World

Bad Boy Brother for me, eventually. It seems to have it all; high drama with anime pretty boys beating each other up and also there is Mahjong.

I typically would like a collection too as some have said, but I enjoy the ACA experience. They do their premiere the day before, which is cool, and then the game releases. There's even a stream after the release each week (but I don't watch those). To me, it's a whole thing; I like the spotlighting of one game at a time.

More on topic, I think it's interesting how tank games had a moment in the 90s. In the midst of all the grungy futuristic stuff, we got that.

Whether he's right or wrong, he certainly has audacity to just come out saying "people love slop." Not even trying to spin it at all.

Nothing on this list for me this week, but I did get the Namco DLC for Atari 50!

Wow, incredible energy in that stance! I'm not sure if I would play this as I don't like spooky games, but I'll certainly recommend it to friends who do!

I really like Romancing SaGa 3, but to me what keeps it from standing alongside the top JRPGs of the time is that there's no central way to switch party members. With such a diverse cast, it seems like a waste to have to switch them individually where you found them (and if I recall, switching some of them out means they're gone forever?).

If it gets remade along the lines of the other two Romancing games, that would be the one thing I would like to see.

Similar to the above, I voted EU for the pixel art!

Also I've never heard of Dragon Power, so that's neat.

@DwaynesGames They release every week. Last week was Scion and this week will be Tokyo Wars. The Nintendo Update is a week behind for ACA as well.

I just use ACA's site for updates (the ACA game updates Wednesday mornings in my timezone): https://www.arcadearchives.com/en/

(They've started selling ACA merch too, which is neat.)

@Turbotendo well i, for one, am blessed to see this image of Fry-uile

Final Formation if I have time.

Final Formation for me! I really enjoy what City Connection is doing with this "Final Series" of theirs. They are taking games that were janky and weird in their own time and reviving them to be mostly still janky and weird but more playable and with an overarching storyline. Feels like a labour of love to me.

Honestly, this seems pretty neat! At least an inspired crossover.

Also, I would eat a Street Burger(s).

I generally don't enjoy voice acting, so it isn't something I would want. But if the option to turn it off was there, I would be fine either way.

Oh, that's promising. It must have done at least decently well if they're considering putting it on the original Switch too. I'd love to see more of this type of game on either console (or both)!

I dipped into Layer Section again. I don't know what it is, but it's never really grabbed me even though it's often considered a top STG. I played it all the way through last night and there were some neat graphic effects, the soundtrack is top-notch, and the lock-on system was fun. But I don't know; I still wouldn't say it's one of my all-time favorites. Something's just not clicking; I may play through it again at some point.

I don't think I will. I know my pattern for NSO. I see a game get added and think "oh cool, I've never played that one," try it a few times and then quit forever when it gets a bit difficult.

And that's fine when the games just pop up as part of the subscription. When you have to get a peripheral in addition to that? Just seems like a bad value for me personally.

At first, I thought Amiibo was a neat idea because it meant toys of some lesser-known characters that wouldn't otherwise get anything like that. But now the concept just doesn't seem special anymore.

It seems like a baffling decision for a console that wasn't that well-liked. I don't understand why they couldn't just release a Virtual Console Mini instead or make the games available on the normal NSO but without the 3D.

To me, it just seems strange because it's not in line with how I understand people use the NSO retro games (i.e., play games when they are released but only for a short time to satisfy curiosity). This is really more of an "all-in" kind of option. It'll be interesting to see how it does.

I voted for Europe's. They're all good this time, but the lighting on the JP cover is weird and the shots from the gun in the NA don't look right. Meanwhile, Europe gets the lighting right and has a cool robot.

I dipped back into Love Story behind the Restoration and have been playing through Keiki's route.
I'm also trying to give UFO 50 another go here and there. I want to like it more, but I feel like something just isn't hitting for me. I mostly play visual novels and the occasional Arcade Archives these days, so maybe I'm just not in the headspace for it. Anyway, the game I was playing this time was Warptank.

Hmm, could be interesting! I liked Ufouria 2 and the Sunsoft Is Back Collection. Ikki Unite was never really going to be my thing, but from what I've seen it looked like a fun homage to the original.

I think a few of these look like they could be decent. The rhythm game looks like if escapeVektor was a rhythm game and Daft Punk did the music. And the snowboarding game seems promising, and not entirely because it oozes Y2K vibes. Also maybe the basketball game? Seems like it has a good mixture of things to do potentially.

@LastFootnote Oh yeah, fair enough. There's likely some differences by game/console on which UFO 50 is being played.

It's interesting that this patch fixes slowdown! While I didn't enjoy this game as much as I had hoped, I can definitely say slowdown was not something that made me like it less (i.e., I didn't notice any).

(Honestly, I do think it deserves the praise. I just didn't really vibe with as much of the game selection as I had wanted. I intend to go back to it at some point, though.)

I played the first game more recently and I think it's fine. I found it to be kind of middle-of-the-road rather than terrible.

I didn't even realize there was a Gameboy game, though? At least the collection is comprehensive for the era in that regard.

The fake-looking fire drags down the European box art, but I voted for it because it's more in line with what Acclaim was doing at this time. It gives "Aha, a new M-rated game from that company who does those."

This week, I'm definitely interested in Psycho Dream. We have it on NSO, but I think this one is a new translation with the usual little QoL touches that Ratalaika's retro releases have like cheats and the ability to adjust the display.

There are a few otomes on the horizon that I might check out but currently none of this month's group are on my wishlist. And there's Pac-Man World 2; if I get it, it will be a holiday title.

And is that R-Type Cosmos I see??? If that release date is real, omg, I preordered that years ago haha. Perhaps I will see my copy soon???

@RasandeRose Haha, good point! We do love a good scar 😂

@Sanangelo89 I had to look that one up, but I absolutely see the resemblance!

@MSaturn Oooh, another good point! He's a bit too rugged or something. Bond is the definition of suave and composed, or should be.

@TCKuma Hmm, I don't know that series, but I looked up that actor. I think he definitely looks more Bond-ish in real life, less like some random guy.

@Simu001 A reasonable call!

Is that Bond made by AI or something? I feel like Bond's face has to have character. Not weird-looking, but distinct in a good way. Not just...some guy.

I have no interest in the other three games, but Night Strikers seems cool. Until this I mainly knew it as "that weird DLC car from Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours."

This looks really fun and I enjoy the visual style! I wonder how it would be for players who can't read the language.

@notreallyhere Huh, neat! All I know about this game is the name. That's cool! Okay, so I guess they did have tower defense in the 80s, heh. 😅

I think UFO 50 deserves all the praise it is getting, but I wish I liked it more than I did. It may click for me in the future, but I felt like it skewed a bit more "modern" than I was expecting, especially in terms of game selection. Some great ideas, but a bit too many strategy titles for me (even a tower defense game of sorts! Did they have those in the 80s?) and not enough straightforward platformers, STGs, arcade-style games, etc. that were of that time.

North America, to me, gives the essence of Harvest Moon the most. The Japanese one is cute, but the art isn't prominent enough for my taste. And the European one is iconic in a Phalanx North American box art kind of way.

If I have time, I want to finish the final route of Princess Closet (which I'd put on a months-long hiatus but recently picked up again) and I want to check out this week's Arcade Archives, Scrambled Egg.

I feel like my days of playing 3D Sonic games are probably behind me as I just get bored of them so quickly, but this does look neat! I also like that the music feels very Sega Saturn-inspired.

It could be interesting, but the PS3-PS5 era Sony brand strategy won't work. As others have said, Sony's market now is very much in selling the cinematic, gigantic budget, big and loud experience. A handheld is just fundamentally not that, and their current main customers likely won't want it. Or, maybe more accurately, they will buy it but then won't do anything with it.

That being said, with the Vita they went all in on visual novels and quirky JRPGs so if they went in that direction again it could be good! Really hard to say at this point.

I'll probably play more Star-Crossed Myth: Department of Punishments. I haven't really had time to play it in a while and I'm aiming to finish a route (Scorpio) this weekend.

I'll give Burger Shot a try! Sat-Box games are all pretty barebones in terms of options, but they're solidly made and fun in multiplayer so I assume this one will be the same.

I think this is a really interesting one to take on! I liked it at the time, but I feel like a lot of the elements now would feel pretty dated. Not just the gameplay itself, but also the things the game was doing when your sanity was low (which honestly was a mechanic so heavily hyped in the ads that I went out of my way to take zero risks the entire time I played so my meter would never get low under normal circumstances).

Also they should've just made another game with the Canadian fireman character.

I definitely have mixed feelings about this. The idea is really cool and inspired, but seeing it in action...it frankly looks terrible also.

Also, why isn't Sokka (currently) playable? Of the Avatar cast, he seems like the one who'd unironically be up for being in this game.

Japan wins for me (and that's actually the version I own, so a bit of bias), but the US boxart was where baby me first developed her crush on Master Higgins lol, so it gets one nostalgia point.

I had the week off and I had been hoping to catch up on my TBR before summer is over, but I haven't made as much progress as I had wanted on that.

So I will be "playing" reading books mainly and perhaps some UFO 50 (current favorites are Porgy and Star Waspir).

I haven't played every game yet, but a big surprise for me was Star Waspir. It felt kind of like Recca to me, and then I got a powerup that was like the side gun from that game. Pretty neat as that's one of my fave STGs.

What I found interesting about the "feel" of this compilation is that it reminded me more of what European devs were up to in this era, than either Japanese or North American devs. It felt like a much more polished version of those Codemasters NES compilations.

Just the most bonkers ideas tossed onto a cart, and it works.

I'm excited for Brandish Renewal as I think it's the first Brandish game on Switch. And Iwakura Aria, but it's going to be a while before I have time to actually play that one.