@fpcreator2000 @smoreon @Bunkerneath One of my hobby side projects for the last year or so has been developing an Origins style remake of the four 8bit Sonic Platformers with all the bells and whistles you could want as far as multiple playable characters, customising the movesets, skins, HUD etc to emulate your favourite Sonic game's look and style of play.
I'm also turning the code into a mulipurpose Sonic engine for people to make their own fangames, and my own "Mania 2" style game to show what it can do. I'm currently trying to get splitscreen multiplayer working, I've already got partners working for single player (IE Sonic and Tails, Knuckles & Amy, or whatever combination you want). I've recently brought in all the Chaotix characters too, so I'm considering implementing the ring-rubberband mechanic for those that might want it for their games.
@PALversusNTSC Master System has (in my opinion at least) the "best" versions of both Monster Land and Monster World. World is especially impressive, I can see how that would have impressed you in a demo unit in a shop. Dragon's Trap is great as well obviously.
@Bunkerneath Origins is brilliant and I can't recomend it enough... but I 100% agree it should have had the Master System roms as well as the GG ones. I can think of no logical technical reason why they couldn't, its just madness. Similarly Mean Bean Machine, Spinball, 3D Blast and Chaotix shoudl have been there, none are difficult to emulate.
This looks fantastic, I'm 100% sold! Graphics and character design are gorgeous!
@Zeropulse @-wc- @DanijoEX Sorry if this sounds like an ad (its not really as I'm talking about a game not coming out for at least 18 months!) but I'm really excited when I see people who specifically love this "16bit inspired 2D platformer but with the colour and memory of a 32bit system" look and feel as its exactly what I and my partner are aiming for with our first Hazel game. There's not many games that get it exactly right - this Mighty Thor seems to be one of them
Hazel is a little girl witch with a friendly bat familiar that helps her (like a cross between Kazooie and Tails). Its a bit like like Symphony of the Night but with Freedom Planet style cartoony graphics & voice acted story and Sonic inspired physics and platforming challenges inbetween areas, and horizontal shmup Cotton style areas where she rides on her broom. Its the game I've always dreamed of making and we've spent years trying to get the engine just right to be able to nail the exact graphical look and feel. (its a proprietary engine we are licensing out to several others making similar games)
My first thought when I saw the video for this Thor game was "oh, that looks like our Hazel game"... and thats a good thing as its my exact taste. Because I'm so fussy about getting the sprite and tile graphics and animation perfect, it'll be the last of our current stack of games that are previewed and released (the others are more simple arcade like experiences), but the hope is to turn it into a series, like Shantae.
@flighty Thank you! Yeah the problem with pixel art moving independently of a grid is really annoying to me and causes all kinds of problems - shimmering, uneven scroll speeds, partial pixels being visible behind others, and worst of all (to my eyes at least) when teh sprites rotate, you get "pixels" at different angles to each other. It just all throws off any kind of artistic cohesion, to my eyes at least, and certainly ruins any feeling of it being a genuine retro game.
I agree that some older games where the art was designed for CRTs can look "too" clean on modern screens, with hings like dithering and other line effects that were used to simulate transparency or a wider number of colours having the effect somewhat ruined. Of course for my own modern games I avoid that kind of art, its not necessary nowadays where you have millions of colours and effects and shaders at your disposal Personally I still prefer the cleanest look possible and just ignore teh dithering (or see it as a style in its own right) but I certainly understand those who prefer using a CRT or a good quality filter to reproduce the original look.
Its also definitely an issue when the cutscenes are lower quality than the main visuals, the same can apply to pre-rendered backgrounds in something like FFVII or Resident Evil - when emulating these games, I can't abide having the polygons being rendered at a higher resolution than the original hardware, because suddenly they look completely separate from the backgrounds and FMV parts, rather than blendign seemlessly like they used to on original hardware.
With original Gameboy games, I love a good quality dot matrix filter and the correct colour greens (the analogue pocket does it perfectly!) as the games are such low resolution it helps when putting them on a bigger screen to keep that old look - however I agree things like ghosting is going too far, thats not something I'd ever want to return to.
@flighty Its very interesting that you feel that way about perfectly crisp pixels vs a good quality crt filter, as this is something I take very seriously and have spent countless hours (certainly weeks, maybe months?) trying to perfect for my own games.
Basically I'm currently developing 4 retro-style indie games for all consoles including Switch, and PC/Mac/Linux, and also a couple of Sonic fangames. All of them run on my own custom engine which was designed from the ground up to give a "modern retro" style, inspired by Sonic Mania in the way that game aligns to a perfect 240p grid in widescreen and integer scales to pixel perfect 720 for Switch and 4k for PC & consoles. Its a real bugbare of mine when "retro style" indie games just use pixelated graphics but don't properly conform to the grid like an old television would do, or use assets for menus, HUD etc that are higher resolution, to me it ruins the appeal as its not authentic how an original console or arcade cabinet would have run.
I specifically copied the exact same native resolution of Mania and made sure it integer scales 100% perfectly to whatever screen size its used on, so the pixels are as crisp and clean as possible. In the rare cases of resolutions where its not possible to have an integer scale, you can choose to either have a small black border and keep the closest integer scale, or stretch the screen, where you'll fully fill the screen but have slightly soft pixel edges.
My own personal preference both with emulation and with playing retro consoles on new flatscreen tvs is to have the cleanest possible picture - I specifically mod my consoles and spend a fortune on devices and cables to get everything as crispy as possible. But because I'm aware that other people feel like you and like a good CRT shader, I spent a crazy amount of time programing and perfecting my own proprietary pixel CRT shader with a tonne of presets to emulate different types of screens, but also the ability to completely fine-tune the look, adjusting the scanlines, rgb separation, screen curvature, rounded corners, simulated light rolloff, gamma compensation, and even RF interferance, all of which are completely adjustable.
As someone who is super passionate about all this with emulators, I wanted my own modern retro-style games to have as many "emulator style" graphics options as possible so people can dial in the exact retro feel that they prefer. Its something I obsessed over getting exactly right before I started developing actual games in my engine. I know many (most?) don't seem to care, as evidenced by how many games just randomly throw pixel art into a grid that it doesn't conform to and have them shimering all over the place, uneven pixel size, soft edges etc (even Sonic Origins messed it up by rendering RetroEngine stretched onto a polygon, so frustrating after Mania had it perfect!) but I feel that for those retro enthusiasts that do care about these things, they'll really appreciate and know that the developer (me) is "one of us" and understands why this stuff is important!
@flighty Codemasters released 3 games for Master System, all of which are excellent - Micro Machines, Cosmic Spacehead, and Fantastic Dizzy - the latter being the definitive version of that game as its the only version which contains every mini game and also has proper inventory controls & management which the 16bit versions don't have.
On Game Gear they released all 3 games again (as I say they are identical roms) and also Excellent Dizzy Collection, MicroMachines 2, CJ Elephant, Man Overboard / Sink or Swim, Archer Maclean's Dropzone, and I think some sports games that I can't remember. Most of those games were developed in 93 primarily for Master System but then released on Game Gear unchanged as they obviously decided SMS games were too risky to manufacture by 1994 - they also made a really nice port of Bignose Dinobasher which was never been released but has since been leaked. (this was around the same time when a load of 100% complete NES and Aladdin games were sadly shelved too, including multiple Dizzy titles which have since got limited releases for NES in recent years, and are on the Evercade collection)
I'm a sucker for Codemasters' console games. The cool thing about the Master System titles was they used clever overscan techniques to optimise them for 50hz PAL systems and actually made them run full screen rather than being squished and bordered like all the official games - but this means some emulators and NTSC consoles have problems playing them. Both the Master System and Game Gear carts come in a unique cart shape design with a bigger label and they look really cool! They also had full colour manuals and posters included like 16bit titles, and overall felt more "premium" than the official Sega games - but actually all launched at £14.99
@flighty Yeah in my memories, the Master System versions played perfectly on that screen and it was so incredible to me that I could take my favourite games with me on holiday!
But nowadays I find the original Game Gear screen practically unusable at its native resolution, I can't imagine how much worse it would look. Funny how our expectations and standards change, I've been spoiled to need perfect clarity, whereas back then it was just a miracle to have a small portable colour screen, regardless. They games are still great though, so modding and puttign a more modern screen on them, longer battery life, everdrive so you can have the entire library on one cart? They are still super playable and so many amazing titles on the Sega 8bits, I adore them.
Yeah I was super hyped for Sonic Chaos when it first came out, as I was excited to have an "eclusive" Sonic game that wasn't coming out on Megadrive, and also excited that I'd be able to control Tails and fly. I loved that game so much. I was very annoyed when Triple Trouble skipped the Master System for some reason, even though they were still releasing other first party games. Like I said, thankfully the fan community has made a rom hack so it now can be played on Master System with the bigger field of view... but its definitely the most playable of the GG titles with the screencrunch, as its the only one made with the Game Gear as the primary platform.
I didn't know Castle of Illusion for Game Gear ran using the Master System res even though its an unpadted version. In that case it may be the definitive version, I'll have to give it a try! The only Game Gear games I ever owned that just played in "Master System" mode were the Codemasters titles, I loved them so much on the Master System, was annoyed that they didn't work on the Master Gear converter (because they were unlicenced) but bought the Game Gear versions as well so I could take them with me! They are literally the exact same rom but on a GG cart, it was only the shape of the cart that meant the Master system versions didn't work on GG. Again, I'm sure they would look really fuzzy if I played them on an original screen nowadays, but back then I just enjoyed the fact I could play them portably.
@flighty Yeah the Dynamte Headdy port is great, by the same team that did the Baku Baku Animal port (which was good too) and Sonic Labyrinth... I'll forgive them for that one.
Triple Trouble is a great game and arguably the best of the Sonic Game Gear games because it was designed specifically for Game Gear only so the screen crunch is less of a factor and the levels are designed to not be affected by it as much. I was very salty that they never made an official Master system port, but fans have now wronged that history! lol.
I had a Game Gear in 94 and loved it but to me it was primarily for playing my Master System games when on holiday with the Master Gear adapter, I always was annoyed when there wasn't a "home version".
Funny thing is, when playing the Master System versions on the GG with the adapter, there was no screen crunch, so I was confused when I first got a GG version of Sonic and everything was more zoomed in than when playing the MS versions on the Gaem Gear. I've not actually tried that since the 90s though I'm sure nowadays I'd be horrified at how fuzzy it probably looks squished down to fit the lower res of that original screen. My Game Gear I use nowadays has a nice modded IPS screen in it, As does my Lynx, Gameboy and GBA. I've been spoiled by modern portables and mobile phones.
That arcade beatemup is by Konami - same company that made the Turtles, Simpsons and XMen beat em ups at the time. They were on fire back then! All of them are excellent.
I'm sure you are aware but the arcade game, and the Master System game are very easy to emulate these days, you can even play both of them in your browser if you want. I won't post links here as I don't think its allowed but if you want to revist them, its easy, just google the name of the game, the system and "play online"
I agree that it would be wonderful if we could get a proper official re-release, maybe a compilation - that would be difficult as all the (many!) Asterix games were all by different dev teams, but I think there could be a high enough demand. When I moved to France I was truly shocked just how much of a huge brand it still is to this day. It reminded me of the old days when people would dress up and queue outside bookshops waiting for the latest Harry Potter title.
"Sega's president went on to mention how he's received a lot of messages "mainly from users in North America", saying how they feel Sonic is "heading in the right direction" once again."
This is exactly how I feel. Sonic fans since the earliest glory days have been somewhat long suffering but I feel the 2d games, 3d games, and the brand as a whole with movies, tv shows etc are in a stronger position than ever, and Kishimoto is saying ALL the right things and seems to be coming through. Even just watching the Sonic Central streams and getting all the little updates from all the different individuals on different teams like the heads of marketing, merchandise, comics, animation, the new "lore" consultant dude, everyone seems so passionate and onboard and true fans, trying to make the IP the best it can be and finally have a more consistent quality. Pretty much everyone on the teams at every level are genuine fans, many of whom were hired from social media because they were producing their own Sonic fan games, fan art, animations, music, comics... and the level of genuine interaction with the fanbase and listening to feedback rather than just paying lipservice to it is unprecidented for a brand of this size. And unlike the 90s, the Japanese teams are truly listening to the ideas, advice and opinions of the American team. I truly feel positive about Sonic projects moving forward.
I think this is why I and many other feel so much more strongly loyal to Sonic as a "brand" than to other games that I may enjoy just as much - I love Mario games just as much as Sonic ones, in fact I rate Mario 64 higher than any Sonic game, its my #2 favourite game of all time! But I don't feel like Nintendo even slightly cares my opinion on their games or IP, and if I made a fan game, fan art or even YouTube video I'd more likely be sued than hired. I know there are good reasons for why Nintendo can't treat Mario as Sega do Sonic, and in many ways its meant the quality of Mario products has been more consistent. But while I always buy every single game and play and enjoy them, I don't have that same emotional connection to the brand as it feels more corporate and less "for me" specifically.
@flighty Yeah I've always collected the Emerald that way! I never fully got the hang (pun not intended!) of the hang glider.
I know what you mean about *some" of the Game Gear games having slightly more polish because they were released later, but this really is hit and miss, there are just as many (if not more?) titles where the Master System versions are noticably better and weird cutbacks were made to the GG versions for seemingly no reason, or even completely new, often inferior games were made from scratch, again, no idea why.
I'm glad to read that you, and others here, are so fond of Land of Illusion. For me, its the best of the Illusion series on all formats (which is saying something as they are all good), and actually one of my favourite games ever. Its one of the games that inspires me when making my own games, the presentation, the slow rollout of new moves, light puzzle elemebnts and new gimmicks/techniques per area, the fact you can go back to earlier levels and discover new stuff once you have certain items etc, its all designed so nicely, I find it very satisfying to go back to and play from start to finish regularly. Its the perfect length to play in one sitting and have a fun time.
@JohnnyMind No worries, I'm always glad when some people read and enjoy my "TL:DR" posts. I find it nearly impossibe to write short snappy comments and I know most will skip them but its nice when some people like them!
Yeah being in Italy its extremely likely you had the MS 2, they sold around 10x more units and were significantly cheaper and (at least in UK, France and Spain where I went in the early 90s) they sold in far more retailers - even weird places you wouldn't expect to sell videogames like supermarkets, newsagents and pharmacists! The Sonic craze really did mean that for a while, everyone wanted a peice of the action, and because the MS 2 and its legacy games were "pocket money prices" they appeared in the most unlikely of places to get easy extra cash from impulse purchases.
For me, Sonic 1 is the better of the "built in" games by quite some margin, but many have nostalgia for Alex Kidd in Miracle World. It was meant as Sega's equivalent to Super Mario Bros 1, and its far more technically impressive, has more variety of playstyles and moves... but for me, it doesn't play as well as Nintendo's game. 8 bit Sonic holds up a lot better.
Interestingly, (to me at least) the built in version of Sonic 1, which is what I had as a kid and completed hundreds of times, isn't exactly the same as the cartridge version - it has the end credits, last song and Sonic "singing" on the microphone removed. I assume it was to cut a few kb of memory to fit the system boot rom for the console. I never knew the proper end sequence existed until years later playing the game on an emulator, and being shocked! Other than that, I think its identical.
I would hazard a guess that the Asterix game you had was the first one, because its one of the best known games, and also often sold as one of the cheapest legacy titles, so everyone had it. I remember in 93-94 when I was regularly buying games it was always available in shops, and the standard price was £7.99 - absolute bargain, I still replay that game to this day.
Not to take things too far off topic, but are the Asterix comic novels and/or films well known in Italy? I ask because we of course knew about them in the UK, but they weren't more popular than any other random children's franchise of the 80s I could think of. But in France, they are HUGE. Even to this day, whenever a new book is released, its practically a national holiday. The last one there was literally people queing up overnight near my appartment outside the shopping mall to pick up their pre-orders, and McDonalds did an incredible promotion with about 100 different happy meals toys to collect! I didn't even ralise there were that many characters. And of course not far from Disneyland there's an entire Asterix based theme park. I know its obviously a French series but I wondered if its anywhere near that popular in other European countries.
@Uncharted2007 Thanks! Even though nowadays I personally prefer the design of the model 1 Genesis and Sega CD (perhaps only for my nostalgia as these were the models I first lusted after in the shops and magazines, and eventually owned), I definitely remember when the Model 2 versions first came out, seeing them in magazines and thinking they looked so sleek and futuristic, and being amazed how much more compact they were.
I'm a big fan of the 32X (probably the only one!) and I really like the look of the Model 2 Genesis with the 32X attached... but not so much with the CD2 attached as well, as it looks off balance with all 3. Pretty much all Sega consoles and packaging look great though, they had an excellent design team as far as aesthetics go!
@JohnnyMind There are 3 Asterix games on the Master System, all of which are good, but the first one (simply called "Asterix") is one of the best 8bit platformers of all time, in my humble opinion
The "Master System II" is simply a redesign of the Master System that was released as a budget priced console once the Megadrive was being sold. Its by far the most common model and what most people (Alex included in his video and the picture for this article) are refering to when they say "Master System", most don't bother to specify "Master System 2" as they play the same games.
It was designed to look a bit sleeker and more "modern" for the 90s, however infact is slightly inferior due to having only RF out, and not supporting the 3D Glasses or games on card (last point is very minor, very few games were released on card and they were very basic due to the near non-existent memory capacity of them compared to cartridges).
Master System 2 always had a game built in, for if you turned it on without a cart inserted. The earliest models had Alex Kidd in Miracle World built in, later models Circa 93 had Sonic 1 built in.
To be clear, the Master System 2 isn't a follow up and isn't upgraded in any way, it just plays Master System cartridges. Its just a hardware refresh that plays exactly the same games, like the C64c, Amiga600, PSOne, DS Lite, or GBA SP.
Master System
Master System II
There's also Master System 3 and various other redesigns but these only came out in Brazil and are made by TecToy not Sega. All are the same internal specs and play the same games.
Sega did the same with the Megadrive/Genesis and Mega CD/Sega CD where they released a new design, slightly cheapened the components but kept the compatibility exactly the same, and branded them "Megadrive 2" and "Mega CD 2". Again, these were just hardware refreshes, and played exactly the same games. Some later bundles of Megadrive 2 included the 6 button pad as standard, but it isn't exclusive to the MD2 and was widely and cheaply available for MD1 owners who needed it for Street Fighter 2 and 32X titles.
Again, there's a Megadrive / Genesis 3 but this is even more cut down and isn't compatible with the Mega CD or 32X. Build quality is bad as it was made by Majesco not Sega.
This is confusing to newcomers to retro Sega because they assume the "2" or "3" in the names means they are sequels or upgrades somehow, but in reality they are actually less desirable models with no real benefits unless you prefer the design to look at or have nostalgia for it.
For my personal taste, the Master System 2 is one of the nicest looking consoles ever designed, but you really have to work hard to mod it to get a nice picture on a modern television - whereas the original Master System supports RGB out so is more desirable to collectors. On the other hand, I much prefer the look of the Megadrive and Mega CD 1... especially once you add a 32X and make the "Tower of Power" ! However, the mechanised drive tray of the Mega CD 1 tends to go wrong, so some collectors like to mix and match the Megadrive 1 with the Mega CD 2... it looks weird, but it works!
I'm late to comment, but I will never stop arguing that if you take value propostion of new stock retail prices into account, Master System 2 in Europe circa 93-95 was the best console deal of all time.
In America of course, the system stopped existing in 1991 with Sonic 1 being the last game ever released. But in Europe, they kept the system going and instead marketing it as a budget friendly alternative to the Megadrive. They kept making brand new games, many of which are the absolute peak of 8bit gaming and push the limits of the hardware in incredible ways.
I've recently been going back through multiple UK catalogues for retailers. In 93-94, a Megadrive cost £130-150 with 1 game, and brand new titles cost £50-70. At the same time, the Master System 2 cost £35-50 for the console with 1 game, and brand new titles cost £25-30, with those titles often dropping to £15 or less very quickly. Sometimes, brand new high quality titles even launched at £14.99 - Codemasters' Fantastic Dizzy, Micro Machines and Cosmic Spacehead spring to mind, all of which are great titles with loads of content and hours of playtime, far from "budget" releases.
This wasn't because they were clearing old stock, or no new games were coming out. Many of the most famous and popular 16bit games got very impressive 8bit conversions, and companies were actively developing new titles for the system as a parallel budget friendly market.
Here's some games people think of as 16bit titles that got surprisingly accurate & playable Master System ports:
Road Rash, Desert Strike, Streets of Rage, Ecco the Dolphin, Mortal Kombat 1&2, Micro Machines, Robocop Vs Terminator, Sensible Soccer, Cool Spot, Lion King, Lemmings, PGA Tour Golf, James Pond 2 Robocod, Speedball II, Zool, Xenon II, Mean Bean Machine, Sonic Spinball, Krusty's Fun House, Wonderboy 5 (Monster World), Shadow of the Beast, Fire and Ice, Global Gladiators, Poplous, Speedy Gonzales... if you include Brazilian imports there were even semi passable versions of FIFA, Street Fighter 2, Earthworm Jim, Ecco Tides of Time, Baku Baku Animal...
Sure, nowadays you could argue "why not just play the Megadrive/Amiga versions" but at the time, the games were at least £20 cheaper, and after 6 months or so would be £10 on clearance. For people who couldn't afford a 16bit console but wanted to play the latest games, this was a lifesaver!
There are even some games where the Master System version was different but arguably better than the Megadrive:
Sonic 1, Castle of Illusion, Jurassic Park, Batman Returns, Asterix, Fantastic Dizzy, Cosmic Spacehead, Taz-Mania, Ghostbusters, Ghouls & Ghosts, Tom & Jerry, Road Runner...
There were some exclusive games released in this time period that rival the quality of 16bit titles:
Land of Illusion, Lucky Dime Caper, Deep Duck Trouble, Sonic Chaos, Powerstrike II spring to mind. Probably more if I think about it or go through a list. Obviously if you include older exclusive games there are timeless gems too - Phantasy Star, Wonder Boy 3... not to mention the best versions of some 8bit titles & arcade ports that people think of as NES games - Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Marble Madness, Paperboy, New Zealand Story, PacMania, Rainbow Islands, Prince of Persia, Sagaia (Darius 2), R-Type, Simpsons 1&2...
Even when I eventually owned a SNES and 2nd hand Megadrive, multiple times I saved up £50-60 and went to Toys R Us intending to buy a new 16bit game to show off my new hardware... I would end up walking away with 4-5 Master System games instead because it just felt so much better value, and I had incredible fun with them. I just couldn't bring myself to consider the massive price increase to be worth it for slightly fancier graphics and sound when the quality of later Master System games felt 75% of the way there.
To give some incredible context - even if you were a Megadrive owner & didn't own a Master System - if you wanted to buy Mickey & Donald World of Illusion, it would cost £59.99. In '94, you could buy a Master System 2 for £35, Land of Illusion (Mickey 2) for £15 and Donald Lucky Dime Caper for £10... not to mention the Master System would have Sonic built in. Those 3 games are all excellent and arguably you'd get far more enjoyment out of them than the beautiful, fun but quickly over World of Illusion just by itself.
People who only remember the weaker 80s Master System games, and the early 16bit ports that were obviously poor (Golden Axe, Altered Beast & Strider spring to mind) are really missing out on some of the best retro gaming has to offer when they rule out the system as underpowered or having a poor library.
As others have said, the controls/physics feel off in the SNES and GBA versions if you are used to the NES games. The extras and improvements in newer versions are nice but not nice enough to become my default way to play. If they are the first versions you played though, I can see how they'd seem superior.
For me, Mario 3 specifically looks best on NES. Not quite sure why. Perhaps because it's so impressive for the hardware limitations, or just because is cleaner and simpler.
@Kazman2007 Nintendo pretends that version doesn't exist because someone (maybe Miyamoto?) doesn't like the changes made to Mario World. A shame as its the definitive version imo.
The pixel art and animation here is just gorgeous, incredible use of colour too. This is in my top five games that I find inspiring when making my own games as a visual benchmark to aim towards. Authentic retro feels, but subtley improved to take advantages of upgrades in hardware and software.
Of course, the game plays brilliantly too. Kudos to everyone working on it and more high quality content is always a good thing for a good game. Keep it coming please!
Very excited for this one. Pirate's Curse and Risky's Revenge are 2 of my favourite games, and the mechanics shown in the video look pretty unique. I appreciate Limited Run for funding this project that otherwise would have probably remained forever unfinished
This made me laugh when I saw it in the showcase - they've nailed the aesthetic perfectly - I've always hated the CDi animations. I still hate the look and feel of these, even though they're obviously supposed to be bad and I admire the work that went into making them so bad...!
But the thing is, the actual game looks like its competant, and may actually be... fun? That's not how these are supposed to be!
It actually looks like something I'd want to play! I hope its good
@KBuckley27 Well now that Limited Run have got their own PS1 emulator, thats a lot more likely than before. I really hope they manage to get a PCE CD emulator running and we get a double pack with Rondo of Blood like has been released on previous consoles.
If theres no price difference and we can choose, that Rondo of Blood cover art looks great as a Switch cover. Its just a shame the compilation doesn't include the real game, just the SNES title somewhat based on it. I agree with the original review that Aria of Sorrow alone would be worth the asking price.
@Vyacheslav333 Yes exactly. I think calling it an "engine" is silly as it gives the impression they are porting the original code somehow, rather than just emulating roms / isos. However, from what I've seen, the emulation is excellent quality.
@Vyacheslav333 Fancy marketing speak for "Limited Run has made / licensed some emulators that they are going to be using to release old games on new hardware".
So far, they only support Playstation 1, plus:
NES/Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, Game Boy, GBC, GBA
Genesis/Mega Drive, Mega CD, Master System, Game Gear
@codebored No worries! Yeah the European Nintendo games all had the red background, same as the movie poster. But the Sega games and pretty much all the toys had the yellow version. In the movie, its 50/50 whats on screen depending on the scene.
Notably, Carbon Engine doesn't support N64 yet (nor 3do or Saturn) so the games on this collection will probably be the Playstation versions.
"a development tool that allows legacy content to be ported to modern platforms" - its a collection of emulators for multiple systems, with an overlay to easily interface with controllers and achievement systems for different consoles. Calling it an "Engine" is marketing speak, its a frontend for emulators.
Thats not to downplay it at all, its an impressive system that they've developed that will streamline releasing roms of old games / homebrew for consoles. Also, I think some or maybe all of the emulators they've developed are in house, or at least custom tweaks - I know MVG worked on the Gameboy core at least? So that's impressive too. But calling games released using this system "ports" feels a bit much.
@Vyacheslav333 No worries! Yeah I know Limited Run get some flack from people and I understand why, but they really are stepping up and doing some amazing work in preserving stuff and even bringing unreleased and unfinished stuff back from the dead that otherwise would never have gotten a release. I was really amazed by some of the stuff in the showcase.
@Vyacheslav333 You obviously didn't watch the showcase! there's plenty more stuff that was covered that Nintendolife hasn't made an article about yet. It really was quite packed, some big surprises including pretty big Nintendo news...
@mattcoz @SBandy1 Yes Sega funded and published original games for Mega CD, Master System and Game Gear, and 2 unique versions for Megadrive (not to mention the Lost World games and the multiple arcade titles). All were unique games (although the Master System and Game Gear titles are fairly similar).
The Megadrive games were developed for Sega by BlueSky. Mega CD and 8bit games were first party but I don't know what teams.
@codebored There's always been 2 versions of the logo, one with red background and yellow outline (in the film, this is the main logo and used on the jeep) and one with yellow background and red outline (in the film, this is the version used in staff uniform, merchandise, and the green tour vehicles).
While the original movie poster used the red background, as far as merch goes, including the original 1993 toys, clothes etc, the yellow background is far more common, because it gives a higher contrast and makes the T-Rex stand out more, even if the printing quality is poor or the surface of the item is dull.
For the 1st game, across all Nintendo platforms the yellow background was used for the North American box art, and red background for PAL. The Sega games all used the yellow background for all versions, IIRC.
@Waluigi451 For the first game, the NES and Gameboy are basically just a very stripped back version of the SNES title and not worth it other than for the novelty or if you have nostalgia for them.
The second title (a platform / run and gun) is different on the gameboy, and perhaps its my nostalgia or preference for cute/chunky sprites, but I actually think its better on Gameboy. As far as i'm aware there isn't a NES version of that one. Its still not a particularly great game but its worth trying out both versions to see which you prefer.
@Yosher $110 extra for a card, a CD of 8bit music, a framed bit of "art" and different packaging? Yeah I'd say thats pretty ridiculous.
Mind you I also think $35 extra for a steelbook and different packaging is ridiculous.
There was a time when special editions for those kids of prices included statues, plushes, metal keyrings / coins... and even then I thought they were mostly overpriced tat.
We're planning to Kickstart an "ultimate edition" for our Hazel game in the style of a PC/Amiga "Big Box" copy but it'll be lower price than these and with actually valuable and unique stuff included inside. We'll probably make $10 max profit per copy sold but its more about celebritating the work we've done and giving the fans something cool to actually own and display. If we can't find companies to manufacture the stuff we're planning cheaply enough to make it viable, we just won't put it out. I know we're hardly Jurassic Park but I'd be embarassed asking $175 for a CD and a picture frame.
NES, SNES, and Game Boy only is the major dispointment here. If it had the Megadrive (& Rampage Edition) and Master System games I'd be all over this. (Game Gear & Mega CD would be nice while we're at it, but less essential).
I have a lot of nostalgia for how much I wanted to play the original top down Nintendo games (they looked so cool in magazine and TV previews!) but its really only the SNES version thats worth playing nowadays, and its an ambitious but very flawed game. Assuming its got save states, at least that will improve the experience compared to the original.
Chaos Continues is an ok run & gun, but not a patch on the Sega platform titles imo.
If the standard edition is non-limited, I'm sure I'll pick it up at some point, because I collect JP stuff. But its far from a must buy collection as-is, really paying £30 for one game that I'd actually play.
Right now, because I dislike the joycons, I own 2 switches - a Switch Lite for handheld play, and a classic switch permanently docked where I use the pro controller.
I really like the look of the Sonic ones... maybe I should get an OLED and combine it with these... (I don't care about rumble/motion controls/IR/NFC).
How is the 30th Anniversary Collection not an option?!
Street Fighter 2 Turbo on SNES is my favourite version for SNES for sure. But 30th Anniversary has the arcade roms for every retro version (including my favourite, SSF2T) not to mention the Alpha series & SFIII presented wonderfully at a bargain price. The separate arcade versions are also available in the 2 Arcade Stadium releases, also available on Switch.
@h15c0r3r I'm glad its not just me that feels this way - theres plenty of other people above who seem to agree. I did wonder whether it was a "me" thing or I was being irrational because when I mentioned this in a previous topic someone got really mad at me as if complaining about extra content was insane - how could extra stuff make the game worse? I can see that arguement but it really damages the overall feeling of quality for me.
Consistency of assets, levels etc is very important to me in whether a product feel professional or amateurish. I was so blown away by MK8 on Wii U - but its nearly a decade old. The fact we are getting "new" content thats noticably worse is just really frustrating.
It almost annoys me to the point of wanting to uninstall the dlc - I actually did after the first wave or 2. I'm aware thats somewhat irrational, and I genuinely like the new tracks and characters. I reinstalled it for Birdo! lol
@Mario500 I went and listened to that podcast audio as you suggested - initially excited as I love Ben Schwarz but then realised he left just before the part you recomended! lol
Funnily enough, I've read "Laziness Does Not Exist", I saw it mentioned in one of the self improvement channels that I watch. I feel theres a lot of useful advice in reminding yourself you could always do "more" and more isn't always better, don't overwhelm yourself with pressure to perform. What we can percieve as laziness in others might actually be a sign they are dealing with something deeper, mental health struggles etc.
I'm afraid I don't really see how this applies to a piece of cover art though, especially not the trend of Wii/DS covers to just be plain white paper with characters or logos in the foreground. It definitely does feel "lazy" to me, in that it feels like they should have made a background, but then decided not to because they ran out of time or something.
I definitely understand that its possible for things to be "too busy", and that minimalism as a style is a choice... but Nintendo covers (bar NES blackboxes, which I similarly dislike) have almost always had a full picture with foreground and background elements, colour and details all over... except for the Wii and DS era, which makes them feel unfinished, to me.
Compare Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart DS to pretty much any other gen's Mario Kart game. Those 2 predominantly white covers look weirdly sterile and uninteresting - to me at least. I was very glad when the Wii U and Switch Mario Karts had far more colourful and detailed artwork, making the most use of the canvas.
Perhaps I shouldn't have used the word "lazy" because its imposing an emotion or motivation onto the artists. But to be fair to my post, if you read the rest of what I wrote, I said that I was aware it was a stylistic choice and that others may prefer it and consider it minimalist.
I hoped I was clear that to me, I mostly meant that it looks unfinished, and like there should be something else in the white space. I'm autistic, and too much blank space in something visual makes me feel uneasy in the same way long pauses do in conversation. Sorry if I expressed that feeling in a way that might insult the artist, rather than express my personal preference.
Very easy win for the European cover for me. I love box art where there's lots going on, showing characters and scenarios from the game. Reminds me of the Super Mario Land game covers, which I love so much I have the artwork enlarged and framed, and they are a big inspiration for my own game covers that I design.
I'm also not keen on any game cover just havign a plain white background - to me, it feels lazy, and I especially love colourful backgrounds that show a location for the characters, like a blue sky, green grass or whatever. I know it was a fashion to have plain white backgrounds at the time, for a lot of DS, 3DS and Wii Titles, and its honestly one of the main reason I don't particularly enjoy collecting physical copies for those systems. To my eyes, it feels unfinished.
Finally, I vastly prefer the more dynamic pose of Mario and Luigi. I really don't like how they are just standing in a default stiff pose staring forward in the American one.
But hey, its personal preference. I can see how others would like a more minimalist approach.
Like some others here, honestly many of the tracks don't look interesting to me. Infact the DLC waves bringing a multitude of very simple looking tracks is consistently bringing the average down for overall graphical quality and fun compared to the basically flawless original MK8 track lineup.
You could argue more content is always good but in my neurodiverse brain it actually really messes up how I feel about the game when the quality of the content is so mixed. I wish that rather than having all the stuff mixed together, they would have split each cup to a "Tour Tracks" cup, "Retro SNES" etc to make it easier to avoid, and also less jarring when you chose to play as them, and the graphical quality and complexity stays consistent between each track.
Squeaky Clean Sprint looks brilliant though, I really like it. I'm glad that the truely new courses are being made and added and are still of a consistent high quality.
Out of the returning tracks, Daisy Cruiser is the one I'm most interested in, because Double Dash is the game I've played the least (never really gelled with the double mechanic) and I really like the idea of such a different location - plus I love Daisy as a character
I'm also glad we are getting more playable characters. Thats always a bonus in my eyes.
@HenryKibble @Cordyceps Its important to note that an NFT is not a jpg. Not even remotely. It is just a numeric value that was added to the blockchain as a permanent "receipt" to be able to verify forever who created/paid for something, when, and how much for. You can use an NFT to verify the authenticty of anything: a luxury handbag/watch, which factory your clothes were made, or if the medicine that you bought for grandma online is real. Imagine these products/packaging containing a small NFC chip (like in Amiibo) but the code on the chip was unique to that exact copy of that item.
When a certain item is bought and sold multiple times (for example Pfizer>Warehouse>Wallgreens>You) its possible to trace back every single transaction. Its impossible to dupicate, fake, or delete an NFT. Its extremely useful for preventing fraud, and keeping everything open and transparent. This is why its amazingly useful in financing, but also why governments don't like the idea as they can no longer keep financial transations sercet or fudge the numbers for "creative accounting".
Once again: NFTs are not jpgs. This is just how various scammers have used buzzwords to sell the idea that jpgs are worth money - when the they are just selling you a reciept. The jpg itself is not stored on the blockchain. Its absolutely possible to do so... but because current chains only accept a tiny amount of data at a time, even a small low quality picture takes many hours and thousands of dollars, so people don't bother. NFT based games with cards or virtual pets etc attached to the NFT similarly are not actually stored to the blockchain, just a note of who bought/won/traded what. The images and game code themselves are invariably stored on normal centralised servers, which can go down, and render the entire thing pointless.
People selling monkey jpgs is a scam (or at best an extremely risky speculative game of "hot potato"). But the NFT and blockchain tech are not a scam. But because many people believe this tech is the future of finance and the internet, and there were hyperbolic news stories of people getting rich from Cryptocurrencies, its a space rife for scammers to use buzzwords to steal money from people not understanding what they're buying, or realistically where the tech and infrastructure currently stands.
@HenryKibble @Cordyceps Yes, a blockchain essentially is a P2P network, everyone shares the same ever growing file, usually a simple ledger - a list of transactions or computational requests. Cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) and tokens (like NFTs and ERC-20 coins) are just numbers stored on their blockchain's database.
Any time you want to read from the database, you check that exact same result on all the other computers to make sure they are all the same values. The same process applies when adding something new - a new addition is not verified until its present and locked in to every copy. If they were different, this means there has been a mistake, or fraud. Nothing can ever be deleted from the database, it just continues to grow larger, meaning that every addition is recorded forever and easily traceable.
The potential advantages are huge. Data (EG in the future: website code, images, audio, video, online games) that is stored can never be deleted, lost, or altered. No content going dark because the server crashed/was hacked or the company no longer exists... and when thousands of people in different countries are running the same blockchain, everything is decentralised and no political problems, wars, government interferance etc can stop it being accessed.
Certain blockchains, like Ethereum, let you program tokens so that when they are traded, sold etc, things happen.
Examples of how this can be used:
An artist will get a commision every time someone resells their artwork - if a gallery buys it from a collector in 50 years time, the original artist will get 20% of the sale (similarly games companies could get a cut of second hand sales).
An employer can pay their worker their entire year's salary at once, however, the worker will only be able to spend 1/52 of that money every week, so the worker knows their pay is guaranteed, but they can't splurge it all at once.
Stocks/Shares that pay out dividends based on the profit of the parent company - the advantage to the consumer is that you don't have to rely on anyone to do the accounting, or trust that they are being honest, litearally as that company makes money, a percentage is removed and paid to you entirely automatically.
A government give you benefits/wellfare, but can specify that it can only be spent on certain things, EG: "child support" that can only be spent on things for the children.
However, again, the reality is that none of this is particularly practical right now. The tech and infrastructure isn't there yet. All of that is possible, but only if theres a handful of people using the tech, When the networks get busy, it all falls apart and transaction fees bloat to the point of ludicrousness (at one point I was getting charged $200 every time I automatically sent someone a commision of a few cents... I had to shut down that business and go back to paying people manually)
@Snatcher As for fighting games, you might think that Smash Bros would appeal to me because of all the cute characters, and that's definitely true... I remember when the first game came out and my cousins got it on N64 and it was such a fun novelty to see them all together, and awesome fun to play in multiplayer with them. I'm an only child though, and as a single player experience it was less interesting... but I was so hyped when I heard Sonic got to be in the Wii game! Every time a character that I like is added to the roster, I was very pleased. Though, over time as more realistically "human" characters got added it became less interesting to me, too many Fire Emblem characters etc for my prefered "cute mascot characters playign together" vibe.
You're right that the team making Ultimate did an outstanding job. I've watched pretty much everything Sakurai has ever put out as far as interviews and info on the devlopment process with so much interest and admiration.
Despite all that, I think the reason its not my favourite fighting series is just that I was such a hardcore fan of all the early Capcom, SNK and Mortal Kombat 1 on 1 fighters that a less focused and technical experience (or maybe its just different and I don't know the nuances) is hard for me to fully adjust to and enjoy in the same ways. I mostly play games single player but find it fun to do this with fighting games to practice and get really good and then be able to challenge friends or family on teh rare occasions I have the opportunity. Smash Bros is equally fun in multiplayer experiences but I get less out of the 1 player game.
You might also think my distaste for overly macho characters or violent games would make it strange that I got so into Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat but at the time of tehir arcade dominance it was impossible to not be aware of them, and what appealed to me was that there were so many different and varied characters - including females, but also aliens, mutants, people with different magic abilities etc. Everything was colourful and fun, shooting fireballs etc.
Over time, once fighting games started moving to 3d engines, the graphics kept "improving" to the point of things becoming more realistic, and they've appealed to me less. Especially the Mortal Kombat series seems to have lost a lot of its humour and colourful appeal, the violence is more like a SAW movie than Tom and Jerry. Similarly I loved the early FPS games like Doom and Duke Nukem 3D for their colourful and cartoonish aesthetics, and obvious humour. Over time, I lost interest in teh genre as the graphics and violence got more realistic and the games became more "serious". I'm not a prude or calling for censorship in any way, its just less appealing to me personally.
As a big Sega fan, I loved the first couple of Virtua Fighter games, even though I wished more fanciful moves and characters would be added. I think this was mostly because I was amazed by the tech, and they played very fluidly. By the time VF3 came around the novelty wore off completely and though I try each entry, I prefer the first 2 for the more chunky Lego style visuals and the novelty of remembering just how impressive the games are for the hardware - this is probably why my favourite versions are VF1 on 32X and VF2 on Saturn, both pushing their respective systems to the absolute limits playing passable renditions of arcade boards thousands of times more powerful.
Possibly predictably because they have so many female characters, and don't take themselves too seriously, my favourite "modern" 3d series of fighting games and the only ones I play consistently are the Dead or Alive games.
[edit] PS I'm sorry that fighting games trigger anxiety for you. I have several mental health issues and I really appreciate when others are open about their feelings and emotions as it helps normalise it for other people. If its the violence that makes you anxious, you may find the older games in more famous series are more palettable as they aer more cartoonish and silly. But if its more about anxiety caused by the extreme speed and reaction times needed, then its probably not the genre for you as a whole. And that's ok of course!
@Snatcher Yeah I agree, Knuckles being so slow (and also having a smaller jump meaning all my muscle memory is off!) does make me not really want to play as him very much - however I've been enjoying playing as him in Sonic CD because the layout of those levels is a lot more vertical and "block based", so theres genuine use for his climbing and short bursts of gliding between surfaces. I have no idea why they didn't include him in Origins to begin with, he fits the game perfectly.
I too would love a platform game with all Princesses! I have always leant towards playing female characters and/or cute animal mascots in games. Big uber macho soldier types are just really not appealing to me - something like Contra or Castlevania is ok, I love those games! But I'd still prefer a female option, or the exact same game with a cuter aesthetic. Infact my own Hazel game that I'm developing is pretty much Symphony of the Night but with a cute, Sonic style visual aesthetic and you play a little girl witch and her animal friends (and outside areas in between castles are more like traditional Sonic levels).
In more modern "realistic" games I just find it completely uninteresting and even offputting to have an agressively macho character. Gears of War is a complete non-starter for me, for example. I also find this in other media, I like action movies if they are creative and visually interesting (usually sci-fi) but films like Rambo, Rocky, or the uber masculine Schwarzenegger movies etc just hold precisely zero appeal to me. As a kid I prefered She-Ra to He-Man, Barbie to Action Man. I've nothing against other people enjoying them, I just completely don't get it.
Not that it matters in any way but for reference I'm a completely cis/het male. I've always been aware that many of the things that I found uninteresting seemed to especially appeal to most of the other boys/men around me. I've no idea why more feminine and cute media has always appealed to me and ultra maculine portrayals put me off - perhaps its because I read them as violent or negative rather than fun and positive? I'm also autistic, I've heard that can lead to people having more of an aversion to traditionally laid out gender roles, regardless of their own gender identity.
Obviously I've no problem whatsoever with Mario and Sonic, or other cute male character in games or cartoons, I love them! But once more playable characters started to be added to those games, I always felt that it would be nice if the female characters got to tag along as well. Thats why I was so happy to see playable Amy being added to Origins, Superstars and Frontiers, and Daisy finally getting her chance to join the gang in Wonder. I feel like they've been "left out" since I was very little, and its like they finally are gettign equal treatment
Sega making more and more good decisions recently... as a lifelong Sega fan since the 80s, this is concerning! 😅
The underlying tech behind NFTs (verifiable & traceable unique tokens, not stupid monkey jpgs) and the ideas of decentralised systems and shared computing power over chained networks are all very compelling.
As someone who initially was all in on the utopian promises of decentralised, truly free internet, verifiable and traceable transactions, open sourced code, true global equality etc of the early crypto pioneers, I learned how to program and manipulate blockchains in the early days of Ethereum (and later Tron), even developed my own token systmes and tried to run several businesses using the tech to be fairer, open and transparent... yeah, the tech isn't there yet, and won't be for at least another decade.
I had some pretty neat stuff developed back by early 2017 and it looked like it could be somewhat transformative for the businesses I'm in - but then as soon as these technologies even started to be slightly useful, word spread, more people started using them, and the prices skyrocketted, which made headlines and then even more people rushed to it without fully understanding what they were buying or why, and everything became a bubble. Suddenly, all the cool stuff I programmed where the code would execute in a fraction of a second and cost less than a penny for the transaction, suddenly became waiting up to an hour per calculation, and getting charged $20 for the privilidge.
The current systems aren't robust enough to do anything useful. Even the simplest of super basic games getting a few thousands daily users has the potential to entirely disrupt a network and send prices and wait times skyrocketing for any users of that blockchain - not just the ones playing the game.
At least ETH finally moving to proof of stake reduces the environmental concerns somewhat (that was always a convcern of mine but they planned on making the switch far sooner), but I think it will be at least 10 years before we'll actually have blockchains which begin to fulfil the early promises of the ideas we are being constantly sold. Almost everything you see piched when people are asking for investment in crypto games is quite litearlly not possible right now (or is not actually using the blockchain for anything other than as a glorified NFC/barcode).
The only blockchain based games that I've seen that were even slightly compelling were gambling or investment based. And even then they were only compelling because of the actual real stakes of winning or losing money, not because of the blockchain stuff running them. The advantage is that they are provably fair and the source code and all transactions are open for anyone to check, so companies can't swindle you in the way we all suspect most casinos and lotteries do. But the disadvantage is that when these services become popular, they slow down to a crawl and cost you a fortune in transaction fees every time you play. Its not worth the tradeoff.
@RupeeClock Thanks for the recomendation and info! Yeah I'm excited to try it, it looks great. I think I'd prefer this kind of experience on Switch as looks like teh kind of thing I'd play on the go or in short bursts, so I'll wait for the Ultra version to pick it up
I agree that sadly Monkey Ball Banana Mania's physics feel completely "wrong". I can get used to it for the main game mode but it essentially ruins the minigames. I really wanted it to be the ultimate Monkeyball collection and something I could recomend to friends who've never played it before. Very sad that it wasn't as much of a home run as it should have been.
I clicked on this hoping it would be like Marble Madness, but watching the trailer I felt it was more like Monkey Ball - either way, I'm happy! Not sure how I missed the original but this looks right up my alley. Thank you Nintendolife for bringing it to my attention, and Sketchturner for bringing it to theirs!
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Re: Sega President Teases Possible Sonic "Reboots And Remakes"
@smoreon Thanks! It'll either be at SAGE this year or next depending on how much free time I get
Re: Sega President Teases Possible Sonic "Reboots And Remakes"
@fpcreator2000 @smoreon @Bunkerneath One of my hobby side projects for the last year or so has been developing an Origins style remake of the four 8bit Sonic Platformers with all the bells and whistles you could want as far as multiple playable characters, customising the movesets, skins, HUD etc to emulate your favourite Sonic game's look and style of play.
I'm also turning the code into a mulipurpose Sonic engine for people to make their own fangames, and my own "Mania 2" style game to show what it can do. I'm currently trying to get splitscreen multiplayer working, I've already got partners working for single player (IE Sonic and Tails, Knuckles & Amy, or whatever combination you want). I've recently brought in all the Chaotix characters too, so I'm considering implementing the ring-rubberband mechanic for those that might want it for their games.
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@PALversusNTSC Master System has (in my opinion at least) the "best" versions of both Monster Land and Monster World. World is especially impressive, I can see how that would have impressed you in a demo unit in a shop. Dragon's Trap is great as well obviously.
@Bunkerneath Origins is brilliant and I can't recomend it enough... but I 100% agree it should have had the Master System roms as well as the GG ones. I can think of no logical technical reason why they couldn't, its just madness. Similarly Mean Bean Machine, Spinball, 3D Blast and Chaotix shoudl have been there, none are difficult to emulate.
Re: Exclusive: 16-Bit-Inspired 'Tiny Thor' Smashes His Way To Switch This August
This looks fantastic, I'm 100% sold! Graphics and character design are gorgeous!
@Zeropulse @-wc- @DanijoEX Sorry if this sounds like an ad (its not really as I'm talking about a game not coming out for at least 18 months!) but I'm really excited when I see people who specifically love this "16bit inspired 2D platformer but with the colour and memory of a 32bit system" look and feel as its exactly what I and my partner are aiming for with our first Hazel game. There's not many games that get it exactly right - this Mighty Thor seems to be one of them
Hazel is a little girl witch with a friendly bat familiar that helps her (like a cross between Kazooie and Tails). Its a bit like like Symphony of the Night but with Freedom Planet style cartoony graphics & voice acted story and Sonic inspired physics and platforming challenges inbetween areas, and horizontal shmup Cotton style areas where she rides on her broom. Its the game I've always dreamed of making and we've spent years trying to get the engine just right to be able to nail the exact graphical look and feel. (its a proprietary engine we are licensing out to several others making similar games)
My first thought when I saw the video for this Thor game was "oh, that looks like our Hazel game"... and thats a good thing as its my exact taste. Because I'm so fussy about getting the sprite and tile graphics and animation perfect, it'll be the last of our current stack of games that are previewed and released (the others are more simple arcade like experiences), but the hope is to turn it into a series, like Shantae.
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@flighty Thank you! Yeah the problem with pixel art moving independently of a grid is really annoying to me and causes all kinds of problems - shimmering, uneven scroll speeds, partial pixels being visible behind others, and worst of all (to my eyes at least) when teh sprites rotate, you get "pixels" at different angles to each other. It just all throws off any kind of artistic cohesion, to my eyes at least, and certainly ruins any feeling of it being a genuine retro game.
I agree that some older games where the art was designed for CRTs can look "too" clean on modern screens, with hings like dithering and other line effects that were used to simulate transparency or a wider number of colours having the effect somewhat ruined. Of course for my own modern games I avoid that kind of art, its not necessary nowadays where you have millions of colours and effects and shaders at your disposal Personally I still prefer the cleanest look possible and just ignore teh dithering (or see it as a style in its own right) but I certainly understand those who prefer using a CRT or a good quality filter to reproduce the original look.
Its also definitely an issue when the cutscenes are lower quality than the main visuals, the same can apply to pre-rendered backgrounds in something like FFVII or Resident Evil - when emulating these games, I can't abide having the polygons being rendered at a higher resolution than the original hardware, because suddenly they look completely separate from the backgrounds and FMV parts, rather than blendign seemlessly like they used to on original hardware.
With original Gameboy games, I love a good quality dot matrix filter and the correct colour greens (the analogue pocket does it perfectly!) as the games are such low resolution it helps when putting them on a bigger screen to keep that old look - however I agree things like ghosting is going too far, thats not something I'd ever want to return to.
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@flighty Its very interesting that you feel that way about perfectly crisp pixels vs a good quality crt filter, as this is something I take very seriously and have spent countless hours (certainly weeks, maybe months?) trying to perfect for my own games.
Basically I'm currently developing 4 retro-style indie games for all consoles including Switch, and PC/Mac/Linux, and also a couple of Sonic fangames. All of them run on my own custom engine which was designed from the ground up to give a "modern retro" style, inspired by Sonic Mania in the way that game aligns to a perfect 240p grid in widescreen and integer scales to pixel perfect 720 for Switch and 4k for PC & consoles. Its a real bugbare of mine when "retro style" indie games just use pixelated graphics but don't properly conform to the grid like an old television would do, or use assets for menus, HUD etc that are higher resolution, to me it ruins the appeal as its not authentic how an original console or arcade cabinet would have run.
I specifically copied the exact same native resolution of Mania and made sure it integer scales 100% perfectly to whatever screen size its used on, so the pixels are as crisp and clean as possible. In the rare cases of resolutions where its not possible to have an integer scale, you can choose to either have a small black border and keep the closest integer scale, or stretch the screen, where you'll fully fill the screen but have slightly soft pixel edges.
My own personal preference both with emulation and with playing retro consoles on new flatscreen tvs is to have the cleanest possible picture - I specifically mod my consoles and spend a fortune on devices and cables to get everything as crispy as possible. But because I'm aware that other people feel like you and like a good CRT shader, I spent a crazy amount of time programing and perfecting my own proprietary pixel CRT shader with a tonne of presets to emulate different types of screens, but also the ability to completely fine-tune the look, adjusting the scanlines, rgb separation, screen curvature, rounded corners, simulated light rolloff, gamma compensation, and even RF interferance, all of which are completely adjustable.
As someone who is super passionate about all this with emulators, I wanted my own modern retro-style games to have as many "emulator style" graphics options as possible so people can dial in the exact retro feel that they prefer. Its something I obsessed over getting exactly right before I started developing actual games in my engine. I know many (most?) don't seem to care, as evidenced by how many games just randomly throw pixel art into a grid that it doesn't conform to and have them shimering all over the place, uneven pixel size, soft edges etc (even Sonic Origins messed it up by rendering RetroEngine stretched onto a polygon, so frustrating after Mania had it perfect!) but I feel that for those retro enthusiasts that do care about these things, they'll really appreciate and know that the developer (me) is "one of us" and understands why this stuff is important!
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@flighty Codemasters released 3 games for Master System, all of which are excellent - Micro Machines, Cosmic Spacehead, and Fantastic Dizzy - the latter being the definitive version of that game as its the only version which contains every mini game and also has proper inventory controls & management which the 16bit versions don't have.
On Game Gear they released all 3 games again (as I say they are identical roms) and also Excellent Dizzy Collection, MicroMachines 2, CJ Elephant, Man Overboard / Sink or Swim, Archer Maclean's Dropzone, and I think some sports games that I can't remember. Most of those games were developed in 93 primarily for Master System but then released on Game Gear unchanged as they obviously decided SMS games were too risky to manufacture by 1994 - they also made a really nice port of Bignose Dinobasher which was never been released but has since been leaked. (this was around the same time when a load of 100% complete NES and Aladdin games were sadly shelved too, including multiple Dizzy titles which have since got limited releases for NES in recent years, and are on the Evercade collection)
I'm a sucker for Codemasters' console games. The cool thing about the Master System titles was they used clever overscan techniques to optimise them for 50hz PAL systems and actually made them run full screen rather than being squished and bordered like all the official games - but this means some emulators and NTSC consoles have problems playing them. Both the Master System and Game Gear carts come in a unique cart shape design with a bigger label and they look really cool! They also had full colour manuals and posters included like 16bit titles, and overall felt more "premium" than the official Sega games - but actually all launched at £14.99
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@flighty Yeah in my memories, the Master System versions played perfectly on that screen and it was so incredible to me that I could take my favourite games with me on holiday!
But nowadays I find the original Game Gear screen practically unusable at its native resolution, I can't imagine how much worse it would look. Funny how our expectations and standards change, I've been spoiled to need perfect clarity, whereas back then it was just a miracle to have a small portable colour screen, regardless. They games are still great though, so modding and puttign a more modern screen on them, longer battery life, everdrive so you can have the entire library on one cart? They are still super playable and so many amazing titles on the Sega 8bits, I adore them.
Yeah I was super hyped for Sonic Chaos when it first came out, as I was excited to have an "eclusive" Sonic game that wasn't coming out on Megadrive, and also excited that I'd be able to control Tails and fly. I loved that game so much. I was very annoyed when Triple Trouble skipped the Master System for some reason, even though they were still releasing other first party games. Like I said, thankfully the fan community has made a rom hack so it now can be played on Master System with the bigger field of view... but its definitely the most playable of the GG titles with the screencrunch, as its the only one made with the Game Gear as the primary platform.
I didn't know Castle of Illusion for Game Gear ran using the Master System res even though its an unpadted version. In that case it may be the definitive version, I'll have to give it a try! The only Game Gear games I ever owned that just played in "Master System" mode were the Codemasters titles, I loved them so much on the Master System, was annoyed that they didn't work on the Master Gear converter (because they were unlicenced) but bought the Game Gear versions as well so I could take them with me! They are literally the exact same rom but on a GG cart, it was only the shape of the cart that meant the Master system versions didn't work on GG. Again, I'm sure they would look really fuzzy if I played them on an original screen nowadays, but back then I just enjoyed the fact I could play them portably.
Re: Sega President Teases Possible Sonic "Reboots And Remakes"
@Anti-Matter Sonic Origins has no lives / gameover (unless you set it to "classic mode") so I would expect Superstars won't either.
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@flighty Yeah the Dynamte Headdy port is great, by the same team that did the Baku Baku Animal port (which was good too) and Sonic Labyrinth... I'll forgive them for that one.
Triple Trouble is a great game and arguably the best of the Sonic Game Gear games because it was designed specifically for Game Gear only so the screen crunch is less of a factor and the levels are designed to not be affected by it as much. I was very salty that they never made an official Master system port, but fans have now wronged that history! lol.
I had a Game Gear in 94 and loved it but to me it was primarily for playing my Master System games when on holiday with the Master Gear adapter, I always was annoyed when there wasn't a "home version".
Funny thing is, when playing the Master System versions on the GG with the adapter, there was no screen crunch, so I was confused when I first got a GG version of Sonic and everything was more zoomed in than when playing the MS versions on the Gaem Gear. I've not actually tried that since the 90s though I'm sure nowadays I'd be horrified at how fuzzy it probably looks squished down to fit the lower res of that original screen. My Game Gear I use nowadays has a nice modded IPS screen in it, As does my Lynx, Gameboy and GBA. I've been spoiled by modern portables and mobile phones.
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@JohnnyMind Interesting to hear, thank you!
That arcade beatemup is by Konami - same company that made the Turtles, Simpsons and XMen beat em ups at the time. They were on fire back then! All of them are excellent.
I'm sure you are aware but the arcade game, and the Master System game are very easy to emulate these days, you can even play both of them in your browser if you want. I won't post links here as I don't think its allowed but if you want to revist them, its easy, just google the name of the game, the system and "play online"
I agree that it would be wonderful if we could get a proper official re-release, maybe a compilation - that would be difficult as all the (many!) Asterix games were all by different dev teams, but I think there could be a high enough demand. When I moved to France I was truly shocked just how much of a huge brand it still is to this day. It reminded me of the old days when people would dress up and queue outside bookshops waiting for the latest Harry Potter title.
Re: Sega President Teases Possible Sonic "Reboots And Remakes"
"Sega's president went on to mention how he's received a lot of messages "mainly from users in North America", saying how they feel Sonic is "heading in the right direction" once again."
This is exactly how I feel. Sonic fans since the earliest glory days have been somewhat long suffering but I feel the 2d games, 3d games, and the brand as a whole with movies, tv shows etc are in a stronger position than ever, and Kishimoto is saying ALL the right things and seems to be coming through. Even just watching the Sonic Central streams and getting all the little updates from all the different individuals on different teams like the heads of marketing, merchandise, comics, animation, the new "lore" consultant dude, everyone seems so passionate and onboard and true fans, trying to make the IP the best it can be and finally have a more consistent quality. Pretty much everyone on the teams at every level are genuine fans, many of whom were hired from social media because they were producing their own Sonic fan games, fan art, animations, music, comics... and the level of genuine interaction with the fanbase and listening to feedback rather than just paying lipservice to it is unprecidented for a brand of this size. And unlike the 90s, the Japanese teams are truly listening to the ideas, advice and opinions of the American team. I truly feel positive about Sonic projects moving forward.
I think this is why I and many other feel so much more strongly loyal to Sonic as a "brand" than to other games that I may enjoy just as much - I love Mario games just as much as Sonic ones, in fact I rate Mario 64 higher than any Sonic game, its my #2 favourite game of all time! But I don't feel like Nintendo even slightly cares my opinion on their games or IP, and if I made a fan game, fan art or even YouTube video I'd more likely be sued than hired. I know there are good reasons for why Nintendo can't treat Mario as Sega do Sonic, and in many ways its meant the quality of Mario products has been more consistent. But while I always buy every single game and play and enjoy them, I don't have that same emotional connection to the brand as it feels more corporate and less "for me" specifically.
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@flighty Yeah I've always collected the Emerald that way! I never fully got the hang (pun not intended!) of the hang glider.
I know what you mean about *some" of the Game Gear games having slightly more polish because they were released later, but this really is hit and miss, there are just as many (if not more?) titles where the Master System versions are noticably better and weird cutbacks were made to the GG versions for seemingly no reason, or even completely new, often inferior games were made from scratch, again, no idea why.
I'm glad to read that you, and others here, are so fond of Land of Illusion. For me, its the best of the Illusion series on all formats (which is saying something as they are all good), and actually one of my favourite games ever. Its one of the games that inspires me when making my own games, the presentation, the slow rollout of new moves, light puzzle elemebnts and new gimmicks/techniques per area, the fact you can go back to earlier levels and discover new stuff once you have certain items etc, its all designed so nicely, I find it very satisfying to go back to and play from start to finish regularly. Its the perfect length to play in one sitting and have a fun time.
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@JohnnyMind No worries, I'm always glad when some people read and enjoy my "TL:DR" posts. I find it nearly impossibe to write short snappy comments and I know most will skip them but its nice when some people like them!
Yeah being in Italy its extremely likely you had the MS 2, they sold around 10x more units and were significantly cheaper and (at least in UK, France and Spain where I went in the early 90s) they sold in far more retailers - even weird places you wouldn't expect to sell videogames like supermarkets, newsagents and pharmacists! The Sonic craze really did mean that for a while, everyone wanted a peice of the action, and because the MS 2 and its legacy games were "pocket money prices" they appeared in the most unlikely of places to get easy extra cash from impulse purchases.
For me, Sonic 1 is the better of the "built in" games by quite some margin, but many have nostalgia for Alex Kidd in Miracle World. It was meant as Sega's equivalent to Super Mario Bros 1, and its far more technically impressive, has more variety of playstyles and moves... but for me, it doesn't play as well as Nintendo's game. 8 bit Sonic holds up a lot better.
Interestingly, (to me at least) the built in version of Sonic 1, which is what I had as a kid and completed hundreds of times, isn't exactly the same as the cartridge version - it has the end credits, last song and Sonic "singing" on the microphone removed. I assume it was to cut a few kb of memory to fit the system boot rom for the console. I never knew the proper end sequence existed until years later playing the game on an emulator, and being shocked! Other than that, I think its identical.
I would hazard a guess that the Asterix game you had was the first one, because its one of the best known games, and also often sold as one of the cheapest legacy titles, so everyone had it. I remember in 93-94 when I was regularly buying games it was always available in shops, and the standard price was £7.99 - absolute bargain, I still replay that game to this day.
Not to take things too far off topic, but are the Asterix comic novels and/or films well known in Italy? I ask because we of course knew about them in the UK, but they weren't more popular than any other random children's franchise of the 80s I could think of. But in France, they are HUGE. Even to this day, whenever a new book is released, its practically a national holiday. The last one there was literally people queing up overnight near my appartment outside the shopping mall to pick up their pre-orders, and McDonalds did an incredible promotion with about 100 different happy meals toys to collect! I didn't even ralise there were that many characters. And of course not far from Disneyland there's an entire Asterix based theme park. I know its obviously a French series but I wondered if its anywhere near that popular in other European countries.
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@Uncharted2007 Thanks! Even though nowadays I personally prefer the design of the model 1 Genesis and Sega CD (perhaps only for my nostalgia as these were the models I first lusted after in the shops and magazines, and eventually owned), I definitely remember when the Model 2 versions first came out, seeing them in magazines and thinking they looked so sleek and futuristic, and being amazed how much more compact they were.
I'm a big fan of the 32X (probably the only one!) and I really like the look of the Model 2 Genesis with the 32X attached... but not so much with the CD2 attached as well, as it looks off balance with all 3. Pretty much all Sega consoles and packaging look great though, they had an excellent design team as far as aesthetics go!
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
@JohnnyMind There are 3 Asterix games on the Master System, all of which are good, but the first one (simply called "Asterix") is one of the best 8bit platformers of all time, in my humble opinion
The "Master System II" is simply a redesign of the Master System that was released as a budget priced console once the Megadrive was being sold. Its by far the most common model and what most people (Alex included in his video and the picture for this article) are refering to when they say "Master System", most don't bother to specify "Master System 2" as they play the same games.
It was designed to look a bit sleeker and more "modern" for the 90s, however infact is slightly inferior due to having only RF out, and not supporting the 3D Glasses or games on card (last point is very minor, very few games were released on card and they were very basic due to the near non-existent memory capacity of them compared to cartridges).
Master System 2 always had a game built in, for if you turned it on without a cart inserted. The earliest models had Alex Kidd in Miracle World built in, later models Circa 93 had Sonic 1 built in.
To be clear, the Master System 2 isn't a follow up and isn't upgraded in any way, it just plays Master System cartridges. Its just a hardware refresh that plays exactly the same games, like the C64c, Amiga600, PSOne, DS Lite, or GBA SP.
Master System
Master System II
There's also Master System 3 and various other redesigns but these only came out in Brazil and are made by TecToy not Sega. All are the same internal specs and play the same games.
Sega did the same with the Megadrive/Genesis and Mega CD/Sega CD where they released a new design, slightly cheapened the components but kept the compatibility exactly the same, and branded them "Megadrive 2" and "Mega CD 2". Again, these were just hardware refreshes, and played exactly the same games. Some later bundles of Megadrive 2 included the 6 button pad as standard, but it isn't exclusive to the MD2 and was widely and cheaply available for MD1 owners who needed it for Street Fighter 2 and 32X titles.
Megadrive / Genesis
Megadrive 2 / Genesis 2
free picture posting
Mega CD / Sega CD
Mega CD 2 / Sega CD 2
Again, there's a Megadrive / Genesis 3 but this is even more cut down and isn't compatible with the Mega CD or 32X. Build quality is bad as it was made by Majesco not Sega.
This is confusing to newcomers to retro Sega because they assume the "2" or "3" in the names means they are sequels or upgrades somehow, but in reality they are actually less desirable models with no real benefits unless you prefer the design to look at or have nostalgia for it.
For my personal taste, the Master System 2 is one of the nicest looking consoles ever designed, but you really have to work hard to mod it to get a nice picture on a modern television - whereas the original Master System supports RGB out so is more desirable to collectors. On the other hand, I much prefer the look of the Megadrive and Mega CD 1... especially once you add a 32X and make the "Tower of Power" ! However, the mechanised drive tray of the Mega CD 1 tends to go wrong, so some collectors like to mix and match the Megadrive 1 with the Mega CD 2... it looks weird, but it works!
Re: Video: We Spread Some Love For The Sega Master System As Alex Shares His Childhood Games
I'm late to comment, but I will never stop arguing that if you take value propostion of new stock retail prices into account, Master System 2 in Europe circa 93-95 was the best console deal of all time.
In America of course, the system stopped existing in 1991 with Sonic 1 being the last game ever released. But in Europe, they kept the system going and instead marketing it as a budget friendly alternative to the Megadrive. They kept making brand new games, many of which are the absolute peak of 8bit gaming and push the limits of the hardware in incredible ways.
I've recently been going back through multiple UK catalogues for retailers. In 93-94, a Megadrive cost £130-150 with 1 game, and brand new titles cost £50-70. At the same time, the Master System 2 cost £35-50 for the console with 1 game, and brand new titles cost £25-30, with those titles often dropping to £15 or less very quickly. Sometimes, brand new high quality titles even launched at £14.99 - Codemasters' Fantastic Dizzy, Micro Machines and Cosmic Spacehead spring to mind, all of which are great titles with loads of content and hours of playtime, far from "budget" releases.
This wasn't because they were clearing old stock, or no new games were coming out. Many of the most famous and popular 16bit games got very impressive 8bit conversions, and companies were actively developing new titles for the system as a parallel budget friendly market.
Here's some games people think of as 16bit titles that got surprisingly accurate & playable Master System ports:
Road Rash, Desert Strike, Streets of Rage, Ecco the Dolphin, Mortal Kombat 1&2, Micro Machines, Robocop Vs Terminator, Sensible Soccer, Cool Spot, Lion King, Lemmings, PGA Tour Golf, James Pond 2 Robocod, Speedball II, Zool, Xenon II, Mean Bean Machine, Sonic Spinball, Krusty's Fun House, Wonderboy 5 (Monster World), Shadow of the Beast, Fire and Ice, Global Gladiators, Poplous, Speedy Gonzales... if you include Brazilian imports there were even semi passable versions of FIFA, Street Fighter 2, Earthworm Jim, Ecco Tides of Time, Baku Baku Animal...
Sure, nowadays you could argue "why not just play the Megadrive/Amiga versions" but at the time, the games were at least £20 cheaper, and after 6 months or so would be £10 on clearance. For people who couldn't afford a 16bit console but wanted to play the latest games, this was a lifesaver!
There are even some games where the Master System version was different but arguably better than the Megadrive:
Sonic 1, Castle of Illusion, Jurassic Park, Batman Returns, Asterix, Fantastic Dizzy, Cosmic Spacehead, Taz-Mania, Ghostbusters, Ghouls & Ghosts, Tom & Jerry, Road Runner...
There were some exclusive games released in this time period that rival the quality of 16bit titles:
Land of Illusion, Lucky Dime Caper, Deep Duck Trouble, Sonic Chaos, Powerstrike II spring to mind. Probably more if I think about it or go through a list. Obviously if you include older exclusive games there are timeless gems too - Phantasy Star, Wonder Boy 3... not to mention the best versions of some 8bit titles & arcade ports that people think of as NES games - Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Marble Madness, Paperboy, New Zealand Story, PacMania, Rainbow Islands, Prince of Persia, Sagaia (Darius 2), R-Type, Simpsons 1&2...
Even when I eventually owned a SNES and 2nd hand Megadrive, multiple times I saved up £50-60 and went to Toys R Us intending to buy a new 16bit game to show off my new hardware... I would end up walking away with 4-5 Master System games instead because it just felt so much better value, and I had incredible fun with them. I just couldn't bring myself to consider the massive price increase to be worth it for slightly fancier graphics and sound when the quality of later Master System games felt 75% of the way there.
To give some incredible context - even if you were a Megadrive owner & didn't own a Master System - if you wanted to buy Mickey & Donald World of Illusion, it would cost £59.99. In '94, you could buy a Master System 2 for £35, Land of Illusion (Mickey 2) for £15 and Donald Lucky Dime Caper for £10... not to mention the Master System would have Sonic built in. Those 3 games are all excellent and arguably you'd get far more enjoyment out of them than the beautiful, fun but quickly over World of Illusion just by itself.
People who only remember the weaker 80s Master System games, and the early 16bit ports that were obviously poor (Golden Axe, Altered Beast & Strider spring to mind) are really missing out on some of the best retro gaming has to offer when they rule out the system as underpowered or having a poor library.
Re: Poll: Super Mario All-Stars Is 30 Years Old - Do You Prefer The NES Or SNES Versions Of The Classics?
As others have said, the controls/physics feel off in the SNES and GBA versions if you are used to the NES games. The extras and improvements in newer versions are nice but not nice enough to become my default way to play. If they are the first versions you played though, I can see how they'd seem superior.
For me, Mario 3 specifically looks best on NES. Not quite sure why. Perhaps because it's so impressive for the hardware limitations, or just because is cleaner and simpler.
@Kazman2007 Nintendo pretends that version doesn't exist because someone (maybe Miyamoto?) doesn't like the changes made to Mario World. A shame as its the definitive version imo.
Re: Feature: Nintendo eShop Selects - June 2023
@Magrane No problem!
Re: TMNT: Shredder's Revenge DLC Will Feature A Dimension-Hopping Survival Mode
The pixel art and animation here is just gorgeous, incredible use of colour too. This is in my top five games that I find inspiring when making my own games as a visual benchmark to aim towards. Authentic retro feels, but subtley improved to take advantages of upgrades in hardware and software.
Of course, the game plays brilliantly too. Kudos to everyone working on it and more high quality content is always a good thing for a good game. Keep it coming please!
Re: Shantae's Cancelled Game Boy Advance Project 'Risky Revolution' Is Being Revived
Very excited for this one. Pirate's Curse and Risky's Revenge are 2 of my favourite games, and the mechanics shown in the video look pretty unique. I appreciate Limited Run for funding this project that otherwise would have probably remained forever unfinished
Re: Arzette Is A "Spiritual Successor" To The Infamous Zelda CD-i Games And It's Coming To Switch In 2023
This made me laugh when I saw it in the showcase - they've nailed the aesthetic perfectly - I've always hated the CDi animations. I still hate the look and feel of these, even though they're obviously supposed to be bad and I admire the work that went into making them so bad...!
But the thing is, the actual game looks like its competant, and may actually be... fun? That's not how these are supposed to be!
It actually looks like something I'd want to play! I hope its good
Re: Castlevania Advance Collection Scores A Physical Switch Release, Pre-Orders Open July 28th
@KBuckley27 Well now that Limited Run have got their own PS1 emulator, thats a lot more likely than before. I really hope they manage to get a PCE CD emulator running and we get a double pack with Rondo of Blood like has been released on previous consoles.
Re: Castlevania Advance Collection Scores A Physical Switch Release, Pre-Orders Open July 28th
If theres no price difference and we can choose, that Rondo of Blood cover art looks great as a Switch cover. Its just a shame the compilation doesn't include the real game, just the SNES title somewhat based on it. I agree with the original review that Aria of Sorrow alone would be worth the asking price.
Re: Gex Trilogy Collection Announced For Nintendo Switch
@Vyacheslav333 Yes exactly. I think calling it an "engine" is silly as it gives the impression they are porting the original code somehow, rather than just emulating roms / isos. However, from what I've seen, the emulation is excellent quality.
Re: Gex Trilogy Collection Announced For Nintendo Switch
@Vyacheslav333 Fancy marketing speak for "Limited Run has made / licensed some emulators that they are going to be using to release old games on new hardware".
So far, they only support Playstation 1, plus:
NES/Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, Game Boy, GBC, GBA
Genesis/Mega Drive, Mega CD, Master System, Game Gear
Re: Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Officially Announced
@codebored No worries! Yeah the European Nintendo games all had the red background, same as the movie poster. But the Sega games and pretty much all the toys had the yellow version. In the movie, its 50/50 whats on screen depending on the scene.
Re: Gex Trilogy Collection Announced For Nintendo Switch
Notably, Carbon Engine doesn't support N64 yet (nor 3do or Saturn) so the games on this collection will probably be the Playstation versions.
"a development tool that allows legacy content to be ported to modern platforms" - its a collection of emulators for multiple systems, with an overlay to easily interface with controllers and achievement systems for different consoles. Calling it an "Engine" is marketing speak, its a frontend for emulators.
Thats not to downplay it at all, its an impressive system that they've developed that will streamline releasing roms of old games / homebrew for consoles. Also, I think some or maybe all of the emulators they've developed are in house, or at least custom tweaks - I know MVG worked on the Gameboy core at least? So that's impressive too. But calling games released using this system "ports" feels a bit much.
@Vyacheslav333 No worries! Yeah I know Limited Run get some flack from people and I understand why, but they really are stepping up and doing some amazing work in preserving stuff and even bringing unreleased and unfinished stuff back from the dead that otherwise would never have gotten a release. I was really amazed by some of the stuff in the showcase.
Re: Gex Trilogy Collection Announced For Nintendo Switch
@Vyacheslav333 You obviously didn't watch the showcase! there's plenty more stuff that was covered that Nintendolife hasn't made an article about yet. It really was quite packed, some big surprises including pretty big Nintendo news...
Plumbers Don't Wear Ties Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUWU1v3zvEE&ab_channel=LimitedRun
Full show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWRytWXN4KE&ab_channel=LimitedRun
Re: Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Officially Announced
@mattcoz @SBandy1 Yes Sega funded and published original games for Mega CD, Master System and Game Gear, and 2 unique versions for Megadrive (not to mention the Lost World games and the multiple arcade titles). All were unique games (although the Master System and Game Gear titles are fairly similar).
The Megadrive games were developed for Sega by BlueSky. Mega CD and 8bit games were first party but I don't know what teams.
Re: Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Officially Announced
@codebored There's always been 2 versions of the logo, one with red background and yellow outline (in the film, this is the main logo and used on the jeep) and one with yellow background and red outline (in the film, this is the version used in staff uniform, merchandise, and the green tour vehicles).
While the original movie poster used the red background, as far as merch goes, including the original 1993 toys, clothes etc, the yellow background is far more common, because it gives a higher contrast and makes the T-Rex stand out more, even if the printing quality is poor or the surface of the item is dull.
For the 1st game, across all Nintendo platforms the yellow background was used for the North American box art, and red background for PAL. The Sega games all used the yellow background for all versions, IIRC.
Re: Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Officially Announced
@Waluigi451 For the first game, the NES and Gameboy are basically just a very stripped back version of the SNES title and not worth it other than for the novelty or if you have nostalgia for them.
The second title (a platform / run and gun) is different on the gameboy, and perhaps its my nostalgia or preference for cute/chunky sprites, but I actually think its better on Gameboy. As far as i'm aware there isn't a NES version of that one. Its still not a particularly great game but its worth trying out both versions to see which you prefer.
Re: Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Officially Announced
@Yosher $110 extra for a card, a CD of 8bit music, a framed bit of "art" and different packaging? Yeah I'd say thats pretty ridiculous.
Mind you I also think $35 extra for a steelbook and different packaging is ridiculous.
There was a time when special editions for those kids of prices included statues, plushes, metal keyrings / coins... and even then I thought they were mostly overpriced tat.
We're planning to Kickstart an "ultimate edition" for our Hazel game in the style of a PC/Amiga "Big Box" copy but it'll be lower price than these and with actually valuable and unique stuff included inside. We'll probably make $10 max profit per copy sold but its more about celebritating the work we've done and giving the fans something cool to actually own and display. If we can't find companies to manufacture the stuff we're planning cheaply enough to make it viable, we just won't put it out. I know we're hardly Jurassic Park but I'd be embarassed asking $175 for a CD and a picture frame.
Re: Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection Officially Announced
NES, SNES, and Game Boy only is the major dispointment here. If it had the Megadrive (& Rampage Edition) and Master System games I'd be all over this. (Game Gear & Mega CD would be nice while we're at it, but less essential).
I have a lot of nostalgia for how much I wanted to play the original top down Nintendo games (they looked so cool in magazine and TV previews!) but its really only the SNES version thats worth playing nowadays, and its an ambitious but very flawed game. Assuming its got save states, at least that will improve the experience compared to the original.
Chaos Continues is an ok run & gun, but not a patch on the Sega platform titles imo.
If the standard edition is non-limited, I'm sure I'll pick it up at some point, because I collect JP stuff. But its far from a must buy collection as-is, really paying £30 for one game that I'd actually play.
Re: Hori Unveils Brand New Sonic And Pac-Man Switch 'Split Pad Compact' Designs
Right now, because I dislike the joycons, I own 2 switches - a Switch Lite for handheld play, and a classic switch permanently docked where I use the pro controller.
I really like the look of the Sonic ones... maybe I should get an OLED and combine it with these... (I don't care about rumble/motion controls/IR/NFC).
Is the D-Pad any good?
Re: Feature: What's The Best Version Of Street Fighter II On Nintendo Systems?
How is the 30th Anniversary Collection not an option?!
Street Fighter 2 Turbo on SNES is my favourite version for SNES for sure. But 30th Anniversary has the arcade roms for every retro version (including my favourite, SSF2T) not to mention the Alpha series & SFIII presented wonderfully at a bargain price. The separate arcade versions are also available in the 2 Arcade Stadium releases, also available on Switch.
Re: Sonic Chronicles Sequel Details Revealed By Former BioWare Lead Designer
Awww I thought this was a leaked anouncement of a new game! Boo. And Ken Penders, double boo. Interesting video though!
Re: Poll: What Course Are You Most Excited About In The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Wave 5 DLC?
@h15c0r3r Yeah, definitely agreed. Its frustrating.
Re: Poll: What Course Are You Most Excited About In The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Wave 5 DLC?
@h15c0r3r I'm glad its not just me that feels this way - theres plenty of other people above who seem to agree. I did wonder whether it was a "me" thing or I was being irrational because when I mentioned this in a previous topic someone got really mad at me as if complaining about extra content was insane - how could extra stuff make the game worse? I can see that arguement but it really damages the overall feeling of quality for me.
Consistency of assets, levels etc is very important to me in whether a product feel professional or amateurish. I was so blown away by MK8 on Wii U - but its nearly a decade old. The fact we are getting "new" content thats noticably worse is just really frustrating.
It almost annoys me to the point of wanting to uninstall the dlc - I actually did after the first wave or 2. I'm aware thats somewhat irrational, and I genuinely like the new tracks and characters. I reinstalled it for Birdo! lol
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions
@Mario500 I went and listened to that podcast audio as you suggested - initially excited as I love Ben Schwarz but then realised he left just before the part you recomended! lol
Funnily enough, I've read "Laziness Does Not Exist", I saw it mentioned in one of the self improvement channels that I watch. I feel theres a lot of useful advice in reminding yourself you could always do "more" and more isn't always better, don't overwhelm yourself with pressure to perform. What we can percieve as laziness in others might actually be a sign they are dealing with something deeper, mental health struggles etc.
I'm afraid I don't really see how this applies to a piece of cover art though, especially not the trend of Wii/DS covers to just be plain white paper with characters or logos in the foreground. It definitely does feel "lazy" to me, in that it feels like they should have made a background, but then decided not to because they ran out of time or something.
I definitely understand that its possible for things to be "too busy", and that minimalism as a style is a choice... but Nintendo covers (bar NES blackboxes, which I similarly dislike) have almost always had a full picture with foreground and background elements, colour and details all over... except for the Wii and DS era, which makes them feel unfinished, to me.
Compare Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart DS to pretty much any other gen's Mario Kart game. Those 2 predominantly white covers look weirdly sterile and uninteresting - to me at least. I was very glad when the Wii U and Switch Mario Karts had far more colourful and detailed artwork, making the most use of the canvas.
Perhaps I shouldn't have used the word "lazy" because its imposing an emotion or motivation onto the artists. But to be fair to my post, if you read the rest of what I wrote, I said that I was aware it was a stylistic choice and that others may prefer it and consider it minimalist.
I hoped I was clear that to me, I mostly meant that it looks unfinished, and like there should be something else in the white space. I'm autistic, and too much blank space in something visual makes me feel uneasy in the same way long pauses do in conversation. Sorry if I expressed that feeling in a way that might insult the artist, rather than express my personal preference.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions
Very easy win for the European cover for me. I love box art where there's lots going on, showing characters and scenarios from the game. Reminds me of the Super Mario Land game covers, which I love so much I have the artwork enlarged and framed, and they are a big inspiration for my own game covers that I design.
I'm also not keen on any game cover just havign a plain white background - to me, it feels lazy, and I especially love colourful backgrounds that show a location for the characters, like a blue sky, green grass or whatever. I know it was a fashion to have plain white backgrounds at the time, for a lot of DS, 3DS and Wii Titles, and its honestly one of the main reason I don't particularly enjoy collecting physical copies for those systems. To my eyes, it feels unfinished.
Finally, I vastly prefer the more dynamic pose of Mario and Luigi. I really don't like how they are just standing in a default stiff pose staring forward in the American one.
But hey, its personal preference. I can see how others would like a more minimalist approach.
Re: What Course Are You Most Excited About In The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Wave 5 DLC?
Like some others here, honestly many of the tracks don't look interesting to me. Infact the DLC waves bringing a multitude of very simple looking tracks is consistently bringing the average down for overall graphical quality and fun compared to the basically flawless original MK8 track lineup.
You could argue more content is always good but in my neurodiverse brain it actually really messes up how I feel about the game when the quality of the content is so mixed. I wish that rather than having all the stuff mixed together, they would have split each cup to a "Tour Tracks" cup, "Retro SNES" etc to make it easier to avoid, and also less jarring when you chose to play as them, and the graphical quality and complexity stays consistent between each track.
Squeaky Clean Sprint looks brilliant though, I really like it. I'm glad that the truely new courses are being made and added and are still of a consistent high quality.
Out of the returning tracks, Daisy Cruiser is the one I'm most interested in, because Double Dash is the game I've played the least (never really gelled with the double mechanic) and I really like the idea of such a different location - plus I love Daisy as a character
I'm also glad we are getting more playable characters. Thats always a bonus in my eyes.
Re: Sega Cools On Blockchain Games As Executive Calls Them 'Boring'
@HenryKibble @Cordyceps Its important to note that an NFT is not a jpg. Not even remotely. It is just a numeric value that was added to the blockchain as a permanent "receipt" to be able to verify forever who created/paid for something, when, and how much for. You can use an NFT to verify the authenticty of anything: a luxury handbag/watch, which factory your clothes were made, or if the medicine that you bought for grandma online is real. Imagine these products/packaging containing a small NFC chip (like in Amiibo) but the code on the chip was unique to that exact copy of that item.
When a certain item is bought and sold multiple times (for example Pfizer>Warehouse>Wallgreens>You) its possible to trace back every single transaction. Its impossible to dupicate, fake, or delete an NFT. Its extremely useful for preventing fraud, and keeping everything open and transparent. This is why its amazingly useful in financing, but also why governments don't like the idea as they can no longer keep financial transations sercet or fudge the numbers for "creative accounting".
Once again: NFTs are not jpgs. This is just how various scammers have used buzzwords to sell the idea that jpgs are worth money - when the they are just selling you a reciept. The jpg itself is not stored on the blockchain. Its absolutely possible to do so... but because current chains only accept a tiny amount of data at a time, even a small low quality picture takes many hours and thousands of dollars, so people don't bother. NFT based games with cards or virtual pets etc attached to the NFT similarly are not actually stored to the blockchain, just a note of who bought/won/traded what. The images and game code themselves are invariably stored on normal centralised servers, which can go down, and render the entire thing pointless.
People selling monkey jpgs is a scam (or at best an extremely risky speculative game of "hot potato"). But the NFT and blockchain tech are not a scam. But because many people believe this tech is the future of finance and the internet, and there were hyperbolic news stories of people getting rich from Cryptocurrencies, its a space rife for scammers to use buzzwords to steal money from people not understanding what they're buying, or realistically where the tech and infrastructure currently stands.
Re: Sega Cools On Blockchain Games As Executive Calls Them 'Boring'
@HenryKibble @Cordyceps Yes, a blockchain essentially is a P2P network, everyone shares the same ever growing file, usually a simple ledger - a list of transactions or computational requests. Cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) and tokens (like NFTs and ERC-20 coins) are just numbers stored on their blockchain's database.
Any time you want to read from the database, you check that exact same result on all the other computers to make sure they are all the same values. The same process applies when adding something new - a new addition is not verified until its present and locked in to every copy. If they were different, this means there has been a mistake, or fraud. Nothing can ever be deleted from the database, it just continues to grow larger, meaning that every addition is recorded forever and easily traceable.
The potential advantages are huge. Data (EG in the future: website code, images, audio, video, online games) that is stored can never be deleted, lost, or altered. No content going dark because the server crashed/was hacked or the company no longer exists... and when thousands of people in different countries are running the same blockchain, everything is decentralised and no political problems, wars, government interferance etc can stop it being accessed.
Certain blockchains, like Ethereum, let you program tokens so that when they are traded, sold etc, things happen.
Examples of how this can be used:
An artist will get a commision every time someone resells their artwork - if a gallery buys it from a collector in 50 years time, the original artist will get 20% of the sale (similarly games companies could get a cut of second hand sales).
An employer can pay their worker their entire year's salary at once, however, the worker will only be able to spend 1/52 of that money every week, so the worker knows their pay is guaranteed, but they can't splurge it all at once.
Stocks/Shares that pay out dividends based on the profit of the parent company - the advantage to the consumer is that you don't have to rely on anyone to do the accounting, or trust that they are being honest, litearally as that company makes money, a percentage is removed and paid to you entirely automatically.
A government give you benefits/wellfare, but can specify that it can only be spent on certain things, EG: "child support" that can only be spent on things for the children.
However, again, the reality is that none of this is particularly practical right now. The tech and infrastructure isn't there yet. All of that is possible, but only if theres a handful of people using the tech, When the networks get busy, it all falls apart and transaction fees bloat to the point of ludicrousness (at one point I was getting charged $200 every time I automatically sent someone a commision of a few cents... I had to shut down that business and go back to paying people manually)
Re: Sonic Frontiers Free 'Birthday Bash' DLC Is Out Now, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@Snatcher As for fighting games, you might think that Smash Bros would appeal to me because of all the cute characters, and that's definitely true... I remember when the first game came out and my cousins got it on N64 and it was such a fun novelty to see them all together, and awesome fun to play in multiplayer with them. I'm an only child though, and as a single player experience it was less interesting... but I was so hyped when I heard Sonic got to be in the Wii game! Every time a character that I like is added to the roster, I was very pleased. Though, over time as more realistically "human" characters got added it became less interesting to me, too many Fire Emblem characters etc for my prefered "cute mascot characters playign together" vibe.
You're right that the team making Ultimate did an outstanding job. I've watched pretty much everything Sakurai has ever put out as far as interviews and info on the devlopment process with so much interest and admiration.
Despite all that, I think the reason its not my favourite fighting series is just that I was such a hardcore fan of all the early Capcom, SNK and Mortal Kombat 1 on 1 fighters that a less focused and technical experience (or maybe its just different and I don't know the nuances) is hard for me to fully adjust to and enjoy in the same ways. I mostly play games single player but find it fun to do this with fighting games to practice and get really good and then be able to challenge friends or family on teh rare occasions I have the opportunity. Smash Bros is equally fun in multiplayer experiences but I get less out of the 1 player game.
You might also think my distaste for overly macho characters or violent games would make it strange that I got so into Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat but at the time of tehir arcade dominance it was impossible to not be aware of them, and what appealed to me was that there were so many different and varied characters - including females, but also aliens, mutants, people with different magic abilities etc. Everything was colourful and fun, shooting fireballs etc.
Over time, once fighting games started moving to 3d engines, the graphics kept "improving" to the point of things becoming more realistic, and they've appealed to me less. Especially the Mortal Kombat series seems to have lost a lot of its humour and colourful appeal, the violence is more like a SAW movie than Tom and Jerry. Similarly I loved the early FPS games like Doom and Duke Nukem 3D for their colourful and cartoonish aesthetics, and obvious humour. Over time, I lost interest in teh genre as the graphics and violence got more realistic and the games became more "serious". I'm not a prude or calling for censorship in any way, its just less appealing to me personally.
As a big Sega fan, I loved the first couple of Virtua Fighter games, even though I wished more fanciful moves and characters would be added. I think this was mostly because I was amazed by the tech, and they played very fluidly. By the time VF3 came around the novelty wore off completely and though I try each entry, I prefer the first 2 for the more chunky Lego style visuals and the novelty of remembering just how impressive the games are for the hardware - this is probably why my favourite versions are VF1 on 32X and VF2 on Saturn, both pushing their respective systems to the absolute limits playing passable renditions of arcade boards thousands of times more powerful.
Possibly predictably because they have so many female characters, and don't take themselves too seriously, my favourite "modern" 3d series of fighting games and the only ones I play consistently are the Dead or Alive games.
[edit] PS I'm sorry that fighting games trigger anxiety for you. I have several mental health issues and I really appreciate when others are open about their feelings and emotions as it helps normalise it for other people. If its the violence that makes you anxious, you may find the older games in more famous series are more palettable as they aer more cartoonish and silly. But if its more about anxiety caused by the extreme speed and reaction times needed, then its probably not the genre for you as a whole. And that's ok of course!
Re: Sonic Frontiers Free 'Birthday Bash' DLC Is Out Now, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@Snatcher Yeah I agree, Knuckles being so slow (and also having a smaller jump meaning all my muscle memory is off!) does make me not really want to play as him very much - however I've been enjoying playing as him in Sonic CD because the layout of those levels is a lot more vertical and "block based", so theres genuine use for his climbing and short bursts of gliding between surfaces. I have no idea why they didn't include him in Origins to begin with, he fits the game perfectly.
I too would love a platform game with all Princesses! I have always leant towards playing female characters and/or cute animal mascots in games. Big uber macho soldier types are just really not appealing to me - something like Contra or Castlevania is ok, I love those games! But I'd still prefer a female option, or the exact same game with a cuter aesthetic. Infact my own Hazel game that I'm developing is pretty much Symphony of the Night but with a cute, Sonic style visual aesthetic and you play a little girl witch and her animal friends (and outside areas in between castles are more like traditional Sonic levels).
In more modern "realistic" games I just find it completely uninteresting and even offputting to have an agressively macho character. Gears of War is a complete non-starter for me, for example. I also find this in other media, I like action movies if they are creative and visually interesting (usually sci-fi) but films like Rambo, Rocky, or the uber masculine Schwarzenegger movies etc just hold precisely zero appeal to me. As a kid I prefered She-Ra to He-Man, Barbie to Action Man. I've nothing against other people enjoying them, I just completely don't get it.
Not that it matters in any way but for reference I'm a completely cis/het male. I've always been aware that many of the things that I found uninteresting seemed to especially appeal to most of the other boys/men around me. I've no idea why more feminine and cute media has always appealed to me and ultra maculine portrayals put me off - perhaps its because I read them as violent or negative rather than fun and positive? I'm also autistic, I've heard that can lead to people having more of an aversion to traditionally laid out gender roles, regardless of their own gender identity.
Obviously I've no problem whatsoever with Mario and Sonic, or other cute male character in games or cartoons, I love them! But once more playable characters started to be added to those games, I always felt that it would be nice if the female characters got to tag along as well. Thats why I was so happy to see playable Amy being added to Origins, Superstars and Frontiers, and Daisy finally getting her chance to join the gang in Wonder. I feel like they've been "left out" since I was very little, and its like they finally are gettign equal treatment
Re: Sega Cools On Blockchain Games As Executive Calls Them 'Boring'
Sega making more and more good decisions recently... as a lifelong Sega fan since the 80s, this is concerning! 😅
The underlying tech behind NFTs (verifiable & traceable unique tokens, not stupid monkey jpgs) and the ideas of decentralised systems and shared computing power over chained networks are all very compelling.
As someone who initially was all in on the utopian promises of decentralised, truly free internet, verifiable and traceable transactions, open sourced code, true global equality etc of the early crypto pioneers, I learned how to program and manipulate blockchains in the early days of Ethereum (and later Tron), even developed my own token systmes and tried to run several businesses using the tech to be fairer, open and transparent... yeah, the tech isn't there yet, and won't be for at least another decade.
I had some pretty neat stuff developed back by early 2017 and it looked like it could be somewhat transformative for the businesses I'm in - but then as soon as these technologies even started to be slightly useful, word spread, more people started using them, and the prices skyrocketted, which made headlines and then even more people rushed to it without fully understanding what they were buying or why, and everything became a bubble. Suddenly, all the cool stuff I programmed where the code would execute in a fraction of a second and cost less than a penny for the transaction, suddenly became waiting up to an hour per calculation, and getting charged $20 for the privilidge.
The current systems aren't robust enough to do anything useful. Even the simplest of super basic games getting a few thousands daily users has the potential to entirely disrupt a network and send prices and wait times skyrocketing for any users of that blockchain - not just the ones playing the game.
At least ETH finally moving to proof of stake reduces the environmental concerns somewhat (that was always a convcern of mine but they planned on making the switch far sooner), but I think it will be at least 10 years before we'll actually have blockchains which begin to fulfil the early promises of the ideas we are being constantly sold. Almost everything you see piched when people are asking for investment in crypto games is quite litearlly not possible right now (or is not actually using the blockchain for anything other than as a glorified NFC/barcode).
The only blockchain based games that I've seen that were even slightly compelling were gambling or investment based. And even then they were only compelling because of the actual real stakes of winning or losing money, not because of the blockchain stuff running them. The advantage is that they are provably fair and the source code and all transactions are open for anyone to check, so companies can't swindle you in the way we all suspect most casinos and lotteries do. But the disadvantage is that when these services become popular, they slow down to a crawl and cost you a fortune in transaction fees every time you play. Its not worth the tradeoff.
Re: Exclusive: Marble It Up! Ultra Rolls Out On Switch Next Month
@RupeeClock Thanks for the recomendation and info! Yeah I'm excited to try it, it looks great. I think I'd prefer this kind of experience on Switch as looks like teh kind of thing I'd play on the go or in short bursts, so I'll wait for the Ultra version to pick it up
I agree that sadly Monkey Ball Banana Mania's physics feel completely "wrong". I can get used to it for the main game mode but it essentially ruins the minigames. I really wanted it to be the ultimate Monkeyball collection and something I could recomend to friends who've never played it before. Very sad that it wasn't as much of a home run as it should have been.
Re: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 5 Arrives Next Week
As I've said before, I'm personally the most excited for brand new tracks, and new characters. Squeaky Clean Sprint looks brilliant.
I personally hope we get more "you've been shrunk" styled courses. Or a Switch port of MicroMachines V3 would be nice too, please.
Re: Exclusive: Marble It Up! Ultra Rolls Out On Switch Next Month
I clicked on this hoping it would be like Marble Madness, but watching the trailer I felt it was more like Monkey Ball - either way, I'm happy! Not sure how I missed the original but this looks right up my alley. Thank you Nintendolife for bringing it to my attention, and Sketchturner for bringing it to theirs!