Page created 26 Nov 2002 by welcome , last modified 26 Nov 2002 by welcome
URL: http://www.classicgaming.com/museum/pong/
Main Entry: video game
Function: noun
Date: 1973
: an electronic game played by means of images on a video screen and often emphasizing fast action
An entree to discuss video games in general. Whee!
Japan game makers Square, Enix to merge (reuters)Excerpt:
"Japanese game software makers Square Co Ltd and Enix Corp 9684.T said on Tuesday they planned to merge in April to pool resources and technology to allow them to better compete in the rapidly changing video game industry.The deal would be worth about 88.79 billion yen ($727 million) at current share prices."
Apparently Square lost a good deal of money on FFXI and the FF movie, and Enix, while still huge in Japan, has trouble in the U.S. market. Final Star Ocean Warrior LXXV, anyone?
Mario Kart!
Pat, you need to come play my Vectrex sometime for some real arcade action.
I own a Vectrex, and Pat might of actually played it. My grandmother worked for playskool back in the day and snagged one. It is still in working condition at my mother's house. I love that thing.
There's a guy in Chicago named Sam Kelly who makes and sells a Vectrex Multi-cart that have every single game ever officially published for them, plus a bunch of home-brewed games. He asks $70 for it, which is kind of a lot, but when you consider that he does it all himself, including having more Vectrex cartridge cases molded in Hong Kong, you have to give him a little credit.
please explain.
in other video game news, i almost got a PS2 today. i ended up staying home from work today (i lose the hours, but my boss didn't really need me today, and i didn't want to drive in the snow...) and my dad was talking about renting a PS2 and some games. the Blockbuster by my house didn't have one for rent, and the nearest one avaliable was like way too far to drive to rent a PS2. so we talked, and i mentioned he could just buy it and that would be my xmas gift. we talked about that, and decided that that might be an option. i was mistaken and thought they were $149 and not $199. so he says 'yeah, here's my credit card. go to BB, pick up a PS2, and rent a couple games. then you can buy your own games. and also, pay our late fees on the credit card as well.'
so i go there (this is my second time there, as i left after finding out they didn't have one to rent) and ask how much it is, blah blah blah, and she tells me its $199, i call, he says yeah, ok, go ahead still.' so i go grab another controller, and 'Smugglers' Run 2' and Tony Hawk 4' to rent, and bring them up to the counter. the girl that i was talking to was in the back getting the system, so another girl starts to ring the rest of it up. i give her my dad's credit card, and tell her the rental account is under his name, and i want to pay the fees too, and she says "this credit card is your father's?" and i'm like "yeah" and she says "you can't use it." i have had problems with this bitch before. giving me a hard time about movies that she insisted hadn't been returned and then after much debate going and actually CHECKING and lo and behold there they are like i fucking said they were bitch... anyways, i didn't even argue with her, i said 'fine' and walked out. i was super pissed. i mean, my dad will still buy it for me for xmas and everything, but i wanted to play TODAY. i know, i could have gone and gotten cash out and paid for it, but i didn't want to deal with that idiot any more. so i think my dad's gonna order it for me used from funcoland.com or whatever the site is.
The Vectrex was indeed awesome. Do you own that multicart, pedro?For baggins: Vectrex FAQ. Short version: it was one of the last console systems to come with its own monitor, and it used vector graphics (think "Battlezone") instead of pixels for display.
Sucks about the PS2, hopefully you don't have to wait too much longer.
Which reminds me, if anybody has $5000 burning a hole in their pocket, waste it on this.
Welcome that ebay listing almost made me lose it all over myself. Hey you never got back to me about the Gamecube Gameboy adapter, I thought it was cool, but aparently you aren't talking to me so forget it, *huffs out sucking thumb and scowling*ok I'm back the PS2 thing sucks Wags, but just think about how excited you'll be when you finally get it. Anyone up for some video games at my house this weekend, I need a day of playing, maybe a little Fellowship of the Ring? come one come all.
Except for Pat becuase he doesn't like me anymore.
Or maybe... A little AOM? I could sneak out for that on Saturday of Sunday. What thinks you all?
welcome, yes, I have the multicart. YOu're welcome to come play it any time you want. Just let me know.
I forgot all about the adapter. I still love you baby! (And am down for some gaming over the weekend.)Anyway it looks awesome, and I'm guessing it's going to be cheaper than the current GBA to TV connector ($80). In other hot hot GBA action, I received Metroid Fusion today. Yay!
I hope the Square/Enix merger won't affect FFTactics 2 in any way. . .
that is all...
I love The Sims. I know, I may be one of the only windows users here, but I love The Sims (do they even make a linux version?) I think I'm getting Unleashed for Hanukkah, and I've already got all the other expansion packs. I even have some programs to make my own furniture, paintings, people, etc... I'm a terrible addict.
sorry, its not my computer. im too lazy to make a stand for LINUX. judge me if you must...
wags- have you considered a gamecube instead of a ps2? i think that overall (which pretty much means game-wise but what else matters really?) it's a better system than ps2 or xbox. it has your beloved tony hawk franchise, not to mention great games like metroid prime, mario party (you are the party star!), monkey ball, the upcoming zelda game, animal crossing, various resident evils and more...hell even square is coming back to nintendo. not to forget the above-mentioned gameboy advance adapter which will let you play the new castelvania games, yet another metroid, and some excellent rpgs even when you aren't sitting in direct sunlight. i mean, sure, the ps2 and xbox have more games, but that doesn't necessarily mean better games. indeed, it could be argued the contrary is true. not only is there alot of crap out there for those systems, but even their higher-end games seem a bit lackluster. halo was great, but it wasn't metroid prime. gta3 is fun, but running down pedestrians and blowing up the SWAT team gets old. no, really, it does. of course opinion is what it comes down to in the end. and if you're that big of a fan of smuggler's run, then that's your problem in my not- so-humble opinion. heh, just kidding.
Being a new Gamecube owner I must agree with Evan, the system fricken rocks bootay. Mario Party is way too fun, and the concept of the GBA adapter makes me want to call in sick to work and take vacation time for weeks of video game playing, I bet that would piss the wife off. :) PS2 is fun, and a dvd player, wowie, but come on the games for gamecube are just so little and cute, the system weighs less than the GAMES for xbox, not to mention it has a handle, come on a handle!!
My brother bought a PS2 recently, and while it's nice to get DVD playback "for free", I don't like the controllers much and the graphics leave something to be desired. I may yet pur chase a GameCubicle.
If you've never played the konami games of the "winning eleven" or "international soccer superstar" series, you're really missing out. These are unarguably the best footy games the world has ever seen, the only problem is that winning eleven is japanese NTSC and ISS or PES2 are english PAL. They are basically the same game but in different languages and different video standards <which begs the question "what is the video standard NTSC, PAL or SECAM?"> So basically you can't get the game without a serious investment in hardware. BUT IT IS SUCH AN AWESOME GAME!!!!! It blows the snot out of every other game, it's by far the most realistic, look for it, give it a try, PHENOMENAL.*in a world without fences and walls, who need gates and windows?*
I wouldn't really call the top-tier PS2 and XBox games lackluster. All the systems have games that won't be seeing light of day on the other two, it's a matter of taste. (Although to pimp out the Gamecube, Smuggler's Run: War Zones is/will be available for it.) Getting a Gamecube might be a good party/action game move, but it's currently a terrible RPG/fighting/FPS move. It all depends on what you want out of the system.And no, blowing up pedestrians still hasn't gotten old. No, really. ;)
now you guys are making me question my not-so-incredibly-informed decision for the PS2 over the other 2. you say there will be a smuggler's run for gamecube? hmm... i guess my biggest thing against GC is that it DOESN'T have DVD playback as a feature. that's just dumb to me. sure, the system is smaller, blah blah blah. but i think i want the DVD feature. (yes i do have one here. but i think that someday i won't live here. hopefully). anyway, i will give it more thought. but it kinda depends now on whether my P's will get it for me for Xmas or not. if i end up having to buy my own system, it just may be the GC. i will be getting THPS4 as my first official game purchase on whatever system i go with. i got to play it the other day at Target. looked pretty cool, but then there was a kid begging me to let him play. i mean, i only played for like 2 minutes and this kid is telling me 'hey. let me play. video games are for kids and you're a grown-up.' while i could argue with that, i decided not to, and just let the kid play the dang game. ok, im rambling now. my gaming future is yet undecided.
I must say though welcome that the GC is getting some RPGS in the not too distant future, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Final Fantasy CC, All those gameboy rpgs, and some others I can't think of. And like you don't love Metroid Prime, I mean come on it got all 10's by EGM. But on the other hand it is not a dvd player, however I have not used the ps2 as a dvd player, does it work well? I just love Mario games, they're like crack.
il a la ``Nethack?''
wags, i always have a soft spot for little kids who walk up next to me and stand looking at the screen while i'm playing the in-store video game sample. i always forfeit the controller, even if they're too young to know a goomba from a pikachu.as for towny hawk 4.... holy smokes... its intense. i am so glad my apartment is without a gaming console.
my brother just bought resident evil zero and he's got quite the hard- on for it. he's the most prude-ish kid i know but he has a very very deep bloodlust for shooting zombies.
wags, click the above link for some good advice on choosing a game system.
Pedro, J'non comprens pasI have no idea if I spelled that right
can be purchased with a modified body that allows you to insert a normal sized disc, those little discs that the cube uses are just DVDs but they're smaller. You can get the modded cube (from like, goldstar or panasonic or some other matsushita company) for about 459$ plus shipping, probably not worth it, but it is a possibility. I'll support your purchase of the ps2 though, the cube would just be too easy to throw out the window if I ever lost too hard...well, whatever.
You know the interesting part about this all is that Pat has no real opinion, because he has ALL the systems, bastardo!
perhaps he's qualified to have an opinion, because he has all the systems!
I think that his system boggin has clouded his mind, much like the power gone to the head of Darth Vader, basically Pat is all encompassing evil.
Not evil enough to own a Gamecube yet though. Although apparently Nintendo has a one-week only sale starting Sunday where you can get a Gamecube for the low low price of $125. That's only twice the original price of Zelda 2! The plot sickens. . .
that may just sway me. wow. thats significantly less than $199. hmmm. i will have to actually search for a list of titles avaliable for each system and see if that sways my decision. it may be a moot point, however, since my Da was already informed of my pretty-much-ignorant stance as quite pro-PS2. whatever. i just wanna play games at my house. then i won't mind coming home so much.
so... apparently the firewall has been down on the campus' server latley... (pedro, you didnt hear it from me...) and my brother being the college freshman that he is, discovering the joys of a T1 and a fast brand new computer... has used these few days of unrestricted bandwidth use to obtain a few hundred mp3's as well as both an NES emulator and a SNES emulator. and almost 275 games.damn i wish i could run one on my computer. but i know it would just poop out too fast- damn celeron processor.
anyway... anyone ever been to minus world in mario 1? and is there one in mario 2? and holy shit why is mega man 2 the greatest game ever? (as well as SMB2)
he also got some japaneese games where i have no fucking clue what is going on.
oh yeah... and has anyone ever played the LOTR game for SNES? he snagged that too... looks like a zelda rip-off but pretty cool.
The bandwidth manager was down -- that's what bottlenecks you little moochers' connections. And I was the one that noticed it, because I couldn't type a freaking email over an ssh session... somethign that is normally doable over a 28.8 modem. When the bandwidth manager goes down, our I/O to the Net soars to 99.9%... all from P2P software. It's not just us being mean... it really does entirely hog up the pipe.
I've never played the other systems, and Peter has failed to indoctrinate me concerning the evils of Microsoft.
Why William, I never knew you cared!(enough to not buy an X-box, that is...)
after a conversation with g.lee today, i made this decision. Xbox just doesn't have enough GOOD games in production, the DVD needs an expensive expansion set to work, and they're beasts. and GC has no DVD, and isn't THAT much cheaper than PS2. so im sticking with that decision. emulators rule. sometimes. i used to play RYGAR and RBI BASEBALL for the nesticle emulator religiously for a while. also, Mario 2 does rule. there are no negative worlds that i know of, and i know that game pretty well. i've been to the negative worlds in mario 1, but i couldn't tell you how to do it now. mario 2 IS the best of the series.
speaking of SMB2... did you know that it was actually supposed to be a game very similar to super mario brothers one, that was just a little more difficult. but they were afraid the american market wouldnt be into a game so similar. so they jacked a japanese game that already existed called "Doki Doki Panic" and inserted some mario-isms, and BAM! one of the greatest and most bizzare games in the history of gaming. (IMHO.)the japanese mario 2 (the one that was determined "not good enough" for american release") showed up on the "super mario all stars" cart for SNES as "Lost Levels." the american SMB2 showed up in japan as "Super Mario Bros USA."
I don't think there's a game fan alive that doesn't know that one, but I think that no one should listen to g. lee when it comes to picking a system, the only thing he loves if fighting games and FIFA so who cares? My vote is still on the Gamecube because it has better games coming out, and good games out, and the gameboy adapter, and then you can play thousands of games. However, I won't spurn you if you do get a PS2, I've thought about it too, but my gaming time is limited, I don't know what it is about living with a girl but they just don't like it when you ignore them and play video games, damn women!
That's my impression. However, word on the street is that at least SEGA has plans of discontinuing games for GC, and will be manufacturing strictly for X-Box first and then PS2. The upcoming Doom and Quake IV will be released exclusively on X-Box. In addition, Microsoft is rumured to be getting ready to dump alot of dirty cash into developement for the X-Box. Also, X-Box II is slated for a holiday 2004 release, the same time as PS3. Apparently the X-Box II will accomadate all X-Box I games, and if you purchase X-Box I from a local vender you can turn it in for credit on the X-Box II which will be debutted at the current X-Box I price. Of course my sources are questionable, and have proved to be unreliable at least socially, so if I'm talking shit...nevermind.
Oh, and Halo 2 comes out next Christmass. Wa-Hoo!!!
ulyssess: no minus world in SMB2. Curses!baggins: BigJ's right, disregard anything mister Lee told you. Not trying to sway you towards the dark side here, but if you haven't received your system yet, do a little more research so you can assure yourself you'll be happy with your choice. gamefaqs.com and ign.com both have lists of many games available/in development.
And now what looks to be final Christmas prices (from amazon.com): PS2: $199.99 (includes 1 controller, DVD playback)
XBox: $199.99 (includes 1 S-type controller, Sega GT, Jet Set Radio Future, 8 GB hard drive)
Gamecube: $149.99 (includes 1 controller)Merry Fishmas!
Captian I heard that Sega was only stopping production of sports games, and that's for all systems, but that production of games is still on for all systems. But I could be wrong. Baggins, whatever system you get you'll like, it's sort of like comparing a diamond ring to an emerald, one costs more, but technically the other is more rare and exotic, which do you prefer, personally I prefer watches to who cares.Hey Captain I haven't seen your pillow biting ass in a while, how are ya?
Oh, and everyone should get a Gamecube because Metroid Prime is the best thing since sliced Pimmento Loaf, mmmm-mmmmm
neo-geo. man, they're way better than all the other systems. and they're probably even more expensive now.
Emulators, bay-bee.
I just bought a used laptop from work, it's a Toshiba Sattelite 4030 with a 400 MHz processor, 64 MB RAM, and a 4 GB hardrive, I won a raffle of sorts to get it, with only 65 computers and 1200 applicants, not bad, it was only $100 which I think is a pretty good deal, I don't know if those are the exact specs, but that's the minimum that it would be, so I am happy today. Pat, Pedro think I got a good deal, or was I shafted?
My dad has sold Toshibas with similar specs for $200-$300 on the eBay so sounds fine to me. But what do I know? Not much.
a $100 laptop with those specs I'd say is pretty decent. It's not a total steal, but it's pretty good.
I figure it's not the best ever, but it's better than what I got, which is old, I'll use next year's bonus to buy a new one, maybe, but until then this new old one will deal.
Hey Welcome up for some AOM, or AOE this Sunday? Preferably early, this time I throw bricks at your window though...
Throw bricks at my window and NO AOM FOR YOU EVER. Er, sure I'd be down. Give me a call and let me know what's good for you.In other news, all kinds of rumours are flying around in regards to a "Megaton" announcement from Nintendo that is supposed to see Gamecubes go flying off the shelves. Several rumours follow:
. . .none of which really sound plausible except for the last one. Of course there's no word from Nintendo as to whether there's even supposed to be an announcement. Huzzah!
- Nintendo buys Capcom
- Nintendo buys Sega
- Nintendo buys Squenix
- Online Pokemon game
I'd say if any of those are true, the last I don't care about, but if any are true it would definitely help sales, which I would like because then the future of my favorite platform would be secure.
Hey would either of you know the best way to check the speed of a processor, I just got my new computer, and have no idea what kind of processor is in it, it says it's a celeron from the outside, but won't tell me the speed anywhere that I can find. Not a bad little computer, now I just need a copy of Microsoft Office, some games, and a better mouse, it has one of those little push button things, not bad, but annoying when you need to click on something small, I'm thinking a new mouse is in order, but what kind, maybe an optical, the new ones don't even need to be put down, just hand moving in air, neat shit.
One try to get into the BIOS on boot up -- when you see the splash screen (if there is one) or a message that says "hit FOO to enter BAR"Where FOO is usually "DEL" or "F1" and sometimes "ALT-ENTER" and BAR is usually either "the BIOS" or "SETUP" (these are the same thing). That's sort of the "brain stem" of your computer -- the stuff that keeps it's heart beating and it's lungs breathing even if Windows is lobotomized. Often on this screen it will say somethign like: "Pentium II Celeron 350Mhz" or soemthing like that.
The other way is to right-click on My COmputer in Windoze and click on properties. It will say something like "Pentium X-Stepping 6" or something wierd like that, or it might say what speed in Mhz. If it doesn't, put whatever it does say into Google and dig around and see what kind of chip that is.
good advice pedro, you're the man!!
I just got a new mouse, one of those little microshaft mice for notebooks. I bought it because I figured that i could just use it on the arm of my couch, since i'm usually sitting on the couch whenever i use my computer. It works great, they're a little expensive (i think forty is too much) but right now there are some discounts. Anyway, you can't go wrong with optical unless your desk is made of glass/mirror.
Game Boy Advance SP. For you no link-clicking people, it's a backlit Game Boy Advance that resembles a compact. CURSESOh well. The Afterburner backlight just dropped to $25, and I expect the original GBA will do likewise (price-drop that is, not to $25) by the time the new GBA is released.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for the GBA. Release date for Japan is May 5th.Screenshots look good, hopefully it's better than Harmony of Dissonance (which was good, but certainly not as good as the two preceding it). And the damn musical theme for the titles is getting old; signs point to the next game being named Castlevania: Hoedown of Hatred. Bleh.
Quick, before gamespot locks it in a vaultAfter reading that, I can't wait.
what's capcom been up to lately?
By the looks of the picture you posted, RIVAL SCHOOLS 3 must be in the works. :PLast big game I remember from Capcom was Steel Battalion, notable for its $200 price tag and the largest/most useless controller known to man. At least R.O.B. worked with two games.
Capcom hasn't done anything good since Marvel Capcom 2, and I didn't like it, give me plan old SF II any day, the only SF game in which I can destroy Gene, and can I ever, it infuriates him just to talk about it, throw throw throw!! mwa ha ha ha ha
Microsoft to buy Vivendi's computer games businessWith companies like Blizzard, Valve, and Sierra included in this "package", this is going to affect PC gaming more so than console, except now Starcraft: Ghost is looking XBox exclusive. Whee.
microsoft is all about buying companies just so that they can get the titles. When they bought bungie and few years ago, bungie had been working on two games that were looking to be amazing games, Halo and Oni. Bungie forced Microsoft to promise to release Oni (or something like that, maybe the bought everything except oni) but microsoft got halo and that's all they needed, i'm sure there are more than a handful of people who got xbox and bought halo as their first game. This is all in MSs character, why develope when you can buy out the next best thing?
All console makers are all about buying smaller companies to develop for them; Nintendo had Rare (and sold them to Microsoft) and now have a number of in-house developers doing their first-party titles. (Metroid, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., etc.) Also see Sony's one million dollar deal for exclusive console rights on the GTA series. It's the way of platform gaming these days.That said, holy crap: GHOSTS N' GOBLINS ONLINE
microsoft just does it, the only in house developing that they have is what they've bought. It's not like nintendo that has their own mario dynasty, it's not the turbo grafx 16 and Bonk. It's microsoft and the adventures of the greenback. I can't believe that they are getting away with "dumping" their consoles on the market, i've read that they take at least a 100$ hit for ever console they sell. I'm pretty sure that's an uncompetitive business strategy, but what can we really expect?
...at least until we put the other companies out of business.
They give you a taste and then hook you in for big bucks, but there's too much competition in the industry and I think that it won't work for long, it's too hard to buy yourself into that market and then hope to recoup your losses, I'd say Gates will get tired of it and pull out, just like the beoth he is. But then I'm a Gamecube fan, I love it! I just need to get metroid, it's too good to leave out for much longer. Besides you can pick it up on ebay for under $30.
We need your business, we're going out of business...
bring out the business.(and then, my favorite line... much later on)
THE LARGE PRINT GIVETH,
and the small print taketh away
is this entree about video games?
yes.but is anything really about anything?
M$ is really having trouble selling (RE: giving) their consoles, I read that over the holiday season M$ sold twice as many xboxes than ever before, that takes the mark to 500,000 in november, gamecube sells about the same. The PS2 on the other hand sold 40,000,000 through september (total) and 10,000,000 in the four months that followed, 21.5m in the north america alone. I can see gates throwing his money at this for a few more years, but most people aren't buying it (chuckle). There is something that every console has that i like, which probably is why i haven't bought any of them. Metroid on the cube, ISS/PES2 on the PS2, donating the xbox to charity. All of them have good things. I'll probably just wait until the PS2 drops in price again. anyway, blah blah blah blblblablah, blah blahblablah.
...that's what Xboxes are.Although I have to admit, some of the games are super rad.
On ethics and the videogame industry: of course Microsoft is going to buy developers for the purposes of exclusive publishing rights, just like they do for PC gaming, just like Sony does for the Playstation, just like Nintendo does for the Gamecube, and so on and so forth. Sony threatened major retailers with reduced shipments last year if they stocked Gamecubes/Xboxs, as Nintendo did with the Genesis/Playstation/Saturn in the past. Everything Microsoft is doing is common practice in the industry, as it is in all big business. If you purchase a console, you're supporting the same "evil": they just make their deposits at different banks.In the end I don't care who wins and who loses. Having three strong systems on the market is a fantastic thing for all gamers, no matter what company they swear fealty to; and playing all three is a win/win/win situation.
On that note, Don't do it, Link!
Hahahaha. That game's going to be awesome.
Man I love that song! Oh, and Skies of Arcadia, which I must go buy because the 'extended edition' is out, and the first one was great, even though I didn't even come close to finishing it. Wish I had more time for video games. Hey Pat, you up for AOM every Thursday for a while? That seemed to work well, but next time I must make my appointment.
I too was sucked in to the whole Nintendo phenomena back in the mid to late 80's. I since that time owned every Nintendo system ever marketed. Granted, I'm not so geeky that I neglect all else to play games. Back in my preteen years, however, some of my classmates called me Nintendo due to my excessive enthusiasm on the subject. Hey, it's closer to my name than some of the things people call me.On to Zelda -- why is it the greatest game series? The original Legend of Zelda was simplistic, but offered a myriad of puzzle solving and a wide assortment of weapons. Eight dungeons and a vast overworld led to one of the most popular games in the original NES cannon. Let's not forget the metallic gold cartridge, either. You rescue the princess Zelda from the clutches of Gannon, by collecting the pieces of the TriForce. Nothing too complicated plot-wise, but no game really was at that time.
Zelda 2: The Adventures of Link was a side-scrolling departure from the original. Link was now grown, and trying to save a sleeping beauty style Princess Zelda. Although it had some cool moments it, Zelda 2 was not what the fans were looking for and was subsequently forgotten.
The third installment in the series (just re-released on the Gameboy Advance) found it's way onto the Super Nintendo. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the past returned to the classic overhead style of game play, and went backward in time. There were two worlds -- the light realm and the dark realm. Both were similar but the dark world was a twisted representation of the light. All humans who passed through the gates into the dark world would be turned into a creature that represented their true inner self. We then found out that the evil Gannon used to be a thief named Gannondorf, and he was twisted into a vile monster by the power of the Dark Realm. Also that the Dark Land was once the Golden Land and was sealed by eight elders. Many odd characters cross your path in this installment. Some rabid Zelda fans claim this to be the best Zelda game ever. I say it has the best ending I've ever seen on a game, that's for sure. They tie up every loose end by letting you know what happened to every character you met on the adventure. No subsequent Zelda game ending has ever matched it's scope.
I'll skip the Gameboy Zelda's as they are peripheral.
Once the Nintendo 64 came out it was clear that we were getting a three dimensional Zelda came. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time took us ever further back in time (once again, Link's ancestor was also named Link). Using the mythology from A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time showed us everything that we wished we could have seen before including Gannondorf the thief prior to his transformation, and the 8 elders who Seal the Gate into the Golden Realm, and how the TriForce came into being. On your quest you meet the Elven Kokiri of the forest, the plant-like Dekus, the Gorons of the mountains, the Gerudo thieves of which Gannondorf is the only male born in 100 years (how does that work?), and the once malevolent Zoras are now allies and look very different. Your guide is fairy named Navi, who becomes your best ally in this long quest. The best part about this installment has got to be the fact that a third of the way through your quest you find the master sword, and are transported from age 10 to age 20, and the whole world around you has drastically altered in those ten years as well. Gannondorf's evil magic has touched every land in the realm, and you must battle through the dungeons as always, but it's far more frightening in 3D with two-story-tall monsters than it ever was before. With a climactic final battle to end all final battles, TLoZ:The Ocarina of Time is the best of the lot for it's amazingly in-depth adventure into the mythical land or Hyrule. Note: This game will be re-released on Gamecube free with pre-orders of the new Zelda game The Wind Walker due out in March.
Although Ocarina of Time was the best traditional Zelda game, not long after another Zelda game was released called The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Continuing just after the events of Ocarina of Time, Link sets out to find his fairy companion Navi in the woods, but is attacked by a forest dwelling skull kid wearing a bizarre mask. He steals your Ocarina and horse, and escapes through a portal to an alternate world called Termina, where everything seems familiar yet very different. You see this game has the most clever plot to date. Termini's main city is Clock Town. The grotesque moon hovers low in the sky and gets lower every day until the world of Termina is destroyed on the third day. You have 3 days to get the mask back from the Skull Kid, and into the hands of the Mask Salesman where it belongs, or the world will end. Sounds infuriating at first, but after a few tries you find a way to start again at the beginning of the three days at will. This makes it a bit like the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. You'll find that everyone in the town can be followed, talked to, and observed for the entire three days. You can also help these people out and solve their problems. Some of the character's plights are so involving that you end up caring for them. The star crossed lovers Anju and Kafei are he highlight of the game. In this regard the game is more involving than any game I've ever played. As the title suggests, the game revolves around collecting masks that grant you special powers. There are masks that allow you to run faster, read the minds of animals, seem invisible to others, speak to the dead, and even transform into other species (just to name a few). You don't need to be a great fighter to play this game, just a great problem solver. Although there are only four dungeons in the game, the are heavy on problem solving so I suggest you play the Ocarina of Time first if you can. By the end, you will know everything about every villager in Clock Town and you'll never view video games the same way again.
that is an awesome synopsis. I've loved the Zelda series forever, as well. however, i have yet to play Majora's Mask. and i never got to beat Ocarina of Time. though i got as far as the Water Temple. which isn't all THAT far, but...
also, The Adventures of Link was a really fun game. i liked it a lot. in fact, when i was in L.A., i had an NES, and would play Adv.ofLink until i got to the final castle. then take a break and play some RBI2. then when i put the Link cartridge back in, my game was erased and i had to start all over. it was frustrating, especially after the fourth time. then i stopped playing it. i just didn't have the patience for the final castle.
I must say, good synosis, but I say that link to the past was the best, just because it was so damn good for its day and age, kind of like Super Metroid, I mean come on the other metroid games are good, but taken in context super metroid is supreme! Similar to my feelings on Zelda, but then I didn't play the N64 games much, but will probably pick up the GC ones, but we'll see since I am not playing anything much these days.
I must say that I've been a fan of Super Mario games since the original arcade of Mario Bros. where you're in the sewers knocking the little turtles, crabs, fighter flies and freezies off the platforms, but I think I have reached my limit with the little red suited plumber. Mario 64 was a wondrous look at a 3D mushroom kingdom. Mario Sunshine for the Gamecube has been fun too. Don't get me wrong. It is just designed in such a way to evoke intense fury. I've never been more annoyed with a game in all my life. I'm all the way through the game essentially. I just have the obligatory final battle to deal with, and I know exactly what I have to do to beat it, but it's a crap shoot. The final battle is based almost entirely on luck. All the skills that I have mastered throughout the game serve me very little or not at all.SPOILER ALERT!
SPOILER ALERT!
SPOILER ALERT!
SPOILER ALERT!
It's like this. Bowser and his son are in a giant hot tub, and I do mean giant. Bowser is now the size of a four story building -- I kid not. There are five corners to the hot tub that you have to stomp. In order to stomp hard enough to smash the corner off the hot tub you need to boost high into the air with your water powered back pack, but your water supply is limited. Doesn't sound too bad right? Well, Bowser blows enough fire at you to make a pyromaniac skittish. Meanwhile his son launches heat-seeking missiles at you. Also every time you stomp a corner off the hot tub (which is suspended hundreds of feet above an active volcano -- think Mount Doom) you have to scramble to get back on the tub or you fall to your death. That's not all, either. You can't refill your precious water tank in the hot tub, because Bowser and his son like to bathe in poisonous slime! Slime which also injures you if you touch it, and believe me it splatters everywhere in the final battle. I've played the battle several dozen times, and it only serves to boil my blood. It's about as fun as a visit to the dentist sans Novocain.
Damn, I'm playing through that now, and it sounds horrible, not looking forward to it. So, I think I'll go pick up skie of arcadia legend instead.
I never thought I'd see the day where I had too many new video games to play. I haven't had much time balancing work and a quasi-active social life. I have been replaying Zelda: Majora's Mask --Man, that's a sweet game. I bought Metriod Prime last week and have yet to purchase a memory card so that I can start playing it. My pre-order of Zelda: Wind Walker has gone through and the two advance disks have already shipped, so that's Zelda: Ocarina of Time and it sibling adventure Master Quest (never released in the states), and of course Wind Walker itself will be shipped to me in March. Once I opened the box to Metroid Prime I noticed that if you link the game with Metroid Fusion for the Gameboy Advance you could play the original NES Metroid. There was a catch -- you had to completely beat Metriod Fusion. I had been on the final boss for quite some time and had been grinding my wheels about finishing it, so I went back to work.Like Isaac said, Super Metroid was the greatest to date, but never have I been more scared shitless in a video game then when my double (the evil Samus-X) is hunting me down. The Metroid series owns the patent on dark and eerie long after the Alien movies have given up on it. Anyway, I won't give it all away but you defeat your double, and it's mutated version (with enough practice, you can accomplish this without getting injured), and set the space station on a collision course with the plant below. You now have three freaking minutes to get to your ship! The obligatory countdown race begins. Even at my fastest I get to the docking bay where my ship is in like a minute. Only my ship isn't there. It's been blasted out into space, and in it's place is a giant monster. This is where I think to myself, holy f@#*ing s#&+! Now you see why I went on a little Metroid hiatus. I came back determined to beat this monstrocity, and I did. The real surprises all take place long before you get to the end battle, but what a doozy.
It says that if I beat Metriod Prime I can unlock another game secret... perhaps Super Metroid? Only time will tell. <<geek alert>>
Everybody has to have their one geek moment, and Metroid is nothing to scoff at in the realms of geekdom, mine comes from RPG, they're my downfall, and drive my wife nuts, I basically ignore her for a few days at a time, not making her happy. And can't wait for Skies of Arcadia, I played it a little on Dreamcast, but they added like 6 extra hours of backstory and additions, SWEET!!
What entreé do we post our obsession with action figures and comic books on?
OutsideInfluence, it looks like you'll have to create an appropriately named entree... I'd suggest one for action figures and another for comic books.
William and I are playing our way through on heroic, and we'll then go to elite after that... it's awesome. I just beat it on single player normal tonight.
Speaking of beating video games, have any of you noticed that some of the cooler and longer games have a lame generic ending? If so much time has put into the creation of this game, then why skimp on the ending? I always assume, as well, that if I go back and beat the game with every weapon, item, and health that I'll be rewarded with a better ending. I never have been. The only game that offered such different endings was Donkey Kong Country for the N64. The only problem was that there were FIVE terribly long final battles that all had to take place back-to-back with no way to save in between. Thusly, I have never beaten that game. Curses!Anyone else have any good or bad video game ending stories to share?
Final Fantasy IX had a good ending, but most video game endings do suck, Chrono Trigger had like 42 different endings, since there were 9 characters, and like 3 different ways to beat the game, it made for a big challenge. The worst endings are Mario game endings, "you win, game over" that's basically all you get, suck! scooby Doo has a good ending, funny game. I'll tell you how Skies of Arcadia Legends ending is soon, since I just got it last night, but that will probably take me months to finish since I am moving soon.
Finally set up XBox Live, purchased MechAssault, and secured a very long cable. So long dental plan!
Just go Skies of Arcadia up and running, damn fun game, only two hours into it, and haven't done aything because I've been fighting and catching fish like a M-F!
What is that SoA game all about anyway? Is on the Gamecube? Since you and I are the only two people over the age of 12 who own GCs, BigJ, have you played Animal Crossing? I hear good things about it.
<person>Dangersheep</b> owns a GC.
i remember liking the endings on Contra, Bionic Commando, Ninja Gaiden, and Legend of Zelda when i was younger.
<person>Dangersheep</b>
DOH!
You'd want to do: [person][b]dangersheep[/b][/person]Just with gt/lt instead of [].
KARATEKA!!!
Karateka had an ending?
It's short, but oh-so-sweet.
i just used 2 different tags, which is why the eff-up. then i was quoting the eff-up in the second post.
gotcha. I was trying to be helpful, not condescending. :)
it's all good in tha hood, dawg.
Skies of Arcadia is a role playing game that was originally on the Dreamcast, but is rereleased on GC with a few hours of extra play, and weapons and stuff, but it's very good, and has a different style of combat system. Very fun, but I think that GC has the best games of any of the systems, come on Super Monkey Ball? It doesn't get any better than that! Yeah DangerSheep has one, and I am looking to switch Skies of Arcadia for Metroid Prime with him as soon as I'm done with it.
dude, <person>welcome<person> you wanna meet tomorrow for some cribbage online? I'm on break at 10 a.m. and lunch at 12, and usually have time at around 3:45 or so for a game or two? Just thought since you were at work with internet we could pound on each other in crib, let me know if it works for you, regardless I could do it almost every day, contact me.
how come my html thing didn't work? it's my first try and it failed, talk about discouraging...
I figured out why, never mind pedro
I'm going to have to get back to you on that, depends on when I get here. I miss Case's Ladder.
Pat, when do you want to get together for dinner and talk Nethack?
I have Friday evening available if that works for you; if not, just let me know when you're free, my nighttime schedule is pretty flexible.
I'll email you or something, up for some AOM next Thursday?
...and i could have sworn i put this on this before...but you all should check out this band called MINIBOSSES.
there some dudes i know from phoenix who do covers of old-school video game soundtracks. mostly NES stuff. it kind of has a prog-rock kind of sound, minus the keyboards.
welcome, baggins tells me you dig these guys.
minibosses rule. im groovin to them right now.
check this out. (not for the weak of heart. or if you hate video games.)
The Minibosses are cool. I was actually considering putting part of the Castlevania track on my mix, but completely forgot about it later.
Dude! AOM Expansion comes out soon, they added the Atlanteans with Titan God powers, 18 new human units, 10 new god units, sounds good to me! Maybe I'll have to get a computer that can run it! Mine might be able to but I'm not sure, and I don't want to pay for it, I'll wait for the cheaper Gold edition.
Now if only we could get it to run on all the machines here. :PNintendo news:
Ikaruga will be available for purchase tomorrow. If you enjoy space shooters and own a Gamecube, I recommend picking this up immediately, it may be hard to find before long (ala Einhander).
Mother 1 & 2, two old quirky RPGs for the NES and SNES respectively, are getting released on the GBA, as well as a brand-new Mother game. (Mother 2 was released here as Earthbound.)
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow will be released stateside on May 6th. Color me damn excited.
In non-Nintendo news, Final Fantasy Origins is now available for the PSX. Looks pretty neat.
did FF Origins come out already! Time to beat Skies of Arcadia so I can get to work on those! Oh, and Skies kicks all ass! Very good game, but as usual too easy, I'm just getting too good at RPGs, it seems like I read a FAQ after I play a game and I read all over, "this guy is really hard" or "better level up a lot before attempting so and so" but then I think about how I wiped them up and didn't even have to heal during the fight! Oh well, we need to get AOM working because then we can have a massive fight with 4 different civilizations, and that would be great. I bet the titan powers are interesting, and they can be used multiple times because you get less of them, which sounds like they might make the Atlanteans the team to play, stockpile lots of faith and then sweep in using god powers and lots of units, bye bye birdie!
I finally broke down and ordered a Gamecube. With Zelda and Ikaruga out, the super-slick platinum model available, and a lot of the launch games dropping to $30 it was all too much to resist. (Not to mention playing the Castlevanias on a big screen. . .damn your gimmicky marketing Nintendo!)
You have fallen to the dark side! Welcome, Welcome, to the true power of video gaming, MARIO MARIO MARIO MARIO!!
What are "disruption" weapons good for? On bg:da we both got some disruption weapons, (like a fine morningstar of disruption +1), but we're not sure what the disruption part is good for. Is that good against magical attacks or sheilds? Or what?...any chance that a beholder uses a magical shield?
dark side indeedpedro, I think disruption weapons are good against undead and demons and other non-wordly creatures. But don't quote me on that.
that was you at the family reunion right?
You're just jealous that I get to hobnob with royalty.
I'm jealous that you have such stellar pecs! VROOM VROOM
zelda is hott!
I find video-game women, with their unrealistic shapes/features, positively annoying!
i think the idea of a magical princess that needs saving through various dragon-fighting, problem-solving adventures is actually what is hot about zelda.
She's got a rockin body! HA HA HA, I find nothing exciting about computer generated women, give me the real thing anyday!
Who's ready for some eight-player Mario Kart
I'd be willing to beat 7 other people in mario kart, as long as it's race mode, I never liked battle mode.
My Gamecube arrived yesterday. Rundown on games:Zelda is fantastic; if you enjoyed either of the N64 titles you should definitely pick this one up (hell, pick it up even if you didn't).
Super Smash Brothers Melee is the greatest fighting game of all time as everybody knows. Fortunately for impending insanity, my old memory card appears to have vanished and now I have to unlock everything again. Yay!
Metroid is, as of yet, untouched by me, and will probably remain that way until I finish Zelda. Oh well.
Ikaruga has not arrived yet. Dammit.
did you get the master quest disc as well? THey had that on the demo model at the game shop it looks like it is just a rerelease of the first zelda64 for the GC. What do you think of the graphics for the GC zelda?
I didn't get the bonus discs, I think they only came with preorders. Master Quest is supposedly just like the original but with all the dungeon layouts changed. Who knows, maybe they'll release them separately.The Wind Waker's graphics are beautiful. . .they're definitely a big departure from the N64 games. The animation is very fluid, and everything is much more detailed, especially people's faces; it's awesome to see Link's eyes shift nervously from side to side, and the look of rage on the sword trainer's face when you've thrown one too many pots at him. And seeing a gigantic cartoony boss rise up out of a pit of lava with a bellow was just damn awesome.
Screenshots don't do this game justice, you have to see it to really appreciate it.
After seeing this kid in the game proper, I totally wish I could crush him with a pig of some kind. One of the most annoying townspeople ever.
sounds like i need a gamecube
Gamecube is the best of the systems, the games welcome got are great, skies of arcadia is awesome, both marios sunshine and luigi's mansion are killer, the graphics on luigi's mansion are what sold me, every detail is perfect! Not to mention Ikaruga, yowser! Oh and Mario Kart is coming soon, and the game boy port attachment so you can play gameboy games on your tv, that will be like having a super nintendo again!
I was really torn between gamecube and xbox. I liked gamecube because of the exclusive titles, but I knew the xbox had superior hardware. Now I am SO glad I chose xbox. I'd still like to play through Zelda sometime and whatnot, but the hard drive capacity, the video, everything is so much sweeter on the xbox side. If you look at a game played on any of the 3 big systems you can't argue with the look on the xbox. The xbox also plays in HD, unlike all of its competitors. Plus there's the whole xbox live thing, which I don't personally take advantage of, but cool cool cool. If the argument for gamecube is exclusive titles (like Zelda) it is a good one, but the same argument can be made on the xbox side where games like Halo are supercool and also exclusive. The ideal situation would be to have both, or to have one and have a friend who has one- then trade.
Halo's getting ported to the PC, so it's not totally exclusive. As far as consoles go however, a lot of big titles will be cross-platform, and out of the three the XBox ports will probably always be the best ones. (Splinter Cell, Soul Calibur 2, Hitman 2, et al)Also: now that I have all three systems I am the undisputed authority over consoledom, and I say the best is the. . .PHILLIPS CD-I
wha?
Actually you can play Gamcube in HD because I will be doing so as soon as I order the Component cables from Nintendo, Metroid Prime is designed to be played that way. The Xbox ports might be a little better, but I think that the exclusive GC titles are superior, Link, Metroid, Mario, Monkey Ball, Star Fox, and more on the way because they just announced an all new product development center to develop more exclusive titles. Not to mention Microsoft is the devil.
What OS and browser did you use to post that message? ;)
the one provided to me by my work, and IE sucks it's always fucking up my java scripting. Not to mention the network trouble I've been having with Windows on our Novell server. I would buy apple but have no need for anything other than typing and internet. Just because I use their products doesn't mean I don't think they're the devil, I don't like them but haven't started a boycott campaign yet.
and me love you long time!
breathe easy, friend
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is supposedly in stores today, I'm going to walk over to Gamestop and see if they have it. Ah, the dangers and delights of being able to purchase video games a block away from the office.BigJ, did I lend you my copy of Harmony of Dissonance? I can't seem to find it in the carefully chaotic mess that is the area by my alarm clock.
In sad news, Gamestop did not have Aria of Sorrow, everything else scheduled for today made it in but that. Shit. In sadder news, I decided to buy Lufia: Ruins of Lore. Somebody should stop me from leaving the house with money.
you did not lend it to me, but I would be willing to borrow it from you, that and the metroid game for GBA, I am going to Georgia for a week on a business trip and would be able to play through them both in the five days I have away, especially with that and airport time. You up for lending me shit?
Sure thing, if I can find Castlevania. In the event that I can't, I can loan you Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, which should keep you busy enough.
Alternately, I do have Tactics Ogre which will probably take you all week, and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts Advance if you're into masochism.
Just bring a lot of games along next time I see you and I'll take them all! Just kidding, but I would like Metroid and Ghouls and Ghosts, which is always hard, I have Oracle of Ages, and did not like it much, so I will stay away from Seasons. I'm not leaving until June 15 so I am not too worried about getting in touch with you about it. Oh, and I'm going to ask Evan and Gene too, but you want to come out to AMC and go movie hopping next week, I was thinking about going to see the Matrix Reloaded and then X-men 2, total action movie overload, and it's better to only pay for one of them.
I actually really enjoyed Oracle of Ages, the dungeon design was just about perfect, and it's nice to see some "puzzle-oriented" bosses.Aria of Sorrow is now mine (the last copy that wasn't reserved). My wallet weeps.
OK, so all the systems had a good showing at E3, and no there was nothing stellar this year, but I am looking forward to the Gamecube lineup. And playing as much Halo2 as I can on other people's xboxes. However, Star Fox 2, Mario Party 5, Mario Kart for GC, Two Zelda games, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (which has 4 player capability), Metal Gear, Resident Evil 5, F-Zero GX, Mario Golf (ok maybe not), Sonic Adventures DX, Giftpia (a new RPG),and then there's all the system wide games, which are all identical, but some good ones like Teenage Mutant Ninja Bitches which is a shaded cell based game instead of hex-pixels so it looks like your playing a cartoon. And more that I am forgetting. But all in all a good list of games. Now we'll have to see how many of them I have time to play. Now that I've geeked out I feel better.
Just checking on you Pat, haven't seen you in a while. I am playing Eternal Darkness for GC, very very good game, you have a sanity meter and when it goes down you start seeing things, and hearing things, and the game starts f-ing with you by telling you it's erasing your memory card and stuff, very cool. It's the only game I've ever played that honestly scared me and made me jump. Check it out. Oh, Welcome what are you doing on Sunday? Email me, I'll be in the area and would not mind a little sunday afternoon video gaming or something.
...so what are the "must have" games for the DC?
that's a tough one since there are so few that you can still find anywhere. But, Soul Caliber, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, Skies of Arcadia, Shenmue, Marvel v/Capcom 2, Sea Man (very odd "game"), and some sports games I'm sure but I don't like sports games.
Pretty much what BigJ said; although a lot of those are available for the current consoles, the Dreamcast versions will likely be cheaper.One of my favorite games is Bangai-O, in which you guide a robot through forty-four mazelike stages blowing up everything in your path. Tons of fun. Mars Matrix is another fun shooter, if very difficult. Worth picking up if you can find them.
Do you have any of these?
I have Bangai-O and Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and maybe Crazy Taxi squirreled away somewhere, if you'd like to check them out.You should also talk to DangerSheep, he has quite a few games that Gamestop wouldn't buy.
Very interesting. If only I had a close relationship with someone who lived with DS or something... I'm going away this weekend, but yeah, I'd love to borrow those afterwards.
I've been playing an awful lot of Advance Wars 2 lately. It's nicer than the original in that you get to play a wider variety of COs in campaign mode rather that just the same three over and over again.
I was turtle sitting this weekend again and they have a PS2 so I played a bunch of GTA3 and SMuggler's Run 2 and I realized that I'm not so good at the driving games. GTA is lot's of fun but I can't seem to complete some fo the driving missions.
that game rules. i like it better on PS2 than GC though.
I have a question you might know the answer to. I just bought a copy of Wario Ware on Ebay, which was probably dumb, but after I bid I noticed that the dude was in Australia, again dumb, it was only $10, but am I going to be able to play it on my American GBA? It very well might be a pirated game anyway, but if I get it and it is a valid game, do they use a different decoding system for their GBA's? Let me know if you have any ideas, I'd hate to reneg on an auction and get a negative feedback rating.
In case you haven't checked your e-mail, GBA games are region-free (like all cartridge games). If it is a PAL game you might have trouble fitting it into your GBA, but considering that Nintendo's PAL games come out a good while after the North American counterparts and Australia generally gets them even later, it's most likely a NA or pirate version.
We shall see though. I don't care if it's pirated as long as it works like the original.
i'm fairly certain that australia runs on NTSC like us. I had looked in to ordering a game from australia because they weren't going to release it in the U.S.
I feel I should point out that it's a GBA and thus there is no TV connection at all. The GBA screen is an odd resolution in the first place, and I think the refresh rate is too. So PAL/NTSC wouldn't even enter into the equation.Conveniently enough, WarioWare does have the option in a menu to reset the saved data, so you don't have to worry about hacking the s00p3r-s3kr3t reset code (left arrow, L, A, Start together while booting, I think)
Octal knows his GBA. No I was concerned with cartridge size more than anything, the only way it would react with the PAL/NTSC situation would be if I played it in my Gamecube Gameboy player, which I will be getting soon. Ah yes, Super Mario World, Metroid, Yoshi's island, Final Fantasy Tactics, oh the posibilities...
I believe that the GameCube GameBoy Player has a built-in conversion between the native GBA resolution/refresh and the resolution/refresh of the TV that the GC is plugged into. So I think as long as you've got an American player you should be fine.
Is a great game! Wow.
I got mine the same month that they came out, and I must say it certainly is nice not to squint at the tiny screen. Some two player simultaneous games such as Final Fight One or Contra Advance are just the shizzy for hizzy (as they say) on the GBPlayer. Mario Kart is another story. In multi-player feature only one player is seen on the TV, while all the others are still looking at thier GBA screens. Theoretically, you could use the game link to connect to another TV that has another Game Cube, with another Game Boy Player, but what are the odds on that? If you were rich and bored, I'd say go for it. In the end the GBPlayer is no different than the old school Super Gameboy hookup for the SNES.
But does it cook? Ok I just have to say Outside that you have to get Final Fantasy Tactics when it comes out for GBA, and so does everyone else!
What if you're doing Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles multiplayer with 5 Gamecubes, 4 GameBoy Players, and 5 TVs?I suppose that would be both insane and completely missing the point.
but you would get the geek of the year award!My new quest is to either rent or buy Soul Caliber 2 as I have heard that it is kick ass. I have also heard that Link is by far the best of the special characters added.
William borrowed it, and I was honestly really unimpressed.
I'd probably drop a quarter or two at the local arcade if I had ten minutes to kill, but I wouldn't pay $50, $40, $30, or even $20 for this game. I'm not into fighting games, but nothing about this game caught my eye or peaked my interest.Really, really unimpressed!
Got FFTA?
I quite like Soul Calibur 2. I guess it was inevitable what with my undying love for Tekken.BigJ: Yes I do, how 'bout you?
I don't know about Soul Caliber 2, but I've been playing some old-school Mortal Kombat Trilogy at Cinnamongirl's place, and I must say that it is truly the most hilarious game ever. You've got the blood that splashes so prominently it looks like tomato paste. Everyone either looks like a ninja, or some lame 80's freak. Then there's the ridiculous fatalities, animalities (where you turn into an animal and maul your opponent), and babalities (where you turn your opponent into a baby). The Friendship is the funniest, because instead of brutally ravaging your opponent, you'll do something nice instead, like give them a gift, after which cute multicolored letters appear at the top of the screen. The creators of this game are totally bonkers.That brings me to my next topic. Gosh, I can't believe I never told you guys this. I am enrolling to the Art Institute of Chicago majoring in video game design starting fall 2004. Does anyone have a really cool ideas for a game they'd like to see made?
I had a dream last night that I was playing a fighting game in which I was a ninja and was fighitng another ninja and we were running up and down to parallel walls, a la Crouching Tiger, and then would jump from wall to wall and atack each other with kicks, swords, and ninja stars, and something that looked like a sharpened paper airplane. It was really sweet, but then I was dreaming that I was in Japan and living with a family that I didn't know, with Gene and Greg, it was odd.Welcome, no I don't have it yet, but it's on my list, first I think I am getting Metroid Prime since it is $20 at Gamestop. I also want to upgrade to the SP since it seems to be highly superior. Too bad Nintendo is coming out with the GBA replacement in 2005, then everything will change.
I'm sure that the GBA replacement will be backward compatible. They always are. I've opted against getting the GBA SP, for the same reason I never got a Gameboy Color -- it's just an in-between phase system. My GBA works fine, the light on it functions quite well, I have an adapter so there are no worries on battery loss, and last but not least, I have the Gameboy Player for Gamecube. All of this makes another $100 seem like a huge waste to me. If the next incarnation of the Gameboy can play the minidiscs from the Gamecube, then we'd really be onto something. Not since TurboGraphix-16 has there been a portable peripheral that plays the same games as the main system.As for Metroid Prime, it's a must have. I'm stuck on one of the Final Bosses. It's just irking me that he regenerates, becomes invisible, and has an armada of soldiers attack me while he's invisible so I can't deal my death blow before he regenerates to full power again. Even with the mammoth amount of energy tanks I've acquired, I can only last two cycles worth before perishing. I've all but given up. I've beaten every other Metroid game to date, so it's quite annoying to be stuck.
I'll tell you this, Big J. It's one of the most frightening games I've ever played. If you think you're a bad-ass gun-ho gamer who just charges into rooms, guns blazing, you'll change your tune really fast after MPrime. There are times when I've stood in a door way for minutes and minutes getting up enough courage to enter a room I know contains horrible beasties. They like to frequently turn the lights out on you too. The infrared vision is cool, but disorienting to say the least. The save stations add a certain urgency to not getting killed right after you've accomplished something. Die after that, and you'll be foreced to do it all over again.
Get Eternal Darkenss! It's like $12 used at Gamestop, and it is the only game I have ever played that actually had me sitting on the edge of my seat, and made me jump a time or two, if you play it in the dark it will scare the hell out of you! Good times! Also, they will pay you $30 for your GBA and sell you an SP for $100 at Gamestop, so it's only $70 for the SP, which I like. And I like the rechargable almost backlit thing. And the folding design keeps the screen from getting messed up.
good times, just got the morph ball bombs back, now it's time to blow shit up!
Yeah I should go back and continue MP, but actually not escaping the exploding facility in the beginning made me very sad. (The fact that I was half-blind at the time will remain my excuse)Side note: while Metroid Fusion is tons of fun, I don't understand why they removed single wall jumping and long distance bomb hopping, I had that shit down to a science. It's not like it made the game significantly easier, the level design saw to that.
I picked up Disgaea on Friday, expect mini-writeups/rants of that and FFTA later.
and what the hell is single wall jumping and long distance domb jumping?
Single wall jumping = wall jumping with only one wall. With a little practice it gets quite easy and allows you to get to some items much earlier than you would normally. Fusion changed it so when jumping off of a wall you can't change direction until you're at the peak of your jump, making it impossible.Bomb hopping: set bomb, set bomb again, time next bomb so it's just above the previous one, and repeat. You can go very high up with this method and you don't even need walls. If you're a super freak you can try to move diagonally but it's incredibly difficult.
I do remember that from the first metroid, and I did notice you had less movement in the wall jump in fusion. I just got the space jump in Prime, and now I can jump jump jump, good times. Now all I need is a better gun, freeze ray or wave or something. I also just had the joy of going missile upgrade hunting and tripled the amount of missiles I have, now I can rain death from above! Mwahahahahha! I just wish you could play the game multi-player, I think that would be pimp, but you'd have to get rid of the lock on ability because it would make killing people too easy.
After unlocking the game-linked secrets from Metroid Prime, I found myself playing the original old-school Metroid. I guess in my mind I didn't remember it being so fatalistic, but I guess that was the way games were back then. In the beginning you had one hit deaths: Pac-Man, Q*Bert, Frogger, and the like. Then it became the norm to have multiple hit deaths once Super Mario could shrink and grow (no jokes, please). You'd think that with all those energy tanks in the original Metroid that you'd last a lot longer "than we will against that Death Star..." Sorry, Star Wars flashbacks. What I meant to say is that I got killed pretty quickly in that thing. On the tougher enemies I could only last about 5 or 6 hits and poof I'm toast.On that note, I read an article that Nintendo will be releasing 2 new Metroid games in 2004. Metroid: Zero Hour, or Zero Mission, or Zero Something is landing on the GBA, while the yet unnamed sequel to Metroid Prime will be released for the Gamecube. The GBA game is just a very revamped version of the original Metroid. Think more weapons, more levels, more mayhem, more destruction. All we need now is a remake of Metroid 2 and Super Metroid and we're set for life. Perhaps there could be a 4 player hunter-killer version where you hunt, trap, and sabotage each other on the GBA. It's always better when your opponent can't see you coming. Bwa-ha-ha-ha! I guess diabolical laughter is common in this entree.
Nintendo had promised to remake the original Zelda for the GBA quite some time ago, but so far I'm seeing nothing on that front. Super Mario Bros. 3 will be out soon, with some interesting surprises of it's own added in. I guess that'll tide me over for now, but I haven't forgotten.
to me, that I'm in love with this person but have no part of this part of his life. And I'm okay with that. I've just never understood the draw of video games...or why someone would like them. They seem so boring.Test Drive is prety fun, though.
she has no interest in the video game part of my life, but she is slowly accepting that I love video games and will continue to play them regardless of how old I get. I have stopped mocking her for watching Days of Our Lives, and she has gotten over video games, well a little anyway. SHe still gets annoyed when I get wrapped up in a role-playing game and play it for hours on end and don't clean the house and shit, ala 2 weeks ago when I rented Lost Kingdoms 2, which by the way kicks ass you should check it out H. it's a card based RPG with more action and stuff, no turned based action (doesn't happen in many RPG anymore) but you get different types of cards (up to 30 in a deck) and then you get missions to play using those cards, it's pretty darn fun. But Hyde just promise not to try and break H. of the habit of video games, they are a good thing for guys, not all of us are into sports and porn, ok I take that back we all like porn, but not all of us watch sports all the time. :) OK I need to stop now before I get in trouble.
not sure that H. does like porn--if so I'd much rather not know. And he doesn't like sports (which I'm thankful for b/c neither do I), so I realize he needs something mindless to do, and it could be worse than video games. Anyway BigJ, thanks for looking out for him. I don't mind it, and since we don't see each nearly enough he is good about not playing them when we are together. And it gives him something to bond about with my brother, so it's all good.
it's in the future when you do spend a lot of time together, that's when you have to be sure to give him the time, trust me it's a good thing. I am of course projecting my situation onto yours so it might not matter to you at all. And the porn thing was just a joke, a little humor for Monday morning.
Your and my favorite pirate bought me a copy of Samba De Amigo for my birthday (Dreamcast). We don't have the maracas (yes, a video game that uses electronic maracas), but it's still really fun with the Dreamcast controller.
so say I wanted to upgrade from one obsolete console (N64) to another, is the dreamcast a good deal? Good games on the cheap?
for some reason i wanted to play lode runner last night. what a classic.
Is that the games were very inconsistent. I think this is true for all consoles (It's certainly true for the Xbox) where games that SHOULD have been good turn out to be NOT GOOD. You can get a Dreamcast for dirt cheap, but the trick then is finding the decent games without buying any of the crappy games. I currently own a lot of crappy games, most of which I bought in one big lot off ebay (with a bunch of cool stuff).Still, depending on how you look at it, you can get a system with two controllers for less than $30, and even the most popular game, Soul Calibur, still basically goes for $25. Other really good games, like Virtua Tennis for example, are still very easy to find, and generally run about $8 + shipping (or less).
If you were seriously thinking about getting a DC lukas, I would recommend that you watch eBay until there's a big lot going up with a bunch of games that you are actually interested in playing. Ask me, or welcome, or zen about the games out there. The other thing is that there are people who have "backup services" -- who basically sell you "backup discs (DC does not use normal CD-ROMS)" for your games. A typical game costs $4.00 and has a warranty for 15 days or something. That would be one way to get your games, and since the whole thing is completely out of print and Sega is basically out of business (the hardware business anyway), I don't think it would be such a terrible thing to do.(And in fact I'm considering that avenue for some of the games that are still expensive or that you never see for sale.)
That said, have you tried digging up good games for the N64? I would think there are probably tons of great games that came out for your system that you never played that could be lots of fun to find used, and I would think that they'd go for pretty cheap.
But yeah, the trick with the DC would be to only get games that were worth it. There are lots of titles which are "worth it" -- but like any system, lots of titles that are just crap.
that's sort of what I figured. I'll look around on ebay and if I decide to start bidding on stuff I'll come back to you guys for advice on what games to find/avoid.as far as n64 stuff, I have quite a few games that I picked on ebay cheap. the bond games, perfect dark, a bunch of platformers. There are a few more that I would like to get, but they are rare and still go for $25+, which is more than i'm willing to pay.
I think it's a really neat game system with a lot of really original, cool games that didn't come out on any other systems.
- Jet Grind Radio is an obvious one, as is
- Virtua Tennis.
- Chu Chu Rocket is a cool, puzzle game and a manic party gamne that I think looks fun but I can't get anyone to give it the old college try with me.
- Space Station 5 and
- Samba De Amigo are very fun rhythm games. You can get Space Station 5 for dirt cheap, and it's so campy and stylish that I think that's a definite winner even if the input (and it's lag) takes a little getting used to.
- Dead Or Alive 2 is really cool for a 3D fighter -- definitely one of my favorites (although you can get it on other systems).
- Soul Calibur is supposed to be incredible, although I haven't played it on the DC. It's widely considered to have the best graphics of the DC.
- The Crazy Taxi games are also tons of fun, as are the
- Tony Hawk games (if you like that sort of thing).
- Toy Commander is one of the coolest and most original games I've ever played.
- THe Marvel Vs. Capcom games are fun (if you like 2D fighters). One of the things that's cool about the Dreamcast is that it's hardware made it extremely easy to do arcade ports, so the DC version of CvM is straight out of the arcade. (CvM II is great, although I don't know if it was in the arcade or if it was a DC title.)
- The same is true for House of the Dead, which is fun if you like shooting games (and are willing to play with the controller unless you have a light gun). It's just like it is in the arcade.
- I also think that Zombie Revenge is fun, although the storyline is completely senseless. Both those zombie games do NOT have unlimited continues, which on the one hand is frustrating, and on the other hand is cool.
- Quake3 Arena is a very true port of the PC version, but also allows split-screen four player deathmatching, which is cool.
I'm sure there's more. Skies of Arcadia and Grandia 2 have been mentioned to me as good RPGs. I have a deeply flawed but still playable RPG called Time Stalkers which is actually a little like nethack in a weird way.
Anyway, don't get me wrong. I really love my Dreamcast, and part of what I love about it is all the terrible japanese translations. But I've also spent more money than I should have (which is still way less than say, an XBox and 4 new games), and I have a glut of other games (Blue Stinger, Mortal Kombat Gold) that are on the crappy side and have almost no resale value. If you buy a Dreamcast, again, I would buy one that comes with several games, and make sure that the games that you WANT are worth the cost of the total package, because the games that you don't want might be fun to dink around with, but ultimately aren't worth anything. One thought process I had was "well, I'll still have fun playing Mortal Kombat, even if it's not that great." But in truth, the fact is (for me) that I just won't play it because it's not worth my time.
how apropos
I don't know what kind of games you like, but Skies of Arcadia is very kick ass, I have some posts about it higher up in this entree, if you get a Dreamcast check it out. Although I have to admit I played the Camecube version and there were a few subtle differences (extra story-line and items and weapons and stuff)
Anyway- I bought Myst the other day at Walmart for $10. I remember thinking that it looked pretty neat when it first came out and it was sooo expensive and I didn't really play video/computer games enough to justify it. I am sure that most of you mastered it in high school and would find it depressingly outdated now, but it took me three one hour attempts to figure out the first stinking clue. Pretty pathetic, but I will perservere and not let an old computer game best me and make me feel stupid.
