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Messages - retro junkie

#811
I have been thinking about your post and my response. This whole thing is what used to be considered pirating, I think. Or something like that.
It specifically says on the box "not licensed" by Nintendo. I think that in and of itself says "no royalties."
There was some unlicensed games during the SNES era. For example Wisdom Tree. (Suposedly a "Christian" company, the irony of that.  ;)) They produced a number of games for Nintendo systems, SNES, NES, Gameboy. Even had games for the Genesis. They just backward engineered and produced their own carts, box, etc. I think Pro Action Replay was unlicensed.
This game is not the only game that has been recently released for the system, Nightmare Busters is another. Not sure how all this is viewed. Maybe Nintendo is looking the other way and do not feel threatened. I think clone systems would fall into the same category.  Didn't Tengen produce a lot of unlicensed games for the NES? I don't remember what the fallout was from that ordeal. My memory is fuzzy, but I do remember lawsuits flying around back then.
#812
I am rusty, been a while. Made it to the third level of Streets of Rage 3.
#813
General Discussion / Re: First World Problems
March 27, 2018, 09:09:36 PM
I have an HDMI switcher. It has three inputs, PS3, Blu-Ray, XBone. Had it about 6 months, but I have not had any issues as of yet. But I will keep this thread in mind in case something weird starts to manifests itself. I have an old flatscreen, one of the first, the kind that has the light bulbs in the back. It is very thick. The bezel around the screen is almost three inches.
#814
peanuts
#815
General Discussion / Re: Happy Birthday Snatcher_L
March 24, 2018, 06:54:56 PM
Happy Birthday Snatcher_L!!
#816
Retro Gaming and Hardware / My N64 Machines
March 24, 2018, 06:44:35 PM
When I have the urge, these are my N64 machines I turn to. For playing my Japanese N64 games I use the badboy machine below. It likes Bangai-O, Sin and Punishment, Last Legion UX, plus a few others.



For my homeland gaming I turn to this one. It likes Ridge Racer 64,Robotron 64, Hydro Thunder, Wipeout 64, Star Wars Episode I: Racer, Bust-A-Move arcade, Cruis'n Exotica, Paper Mario, Star Fox 64, plus many others.



Today I was into Ridge Racer 64.............. yes!!
#817
I have both of these games. Love the original on the Saturn. A great plus was the Christmas NiGHTS. Played this game a lot. Logged in many hours. Finished that game over and over and over again.
Somehow I never got into the Wii NiGHTS. It might be because I never quite got into the Wii that much. The controller was just difficult to accept. Maybe I need to take another look at this game. Need to pull it out and play it again.
#818
Retro Gaming and Hardware / Unholy Night Review!!!!
March 23, 2018, 09:16:51 PM
This my review that I posted in my blog and on Amazon. I was wanting to cut it down for the forums, but could not bring myself to cut anything. So I am sorry that it is here in all its fullness.

A new game released for the SNES in 2017!!! This is the first time I made a pre-order on a video game. I always wait for the bargain bin special. But I figured that something like this would only go up in price due to collectors. First impressions? I have been looking forward to this game. Now that I have it...............hmmmmm, I don't know. In order to do a fair review, I was thinking that, Am I going to need to pit it against Street Fighter Alpha Zero 2? Both are 32meg in size. Or maybe it should be Fatal Fury Special, also a 32meg. There are a few other fighters on the SNES that are the same size but I don't think we need to go there, this will be enough to "get the idea."

First, I love the box art and the fact that my cart is Super Famicom in shape, I didn't expect that at all. Don't worry, it contains the places in the cart to allow it to be used on the SNES. I like the smoked black see through plastic cart. The cart feels solid, equal to any official SNES cart in quality. Nice to have a booklet where character moves are listed, makes a good reference. The whole package speaks quality and professionalism.

This game did not use any special chip, so that, in and of itself, lowers the bar. This game is not going to be a "Street Fighter Alpha Zero 2" on the SNES. So that places it in the category with Fatal Fury Special in expectations. So how should I judge this? Graphics, animation, gameplay, re-playability, and music? Sounds like a winner to me.
Push in, flip the power button and I am greeted with a musical loop of about, is it five or six notes? Am I being generous? This starts to grind while sitting here waiting for some sort of demo, that never comes. The screen is red with the title, what?! Come on! No artwork here? No intro? At the very least they could have had all of the characters in a pose like the box art. But come to think of it Fatal Fury Special wasn't fancy either. But still, this is supposed to be something special because it has been such a long time since we have seen a release of a fighter on the SNES. Okay I get it, no love here...mumble.. mumble, mumble. A loss of creativity?

Each stage's background is like a painting, no animation. There is a hint, at times, of parallax scrolling between a foreground and background, but it is subtle, spoiled by a poor use of color. Background should had been a little lighter to create depth. Maybe it should have been implemented in a different way? Or at least give me some animation. (The whole screen will not fit on my cathode tube TV, it is a little cut off on the left side. What gives, this is the SNES.) So the backgrounds look good, but lack any life and are flat in appearance while fighting. Characters seem small. Marking my screen with tape, I quickly put in Fatal Fury Special, Oh my, Fatal Fury Special's first stage with Andy Bogard, blows away Unholy Night, I'm serious, that first stage alone destroys the whole game Unholy Night, sorry. (So does the first stage of Garou Densetsu 2) The Fatal Fury characters are a lot bigger, taller and the Unholy Night fighters are about 20% smaller. And there is not much distinguishing difference in character height among the six fighters in Unholy Night. I do find Unholy Night character designs appealing, but lacking in detail and part of that is due to the size. The animation is really no different than a lot of other fighters on the system, except for Street Fighter Alpha Zero 2. (Unholy Night is gum stuck to the bottom of Sakura's shoe when it comes to that fighter.) Still, it works, you just feel like you are sitting farther away. The artwork, and story, of the game, as a whole, gives me a sort-of, a Night Warriors Castlevania slant, feel, atmosphere in a very vague way. That just came to my mind as I was playing, which is not a bad thing. And this flavor sort-of stays with you whenever playing. With only six fighters to choose from, not including, maybe, your mirror image of a different color? But I have found no way, as of yet, how to access those other colors. Adding two more fighters would have placed it in the ballpark of the norm for the time period. I am not sure where to go with that. I don't know if there is anything to unlock at this point. With a good game design, plus hidden things, unlockables, that type of challenge in a game motivates me to play, sort-of like a tease. I am hoping the end boss is playable after he is defeated. Not holding my breath on that one. If there is nothing more, this game is going to be short lived in the re-play department. Some of the fighters seem a bit clunky and stiff. Some were more responsive, with noticeable frames missing in their attacks. I found only half of the fighters enjoyable to control.

I don't think enough effort was put into making the game a good single player experience. The AI is very poor. Your opponents aren't even aggressive until you put it in hard mode. Easy mode the only challenge was the end boss. In the normal mode it was like knocking over bowling pins until I got to the character I was using, then I felt it was actually fighting. I have not been able to defeat the end boss yet. You really feel unprepared for his difficulty having no challenging opponents leading up to the match. In Fatal Fury Special you are not going to blow through that game on easy first time you pick it up. And Unholy Night just does not have that "arcade feel" I want in a fighter. Now here is where I switch gears. Practice mode is a great single player experience. Who would have thought? Set your opponent up to attack and the AI to 8. It is a blast to play. If only you had these adjustments for the story mode, it would have changed this review tremendously. And this is where I had most of my fun apart from a two play game. The only place this game shines. It is a shame that you cannot play through the game in practice mode. Grab someone who likes fighters and are into retro gaming, two player is more fun. Learning the special moves is a must. My first experience with two player, the game crashed after the bout was over, reset. I wonder why there was no VS CPU for a single player game? I guess story mode covered that?

In the option menu you have two choices, turn off the sound and adjust the games difficulty. No controller configuration? Just listening to the music during gameplay will answer any question as to why the options did not include music sampling. The music, I would grade it as 8-bit game tunes with many 8-bit games destroying anything this game has to offer. The capabilities of the SNES is better than this. Okay I will leave it alone. I would have liked an added feature of putting in my initials when I have achieved a highscore from the fights I have won, whether it saved it or not makes no difference. And the story line is a very bad translation to English with bad mis-spellings and poor sentence structure. To even complicate that more, I don't have time to read it. Playing the game, you have the choice of , story mode, verses mode, survival, and practice. Only three attack buttons (weak, medium, & strong) with one button to build your energy bar for special attacks and same button for defense, or crouching also acts as a defense against an attack.

I know nothing about programming a game like this, let alone something for the SNES. So it is easy to sit back and give a critical analysis. And I am sure developing for a 27 year old gaming system that has long been thought dead by the gaming community, I'm sure there was no help from Nintendo, can be daunting. 32megs? I am very puzzled by that. Maybe no compression was used? Little to no options, only six fighters, poor music, missing frames of animation, small characters sprites. Not sure what they were trying to avoid by limiting this game. They built this game up, "from creators of past masterpieces," "32 MEGS of 16-bit fighting bliss," and "developed by a team of ex-SNK staffers who had previously worked on the Samurai Showdown and The King of Fighters series." When you make promises like that you build the expectations and you had better be able to deliver. I see an opportunity here that falls flat in many ways. Maybe it was the failed Kickstarter campaign that crashed and burned this project? I say this because I see so much potential. I have got to keep in mind that this is only going to appeal to a niche market. When compared to other top fighting games on the SNES, this game is only average. I know there were good intentions, but I am not sure how this is going to be received by the retro community. I really want to like this game. But it is not that deep of a fighter. I am thinking that this is really for those who collect every SNES game. I personally want to support efforts like this because I want more. This game, hmmmm, it just might be an acquired taste. I did start to enjoy it more as I learned moves. With Nightmare I am able to do a 7 hit combo, and accomplished a 9 hit with Emily. I find Nightmare, Emily, and Wurzel the most enjoyable and playable fighters.
I keep asking myself, "Is this worth the price of admission?" To the one who loves SNES fighting games, "Would this be enough?" There are mixed feelings here about this game.
A Final Word:
I think with a bit of tweaking, it could have been awesome. All they had to do is refine the one player mode a little, allow some options from the "practice mode" into the rest of the game(like AI adjustment), add a couple of more characters, throw in unlockables, get someone to beef up and work on the music arrangement, slow down the cut scenes to give time to read, and it could be a winner. Most gamers that purchase this game will possibly be using the single player mode, which is poor, IMO. Two player mode is fun because it is two gamers playing. I feel like the game is unfinished. In certain ways the game is unbalanced. In a round about way I really like the game. It is because, I can sense what they were going for, but did not quite achieve. Bottom line, If you can make the one player mode sweet, then everything else will fall into place.
#819
Star Trek for me. TV series from the first Trek when it originally aired back in the 60's. ( I was out adjusting the antenna to pick it up) It just got me hooked. The regular series over the years just became established in my brain. It is home. Where I lived. it was my weekly dose of Syfy. it was in my Universe. And the recent movies have been the best.
Star wars on the other hand was movies and games. Liked them, but, I don't know. Those first three movies gave you an experience that cannot be repeated. No way you can repeat that feeling when you was in the theater and that opening battleship passed over your head, or the first time you saw those walkers. Star Wars was an experience that you never had until the 70's. There was nothing like it. Now every movie after that has been just a part of the story, but Far Far Away. Doesn't have the same impact.
#820
Just got through with some homemade burritos and tacos.   ;)
#821



Super Valis IV seems to be an adventure platformy, exploration, slasher treat. Enemies seem sparse at times, but that is why I included exploration. You run around exploring the level hunting for these gray blocks that I am thinking are some sort of power ups which adds to your attacks and, or, abilities. You use the "B" to jump, "y" to shoot, or slash, and the "X" for items. And you run across these enemies, more frequently in some areas. The easy level gives you a longer life bar. And that is only "one" life with some continues. You also get the item area prefilled. Normal level is more challenging with more aggressive enemies and so forth. And there are bosses at the end of each level. Only wished I could double jump because there are some places that I have not figured how to reach. Jumps are precise with the items hidden in unexpected places. The game grows on you as you play. No knowledge of Japanese needed to play this game. Everything I see is in English except for the stills in between that give a sense of a story. Can be found relatively inexpensive. Good Game!!!
#822
This is it! No more Toys-R-Us! The last toy store closes its doors!
I remember driving from Kentucky to Tennessee and purchasing my Turbo Graphic 16 from a Toys-R-Us. That is where I purchased a majority of its games. I purchased my Turbo Express,  Neo Pocket Color, PS1, Saturn, and my Dreamcast from the same store. All but a few of my Dreamcast games came from that store. My Daughter grew up visiting that store every weekend as we would drive to that area to eat out. Presently we would visit that store looking for collectible figurines.

It is very obvious that not enough of us were purchasing from the store for them to make a profit. But as the announcement of the store's complete closure was realized, stocks to major toy companies fell.

What impact will this have on the industry as a whole? Will there be a toy war, example Walmart, for store shelves? Will there now be limited toy lines?
#823
I would like to see a Marvel vs Capcom (hand drawn animation, 60fps) for my "new" 3DS.

Panzer Dragoon for the present generation of consoles, updated graphics, including Xbone of course, because that is what I have, and "new" 3ds.

R-Type for the modern consoles, hand drawn graphics, 60fps. Impress me.

Outrun and San Francisco Rush, arcade perfect, with two modes of play, original graphics and updated to present standards.
#824
eating cotton candy  ;D
#825
Loser! (La-Hooo Sa-Her) / Re: Unbeatable Games
March 17, 2018, 01:27:44 PM
Pacman
#826
I think you would need to run across a game that excites you to play. I am starting to accumulate games that I look forward to on the system. But only because I don't have anything else of this Generation, no PS4.
My favorites,
Cup Head (the reason I have the console)
Rare Replay (Xbone exclusive)
Recore (Xbone exclusive)
Dragonball Xenoverse XV
Arslan Warriors

Only two of those are Xbone exclusive. And they are not really system sellers. Right now the console is mainly a "me-too" when it comes to gaming. If you don't have the PS4, like me, there are third party games that you can pick up.
#827
If it had of been an add-on? I don't think there would have been an N64. I think Nintendo would have handled an add-on a lot different than how it was handled by others. (Square would have stuck around, big game changer) Might have seen something like the Cube earlier. The whole playing field would have been different. It might have influenced the Atari Jaguar to have been a CD based system instead of cart. Sega would still be in the competition. The Saturn would have been a contender rather than the cold shoulder it received. Of course this is all speculative but I think the perspective in the field of gaming would been a different animal. Whether Sony, at some point, would have went rogue? That is the real question. Microsoft would still enter the market pushing out anything that Atari had, this is only assuming that the Atari idiots happened to attract developers.  :-\ I am thinking they would have. Their in house games would have needed to be old arcade games to make it float. They would mostly need third party to make anything work.
#828
As you grow into an older gamer there is one thing to keep in mind. And that is you must keep a sense of humor and be able to laugh at yourself.  ::)

I received a new copy of Final Fantasy type-O HD this week, ordered it. I popped it in my Xbox One yesterday afternoon to load up and update, etc. I played it a while last night, late evening. Not sure I like the battle system. I was becoming a bit frustrated with it. Story and setting that you are introduced to, I can get into that.  I like the mood the environment and graphics gives you. I let the console run while I watched something, so that it would complete the download. I was getting ready for bed deciding to  retrieve the game form the console. It wouldn't come out!!! It was stuck!! I tried and tried but nothing would work!! I went to bed. When I woke this morning, day off and such, I started watching youtube videos on how to retrieve a stuck disc. I have been trying all morning and could not get anything to come out. I just happened to pick up the game case opening it and there was the game. Nothing was in the Xbox One.  :o

I could not remember taking it out. What was supposed to be a relaxing morning turned into a stressful time for nothing!!! I still cannot remember doing this. I was tired from getting up and going int to work at 3:00Am. But surely not that tired.

LOL
#829
I purchased the 32X out of the bargain bin as it was exiting store shelves. I may be one of the few that enjoyed "what was" of the system, which wasn't much. I really don't think it was actually given a chance.
The games I favored on the system,
Virtua Racing
Star Wars Arcade
Space Harrier
Virtua Fighter
After Burner
BC Racers
Kolibri
Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000

The technology would have been better served if it had been a Genesis 32X with the 32X built in. I think you would have either seen better 3rd party support, or it might have been just too late. We will never know. I think the system was too junkie. It made the Genesis a big eye sore. Too many add-ons.
#830
Some say that it has better reflective capabilities. I am not sure. But the way the unit fits in your hands makes all the difference to me.
#831
Not sure how I missed this thread.  :o

It may be because I wear glasses, I don't know. I never could use the 3d feature at all until I got the "New" 3DS XL. The head tracking tech really helped me to be able to use it. But I have been greatly disappointed in the fact that very few games actually effectively use the 3D tech. Street Fighter 2 3d is about the best I have seen on the system so far with the exception of the Mario games. Most of the 3rd party games that I have tried, look flat. There may be those moments, but a majority of the game itself just looks like you are looking into a window that has some depth,...............lame.



This is my "New" 3DS. Love it.
#832
Verytex was Japan only. Music and gameplay good little shmup.

Undeadline is brutal. I took photos after I wiped out everything on screen or I would have died and gone by the time I got the shot. It is brutal in a way that causes you to try it again, because this next time I am going to make it.
#833
A Winner Is You / Re: Space Invaders Extreme 2
March 11, 2018, 11:08:58 PM
Ouch! That brings up memories of playing Tekken DS online. I got stomped so many times.
#834
Don't break anything. ???
#835
A Winner Is You / Re: Space Invaders Extreme 2
March 11, 2018, 11:03:47 PM
I never thought of it being over wifi or even playing that way. LOL
#836
A Winner Is You / Re: Space Invaders Extreme 2
March 11, 2018, 10:48:47 PM
I love it. I have both one and two. They took Space Invaders and made it into a very awesome game. I stays in my DS. Well at least my blue DS.  :)
#837
This is not the one called Skull and Bones, is it. Or is that another game on its way?
#838
A Winner Is You / Space Invaders Extreme 2
March 11, 2018, 06:46:34 PM
Had a win today!!

Completed!! On my DS.
#839
Taco Bell for lunch topped off with ice cream on a cone from Sonic.  ;D
#840
My experience with public restrooms, especially on business trips, is that they need a few gallons of gasoline and a match. A good burning out before even an attempt to use would be a good idea.  ;)