Category: Video Game Musings

2000 Games By 2025?

Took a trip to a local store that sells retro game stuff… first time I came across this place and probably the last time I’ll be stepping foot in person. A bit of a shame, because it’s a nice looking place, got quite a bit of haul, and the people there are quite nice… but the parking in the area is quite shit and on top of that, this is near one of the major roads in Montreal and that road seems to be in a constant state of being under construction.

Continue reading “2000 Games By 2025?”

Gamecube Has Achievements… But Only In Emulation. (So It Really Doesn’t.)

Source: Time Extension article

So the Dolphin emulator – that thing that lets you play Gamecube and Wii games on computers and other things – has introduced an update that adds achievements to Gamecube games. So you can earn little “trophies” or “achievements” in Gamecube games much in the same way you can Steam, Xbox, and PS titles. Good for those who emulate this stuff, but kinda useless for those who play actual hardware, which is quite a few people, still.

I don’t know; I’ve never cared for achievements in the first place. There’s a nice optional thing to have and give the player some extra incentive, but beyond that, it’s not like you get anything worth a damn for achieving these feats in the first place. Still, if you care for such things and you emulate Gamecube, this might be worth pursuing until Nintendo comes along and extinguishes all the dolphins on Earth or something.

Gimmick Tables are delayed a week. Stuff came up recently and I’ve not gone ’round to ’em yet. But the reviews are on schedule, at least.

BOOK REVIEW – Doom Guy: Life in First Person (2023)

So I recently came across John Romero’s autobiographical book called Doom Guy: Life In First Person. The book delves into the obvious talking points; Romero’s early career, the formation of id Software and the subsequent creation of the many landmark games produced, his later career, and other things. There’s also the personal side of things that make the autobiographical stuff worthwhile; his upbringing, his view on things today, stuff like that. That stuff… well, your mileage is going to vary on that stuff, but the insights into the gaming stuff is what sold me on this book.

This is a better book than I was expecting. Part of it has to due with Romero possessing such keen insight and recollection of past events that very few people have. Oftentimes, whenever someone is pressed on past events, they’ll either provide a fuzzy recollection or they claim that they simply don’t recall. Romero doesn’t have that problem. Everything is written and retold with such detail that it’s almost as though he’s been writing this book his entire life. The only other book I could think that comes across as similar is the Bret Hart bio from ages ago.

Is there a possibility of some things being embellished or perhaps told from a certain point of view? Always, but that’s always the case with these things. I’ve read bios that were completely full of shit from page 1. I didn’t get that case here. I got Romero’s side of the story, it felt genuine, it felt like it came from the heart. And for what it’s worth, I’m on my fourth reading of the book. I don’t say that often for something I’ve read fairly recently.

All in all, Doom Guy gets a thumbs up from me. Tremendous read. Well worth checking out.

Closing Up Shop…

Bit of sad news around my neck of the woods, as the game merchant at the local swap meet will closing up shop after decades in business.

I hadn’t known about this until a chance trip yesterday. It’s been a while since I’ve been there due to other things coming up and when I got there, I noticed the area was considerably cleaner than before. Did the guy get robbed or something? But it turns out that he’s wrapping it up and… well, he had a big sale. Obviously missed out on some good stuff, but hey, I’ve got some stuff at least.

Obviously, I wished him all the best in whatever he decides to do next. I’m going to miss the occasional visits, just shooting the breeze, talking about our pets, and of course, getting some swag out of it.

So… that’s going to be a talking point on the Cast this coming Monday.

Street Fighter 6… Not For Me…

Sometime last year, someone asked if I had played or planned to review Street Fighter 6. This was the answer I gave them (more or less – the actual wording may have been different slightly…)

“Eh… still haven’t played it… or bought it for that matter… I don’t know. I have not been too inclined to pick up a new Street Fighter or fighting game unless it’s available for really cheap. Obviously, they cater this stuff more to the esports crowd or the online crowd, which I don’t care for. Not my deal.

“To me, a fighting game is something I pick up and play for a lark… and that was the neat about it back then. Yes, there’s a system of moves you can learn, but sometimes, it’s just fun having two people pop in a copy of Street Fighter II, we’re both playing Honda and who can get close enough to do the hundred hand slap for endless cheap hits while the other sap’s trapped in the corner.

“Little pleasures like that when you’re just playing for shits and giggles without really diving too deep into it… I enjoy some of these things, but you get to a point where there’s so much out there that you try them, but you ultimately go back to the familiar because I don’t know; they’re more fun to play. Everyone likes to praise Alpha 3, but I’ve always been partial to Alpha 2. That, to me, is the more fun game. More options; you have super combos and custom combos. Alpha 3 – they split that into seperate systems and I’m like… why?

“But yeah, I don’t know… maybe… I wanna get through the other Street Fighter games first because those seem more interesting… but… not much of an answer, but I don’t know… we’ll see.”

So that was the answer I gave… and it still holds a bit true today, but there’s one other thing that I don’t think I brought up… and that is the reality that Street Fighter 6… really doesn’t interest me. It’s not just the gearing towards the online, pro-gaming, e-sports crowds. But the game as a whole feels a bit… dull. None of the trailers hyped me up for the game. I could tell you that Street Fighter V, for all of its faults early on, at least had something that piqued my interest. It took me a while to get on that particular train, but there was something that had me go… yeah, I might want to give that a go when it’s cheap enough.

Street Fighter 6 hasn’t given me that moment where I’d want to give it a genuine shot. While I’m sure it’s a fine game and all, it simply doesn’t interest me. When it comes to reviews, I want to review things that are interesting to me or at least, when it comes to the more popular or well-known stuff, try to approach it from a different perspective of sorts. I’ve mentioned a bucket list of review subjects at one point and I can tell you that it’s a huge list dating back years. Some reviews are actually written and prepped to go, but there’s always that little something that goes “Eh, maybe not.” Trust me when I say that some of these reviews take years to put together, it’s not that farfetched.

Modern gaming is something that feels alien and foreign to me. A lot of stuff that I see coming out doesn’t seem all that exciting and I will admit that I have particular tastes when it comes to games. And if I want to try something outside my wheelhouse, I’d want it to be as cheap as possible. That’s why I veer much older these days. There’s plenty of stuff there that I haven’t sampled yet that genuinely excites me. The Jaguar stuff, while not the most exciting games – and really, it’s no secret that some of Jaguar’s best stuff came from 3rd parties and hopefully, there’ll come a point where I can cover those games somewhere down the line – but I did enjoy sampling the games featured on that Atari 50 compilation… yes, even the semi-rubbish ones.

In other news, someone suggested I do Zeebo – the Brazilian console that recently got emulated… as soon as I figure out how that shit works and whether it’ll be worth my while, I’ll let you know… but… as far as Street Fighter 6 goes… never say never… but at the moment, not anytime soon.

Sorry.

NWC Repro Cart Funded On Kickstarter… Are You An Idiot?

Source:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/c4videogames/nwc-35th-edition-a-new-developed-nes-pro-version/description
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/06/unofficial-nintendo-world-championships-cart-smashes-kickstarter-goal

Fans want to raise funds to produce a reproduction cart of Nintendo World Championships 1990… but this one comes with a pro feature.

In a day where Nintendo is sending cease-and-desist letters for pissing against the water flow, I think we sum up my thoughts with this video…

Thanks for nothing.

 

I Don’t Get DooM Lore…

So everyone remembers Doom, right? Revolutionary action game that popularized the first-person shooter and a timeless classic that holds up to this day, whether it’s played in its vintage form or via countless source ports and megawads? Good stuff. It’s one of the few games that sees regular play from me.

Back in those days, Doom lore was simple. You played some levels, you got a bit of text, and you beat the game, you got more text. Nobody cared about story in Doom. They just wanted to deathmatch and shit.

Nowadays, Doom has “lore” going back ages. Plain ol’ Doomguy, at some point, went crazy fighting demons and he became the Doom Slayer, the main hero for the recent Doom games. And the Slayer’s story came to an end with some DLC for the last game. Or so we thought.

Now we have Doom: The Dark Ages, which takes place in medieval times, but also features… the Doom Slayer. The same Doom Slayer who used to be Doomguy. The same Doomguy who used to punch Pinkies in the face with his fists after a Berserk power-up. Is there more to this story? Probably. Do I particularly care? Nope.

Listen, I’m sure the game will be fine and el dandy, but I may sit this one out. Doom 2016 was a thrill while it lasted and I never really could get into Eternal’s constant need for resource management when the whole thrill of Doom was shooting demons in the face. And so if you’re going to minimize the shooting in your shooting game… eh.

I do like that you have a shield. That’s a nice touch… we’ll see about the Dark Ages, which isn’t coming out for Switch – I’m guessing they’re holding off for the eventual release of the Knob next year to bring that game over. But for now, I’m fine sticking with classic Doomguy who was silent and wasn’t tainted by comic-inspired memes and shit.

Speaking of Doomguy, I recently picked up John Romero’s book. It’s a good read, you should check it out.

Classic II: Bloodsteined DLC That Doesn’t Need To Be DLC

Source: https://www.gog.com/en/game/bloodsteined_classic_mode_2

So IGA released another DLC for Bloodsteined and it’s another “Classic Mode” where you plays as Dominique and try to rebuild her power or something. Basically, this is their take on Simon’s Quest… or at least, that’s the assumption.

It’s a neat idea, I guess… but why release this as DLC? Why can’t it be its own thing? I’d be fine with it if it were free DLC like the original Classic Mode, but you’re charging a few bucks for this thing and I honestly don’t get why this needs to be tied to Bloodsteined?

I suppose I’ll have to reinstall Bloodsteined after all this time… once it’s available for cheap.

Rita’s Rewind… Or Mega Battle Mark 2?

Digital Eclipse is putting out a new MMPR beat-em-up, which sees Robo-Rita team up with not-robo Rita to defeat the MMPR because… sure, why not?

On the one hand, it’s a beat-em-up. It looks pretty slick. And the five-player (maybe six?) multiplayer should make things lots of fun. On the other hand, the on-rail shooter and driving segments are red flags that have me concerned. Certainly not sold on first-person Megazord.

Other than that, I’d say that I’m… cautiously optimistic. Though whether it’ll be a fun little game or the second coming of that Mega Battles game from years ago is something we’ll find out later this year.