General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

Retr0gamer

I started with a C64 but don't have much love for it. There's a few games I really liked on it but the japanese games on the NES were just so much more polished and played better. They appealed much more to my tastes as well. Even when I got my next console, the gameboy, games like Mario Land 2, Kirbys Dreamland and Megaman 3 were a cut above the C64. Never did own a NES back in the day but always wanted one, same with the Super Nintendo.

I was always a massive fan of Capcom, Konami and Nintendo games, even when I didn't know about who made what games. They were never really on the systems I owned other than the Gameboy. The Megadrive got a few decent conversions of capcom games but their best stuff was on the NES and SNES. Konami didn't come to the megadrive until very late but once they did it was great. Rocket Knight Adventures was a piece of Konami magic that was just for us Megadrive owners and Probotector and Castlevania New Generation were way better than the SNES versions (fight me). And Treasure brought that Konami magic to the Megadrive as well.

I'm opposed to the nostalgia thing as well. A good game or bad game will stay that way forever. I've no real nostalgia for the SNES or NES having not owned them but love both systems and their libraries.

o1s1n

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

It's definitely cheaper, I bought Virtua Racing for my MD and it was something like £60, worth it but very expensive.

It was even more than that if you can believe it!

Was £70-£75 when it came out here. I remember seeing the price tag in Quinnsworth as a kid and couldn't possibly imagine how anyone could afford that much for one game.

I heard about the Neo Geo AES a few years later and almost feinted

Retr0gamer

You are talking to a 3DO owner you know.

1993 was a bad year for Ciderman. After putting £700 down on a new 3DO he had to trade in last years Rolls Royce and downgrade to a Bentley much to his own chagrin and endure the mocking remarks from the boys down the pantry owners club.

rubadub

I used to get my father to buy games in from the UK for me. It was a fair bit cheaper from what I remember. I think he possibly got out of the UK VAT somehow too.

I used to get compilations a lot which were better value, but the tape quality was even worse so there was nearly always some game that did not work, or was hard to load every time.

sniper_samurai

rubadub wrote: »

I used to get my father to buy games in from the UK for me. It was a fair bit cheaper from what I remember. I think he possibly got out of the UK VAT somehow too.

I used to get compilations a lot which were better value, but the tape quality was even worse so there was nearly always some game that did not work, or was hard to load every time.

Some of the charity bundles you used to get in Dixons were mad, usually cost about GB£60 for 4-6 games. Iirc there were 2 Help! bundles for the MD and one for PS1. Used to have a couple of good games in it like Sonic 1 or RoboCop vs Terminator and then some pish like Shaq Fu.

briany

The 3DO and CD-i couldn't have looked any cooler in 1993. In retrospect, it was lucky they cost so much, given what disappointments they both turned out to be.

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

You are talking to a 3DO owner you know.

1993 was a bad year for Ciderman. After putting £700 down on a new 3DO he had to trade in last years Rolls Royce and downgrade to a Bentley much to his own chagrin and endure the mocking remarks from the boys down the pantry owners club.

Was a great year, or at least 1994 was, the launch 3DO hooked up to my lovely ProLogic amp and speakers, as well as my lovely TV... All good here!
In 93 I had reinvested in a Megadrive as was having a ball!
And everyone in work thought I was a man child for still playing videogames at 21 anyways!

Inviere

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

In 93 I had reinvested in a Megadrive as was having a ball!

So that carry on was going on even that far back?

CiDeRmAn

Inviere wrote: »

So that carry on was going on even that far back?

Yes.
There was a time when I only owned one console at a time.
So I had an MD, then a Snes... then I moved back to Dublin and bought a MD again... Had that a year or two and bought the 3DO... then a PS, after that I owned an N64... but started hanging onto consoles then, with a PS once again joining the N64... Imported the DC.... Sold that and got a Saturn and a PS2... The collection then snowballed....

o1s1n

I've seen some interesting multi screen/console setups with the PS2 and the like, but didn't know you could do this.

5 screen Forza on the original xbox!

A dedicated screen for front, side and rear view, as well as one to view the overlal race. Absolutely insane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18UA-1YiCn4

CiDeRmAn

That's insane!
I don't love Forza enough to do it, but if there was a way to do it with PGR...

CiDeRmAn

The touch version of Boards is giving me weird vibes, throwing me into the earliest forum posts instead of the latest.
Some sort of database error.
What's kinda lovely is the stuff being posted here, 19 years ago, "what's your favourite SNES game" for example...

Tom Mann Centuria

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

The touch version of Boards is giving me weird vibes, throwing me into the earliest forum posts instead of the latest.
Some sort of database error.
What's kinda lovely is the stuff being posted here, 19 years ago, "what's your favourite SNES game" for example...

I do dip into some old threads but it's becoming increasingly annoying when it's ongoing for days/weeks though.

Thinking of SNES games, my neighbour had a SNES, I was a megadrive man, and I was always in awe of the super star wars games, they looked SO good when I got to play them.

sniper_samurai

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

The touch version of Boards is giving me weird vibes, throwing me into the earliest forum posts instead of the latest.
Some sort of database error.
What's kinda lovely is the stuff being posted here, 19 years ago, "what's your favourite SNES game" for example...

Another one I keep getting is empty post links. The gaming humour thread has been broken on touch for quite a while too, can't see new pages until the 3rd post of the page

Atavan-Halen

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

The touch version of Boards is giving me weird vibes, throwing me into the earliest forum posts instead of the latest.
Some sort of database error.
What's kinda lovely is the stuff being posted here, 19 years ago, "what's your favourite SNES game" for example...

Well it is the arcade and retro forum!

I’ve been getting that at lot too. It’s nice to look back over old posts though. Seems like everyone asking about emulation and now nearly 20 years later you can emulate almost everything on a phone in your pocket.

Retr0gamer

As long as nobody links to my very first post again...

DaveyDave

Anyone remember that little model Saturn that was due out in Japan that had an exploded view style of being displayed? Can't remember who's making them, think they were due out in March...

I hope I didn't miss out on getting one

sniper_samurai

DaveyDave wrote: »

Anyone remember that little model Saturn that was due out in Japan that had an exploded view style of being displayed? Can't remember who's making them, think they were due out in March...

I hope I didn't miss out on getting one

Bandai, they've been released. Seen a few videos of it floating around on YouTube.

Amazon Japan currently have this and the PlayStation models in stock for ~€36 each including shipping and VAT, buying both should reduce the shipping costs so will probably be closer to €65.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B07ZTDW238/

DaveyDave

sniper_samurai wrote: »

Bandai, they've been released. Seen a few videos of it floating around on YouTube.

Amazon Japan currently have this and the PlayStation models in stock for ~€36 each including shipping and VAT, buying both should reduce the shipping costs so will probably be closer to €65.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B07ZTDW238/

Thanks, I'll have to add them to the list alongside the PC Engine Mini

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

As long as nobody links to my very first post again...

Wouldn't dream of linking to it...

Not when I can quote it instead!

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Right listen to me cos I know what i'm talking about.
the two best games on ps1 and possibly ever are FF7 closely followed by Metal Gear Solid. FF7 wins out because it has the best story ever and nothing has ever come close to the experience metal gear solid delivers. Anyone who says otherwise obviously hasn't played these games. And ignore Prae.

Atavan-Halen

Right listen to me cos I know what i'm talking about.
the two best games on ps1 and possibly ever are FF7 closely followed by Metal Gear Solid. FF7 wins out because it has the best story ever and nothing has ever come close to the experience metal gear solid delivers. Anyone who says otherwise obviously hasn't played these games. And ignore Prae.

Retr0gamer

I started strong and stayed true to my style to this day.

briany

It's a bit annoying, if you like these mini consoles, that Nintendo still aren't coming out with an N64 version. That'd actually be something really worth buying, largely because of the included controller or controllers, as they've always been a strange animal and mapping them to an XBox controller on a PC has largely been crap.

It suggests to me that Nintendo can't be bothered to reverse engineer their own system and are secretly waiting until emulation has been perfected by hobbyists, even though they're publicly against that stuff.

o1s1n

I'd say it's a combo between the controller being a pain in the arse to manufacture and the fact that the games have not visually aged well at all.

The gigantic controller just wouldn't sit right with a mini console they can't really make it much smaller unless they completely overhaul it entirely.

I'd say a lot of folks who only have nostalgic memories of the N64 would get some shock as to how a lot of things look when they boot it up.

Retr0gamer

I think a big problem with the N64 is that it wasn't a good console. Very few games worth playing on it, and some of the biggies have aged very poorly.

Also no chance on Goldeneye being on it. But imagine releasing the N64 mini without it.

Also there's a big issue with the N64 and the target demograph. The NES and SNES have games that are all very pick up and play friendly. If this going to be the novelty gift item (lets face it, we aren't the target audience even if they throw in some nice rarities and bonuses our way) the early 3D nature of most N64 games means there's a certain learning curve to them. They aren't instantly understandable like a NES of SNES game is and modern refinements of 3D games and movement are missing.

briany

o1s1n wrote: »

I'd say it's a combo between the controller being a pain in the arse to manufacture and the fact that the games have not visually aged well at all.

The gigantic controller just wouldn't sit right with a mini console they can't really make it much smaller unless they completely overhaul it entirely.

I'd say a lot of folks who only have nostalgic memories of the N64 would get some shock as to how a lot of things look when they boot it up.

An often-said thing on this board is that a good game is a good game. I don't think the PS Mini failed so much because of its rude 3D graphics but because the choice of games was poor. I think we could get past the graphics if the games are right.

For example, Pilotwings 64 is still eminently playable, as is Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. Put in another 18 games for the system where the gameplay transcends the graphics and you've got yourself an N64 Mini.

o1s1n

As Retro mentioned above, unfortunately we're not the target demographic on this one.

Sprite based games are a lot more visually assessible than old 3D games. Even at that, a lot of folks would play the NES mini and think 'god, these look crap' and switch it off. I can't even imagine how many people would probably do that with the n64.

There's also the massive issue with the console that a lot of folks seem to overlook - there aren't actually that many good games for it.

I'd be hard pressed finding 20 games on the system that I'd enjoy playing anyway.

Inviere

briany wrote: »

It's a bit annoying, if you like these mini consoles, that Nintendo still aren't coming out with an N64 version. That'd actually be something really worth buying, largely because of the included controller or controllers, as they've always been a strange animal and mapping them to an XBox controller on a PC has largely been crap.

It suggests to me that Nintendo can't be bothered to reverse engineer their own system and are secretly waiting until emulation has been perfected by hobbyists, even though they're publicly against that stuff.

I don't think the hardware is there yet tbh, not in small form SOC's like they use on these cheap mini consoles. So while Nintendo could do it on more capable hardware, the cost goes up & up when you go down that route. It'd probably tank unless they can sell it for around €80 or so. Mapping N64 games to Xbox style controllers can be hit & miss, but there's very cheap options out there if you really want - link

o1s1n wrote: »

I'd say it's a combo between the controller being a pain in the arse to manufacture and the fact that the games have not visually aged well at all.

The gigantic controller just wouldn't sit right with a mini console they can't really make it much smaller unless they completely overhaul it entirely.

I'd say a lot of folks who only have nostalgic memories of the N64 would get some shock as to how a lot of things look when they boot it up.

They'd have to go down the 'redesigned' controller route, the original a bit of a disaster. The above linked controller gets the job done perfectly, so if Ninty did their own version of similar design, I reckon that'd sort that issue out. Regards the games visual ageing, this can be nullified somewhat by increasing the resolution of the game...but again it comes at a hardware cost. To run these games in small form 'Mini' factor, at even x2 resolution, with a redesigned controller, is NOT going to come cheaply...& I reckon that's why we haven't seen it.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I think a big problem with the N64 is that it wasn't a good console. Very few games worth playing on it, and some of the biggies have aged very poorly.

Also no chance on Goldeneye being on it. But imagine releasing the N64 mini without it.

Also there's a big issue with the N64 and the target demograph. The NES and SNES have games that are all very pick up and play friendly. If this going to be the novelty gift item (lets face it, we aren't the target audience even if they throw in some nice rarities and bonuses our way) the early 3D nature of most N64 games means there's a certain learning curve to them. They aren't instantly understandable like a NES of SNES game is and modern refinements of 3D games and movement are missing.

Very much this. An hour ago I started Super Mario 64 for the first time....with the last Mario game I played being Mario Odyssey...good god it's a difficult transition. The controls are awfully twitchy, the camera controls are a whole different skill to learn, and my right thumb is crying out for a thumbstick the whole time (I'm playing on one of those retro-bit N64 controllers). I can make allowances for the age of the game, but the pick up & play factor has been lost to time. Can't say I've enjoyed the first hour of it, but I'll go back to it tomorrow. Plus, that's playing at x3 times the resolution so no jaggies or anything...I'd say stock resolution coupled with the learning curve for the controls would NOT go down well on a Mini.

Inviere

Coincidentally...

johnny_ultimate

GameCube Mini or bust tbh.

That perfect little purple cube and those masterpiece controllers are crying out for a lavish, rom-packed replica.

Yes I know it’s probably not feasible or cheap, but I don’t bloody well care :pac: