Neo Geo games have always been around me. Growing up, I would always see a big red cabinet in most arcades and in movie theaters. When I got to college, the arcade there had a MVS system with all four slots loaded. I believe they were Puzzle Bobble 2, Metal Slug 3, Neo Geo Cup '98 (was very popular), and King of the Monsters. In addition, there would always be a dedicated cabinet for an SNK related game. Next city over, there was an arcade dedicated to Japanese arcade games, and there were SNK/Neo Geo games a-plenty!
Neo Geo X
So over the last 5 years I've always had a small desire to own a Neo Geo AES. You know, to get the full arcade experience, but at home. Every few months I would get the wanting desire to get one, which would lead me to go on eBay and check the collections that were being auctioned off, hoping to see one that has a good bundle of games, controllers, and the console with all of its cables and accessories. So far, I never pulled the trigger and got one. The collections were either not fully complete for what I wanted or were too expensive.
Same goes with the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Always wanted to get one, but never went forward with a purchase.
The closest I would get is owning ports for Neo Geo games on the PS1, PS2, and PS3. But now, enters the Neo Geo X. This device looks to be the item that combines everything related to Neo Geo in one great package. First, you get a portable version of the Neo Geo. This is like having a NGPC, but it includes the real games, and not some watered down versions for portable consoles. Next, you're able to connect the hand held to a device that looks like an AES that allows you to play games on a TV. And finally, you can get some arcade sticks to get the arcade experience!
I know it's not the same as owning an actual AES, but things can get expensive really fast. Neo Geo X looks to be the next best thing that will meet all my SNK needs without having to blow tons of cash and having a very modest collection to show for it. I hope to get one sometime in the near future.
Bonus: If you're not too familiar with the background of Neo Geo, here's a documentary about the company that made it, SNK.
Earlier this month I went and purchased the pre-order for Duke Nukem Forever. But not just the regular edition, oh no. I purchased the Balls of Steel Edition for the PS3 and I can’t wait to get my grubby hands on it and play it!
To be honest, I haven’t been this excited for a new release for a while now. I guess I’m just glad to finally play the game that’s been in development for over a decade! Whether it’s good or not, I just want to play a game that has the spirit of gaming that was extremely popular in the 90s, but with an updated gameplay experience that should be able to be played well on a television with a console. This is something I believe will be a unique gameplay experience because of its incredibly long development timeline. Back then, this screenshot blew my mind! I can remember when I started following the development for DNF. It was November/December 1999. I was in high school at the time and in my C++ programming class. Our teacher was out and a substitute was in charge for a few days. A sub that had no idea what we were doing and probably didn’t care. With this knowledge, all of us students started slacking off and began surfing the web. I believe it was Gamespot that posted a retrospect about the Duke Nukem franchise to get things hyped up because 3D Realms had recently released about a dozen screenshots for the upcoming Duke Nukem Forever game; which I was totally blown away by!
Vegas, Area 51, Hover Dam! Are you kidding me! We get to run around all of these locales and just go nuts! The levels even seemed to accurately duplicate their real world counterparts. Back then, I believe those screenshots were captured when the game was being developed with the Unreal engine, so at the time, everything looked incredibly real with high details. At the time, who would have know the game would be ready for release by 2011! Bonkers.
Shortly after getting my pre-order, I got the itch to play Duke Nukem 3D again, but this time for reals. Back then, I mainly played Duke Nukem on my PS1 because my PC was already beginning to show its age, and the PS1 version was my best way of playing the game. Today, my PC is well over qualified to run the game, so I purchased the Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition from the 3D Realms website and got to playing it right away. The cool thing was that they had the game running on docbox, so I didn’t have to worry about hardware/software compatibility issues. But the problem was the controls. They did not follow the WASD style and was incredibly hard to play. I could have tweaked the configuration files for docbox to resolve this, but it looked overly complicated and I didn’t want to take the time to figure out how to remap the keyboard.
Luckily for me, there is a great organization out there that has already created another wrapper for DN3D. And for free! I highly, HIGHLY, recommend you use EDuke32. This will not only remap the keyboard layout to the way you’d expect it to, but it cleans the graphics up and makes everything look super crisp and clear. Kudos!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to kick some alien butt. Hail to the king, baby!
It has been out for a few weeks now, but the most recent GameSpite Quarterly book is a retrospective about the PlayStation. “GameSpite Quarterly 8: Playstation, 15 Years Later,” covers the history of the original Playstation. The book covers all sorts of topics including: games, hardware, and other things surrounding the gaming console which dominated the later half of the 90s. I’m highly recommending this book because it covers just about anything you may want to know about the PlayStation.
Before I go any further into talking about GSQ8, let me describe what GameSpite is. GameSpite is a personal website/blog from a 1up.com gaming journalist named Jeremy Parish. He also hosts a podcast titled Retronauts Live, which they talk about classic games, consoles, and game franchises. For the last few years now, GameSpite has put out a seasonal book named GameSpite Quarterly. The book is a series of essays written by a number of writers who contribute to each book. They will include their own personal experiences with their writeup as well, so some articles have a bit of personality included with it. Each book has a different topic. For example, GSQ1 was a retrospective about the Game Boy, GSQ2 was about 8-bit heroes, and GSQ6 was about the most under appreciated* games of all time.
GSQ8 is a humongous 436 page book, tightly compacted with great articles and images. They really outdid themselves this time with beautiful layouts, allowing more graphics to be spread throughout the book. Although, it is a shame that the book is only in black-and-white and not in color. I would have gladly payed a bit more to have a version with color. Oh well, I guess that’s some of the limitations of print-on-demand publishing. Included below are some photos of the book. Click here for a 15 page preview.
The book is broken down into five main sections, each of which covers a main timeframe of the console’s life: I. PlayStation: Sony’s Big Ploy II. The Launch: Sony Delivers III. PlayStation Takes the Lead IV. The Golden Age of PlayStation V. PS401K: PlayStation Retires
The book can be purchased as either a softcoveror a hardcover edition and both include the exact same content (I noted this because the hardcover usually includes more content). Click here if you’re interested in purchasing the book. But the great thing about GameSpite is that they will eventually post every article that was in the book onto the website. They release the articles over the span of a few months, so probably July/August is when every piece will be posted online. I purchased the softcover edition and have been enjoying the book very much. For starters, I have never heard of Tobal No. 1 before, but now I’m totally interested in getting a copy. And I never knew Namco’s light gun was super accurate because they connected the gun straight into the video cable. Crazy stuff!
"I wanna know where was the giant frat/sorority party in Washington DC that let out and let all those kids flood Pennsylvania Avenue? It was just a bunch of D-bag dudes and, like, hot chicks that were chanting U-S-A at the gates. It was weird!" -- Matt Smith
Oh American youth, you're so dumb. But so rad at the same time. Glad to see Hulkamania was being represented at the White House. This one dude will forever be etched into my memory of all the coverage I saw relating to this event.
Five new games for the Dreamcast, plus other special sega purchases.
ChuChu Rocket! This adorable puzzle game has you guiding ChuChus (space mice) to a rocket ship before they get captured by KapuKapus (space cats). I love this game because it follows the rule of simplicity. Simple interface, gameplay, graphics, and controls. In addition, the game included an online mode, which at the time, was still new to consoles. I also purchased the iOS version for the iPhone. Which is also great because it’s redesigned for a touch screen interface and includes a crap ton more levels than the original Dreamcast version.
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Arcade boxing that gives a solid feeling of happiness when you finally knock your opponent out.
Dead or Alive 2 I don’t need to add much here because of its popularity, but I saw it for 5 bucks, clean and near mint condition.
Virtua Tennis Before playing this game for the first time on the Dreamcast, my first and only tennis game that I played was Mario Tennis for the Virtual Boy. That game was fun, but it lost its crown when I played Virtua Tennis on the DC.
Mars Matrix I always heard a lot about this game and how it’s a great shooter. I saw it the other day at a local used game store for nearly half of what it normally goes for on eBay, so I snatched it up.
Now, for the (+). In addition to these Dreamcast purchases, I also bought some other Sega items. Without further ado, I present to you...
BOOM! Yeah, that’s right. I did it. I got the Sega CD and the 32X and then slammed them together on my Genesis to form the Sega Voltron / tower of power / or whatever the kids call it these days.
First off, yes, I’ve seen the AVGN videos about the Sega CD and 32X, so I don’t need anyone replying back with those videos. But yeah, this thing is a beast! Just to give it power, I needed to buy a special surge protector that has the outlets facing to the side of the device because the Genesis and its two add-ons have those transformer plugs. On top of that, there are a ton of cables coming out of the back of this thing once you got everything connected together. But all the woes of this beast goes away once you start playing games for it.
The Sega CD. I wanted this as a kid, but I knew I could never get it because of its price. It also was a bit odd because it wasn’t a full console, but an add-on to one. The Sega CD was the original reason why I decided to bring my Genesis out of storage and bring it back to life. I mean “back to life” because it was stored in a room that was not insulated very well and was exposed to the outside environment. For years it dealt with cold and wet winters and hot and dry summers. After all of this punishment, the only thing that needed maintenance was the connection slot where the cartridge inserts into. After that, it’s been working great which allowed me to get a Sega CD from eBay. There is a specific reason why I bought a SCD and that is because of a little unknown game called Snatcher.
I became obsessed with playing this game once I’ve heard it as a topic of discussion during an episode of the Retronauts podcast. I paid a premium to get this game, but the purchase was made over a year ago, so the initial pain of this highly priced game has already come and gone. I’ve only played about the first twenty minutes or so, and it’s next on my play list after I am finished playing with 999 for the DS.
In addition to Snatcher, I got a few more SCD games. They’re mentioned below.
Sewer Shark I don’t understand why most people like to poop all over this game. I love its cast of silly characters and its simplistic gameplay. Catfish is a big plus because of its personality and its southern accent.
Road Rash Yeah! I love Road Rash! But not on the SCD! This version of a great franchise is not good. The only positive thing I can give this game is its licensed soundtrack. This game came out in 1995, so it includes a soundtrack of grunge and metal bands like, Soundgarden, Paw, Therapy?, and swervedriver.
The Adventures of Batman and Robin The gameplay consists only of driving either the Batmobile or the Batplane. It’s cool because it uses the pseudo-3D gaming that was all the rage before the 32-bit systems started to use polygons for 3D gaming. The cutscenes have the same hand drawn animated style like the television series had, so the cutscenes are sometimes considered to be the “lost episode.”
Finally we have the Sega 32X. The poor man’s entry into 32-bit gaming and would be the final add-on to the Genesis. I have something to note about the 32X. Did it have bad hardware? No. Was it a console that needed to come out? No. The games for the 32X were not bad, but the console should have never came out in the first place. Check this link out for a great article on the history for the 32X. In the end, the 32X is okay in my book and deserves a place in my gaming library. Below is a game I got for it.
Virtua Racing Deluxe This.game.is.great! I loved Virtua Racing as a kid in the arcades and this is a near perfect port for it to the home console. Not only does it contain all of the original tracks and cars, but it has more of them! If you want a game that has just the core rules of racing that only last a few minutes at a time, then this is the one to get.
And there you have it! I guess my “Dreamcast Collection Update” blog entries will soon turn into a “Sega Collection Update.”
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The primary game I’ve been playing as of late is 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors for the DS. It’s one of those visual novel games for which I’ll admit I have never played before, but let me tell you that I am very impressed with!
The game originally caught my attention when LiK wrote a review for it. Shortly there after I went to a few local electronics stores to get my own copy of the game, including a few Gamestops. I didn’t know this game was going to be so freakin’ hard to find! I eventually found one at a Gamestop with only one copy left in stock. It was hard to find not because it’s a popular game, but because it’s a game that was not published in high volumes here in the US. A Gamestop employee told me that 999’s distribution is similar to that of the game The World Ends with You. “It’s a sleeper hit, so we’ll probably never see a second print.” I don’t if what he said was true, but whatever. I found my copy.
With the transaction made I headed home to charge my DS (I don’t play it a whole lot). After reading the instruction booklet I really did not know if I would enjoy this type of gameplay. But any doubt went away after I popped in the cart and started playing the game. From start to end, I’ve been mainly impressed by: the story, the art, and gameplay. Obviously visual novels are extremely text heavy, so I thought the story would be linear, but I never thought the choices you make in the game would dramatically change how the story would progress. This leads to a high replay value, which is what I am currently doing. I’m currently on my 5th play-through and I’m still impressed with the story!
Oh, by the way, the story has a creepy/horror theme to it, which is what originally hooked me. Here's a trailer for the game.
Finally, as a side to all of this, I loved the game so much that I went on eBay and bought the limited edition watch that came with pre orders. Jeez, what a nerd I am! I don't plan to wear the watch now because 1) it's very difficult to put on because of two overly flexible metal straps and 2) it's incredibly heavy! Oh well.
watch
watch on wrist
I might do a review for it soon, so check that out sometime in the future.
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I don't think anything good could come from calling that number.
Yeah, within the last month or so, about one half of my morning route to work has been littered with these signs. Just about every intersection till I get to the freeway has one.
But hey, maybe I'm wrong. This guy could be legit, right?
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