs is that a ribbon cable in the system starts to come loose, which messes up the display. It can be fixed, apparently, but it is a common issue. I don't know if that's a symptom of it though, maybe look up that issue on VB sites. But it certainly sounds like you might have an issue with your VB, yes.

And yeah, it does use an odd mirrors and LEDs system. Definitely strange and unique.

Quote:Other than that, I picked up two NES games. Ironsword was a fun game I remembered playing as a kid, so I picked it up only to discover that it was actually a Rare game. No wonder it was fun.

I've never liked Rare's Wizards & Warriors series, myself... I know many people seem to, but I don't much at all.

So I got a new games.

Hogan's Alley for NES, twice.

Part of it was nostalgia because I remembered playing it as a kid. The majority of it was because I've been looking for the incredibly rare "converter cart" versions of the first batch of NES games during launch. They had to cut some corners to make enough games in time for release, and to that end they simply used the (already in English) game boards from some Famicom carts and produced a converter board to make them work in an NES cart. They're still pretty rare. Hogan's Alley is one of the games that can include it, and thanks to finding a quick and dirty way to find them (look for the 5 screw carts without plastic tabs along the top edge (first party NES games only and from there only those first few games, so a 5 screw Metroid game will never have it), and then check the cartridge edge to see if the little "finger" coming off the pins is in the center or off to the side. If it's to the side, it's a converter, every time.

So, it took a lot of searching but I finally snagged one in the form of Hogan's Alley. Since I knew what I was going to do to this poor game, I got a second (non-converter) copy to use as my main copy. I cracked it open when I got it home, confirmed it was a Famicom board in a converter, then set about removing it. It's pretty easy actually. After testing it on the one Famicom game I somehow managed to acquire (Devil World), I confirmed this thing works on pretty much any Famicom game (except, I would imagine, any Famicom game with custom sound chips, since the NES doesn't have the pins to support that sort of thing...). Oh, I had to sand down the edges of the board slot on the converter to fit the actual Famicom cart case (I guess since it was only intended for a board they never felt the need to check if a case would fit around it). Not much sanding, it was about a millimeter too wide. It went quick.

Next step: ruin everything. I used a few tools to cut open one of those Hogan's Alley carts. The second copy I got as my "main" actually had a busted case along the top side, so I opened it up and switched the board into the good case (5 screw or 3 screw, the internals of the case are the same so the converter fits fine either way). I then cut off the top part down to the level of the converter's top board slot. I had to "reverse" the slot itself so the screw slots were lower down, and then modify what was left of the case to make room for them being lower and add some external holes for the next part. I took one of my Game Genies (the one with the ruined label) and unscrewed it to take out the handle. I put the two screw holes on the handle through the extra holes I made in the cartridge and screwed that in through the screw holes on the converter (amazing coincidence, they lined up perfectly). I screwed in the remaining screw slots on this bottom half of a cartridge case I had and it all fit pretty securely. I cut a bit of plastic from some blister box or another I had in the trash and taped it inside the top part to "push" the slot into place a bit better, then covered up the two empty spots on either side of the cart slot with some tape. I could probably do a more professional job in the future, but this works fine for now. As it stands, I have a device that fits a Famicom cart into an NES perfectly and is as easy to remove as a Game Genie thanks to the handle I screwed in. The remains of the cartridge I cut up are basically trash, so I tossed them out. I normally would feel bad about this sort of cannibalizing, but since the cart was already smashed in on that top half, I figured it wasn't hurting anything, and I only needed the bottom half intact. The Famicom board of Hogan's Alley is basically "loose" at this point. It's still usable, so I'm holding onto it in a static bag until I find someone who wants it. The other copy is working just fine in the good case. The Game Genie I stole the handle from is put back together and should work just fine, but it'll be hard to remove from a classic style NES without it so I'll probably find someone with a top loading NES who wants it.

So... um... Devil World for NES is a pretty fun game in the style of a lot of the really early NES games. I have whole new reasons to hate that devil guy in Smash Bros. Brawl...

That's cool, one of the easier ways to get a Famicom to NES adapter... :)

I was lucky enough to find a Honey Bee Adapter for cheap some years ago, so I have a nice one and don't need to tear open cartridges to get it. My only Famicom cartridge is one I got just last year, though -- that pirate 80-something-in-one cart that came with that N64-handle-shaped Famiclone (the one with the lightgun built into the controller/system). I have tried it with that cart though, and it does work. I don't have an adapter to play my NES games on the Famiclone, though...

As for Hogan's Alley, I'm not sure if I have that one or not... if I do, I don't think I've actually played it. I think it might be that.

Quote:(except, I would imagine, any Famicom game with custom sound chips, since the NES doesn't have the pins to support that sort of thing...).

Yeah, to get sound in those games you must either mod your system to connect the lines that go to the bottom port to where they need to go for Famicom games to get sound; I'm pretty sure this is possible, but don't remember how it is done. Alternately, you need to get a Famicom.

Oh, and the main use of that wouldn't be for games with custom sound chips, of which there are very, very few (mostly later Konami games I think). The main use would be for the Famicom Disk System, which has additional audio hardware in it that requires those pins.

New stuff:

All of this was $10 total; $5 for the games., $5 for the lightgun, pretty much.

PSX - all games disc only (though I was given a basic little case to hold them in)
--
Road Rash 3D - I don't remember hearing too good things about this, but it's actually a fun sequel to the first 3DO/PSX/Saturn/PC Road Rash game... too bad it was PS1 only, it'd have been nice to see at least a PC version (for better graphics...). EA published all of its Moto Racer and NFS games on the PC, but only the one Road Rash game for whatever reason. The game has a smooth framerate and fun enough gameplay, but the usual blocky, messy PS1 graphics. Analog controls are present with the Dualshock, but acceleration is with the right stick ONLY in analog mode. Idiots.

Test Drive 4 - This is the first of the three Test Drive games by Pitbull Syndicate. I have the third one, Test Drive 6, for Dreamcast, and like it, but besides the PC version demo I hadn't played this one before. The graphics here don't match the PC of course, but at least, like with Road Rash 3D, they kept hte framerate up; they clearly went for framerate over great graphics here. For some insane reason, just like with Road Rash 3D, in analog mode you MUST accelerate/brake with the right stick. WHY?? Apart from that, the game's solid but challenging; I haven't finished decently yet.

Martian Gothic: Unification - have not tried yet.
The Italian Job - late (2002) racing game. Haven't played yet; disc may be scratched.

Dreamcast - same as the PS1 games, disc only.
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GTA2

PC
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Alone in the Dark - this is the more recent remake, not the original game. It's complete in box with manual and was just about free, so I got it despite the mediocre to poor reviews.

Xbox - I also got a Mad Catz Blaster lightgun for the Xbox. I have House of the Dead III for Xbox, so when I saw this gun for pretty cheap, I said why not, I'll pick it up and see if it's any good...

I think the one thing the converter cart has over a Honeybee is that it's an officially made and licensed Nintendo product (used in a somewhat unofficial way), so it's certain to work correctly without issue and last a good long while since it should be made with quality parts. It also uses a proper 10NES chip to deal with the 10NES security in the original NES (since Famicom games don't have that chip). I imagine the Honeybee has a solution for that as well though. It may also have been cheaper, since Hogan's Alley is about $2 (or less if the case is busted). Gyromite is pretty expensive around here compared to the others. It seems that "common knowledge" is that "all Gyromite games have those converters", the suggestion being that others don't. Both of those are untrue (in fact most Gyromite games don't have that converter, though ALL Stack Up games do have it, since that game was produced in such low numbers). It is interesting how the internet can provide such amazing information, but at other times is simply a way for bad intel to propagate like a virus drowning out correct information.

I know they wired up what WOULD have been the sound pins to instead go straight to the expansion port on the bottom of the NES. They must have originally intended for the Famicom Disk System to be brought over and use it's enhanced sound through those pins directly. That never came to pass, obviously. I'm curious if other pins on that expansion port go back to where the sound pins would have gone. If so, it might be a simple matter of making a cheap "bypass" dongle that simply routes the "out" pins back into the system. Of course, this also depends on one other matter. While almost every pin on the Famicom boards are routed to their appropriate NES connector counterpart, they may have just skipped the audio chip pins altogether, meaning even with either my hypothetical workaround or your internal hack, it won't be enough since the sound chip won't have any pathway into the NES to begin with. I'd have to go ask around a few NES modding forums to find out.

As to what games, aside from Famicom Disk System games actually used enhanced sound, the list is somewhat short compared to games that used enhanced graphics chips, but there are a few notable titles. First on that list is probably Castlevania 3 (very well known example that had much better music on the Famicom version), followed by a rather interesting space RPG called Lagrange Point (that one uses a custom sound chip that sound absolutely incredible).

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....You got the disk only version of... a Dreamcast?

Quote:....You got the disk only version of... a Dreamcast?

Heh... the game, obviously. :p

Quote:I think the one thing the converter cart has over a Honeybee is that it's an officially made and licensed Nintendo product (used in a somewhat unofficial way), so it's certain to work correctly without issue and last a good long while since it should be made with quality parts. It also uses a proper 10NES chip to deal with the 10NES security in the original NES (since Famicom games don't have that chip). I imagine the Honeybee has a solution for that as well though. It may also have been cheaper, since Hogan's Alley is about $2 (or less if the case is busted). Gyromite is pretty expensive around here compared to the others. It seems that "common knowledge" is that "all Gyromite games have those converters", the suggestion being that others don't. Both of those are untrue (in fact most Gyromite games don't have that converter, though ALL Stack Up games do have it, since that game was produced in such low numbers). It is interesting how the internet can provide such amazing information, but at other times is simply a way for bad intel to propagate like a virus drowning out correct information.

I know they wired up what WOULD have been the sound pins to instead go straight to the expansion port on the bottom of the NES. They must have originally intended for the Famicom Disk System to be brought over and use it's enhanced sound through those pins directly. That never came to pass, obviously. I'm curious if other pins on that expansion port go back to where the sound pins would have gone. If so, it might be a simple matter of making a cheap "bypass" dongle that simply routes the "out" pins back into the system. Of course, this also depends on one other matter. While almost every pin on the Famicom boards are routed to their appropriate NES connector counterpart, they may have just skipped the audio chip pins altogether, meaning even with either my hypothetical workaround or your internal hack, it won't be enough since the sound chip won't have any pathway into the NES to begin with. I'd have to go ask around a few NES modding forums to find out.

As to what games, aside from Famicom Disk System games actually used enhanced sound, the list is somewhat short compared to games that used enhanced graphics chips, but there are a few notable titles. First on that list is probably Castlevania 3 (very well known example that had much better music on the Famicom version), followed by a rather interesting space RPG called Lagrange Point (that one uses a custom sound chip that sound absolutely incredible).

I'm almost certain that what htey did was wire all of the pins that on the Famicom go to the cart port to instead go to the expansion port, so indeed, what you need to do to get the full audio is make wires connecting the correct pins of the bottom port to the proper points on whichever cartridge adapter you're using.

As for official v. unofficial, the Honey Bee converter seems pretty reliable and fairly well made, I've had no problems, and it is nice to have that fabric strip on it for if I ever wanted to use it in an original NES without needing to disassemble the system to get the cart out or something... oh, and the plastic casing is better than an open circuit board too. But sure, the first-party converter probably is the highest quality. Still though, for what it is the Honey Bee is pretty decently made.

Also, the converter carts have 10NES chips in them, really? Huh... but those aren't needed really, the NES 2 doesn't have one for instance...

Also, new games. Spent more on games than I have in a while.

Playstation
--
San Francisco Rush - $2, complete. The somewaht infamously poor Playstation port of this arcade and N64 classic. I absolutely LOVE the arcade and N64 versions of this game, but indeed, this version isn't nearly as good... the controls are all wrong, first -- it doesn't play like Rush at all, but like some generic racing game. Pretty lame. The graphics aren't great either, but at least there it doesn't look TOO bad for a 1996 Playstation game; just average or worse for an early PSX racer. That is, terrible image quality, ugly visuals, etc, but it's playable. Oh, and there is fog, closer than there is on N64. As expected. And did I mention that it's also got only four tracks instead of the eight on the N64, and no coins for added replay value either? But hey, at least it does have splitscreen... that wasn't a given for 1996 PSX or Saturn racing games.

PSP
---
Knights in the Nightmare - new, $15 - I got this new because it includes a DD code for a download of the PSP version of Yggdra Union in the box, which obviously you won't get with a used copy, and YU PSP costs at least as much as this on its own. So yeah, it's a pretty good deal. As for the game, haven't played them yet, but they're ports of the GBA and DS games, of course. Both have added content -- YU to fix many of the more serious flaws in the game design and system, most notably, while with KitN the biggest changes are the worse controls (the game was designed for touchscreen, analog nub's no replacement!) and added content (a new mode where you can have Yggdra as a major character). Obviously I didn't get it for the former of those, but hopefully the latter is interesting. But yeah, for anyone getting one version of KitN, get it for DS. Get YU for PSP, though; the GBA version's too broken to buy (its only advantage is a less censored bath scene, but with how broken the game is, who cares.).

Mega Man Powered Up - $9, complete - I know you can get this with the Mega Man X remake for $15, but given that that's pretty much just a straight remake with little to no added content, I don't care nearly as much about that game as this one, so I got just this. Added levels, content, playable characters, level editor, etc? Sounds fun.

Bust-A-Move - $4.50, complete. It's the PSP BAM game. I like the series, of course.

DS
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Nostalgia - $10, card only - traditional JRPG somewhat inspired by Skies of Arcadia -- it's set in a world with airships. The difference -- it's set on "Earth", so the cities and continents vaguely resemble real places. I'm quite early, but expect lots of random battles and average DS 3d. It's okay though, and I like airships... also, bottom screen map that fills in as you explore, sort of like SoA's. That's great. :)

PS2
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Stella Deus - $6, disc in generic case - strategy-RPG, published by Atlus. Decently nice art.
Neo Contra - $4, disc only. The last and best reviewed of the three 3d Contra games (the two PS1/Saturn ones got pretty bad reviews), this one has some pretty ridiculously crazy endings, if I remember right...

PC DD (this was from last night)
--
Dungeon Siege collection - Steam, $10 for the pack - daily deal. I already have DS1 and DS: Legends of Aranna (the standalone addon to the first game), but this got me the second game, the third one, and the addon to the third one, all for $10. Yeah, that's a pretty recent game and its addon for quite cheap. I know they're not exactly the best games around -- none of the DS games are, they're all pretty far on the boring side -- but still... DS3 is Obsidian. I had to try it sometime.

The way your post was arranged, I didn't notice any actual game listed. Now I think I do.

I think you misunderstood my question about pinouts on the NES a bit.

The cart I modded up has a stolen Game Genie handle screwed into it, so I don't need to worry about pulling it out of my NES.

The 10NES chip is needed to play it on an original NES. The top loader (and all Famicoms for that matter) don't have that chip, so it isn't needed there. However, that's the problem. Since the Famicom never had that security chip, neither did any of the games. As a result, none of them can be played "straight" on the original NES. The way the chip works is two are required. One in "lock" mode in the NES, and the other in "key" mode in the cartridge. They constantly talk to each other the entire time the system is on and if one of them gets a bad code from the other, the system goes into a boot loop. So, since Famicom games don't have that chip at all, without something done about it, even a pin conversion will still result in a boot loop. As a result, the official converters had to have a single chip added, a 10NES. It's wired to the extra pins on the NES board, so they don't interfere. It simply serves as a way to allow all Famicom games to be played on the NES.

Just like the 10NES in a "normal" NES game, the 10NES in this cart isn't even activated on the top loading NES or an original NES with the chip disabled.

I have to assume the Honeybee adapter had a Tengen-style counterfeit version of the 10NES in there (or a voltage spike or some other similar bypass for the 10NES). Either that, or it comes with a note that it won't work on the original NES.

Oh, I thought I'd add that I have Megaman Maverick Hunter X, and they actually did add extra gameplay to it. Aside from new difficulty modes, there's a mode where you play as Vile with it's own storyline. He's got a bunch of unique weapons, all military styled instead of energy weapon style. It's a pretty nice remake.

Quote:Oh, I thought I'd add that I have Megaman Maverick Hunter X, and they actually did add extra gameplay to it. Aside from new difficulty modes, there's a mode where you play as Vile with it's own storyline. He's got a bunch of unique weapons, all military styled instead of energy weapon style. It's a pretty nice remake.

I didn't remember that, but still... difficulty modes and one new character, versus MMPU which adds being able to play as all the bosses and Roll, two new bosses with levels, 100 challenge stages (many quite hard), and a level editor? No comparison.

Got some new stuff... one lucky find!

Virtual Boy
--
Mario Clash - $5, cart only - Yeah, this was a cool find. The store had had this before but not for sale, but they were selling it now and cheap... I wish it'd been Galactic Pinball, but oh well, it's pretty cool to have this game and I'll definitely play it. As usual for some time now my VB has some issues, but it runs...

Game Gear
--
VR Troopers - $2, cart only. This is a 1995 fighting game based on the TV series of the same name that I've never seen (a Power Rangers ripoff, clearly). I had pretty much no expectations for this to be any good, and the controls do have some issues, but the graphics are pretty nice at least (definitely good looking for the VB), and it's a little better than expected. Jumping seems iffy, but the punches and kicks work.

Ms. Pac-Man - $3, cart only - It's Ms. Pac-Man, but on GG. I have Pac-Man for GG, so why not get both...

Genesis
--
Marsupilami - $5, cart in box (no manual, cardboard box type) - Sega platformer from 1995 or 1996, based on the cartoon license. I remember reading some Marsupilami comics -- he was the Disney character with the really long tail -- but I have no memory of if I've actually seen the cartoon or not. Haven't played this yet.

NES
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Seicross - $3, cart only - isometric action-shooting game on futuristic hover-jetskis.

Quote:I have to assume the Honeybee adapter had a Tengen-style counterfeit version of the 10NES in there (or a voltage spike or some other similar bypass for the 10NES). Either that, or it comes with a note that it won't work on the original NES.

It certainly has to work with the original NES; that's what the cloth strip attached to the adapter is for, after all, to pull on to help get it out of an original NES... but you know, there are a lot of unlicensed NES games. I doubt that they all use 10NES chips, so there must be a way of using games on a NES without a 10NES chip, or something... either there's a workaround or replacement, has to be. It's the SNES that has lockout that couldn't be gotten around, so that one unlicensed SNES game had to use a passthrough in order to work. With the NES that wasn't needed.

Actually the SNES one has been defeated too. Reproduction carts and "Power pak" carts simply copied the 10NES chip.

Here's how the 10NES was defeated on the NES, in various forms. Not one of them bought 10NES chips from Nintendo, I certainly never suggested that. If they could do that, they'd be licensed. The honeybee adapter used one of these methods. Tengen's method was the most famous/infamous. They actually made a counterfeit chip that perfectly copied the 10NES. Unfortunately, they got some patent information from the patent office that showed exactly how it was done, so Nintendo sued them and won for copyright infringement. Tengen's defense is that they actually developed it on their own completely independently of that slip up, but that seems unlikely to me.

Other games, such as some "gold" carts like this Egger's game I found, used a voltage spike sent along the 10NES cart pins which confused and locked up the 10NES. There were two kinds of timed spikes, one for the US and the other for the differently timed European one. Last is the one that one unlicensed SNES game used, games that used a pass through to hook up a licensed NES game and simply use it's 10NES. This is how the Game Genie worked, though in it's case it needed to do that anyway to cheat so it worked out seamlessly there.

Since Famicom games and systems never had any 10NES, the Honeybee adapter had to have some method of doing that, and the "pass through" method obviously wouldn't work. Mind you, I have no idea how that Honeybee model worked, how many were made, or how it was constructed. In shoddier sketchier cases for products that won't hit the mass market, people would just harvest a number of NES games, remove the 10NES from the game board and solder it onto whatever thing they were hawking. It's possible the Honeybee was constructed in a similar way.

Interesting stuff to know. I wonder now which method they used... maybe I can find the information online, I'll have to look.

New stuff.

Game Boy
--
Torpedo Range - $1, cart only. This is a battery-backed game with a somewhat unique design. Perhaps inspired by the B-game of Radar Mission, this is a game where you control a submarine. This is a much more ambitious game than Radar Mission, though. In the game, you choose one of six nations, and then set out to conquer the world with your sub. You do this by beating missions. You see, you sail around the oceans of the world, and scattered around the seas are many mini-stages. Each one has a difficulty ranking and stage type shown on the map, and you enter it by sailing into it. So far, I've seen five or six different stage types. All take place on a single screen, and have two basic designs -- either you move left and right (perhaps with the ability to submerge) and fire at stuff above you from close in, such as a ship or city defenses, while trying to dodge the fire raining down from above, or you control your sub (moving in all four directions through the water) from a zoomed-out side-scrolling view, shooting at stuff such as planes and other subs. There are three kinds of upgrades to buy on the main map, with the money you get for beating stages, including more armor (can take more hits), higher missile capacity, and one more. So yeah, it's sort of an RPG. You lose all money if you fail a mission, so save often. Fortunately, you can save from the map too, no need to go to a save point or anything like that. The game's challenging, but interesting... I don't know what I was expecting, but not something quite like this. Good find, particularly for that price!

SNES
--
Battle Cars - $6, cart only. This is a futuristic combat racing game from Namco. It uses Mode 7 graphics, with F-Zero-esque course designs and cars that look like something that could fit in F-Zero or Rock n Roll Racing or something. This game isn't as good as either of those, but for a genre fan like myself, it's fun anyway. In the game, on each track you first drive through it as fast as you can, trying to get to the end within the time limit. If you do so, you'll get money to buy car upgrades with; if you fail to make it in time, you won't get anything. In the second stage in each track, you race against an opponent. You must finish first to progress, and this is NOT easy. Win and you can progress, and you'll get money to spend on weapon upgrades too (the two types of money only work for their own category, so these winnings can only be spent on the weapons). There's no saving or passwords here, but you do have infinite continues. In both races, there are also numerous other vehicles on the track, to get in your way and provide for some bonus money if you can destroy them. There are three weapons -- a disc, which shoots ahead, bouncing off the walls; a mortar which fires a shot well up in front of you; and a homing missile which shoots the next enemy ahead of you. I've gotten partway through it, but it's getting tougher... anyway, it's a flawed game, with frustrating difficulty and limited options (only three cars, just a circuit mode with no single race mode at all, no saving or passwords, races are only against one opponent who matters, etc.), but I find it fun anyway.

NES
--
Thunder & Lightning - $6.50, cart only. Arkanoid clone, and a fun one. This is a hard game -- it's got no saving, passwords, or continues, so you only get one try -- but it has nice graphics, a bunch of fun powerups (you can have up to eight balls at once, for instance), and good variety for an Arkanoid game. The rectangular blocks are different from the norm, too. The balls can be VERY small though, so they can be hard to see... need to really pay attention.

Wii
--
Xenoblade - new, $50. Yeah, I got a new game just as it came out, something I virtually never do... mostly because I do want to play it, and I expect this to get a bit rarer (and more expensive) unless it gets reprinted... we'll see.

Used games - it was buy 2 get 1 free at Gamestop this weekend, so while I was there to get Xenoblade I got this stuff too.

Wii
--
MLB Power Pros 2008 - the second, and last, Konami Powapuro baseball game released in the US. I'd been wanting to try one of these... :)

Gamecube
--
PK: Out of the Shadows - free, would have been $3. 3d action/platform game starring a Donald Duck alias. Supposed to be short and not too great, but for that cheap... eh, why not.

The Italian Job - free, would have been $5. Racing game.

Lego Drome Racers - $4. I got the PC version of this game back in the early '00s, and liked it (it's from the same developer who made Rollcage, so it's good), but I'd always had an interest in getting the GC version too... finally found a copy. :)

DS
--
Super Speed Machines - $11.70, complete. Topdown racing game that was released as Top Gear: Downshift in Australia, and nearly not released here (because Kemco died) until Majesco picked it up and gave it this new title. I'd been wanting this one for sure, ever since I first heard of it...

Desktop Tower Defense - free, would have been $7. Conversion of the great PC flash game, with additional stuff.

PSP
--
PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe - $4.50. Disc in generic case. Sony's tower defense game, I've played the demo and liked it (though not as much as Desktop Tower Defense, this uses the "set path" style, while DTD lets you make your own field, which I much prefer. Still, it's fun.)

After Burner: Black Falcon - $4.50. Complete. Sega rail shooter.

Pursuit Force - $2.60, disc in generic case. I had the sequel, but not the first one. Good fun.



These aren't from Gamestop (obviously), so no buy 2 get 1 free here.

Game Gear
--
Road Runner in Desert Speedtrap - $2, cart only. A platformer where you can run fast, out of control pretty much, and straight into obstacles and where you only have a few hit points? Yes indeed, it's kind of frustrating.

Game Boy/GB Color Dual Mode
--
Shanghai Pocket - $2, cart only

Game Boy Color
--
Lemmings - $2, cart with an original GB case. Port of the original I have for several other systems (but it's a great game so I couldn't resist anyway). It does have battery save, which is nice.

Pong: The Next Level - $2, cart with an original GB case. GB version of the new Pong game from the late '90s. The PC/PSX game's fun, hopefully this is as well.

SNES
--
Suzuka 8 Hours - $4, cart only - racing game.

Lemmings is one of the most popular and ported games out there, or "was" until Sony bought the rights to it. Tetris is probably the only game that's more ported. (I have played it on a "Smart" TV set, a phone, and a calculator. Eventually I'll be able to play it on a thermostat. Heck I seem to recall a wearable Tetris as a watch several years back.) I've got the SNES version of Lemmings, but if I ever get an Amiga I may try to get the original. I don't really intend to get every last port in existence.

I may get the PSVita version down the line if I ever get a Vita, but only because the game really excels with a mouse and I imagine a touch screen interface would be a downright perfect fit for the game (though there may be trouble targeting specific lemmings in a crowd, if "on release" was how abilities were activated though, it could work (and drag the finger to a blank spot to "cancel").

It would CERTAINLY be better than playing Secret of Mana or Mega Man X with a touch screen. My word, I tried both on a friend's iPad (along with Chrono Trigger, which worked a bit better except in mini-games) and while the graphics were improved a bit (well, in Mega Man X's case the resolution was a lot higher, but lots of frames of animation were missing, most notably on X, and it actually struggled with certain sound effects) the controls were just painful. X in particular had numerous control schemes in some sad attempt to make sure SOMETHING was workable, but none really were. Apple, if Job's loss frees you up for anything, it should be adding BUTTONS to your devices. Capcom and Square-Enix, please put these enhanced version on the 3DS or Vita in their online stores. These games need buttons to control accurately. Capcom specifically, what's up with your port of Mega Man X? Seriously, Maverick Hunter X showed you know how to do a nice remake. This one had none of the gameplay additions or revisions and actually in some ways looked and sounded worse than the SNES game. There's no real excuse for that.

So... Terranigma. I loved Illusion of Gaia, and this game is a lot like that, only with the added twist, similar to Soulblazer, of "rebuilding the world" as you play. Together these 3 make the "Blazer" or "Gaia" series. I had been looking to get the 3rd game for some time after hearing that it was translated into English but only released in Europe because Enix USA went out of business temporarily near the end of the SNES lifetime. However, it's very hard to find a good deal. The usual suspects (eBay, Amazon, which are usually only good for obscure unknown gems unless you like wasting money) are filled with insane prices (around $200) and lately, a LOT of counterfeit "reproductions" that look like American SNES games and have a custom ROM with a hacked version of Terranigma on it (the custom ROM being cheaply made, it won't last 10 years). So I had just waited, until recently when I found someone on a collector's forum willing to part with it for a much more reasonable price. After fiddling around with some other stuff to get the game to actually work on my US SNES, I'm happy to say so far it's worth it.

Quote:Lemmings is one of the most popular and ported games out there, or "was" until Sony bought the rights to it. Tetris is probably the only game that's more ported. (I have played it on a "Smart" TV set, a phone, and a calculator. Eventually I'll be able to play it on a thermostat. Heck I seem to recall a wearable Tetris as a watch several years back.) I've got the SNES version of Lemmings, but if I ever get an Amiga I may try to get the original. I don't really intend to get every last port in existence.

Yeah, it was ported everywhere. I first played it on the PC (DOS version), back in the early '90s... great classic. This GBC version is nowhere near as good as the DOS version, though, with worse everything. Of course, the GBC is weaker hardware than even a 386, so that should be expected, but even so, it is disappointing that there's no background or environment animation at all -- only the lemmings animate. Traps just kill you without animation, water or lava or whatever doesn't animate, etc. Also, backgrounds are single-color. Yeah, the graphics are bland, though what's there does look decent enough. Also, the game doesn't have release speed control or a faster-time option, so you have to just deal with the lemming release rate at whatever it's set at, and can't speed things up to make levels end sooner either. And there are usually fewer lemmings in total than there were on the PC. Of course, as far as lemmings or speed go I imagine that the game's probably just not able to because of the significant limitations of the hardware, but still, it's too bad. I wish they'd figured out a way to at least allow a faster-time option.

On the other hand, the battery save is great, makes it much more portable than a version with passwords would be. Also, the game does have ~150 stages, with all of the levels from both Lemmings and its addon Oh No! More Lemmings. In comparison, the PSP version actually has 10 fewer stages, with all of the original stages and 40 new levels. For some reason Oh No! More Lemmings wasn't included in the PSP release, for whatever reason. Of course, it has the speed and drop controls, and better graphics (though it has gone 3d, so it looks different from the 2d look of the older versions), etc, so it's the obvious better version to play... but still, for the hardware, even with its big limitations the GBC version's kind of fun. It is still Lemmings, after all.

I haven't played any of the TV console versions -- NES, SNES, etc. But yeah, as you say, back in the '90s Lemmings was ported just about everywhere. Thank Sony for ending that plague! I mean, who'd actually want more Lemmings games? Crazy talk...

Quote:After fiddling around with some other stuff to get the game to actually work on my US SNES, I'm happy to say so far it's worth it.

How? I know it's got a tough region lockout...


Game Boy
--
Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle -$5, cart only. Somewhat tough platformer, but not too bad.

PC
--
Croc 2 - $0.50, jewelcase only. I like this series quite a bit, both of the Croc games are pretty good. I have them for PSX, but not PC even though the PC versions were of course the first ones I played, back in the '90s.. they were ones I played and liked, but didn't actually own.

I got an Action Replay version 3 for the SNES some time ago. That was the key. It does two things. One, you hook up a US game to an additional port on the back. The AR uses that game's 10NES chip instead of the one in the top slot. Secondly, there's the other check. The game sends a request to the SNES asking if it is playing in PAL or NTSC mode. Well, the AR Mk3 just intercepts that request and tells the game "yeah, sure, PAL". In reality, of course, it's playing in NTSC, so not only am I playing the game without issue, it's running at the right speed instead of slightly slowed down like the European release (some games were actually recoded to play at the proper speed in their PAL versions, Terranigma wasn't one of them).

Ah, that's a pretty cool find... are those things hard to find?

The MK3s were produced in low numbers, and further they're a European thing. Apparently they are pretty tough to find. Usenet is still pretty useful sometimes.

Too bad, sounds like a great thing to have...

Genesis
--
Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote in Desert Demolition - $4, cart only. This is a pretty good 1995 platformer from Blue Sky Software with nice graphics and fun gameplay. You can play as either Road Runner or Wile E. Coyote, and while the levels are the same, the gameplay changes significantly between the two -- Wile uses gadgets but moves slowly, while Road Runner moves quickly but has to rely more on avoidance and luring Wile into obstacles. This is far better than the GG Road Runner game!

PS2
--
Grandia III - $11, complete. Yeah, probably shouldn't have gotten it, because I'm not expecting to like it too much, but it says Grandia on it and was cheaper than I've seen the game for before (in person), so I ended up getting it. :(

PSP
--
Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection - $5, disc only. Wasn't looking for this, and it's not the versions of FFIV or After Years I'd play if I had the choice (and actually wanted to play the game), but the DS and Wii versions would cost like ten times as much as I spent for this...

I gots me a copy of The Lion King the other day. That's one of the more underrated platformers on the SNES I think.

Lemme give you a few details on After Years. The Wii version looks almost identical to the phone version, which is to say, not very good looking. I mean it looks a lot like an early SNES game, not improved a bit. Mind you, some early SNES games looked amazing, but FF4 frankly didn't look that good through most of it (with the exception of enemy monster designs). The PSP version is drastically upgraded both visually and audibly.

That said, it's very weird that instead of porting over the complete 3D remake of FF4 to PSP, they instead decided to redo the original 2D version's graphics and sound and put THAT on the collection instead. As a result, you miss the voice acting, new gameplay mechanics, and a lot of storyline additions from the DS version. Still, the higher resolution graphics and nicer sound quality really do the 2D version a lot of justice. Also, there's a 3rd "in between" game they added to tie the two games together better.

So, I'd say you got an arguably worse version of FF4, but the superior version of After Years.

The Lion King's such a hard, hard game... beautiful graphics, but crazy hard gameplay.

As for FF4, huh, so they had an additional chapter exclusive to this version? That's interesting, but as you say, it is pretty annoying that it doesn't include any of the GBA or DS FF4 games' added content... why don't they just make a version with everything, instead of ditching all of the last version's new stuff in favor of all-new additions the next time? It doesn't make sense.

This was all buy 2 get 1 free.
PS2
--
Magna Carta - $11.80, complete special edition (w/ case, box, poster, artbook)
Contra: Shattered Soldier - free, would be $9, disc in generic case

PSP
--
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness - $13.50, complete

Gamecube
--
Driven - $1.80, complete - Racing game based on a movie I haven't seen.
Arthur Maclean's Pool Paradise - complete, $1.80 - Pool is alright, but I really got this because it says it has Dropzone on the disc... :)
Future Tactics: The Uprising - complete, free, would have been $1.80 - strategy game.

Sorry I should have conveyed a bit more.

The PSP version DOES have ALL the content added to the GBA version. It however has NONE of the DS version's because that was a full fledged re imagining of the game. Should they have ported that one over too? That would have been nice, yes, but as it stands the PSP version is at least superior to the GBA game. I will agree though that a lot of games tend to go back to square one every time they get remade... That is annoying.

The Lion King is pretty fun. I originally played it on "easy" mind you, so there's that. Aside from very amazing graphics, it also has amazing sound with music easily recognized straight from the movie. There's even some voices in there. It's about the only non-Capcom Disney tie-in game that's actually worth getting for the SNES.

Oh, and I added the comment I originally intended to add for Megaman Legends 64 in your N64 thread.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:Sorry I should have conveyed a bit more.

The PSP version DOES have ALL the content added to the GBA version. It however has NONE of the DS version's because that was a full fledged re imagining of the game. Should they have ported that one over too? That would have been nice, yes, but as it stands the PSP version is at least superior to the GBA game. I will agree though that a lot of games tend to go back to square one every time they get remade... That is annoying.

Ah, alright, better than nothing then. (And of course, it avoids the issues the US and JP versions of GBA FF4 had too, I'm sure...)

Quote:The Lion King is pretty fun. I originally played it on "easy" mind you, so there's that. Aside from very amazing graphics, it also has amazing sound with music easily recognized straight from the movie. There's even some voices in there. It's about the only non-Capcom Disney tie-in game that's actually worth getting for the SNES.

I've rarely managed to get past the ostrich ride in SNES Lion King... that part is just crazy hard! The game as a whole is tough, but that ... GAH!

I did have a Lion King game as a kid, but of course it was the Game Boy version, not the SNES. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, because it was one of the games that told me "you know, licensed games aren't always good...". It didn't completely break me from buying licensed games -- it wasn't terrible -- but it wasn't as good as I was hoping, either. First, it has some really, really frustrating play control that makes jumps and landing on enemies a complete chore at times. You have to jump just right to grab onto platforms or land on enemies without getting hit. Yes, hyena fights are annoying. Oh, and in adult form you have to roar with Select, not the best button layout (but they needed three functions, so I guess they didn't have much choice). However, the game is shorter than the console versions by a good margin, and easier too -- the ostrich ride's not too tough on the GB, for instance. It also simplifies things like the monkey puzzles in that level -- no need to tell those monkeys to flip, the (quite simple, but present) puzzle's gone on the GB.

Also, it has a level-skip cheatcode. Pause and then press BAABAA, presto, you skipped to the next stage! :)

The best thing about GB Lion King is the good graphics and outstanding music, though, for sure. It's clear that more attention went into the visuals and music than in making the game play great. This is somewhat true on the SNES too, but it's even worse on GB.

But that music... man, there isn't much GB music better than The Lion King's main theme.

However, those controls... just watch this, it's like that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boshWCflgHQ

I also have the Game Gear Lion King game. It has some similar levels to the other versions and some that are very different (the first stage is entirely unlike the other versions' first stages, for instance, in level design), and it looks pretty good, but the music's nowhere near as good as the Game Boy version. Also... no continues, no levelskip codes. Three deaths and you're starting the whole (challenging!) game over. I hate that stuff.

As for the SNES version though, I've owned it for some years, but have only managed to get past the ostrich ride a few times, and of course it's got no saving.

Quote:Oh, and I added the comment I originally intended to add for Megaman Legends 64 in your N64 thread.

Ah, alright.

Game Gear
--
Ristar: The Shooting Star - $2, cart only. Game Gear version of the Genesis game. This is fairly closely based on the Genesis game, unlike the GG Sonic games which are either original or are from Master System games, but it's pretty good, with good graphics and gameplay. Pretty cool find for cheap. :)

SNES
--
Outlander - $2, cart only. This is a driving/shooting game with a behind-the-car perspective. Apparently it's based on Mad Max, but the publisher lost the license, and instead of cancelling the game, they made it into an original title. Cool.

SNES
--
Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues - $7, cart only. While it's titled as a sequel, this game's actually entirely different from the first SNES Jurassic Park game -- instead of being a topdown action/adventure game with some FPS parts, like that one was, this game's a sidescroller. It's a pretty good sidescroller, though -- this game has very nice graphics, good music, some voice acting (the intro is voiced, impressively!), a decent variety of dinosaurs to fight, and more. There are six different guns you can switch between, and you have a dodge move too to dodge projectiles. You can play the six levels (or the first six levels?) in any order, too. However, there's no saving, which is really stupid -- the game has infinite continues, no saving in games with infinite continues is utterly bizarre. Common back then, but indefensibly annoying. Apart from that though, this is pretty good.

Sega Master System
--
Zillion - $2, cart only. This game is one of teh SMS's few sidescrolling platform/adventure games. In the game, you explore around overworlds and mazes of underground corridors. The graphics and underground layouts remind me a little bit of Impossible Mission, and sort of like that game, this game has puzzle elements and a pretty high difficulty level. The game has keycards, and terminals where you can use them, but don't mess up and use one wrong -- they're single-use, and one mistake and you're done. Ouch. I'll either need a LOT of patience or a walkthrough for this one, I think, but it does seem good. At least you do get three continues; it's not much, but many other '80s SMS games don't allow continuing at all...

I've come to the conclusion that it's downright SHAMEFUL that SNES era Natsume was so often overlooked. They've got some amazing games on that system.

Recently? Wild Guns. Wow... I can only describe this game as "Zombies in Wonderland" but better. It's cowboys shooting sci fi robots. While moving the cursor around the screen with a d-pad isn't quite as good a fit as Zombies in Wonderland's use of the Wii remote, the rest of the game just plain shines. Oh, and it's on the Virtual Console now too.

Kirby's Dreamland 3 is a very interesting game, in terms of reception. Since hearing ABF's thoughts, I've seen reviews ranging from "worst" to "best" Kirby game. Just check GameFAQs for a sampling of the range. Having had a chance to play it myself now, I will say that the biggest crime behind Dreamland 3 is being made AFTER Super Star. I still consider that game the best in the series. However, looking past that, I think KD3 is a great game. The game is one of if not the last game made for the SNES, being released in 1997. It, like Super Star, and Super Mario RPG, makes use of the SA-1 enhancement chip to provide much larger numbers of fast moving sprites on the screen and make up for the comparatively slower SNES CPU. Whatever one thinks of the gameplay, this is one of the best looking games on the system. The game's "look" takes after Yoshi's Island with a child-like drawing style. This one goes for a somewhat fuzzier look with much thinner borders in contrast to that one though. Everything is well animated and everything is drawn in good detail. Further, the game is one of the very few on the SNES that used a mode called "pseudo high resolution", which would "blend" pixels between objects to give the illusion of a higher resolution than the SNES could actually support. The effect comes off very well in fact and manages to add to the fuzzy crayon drawing effect as well. The sound and music are as good as they were in Super Star.

As for the gameplay, this is where it gets divisive. The walking speed on Kirby really is slow here. It's noticeable pretty quickly. Depending on the pace you prefer to play your platformers at, this can get old quick or not be that big a problem. If you make sure to run everywhere though, the movement speed becomes a lot more tolerable. Even running is slower than in other Kirby games like Super Star, but it's certainly workable. Another point of contention is the copy abilities are not nearly as fleshed out as in Super Star, which can certainly feel like a step backwards. Cutter won't have all the moves you may remember, instead going back to a simple thrown boomerang blade. This is offset by the return of the animal friends. There are quite a few more this time around, and thus all the moves in the game have numerous variations based on your animal buddy. Whether this is enough to make up for the simpler "basic" moves is a matter of taste, but it's certainly worth noting. Instead of "helpers" as in Super Star, this time you'll have only one helper, the odd looking Gooie fellow. Again player 2 can play as this character. The big difference is Gooie can eat enemies and copy powers just like Kirby, so player 2 should have just as much variation in what they do as player 1.

The stages are long and numerous, which somewhat makes up for the lack of "multiple games" as in Super Star. It'll take a while to go through. The big thing that gives this game replay value are stage objectives. Every stage has an interesting side-goal. In stage one, for example, a flower at the end will be sad unless you avoid stepping on any flowers through the whole stage. It certainly keeps things interesting.

All in all, this game is divisive for a reason, but I suggest taking a closer look if you didn't like it before. There's a lot to like here if you can get past it's flaws.

Actual Wild Guns copies for SNES are pretty expensive, I believe, so it's good that it is on VC... because yeah, that's a great game. It's an under-appreciated gem for sure, but enough people know about it, and it's rare enough, that it's somewhat pricey.

As for Kirby 3, I might say more later, but... the super-slow walking speed really is my biggest complaint, here. KDL3 and Kirby 64 both are just far too slow. At least this game doesn't have Kirby 64's limited flight, but still...

N64
--
Milo's Astro Lanes - $6, cart only - Futuristic space bowling game with various lane designs.

Also, I got another Interact-style N64 memory card for $5. Always need more of those.

PC
--
Heroes of Might & Magic III - $2, jewelcase only
Heroes of Might & Magic III: Armageddon's Blade - $3, jewelcase only
Heroes of Might & Magic III: The Shadow of Death - $3, jewelcase only

Mischief Makers really is a fun little game. I'm enjoying it so far. I also picked up Ogre Battle 64 really cheap. That too is a really great game, though in some ways a step backwards from Tactics Ogre. Ah the Ogre Battle series... Not only are the better games in it designed by the later maker of the Final Fantasy Tactics games, but there's names like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-m-Q-ti9syY">Ogre Battle</a>: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckRX0k9owAY">March of the Black Queen</a> and Tactics Ogre: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YG0AUw8B7Yk">Let Us Cling Together</a>. Someone likes Queen.

Hay ABF do you remember the expansion memory for the N64 that was required to play some of the games? I remember installing anyone but the official one from Nintendo was a real gamble I got this knock off brand one from Walmart one time and shortly there after my N64 began freezing up in the middle of games. :)

Ouch... yeah, I only use the official ones for sure. I know there were third party ones, but yeah, I'm not surprised at all that they're unreliable... I'd expect that, probably.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:Mischief Makers really is a fun little game. I'm enjoying it so far. I also picked up Ogre Battle 64 really cheap. That too is a really great game, though in some ways a step backwards from Tactics Ogre. Ah the Ogre Battle series... Not only are the better games in it designed by the later maker of the Final Fantasy Tactics games, but there's names like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-m-Q-ti9syY">Ogre Battle</a>: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckRX0k9owAY">March of the Black Queen</a> and Tactics Ogre: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YG0AUw8B7Yk">Let Us Cling Together</a>. Someone likes Queen.

I haven't played Tactics Ogre, but if it's like Final Fantasy Tactics, I almost certainly prefer Ogre Battle 64.

Tactics Ogre is sort of a hybrid of Orge Battle and Final Fantasy Tactics. Like Ogre Battle you have the same vast overworld where you determine overall strategy of which troops will go where. However, instead of "automatic" battles, you take detailed control of the fights in a style similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. A single map can take a LOOONG time.

I assume that the overworld part has to be a much smaller element of the game, though, than it is in Ogre Battle 64... I mean, with each battle taking that long, you can't be spending as much time in the overworld map(s) as you do in a game like OB64 where most of your time is strategizing in the main map, unless of course it's an exponentially longer game than OB64 is. OB64's already pretty solidly long, though, so I'd kind of doubt that.

But really, what I meant is that while I enjoy that Tactics Ogre/FFT/Disgaea style of isometric combat usually made up of squares, I like Ogre Battle 64's style more -- it's more like a traditional TBS game or something, except in realtime. Pretty cool. As for FFT... I don't know, it's alright I guess, but I don't love it, and the same goes for FFTA. The Fire Emblem games (which of course are topdown, not isometric, and with quite different gameplay) are a lot better, in my opinion.


Also, because of the release of an official English-language version of Monster World IV, for the first time ever, I put some money into the Wii shop, and got some stuff.

Wii VC
--
Monster World IV (900 points) - As I said above, this is the first ever English-language release of this very good Genesis action-RPG. The first three Monster World games had released in the West, in the US most prominently in the third one, Wonder Boy in Monster World, but the fourth stayed in Japan, for some stupid reason. It's a pretty good game, with a female lead character (it's the only one of the four Monster World games with that), and plenty of classic action-RPG gameplay. For the quality of the game, and the fact that it's actually a new game outside of Japan (unless you played the fan translation, of course), this is very highly recommended!

WiiWare
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Stonekeep: Bones of the Ancestors (500 points) - This is a 2012 WiiWare release from Interplay, and it got horrible reviews. It's a first-person dungeon crawler with decent graphics and very motion-heavy controls -- almost everything needs to be done with only somewhat functional motion elements, from casting spells to attacking. I actually had hopes of liking this game, which is part of why I got it (the other reason being that I was interested to see what Interplay'd done,being an old fan of the studio from back when they weren't dead)... and my first impression is that it's alright. The graphics are nice for the Wii; there's minimal graphical variety within each stage, but it looks nice enough. As for the motion, the various swipes to do attacks work, and remind me of TES Arena and Daggerfall, in that you swipe, and then your character attacks. Different angles of swing use different weapons, depending on which ones you have. Throwing's a little trickier (again, different motions determine what you throw, make sure to do the right one), but it does work. The spells are a bit harder to get off right, though... the motions are more complex, and only somewhat work. At least most of your fighting is done with weapons.

The game clearly is low budget, and doesn't have stuff the original Stonekeep had like much of an intro (the original had lots of live action video stuff, of course), but no, I don't hate this game. It's repetitive for sure, but okay.


In addition, I got $3 worth of Mega Man 10 DLC (got the three special stages), and $5 worth for My Live As A Darklord (the second set of DLC levels).


WiiWare: Also, I redeemed the codes for two games I got with points from my Club Nintendo account; I had a bunch of expiring points, so I thought why not get some games I had an interest in anyway with them. That resulted in my downloading the two below WiiWare titles.
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Dr. Mario Online Rx - Okay Dr. Mario game. Featurewise this is VERY barebones, and has no real main single player game -- this is just endless, vs. one CPU (single match), or online, pretty much. It's also two player only on single console, disappointingly. There is a somewhat interesting mode with pointer controls, but apart from that, there's not much here... play Dr. Mario 64 instead, unless you want to play online -- that this does have, and it's a nice option to have. Overall this plays great, but a don't expect much in the way of options.

Eco Shooter: Plant 530 - Rail shooter that supports the Zapper. This, along with Link's Crossbow Training, is one of only two rail shooters Nintendo made for the Wii. It's a pretty simple game, and is entirely on-rails unlike Link's Crossbow Training, so you only use the pointer, but it plays fine and is fun. It's not a great game, and seems a bit thin on content, but lightgun games often are... I wanted to try Nintendo's other Wii lightgun game, but not enough to spend $10 or so for it, so I got it here. Probably the right decision.

TurboGrafx-16 - these three games are from EBay, as usual for the system. They were bought in separate auctions, but are from one seller so the shipping was combined, $6 total. All three include the jewelcases, manuals, slipcovers, and cards; the only things missing are the outer cardboard boxes, but everything else is here.
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Moto Roader - $12. Topdown, 5-player racing game from early in the system's life. This game has no saving, but you can play the seven circuits from the beginning, so it doesn't use passwords either. Within each circuit, there are up to eight races, and if you lose or run out of gas, it's game over, start again. The game's a hard game for sure, and is pretty unforgiving. You MUST get the correct powerups if you want to stand a chance... see, when you win, you get money based on your finishing position to spend on car upgrades. You need to figure out the right ones to get to not lose. Otherwise, this game's good. Use handling B -- handling A is very confusing. The graphics are okay for an early TG16 game, but are hardly great; this is only a bit over the NES. I also dislike the "cars that fall back to the back edge of the screen get warped up" design. You'll also find this in, say, R.C. Pro-Am II on the NES, and just like there, it makes it impossible to actually get a lead... all five cars are always on the screen at all times. There is an advantage to being ahead, as once you fall back it can be a bit tricky to get up your momentum again, but still, it is a bit frustrating at times.

Alien Crush - $11.50. Pinball game. This is from '89, so it's an early TG16 game. It's got only one table, made up of just two screens. There are also four bonus rooms, each a single screen, but the gameplay in all four is fairly similar -- destroy the targets on screen (each has different enemies to defeat, but that's all you do). So yeah, the game's lacking in content. Oh, and no, no saving of scores; Devil's Crush can do that, but not in this first one. The game does have pretty good, very Turbografx-ey graphics and sound, though, and it controls and plays very well. The only flaw is the limited amount of content.

Bonk's Revenge - $15. The second Bonk game. The first one was a good game, so I'm hoping that this is as good... :) I don't think the first Bonk was quite Mario World or Sonic the Hedgehog great, but it was a pretty good slightly lower-tier platformer. This one looks pretty similar to the first, but with new levels and some new powers and stuff.

Yeah, all three of these cost more than I'd paid for TG16 games before -- previously I hadn't paid over $11 or so -- but they're actually in the lower mid tier of TG16 game prices. Apart from the really cheap stuff that's in low demand, such as almost all of the sports games, TG16 games quickly get a bit pricey, by classic game standards... I mean, I wanted all three of these games for sure, but I'd love to have Devil's Crush, Super Star Soldier, Cratermaze, Bomberman '93, Soldier Blade, Psychosis, the Neutopia games, etc... but yeah, those are even more expensive.

At some point I may pick up a TurboGrafx 16 as well as a Master System. There's a number of games for each of those I'd like to have.

So I recently got Castlevania Legends, the one game to get stricken from continuity. I still don't see why. As far as Castlevania games go, this one's decent but nowhere near, say, Castlevania 3 or Super Castlevania. However, it's better than a number of other Castlevania games. Heck, even if Sonia isn't the "first" Belmont any more, the story still doesn't contain any real plot holes.

I picked up the Quest for Glory anthology as well as the fifth one. The first four are fun games, but the 5th is a bit of a let down, as is standard for that time in Sierra's life. Still, it's decent and not as bad as King's Quest Mask of Eternity.

Xbox
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Mortal Kombat Armageddon - $3, disc and case (no manual)

PS1 - All games have cases. It was $10 for the six - 3 for $5.
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Parasite Eve - discs and case, no manual or bonus demodisc
Cubix - Robots for Everyone: Race 'n Robots - complete (topdown-style racing game)
Tunnel B1 - complete (flying/rail shooter) - This was also on Saturn, but I'm sure that would cost a lot more.
Sentinel Returns - new and sealed (I'll open it) - sequel/remake of an early '80s title
Mort the Chicken - complete, looks like a mediocre 3d platformer
Crypt Killer - complete, Konami rail shooter with a zombie theme. Requires the Playstation Justifier for lightgun controls, unfortunately; I have a PS1 Namco gun knockoff, but not a Justifier. There is also a Saturn version, so I'd rather have that of course, but this was pretty cheap.

SNES
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Full Throttle - $4, cart only. This is a behind-the-vehicle motorcycle and jetski racing game. It was made by Gremlin, but this is a far cry from Top Gear, that's for sure... doesn't even have music and sound effects at the same time! Yeah, this one's average.

PSP
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Steambot Chronicles Battle Tournament - $4.50, complete. The PSP Steambot game.

GC
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Naruto: Clash of Ninja - $1.70, complete. The first of this quality series isn't as good as the sequels, but for so cheap, why not?
Wreckless - free, would have been $1.70 (buy 2 get 1 free). I have this for Xbox, but while they have worse graphics, the GC/PS2 versions have twice as many missions.

Game Gear
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Ninja Gaiden - cart only, $1. This isn't by Tecmo, but is by Sega -- Sega made Ninja Gaiden games for the GG and SMS. They're actually different games, but because it was a late release the SMS version was of course Europe only. As for this GG version, I've heard it's quite short. Well, I can't say if it's short, but I can say that it's not nearly as precise as the NES games -- this game's collision detection isn't as pixel-perfect as the NES games are, not even close. It's also got minimal story at best, so don't expect much from this one. It's also strict side-view, instead of the Tecmo "isometric-style" angle. So yeah, my first impression is that this isn't exactly great. Still, it's interesting enough to be worth a dollar anyway.

PC
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Egypt 1156 B.C.: Tomb of the Pharaoh - $3, jewelcase only. Adventure game from Dreamcatcher. (actually set in ancient Egypt, in this case)
Rayman Forever - jewelcase only, $2. The addon of sorts to Rayman, this has additional levels (plus the original game too, I believe).
The Legend of the Prophet and the Assassin - $3, jewelcase only. Another adventure game from Dreamcatcher. This one's set in medieval Arabia. You play as a Crusader survivor after the Crusader kingdoms have collapsed.

Game Boy Color - both $2 each, cart only
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Either the last, or one of the last, GBC games in the US, this game released in late 2002. I've never bought a Harry Potter game before, so I haven't played the first one, but I've heard that the GBC games are solid RPGs, so when I saw this, I decided to try it. Well, I'm a bit into the game... and yeah, it is good. The only issue is that you don't have normal attacks, only magic, with your standard magic points limit, which is a bit annoying. At least you refill when you level up, and level up frequently, but yeah, be prepared to buy a lot of magic potions... still, seems good. (Oh, I actually died a few times, but the punishment is minimal.) It's got save anywhere and battery save, too.

Walt Disney World Magical Tour Racing - Side-view isometric racing game. It's alright, nothing great but moderately amusing. Oddly, the only real Disney characters are Chip, Dale, and Jiminy Cricket; the other nine or so characters are new creations, each one themed to match one of the rides (tracks) in the game. Password save.

So I was at my favorite game store today, which I hadn't been to in... way too long, like maybe even two months. And... they had good stuff, so I ended up spending quite a bit. Got some interesting games though!

As usual for this place everything was buy 2 get 1 free (for used games, but these all were of course).

Game Boy Color
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Megaman Xtreme 2 - $10. I was considering getting something else instead of this, but that'd have cost a little more, and I do want this game for sure. Obviously it can't compare to the graphics of the SNES games it's taking levels from, but it is a nice effort for the GBC. This one's obviously running on a new engine, not the GB Mega Man engine -- Mega Man is a lot smaller than he was in those games.

Virtual Boy (all cart only, no covers)
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3-D Tetris - $20 (rare, so I got it, even though it was pricey and I've never liked Welltris much at all. This does seem to be a decent version of it, though, better than many.)
Teleroboxer - $7 (hard...)
Galactic Pinball - $12 (yes, finally I have this game! My most wanted US released VB game I didn't have... getting used to the very slippery puck takes a while, and the fields are a bit too small, but it's a good game.)

Saturn (all complete unless noted, and oddly enough, all five of these were published by Acclaim here in the US.)
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Tunnel B1 - $8 (yeah, I recently got this for PS1... it's alright, and I like the Saturn more than the PS1 so it seemed worth buying again. And yeah, it's decently fun.)
Frank Thomas "Big Hurt" Baseball - $2 (the pace is too slow, and it takes a while to get used to when you have to press the button to hit the ball, but it's alright)
Starfighter 3000 - $8 (no manual) (this is an ugly port, but I love the game so much that this is probably my favorite pickup today... just make sure to play this with the Mission SticK.)
Robotica - free, would be $2 (Extremely, extremely repetitive game, but it WAS cheap. This is a first-gen Saturn FPS, with 30 near-identical levels and no saving. It's basically a dungeon crawler with FPS combat.)
Iron Man X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal - free, would be $8 (2d platform/action game. Got mediocre reviews, but I think it's fun. It's far better than stuff like Scud, at least! I do hate the 26-character passwords, though. And no, there's no system save option. Jerks.)

NES
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Shatterhand - $4 (cart and sleeve only) (heard great things about this one)
Shadow of the Ninja - $5 (cart only) (very good game!)

Dreamcast (all complete)
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Outtrigger - free, would be $8 (FPS)
Evolution: The World of Sacred Device - $7 (I have the second one)
ChuChu Rocket - $4

Playstation
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Medal of Honor Underground - $5 (complete)

I also got a few games repaired that weren't working. I've never actually been able to play Wipeout Pure for the PSP, but now I can... awesome. Ys Seven (PSP) also wasn't working, and also is now fixed. Great. :)

PC
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Baldur's Gate: Chapters 1 & 2 - $2, jewelcase only. This is from Goodwill. It's the demo (of sorts) of BG1, and it's the first BG thing we bought back in 1999 or so... but we gave away the disc (or something) for our original copy after buying the full game, so even though I have the box for this game, I didn't have the disc anymore. I know it's kind of pointless, but I just couldn't resist. This goes through the Nashkell Mines, though you can't use the save files again in the full game from what I remember. Fewer zones too, several in-between zones are missing I think...

So, I found a copy of Chakan (for the Genesis) in my Genesis games drawer while looking for some other games. I remember buying the game, sometime last year I think, but had never played it or listed it on TC because I couldn't find it... I was sure I'd lost it in the car or something before it got here, but somehow... I'd put it in the drawer? Hmm, that's weird. :lol Anyway, now I know I actually have the game. It is, of course, an infamously super-difficult platformer. And there are a lot of hard platformers on the Genesis, so that's really saying something.

Gamecube - all buy 2 get 2 free from gamestop.
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X-Men Legends II - $5.40 (complete)
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue - $5.40 (complete)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus - $6.30 (discs in generic case)
Pro Rally - free, would be $5.40 (complete)
Pac-Man World 3 - $10 (disc in generic case)
King Arthur - free, would be $5.40 (disc in generic case)
Hot Wheels Velocity X- free, would be $5.40 (disc in generic case)
Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee - free, would be $5.40 (disc in case, no manual)

Some mediocre stuff, sure, but I had to pick up stuff to fill out the free slots...

SNES
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Lagoon - cart only, $7. This is a very mediocre, first-gen action-RPG. It's a blatant Ys (I and II style) clone, except with less graphical variety, worse music, and even less of a plot than Ys, and perhaps the most annoyingly short sword ever, too. Seriously, that thing is like five pixels long... so yeah, play Ys games instead of this.

What's funny is, I just went and read a few reviews of this game, and few even mentioned Ys... but from interface to gameplay, this is a mediocre Ys clone through and through. It's worse than any Ys game I've played (Ys I for the Sega Master System is a better game than this, for instance), but eh, it's just mediocre enough to be playable. I don't really regret getting it, even if it's one of the system's least good action-RPGs.

Oh, the game does add one thing to the Ys formula... well, two, First, it has some magic attacks. The first Ys game didn't have that. That's a good thing to have, even if they're pretty average stuff. And second, it has... escort missions! Yes, everyone's favorite. Thanks for adding those, guys... :S

GBC
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Top Gear Pocket - $2, cart only. I have the second one, but not the first. The two are similar, but there are two major differences -- the first has a rumble cartridge, while the second doesn't, but the first has password save, while the second has a battery. So yeah, a plus and a minus for each.

Dreamcast
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Shenmue - $9, complete - Not sure if I actually want to play it, but it certainly was a good price for the game.

It's Steam Summer Sale time again! For day one, I got one thing. There were some other good games on sale, but I stuck to only the cheap games, not anything more expensive. (like a few of the $15-$25 games I do have interest in).

PC DD
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Portal 2 - $5
Legend of Grimrock - $6

Game Gear
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Legend of Illusion - $5, cart only. The third and last 8-bit Mickey game. I've heard very good things about all three of them, and of course the two Genesis "Illusion" titles are fantastic, so I was quite happy to find this one! Now I'll need the first two...

PC DD - Steam Sale day 2
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From Dust - $3.74
Tribes Ascend Steam Starter Pack - $5 - I've liked the older Tribes games quite a bit, why not.

PC DD Steam
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Alice: The Madness Returns - $5 for the next 11 hours only! I bought, I liked the first one and had a definite interest in this.

PC DD Steam
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Trine 2 Collector's Edition - $6.25

SNES
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Joe & Mac - $6, cart only - popular sidescrolling action game

GBA
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Top Gear Rally - $5, cart only - only two more Top Gear games I don't have, now... played a bit of this one. Impressive 3d for the GBA, and fun enough gameplay; it feels like a 3d attempt at Top Gear Pocket, really, though by a Western team.