Mayhem

Had a quick flick through the PDF tonight (having preordered the book), some excellent prose and images featured. Even a couple I own the actual original artwork…

X is brilliant, absolutely brilliant, loved it, so much I bought a 64DD and the expansion to play more. But GX is better heh.

Had the pleasure of meeting you a couple of times, good luck for the future!

Anything by Rare was probably not going to be on there. Unirally was discontinued due to legal action from Pixar, so that would never be on there. Definitely agree with Area 88/UN Squadron though. I'd also suggest Umihara Kawase in Japan, one TMNT title (either IV or Tournament Fighters), Super Turrican would have been ace (and maybe drive the price of the actual carts down), Cybernator, Mystical Ninja/Goemon, Rock n Roll Racing, Super Aleste.

Best magazine of the 90s. Glad to see a version back in time for the SNES Mini

The game was up for preorder on Amazon Japan for the SFC version for ages, and is still there (which I'm hoping to get), so this is nothing new, just the US version presumably.

@Alucard83 Mostly the Super Nintendo library as a whole, but it's also covering homebrew in a small section, which is why I spoke to Matt (aka Mr Von Laser) as his output has been fairly prominent.

This is the same guy who did Super Boss Gaiden and Super Road Blaster, so he's definitely very talented (and I had the pleasure of chatting to him as part of a SNES book recently).

You can also pre-order the game on Amazon Japan. I have no idea if that's related to the Kickstarter or not, they haven't answered my question about that. But it could be a different shell, or could be a US shell like the KS, there's no packaging shots yet.

Ouch. I would have had this insured up the wazoo all the way. I suspect someone possibly tampered with the package and decided to help themselves, although they can't use the games easily in the US anyhow. I'd say keep an eye out on eBay just in case.

Met a couple of guys at Shin'en a few months ago and they said they were hoping to get the game ported to Nintendo's next hardware. Sadly I couldn't prise out of them what the hardware was, but I guess we all know following the presentation!

Still my favourite console after all these years

Iwata started on Commodore's Vic-1001 when joining HAL Labs but seeing his first Nintendo code is pretty cool.

It's not that hard, I beat it back in the day, came back to it a few years ago for an online competition, and managed to one credit it within a few days of play. Maybe some people have got it, and some people have not?

Is Terranigma really going for that now? I bought my copy for 20 quid a long time ago...

Interesting the C64 has been included in with all the consoles featured, but let's face it, the SID chip is a legend in itself!

The price on an original has gone a bit nuts in the last few years. I'm just glad to grab a complete copy about ten years ago for 130 Euros. It is a good game, just bloody difficult as the review points out.

I agree with the modern review scoring scale (as per diagram), but I'd argue that it started being used way before indicated in the article, probably starting its cycle by the mid 90s at the latest. Only Edge appeared to buck the trend really. I was already noticing publications going overboard in the N64/PS1 era.

He means that 7/10 is now "average" and 5/10 is seen as being "below average", which is clearly wrong.

I occasionally write for a few places, and on one website we did propose removing scores, and just having the review text do the talking. Lots of readers argued we shouldn't do that. Evidently people WANT numbers!

Phoenix Wright would be great

Spikers was a new one on me, didn't know that at all. The rest however, yeah, knew those all existed.

tips hat to a puzzle master Layton always has puzzles, for the most part, that are logical and can be worked out, even if they seem frustrating to begin with!

//waits for someone to purchase and submit to VGA for grading
//VGA rejects game as not being correctly sealed
//Natsume blasts VGA a new hole

Of course the Vectrex beat both Sega and Nintend to 3D gaming

Half the appeal is the fact it's a physical object, not a download. Not surprised there's significant interest in the West for the release

Ah, the SNES. Greatest console ever imo. And the reason I first took the dive into importing systems and games. It's not so important now, because release dates and image quality are comparable across regions, but back then, the resultant PAL games were often unoptimised, meaning the extra scanlines were not used (hence the black borders) and not sped up to compensate. I can't play Super Mario Kart on PAL for example, I'm too hard wired into the NTSC version!

If people are this angry about one Doge meme in a Zelda game, they'd be apoplectic about all the pop culture and meme references in the Phoenix Wright games. Or is it the fact it's a Nintendo/Zelda title here mostly?

Nice work

Many of the cards were exclusive to the Walmart version of the original GBA game, which is why I specifically purchased that version back in the day. Good to see them available to more people, even if it's an unusual delivery method!

@antonvaltaz Yep, same guy, although you'll probably not be surprised to learn that "Snake" isn't his real surname heh. Also wrote Rodland and NARC on the C64 originally before going to Iguana.

S&P is still a classic in my eyes. If the game is losing a point here because of control issues on the Wii U compared to the original N64 controller, then fair enough, because the controls were great on the N64.

We knew he had taken time off last year for health reasons, which I'm guessing was because of this. But after E3, you wouldn't have known, he seemed fine. Wow, this is a bit shocking. Nintendo really managed to keep this under wraps. Thank you for your games (even the really early ones such as Star Battle on the Vic20!) and your leadership, you will be missed

Although this does not necessarily explain why so many C64 SID tracks are so memorable, especially when they were only played on the title screen heh. The same underlying basis is true though, it's melody and rhythm, unlike many soundtracks today that just appear atmospheric and symphonic without dynamic blocks of notes to hook the listener. Not saying they are bad, just different, and less memorable usually.

On the theme of piracy here... oddly enough, while criticised and condemned for taking profits away from companies, it is pirated versions that usually ARE the means many older games are still available to play today! In a strange circle of completion. As someone involved with preserving old, unknown games, there are many we have yet to track down an original for, but no problems getting a digital pirated copy. In today's digital heavy world, it may well be the pirates still who are the gateway to playing digital only games way into the future. I don't condone piracy, but if there IS an upside to the practice, this is definitely it.

I wish Jeremy luck in completing this. Part of the "problem" with European release dates is that there may be more than one, if the game was staggering across various countries. At least Japan and US is a bit easier to corroborate.
@HollywoodHogan He has one of those for playing rare games, but that doesn't get you good photos/scans of the packaging, or information about precisely when games were released

You can also try out Kamikaze on the C64, as the mechanics are quite similar. Although you can guess from the title what you have to actually do! That's quite a fun game, and it was a budget title back in the day.

@Xenobound94
Thanks for the explanation. I played the original N64 version all the way through to 100% back in the day and never encountered the problem. I suspect my save game might not quite still be there on the cartridge however, battery backup gods save me

Best halftime show in quite a while imo, more lively and entertaining than the last few heh. Loved the crap sharks (Viz reference there) during California Girls

@BensonUii I suspect that's probably a reason for those two staying high, yes.

@DiscoGentleman But that's a reverse argument to my point. The only real way people can play Metroid Prime Trilogy currently is to have the physical Wii release. You can play Earthbound and Shantae via downloaded ROMs in emulation, or through the VC, or a physical cartridge. And yet, those two have held their price despite the availability in piracy or legit VC.

Yeah, I knew this, was told about it in the late 80s by someone at school.

Some games seem to dip in price post VC release, and some do not. Shantae and Earthbound originals certainly don't seem to be dropping much after their release! Maybe it's because MP Trilogy is a lot newer.

Shill City, here we come!

If you've never played these before, these are a complete must-buy, one of the best things Capcom has done in the last 15 years.

Was going to see a friend for Thanksgiving in 2004, and then a few weeks after booking my flights, Nintendo announced the DS would launch first in the US, the day after I arrived! Cue heading to Best Buy at 7am, expecting queues. Nothing. Walked in, asked the nearest customer agent how many DS I could buy. He said as many as I wanted. So I bought ten hah hah, mostly to bring back for other people. All well and good, but that purchase got my credit card locked two days later, and took another two days to unlock!

Arguably the best handheld system ever, with strong competition from the GBA and NGPC.

I'm glad they're waiting to score based on the online, because that's a major part. You never can tell how a game will react and be moulded until it is released upon the unwashed hordes. Pity many other publications don't do the same, especially with major FPS titles...

Designs are very similar to the old Club Nintendo Mario and Luigi Cube pads in the past. Hori are a reputable manufacturers, and aside from Mad Catz in the last few years, are the only third party maker I trust outside of Nintendo.

Nice article... just two points about it:
1) Not all analog sticks were massive and cumbersome, evidently the writer may not have played a Vectrex console before. Yes, the whole joypad is large, but that fits a stick and four buttons and is excellent in general for arcade style games.
2) The 3D Control Pad for the Saturn did NOT pre-date the N64, it launched with NiGHTS two weeks after the launch of the N64. So it was in development simultaneously at most.

That's me from about 28:34 onwards heh...

I'm going to SDCC, and staying in the Marriott. I may just have to see if I can sign up for this...

Well, that wasn't much different to when I tried to introduce kids to the Commodore 64 by way of the BBC

Drat, and I was hoping it was a SNES version of Countdown to Doomsday heh...