Ristar24

Not had much gaming time lately so mainly shorter retro or arcade style games. Night Striker Gear, Operation Wolf, OutRun, SEGA Rally on the Saturn. I also played the NES version of Last Ninja (2) on Switch as waiting for the new collection from System 3, might play through the superior C64 version this weekend.

I first became aware of the site when it merged with VC Reviews, so 2013 I think. Didn't know was around in 2005! Congrats on 20 years.

No, I've played them before on Wii and though I liked the games, I think this is too expensive for what they offer so I just wont buy them.

Busy weekend but currently replaying The Evil Within on PS4. Still a good game despite the performance issues. Also Mad Max on PS4 which has been fun to go back to and make some more progress. Retro wise picked up Toaplan Arcade Collection 2 on Evercade so will be trying to see if I can get any better at Hellfire, played the Mega Drive version years ago and it's a tough shooter.

I was never as bowled over as a lot of people were with these games. I liked them a lot and bought both on Wii, but they still didn't make the impact of Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World or Mario 64 for me. I'd not be buying them again personally as I still have my Wii hooked up with a component cable, still looks OK to me. Maybe if they're on sale at some point for portable play sake.

It's It's a great engine, playing RE4 remake on PS4 slim at the moment and it runs suprisingly well.

Slightly less retro than usual for me, I bought PS4 Max Max for less than £4 in the current PSN sale and picked up where I left the game in 2016. Its very formulaic in its structure, but the game has great atmosphere and the graphics are still outstanding. Also picked up The Evil Within for about the same price, started replaying and I'd forgot the game doesn't have great performance on PS4, but again it does have a really striking atmosphere and visual design. Has me more on edge than the RE4 remake, which I'm also playing for the first time.

Retro wise may play some Famicom Castlevania on the Anniversary collection.

@TryToBeHopeful I mostly play retro games, but either way, I'd rather buy something digitally that this. Yes modern games almost all require patches, which is also far from ideal, but at least they mostly work to some degree.

I maintain the view that these key cards are quite rubbish, and literally so once you can no longer download the associated data.

@MeloMan I agree, it's certainly accessible on easy as I managed to complete the game, plus you get a password and can try on normal with your upgrades. I'm not great at shooters but had a lot of fun with Earthion already, will be moving up to normal.

@Duncanballs Yes, I was suprised the Mega Drive port of Speedball 2 even lacks the nice court graphics of the Amiga, it has the more basic version from the Atari ST. Also realised the Evercade is actually the US Genesis version, so it lacks the better music and the option to play music during matches thats present in the PAL version. At least Bitmap 2 on Evercade has the Amiga versions of games.

Finally finished Gods on the Amiga (on Evercade). A game I started on my friend's Atari ST probably about 35 years ago and we never did complete it. Only had to check a walkthrough once or twice, so not bad. Might continue the Bitmap Brothers theme with the SNES version of the Chaos Engine on Evercade or Speedball 2 on the A500 Mini.

On Switch, have to play some more Earthion, what a amazing new shooter, I'd forgot about the Switch release until I saw it on the eShop. Also been playing some Operation Wolf and Space Gun in the Operation Night Strikers Collection.

Finally, been playing Power Drift and working on my best times in SEGA Rally on Saturn, not as good as I used to be, but getting the RAD2X really has me playing the console again.

I dunno, that desert didn't look as good as Mad Max on PS4, but I'll reserve judgement for now. As a Switch owner, its been a long wait and as I'm skipping Switch 2 for now, this is likey the last big first party Nintendo game I will play for a while. I'm still looking forward to the game, just hope its it's not like Arkham Knight where I felt they kept trying to bring the Batmobile into play too often.

Think I'll load up Great Giana Sisters on my C64 later in honor, ha. I think I've completed Super Mario Bros but only one friend I knew had a NES as kid. Was mostly Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, Amiga and Atari ST here in the UK at the time.

Last week I obtained a RAD2X for my Saturn so have been playing some of my favourite games on the console. This weekend be some more SEGA Rally, which I still think is one of the best arcade racer ports ever made, plus some other great sprite based racers, OutRun (with the correct car sprite), Power Drift and Chase H.Q.

Also the Saturn version of Road Rash is really good fun (and the music very much takes me back to the 90s), and I've restarted Panzer Dragoon Saga, I never did finish the game as the battery save in my console had died.

I certainly won't be buying these games again at that price, or a Switch 2 any time soon, it's all become far too expensive.

It's so weird to me that these retro style games aren't 60fps to begin with, even with original Switch level tech these days. Just feels like the priorities are wrong to me.

I must finally buy Zwei, for my Saturn. I have the first one and Saga. Currently looking at buying a decent upscaler to get back into Saturn gaming. I have the remake of the first one, it's not too great though to be fair its the Switch version so maybe better on more powerful hardware.

This weekend will continue my replay of PS1 Resident Evil 2 on PS4, currently on Claire scenario B and this game is still as good as it ever was, even after the remake. On Switch playing the original PS1 Fear Effect release that just came out (first time playing this one).

On Evercade I'll try play some more of God's on the Amiga and recently picked up the Codemasters collection, so some Sensible Soccer on the MegaDrive. Also might play some Treasure Island on the Spectrum, if I'm feeling particularly nostalgic.

@AppleBlade See your point but seeing Mario 64 running, coming from 8-bit micros and 16-bit consoles, was something else. The impact of that shift into such a well designed 3D world genuinely felt like a new era in gaming, and I started on Atari 2600. In the UK it also launched with Shadows of the Empire and that battle of Hoth intro stage, wow. Probably only matched for me by the Dreamcast and then the PS360.

I've not bought one and not feeling the need to, no games I am really enthusiastic to buy the console for and the screen doesn't look as nice as the OLED which I own. A lot of the retro stuff I like is also still coming to the original Switch. I wonder if its going to be like PS5, where I just stuck with my PS4 and retro gaming (and it still gets the PS1 and PS2 classics which interest me more than new games anyway). It's all got so expensive too.

I remember playing Thunderbolt in the arcade, was amazing at the time. Looks like a good collection for a sale, will we ever see Chase H.Q. though, maybe there is some licensing issue.

Nice I've meant to play it for years. Looks a bit rough compared to PS4/5 PS1 emulation, but I just downloaded so glad its available either way. Went for Switch version for portable play on my OLED.

Two mice is an interesting concept, but it's really lacking artistic flair, next to Rocket League it looks quite boring, which is quite unlike Nintendo. In theory, I can see those controls replicated with a couple of analog sticks and maybe analog triggers, but sadly Switch 2 doesn't have those as standard either.

It was and is a really interesting and good game. Glad I still own a copy, honestly Nintendo should allow Switch 2 owners (I don't have one) and people who dont subscription buy these games as downloads. If PlayStation can do it Nintendo should. RE2 and 3 both joined PS Plus recently and I could download them on my PS4 'for free' as I owned them on PS3. A game as good as Chibi-Robo, it's a shame it's just tied to NSO.

I'm not sold on Switch 2, so they're not in touch with me so much. Mostly I'm looking forward to Prime 4 which should play great on my OLED. I find myself in a similar position to where I was with PS5, I'm not seeing the value in an upgrade and going back to retro gaming and happy with PS4 and Switch 1.

FromSoftware always seem to have performance problems, their 30fps capped games tend to have pace frame pacing issues, and 60fps modes fail to meet their target. The exceptions on consoles seem to be when 60fps can be reached more comfortably, so Dark Souls 1 and 2 on PS4 or Elden Ring's PS4 version running on PS5. I am never a fan of an uncapped frame rate hovering in the 40-50 fps mark, but when 30 is the target the inconsistent frame pacing also hinders that experience. It's a shame, I still found Bloodborne and Elden Ring playable on PS4, but I noticed the the judder no doubt.

I did play it, interesting game, but I'd really like them to do Deus Ex.

Weird as I recognised a lot of the names of the 2009 comments, was when I first joined the site (I was Ristar42 back then)! A new play control version woukd have been good. I got my copy of this game down from the loft the other day along with a bunch of other games. I remember really enjoying it on Gamecube, don't have a Switch 2 but maybe I'll start it up on my Wii.

The best improvement would be running not diminishing your energy. Was annoying to have to keep eating just to move fast and was never a feature of the originals. I guess restoring health before fights fixes it to a degree, but you'd still having to keep slowing to a walk when getting about.

I'd probably prefer the first two on Switch, I've still not finished the third but I found it so grindy to increase your stats to win fights, and the training was not that compelling. Far from the Virtua Fighter style original. After wanting the sequel for all those years after playing both original games on Dreamcast, I was sadly disappointed by quite a few aspects of this one to be honest.

I still have my original copy, I dont have a Switch 2! Was a fun game if I recall not played it in years.

Cosmic horror. I've never really got into the series myself, except Zero Misson on GBA which I did finish and Metroid Prime, which was definitely worth replaying with the Switch remaster.

I've not bought one at this point I won't be getting one for a while. The games haven't grabbed me anymore than the PS5 which I also skipped, I also don't like these 'key card' games at all. Still use my OLED and will be getting Metroid Prime 4 on there, but except for that, I'm sticking with retro gaming for now. Glad for those who are enjoying the new console and looks to be selling well, but it's not for me at the moment.

Completed my replay of PS1 Tomb Raider and first playthrough of SNES Dragon View on Evercade last week. Dragon View took about 15 hours and was a great find for a game I'd never played. I picked up the Renovation collection recently so moving on to Granada and Arcus Oddessy on the Mega Drive, I really like both games and they have great music. Also still chasing my own high score in NES Pacman.

On Switch might play some Turrican II (Amiga) or Rendering Ranger: R2 (SNES).

More modern games I have lined up to play are Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor on PS4, but not sure will have time this weekend.

As someone skipping Switch 2 for now, still looking forward to this one on the original.

Pretty neat. Activision would be the games I'd really like to see too. They had Pitfall in some of the mini console versions I think, so here's hoping.

Got some new Evercade carts so be mostly retro gaming. Still playing Dragon View (SNES) and near the end of replaying Tomb Raider (PS1).

Additionally will play some El Viento (Mega Drive) which I'd never got around too despite reading the reviews at the time, and Granada (Mega Drive). The Renovation collection is a really good one overall and I also picked up Duke Nukem Collection 2. Those PS1 'Duke Raider' style games are suprisingly fun, again, I never played them as I had a Saturn.

They work well on the Super Pocket too and I like that the saves are on the cart, so can continue playing portable from the VS-R.

I don't like this idea, feels like a waste of plastic and adds the storage cost to the buyer. Only real upside is, I suppose you could sell them. I've not bought a Switch 2 yet and these key cards are not something I would buy, even if I do get the console down the line.

Still playing Dragon View (SNES) and replaying Tomb Raider (PS1) on Evercade. Dragon View was a great find and proves to me again retro gaming isn't just nostalgia for games I've played before, but discovering games I missed.

Also still playing Deus Ex (PS2) over on PS4, and the System Shock 2 Remaster on Switch.

I realised my NSO expired and as I'm holding off on Switch 2, I'm also not feeling that enthusiastic to renew my subscription at the moment. I'm actually finding myself drawn back to retro gaming on Evercade after buying a Super Pocket and VS-R. Diddy Kong Racing would be a bit of an incentive.

Still playing Dragon View on SNES (on Evercade). Also picked up the Irem Arcade Cartridge 1 so been playing In the Hunt and Lightning Swords. Fun discovering some stuff I'd never played and Moon Patrol is on there, one of the first video games I ever played (though was the Atari version).

Aside from that, possibly some Final Fight or SFII: Hyper Fighting. I'm also tempted to get the new PS4 release of PS2 Deus Ex, as I quite liked that version.

Very glad Arcade Archives '2' are still arriving on Switch 1 as I don't have the new console, it's a bit out of my price range for video games at the moment.

Still playing Dragon View (SNES) on Evercade, glad I decided to get V-SR as finally exploring a lot more games on the early carts I bought back in 2020. Also bought a Capcom Super Pocket for portable play, so Final Fight is also frequent game for train journeys at the moment. Lastly been replaying PS1 Tomb Raider on there, I did play the remasters but something about the Saturn / PS1 versions of the original game still has a certain nostalgic charm for me.

Art as created by the artless, technologically speaking. Honestly, just pay for a skilled person to sign off on these things, games cost enough these days.

I liked this controller at the time, still have two, the blue with the clear plastic back and an orange one. I think it still feels good, I like the analog triggers but seems weird to not have both digital and analog L and R buttons these days. The missing default analog on Switch and Switch 2 still also feels weird to me, not only for racing games, but any games with a driving component. The placement and shape of A and Y was interesting and I remember it working really well in some games. The d-pad never felt good to me, I bought the Hori SNES shaped GameCube controller for 2D games. Overall, worked great on GameCube and added a lot to the identity of the system.

They aim to report with objective testing here towards benchmarking. Doesn't mean people can't subjectively find it fine, or not notice. People have very different tolerance for these things, going on the many comments here as an example.

If fans are enjoying their Switch 2, they'll just continue to do so. I prefer the OLED screen and am not sold on the new console myself yet, so I'll wait for some possible hardware revisions down the line.

@The_Nintend_Pedant Could have stuck with 720p too, less need to upscale and probably better performance not having to potentially get to 1080p. In a screen the current OLED size, native 720 looks really nice.

Still playing the Duke Nukem 1 and 2 Remasters on Evercade. Also discovering odd SNES rpgs Drakkhen and Dragon View on the Piko collection 1. Had the cart since it came out, but but only finally trying the games again since I bought a VS-R recently.

Keep coming back to Ridge Racers 2 PSP version on PS4, playing the R4 tracks with the R4 music is probably some of the most enjoyable arcade racing ever for me.

May get back to L.A. Noire on Switch, but not sure will have time.

Nice console I bought after the Dreamcast. No Switch 2 here, but I did try my old F-Zero disc on my Wii recently, no idea how I used to be so good at that game, great but very challenging. True nostalgia for me is probably more something like Ocean's Platoon on the C64.

Finally got around to playing L.A. Noire for the first time, as on sale. I really enjoy classical Hollywood films, so the setting and style appeal to me so far. Also looks really great on the Switch OLED. Also picked up the remastered original Duke Nukem games (1&2) on Evercade VS-R, pretty fun and work well on the Super Pocket too. Still playing (SNES) Top Racer 2 and (Game Gear) The Sword of Stone on there too.