I'm not dead.

So yeah, it's kinda hard for me to write lately. I have some ideas floating in my head so stay tuned...

The Nintendo eShop is a joke...

One of the worst things about Nintendo nowadays is their handling of digital distribution. What's so bad about it? Is it the prices? Is it the selection? No, it's that the games are bound to the hardware, meaning that if you lose your 3DS/Wii U or if they get stolen or if they are damaged beyond repair, YOU LOSE ALL THE DOWNLOADED GAMES ON THAT SYSTEM!

From Nintendo's tech support forums:

Since the games are tied to the Console and not to the Club account, Nintendo will not transfer them over. unfortunately, you either get to repurchase all the games or do not and move along. when i returned my original 3DS to Amazon to buy one somewhere else, I had no choice but to eat the cost of Link's Awakening as the transfer tool did not exist at the time. im sure the new owner of that 3DS is loving their free game :/

Now to be fair, the Wii and DSi had games that were bound to the hardware. Maybe Nintendo would correct their mistakes with the next systems, but that didn't happen. Nope. Not at all. It blows, considering the fact that Sony and Microsoft's DD policies are probably less strict than Nintendo's.

So unless Nintendo introduces an account system and makes the DD games bound to that instead of the hardware, I'll probably be skipping out on the 3DS and Wii U (or as another person said, the Wii Eww.)

The treasure box...

I was looking for some stuff in my mum's room when I came across a heavy white box. Inside were DOZENS of PS2 games as well as an original Xbox game and a PS1 game, all of which belonged to my older brother. To be precise, probably around 41 or 42 PS2 games were inside the box.

Some PS2 games include the all 5 PS2 GTA's, the first 2 Onimusha games, Star Ocean 3, DMC 1, The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Darkwatch, Resident Evil 4, Disgaea, etc. What I find strange is that some of them might've been played only a few times before ultimately being thrown aside for god knows how long. I must've seen my brother play Star Ocean 3 maybe once or twice before he ultimately called it quits for whatever reason. I'm not even sure if he played Disgaea at all.

If you're not gonna play a game a lot, then why not give it to someone else or sell it? The only reason I would keep games if it's because I can see myself playing them again in the future. If the game is frustrating or bad to you, then just sell it or give it to another person. There's no reason to keep games that you don't want to play (unless you using them as an "investment").

8th generation is too expensive.

So yeah, the prices of the Wii U (deluxe) is currently $350 while the Xbone & PS4 will cost $500 & $400 respectively.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

In current macro-economic conditions, those prices will be too steep. $400 might've been acceptable back in 2006, but probably not so much in this day & age. The $500 XB1 price tag sounds ridiculous back in 2006, but now, it'll severely cripple the sales of the system. After that, there's still having to pay a pretty penny for games and additional controllers.

As for the Wii U, if it weren't for that stupid ass gamepad, the deluxe version might have the same original price as the Wii's ($250) or possibly even cheaper like that.

Let's take the PS4 for example. $400 for the system, which will no doubt include a controller and other necessary stuff. Want a few more controllers for split-screen? Gotta pay $60-$180 more (not including tax!) Now for playing online, gotta pay $50 a year for that shit. Lastly, the games. Expect the games to still be at least $60 at least, not to mention the potential of higher game prices this gen.

So, yeah that's around at LEAST $570, not including tax.

For almost the same amount, you can get:

A Super NES with 2 controllers
Super Mario World
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
Super Metroid
F-Zero
Star Fox
Donkey Kong Country
Mega Man X
U.N. Squadron
Super Street Fighter II
Axelay
TMNT IV
Contra III
Final Fantasy II
Secret of Mana

Taito Legends 2 Part 2

    As I promised, here's part 2 of my post. Here's some games that make the collection worth owning:

Sorry that the vids are small. I'm still re-familiarizing myself with blogger.


Metal Black (1991) - Although the very start of the intro intro states it as "Project Gun Frontier 2", Metal Black is very different from Gun Frontier. In Gun Frontier, you can change the bomb's area of impact depending on your movement. In Metal Black, you don't have bombs, but you can fire a huge beam if your ship's weapon gets powerful enough by collecting newalone molecules. In fact, you can do "beam duels" against an enemy that can also utilize these molecules. The user with the stronger beam wins the duel (keep tapping that fire button). Metal Black is better than Gun Frontier since it doesn't have the annoying checkpoint system that the latter has (every time you die in Gun Frontier, you start off at the last checkpoint you came across). Not only that, but the ship in Metal Black feels faster than the one in Gun Frontier. The gameplay mechanics in Metal Black are unusual for the time, but they work pretty well and it's actually fun doing the beam duels. Last, but not least, Metal Black has some pretty nice graphics and sound for a 1991 arcade game.

Grid Seeker: Project Storm Hammer (1992) - Yes, another shmup, but in this one, you can choose between 3 aircraft. You can choose between the F-14X fighter jet (fastest, but also the weakest in firepower), the AH-64F Attack Chopper (well rounded), and the B-2AT Stealth Bomber (slowest, but also has the strongest firepower). Somewhat similar to the R-Type games, your aircraft has an item (the GRID) that can help protect your aircraft from enemy fire and has offensive capabilities of it's own. What's different though is that the GRID will always be equipped no matter what. Even if you die, you still have it. Not only that, but you get additional bombs by having firepower hitting your GRID item. Unfortunately, the game is pretty tough due to having a checkpoint system and the fact that you lose your power-ups when your ship is destroyed.

Growl (1990) - Now this is an interesting Beat Em' Up in terms of premise. You play as 1 of 4 rangers and you go around beating up poachers and rescuing animals, which can help you fight against the poachers. I'm not making this up. I'm really not. There's also various items you can use such as pipes, whips, pistols, etc. What's cool is that even if you have a firearm that has no ammo, you can still use it as a melee weapon. The only thing I don't like is that the 2P version is used
instead of the 4P version in the PS2 version of the collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Elevator Action 2 (also Elevator Action Returns) (1994) - This is no doubt one of my favorite games in the collection. The game is a HUGE improvement over the original. In fact, it actually feels like a completely different in some parts. The basic premise is the same though. You have to go in all the red doors and then to the end of the stage. You can pick between 3 characters, Kart, Edie, and Jad. Kart is the fastest, but has average health and he fires his gun slower than the other 2 characters do. Edie fires her guns the fastest, but her health is low and her speed is average. Jad has the most health, but is the slowest and he fires his gun at an average speed. You can also use bombs, which differ depending on which character you're using. Kart uses hand grenades, Edie uses fire bombs, and Jad uses motion sensor bombs. Overall, this is probably one of my favorite arcade games in general. There's really no major flaws to speak of and the game brings in a lot of new stuff while preserving the spirit of the original.

 

        

 

 

 

 

Gekirindan (1995) - Also one of my favorite games on the compilation. You pick from 1 of 3 ships, each with a different pilot and a default fire pattern, the latter of which can be changed or upgraded via power-ups. It's quite conventional, but the time travel aspect is pretty cool. It reminds me of TimeSplitters since each stage takes place in a different time period and that the plot is pretty much the villains utilize time travel in order to take over the world. What's also cool is that each stage has a different remix of the stage 1 theme, which might sound repetitive at first, but all the remixes are good in their own right. 

 

      

 

 

 

Puchi Carat (1997) - If you can stomach the cutesy anime style graphics, this is actually a pretty good game. It's basically a mixture of Bust-A-Move and Breakout. You control a paddle and you hit gems as they get lower and lower into the playfield. If your ball falls below your paddle, you don't lose a life, but more gems will be added into the playfield. The arcade version is used for the collection as always, but the PSX version adds some additional features so if you really like the game, be sure to get it if you have a PAL or JPN PSX.

 

 

 

 

 

G-Darius (1997) - Without a doubt my favorite game on the collection and one of my favorite arcade games and shmups in general. The music, mostly new-age techno, is great and does a good job of giving off a sci-fi feel. The graphics, although they are PSX-quality, still manage to hold up today very well considering that many 32-bit 3D games haven't aged too well. The gameplay is great. You can actually capture an enemy ship and have it support you as long as you have at least one capture ball. You can even use the captured enemy as a bomb, which will blow up any enemies and absorb any enemy fire within the explosion radius. Like in Metal Black, you can also do "beam duels" against bosses. To win, keep tapping the fire button like mad once it collides with the boss's beam. However, you must first have a captured enemy so that you can use it to power your beam.

 

 







Taito Legends 2 Part 1

A few years ago, I was at a local game shop not too far from where I live. I saw this bad boy for around $5-10 used. With a few dozen or so arcade games included, I couldn't resist. I started playing the games on this compilation again after a while, so a lot is new to me again.

Back in the 80's and 90's, Taito was just one of the many big companies out there that made arcade games along with Namco, Capcom, Konami, etc. Besides Bubble Bobble, Space Invaders, and Puzzle Bobble, a lot of their arcade games aren't as popular as say, Konami's or Capcom's, but many of them are pretty good to this day.

Whereas the first Taito Legends only goes up from the 70's/80's and into the very start of the 90's, Taito Legends 2 goes from the late 70's to the mid and late 90's. The later games such as Gekirindan, Puchi Carat, and G-Darius are the highlight of the collection.

There's a total of 44 games, but only 39 are on each version of the game. The PS2 version has Balloon Pop, Syvalion, Raystorm, and G-Darius. The Xbox and PC versions have Cadash, Rayforce, Bubble Symphony, and Pop'n Pop. It's a bit strange, but emulation issues may have something to do with it. Even so, there's so many games on here that the people behind this compilation made it so that you can make a favorites list if you want.

In terms of genres, there's quite a few represented. Sports, Puzzles, Platformers, Beat Em' Ups, and Shmups, the last of which is unsurprisingly Taito's specialty. There's no driving games though and the one fighting game included (Violence Fight) isn't that great.

So, how good are the games? I haven't really played any of the ones on this collection from before 1985 so I don't know about them. However, the games from the mid and late 80's are a mixed bag. Cameltry, Raimais, and Don Doko Don are enjoyable, but Kuri Kinton and Violence Fight aren't very fun to play. I have mixed feelings about Syvalion, it has great graphics and awesome music (courtesy of Zuntata), but it's very frustrating when your huge dragon-ship thing gets surrounded by small enemies and you have little time to react.

Unlike the mid-late 80's games, the 90's games are mostly enjoyable. Growl and Dungeon Magic are enjoyable Beat Em' Ups, but they only support up to 2 players, which hampers the enjoyment somewhat. Metal Black, Grid Seeker, Space Invaders DX and 95', Darius Gaiden, Gekirindan, and G-Darius are all awesome. The only 90's games in this compilation that I don't like is Gun Frontier and Majestic Twelve (it's a Space Invaders remake). Cleopatra Fortune and Puchi Carat are pretty good too.

All in all, if you're even remotely a fan of arcade games (especially shmups), pick this collection up. You won't be disappointed. In part 2, I'll talk about a few of the better games that make this collection worth owning.

I'm back.

After almost 4 years of nothing, I'm finally back. I noticed that this blog is still getting some views, so I've decided to continue making posts for it.