Atari 2600
--
Barnstorming - $1, cart only
Atari Trackball Controller - $5. This is a trackball for the 2600, also compatible with Atari 8-bit computers. I think it's actually digital, but still should be better than the gamepad for stuff like Centipede and Missile Command. I just hope it's decent, unlike that abysmal Sega Master System trackball!
Xbox
--
Azurik - $1, complete
It is a shame no trackball controllers were made for Marble Madness' console releases. I'd love to play that game properly without resorting to buying an arcade machine.
I would love to see Fix-it Felix Jr. hit the local arcades. I'm not even kidding. Disney actually turned that into a real arcade machine and it's been spotted in a few rare locations since then. The game actually seems pretty addictive too, like some real thought was put into it.
Yeah, that would have been great... even though it doesn't make the game easier, Centipede (for 2600 and 7800) is more fun to play with the trackball because that's the way it's supposed to control. It really does make a difference. This is another thing, like paddle controllers, that sadly stopped existing on consoles... though at least many later systems do have a mouse, even if they don't have a trackball. That's something, at least; for paddles there's really nothing, a mouse is not quite the same.
Quote: I would love to see Fix-it Felix Jr. hit the local arcades. I'm not even kidding. Disney actually turned that into a real arcade machine and it's been spotted in a few rare locations since then. The game actually seems pretty addictive too, like some real thought was put into it.
It would be interesting to play that sometime, yeah... is the arcade game a trackball game, or joystick? I wonder if the game is as good as you say.
Well, it appears to be as fun as a lot of those really early era arcade games at least.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xLPX0DhDZE8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
http://youtu.be/xLPX0DhDZE8
I have to say that Disney has a couple of really talented teams. That's good, because otherwise they'd only have those "Z list" teams responsible for things like "Planes". The teams behind Wreck it Ralph, Frozen (should have just been called The Snow Queen, but hey that's a nitpick), The Princess and the Frog, and Tangled (again, great, but to be nitpicky again, they should have called it Rapunzel). I also loved Wreck-It Ralph in particular, but even there if I had to complain about one thing, it was the endless candy puns. Minor gripe, but seriously either tone them down or go with some, ya know, video game based puns.
Yeah, there wasn't all that much actual gaming humor in Wreck in Ralph... I mean, there was some, but not as much as you might think given the setting. Still a decently good movie, though. Tangled was even better. Haven't seen Frozen yet. I haven't heard particularly good things about the games based on any of those movies, though, but licensed games are rarely good...
All four games below were $5 each.
Saturn
--
TNN Motorsports Hardcore 4x4 - complete. This game isn't very good, but I got it anyway.
Genesis
--
Animaniacs - complete (cardboard box) - Looks like a fine platformer from Konami.
Playstation
--
Apocalypse - complete. I've heard decent things about this one.
Sega Master System
--
Shanghai - complete. Newer systems can do Shanghai better, but this version is good for the time. Interesting to have, and I do like Shanghai.
Xbox 360
--
Samurai Warriors 2 Empires - $5, complete. The Empires version of the second Sengoku Musou game.
Xbox - the below were $5 for the 3 games. All are complete.
--
Transworld Snowboarding
Star Wars: Republic Commando - Nice find for cheap! This game is fairly well regarded.
Dead Man's Hand - decent FPS.
Also a few more games missing from the thread from the stuff I got several months back -- Magical Taruruuto-kun (SNES version) and Melfand Stories (SNES). Somehow they were missing from that list I posted after the hack. Neither is listed on IGN.
Finally, some more Xbox Live Games with Gold titles.
X360 - free DD games
--
Shoot Many Robots
Gears of War (I have this on disc, but why not take a free backup)
Sleeping Dogs
Lara Croft: Guardian of Light
Dead Island - this is the current one.
I've been taking the "free backups" as well. Nice to have the combined advantages of discs (permanent non revocable copy, can loan to friends) and digital (no disc needed, restoration in case disc copy is damaged). Nothing beats that.
Yeah, that's true. Having both is definitely nice.
Playstation 2
--
Tokobot Plus - complete, $1.50 - a bit better than the somewhat disappointing PSP version of this 3d platformer.
DDRMax - disc only, $1
Motocross Mania 3 - disc only, $1 - Budget racer. The first one on PS1 is bad, so I have low hopes for this, but for a dollar I'll give it a try.
Wave Rally - complete, $3 - Bland looking racing game. Hopefully it'll pleasantly surprise me.
Xbox
--
New Legends - complete, $1.50. beat 'em up action/adventure game from some good people, but it got mediocre reviews. I've wanted to play this game for a long time, but only now finally got it.
BeatDown: Fists of Vengeance - complete, $3. Capcom beat 'em up.
Genma Onimusha - disc in case (no manual), $4. This Xbox version of the first Onimusha game is the only one of them not PS2 exclusive. Yes, it's a hack and slash game; not my favorite thing, but I'll give this one a try.
Also I got a N64 Transfer Pak for cheap. It doesn't have too many good uses, but I'm sure I'll eventually get things for it. Interestingly, many more games supported it in Japan than the US:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_64_accessories (scroll down to its part) The only games I have both of (GB/C and N64) are Mickey's Speedway USA and Perfect Dark, but I'll get more sometime for sure.
Wii
--
Furu Furu Park - complete, $1 - minigame collection based on classic Taito games.
Xbox 360
--
Fatal Inertia -$3, complete. Futuristic racing game. I'm very happy to get it, I've really been wanting to play this game!
DS (all card only games)
--
Professor Layton and the Mysterious Box - $6 - I mostly liked the one I have, so why not get another.
Rabbids Go Home - $5 - this is actually an Incredible Machine knockoff. Yeah, surprising, but it's good...
Arkanoid DS - $2.50 - If this is as good as the DS Space Invaders games, it should be fun... but really, I need one of those DS paddle controller things that goes in the GBA slot, I'm sure it'd make Arkanoid and the Space Invaders games better for sure. I'm not sure if they got a US release, but the games work with it...
Fatal Inertia is great! It's exactly the kind of racing game I like.
Xbox 360 - Digital Download
--
Ridge Racer Unbounded - $5, on sale. I got this a few days ago. I've played the PC demo and it was fun, so I'd like to play the full game, sure.
Civilization Revolution - Free. This is the new "Games with Gold" title for the first half of this month.
Atari 2600 - cart only games
--
Front Line - $5 - decent topdown run & gun, sort of like a proto-Ikari Warriors. Dated, but interesting for the time for sure. Nice graphics for the 2600.
Wizard of Wor - $5 - Good port of a great Midway arcade game, apart from insane amounts of flicker. Stupidly you have to use the right controller port for one player, while pretty much every other game uses the left controller port, but otherwise it's good.
Fast Eddie - free with purchase of the above two games. Okay, but simple and average at best, single-screen platformer. Avoid the enemies and collect stuff.
PC - Digital Download - I got the most recent Humble Bundle. I think it just ended, so I hope people who were interested didn't miss it... I didn't have much interest in the 'beat the average' games, since I already have two of them and the other two didn't look too interesting, so I just got the basic level for a dollar.
--
Guacamelee! Gold Edition - 2d beat em up/platformer
Dust: An Elysian Tale - 2d action-adventure-platformer - Game not listed on IGN
The Swapper - 2d puzzle-platformer
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is also included, but I have this game already (backed the kickstarter!), so I don't need another copy. Anyone want it? It's a quite good 2.5d platformer, well worth playing!
Super Nintendo
--
Firepower 2000 - $17, cart only. You can get this for less on EBay for sure, but I'd rather buy local when I can... and when the result is getting a game this great, that I've been looking for for a long time but hadn't seen, I don't mind the cost. (It also doesn't hurt that you can also spend quite a bit more than this on EBay or Amazon for loose copies of this game, too.) So anyway, Firepower 2000, aka Super SWIV, is a quite impressive Euro-shmup, and it's probably one of the best Euro-shmups I've played. The game is fast, rarely slows down in single player mode, has great graphics, and is fairly well designed. It's also very difficult, with six long levels and no continues allowed, so this will take a lot of skill to get through for sure. Of course, the game has two player co-op as well, and two playable vehicles, one a jeep which can fire in any direction and one a helicopter which can only fire up. The game was inspired by the NES game Silkworm, and I got the last SWIV game, SWIV 3D for the PC, years ago. That one's not that great, though; it's a mediocre Strike-style 3d helicopter shooting game. This game is much, MUCH better. I really like this.
PC
--
Redneck Rampage Rides Again - $2, disc in plain jewelcase. This is the 'sequel' (stand-alone expansion pack, really) to the Build engine FPS Redneck Rampage, which I got back in ~2001 in the "Interplay 15th Anniversary Collection". That only included the original game, though, not the addon, so now I have it. I've never liked Redneck Rampage's backwoods-redneck-hick theme much, but the Build engine is a solid classic FPS engine, so I got this anyway. This game is also interesting in being a 1998 DOS release in the US -- there were a few other late '90s DOS releases in Europe, but in the US, new DOS games pretty much dried up in 1997...
Also, it's not a videogame, but for $1 I got a 3-disc DVD collection of the first 13 episodes of the Mega Man cartoon. Hopefully it's amusing. :)
Neo Geo Pocket Color
--
Picture Puzzle (game in case) - $7.50. This is from ebay; a bunch of copies of the "Europe" version of this appeared at some point, and this once-uncommon game is now easy enough to find. Well, I finally got a copy -- and it's my first NGPC game in QUITE a while. I never see any to buy locally, and online... I don't know, I just don't do it. I should more often, the system has a small library and there are more great games I don't have. Anyway, Picture Puzzle is a Picross game, essentially. Yes, it's Picross, just like the various Nintendo Picross games. This one has 200 puzzles, going from 5x5 to 15x15. That means that it's got only a fraction the amount of content as Picross DS, but just as much or more than any of Nintendo's Picross games from the '90s (there was the US-released GB one, a second GB one, and a bunch on SNES download service all in Japan only), so that's nice. Picross DS also goes up to 20x20, but 15x15 can be a good challenge. Of course having to use a stick instead of a touchpen makes the game a bit slower, but it's the same great game, and the controls are good enough. I like Picture Puzzle a lot, it's just what I was hoping it would be.
Atari 2600
--
Thunderground - $5, cart only. This is a game by Sega, and it's okay; it's not their best 2600 game, but it's a decently fun underground maze-ish action game, kind of like Dig Dug but (for me) probably more fun. The cart has some really good cover art, too, with your drill-tank and some underground terrain... great stuff. I'd seen another copy of this around here that had the label entirely torn off (for this same price), but while I wanted the game, I definitely wanted the label... and well, finally found one with the label! Pretty cool.
Xbox
--
Galleon - $5, complete. This is a 3d platform-action game from the guy who created the first Tomb Raider. Xbox exclusive game; I've been interested in trying it, we'll see how it is.
PS2
--
SnoCross 2 Featuring Blair Morgan - $3, complete. This is the sequel to the PS1/DC game SnoCross Championship Racing. The first one was like a C-grade, even skiddier snowmobile knockoff of Sega Rally. I hope this one is like the first game.
Xbox 360 DD
--
Dungeon Defenders - free with Games with Gold.
Game Boy Advance - cart only, $4 each.
--
Frogger's Journey: The Lost Relic - This is a Frogger action-adventure game. Looks okay, but not great. It's partially Frogger stuff, partially going around and talking to people and stuff.
Moto Racer Advance - This game is sort of like Top Gear Rally (GBA), but not quite as nice graphically; this is really a linescroll-style game, but with better tech. So, it's a simple racing game, but it's fun! It's got nothing on the PC Moto Racer games of course, but I like that they used the same guy for the menu-selections voice, and it's a simple, fun little racer. I kind of like it.
N64
--
Ms. Pac-Man's Maze Madness - complete, $10. I have this game for DC already, but... I just couldn't resist this; the N64 is my favorite system and this is a fun (simple, but fun) game, so why not.
Genesis
--
Garfield: Caught in the Act - $3, cart only. Surprisingly okay platformer published by Sega.
PSP
--
Go Sudoku - $3, complete. Haven't played much Sudoku, but I should try it.
Genesis
--
Risk - $4, complete. Decent port of the board game, with AI options and an action minigame mode where you shoot a cannon at stuff. It's okay.
PS1
--
Crusaders of Might & Magic - $3, complete. Mediocre at best 3d action/adventure game. Supposedly this game actually might be slightly less bad than the pretty poor PC version, but we'll see.
Also I got two PS2 memory cards for $5 each, because the ones I have are full and I need some more.
PSP Digital Download
--
Crash Bandicoot (PSOne Classics) - $1, on sale. Sale this weekend only; I have all the other PS1 games on sale on the PS1, but not this one.
Everyday Shooter - $1, on sale. This one (and the others below) are PSP games. All are download-only titles; these two were the only ones on sale though. This one is a single-screen shooter, a bit like Every Extend Extra but with a gun instead.
Fortix - $1. This is a medieval Qix clone. I like Qix and it's a dollar, so why not?
Retro Cave Flyer - $1. Gravity flight game, like Gravitar, Rotor, Sub Terranea (but without the shooting element), etc. Fun genre.
Trailblazer - $3. This is a sequel to an early '80s game. The original is kind of like a precessor to SkyRoads, which of course I love. This doesn't look quite as good as that, but still, it looks good. Nice graphics too. I'm not entirely clear if this game is PSP exclusive, or if it's a port or remake of the Gizmondo Trailblazer game which apparently also exists...
Galcon Labs - $3. This is a port of a simple iOS strategy/action game. Looks fun. There are also some PC games in this franchise; I might get them on Steam whenever they go on sale, I'm not paying $10 for something this basic (which is what the two Steam games cost).
(Oh, all of these PSP games are 16-40MB, so they're all small. The only big one is the PS1 game.)
PSP
--
Ultimate Block Party - $5, complete. Fun-looking puzzle game.
N64
--
Superman 64 - $4, cart only. Yes, I finally bought a copy of this infamous game. I'm guessing that it's bad, but not as bad as people make it out to be, but we'll see.
Dreamcast
--
Centipede - $5, complete. I've owned the PC version of this since it came out, so I've always been on the fence of the console port here, but it IS a pretty good game, so I should have it.
GBC
--
Driver - $2, cart only - topdown Driver.
PS2
--
Cy Girls - $5, complete - 3d action/stealth game
Xbox
--
Power Drome - $3, complete. This game is one of the most common PS2 games, it seems (see it all the time!), but I hadn't seen it for Xbox despite often looking... until now! I'm happy to find this one. It's a good futuristic racing game. Low budget, but good -- and this is better than the PS2 version for sure.
Also I got a box for Summer Challenge (Accolade) for the Genesis. I had a loose copy, but I like this game, so I'm happy to have a box now too. This is a game I got for the PC back in the '90s, and the Genesis version is quite similar just with a choppier framerate... still, fun stuff. :)
You bought Superman 64? On purpose? I know I've said this before but... is your goal to simply get ALL of the games?
Well, not for everything no, but I do want to own all non-sports N64 games eventually. And the sports games I have an interest in (which is just a few).
It was '40% off used games if you buy 6+' at Gamestop this weekend, so I went to two and bought a bunch of stuff. Been quite a while since I'd been to Gamestop... (the 40% discount there includes the regular 10% discount for having the card, so it was 30% extra discount here. Still very nice!) The prices listed are the prices AFTER the discount has been applied.
PSP
--
Valhalla Knights - complete - $3.14 - action-RPG, first in a series
Phantasy Star Portable 2 - complete - $12.59 ($7.50 less than their usual price for this somewhat uncommon action-RPG!)
PS2
--
Auto Modellista - $1, disc only. Decent looking racing game with cel-shaded-style graphics.
DS - all loose games
--
Rooms: The Main Building - $3.14 - puzzle game. I've played the demo of this and it seems good, and the DS is perfect for puzzle games.
TrackMania Turbo - $3.14 - Great find for the second DS Trackmania game for so cheap... it's classic TrackMania, good stuff. It's not my favorite racing game series, but it's a good one for sure!
LOL - $0.62 - multiplayer minigames
Away: Shuffle Dungeon - $1.25 - action-rpg
Turn It Around - $0.62 - touch minigames
Wii - all complete with case and manual (unless noted)
--
Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands - $4.40 - I don't really love these games, but they're alright, and I want to try this one. I'll need to get the PS360 one too; it's a different game from this Wii version.
Medieval Games - $3.14 - Minigame collection.
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - $3.14. The Tony Hawk racing game, released at the Wii's launch. I've always wanted to play it, since I like racing games.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - $3.14. Not expecting too much from this third-person action game, but hopefully it's okay, as reviews suggest. And of course it's Star Wars.
Disney's Epic Mickey 2 - $12. I'm one of the people who liked Epic Mickey 1, so I've definitely wanted this sequel. I'd have gotten Mario Galaxy 2 if one of the stores had had it (or a few other pricey Wii games I don't have), but they didn't, so I got this.
Xbox 360 - complete (with case + manual) unless noted
--
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate - $12.59 (no manual, but it might not have had one). This was a great find used! I love the DoA series, of course, and this is the most recent version. I've been wanting it, but this is a lot cheaper than I've seen this game before. I've played this some today, and yeah, it's pretty good. Absolutely worth getting! I'm very happy to have this one, I'll play it quite a bit I'm sure.
Raiden IV - $4.40 - Great price for this most recent title in this classic shmup series! Raiden III (PS2) was somewhat disappointing, but this one seems better. I'm very happy to have this.
Bayonetta - $6.07 - Not really a kind of game I've ever loved, but I should try this one.
Capcom Digital Collection - $12.59 - Awesome collection of nine Capcom games! It's a mixture of HD ports of old games (SSFIIT, SPFIIT, Final Fight) and XBLA titles (1942: Joint Strike, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, Flock, Commando 3, etc.). I didn't previously have any of these games, at least not on 360 (I have earlier versions of the HD ports, but not any of the XBLA games), so I'd been wanting this one! It's annoying that Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 didn't get a PC port like the first one, which is why I didn't get it years ago (I have the first one for PC), but, well, I have it now.
Oneechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad - $4.40 - more third-person hack and slash action.
Split/Second - $11.33 - Good fun arcade-style racing game I've wanted ever since it came out!
Kengo: Legend of the 9 - $2.51 - This is another third-person action game, but this one definitely looks good.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope - $6.29 - I know the voice acting in this is infamously awful, but I like the series, so I need to have this.
I actually got this in January -- it should have been in this post
http://tcforums.com/forums/showthread.ph...post133959 if I remember correctly -- but I got this.
DS
--
Picross DS - card only. I'm not sure how much this was, but I think it was about $4. And yes, I've been playing it a lot! Picross 3D is better, but this is great too.
DS - card only games
--
Sudoku Gridmaster -$4.50
Star Fox Command - $6.25 - Yes, I didn't have this before. Finally I got it.
Wii
--
The Last Story - $25, complete - Wanted to get this one before its online play mode gets shut down in... well, a week now. I hope people manage to make emulators to save Wii online play, like happened with PSO on the Dreamcast... we'll see.
So yeah, I've been playing Last Story online since it'll be kind of hard to play online as of a few days from now, and it's actually kind of fun! I'm surprised, I like it. It's simple and I usually lose, but I like it.
Wii (WiiWare)
--
WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase - $8, I got this because in order to get all of the downloadable puzzles in Wario War DIY you need both the Wii and DS versions, since neither one has enough space for all the DL puzzles. Stupid Nintendo. At least with both you can download them all though; in other games, like Mario vs. Donkey Kong 3, Advance Wars Days of Ruin, Picross DS, Picross 3D, and more, you simply can't download all the stuff, so once WFC gets shut down on the 20th... well, too bad for you if you want to play any of the other levels, unless pirates save all of that stuff. And they well may, but still that won't be playable on the actual carts. Quite sad. :(
Art Style: Cubello - $6. I got a few more WiiWare games while I was at it. I've looked at getting this one before, and decided to get it now; it looks fun for sure. It's a puzzle/shooter hybrid.
Gyrostarr - $8. Techno-style rail shooter from High Voltage. Looks fun!
Last Story online was lots of fun, it's sad that it's gone now. I hope that some people get a fan-run server running; I know the data going to and from the server was saved, so it should be possible.
All cartridge games below are cart only.
Atari 7800
--
Robotron 2084 - $4 - Solid port of a great arcade classic! The only downside is that you need to hold two controllers at once for twin-stick aiming mode... this is not comfortable to say the least. Better than just being able to shoot in the direction you're moving, though...
Atari 2600
--
Miniature Golf - $1 -very early game, but it's fun.
Tac/Scan - $3 - Sega game! This is a fun shooter which uses the paddle controllers.
Game Boy Color
--
Mission Impossible - $1
Playstation 2
--
Warriors of Might & Magic - $3 (complete) - I expect this to be bad, but want it anyway; I do like the franchise.
Also, the few last Games with Gold titles for the X360.
XBox 360 - Digital Download (free from Games with Gold)
--
Hitman: Absolution
Deadlight
Dust: An Elysian Tail
Saints Row: The Third (this is the current title. Much more recent and valuable than most of these, MS is trying to improve the Games with Gold titles...)
These were $1 each, complete. Not the greatest games for my tastes, but for such a low price...
Gamecube
--
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Xbox
--
NBA Ballers
Sneak King
Big Bumpin'
RLH: Run Like Hell
Commandos: Strike Force
Halo
Eragon
The Suffering
Also a free copy of NBA Ballers Phenom, because the disc is probably too damaged to work.
PC Digital Download
--
I got the recent RPG Maker Humble Bundle, at the $12 level to get all the stuff. This got RPG Maker VX, RPG Maker XP, and various RPG Maker games and art packs. Not sure if I'll actually use it much, but eh, might be amusing mess around with sometime.
Darkstone - $1.79, currently on sale at GOG. Decently fun Diablo-clone action-RPG from the late '90s.
XBox 360 XBLA - Games with Gold
--
Dark Souls - free from Games with Gold - I've played this some on PC. It's alright I guess, but I don't love it as much as many people seem to, I think... maybe I just need to play it more, I'm not sure.
Also, they've started Xbox One games on Games with Gold. Unlike X360 games you don't actually own these games -- they're only available as long as you have an Xbox Live Gold account. So, I don't think they quite qualify here. But I did add both of the current ones, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault, because... well, if I ever get an Xbox One, I'm sure I'd want Live anyway for online play, so it's a few free games...
The whole "expiration date" think with XBox One games is a let down, but it's essentially the same thing Sony's done for a while.
In fact, I'm pretty sure the only reason we get X360 games on a permanent basis is because of how the 360 and it's backend are programmed. That is, they CAN'T put an expiration date on 360 content without majorly overhauling the backend of that particular system. Score one for us I guess, but it also means that's the only place we get to see such giveaways in effect.
You're probably right about that, yeah. It does make sense, though -- giving away so many games, permanently, isn't exactly in a company's' best interest if they can get you to pay instead...
Yeah, frankly at this point I'm pretty sure that their cost benefit analysis has told them it's not worth the effort to add in expiration dates to content on the 360. For the effort that would go into deploying it on a large scale, both on the backend and in system updates, they'd get very little in return (as the 360 is on it's way out) and possibly gain a lot of negative backlash in the process.
On the plus side, for both the PSN and XBox Live markets, those expiration dates ONLY apply to the "member with benefits" free content. Anything users pay even a single red cent for has no expiration date on it. That's good. It's also good that they at least display those expiration dates on the content itself when you examine "details" on it (the expiration date is basically the expiration date for your "Gold" or "Plus" account).
If they ever have paid content which actually gets removed from your game library after some cutoff date... well, that's called a rental. Maybe gaming will go that direction someday, it wouldn't really surprise me given how anti-consumer publishers are, but fortunately we're not there yet, and I hope that future can be headed off.
Atari 2600
--
Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator - $4, cart only. Sega space shooter with some 2600-level 'sim' elements. Sega's 2600 games are usually good.
Atari 7800
--
Karateka - $5, cart only - mediocre beat 'em up, predecessor to the much better Prince of Persia, but it's nice to have a 7800 game that's not an early '80s port...
Nintendo DS
--
Dementium: The Ward - $5, complete - horror FPS. Nice price.
Playstation 2
--
Wild Wild Racing - complete, $5. Decent-looking racer.
Way of the Samurai - $5, no manual. Samurai action game, I've wanted to play these games (it's a series).
Xbox
--
Tron 2.0: Killer App - $5, complete. Tron FPS/racing game.
Gamecube
--
Top Gun: Combat Zones - $2, complete. Okay flight combat game.
Saturn
--
Blazing Heroes - $30, complete. Strategy game previously released as "Mystaria: The Realms of Lore", but it had a title change probably for some rights reason (maybe TSR owned Mystaria and Sega didn't know before the first release?). It's a tactical strategy game, one of many on the Saturn from Sega, but this is one of the very few actually released in the US. I'm quite happy to find this, even though you can get it a few bucks cheaper on ebay... at least locally I know that if I have issues with it it's easy to return.
Xbox 360 Digital Download
--
Charlie Murder - free with Games with Gold - game for the second half of the month
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition - free with Games with Gold - two this month, and this one is a fantastic one to get free!
PC DD - gotten in the GOG summer sale
--
Haegemonia Gold Edition - $2 - space RTS from 2002
Memoria - $4 - adventure game from last year
Bioforge - $1.50 - action/adventure game from 1995.
I'm still showing both those 360 games as costing dollars money. Dark Souls still appears to be the free game as of right now.
Really? Have you checked again? Charlie Murder and SSFIVAE are now listed as the Games with Gold free (with gold) titles on xbox.com now... just starting today, of course, they're for the second half of this month.
As of when you said they were up, they weren't. I checked both the box and the site, and both had a price tag on it.
Later on in the day, they were. I knew it would happen, but it's inexplicable how you downloaded them before they actually made the change, or why they'd do... a regional thing, I guess? With the internet?
Yeah, it's got to be something like that.
There are a bunch of summer sales going on, so I got some stuff. Many of these are now over, but a few aren't yet.
PC DD
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Long Live the Queen - $3.40, GOG - visual novel/raising rpg. - Game not listed on IGN.
The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition - $4, GOG - Cheap! I really need to play this series.
Wing Commander 5 Prophecy (+ expansion) - $2.40, GOG - Now I have the whole main series; only don't have the not as interesting spinoffs. It's an okay, but not great, series. This one finally has polygonal graphics, which is a step forward.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - GameFly, $5. I've really wanted to play this game ever since its release because the developer (sadly closed of course, that was quite a big thing) was great (Rise of Nations!). It's an Origin game, so you pretty much have to play it there no matter where you buy it, so I finally downloaded Origin... hadn't done so before. I also have a few other Origin games from a Humble Bundle that I hadn't redeemed yet. Have now.
GearGrinder - $1, GamersGate - mediocre looking futuristic truck racing/combat game. I got this because of how much I like futuristic racing games, that's about it. Also $1. (the GamersGate stuff I had an additional 20% off coupon for, so the already discounted prices were cut even more to these levels. Nice! The GamersGate stuff was $11 total, so the three below add up to $10.)
Dawn of Discovery (Anno) - $5-20%, GamersGate - City-building sim. Popular series in Europe, not so much here because of the slow pace and economic focus. Why DOES Europe seem to like its things a little boring? Still, good series; I have one of the early Anno games and it is good. Basically it's like The Settlers.
Patrician+etc pack - $2.50-20% -- this includes The Patrician III, Darkstar One, and The Great Art Race. The first is part of a popular European medieval/renaissance Hanseatic League trading simulation series. I have the first game, which I got back in the early '90s probably because of the medieval theme. I like the setting, but the gameplay... argh, economics are NOT my thing, and that is entirely what this is! Still, I want to give it a try again. As for the others, The Great Art Race sounds uninteresting, and Darkstar One is a space combat/trading game, like a simpler spinoff of Privateer or X. I much prefer standard space combat games, but this one was cheap and simple-sounding enough that I don't mind trying it; who knows, could be fun. It's also on 360, interestingly. That shows how it's not exactly the most complex game. That's okay though, I've never cared to try the really complex ones like the X series or Elite...
Trials Evolution Gold - $5-20%, GamersGate. Second or third game in this popular series; this isn't the newest one, Fusion, but the one before that I think. It's a side-scrolling platform/racing game, as always. I think these games are decent to good, though I haven't played them all that much, oddly, and didn't own any before this. I'll have to play this now!
Also, after installing Origin it said that Peggle was free today (yesterday now), so I got that. So yeah, I also have Peggle for the PC as well.
PC DD
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Magrunner: Dark Pulse - I forgot to mention that this was free on GOG yesterday, so I got it. It's a puzzle shooter, clearly Portal-inspired.
Also the Steam sale has started, but I've gotten quite a bit from other sales... not sure if I'll be getting much from Steam, unless they have something great. Nothing like that on day one though.
PC DD
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Papers, Please - $3 on GOG (on sale). I'm not sure if this game sounds like it's any fun, but it definitely looks interesting and I want to play it.
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne - $3 on Steam (on sale). I have the original game on Steam, so I might as well get the expansion while it's on sale. This is a Diablo-style action-RPG in an ancient Greek world. Fairly generic stuff, but it's solid.
Papers, Please is a bit of an art piece rather than being a game made to be "fun". The message is complete and utter despair, as you discover there is NO possible way people checking papers day in, day out, forever, can ever HOPE to maintain any ability to pay attention to the details they need to pay attention to and will eventually slide into utter apathy as major things are let through that shouldn't be. This extends to other menial repetitive tasks too.
Dark indeed... yeah, Papers Please certainly is one of those games not meant to be "fun". I haven't played it enough yet to say how much it is worth playing, but the concept certainly is very unique, and that's great.
PC DD
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"Cant' Stop Laughing" Bundle - BattleBlock Theater & Castle Crashers - $2.50 (on sale on Steam) - platformer and beat 'em up. I've been somewhat interested in Castle Crashers ever since its release, but I've never been sure if I'd like it or not, given the comparisons I've always heard between it and Guardian Heroes, a game I don't like much... well, I'll finally see. As for the other game, it looks like an okay difficult platformer.
Atari 2600
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Mountain King - $5, cart only. Platformer that is somewhat impressive for the system thanks to the large size of the world. Basic graphics, but there's a large scrolling level here. Pitfall II looks a lot nicer, but that uses an enhancement chip in the cart for that... this game is larger (in ROM size) than most 2600 games, but has no actual processor boost, as you can tell when you compare the two games' graphics. Just having scrolling platforming on the 2600 is impressive, though!
Xbox
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Raze's Hell - $5, complete. Third-person shooter with a cute theme. It's an Xbox game, so of course it's a shooter... I've thought it looked a little interesting, but not enough to pay much for it. Finally found a copy cheap.
Nintendo 64
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Rat Attack - $7.50, cart only. This is an arcade action game. It's alright. It's topdown with single-screen (pretty much) levels, and you play as a cat trying to capture and kill the rats trying to destroy everything in each level. You move around and jump with one button, and by holding the other button the game uses you draw a box on the floor (size-limited). Any rats in the box when you let go of the button get caught. So yeah, it's a bit like an action game crossed with some Qix variant or something. It's nothing great, but it is simple fun. So far levels are easy, but bosses are challenging.
PC DD
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I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream - $1.20, GOG sale. '90s adventure game based on a classic dark sci-fi story.
Still Life 2 - free, GOG sale. Another limited-time free title, this one an adventure game.
PC DD -- Steam sale final day pickups! A bunch of cheap stuff.
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Archon Classic - $1 (classic board/action game remake, the original is great!)
Closure - $1.50 (indie platformer with some unique ideas, looks interesting)
Yosumin! - $1.50 (puzzle game)
Nethergate Resurrection - $1 (traditional 2d PC RPG)
The Great Jitters: Pudding Panic - $1 (action/puzzle game, mobile port and you can tell, but what's here is decent fun) - Game not listed on IGN
Riptide GP 2 - $5 (racing, from the team behind Hydro Thunder Hurricane; it is a mobile port, but looks nice and has a fair amount of content too)
MURI - $2 (2d platformer, early '90s DOS game style thing! It's very much like Duke Nukem 1, stylistically. That's not one of my favorite early '90s DOS platformers, but still, it's great someone made something like this.) - Game not listed on IGN
Mashed - $0.75 (racing game, Micro Machines style game from the mid '00s. This is by Supersonic, who made most of the Micro Machines games and other racing games that play like that. There's also a PS2 version called Drive to Survive, but I don't have it.)
Defy Gravity - $0.30 (2d platfomer with an interesting gravity ball mechanic, and super cheap too!)
Waves - $2 (Geometry Wars clone)
Qualia 3: Multi Agent - $1.25 (looks sort of like Geometry Wars, plays more like Every Extend. Interesting stuff.) - Game not listed on IGN
I Have No Mouth (And I, as corollary, Must Scream) is a very good game. I actually think the game is superior to the book, what with it's branching storyline and all.
I recently snagged a Sega Genesis Nomad. Normally these portable Genesis... (genesises... genesii?) go for around $150 or so, but a local Vintage Stock had one for $40. Weird thing about these things, the batteries snapped on as an accessory (not included). Also weird thing: it has a controller slot and a/v out. I'm actually on the fence. I could keep it (I've already found it fun to just sit around playing this thing when someone else watches TV), or I could sell it for a pretty nice profit. Mainly, I already have a Genesis, and am not sure portability (well, pseudo portability) is worth keeping this one.
Huh, that's very cool! Those things are usually expensive... and yeah. that the batteries are external is very strange. Apparently the battery boxes are harder to find than the systems are... but as for keeping it, other than using it as a wired handheld at home... well, it'll use up 6 AAs in just a couple of hours. Expensive, or time-consuming (with rechargeables, given the amount of charging time it'd take), to use. Still cool though.
SNES
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X-Kaliber 2097 - cart only, $7. Decent platform-action game.
Also I got a N64 controller pak for $5; it's one of the Performance (Interact) ones, so it's got the battery clip inside. They're so much more convenient than any other kind because of that! Swapping out the battery is so easy...
Wait I thought... *opens up an N64 memory card* ... Whaaa? I thought they were flash based, but they've been battery based all along? Well ain't that a kick in the head? I guess that settles the score then. Playstation memory cards were better than Nintendo 64 memory cards. At least Nintendo switched to flash for the Gamecube. Having a clip instead of a soldering point for the battery? I can dig it. That's how ALL old battery backup batteries SHOULD have worked from the start, and it's a shame one needs a high quality soldering station to properly replace those things (the soldering iron sitting in the tool drawer in your laundry room isn't going to cut it). That said, I still would never intentionally use an Interact memory card. Those things failed on me one too many times, and put me off third party memory for a LOOOONG time. (Only now, with the advent of consoles using standardized memory inputs like USB and SATA can I actually trust something "3rd party", and even then only because I'm putting my trust in well established pedigrees like Western Digital and Sandisk). So, as it stands, I'll go ahead and stick with the official N64 memory cards even if they need soldering to fix. Besides, replacing all those batteries is a long way off, at least 10 years if my NES games are any indication (they still have their memory intact).
X-Kaliber 2097 has a pretty nice techno soundtrack. Reminds me a bit of BioMetal's US soundtrack, just with slightly less famous songs.
Yes, N64 memory cards have batteries in them. It's really stupid. I've said this before I think, but maybe you didn't notice. It was pretty annoying when I figured this out for sure...
As for reliability, avoid compressed memory cards from Interact for sure, but I've always had quite good luck with Interact (they owned the Performance label, which is on all the cards) N64 memory cards, as long as I stick to only standard 1x cards. I've got like five or six of the N64 Performance 1x cards now, and the only one that doesn't work is one that was broken when I got it, all the others are still fine. Interestingly they have several different types of labels on the outside, and several different board revisions inside -- some have glop-top chips, others normal soldered chips. They're different sizes as well. So yeah, stay far, far away from the compressed 4x cards, but regular 1x Performance N64 cards have always worked fine for me.
Quote:Besides, replacing all those batteries is a long way off, at least 10 years if my NES games are any indication (they still have their memory intact).
I have at least one N64 memory card which doesn't save anymore, and I presume that it's because of the battery... but it's not an Interact card, so I can't just easily swap it out and make sure.
Quote:and it's a shame one needs a high quality soldering station to properly replace those things (the soldering iron sitting in the tool drawer in your laundry room isn't going to cut it).
I actually still don't have a soldering iron for this kind of work. Do you have something you'd recommend?
PC
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Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault - $1.50, complete. This is the second main PC MoH game, I think. It's not quite as highly regarded as the first game, Allied Assault (which is from the team that left to start Call of Duty, after making MoH:AA), but it looks decent, and certainly was pretty cheap! It's nice to have more boxed (small box, but boxed) PC games, too. :) Back in the early/mid '00s EA made their console and PC shooters entirely separate, so MoH: AA and MoH:PA are PC-only games, while MoH: Frontline, Rising Sun, and European Assault are console-only (GC/Xbox/PS2). You'd never see that since the beginning of the last generation (PS3/360/etc), for sure! It'd just be console games with PC ports.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Spearhead - $1.50, complete. This is the expansion for the first game. I don't actually have it, but I'm sure I'll be able to find a copy. And yeah, again nice to have a box, and a low price.
Atari 2600
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Sprintmaster - $2, cart only. Solid late-life top-down racing game. This is mostly good, but it is quite unfortunate that it only supports the joystick and not driving controllers; this would be amazing if it supported it! Otherwise good for the system though.
Game Boy Color
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Wendy: Every Witch Way - $2, cart only. Platformer from Wayforward; it has a good reputation, and with a cool gravity-flip mechanic too! Nice find.
Playstation 1
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Extreme Go-Kart Racing - $3, complete. Mediocre at best kart racer.