farrgazer

I am not very interested in this personally, but I think either the marketing needs more work or people are being a bit obtuse.

If you’re looking at $/inch, it is indeed a very crappy deal. But you are paying for something that can be set up in ways impossible for TVs and desktop monitors to be set up. TVs are permanently affixed to walls or stands. Monitors can get a little more flexibility with a VESA stand but that’s also stationary. Something like this can be carried from room to room, and angled in whatever manner feasible…or if you’re in your room or at your desk, very easily shifted over to the side. And it can be connected to other devices besides consoles. In short, people for whom space is a premium may find this kind of monitor very appealing.

It's kinda surreal to now see a human commentator making comments about AI playing games.

I'm curious - what game of the past used two sticks with buttons in the middle?

@Mortenb One tip someone shared is to look for reviewers who have similar tastes to you. Obviously, it is easier said than done, and I haven't found such a reviewer to date.

@Dethmunk That's what I think as well. It's like how various tech brands get patents issued for all sorts of tech implementations, but we don't see tangible products arising from them.

@DonkeyKongBigBoy I'm hardly a hardcore player myself, but my impression is that with the exception of the very first SF in the collection, there is a kind of a method to the seeming madness. Blocking and moving around always help lots.

@Realness I really hate that 9-based marketing trick ($.99, 900 yen, etc) to make it technically less than the rounded-up number.

@tonyp1987 They may have lost a big chunk of money, but they definitely gained a hell lot of goodwill.

@robr If they really are going multiplatform this time around, I'd assume a digital release is far more likely.

@CharlieGirl If I am understanding the PCE’s history correctly, you think what you think because the PCE received upgrade add-ons through the lifespan. It was like the Sega playbook - akin to the Sega CD, there was a CD-ROM add-on (CD-ROM^2) that provided more storage, and then ANOTHER CD-ROM add-on (Super CD-ROM^2) with some extra RAM.

And then akin to the Sega Saturn RAM cart, there were two cards you plugged in that would give you even more RAM. The first gave non-Super CD owners the oomph needed to make it equivalent to Super CD, and the second just gave more oomph, period.

Near the end, there was a unified console that unified all these peripherals.

There was an upgraded backward-compatible console released around the time of the first CD add-on (the JP-exclusive SuperGrafx) but it had only 5 or so exclusive games.

@RubyDevilNine

I am inclined to believe they are not new.

https://kuniokun.fandom.com/wiki/Ky%C5%8Dko

https://kuniokun.fandom.com/wiki/Misako

@-wc- It depends on how you define "wrong."

https://powerrangers.fandom.com/wiki/Rita_Repulsa#Portrayal

From what I'm understanding, the original footage they used, as well as the extra footage commissioned to Japan featured the original actor Machiko Soga, but when Saban moved onto the subsequent seasons while keeping the same villains, they wrote in a rejuvenation sequence to segue from Soga to Carla Perez.

@KnightsTemplar It turns out Rita's voice actor for the game is different from Rita's voice actor in the series.

https://powerrangers.fandom.com/wiki/Carrie_Keranan

https://powerrangers.fandom.com/wiki/Rita_Repulsa#Voice

@MysticX Nope, you got another one who's playing the waiting game WITHOUT swiping my card.

As cool as it looks, I still have a functioning GBA and GB Micro. I can't really justify this purchase from the get-go, and FOMO won't win me over.

Looks like the chip shortage is biting in deeper. Maybe.

Yokoi, then Iwata, and now Uemara. RIP.

We getting old, man.

@JayJ From your post, it sounds like you like something a little more slow-paced akin to R-Type. Can you share your favorites so that I can add to my collection? I like to go back and forth between bullet-hell screens and something slower like Razion EX.

@burninmylight The PS4 got a Virtual On compilation a while ago in Japan only. That’s the closest thing to a modern revival we are getting, unfortunately.

@duffmmann Agreed. I don't think I can play NES games anymore after being spoiled by a lot of modern-day stuff, but I still welcome a burgeoning retro scene!

@Kidfunkadelic83 Tangential question: are there many titles that are Xbox exclusives all the way, at least for this generation? Or do they get released on Windows eventually?

@ATaco @nmanifold I agree in GTA's case, but I think overall, it's a bit more nuanced.

Professional developers and fan developers have different motivations; the pros need to put food on the table so their motivations are more extrinsic, while fans often do this as passion projects (or maybe potential portfolios?) so their motivations can be more intrinsic. The pros need to follow a schedule, and they have only so much time, so they need to compromise and prioritize, whereas fans dedicate indefinite amounts of spare time, with little external pressure.

@Gwynbleidd I wonder if that's because HK's eShop is set up differently.

Last I checked, the HK eShop works like the Korean eShop in that you cannot buy games directly from the Switch. You buy the game from the PC/phone browser, get a redeem code, and punch that redeem code into your Switch. And it so hapens that the Korean eShop is not on DekuDeals either.

@Deanster101 Well, video game consoles aren't exactly essential goods, either.

I'd love to see a dock that overclocks the Switch. We (literally) see it to some extent when some games play at a higher framerate and/or resolution when docked, but I'd love to see that improvement made greater.

@BloodNinja I wish that xenophobia is often amplified by mainstream and/or social media, though I have encountered it personally too often, both as a kid in the 90s and as an adult in the 21st century.

@Azuris touches on cultural differences, and this is a very valid point; a Japanese company may not conduct market research or market a product in a way that resonates with a potential American audience, or vice versa. That's why some titles never get translated and sold elsewhere, and some that do have their boxart or sprites modified. Xbox's lack of success in Japan is one very big example of this (https://www.usgamer.net/articles/why-xbox-failed-in-japan - that article title may make it seem like everything was MS's fault, but the actual article is more nuanced than the clickbaity title).

I don't think the gap has been bridged, despite technological advances of the internet. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, if anything, I think the gap is clearer. It's easier than the past to see which aspects can be smoothed over quickly and which aspects need more work, and while the easier parts look easier, the harder parts feel harder than before.

@BloodNinja Logistically, sure. You’ve got more language learners, there are more resources that are more accessible than ever, and real time communication (barring time zones) is easier than ever.

Culturally, that’s a different can of worms. Xenophobia and/or willful ignorance is still a thing in the 21st century.

—

Separately, I don’t really see anything special about this company. There have been plenty of distributors of foreign games throughout the years. Working Designs. Gaijinworks. XSEED. I can’t tell what’s so special about these guys.

Judging by the menu in the screenshot above, and the usage of monochrome patterns, I'm almost certain this was made with HyperCard.

@ValZ Here's another one for your amusement: http://www.videogameobsession.com/videogame/hk/Asian_MD_Batman/index.htm

@Damo @ValZ If I were to guess, it's probably the cartridge art...or "art." Grainy, seemingly unaligned photo. Definitely not uncommon in the 90s.

@man_rob You said "I can easily afford the extra expense, but I want some bang for my buck."

I really wish more people would understand this. You start talking about the new service, and you have either a. "You're obviously too poor to afford this" or b. "You're a shill!"

I'm with you. I can afford the extra surcharge if I want to sign up. But given that there's only like one or two games I genuinely want to play from the new catalog, I do not see paying $50 extra just to rent those two games worth the money spent. And I'm pretty sure I'll stop playing those games after a month.

@XenoShaun At this point, the term "physical release" is such a catch-all term that you might as well consider it clickbait at worst. Limited or retail, it's factual, but general retail releases are far more preferable than limited releases.

Regarding limited releases, I've pretty much made my peace with them and decided on a plan of action. If I'm interested in a title, AND if orders are opened at a time that doesn't interfere with my working hours, I will give it a shot. If I manage to buy, great. If not, that game is considered gone to me, or maybe I'll wait for a sale. I have a massive backlog as is, and I'm sure other great games are in the pipeline all over the world. No need to waste emotional energy on this anymore.

@Surv I was wondering why nothing was mentioned here. This has been mentioned quite a bit on the shump-related subreddits.

@XenoShaun I've seen "retail release" and "limited release" bandied about in different parts of the internet. I think those are quite apt. Back on topic, though, I wouldn't get this game just yet; there is a lot of talk about input lag.

On the one hand, I can understand feeling slighted if you're not properly credited in some shape or form. I'd know, I've been there before, albeit not in the video game industry.

On the other hand, and I ask this because I am not in the video game industry, can't you still mention in your resume/CV that you worked on a title even if your name doesn't pop up at the end?

@sikthvash Outside Japan, the Saturn was indeed steamrolled, but it definitely went toe-to-toe with the PS1 in the Japanese market. The tide arguably turned only after FF7 was released.

Short of the likes of the WonderSwan, which was exclusive to only one region, the Saturn probably has the biggest disparity in available games by region - far, far more Japan-only games than non-Japan-only or worldwide releases.

I'm more worried that developers will start targeting the OLED as the primary when they add color to the games, and as a result, the games won't look as good on an LCD.

@sirmrguitardude One of the Japanese trailers features a person doing the moves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wcW6x-q0Ac

And apparently XSEED uploaded this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umfoXn-qAcw

I was wondering how the game would recognize kicks, and it turns out that kicks require you to move your upper body in a certain manner.

I suppose an actual comparison will have to wait until I can see a real-life model for myself, but just from this video comparison, I can definitely notice at the very least that the OLED is more vivid and more contrasted, and the blacks are definitely darker. Near the end when we see Mario's form on the floor, the OLED showed the patterned black and gray floor first as well.

@RandomNerds For what it's worth, the Steam version features "Screen rotation support to take full benefit from rotatable displays." So I think tate is definitely in the cards at least.

@idork99 For what it's worth, with the proper control scheme, there is a handful of genres that can work well on a touchscreen, and sometimes even better than with a physical controller. The mobile ports of older Dragon Quest games were redone so that you can play them one-handed in portrait orientation, for example.

Platformers like this, though, definitely could use a physical controller unless someone comes up with some truly innovative control scheme.

I have to say, if (when?) we reach a point where games are no longer distributed in physical media, that will be the point where I will stop buying and sign up for GamePass. If I can't own it, I might as well truly rent it.

I hope the devs have fine-tuned the motion control more. I've had issues with Fitness Boxing detecting certain moves.

Granted, as long as you're doing as instructed, you're getting a workout, and that's what matters at the end, but you can't ignore the frustration of a miss that you swore shouldn't be a miss.

@Lordplops It's true that as far as horsepower goes, there is pretty much parity between arcade and home hardware, and heck, some just run a variety of Windows on off-the-shelf Intel and Nvidia hardware.

But the arcade is where you can see experiments with control schemes go all over the place. You have light guns, dance floors, motion sensors, simplified musical instruments, actual (electric) musical instruments, touchscreens and more beyond just a handful of buttons and a stick. To see this all go away will really sadden me.

Given the vagueness of the message, what part(s) of the package do you think is delayed? It seems like the whole bag of swag is the only option as far as a physical purchase is concerned. I'm curious because there don't seem to be other titles facing release delays.

@bluesun The Mega Man music drop is most likely a rights issue. It’s like how during the heyday of home console DDR, the NA and EU releases never had the Dancemania tracks.

And I much prefer feature parity across regions, but I’m going to guess that languages are omitted in order to reduce the potential for user error.

@Vyacheslav333 The term "belt scrolling" is not something the author made up, but the name of the 2D scrolling concept behind games like this. It's called so because it's like looking at stuff on a conveyor belt, and you don't see it much outside Japan.

On a relevant note, the Capcom Beat-em-up Bundle is called the Capcom Belt Action Collection in Japan. https://asia.playstation.com/en-vn/games/2018/capcom-belt-action-collection/

@Deady To add to your post, you can also unlock the PC Engine version of Rondo of Blood while playing the 2.5D version.

Granted, that's a rule bender, but I personally found the PCE version a tad easier to time my jumps and attacks in.

@Broosh I think the Nonogram genre has plenty of room. Think of each title as a unique or mostly unique puzzle book.

Not sure about others’ takes, but based on my experience, I find having to use a single Joy-Con to be the bigger issue than a flimsy kickstand.

Wow. I don't visit NLife very often, but even so, this article probably broke the website's internal record of most comments attached to it.

To throw my voice out, I'm still figuring out my own calculus here. I own both a Switch and a gaming laptop, and the laptop gives me much more frequent access to deep discounts than the Switch does, what with semi-annual gamefront sales and even GamePass (which I haven't subscribed to because backlog).

On the one hand, I have taken advantage of such sales in the recent past, the most memorable purchase being Halo MCC for something like $20 or $25 during the winter sale. That translates to $4 or $5 for each full Halo entry in the series, titles that cost $50 or more when they were first released. Games that have been praised significantly, but more importantly, games I've genuinely enjoyed playing through.

And then I bought Mass Effect Legendary Edition pretty much one week after it was released - so, $60. Games that have been praised quite a bit as well, but again, more importantly, games I am genuinely enjoying at the moment.

On a negative note, I bought Witcher 3 GOTY edition on sale from Steam (I think it was half off)...but I didn't find myself enjoying it as much as I thought I would. What I read about and what I watched online interested me, but actually playing it did not. I got a refund for it soon enough.

More relevant to the Switch, I paid $40 for a retail physical copy of River City Girls (HK Asian edition). Ten hours. Ten genuinely enjoyable hours, and I haven't touched the new content that was announced, what, a year ago?

And on the other side, I bought BOTW at retail price...and got burned out after ten hours or so. Again, the game didn't resonate with me.

At the end of the day, I feel like video games are another form of artwork. Pieces of art don't always cost the same. But different pieces of art will appeal to me while others won't based on what I want to find and what I like. I don't think it's possible to attach a $ figure to my own enjoyment. Sure, I'd love to take advantage of sales and pay lesser than retail, whether it's through buying used or waiting for discounts, but with Nintendo titles, I've mostly accepted that those won't get discounts soon especially in my parts of the world. At some point, I'll have to balance my desire to play a title with how much time I want to spend waiting for a sale.

@OorWullie I can relate to some degree. I'm fine with the likes of Fire Emblem, but once unit building is thrown into the fray, I tap out. It was why I never could advance beyond a certain point in games like Starcraft or Red Alert and other RTS games.