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@graviton So far, I have played only the first Citizen Sleeper game. While I admit that I’m usually not drawn towards narrative-heavy games, I thought the writing in CS1 was astonishingly good. Truly brought the world alive in my mind, like a compelling novel. And really meshed with the atmosphere.

Also — as I understand it — IIRC, one person did most of the development of both games, aside from the music. Very impressive, all things considered.

@jedomann Great call. I would love to see several of the Activision (and Imagic) games added sometimes. I played many of those back in the day (late 80s).

Pitfall is likely the one that most people know, but I enjoyed several others just as much, if not more — Megamania, Spider Fighter, StarMaster, Kaboom (but it needs a dial controller!), and others. River Raid is another great one… the list is long.

I guess they would need to work with Microsoft on the IP, these days.

Good gosh, what a library. So many bangers here.

@Warioware IIRC, you are correct - at least in comparison with the PC versions, I believe both games have fewer visual effects on Switch - but (IMO) both still play fluidly and are visually appealing on Switch.

To be fair - in terms of the console versions, I played the first game mostly on Switch 1, the Xenotilt mostly on Switch 2 - and have sporadically played both on PC and/or Steam Deck

Obviously, one benefit of the Switch versions is the ability to play in Tate mode (vertical orientation). Was doing so today. Lots of fun, really a great way to play these two games, and video game pinball in general. The Switch 2 almost does not need a Flip Grip, as long as a table is nearby, given the squared-off kickstand.

X gon give it to ya

As far as Sakurai. Being roughly the same age as him — I say, let him do whatever he wants. 30+ years in the workforce is far more than enough tribute of one’s finite time.

Though actually I’d say the same of anyone else, at any age

@dartmonkey I strongly agree, Just Shapes & Beats is an outstanding experience

@topsekret Thanks! Earlier this week, I (temporarily) got to the #1 spot on the leaderboard for two other games on Vol 1: Twin Cobra and Outzone. Most likely, this a function of playing shortly after the digital release, before the influx of (vastly) more skilled players. Still, if a chump like me can even briefly fare well on the boards… maybe it’s a sign that the emulation for this collection was done well. Maybe?!

And I do suspect (with no actual supporting data) that emulation of the Sega Saturn, with its renowned Frankenstein-esque architecture, remains “harder” to emulate than whatever arcade chipset powered the original releases. Just a guess, I admit… but if I’m right, maybe that also speaks to lower input lag. Who knows.

In any case - great collection so far, plays very well for me - hopeful that you also will enjoy it! Outzone and FixEight are new for me, and more fun than I expected!

@topsekret So… I finished downloading the Batsugun Saturn Tribute version and played it a while. Seems to play fine in general, and very similarly to the new Toaplan collection. I don’t doubt those who have detected & counted input lag frames… but I think I’m not capable of sensing it.

With that said - I somehow play better on the new version. Might be random chance. But I seem to play worse on games that have been reported to have significant lag, such as the Switch version of Sengoku Blade (Tengai). Take that for whatever it might be worth. Perhaps nothing, maybe a placebo effect on my part.

Also. My understanding is that the old version is emulating the Saturn release, while the new version is emulating the arcade release(s). Not sure if that carries any significance in terms of input lag. At least it is clear that the emulation “wrapper” is entirely different.

@topsekret Great question. I do have the Batsugun Saturn Tribute Boosted for Switch… have not tried that in a while, trying to re-download now. Going slow, as I am in “an undisclosed location” for a few days, with so-so wifi.

In the interim, I will say this - (a) I don’t think I am particularly skilled at detecting input lag, but… (b) I just played several rounds of Batsugun Special Edition on the new Toaplan Vol 1 (on Switch 2), and it really plays well, by my perception. I felt in control 100% of the time, even with close dodges…. and even placed #3 on the leaderboard. As an admittedly mediocre player! Haha.

@The_Trooper49 Seconding the positive feedback. Have been playing 5 of the 8 games on Vol 1, on Switch 2. No problems, they all run and play great. Have not yet tried Dogyuun, Fire Shark, and Flying Shark.

Also picked up Vol 2, but have not tried it yet.

Sad news indeed. For those who don’t know, Mike Bithell is a regular on the Play Watch Listen podcast with a different Alana(h). Having listened to many of those, I suspect he will discuss this at some point, for anyone interested. They have very candid conversations, and topics like these have come up in the podcast many times.

@XiaoShao Air Combat for PS1 is not the same game as Air Combat 22 for arcade. The moment-to-moment gameplay is broadly similar (as far as I can recall, all these years later.. and discern from watching footage of the PS1 fame)

That said, I believe the PS1 game has more “missions” or levels… while the arcade game has a constantly decreasing time limit… but some time is added for each enemy fighter shot down

@JohnnyMind I can vouch for Ace Combat 7. Just recently started playing it on Switch 2. Rather stunned at its overall presentation and production values. And it plays very smoothly.

I do also enjoy Air Combat 22. It’s easy for me to shift into the “arcade headspace” — because I started playing video games in the late 70s / early 80s era — when Space Invaders was a fresh innovation and Pac-Man was everywhere.

I don’t recall ever seeing Air Combat 22 in arcades. But it has that arcade vibe and pacing, which I still find exciting and satisfying in its way.

@dugan I just noticed your mention of Burnout Paradise. I did play that on Switch 2 for multiple hours this past week - and it ran perfectly. By my eyes, it felt like a solid 60 fps, but I am no expert!

I don’t recall how Burnout Paradise ran on Switch 1, so I can’t say whether it runs better or about the same on S2. But it plays just fine. And DJ Atomica is still commenting on everything! Haha.

@DaGoldenBoo @dugan According to this video, Wreckfest runs better on Switch 2 than on Switch 1: (brief Wreckfest discussion begins around 3:37)
https://youtu.be/JcYT-FTZz1I?si=nNyYPRBQbm931AVV
I have not (yet) tried it out myself on S2. Fantastic game, enjoyed it on S1

Dogs of the AMS. Time they made their move.

Played this a bit yesterday. Nice game so far.

The tables feel like little puzzles to solve, each with a few objectives to complete letters in word, open the next door, etc. I would say the physics are internally consistent, if not necessarily realistic — moment to moment, it plays pretty well. The slow-time mechanic shows the likely trajectory of the ball, given its location on the flipper. Unusual in this sort of game — but given how the game is structured, it seems fitting and (for me) does not make the game overly simple.

I did notice the soundtrack as well. Very nice, especially the piano. It has a chill vibe that suits the need to puzzle through each area.

@AstroTheGamosian Interesting. I think I was in my early-mid 30s when I first got costochondritis symptoms myself. Not really sure what triggered it in my case, as I wasn’t doing anything strenuous on regular basis.

Anti-inflammatory meds do seem to help me when I get a flare-up, which thankfully is not very common. My most recent bout was probably my worst to date, and took several weeks to subside. Meloxicam was the NSAID that I used recently. Always need to be careful not to use more than one NSAID at a time. Though, from all I have read, it is OK to use acetominophen and an NSAID concurrently, if it helps for pain relief.

In my case, temporarily sleeping on back through the night also helped, as opposed to sporadically turning on my side. At my worst - for a few weeks, I slept with a large wedge pillow to “force” my sleeping self to stay on my back. After I got better, I stopped doing that.

The subreddit I mentioned has tons of discussion about further remedies. Hopefully you will be better within a few weeks, and not need to research further. But if it drags on, or if you want to hear from others, the subreddit might be an interesting resource. Best wishes to you.

@AstroTheGamosian I have had similar symptoms, on and off, for a few decades (I’m 50+). Initially I also was deeply concerned, very much as you were, and quite reasonably.

In my case, as perhaps in yours, the issue appears to be costochondritis. Quite annoying and sporadically rather painful, but not at all dire. There actually is a subreddit for it, with some chronic sufferers recommending various treatments. But mine seems to come and go on its own, without much special intervention. Once in s great while I have taken prescription analgesics for a limited time. But never anything such as opioids or the like.

@weegeetime64 huge congratulations! I greatly enjoyed Gungeon, but always seemed to hit a skill plateau before finishing. Great game regardless. A more recent twin-stick that I’ve also enjoyed is Star of Providence. Another great one.

@MeloMan Quantum, I recall the original arcade cabinet used a trackball controller. Would be nice if running Atari 50 on Switch 2 utilizes the new “mouse”-like controller option for that game. Might work well….?

I, Robot…. one of the earliest polygon-based games I can recall. That was so unconventionalp for its time. Always enjoyed the variety across its levels. Looking forward to the new Jeff Minter version in the next few months.

@Ryoth I also wonder if TenCent’s stake in PG had any impact in how things progressed in recent years at the company - even if only indirectly.

I’m old enough to remember the handheld Mattel Football. Totally primitive by today’s standards, — but it somehow held one’s attention back then.

There also were other handhelds with static LEDs around that time. Merlin is another one. Really enjoyed that one, with its Magic Square and Code Breaker games.

@LikelySatan Glad to help! I also struggled to remember “Star of Providence” for quite a while after they changed the name.

Great news, I went ahead and got the Switch version — played a few runs (in docked mode) — it runs and plays great. And I think they just added some new room layouts and enemies (to the PC version as well).

Star of Providence is one of my Steam favorites. Used to be called “Monolith.” Eager to play the Switch version.

For those who enjoy twin-stick shooters and/or rogue-lites, it’s an extremely well-made game.

What a happy surprise. Really enjoyed the first Monster Train.

@Orpheus79V I have enjoyed Doctre’s video for years. Always entertaining. In my mind, that intro is legendary! And also features Kyle Bosman!

@-wc- For what it’s worth - I agree with your comments - though your avatar (combined with your comments) reminds me of the time where he says “George is getting upset!”

Agree with the comments above. Currently playing through this. Excellent game. Tons of systems, places, techs, weapons, with some unusual wrinkles — and it all fits together coherently.

All your site are belong to us

@Ironcore IIRC, Xbox had that policy during most of the Xbox 360 era. Nearly all the digital releases had demos, I think

@Diogmites Thanks for the heads-up about the glitch in Epyx Rogue. I just asked Pixel Games about this on X/Twitter. I am brand new to X and do not understand how it works. Somehow my message is not displayed, because I have not yet interacted enough? Anyway, I hope they get my question and provide some type of response somewhere.

@Vyacheslav333 Sincere congratulations on finishing Deadbolt. You might consider yourself a low-skilled gamer, but I think otherwise. Or perhaps I am a “very low skilled gamer!”

You’re right, the soundtrack is excellent. Quite evocative and perfectly suited for the Deadbolt setting. Might have been done by Chris Christodolou, who did the music for the Risk of Rain, also developed by Holoo as I think you mentioned.

I appreciate the “pro tips” as well. I actually walked away from Deadbolt right after completing a level that I found ultra challenging. I found that I had become rather tense and anxious playing the game. So , so I decided to call that milestone my “moral victory” and move on to something else.

I still think Deadbolt is brilliant — just a bit much for me to take I guess! Totally a “me” issue.

@_Figo_ Thank you you very much for your recommendation of Comet Striker DX! I played through the game for the first time today. Really well-designed game. Clever variety of challenges across the rooms and biomes.

A couple of subtle features tells me that the main developer/designer must be a long-time a Nintendo fan. One example, the doors right before the mini-bosses and level bosses are a nice “tribute” to Super Metroid.

@Solomon_Rambling

Regarding Deadbolt. I truly enjoyed the portion I played, which was into the second or third set of levels. I found it extremely, even viscously challenging. Still stuck with it for a good while, as I though the levels were clever and varied. And it was genuinely satisfying when I cleared a tough level (which were most of them).

Speaking as a 50+ gamer — Deadbolt requires lightning-quick reactions. So maybe this is a “me” problem to some degree. And yet, I did make a measure of real progress through the game.

In fairness, a decent amount of the challenge is puzzling out which route and weapons you want to attempt. This does not eliminate the need for super quick action, but is probably more than half the battle in the end.

Great game, would recommend for those with ample nerves — and ample resilience

@dkxcalibur Space Hulk, what a brutal game! Those gene-stealers would get right in your face and tear you to shreds!

I always thought the overwatch mechanic in that game was interesting. Maybe the first game I played that used overwatch, likely that was a rare feature for console games in the mid-90s. Obviously it was integral to the game, given the speed advantage that the gene-stealers had.

I never really explored the original Warhammer IP, but they’ve come out with some interesting games over the years.

@Grail_Quest

Yeah, I really loved the music in Guardian War. There is one piano-based song that was my favorite. I think I found it on YouTube a few years ago. Given the way that game is paced, some of those songs were really drilled into my head!

And I like the art style. I guess the character might he called chibi these days. I think the developer micro cabin made a handful of similar games over the next few years. Maybe one on the Sega Saturn as well?

Road Rash, oh gosh, another great soundtrack, but of course primarily licensed music. I think that was the first time I heard Soundgarden. And I still love those Hammerbox tunes. “You trip me like summer sunshine!” Their singer, Carrie Akre, occasionally pops up in other contexts. Once she sang on a Smithereens song, “House At The End Of The World.”

@Diogmites

Star Control 2, it’s one of those games where you can truly lose yourself in its world. The lore is elaborate to say the least. So many races to interact with, and a vast (printed!!) starmap to navigate. And a compelling action game at its core, featuring ships with real strengths and weaknesses. And back then, the 3DO version was not only the sole console version - it was the sole voiced version. The rights have been in legal hell for years, but I think there is an unofficial PC version called the Ur-Quan Masters.

One of the game’s creators actually called me in response to my fan letter. Just a singular experience all around. And I am not even a story-driven gamer in the first place.

Regarding Slayer. There is a rogue-like (rogue-like?) game called Barony. The core loop is far more severe than Slayer, but in terms of perspective and aesthetics it really reminds me of Slayer. Just rreid it the other day. I suspect my skills are too weak to do much of anything in Barony, especially from a first-person perspective - but you might want to check it out regardless. Seems Barony has a dedicated following.

@Grail_Quest @Diogmites

I had some good times with the 3DO also. Star Control II was a standout in so many ways. But I also enjoyed others.

Road Rash and Guardian Wars come to mind. The latter was what we’d now call a tactics or strategy RPG. Though I think it might have predated Final Fantasy Tactics.

Return Fire was a lot of fun. Great use of public domain music!

Some of the later games were interesting experiments in moving freely in a 3-dimensional space. Star Fighter was one, there also was some game where you used a jet pack. Ton of greyhound much more grey, and frame rates like a slide show — but it was still novel to have such freedom of movement.

Also, a dungeon crawler that played in real time called D&D Slayer. It looks very rough now, but at the time it was somehow very engaging.

Yoshiki Okamoto truky deserves one of these. Gyruss, Time Pilot, 1942 and others from the early arcade days… then Street Fighter 2… then his work on some of the PlayStation platforms (Genji: Dawn of the Samurai).

Really a fascinating career spanning decades. And a interesting personality as well. There is a great video on YouTube about him called “Big Dudes” or similar.

@AG_Awesome

Darmok and Sennaar at Nintendo Life

Indie games, when the scores fell.

@Greatluigi You are correct, many games in this genre have RNG elements, such as hit percentage. Front Mission takes it a bit further though.

There are four zones that can be damaged on units. IIRC, most of the time the player has no choice in targeting one part over another. Which is material, because getting the core to 0 HP is what kills the unit. Getting legs to 0 prevents movement. Killing the left arm disables the left weapon, same for right arm.

It is an interesting system, but can cause battles to be somewhat long. And one might argue it removes a certain amount of player agency vs. what you might expect in this type of game.

I seem to recall various tactics games mostly removing RNG from the equation, especially in recent years, but I can’t think of examples at the moment. Maybe Fell Seal?

Wise move.

Highly accomplished composer.

Thanks for this feature. I happened to have some credit remaining on the Japanese eShop from previous purchases, and decided to download this. (Found it on the “popular downloads” page, I think in first position.)

Lots of fun! No English in the game, but I found it entirely intuitive to understand. Basically combining two of a smaller fruit into a larger one, as shown on the circular guide on the right, until any of them come to rest “breaking the plane” of the top of the container.

FYI - the Japanese eShop currently has Falconeer for 100 yen. Grabbed that also.

@room_909 Nice cabinet! You might already know this, but there was a great “de-make” of Gaplus on one of the recent Namco compilations of NES (Famicom) games

@room_909 Thank you for the manual! I have not yet earned 1 millions points, but I will keep trying!

FYI, another action game I’ve been enjoying lately is a literal blast from the past — Bosconian, from 1981. For me it still holds up! Back in the day, I played a similar game in arcades, namely Time Pilot.

@room_909 Hello Mr. Miyazawa - I have been enjoying your game for a few days. Thanks for including TATE mode - it plays very well with my accessory that is similar to a Flip Grip!

I’m am a little confused about the badges. It looks like one of them appears after the game hits Level 15. I have triggered a few other badges also, but I do not understand how I’ve done that. I think one appeared after I ran through several laps quickly.

Can you give me some hints or explain the badge system? Though I realize you want players to figure it out!

Fun fact (if true) - Hyper Meteor might be the first ever port from PlayDate to Switch. Yes, it is a PlayDate game - part of their Season 1 collection, I believe.

Curious to see how it plays without the crank!

@JohnnyMind FYI - another worthwhile chess offshoot on Steam is Pawnbarian. Also a rogue-esque structure, but an entirely different setup than Shotgun King. Clever game in its own right, but I am not aware of any console versions.

There is also a chess-ish game on Steam called The Ouroboros King. I have not tried that one, though I see it has a demo available.