@Atariboy Looks like Super Bug's "sun shaped" yellow overlay actually is correct.
It's also not a yellow circle on the Atari Flashback Classics/Vault collection from Code Mystics even though I swore that it was. Same pattern as Digital Eclipse used.
The pattern around it on the older Code Mystics products is a bit more subtle than with the representation of the overlay on Atari 50. And since you mainly see the yellow when crashing (the dark asphalt mostly conceals it until it's lit up when you crash), clearly Atari meant the sun shaped overlay to be a representation of your car exploding.
I'd add that when you do see it well when you hit the sides or a parked vehicle, the "explosion" is over with quickly. Thus the details of the overlay is easy to miss as you're rushing to get back into 1st gear to get going again. Or at least that's my excuse.
Thus both Digital Eclipse and Code Mystics got it right here despite my faulty memories (and eyesight, apparently).
I forgot to add, why not let us hook up a USB mouse?
Atari 50 already supports it on PC (and possibly the VCS?). Yet even though the PS4, PS5, XB1, Series X/S, and Switch all allow the use or a USB mouse in games, the feature is locked out.
It would go a long way towards making games like Missile Command fun and enjoyable, Digital Eclipse.
There's a fair bit here I'd like to see improved upon.
The #1 issue is the broken audio in the Atari 5200 version of Berzerk. Absolutely awful sounding.
The second issue is the timeline progress immediately goes to 100% completion when you open it for the first time. Quite a minor bug, but it's handy if you're spreading out going through the interviews and such over several sessions to be able to actually tell what you have or haven't viewed before.
While not a bug or anything like that, I think Super Bug needs work. Atari 50 launched with two overhead arcade racers that used a free-spinning wheel and Super Bug marks the 3rd such arcade game here. Alas, while Sprint 8 used the clever steering setup that Code Mystics first showed the world with Atari Vault/Atari Flashback Classics, Fire Truck and Super Bug don't. With how inferior the steering setup is compared to Sprint 8, I'm at a loss why it's not at least an option to switch.
And Super Bug's yellow car overlay is to the best of my knowledge incorrect. It's a yellow circle in the several cabinets that I've been able to play on, it's a circle on the Code Mystics collections, and it's even a circle in one of the pictures of the cabinet on the original advertisement flyer in the timeline gallery for the DLC. Yet here it's presented like it's a children's drawing of the sun. Is that original to some Super Bug cabinets?
Lastly for a very small complaint, why is the d-pad locked out by default for Berzerk (arcade and 5200) and Frenzy? While it's easily rectified in the controller mapping screen for each game, I don't recall Atari 50 ever forcing me to pick one over the other before for anything else. I highly recommend anyone that reads this to switch these three over to the d-pad.
And now for the good stuff. Arcade Berzerk and Frenzy appear to be presented in good shape here after several credits with each. And I'm pleased that Red Baron retains the high score now and the default stick sensitivity feels great. On the older Digital Eclipse collections and on the Code Mystics collections, the high score would erase itself after several seconds when you reopened Red Baron. It was a minor bug, but it was annoying for a game that's all about getting high scores. And there's no need to desensitize the analog stick on Atari 50 (while fixable in the options, the default setting was absolutely unplayable on Atari Vault/Atari Flashback Classics).
When I saw stuff like Super Bug in the press kit, I was so hoping we'd get a few black & white games that weren't already in the Atari Flashback Classics/Vault line. No such luck.
Hopefully one day we'll see Night Driver with wheel support, Tank 8, and some of the other microprocessor omissions from this neglected era (I don't hold out any hope for any of the missing discrete logic games like Gran Trak to be recreated when it took decades just to see Breakout finally make it out when it joined Pong in Atari 50's launch lineup).
@stuntz0rZ That was last year's DLC, which was free. Was more modest fare such as no video interviews and the like. Just 10 more 2600 games as I recall and the restoration of Warbirds for the Lynx to the lineup (hidden by the day 1 patch since the reacquisition of that IP took longer than anticipated).
These two look to be much more ambitious with the full Atari 50 treatment in the timeline and the like.
@Banksie Like their other kits the charge port will reside where the controller cable originally exited the controller. Watch the installation tutorial video if you want to see it.
@TFluke Has several great games not on here and likely never to be on here, like Super Bug.
If nothing else, the online leaderboards keep the dust off my Atari Flashback collections. The spirit of chasing a high score on a local leaderboard on a cabinet, which isn't possible on Atari 50, is present on the Code Mystics collections.
And Fire Truck controls so much better in the Flashback/Vault collections than it does on Atari 50. It's something that I'd love to see Digital Eclipse change since the steering setup from Atari Flashback Classics is present on Atari 50 and used by Sprint 8. So it presumably would be pretty trivial to at least add it as an option to Fire Truck (And "Race 500" for the 2600).
While it works out well since I was planning to double dip and get Atari 50 on Switch as well, now my Xbox copy is incomplete.
Do I do the sensible thing and just pay for the expansion over there, or do I go for the complete physical copy over there as well and just retire the older physical release.
Don't forget about Atari's Sprintmaster for the Atari 2600. A 1988 release and probably what would be considered the newest official entry, even though Badlands sure qualifies as at least a spin-off from the Sprint franchise in my book.
I love the aesthetic here, but I'm not sure about it otherwise. Speeds seem slow and I see a lot of wall riding and such when cornering in the trailer. I hope that the handling is pleasant since without good gameplay, the graphics don't matter much.
Will be fun to see for myself when it releases. It's a tough market they'll be facing with a lot of retro inspired racing games out there these days. I hope that this one manages to stand out a bit from the pack.
I see "I'm getting a standalone physical copy" as an option for the poll. Is that actually an option?
I was under the impression the only physical release was the deluxe set from Nintendo. There's no listing at Amazon or anywhere else I saw to preorder just the game itself.
The three that I've had in mind for my wishlist are Prince of Persia, Test Drive II: The Duel, and Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. Quite an interesting and varied selection of ports of each of these, although I love the idea of an Outrun deep dive.
I don't see how Adventure would work. There's only the original Atari 2600 game, a lousy NES port of it that was done by a Chinese developer for Legacy Engineering's NOAC based Atari Flashback 1 (the one in the mini 7800 styled case), Cafeman's excellent Adventure II homebrew for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-Bit computers, and the Adventure II port for the 2600 that Legacy Engineering commissioned for the excellent 2600-on-a-chip based Atari Flashback 2 (before AtGames took over with their infamous emulation boxes) that I believe was based around Cafeman's world map.
I'm not sure there's enough meat on the bone there to sell a $30-$40 collection centered around a single 2600 game, no matter how excellent, groundbreaking, and well remembered it is. I'd buy it and love it, but commercially I think it would need to encompass a broader vision to sell well enough to encourage further entries in what so far has been an excellent line from Digital Eclipse.
I like The Oregon Trail idea, too. But with how short of a game it actually is, perhaps expand upon the idea to include some of the other iconic MECC games like Lemonade Stand, Odell Lake, and Number Munchers (not to mention some of the Oregon Trail sequels like The Yukon Trail). It's definitely a publisher worth remembering. They're one of what undoubtedly is a short list of companies that have made educational games that gamers actually have fond memories of. I bet their employees that are still around would have a lot of interesting stories to share.
@Coalescence I imagine that the reviewer is looking at it from the perspective of the probabilities of getting into a random match with a stranger.
From that standpoint it's unlikely to ever result in an active enough community where you can jump online with the reasonable expectation of getting in some online races.
I think the situation you bring up is why it's actually a worthwhile addition rather than one that's just going to gather dust.
@HalBailman Interesting, thanks for your first hand comments on the playability of the 3 & 4 player modes in Top Gear 3000.
While obviously I wasn't impressed by the choppiness during the attract mode demonstrations of that mode when the game is left idle at the title screen, I also like I said had never actually gone past two player multiplayer with the game.
I suppose in hindsight it's probably not the wisest of ideas to judge it by the attract mode alone...
As for pit stops, I too missed that aspect in the sequels (and was disappointed to not see them make a return for Horizon Chase). While my strategies won't work in this collection (iirc, the Sidewinder has a higher fuel consumption rate in Japanese Top Racer form than in my US cartridge of Top Gear), it was always a blast to risk staying out to coast across the finish line on empty. Race 1 in Brazil and Race 2 in Italy are the prime candidates for that strategy.
It was also a stroke of genius on Gremlin's part to let you short fuel the car, allowing you to risk if you had put enough fuel in to make it to the end. While something that's a part of real life motorsports, it's not something that I can recall in any other arcade console racer.
I had a bad feeling from screenshots that the Horizon Chase crossover was just going to be different vehicles to select in an otherwise unchanged Top Gear.
I'm okay with a rom hack, but there's not enough meat with that minor change. Needed more like at least a new country after you finish the original 8 regions, with a set of four original tracks (and ideally with 16-bit style SNES renditions of some of the music from Horizon Chase).
As for smoothness, I've personally always found these to be fine in that department in 1 and 2 player modes. I'd feel sorry for anyone that tries 4 person split-screen in 3000 though. While I've never played 3 or 4 person multiplayer in that game (never had a multi-tap), the attract mode shows it off occasionally and it sure is a slide show. Maybe 5 fps. While it's cool to see the screen split up 4-ways on the SNES like many a 3D N64 game, it's absolutely unplayable with the frame rate.
As for the review, good job, Chris Scullion. While I'm a huge fan of the SNES games (in particular, the first is one of my favorite games of all-time), I feel like that you've done a good job at covering this both for newcomers (although I'm surprised you didn't note the forced split-screen in TG1 in single player, which seems to annoy people) and people like myself that know these three games inside and out.
People are idiots. The biggest chunk of the collection are emulated Xbox 360 titles. No informed person with their sanity intact could expect the Switch to emulate the 360 or for it to be financially worthwhile for MS to port each title to the Switch.
This was unveiled long before "last October". Try two Octobers ago now. While NintendoLife didn't cover the October 2022 announcement of the game, last October was simply the announcement of a release date after 12 months of waiting (which obviously has now changed). Entirely unimportant of course, but I find it kind of interesting personally to see a classic compilation be unveiled so long before an actual release happens.
@Don I believe the developer has a relationship with Strictly Limited Games and that physical releases usually seem to get announced after the digital release. So you're probably looking at an announcement later this year if one is going to happen (which I hope does; I'm a big Top Gear fan and envision grabbing this digitally on Xbox at launch and then the cartridge on Switch later).
I don't get it. You wrote an entire article because you forced yourself to play through a game out of the fear you'd miss out on something like being at the birth of a "new meme"?
@Olliemar28 I suspect it wasn't last minute licensing issues.
Atari SA had sold it off to Tommo a decade ago. Rather than seeking to license it and so confident that they could clear it that the physical copies were shipped with it before failing to clear it, I imagine they simply had anticipated finalizing the reacquisition of all of that IP last year before Atari 50 went on sale.
Presumably that acquisition ended up being delayed (Atari announced the acquisition on April 19th) so they needed to retract Warbirds with the day 1 patch. Happy to see the situation finally rectified today.
Interesting that they're apparently going to include Atari's Track & Field port. I wonder if it will get a rename to differentiate it from the Konami arcade game.
Steeplechase and Night Driver appear likely as well as Atari's Basketball and Double Dunk.
I wonder if the gun is a Berzerk hint or Dark Cavern hint.
And I wonder what the heck the corn cob is hinting.
I didn't like the rent a tool option so I instead just would reload upon dying. You never lose a tool then.
I would love to see a HD remaster of this one. And as one that played through it with their 3DS set to 2D, I can attest that no matter how nice the 3D effect might be, it was totally optional for this particular experience.
And maybe bring things full circle since the project started out as a Link to the Past remake rather than a direct sequel, by giving us an alternate game alongside A Link Between Worlds, that replicates Link to the Past in the same game engine.
Not like it's even going to be a huge undertaking when the groundwork is all present already, but it would be a fun bonus for those of us that bought and played Link Between Worlds already on the 3DS.
Not that I for one minute think A Link to the Past needs remaking. Magnificent game and the original SNES effort will always be the definitive way to enjoy it, but I'm always up for remixing an old favorite that I know like the back of my hand (Like playing the inferior port of Super Mario World on the GBA for the Luigi physics instead of the SNES game that I've ran through to completion 50+ times).
@eltomo They're not about to port over nine different Xbox 360 games here on top of all the older classics that Rare emulated. Heck, they didn't even do that on the Xbox One.
Rare Replay was only made possible by Microsoft's backwards compatibility initiative. Without the technology that they created that enabled the hardware to play 360 games, it would've never been a thing. And not only was that extremely expensive for MS to do, it seems quite safe to say that the Switch doesn't have the horsepower under the hood to do it.
That leaves behind a collection of emulated Spectrum, NES, N64 games, and at least one arcade game (Battletoads Arcade). Everything else ran under Microsoft's Xbox 360 emulator other than Grabbed by the Ghoulies from the original Xbox, which apparently was ported from the source code to run natively on the Xbox One versus running via an original Xbox emulator (the lone game in the lineup that isn't running via emulation).
Of course we could still get Perfect Dark and the N64 Banjo games by emulating the N64 originals instead of the Xbox Live Arcade remakes from the 360 that are on Rare Replay, but that still leaves all the newest games absent from a potential Switch counterpart.
A better solution than a gutted Rare Replay would be to get the NES and N64 games here onto Switch Online's classic games service.
I was already part of the Xbox community, anyways. But not sure what this is supposed to mean in practice. Nobody for a second believes that there's going to be a serious degree of interoperability between the three console manufacturers.
Took long enough just to get a few online multiplayer games that were multiplatform to be able to play with each other (and PC). Heck, even mere online leaderboards last I knew still were console specific, which is a shame when it should be trivial for a developer like Hamster to make the Switch and PS4 leaderboards one and the same for the Arcade Archives line.
The roadblocks Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft put in place prevent even such trivial but useful functionality from happening, yet I'm supposed to believe this gobbledygook that implies that the gates between platforms are finally going to be opened (such as enabling cross-platform purchases where if I buy a game off the Xbox store, it unlocks the same game off the Playstation and Nintendo stores?).
I'm no fool. I have no doubt the gates are going to stay locked and that things like DLC unlocks, game purchases, controllers, and such will remain gated and that even trivial to implement functionality like online interoperability with leaderboards in classic arcade games will remain console specific.
@KingMike I thought it was used for graphical reasons, like enabling the split roads that the player will start encountering as they progress deeper into the game (and the split-screen modes, going all the way up to a very choppy 4 person multiplayer mode). Nothing special about the game's AI so I'm skeptical that it was a significant factor in going with the DSP-4.
Going with the Japanese roms instead of the western Top Gear branded roms might be because Kemco retained the Top Gear name rather than fear that the BBC might go after them.
@KingMike IP is simply an abbreviation for intellectual property. Generally it's something that's trademarked, copyrighted, or patented. Doesn't refer specifically to any one of the three.
The patents are expired. What's left that's protected is the Nintendo 64 name itself and associated logos that remain trademarked and software code that's still protected by active copyrights.
@SwitchForce It's not Nintendo's IP. All N64 patents are expired and the hardware is in the public domain. Hence why for example we have emulated N64 games on the Xbox platform. There's nothing illegal in making a hardware or software recreation of the N64 since the IP protection expired years ago.
The only complication here is whatever bios the N64 had, which is protected by copyright (which won't be expiring for several more decades). Either the N64 doesn't have one (which I doubt is the case) or they've engineered a non-infringing substitute.
I feel alone (and a bit dirty) for being happy about this.
As one that has lost interest in modern Activision fare and was primarily interested in their legacy, I think it somewhat more likely that we'll see Microsoft do something with Activision's extensive catalogue of classics.
Activision themselves were only interested in the blockbuster over the last 10-15 years. There was no room or desire to pursue something more modest like a classic compilation, even though past Activision releases like Activision Anthology have been successful (but hardly a license to print money).
While I feel for the Nintendo and Sony owners that worry about their favorite videogame franchises departing their platform of choice down the road, I'm optimistic we'll see some neat things done with the Activision back catalogue, including bygone firms like Imagic that they now own the IP of.
And not just their Atari era content, either. Maybe cool things like a deep dive by Digital Eclipse into the many iterations of Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure could now happen (like they've just done with Karateka), MS control of the final missing Xbox family Call of Duty's perhaps might lead to the reawakening of the backwards compatibility program (I'd love to see the original Xbox releases and Call of Duty Classic for XBLA joining the lineup), etc.
We won't get this anytime soon with Tears of the Kingdom still almost brand new, but I'm hopeful when it does reappear that it will be a Switch release.
When the Switch 2 launches it's going to take a few years for the vast majority of Switch owners to upgrade. So I could see something like this being a good fit on the original Switch even after the Switch 2 has released.
The Switch is more than capable of running this at a rock solid 30 fps at 1080p and it can be ported using a fraction of the resources of an original Zelda (quite possibly by being outsourced to a talented 3rd party).
Thus is seems like an ideal candidate to support the huge Switch audience with something new without detracting from Nintendo's development resources for new games, while at the same time able to be enjoyed by people that own a Switch 2 by way of backwards compatibility.
In other words, much like what seems likely to be happening with next year's 3DS remaster of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. A Switch game that likely will be releasing when the Switch 2 is either already out or will be shortly, that will be able to be enjoyed by both audiences without overly hindering the game by being on last-gen hardware (it's a HD remaster of a 3DS project after all, so the Switch can handle it with ease).
I'd rather see Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D be remastered and further upgraded, before Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD.
But I'm also a Wii U owner that owns and has 100% finished both of those HD remasters, so I understand why the Switch community that largely never owned a Wii U or had access to these two HD remasters is hoping to see these make an appearance.
I hope they backtrack on Wind Waker's lighting engine though when it does eventually resurface. I liked how it looked on the GameCube more so than the heavy bloom lighting added to the Wii U remaster. But I also wouldn't want to do without the Swift Sail after being spoiled by it, so I don't want to see just the GameCube original lazily released via emulation.
@duffmmann I spent a few minutes looking into it the other day when I saw how confident you were. I didn't see much out there with the level of certainty that you have about this topic.
I don't have a horse in this race though, so I'm not about to argue about something I've not personally investigated. You very well might be right.
I only have need for the stock dock that came with my system and only clicked on this since I'm a Super Nintendo fan.
@KoopaTheGamer Liam Doolan meant the original 1993 Doom.
For a moment when I first read it earlier this morning, I was wondering why the Switch has two versions of Doom 3 (it makes sense on the Xbox storefront thanks to the 360 era remaster being on the backwards compatibility list alongside the current remaster, but obviously not on the Switch).
Comments 763
Re: Mini Review: Atari 50: The Wider World Of Atari (Switch) - More Of The Brilliant Same
@romanista I think the Quake and classic Doom games do.
Re: Mini Review: Atari 50: The Wider World Of Atari (Switch) - More Of The Brilliant Same
@Atariboy Looks like Super Bug's "sun shaped" yellow overlay actually is correct.
It's also not a yellow circle on the Atari Flashback Classics/Vault collection from Code Mystics even though I swore that it was. Same pattern as Digital Eclipse used.
The pattern around it on the older Code Mystics products is a bit more subtle than with the representation of the overlay on Atari 50. And since you mainly see the yellow when crashing (the dark asphalt mostly conceals it until it's lit up when you crash), clearly Atari meant the sun shaped overlay to be a representation of your car exploding.
I'd add that when you do see it well when you hit the sides or a parked vehicle, the "explosion" is over with quickly. Thus the details of the overlay is easy to miss as you're rushing to get back into 1st gear to get going again. Or at least that's my excuse.
Thus both Digital Eclipse and Code Mystics got it right here despite my faulty memories (and eyesight, apparently).
Re: Mini Review: Atari 50: The Wider World Of Atari (Switch) - More Of The Brilliant Same
I forgot to add, why not let us hook up a USB mouse?
Atari 50 already supports it on PC (and possibly the VCS?). Yet even though the PS4, PS5, XB1, Series X/S, and Switch all allow the use or a USB mouse in games, the feature is locked out.
It would go a long way towards making games like Missile Command fun and enjoyable, Digital Eclipse.
Re: Mini Review: Atari 50: The Wider World Of Atari (Switch) - More Of The Brilliant Same
There's a fair bit here I'd like to see improved upon.
The #1 issue is the broken audio in the Atari 5200 version of Berzerk. Absolutely awful sounding.
The second issue is the timeline progress immediately goes to 100% completion when you open it for the first time. Quite a minor bug, but it's handy if you're spreading out going through the interviews and such over several sessions to be able to actually tell what you have or haven't viewed before.
While not a bug or anything like that, I think Super Bug needs work. Atari 50 launched with two overhead arcade racers that used a free-spinning wheel and Super Bug marks the 3rd such arcade game here. Alas, while Sprint 8 used the clever steering setup that Code Mystics first showed the world with Atari Vault/Atari Flashback Classics, Fire Truck and Super Bug don't. With how inferior the steering setup is compared to Sprint 8, I'm at a loss why it's not at least an option to switch.
And Super Bug's yellow car overlay is to the best of my knowledge incorrect. It's a yellow circle in the several cabinets that I've been able to play on, it's a circle on the Code Mystics collections, and it's even a circle in one of the pictures of the cabinet on the original advertisement flyer in the timeline gallery for the DLC. Yet here it's presented like it's a children's drawing of the sun. Is that original to some Super Bug cabinets?
Lastly for a very small complaint, why is the d-pad locked out by default for Berzerk (arcade and 5200) and Frenzy? While it's easily rectified in the controller mapping screen for each game, I don't recall Atari 50 ever forcing me to pick one over the other before for anything else. I highly recommend anyone that reads this to switch these three over to the d-pad.
And now for the good stuff. Arcade Berzerk and Frenzy appear to be presented in good shape here after several credits with each. And I'm pleased that Red Baron retains the high score now and the default stick sensitivity feels great. On the older Digital Eclipse collections and on the Code Mystics collections, the high score would erase itself after several seconds when you reopened Red Baron. It was a minor bug, but it was annoying for a game that's all about getting high scores. And there's no need to desensitize the analog stick on Atari 50 (while fixable in the options, the default setting was absolutely unplayable on Atari Vault/Atari Flashback Classics).
Re: Every New Game For Atari 50's New Paid DLC Has Been Revealed
@andyg1412 Yeah, the space is mostly devoted to the video interviews for the timeline.
Re: Every New Game For Atari 50's New Paid DLC Has Been Revealed
When I saw stuff like Super Bug in the press kit, I was so hoping we'd get a few black & white games that weren't already in the Atari Flashback Classics/Vault line. No such luck.
Hopefully one day we'll see Night Driver with wheel support, Tank 8, and some of the other microprocessor omissions from this neglected era (I don't hold out any hope for any of the missing discrete logic games like Gran Trak to be recreated when it took decades just to see Breakout finally make it out when it joined Pong in Atari 50's launch lineup).
Re: Atari 50 DLC Adds 19 Games And Launches Later This Week
@dcstud I'm hoping for $10 a pack.
Re: Atari 50 DLC Adds 19 Games And Launches Later This Week
@stuntz0rZ That was last year's DLC, which was free. Was more modest fare such as no video interviews and the like. Just 10 more 2600 games as I recall and the restoration of Warbirds for the Lynx to the lineup (hidden by the day 1 patch since the reacquisition of that IP took longer than anticipated).
These two look to be much more ambitious with the full Atari 50 treatment in the timeline and the like.
Re: Upgrade Your GameCube Controller With This New Wireless And Driftless Kit From 8BitDo
@Banksie Like their other kits the charge port will reside where the controller cable originally exited the controller. Watch the installation tutorial video if you want to see it.
Re: Atari Revives An Iconic Racing Gem With 'Fatal Run 2089' For Switch
When was Fatal Run ever iconic?
Re: Looks Like Classic Puzzler 'Boulder Dash' Is Getting A 40th Anniversary Re-Release
@Zeebor15 Unless there's a modern homebrew, Boulder Dash was never an Intellivision game.
Re: Atari 50: Expanded Edition Adds 2 New Timelines And 39 New Games
@TFluke Has several great games not on here and likely never to be on here, like Super Bug.
If nothing else, the online leaderboards keep the dust off my Atari Flashback collections. The spirit of chasing a high score on a local leaderboard on a cabinet, which isn't possible on Atari 50, is present on the Code Mystics collections.
And Fire Truck controls so much better in the Flashback/Vault collections than it does on Atari 50. It's something that I'd love to see Digital Eclipse change since the steering setup from Atari Flashback Classics is present on Atari 50 and used by Sprint 8. So it presumably would be pretty trivial to at least add it as an option to Fire Truck (And "Race 500" for the 2600).
Re: Atari 50: Expanded Edition Adds 2 New Timelines And 39 New Games
Torn on what to do on Xbox, lol.
While it works out well since I was planning to double dip and get Atari 50 on Switch as well, now my Xbox copy is incomplete.
Do I do the sensible thing and just pay for the expansion over there, or do I go for the complete physical copy over there as well and just retire the older physical release.
Decisions... lol
Re: Atari Acquires Intellivision Brand And Rights To 200+ Titles
Too bad that this didn't happen before they started selling IP off like 'Shark! Shark!'.
Re: Atari's First 'Sprint' Game In Three Decades Launches On Switch Next Month
Don't forget about Atari's Sprintmaster for the Atari 2600. A 1988 release and probably what would be considered the newest official entry, even though Badlands sure qualifies as at least a spin-off from the Sprint franchise in my book.
I love the aesthetic here, but I'm not sure about it otherwise. Speeds seem slow and I see a lot of wall riding and such when cornering in the trailer. I hope that the handling is pleasant since without good gameplay, the graphics don't matter much.
Will be fun to see for myself when it releases. It's a tough market they'll be facing with a lot of retro inspired racing games out there these days. I hope that this one manages to stand out a bit from the pack.
Re: Poll: Will You Be Getting The Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition - Deluxe Set?
I see "I'm getting a standalone physical copy" as an option for the poll. Is that actually an option?
I was under the impression the only physical release was the deluxe set from Nintendo. There's no listing at Amazon or anywhere else I saw to preorder just the game itself.
Re: Nintendo World Championships: Famicom 'Special Edition' Includes NSO Controllers
Two useful controllers while we get a fake cartridge? Seems fair, Nintendo of America.
Re: Talking Point: What Games Would You Like To See Given The 'Gold Master Series' Treatment?
The three that I've had in mind for my wishlist are Prince of Persia, Test Drive II: The Duel, and Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. Quite an interesting and varied selection of ports of each of these, although I love the idea of an Outrun deep dive.
I don't see how Adventure would work. There's only the original Atari 2600 game, a lousy NES port of it that was done by a Chinese developer for Legacy Engineering's NOAC based Atari Flashback 1 (the one in the mini 7800 styled case), Cafeman's excellent Adventure II homebrew for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-Bit computers, and the Adventure II port for the 2600 that Legacy Engineering commissioned for the excellent 2600-on-a-chip based Atari Flashback 2 (before AtGames took over with their infamous emulation boxes) that I believe was based around Cafeman's world map.
I'm not sure there's enough meat on the bone there to sell a $30-$40 collection centered around a single 2600 game, no matter how excellent, groundbreaking, and well remembered it is. I'd buy it and love it, but commercially I think it would need to encompass a broader vision to sell well enough to encourage further entries in what so far has been an excellent line from Digital Eclipse.
I like The Oregon Trail idea, too. But with how short of a game it actually is, perhaps expand upon the idea to include some of the other iconic MECC games like Lemonade Stand, Odell Lake, and Number Munchers (not to mention some of the Oregon Trail sequels like The Yukon Trail). It's definitely a publisher worth remembering. They're one of what undoubtedly is a short list of companies that have made educational games that gamers actually have fond memories of. I bet their employees that are still around would have a lot of interesting stories to share.
Re: Review: Top Racer Collection (Switch) - Three Classic Racers And The Odd Backfire
@Coalescence I imagine that the reviewer is looking at it from the perspective of the probabilities of getting into a random match with a stranger.
From that standpoint it's unlikely to ever result in an active enough community where you can jump online with the reasonable expectation of getting in some online races.
I think the situation you bring up is why it's actually a worthwhile addition rather than one that's just going to gather dust.
Re: Review: Top Racer Collection (Switch) - Three Classic Racers And The Odd Backfire
@HalBailman Interesting, thanks for your first hand comments on the playability of the 3 & 4 player modes in Top Gear 3000.
While obviously I wasn't impressed by the choppiness during the attract mode demonstrations of that mode when the game is left idle at the title screen, I also like I said had never actually gone past two player multiplayer with the game.
I suppose in hindsight it's probably not the wisest of ideas to judge it by the attract mode alone...
As for pit stops, I too missed that aspect in the sequels (and was disappointed to not see them make a return for Horizon Chase). While my strategies won't work in this collection (iirc, the Sidewinder has a higher fuel consumption rate in Japanese Top Racer form than in my US cartridge of Top Gear), it was always a blast to risk staying out to coast across the finish line on empty. Race 1 in Brazil and Race 2 in Italy are the prime candidates for that strategy.
It was also a stroke of genius on Gremlin's part to let you short fuel the car, allowing you to risk if you had put enough fuel in to make it to the end. While something that's a part of real life motorsports, it's not something that I can recall in any other arcade console racer.
Re: Review: Top Racer Collection (Switch) - Three Classic Racers And The Odd Backfire
I had a bad feeling from screenshots that the Horizon Chase crossover was just going to be different vehicles to select in an otherwise unchanged Top Gear.
I'm okay with a rom hack, but there's not enough meat with that minor change. Needed more like at least a new country after you finish the original 8 regions, with a set of four original tracks (and ideally with 16-bit style SNES renditions of some of the music from Horizon Chase).
As for smoothness, I've personally always found these to be fine in that department in 1 and 2 player modes. I'd feel sorry for anyone that tries 4 person split-screen in 3000 though. While I've never played 3 or 4 person multiplayer in that game (never had a multi-tap), the attract mode shows it off occasionally and it sure is a slide show. Maybe 5 fps. While it's cool to see the screen split up 4-ways on the SNES like many a 3D N64 game, it's absolutely unplayable with the frame rate.
As for the review, good job, Chris Scullion. While I'm a huge fan of the SNES games (in particular, the first is one of my favorite games of all-time), I feel like that you've done a good job at covering this both for newcomers (although I'm surprised you didn't note the forced split-screen in TG1 in single player, which seems to annoy people) and people like myself that know these three games inside and out.
Re: Random: Some Rare Fans Are Upset About The Latest Switch Online Announcement
People are idiots. The biggest chunk of the collection are emulated Xbox 360 titles. No informed person with their sanity intact could expect the Switch to emulate the 360 or for it to be financially worthwhile for MS to port each title to the Switch.
Re: Top Racer Collection Hits The Brakes On Switch, Delayed To March 2024
This was unveiled long before "last October". Try two Octobers ago now. While NintendoLife didn't cover the October 2022 announcement of the game, last October was simply the announcement of a release date after 12 months of waiting (which obviously has now changed). Entirely unimportant of course, but I find it kind of interesting personally to see a classic compilation be unveiled so long before an actual release happens.
@Don I believe the developer has a relationship with Strictly Limited Games and that physical releases usually seem to get announced after the digital release. So you're probably looking at an announcement later this year if one is going to happen (which I hope does; I'm a big Top Gear fan and envision grabbing this digitally on Xbox at launch and then the cartridge on Switch later).
Re: Soapbox: FOMO Nearly Ruined Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom For Me
I don't get it. You wrote an entire article because you forced yourself to play through a game out of the fear you'd miss out on something like being at the birth of a "new meme"?
It takes all kinds, I suppose.
Re: Hands On: Atari 50 Gets Even Better With Adventure II, Warbirds, And More
@Olliemar28 I suspect it wasn't last minute licensing issues.
Atari SA had sold it off to Tommo a decade ago. Rather than seeking to license it and so confident that they could clear it that the physical copies were shipped with it before failing to clear it, I imagine they simply had anticipated finalizing the reacquisition of all of that IP last year before Atari 50 went on sale.
Presumably that acquisition ended up being delayed (Atari announced the acquisition on April 19th) so they needed to retract Warbirds with the day 1 patch. Happy to see the situation finally rectified today.
Re: 'Atari 50' Is Getting More Games Via Free Updates, 12 Dropping Next Week
@LinktotheFuture The fun in Pitfall is the quest for a perfect score. Mapping it out, finding all the treasure, and trying to do a mistake-free run.
As a pick up and play game, it gets tiresome quickly.
Re: 'Atari 50' Is Getting More Games Via Free Updates, 12 Dropping Next Week
Interesting that they're apparently going to include Atari's Track & Field port. I wonder if it will get a rename to differentiate it from the Konami arcade game.
Steeplechase and Night Driver appear likely as well as Atari's Basketball and Double Dunk.
I wonder if the gun is a Berzerk hint or Dark Cavern hint.
And I wonder what the heck the corn cob is hinting.
Re: 'Atari 50' Is Getting More Games Via Free Updates, 12 Dropping Next Week
@RupeeClock I'm hopeful now that it's back under Atari SA ownership that we'll see Warbirds be getting restored with one of these free DLC updates.
Re: Anniversary: Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Is 10 Years Old Today
I didn't like the rent a tool option so I instead just would reload upon dying. You never lose a tool then.
I would love to see a HD remaster of this one. And as one that played through it with their 3DS set to 2D, I can attest that no matter how nice the 3D effect might be, it was totally optional for this particular experience.
And maybe bring things full circle since the project started out as a Link to the Past remake rather than a direct sequel, by giving us an alternate game alongside A Link Between Worlds, that replicates Link to the Past in the same game engine.
Not like it's even going to be a huge undertaking when the groundwork is all present already, but it would be a fun bonus for those of us that bought and played Link Between Worlds already on the 3DS.
Not that I for one minute think A Link to the Past needs remaking. Magnificent game and the original SNES effort will always be the definitive way to enjoy it, but I'm always up for remixing an old favorite that I know like the back of my hand (Like playing the inferior port of Super Mario World on the GBA for the Luigi physics instead of the SNES game that I've ran through to completion 50+ times).
Re: Microsoft Will Think Of Nintendo Users As "Part Of The Xbox Community" Going Forward
@eltomo They're not about to port over nine different Xbox 360 games here on top of all the older classics that Rare emulated. Heck, they didn't even do that on the Xbox One.
Rare Replay was only made possible by Microsoft's backwards compatibility initiative. Without the technology that they created that enabled the hardware to play 360 games, it would've never been a thing. And not only was that extremely expensive for MS to do, it seems quite safe to say that the Switch doesn't have the horsepower under the hood to do it.
That leaves behind a collection of emulated Spectrum, NES, N64 games, and at least one arcade game (Battletoads Arcade). Everything else ran under Microsoft's Xbox 360 emulator other than Grabbed by the Ghoulies from the original Xbox, which apparently was ported from the source code to run natively on the Xbox One versus running via an original Xbox emulator (the lone game in the lineup that isn't running via emulation).
Of course we could still get Perfect Dark and the N64 Banjo games by emulating the N64 originals instead of the Xbox Live Arcade remakes from the 360 that are on Rare Replay, but that still leaves all the newest games absent from a potential Switch counterpart.
A better solution than a gutted Rare Replay would be to get the NES and N64 games here onto Switch Online's classic games service.
Re: Microsoft Will Think Of Nintendo Users As "Part Of The Xbox Community" Going Forward
I was already part of the Xbox community, anyways. But not sure what this is supposed to mean in practice. Nobody for a second believes that there's going to be a serious degree of interoperability between the three console manufacturers.
Took long enough just to get a few online multiplayer games that were multiplatform to be able to play with each other (and PC). Heck, even mere online leaderboards last I knew still were console specific, which is a shame when it should be trivial for a developer like Hamster to make the Switch and PS4 leaderboards one and the same for the Arcade Archives line.
The roadblocks Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft put in place prevent even such trivial but useful functionality from happening, yet I'm supposed to believe this gobbledygook that implies that the gates between platforms are finally going to be opened (such as enabling cross-platform purchases where if I buy a game off the Xbox store, it unlocks the same game off the Playstation and Nintendo stores?).
I'm no fool. I have no doubt the gates are going to stay locked and that things like DLC unlocks, game purchases, controllers, and such will remain gated and that even trivial to implement functionality like online interoperability with leaderboards in classic arcade games will remain console specific.
Re: SNES Racer Series Top Gear Is Being Revived As A Switch Collection In 2024
@KingMike Interesting, thanks.
Re: SNES Racer Series Top Gear Is Being Revived As A Switch Collection In 2024
@KingMike I thought it was used for graphical reasons, like enabling the split roads that the player will start encountering as they progress deeper into the game (and the split-screen modes, going all the way up to a very choppy 4 person multiplayer mode). Nothing special about the game's AI so I'm skeptical that it was a significant factor in going with the DSP-4.
Re: SNES Racer Series Top Gear Is Being Revived As A Switch Collection In 2024
Going with the Japanese roms instead of the western Top Gear branded roms might be because Kemco retained the Top Gear name rather than fear that the BBC might go after them.
Re: SNES Racer Series Top Gear Is Being Revived As A Switch Collection In 2024
@TYRANACLES Top Racer Crossroads is newly made for this collection.
Re: Analogue's CEO Reckons Not Even Nintendo Could Beat Its New 'N64'
@KingMike IP is simply an abbreviation for intellectual property. Generally it's something that's trademarked, copyrighted, or patented. Doesn't refer specifically to any one of the three.
The patents are expired. What's left that's protected is the Nintendo 64 name itself and associated logos that remain trademarked and software code that's still protected by active copyrights.
Re: Analogue's CEO Reckons Not Even Nintendo Could Beat Its New 'N64'
@SwitchForce It's not Nintendo's IP. All N64 patents are expired and the hardware is in the public domain. Hence why for example we have emulated N64 games on the Xbox platform. There's nothing illegal in making a hardware or software recreation of the N64 since the IP protection expired years ago.
The only complication here is whatever bios the N64 had, which is protected by copyright (which won't be expiring for several more decades). Either the N64 doesn't have one (which I doubt is the case) or they've engineered a non-infringing substitute.
Re: It's Over, Microsoft Has Officially Acquired Activision Blizzard
I feel alone (and a bit dirty) for being happy about this.
As one that has lost interest in modern Activision fare and was primarily interested in their legacy, I think it somewhat more likely that we'll see Microsoft do something with Activision's extensive catalogue of classics.
Activision themselves were only interested in the blockbuster over the last 10-15 years. There was no room or desire to pursue something more modest like a classic compilation, even though past Activision releases like Activision Anthology have been successful (but hardly a license to print money).
While I feel for the Nintendo and Sony owners that worry about their favorite videogame franchises departing their platform of choice down the road, I'm optimistic we'll see some neat things done with the Activision back catalogue, including bygone firms like Imagic that they now own the IP of.
And not just their Atari era content, either. Maybe cool things like a deep dive by Digital Eclipse into the many iterations of Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure could now happen (like they've just done with Karateka), MS control of the final missing Xbox family Call of Duty's perhaps might lead to the reawakening of the backwards compatibility program (I'd love to see the original Xbox releases and Call of Duty Classic for XBLA joining the lineup), etc.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Buy A Digital-Only 'Switch 2'?
No, I would not buy an all-digital Switch 2.
Re: Nintendo And Jakks Pacific Announce Surprise 'Bowser Bash'
I didn't realize Jakks Pacific was still around. Haven't seen a plug & play from them in 10+ years.
Re: Soapbox: 'Switch 2' Doesn't Really Need Backwards Compatibility
I didn't even bother to read the article. The title is pure hogwash.
Re: Poll: Do You Prefer Zelda: Wind Waker HD's Bloom Lighting Or The "Flat" OG?
We won't get this anytime soon with Tears of the Kingdom still almost brand new, but I'm hopeful when it does reappear that it will be a Switch release.
When the Switch 2 launches it's going to take a few years for the vast majority of Switch owners to upgrade. So I could see something like this being a good fit on the original Switch even after the Switch 2 has released.
The Switch is more than capable of running this at a rock solid 30 fps at 1080p and it can be ported using a fraction of the resources of an original Zelda (quite possibly by being outsourced to a talented 3rd party).
Thus is seems like an ideal candidate to support the huge Switch audience with something new without detracting from Nintendo's development resources for new games, while at the same time able to be enjoyed by people that own a Switch 2 by way of backwards compatibility.
In other words, much like what seems likely to be happening with next year's 3DS remaster of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. A Switch game that likely will be releasing when the Switch 2 is either already out or will be shortly, that will be able to be enjoyed by both audiences without overly hindering the game by being on last-gen hardware (it's a HD remaster of a 3DS project after all, so the Switch can handle it with ease).
Re: Mailbox: Missing Zelda Ports, Nerd Rage, 16-Bit Blowback - Nintendo Life Letters
I'd rather see Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D be remastered and further upgraded, before Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD.
But I'm also a Wii U owner that owns and has 100% finished both of those HD remasters, so I understand why the Switch community that largely never owned a Wii U or had access to these two HD remasters is hoping to see these make an appearance.
I hope they backtrack on Wind Waker's lighting engine though when it does eventually resurface. I liked how it looked on the GameCube more so than the heavy bloom lighting added to the Wii U remaster. But I also wouldn't want to do without the Swift Sail after being spoiled by it, so I don't want to see just the GameCube original lazily released via emulation.
Re: Retro Game Challenge 1 & 2 Are Getting Switch Ports In Japan
One of the few reasons I want a DS Consolizer. Hope this comes West.
Re: Video: Here's 20 Minutes Of Super Mario Bros. Wonder Gameplay From Nintendo Treehouse
Looking forward to it, even if I don't see why most view it as a huge leap past New Super Mario Bros. U.
Re: GuliKit Reveals New SNES Themed Docking Station, Compatible With Switch
@duffmmann I spent a few minutes looking into it the other day when I saw how confident you were. I didn't see much out there with the level of certainty that you have about this topic.
I don't have a horse in this race though, so I'm not about to argue about something I've not personally investigated. You very well might be right.
I only have need for the stock dock that came with my system and only clicked on this since I'm a Super Nintendo fan.
Re: Don't Panic, The Making Of Karateka Will Arrive On Switch This Month After All
Was hoping for a physical release, but sad to hear it's through Limited Run Games. I'll download it instead.
Re: GuliKit Reveals New SNES Themed Docking Station, Compatible With Switch
@duffmmann That's not what this site says.
https://switchchargers.com/nintendo-switch-bricking-faq/
Re: Boom! Quake II Is Now Available To Download From The Switch eShop
Does it have the original soundtrack? The Steam version as well as the freebie with Quake 4 for the PC both lacked it in earlier years.
Re: Switch eShop's Massive QuakeCon Sale Includes DOOM & More For "Lowest Prices Ever"
@KoopaTheGamer Liam Doolan meant the original 1993 Doom.
For a moment when I first read it earlier this morning, I was wondering why the Switch has two versions of Doom 3 (it makes sense on the Xbox storefront thanks to the 360 era remaster being on the backwards compatibility list alongside the current remaster, but obviously not on the Switch).