What are you playing?

[Svejk]

Not Dirt 2.0. Dirt Rally 2.0. If that’s what you meant I apologize.

And yeah my whole is…Ridge Racer deserved to die and frankly doesn’t need to be brought back. It offers nothing to the table like other arcade racers like Daytona or Outrun. It’s got a hot Japanese bitch and good music. That’s it.

Yeah, I meant Dirt Rally 2.0. My bad.  I did download it and gonna try it tonight.  Been watching a bunch of WRC that's going on right now. They just wrapped Croatia.  These drivers have balls of solid rock.

[Himu]

Not Dirt 2.0. Dirt Rally 2.0. If that’s what you meant I apologize.

And yeah my whole is…Ridge Racer deserved to die and frankly doesn’t need to be brought back. It offers nothing to the table like other arcade racers like Daytona or Outrun. It’s got a hot Japanese bitch and good music. That’s it.

Yeah, I meant Dirt Rally 2.0. My bad.  I did download it and gonna try it tonight.  Been watching a bunch of WRC that's going on right now. They just wrapped Croatia.  These drivers have balls of solid rock.

I’ve seen some of their stuff lately and yeah. Also they have like a billion different sheets on their helmets. It’s insane.



 

[bork]

Which would you rather play?

Ridge Racer, but I have found over the years that I'd rather play Daytona or other Sega arcade racers over the Namco ones.  I was never much for Wipeout and speaking of boring, sims are to me.

Gonna be different for everybody.

I used to not like sim racers either. I’m just explaining why Ridge Racer died. Clearly there’s not something for everyone if Ridge Racer died because there would have been audience for it. Instead, it died. Tries to be realistic, but it’s a sim but also isn’t that arcade-y like Wipeout. Plus they milked the shit out of the games and put them on every system at launch. Just a boring racing franchise without its own identity.

All the Japanese arcade racers pretty much died. 

RR never tried to be realistic and is pure arcade.  I don't know what you mean there.  It's identity is that it's Ridge Racer- those games all have a certain look and feel to them.  I can't say I ever liked playing them with the car view, though- gotta play RR games in first-person.

[Himu]

Which would you rather play?

Ridge Racer, but I have found over the years that I'd rather play Daytona or other Sega arcade racers over the Namco ones.  I was never much for Wipeout and speaking of boring, sims are to me.

Gonna be different for everybody.

I used to not like sim racers either. I’m just explaining why Ridge Racer died. Clearly there’s not something for everyone if Ridge Racer died because there would have been audience for it. Instead, it died. Tries to be realistic, but it’s a sim but also isn’t that arcade-y like Wipeout. Plus they milked the shit out of the games and put them on every system at launch. Just a boring racing franchise without its own identity.

All the Japanese arcade racers pretty much died. 

RR never tried to be realistic and is pure arcade.  I don't know what you mean there.  It's identity is that it's Ridge Racer- those games all have a certain look and feel to them.  I can't say I ever liked playing them with the car view, though- gotta play RR games in first-person.

Ridge Racer has no identity.

Gameplay wise it’s not looking for realism. There’s better and more arcadey racers. Drifting is a big emphasis but almost all arcade racers from Outrun 2 to Initial D games to Wangan, Sonic Racing, Mario Kart feature drifting and many of these games do it far better than Ridge Racer. RR’s track design is pedestrian even for arcade racer standards with most tracks being a simple loop with a few S curves and maybe a hairpin. While it’s an arcade racer it’s more on the realistic side of the things than say Daytona or OutRun. So because it’s on the more realistic side it can be fairly compared to games like Gran Turismo and those games stomp RR in every category.

Ridge Racer is a master of none franchise and it’s mid. It deserved to die unless the multitude of arcade racers. A casualty of absolute mediocrity. It’s also why I think despite Namco bringing back Ace Combat it hasn’t done the same with Ridge Racer.

There’s a reason Type R is the one RR people talk about and it’s because it’s the one that’s not fucking boring. It’s creative, unique, has a memorable story mode in a genre that’s infamous for not having story at all. It has replay value out the ass despite whether flaws it has and besides the original it’s the only Ridge really worth caring about. And then they ditched that story mode and aesthetic nearly immediately.

[Polident Hive]

Think Ridge Racer died because of a series of bad release models.

PSP game was a successful revival. Just called Ridge Racer in most countries. Followed up with Ridge Racer 6 on Xbox 360. Then basically an expansion pack for PSP came out as Ridge Racer 2. That was followed by a PS3 expansion port of Ridge Racer 6 called Ridge Racer 7. That’s about when I checked out. I didn’t hear much about the 3DS game. Vita release was some DLC model. Also, like often that generation, a western team made an entry with thin similarities to the rest of the series.

[Himu]

Right. Not only was it a mid franchise they also milked it

[bork]

I think what Polident said is probably right since for whatever reason, Namco decided that ridge racer always needed to be a launch game and following ridge racer 6, it started to seem lazy with what they were doing. The Vita version was absolutely awful with its DLC practices and bad frame rates.

I think the best game that came out post ridge racer 6 is ridge racer 2 on PSP. It's just a remix game but it was done really well. You can get it on PS5 now. I'm not sure about PS4.

But no identity?  Nah.  Ridge Racer definitely stands out as one of the best arcade racers of its time. The first four to five games were really good. I was not big on ridge racer 5 on PS2 and imo it started declining from there, with the PSP games being the bright spots following this.  RR6 and RR7 are just variations of the PSP games from a gameplay standpoint.

[Nintex]

They were developing a Ridge Racer game for Switch at Namco Bandai Singapore, which was basically the former Star Wars 1313 studio that was also co-developing Metroid Prime 4.
Both games got canned(?)

[Himu]

I think what Polident said is probably right since for whatever reason, Namco decided that ridge racer always needed to be a launch game and following ridge racer 6, it started to seem lazy with what they were doing. The Vita version was absolutely awful with its DLC practices and bad frame rates.

I think the best game that came out post ridge racer 6 is ridge racer 2 on PSP. It's just a remix game but it was done really well. You can get it on PS5 now. I'm not sure about PS4.

But no identity?  Nah.  Ridge Racer definitely stands out as one of the best arcade racers of its time. The first four to five games were really good. I was not big on ridge racer 5 on PS2 and imo it started declining from there, with the PSP games being the bright spots following this.  RR6 and RR7 are just variations of the PSP games from a gameplay standpoint.

I said as much last page before Polident so I already agree.

Looking back it’s a mid franchise.5, 6, 7 are who cares status and they raced (lol) each gen to release the games on fresh hardware and therefore were unable to take full advantage of the systems.

It’s a combination of being lazy launch games with nothing to say or offer to the racing game world on top of being boring compared to the competitors. Combined with the fact that gen was already hard on arcade racers and it was a wrap.

What is Ridge Racer’s identity, Bork? When you think of Burnout you think of crashes. NFS? Street cars. Gran Turismo? Racing simulator. Twisted Metal? Weapons and mayhem. Wipeout? Speed. When I think of Ridge Racer the first thing I think of is drifting and drifting isn’t unique to Ridgr racer. Every racer has drifting. GT has drifting in rally tracks and there’s drift challenges. Then there’s other races that do drifting better than Ridge Racer. Mario Kart, Initial D games. Almost all arcade racers are about drifting as a main conceit. So what its famous for it’s not even the best at. It’s just a mid franchise that rested on its laurels, put out mediocre games, didn’t stand out from the pack, and got lazy to be defined as launch game fodder.

[Bebpo]

Himu, sure I can't tempt you for some SaGa Emerald Beyond?

[Bebpo]

Just finished my 4th of the 5 characters in the game. Was really good. The game is so obscure it's tough to really gauge some of the scenarios that feel unfinished as people haven't found the unlocks to trigger their potentially more full scenario.

But at least one character, Siugnas the Vampire Lord has a full good 20+ hour scenario that would feel at home in something like SaGa Frontier 1. Very fun run, great MC, good amount of story, good length to build up a party with mechanics unique to his scenario. Just overall very quality.

My opinion of Emerald SaGa basically went like this:

1st character clear - 8/10
2nd character clear - 8/10
3rd character clear - seeing the flaws in the game, getting kind of repetitive, feeling maybe more like a 7/10 rpg
4th character clear - damn, this is great, game is getting better the more you play and see the world lore from different sides and get the hang of the gameplay, more like an 8.5/10

But the game is crazy RNG-fest. More than any other turn-based rpg/srpg I've ever played. There is so much RNG that factors into every battle and can make the ultra hard bosses easy for some players and impossible for others just depending on RNG-gods each turn.

[demi]

weekend gaming:

- Advent Rising (Xbox) (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136564395 )

Oldheads will know I stanned this game when I was younger, but replaying it now I definitely see a lot of issues with the game. I still think they should continue this, especially since Donald Mustard is a quintrillionaire after working on Fortnite... but it is what it is. Gideon will never come back from the moon

- Conker: Live and Reloaded (Xbox) (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2138153910 )

Still a fun time. Some dips (caveman world, war level) but otherwise still great. I still prefer the N64 version, the bleeps really take a lot away from the shitpost humor

[Himu]

Demi turning on Advent Rising?!

Himu, sure I can't tempt you for some SaGa Emerald Beyond?

(Image removed from quote.)

Who is that game for, Meth heads?

[benjipwns]

Like I'm not saying you're wrong Demi. It's an old ass clunky early era console FPS. I can totally buy that the game sucks now. But just saying I still vaguely remember the PS2 generation and Black was one of those regularly brought up in conversations games about "hidden gems" and how everyone should play it. Shooters on PS2 generally felt bad because the analog sticks were awful for FPS games, and I guess I didn't have an Xbox yet when it came out, so wasn't my thing  and never played it beyond the demo I think.

Black has lousy AI, just watch demi playing the first level. The game only is hard in spots because it throws mobs of bad guys and grenades at you. It's a lot like the Call of Duty campaigns in that regard. demi's on normal but hard is just making the bad guys damage you more and take more damage.

Though I noticed demi's not hunting for all the spectacle of things that can blow up, just targeting the enemies. Whenever the crosshair turns black that's a thing you can shoot to blow up. The "secondary objectives" are mostly all "shoot this thing so it blows up awesomely." Doing all those doesn't really extend the playtime beyond demi's 4.5 hours, you can maybe stretch it to 6. There's also a new game plus where you get gold weapons and unlimited ammo and stuff.

It's mostly just impressive compared to what was on the Xbox and especially what was on the PS2, since it came out late not many people got to see it. Call of Duty 2 on 360/PC is better but it would be a while before FPSes in general were.

Bodycount on the 360 is a "spiritual successor" from the designer but is even worse and less spectacle.

[Polident Hive]

Bodycount, judging from the demo, was one of the more nauseating games to play. Everything was blurry, poor frame rate, laggy controls, the feeling of swimming on land. The camera was low to the ground, like you’re a dwarf, and the reticule is centered at the bottom of the screen. It had an odd system where you half press the trigger to aim and full press to change your movement control to lean. Shooting enemies dropped these orbs everywhere.

[demi]

Like I'm not saying you're wrong Demi. It's an old ass clunky early era console FPS. I can totally buy that the game sucks now. But just saying I still vaguely remember the PS2 generation and Black was one of those regularly brought up in conversations games about "hidden gems" and how everyone should play it. Shooters on PS2 generally felt bad because the analog sticks were awful for FPS games, and I guess I didn't have an Xbox yet when it came out, so wasn't my thing  and never played it beyond the demo I think.

Black has lousy AI, just watch demi playing the first level. The game only is hard in spots because it throws mobs of bad guys and grenades at you. It's a lot like the Call of Duty campaigns in that regard. demi's on normal but hard is just making the bad guys damage you more and take more damage.

Though I noticed demi's not hunting for all the spectacle of things that can blow up, just targeting the enemies. Whenever the crosshair turns black that's a thing you can shoot to blow up. The "secondary objectives" are mostly all "shoot this thing so it blows up awesomely." Doing all those doesn't really extend the playtime beyond demi's 4.5 hours, you can maybe stretch it to 6. There's also a new game plus where you get gold weapons and unlimited ammo and stuff.

It's mostly just impressive compared to what was on the Xbox and especially what was on the PS2, since it came out late not many people got to see it. Call of Duty 2 on 360/PC is better but it would be a while before FPSes in general were.

Bodycount on the 360 is a "spiritual successor" from the designer but is even worse and less spectacle.

The game doesnt really tell me any of this in the game - I dont actually own this physically (its available via EA Play) so maybe it's in the manual.

All the secondary objectives they show you are random collectables like "YOU FOUND TOTALLY TERRORIST PLAN TO BLOW UP THE WORLD TRADE CENTER" that are just sitting in the corner of dilapidated houses...

There was a bit in a later level where I randomly blew up a giant tank and I do make an audible noise about it

[benjipwns]

I noticed there was nothing telling you and I was trying to remember how I knew.

That one spot in the first level where you're being hit by rockets and can't figure out where it's coming from there's like a tower way up that you shoot and it explodes all these buildings and stuff. There's a lot of setups like that where the enemies aren't really a threat but are so you'll shoot and blow up stuff in the skybox or whatever, because you had taken that one path the tower was never framed so you'd know there's stuff to shoot outside of the main enemies. There's a lot of situations like that throughout the game where they really want you to not save your shots and just unload into everything you can find with everything you pick up.

[bork]

What is Ridge Racer’s identity, Bork? When you think of Burnout you think of crashes. NFS? Street cars. Gran Turismo? Racing simulator. Twisted Metal? Weapons and mayhem. Wipeout? Speed. When I think of Ridge Racer the first thing I think of is drifting and drifting isn’t unique to Ridgr racer. Every racer has drifting. GT has drifting in rally tracks and there’s drift challenges. Then there’s other races that do drifting better than Ridge Racer. Mario Kart, Initial D games. Almost all arcade racers are about drifting as a main conceit. So what its famous for it’s not even the best at. It’s just a mid franchise that rested on its laurels, put out mediocre games, didn’t stand out from the pack, and got lazy to be defined as launch game fodder.

I'm not being lazy when I say "it's Ridge Racer."  The look, sound, and feel of the game is its identity and yes, the way you drift is part of it too.



What else was like this in 1993?  I certainly can't think of anything.

[benjipwns]

I liked Ridge Racer Unbounded for a game I got for $2 but it's nothing like Ridge Racer other than the sliding probably.

[Himu]

What is Ridge Racer’s identity, Bork? When you think of Burnout you think of crashes. NFS? Street cars. Gran Turismo? Racing simulator. Twisted Metal? Weapons and mayhem. Wipeout? Speed. When I think of Ridge Racer the first thing I think of is drifting and drifting isn’t unique to Ridgr racer. Every racer has drifting. GT has drifting in rally tracks and there’s drift challenges. Then there’s other races that do drifting better than Ridge Racer. Mario Kart, Initial D games. Almost all arcade racers are about drifting as a main conceit. So what its famous for it’s not even the best at. It’s just a mid franchise that rested on its laurels, put out mediocre games, didn’t stand out from the pack, and got lazy to be defined as launch game fodder.

I'm not being lazy when I say "it's Ridge Racer."  The look, sound, and feel of the game is its identity and yes, the way you drift is part of it too.



What else was like this in 1993?  I certainly can't think of anything.

Daytona USA. All of Namco’s hits were Sega ripoffs. Daytona - Ridge Racer; Virtua Cop - Time Crisis; Virtua Fighter - Tekken.



Absolutely nothing unique about it down to the drift.

[Himu]

It gets even worse when you consider the history of racing games before that like Outrun and Power Drift.

[bork]

Those games don't look, sound, and especially feel like Ridge Racer.  Namco did it first with Pole Position (for the "3D" behind the car look) and some of the UI/text is reminiscent of that.  The cabs for RR and Daytona also couldn't have looked more different.  RR's deluxe cab was pretty immersive.

No doubt that Tekken is a VF "rip-off" (was made by someone who worked on VF) but with Time Crisis they added the cover element.  Good competition between the two companies back then.

[Svejk]

Those games don't look, sound, and especially feel like Ridge Racer.  Namco did it first with Pole Position (for the "3D" behind the car look) and some of the UI/text is reminiscent of that.  The cabs for RR and Daytona also couldn't have looked more different.  RR's deluxe cab was pretty immersive.

No doubt that Tekken is a VF "rip-off" (was made by someone who worked on VF) but with Time Crisis they added the cover element.  Good competition between the two companies back then.

It's good that Sega had some competition at the time.  Namco really got it right with Soul Blade though... Wish Sega made a weapon fighter back then.

But Sega had the racing edge.  I never liked Daytona because of it's rednecky roots, but they more than made up for it with the glorious Sega Rally and even Sega GT.  They had arcade racing on lockdown, let alone Virtua Racing.  Honestly, I don't recall ever seeing RR in the arcades.

As for light gun games, the cover mechanic was not fun imo.  It never felt natural, and the home conversion was even worse having to hold the hand gun awkwardly with two hands.   Virtua Cop on the other hand (pun intended), you could go in and dual wield the whole game solo.  Felt so damn cool.

[bork]

It's good that Sega had some competition at the time.  Namco really got it right with Soul Blade though... Wish Sega made a weapon fighter back then.

They did- Last Bronx!

But Sega had the racing edge.  I never liked Daytona because of it's rednecky roots, but they more than made up for it with the glorious Sega Rally and even Sega GT.  They had arcade racing on lockdown, let alone Virtua Racing.  Honestly, I don't recall ever seeing RR in the arcades.

Never really got a "redneck" vibe from Daytona apart from the pit crew guy who chimes in to say some things.  It was kinda wacky in that Sega way, too.   I've never been much for Sega Rally TBH, but Daytona, Daytona 2, MUTHA FUCKIN' OUTRUN 2, and Super GT are GOATs.

Definitely saw more Sega racers in arcades back then.  I'm not sure if I ever saw Ridge Racer in the States but I played it on a trip to Israel back in '94 and was blown away by it at the time.  I do remember seeing some Ridge Racer 2 and Rave Racer cabs around though.  Usually at movie theaters.

[Svejk]

It's good that Sega had some competition at the time.  Namco really got it right with Soul Blade though... Wish Sega made a weapon fighter back then.

They did- Last Bronx!

Oh shit... ...why does the name ring a bell too?!    They didn't release that on Saturn though, did they...

[bork]

It's good that Sega had some competition at the time.  Namco really got it right with Soul Blade though... Wish Sega made a weapon fighter back then.

They did- Last Bronx!

Oh shit... ...why does the name ring a bell too?!    They didn't release that on Saturn though, did they...

It came out on the Saturn, too.  Also PC.

[Svejk]

It's good that Sega had some competition at the time.  Namco really got it right with Soul Blade though... Wish Sega made a weapon fighter back then.

They did- Last Bronx!

Oh shit... ...why does the name ring a bell too?!    They didn't release that on Saturn though, did they...

It came out on the Saturn, too.  Also PC.

Damn.. just pulled up the cover art .. yeeeup. Not sure how I forgot that.  Guess it was way overshadowed by Soul Blade (PS1) and Fighter's Megamix at the time.  Megamix was so much fun.

[bork]

Damn.. just pulled up the cover art .. yeeeup. Not sure how I forgot that.  Guess it was way overshadowed by Soul Blade (PS1) and Fighter's Megamix at the time.  Megamix was so much fun.

It came out on Saturn after Megamix- Summer or Fall 1997 IIRC.  Just wasn't that popular and that was when Saturn was pretty much dead anyway.

[tiesto]

Last week I finished Rebirth after 130 hours. Did all the quests, got all the region intel... excellent game, though at times the minigames get a bit overbearing. Absolutely loved the soundtrack and just how flashy everything was, FF16 felt a bit soulless to me and this really improved on what was established in the 7 remake. Combat was very fun, dungeons were cool, some of the minigames were great. Not sure how I feel about some of the new plot contrivances introduced in this one, seems a bit overused in media nowadays.

Continued my Mega Man kick by beating the Saturn port of MM8. Also picked up Rockman and Forte for SFC but haven't played it yet. Next weekend I'll be playing through MM1 and 2 on Game Boy, haven't ever played any of the GB MM games so this should be exciting.

A whole lot of Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line now that I finished with Rebirth. Did all the main stages (and knocked out most of the quests, the few remaining I just can't for the life of me figure out how to do), and now onto the DLC. Just trying to beat every stage in Expert difficulty should be enough for me.

Also playing Ninpen Manmaru, a clunky but cute 3d platformer for Saturn starring a penguin.

My Sea of Stars physical also shipped, so that'll be the next game I dive into.

[demi]

weekend gaming:

- Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (Xbox) - vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2143545106

First time playing, I enjoyed this one. Felt like a nice chill pikmin. I know its not pikmin, but that was the vibe. Also has a random ass product placement for SoBe drinks? Like it shows up in one level and... thats it.



While streaming, I got visited by some speedrunners, which is cool. That's happened a few times now where I stream a game and some speedrunners will stop by and be like "hey we like when people play our favorite game"

- Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox)

Didnt stream this, just decided to play it offline. This game looks so clean on SeriesX, it might as well be a modern release imo. I'm enjoying it, I've honestly never played it fully, I always only played a few levels and moved on. I played the shit out of Ninja Gaiden 2, and then raged the fuck out of Ninja Gaiden 3 (before Razor's Edge came out).

- Gylt (PC)

This was Stadia exclusive, but was rescued and ported to consoles and PC. It was ok. Not really scary.

- Very Little Nightmares (mobile) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/very-little-nightmares/id1435140819

Neat little puzzler. I havent played Little Nightmares, but it's on the to-do list...


In the pipeline: Star Wars Jedi Academy, Jade Empire (will stream this one)

[Himu]

Don't do Jade Empire best ending. It's not worth it. All you get is a shitty screen that's basically THE END. Shame because the rest of the game was fun AF.

[demi]

Finished Jade Empire. I think they ran out of budget because the game goes from this quest-doing bioware game to this straight A->B ending sequence for the next few chapters. Also all the endings werent really that good. Just a quick cutscene and a paragraph for each of your party members. Definitely not up there in term of Bioware games.

I [was] going to move on and play some Sega Saturn, but I bought some games over the weekend, and one of them was Red Dead Revolver! So Red Dead Revolver is next. Never played it

I also started Lies of P. This game is tight

[chronovore]

Red Dead Revolver had such a storied development. I remember seeing the initial playable at Tokyo Game Show, in the Capcom booth still published by them at that time, and the tutorial sequence had Red as a kid, shooting adults. I thought, there's no way this will fly.

[demi]

- Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

This game is still tight, though the later levels got annoying with the constant Sith enemies.

- Lies of P

Finished this up, I enjoyed it a bunch. Some neat ideas in here, like being able to "charge" an estus flask while you are empty by hitting enemies. The specters are broken and basically carried all of the boss fights.

- Red Dead Revolver

Finished this in one sitting (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2160349653 ). I enjoyed this game a bunch, it was a nice game with variety to not make it samey. There was a kinda bullshit part near the end, but we got through it.

---


Started Another Crab's Treasure aka Shellden Ring aka Crab Souls

Thinking of what to stream next. I'm kinda wanting to start and play Saturn games since there is a [lot] I have not played there

[Svejk]

- Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

This game is still tight, though the later levels got annoying with the constant Sith enemies.

- Lies of P

Finished this up, I enjoyed it a bunch. Some neat ideas in here, like being able to "charge" an estus flask while you are empty by hitting enemies. The specters are broken and basically carried all of the boss fights.

- Red Dead Revolver

Finished this in one sitting (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2160349653 ). I enjoyed this game a bunch, it was a nice game with variety to not make it samey. There was a kinda bullshit part near the end, but we got through it.

---


Started Another Crab's Treasure aka Shellden Ring aka Crab Souls

Thinking of what to stream next. I'm kinda wanting to start and play Saturn games since there is a [lot] I have not played there

I'd suggest Legend of Oasis, if you haven't already.... Only because I never got around to it and have been enjoying Beyond Oasis alot lately.  Never did finish BO back in the day. Yuzo pulled some magic yet again out of the Genesis sound chip. 

[tiesto]

I just beat Ninpen Manmaru for Saturn - if you like cute but super janky early 3D platformers, more linear and obstacle based instead of collectathon based, then it may be worth trying out.

[Polident Hive]

Red Dead Revolver had such a storied development. I remember seeing the initial playable at Tokyo Game Show, in the Capcom booth still published by them at that time, and the tutorial sequence had Red as a kid, shooting adults. I thought, there's no way this will fly.

Those old builds leaked a couple years ago. Interesting to mess around with and observe changes with the final release. The gameplay was, in a sense, more Japanese of that era than the third person shooter it became under Rockstar. In so far as it was more lock-on and timing and such.

For some reason I wanted to use 10000 Bullets as a reference point. Learning it was from Yoshitaka Murayama, of Suikoden, who recently passed away.

[demi]

Recent gaming:

- Another Crab's Treasure

I really did not enjoy this one. Not a good idea to play it after Lies of P

- Bramble: The Mountain King

This is leaving GamePass in like 2 weeks, but this was pretty tight. Its very familiar to Limbo/Inside, but revolves around like, swedish fairytales and shit. It looks and runs good. I enjoyed this one

- High on Life

I dunno why I didnt play this one sooner, but its also leaving GamePass and I decided to play it. This game is basically one guy saying Fuck in many different wants and accents. It's tight.

- Astal

First Saturn game on the list, I've always seen this one as a kid in magazines. Took me 3 attempts to finish the game, but it was mostly just memorizing patterns. The US version got nerfed by only giving 3 hit points and only 1 continue. The JP version has 5 hits and infinite continues. I think this makes sense because the game is very short. Here is a highlight of my completed run: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2165049987

[Svejk]

Tomb Raider Remastered – Good stuff.  Nostalgia feels are just right.  Actually really love the Remastered look.  They nailed the art direction by giving it just enough to look fresh, but keeping it simplified.   The muscle memory for the tank controls kicked into gear and ripped through to the T-Rex/Cog area in no time.  Game is a classic.

Astro’s Playroom – New DLC leading into the new Astro Bot!  Firing this up again, it’s literally impossible not to smile while playing it.  Sony has struck Platinum with Astro Bot.  This is what gaming is all about.

Stellar Blade – Shit is good.  Was torn between starting over or just jumping back in where I last stopped (a ways after the demo).  Decided to just pick up where I was.  Two new Kunoichi outfits added!  Didn’t know about those. 

Dragon’s Dogma 2 – You’re a loser if you haven’t played this game yet.

Picked up FFVII: Rebirth also, but need a bit of a breather for another open world game. (Why TF is this game 148GB?!?)  Either after Tomb Raider or Stellar Blade will I jump on this.

2024 is the best year of gaming.  Feels like 1998 all over again to me. lol

[demi]

More Saturn gaming:

Clockwork Knight 1&2 - Very easy, and short. Not much to say, it was ok. I used the code in Clockwork Knight 2 to play both games, because apparently both games are available on Clockwork Knight 2. Also I farmed 200 lives in Clockwork Knight 1 in the roulette minigame. Clockwork Knight 2's minigame was much harder to keep track of.

Clockwork Knight vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2167261612

Clockwork Knight 2 vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2167263771

Bug & Bug Too! - I tried these offline and I tapped out very early for both. Levels are long, checkpoints are sparse, and just not that fun to play.

[Svejk]

Stumbled across a pretty good PS2 emu on Android; DamonSX2, so it sent me in a frenzie to try different stuff on there.   FFXII runs well on there so far, but the game I completely forgot that existed that I gave a whirl on there, is Lord of the Rings: The Third Age.  Back then, I had no interest in it albiet having good reviews..  However, the past decade or so, I've leaned much more heavily into classic Fantasy genres. 

So far, this game is really impressive.  Of course, it uses clips frrom the movies like the EA action games did (which were fantastic at the time), but you play as, now canon, Berethor; a Gondorian Knight in search for Boromir, as the events of the trilogy unfold.  All cut scenes are narrated by Ian McKellen himself and the combat is straight up turn based, a la FFX.  So far I'm really liking it.  It's nice to be reminded of what EA use to be.

[Svejk]

Astro's Playroom - Played this last night thinking I'd sweep them (new dlc bots) all up... Glad to hear that it looks like timed releases, because I was racking my brain that I couldn't find them all. Those sneeky Asobi's.

[MMaRsu]

SMT V Vengeance is so good on PC at 120fps 4k

goddamn

[demi]

More Saturn gaming:

- Mr. Bones (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2171496494 )

Yup, it's Mr. Bones! That weird ass skeleton game you've probably heard about in one way or another. I finally sat down to play it and finished it very quickly. Everyone says this game is difficult, and it can be, but it's basically about just understanding the levels. The game saves after every level so you just load right back in.

- Keio Flying Squadron 2 (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2173182670 )

I've never played the first game, but I was interested in this as its more of a platformer than a shmup. It has like 2 levels of shmup gaming. Nice graphics.

- Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2173190873 )

After coming from Orta and PD1, I had to finally play PD2. Fun little playthrough. Saga coming soon!

- Die Hard Arcade

Another short game, I had to farm some credits in the extra game to get through, but this was fun. Will have to try out Dynamite Cop on Dreamcast at some point

- Jung Rhythm (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2173193070 )

The precursor to Parappa the Rapper? It might as well be the same game. At first I thought this was kind of tough with the timing, but I figured out how it works, then I found the big exploit where during the "adlibs" you just smash every button repeatedly and it gives you a shitload of points anyway.

I tried out Ninpen Manmaru like tiesto posted and this game was boring. I played like 3 levels and was just not feeling it. Sorry!

[Svejk]

More Saturn gaming:

- Mr. Bones (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2171496494 )

Yup, it's Mr. Bones! That weird ass skeleton game you've probably heard about in one way or another. I finally sat down to play it and finished it very quickly. Everyone says this game is difficult, and it can be, but it's basically about just understanding the levels. The game saves after every level so you just load right back in.

- Keio Flying Squadron 2 (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2173182670 )

I've never played the first game, but I was interested in this as its more of a platformer than a shmup. It has like 2 levels of shmup gaming. Nice graphics.

- Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2173190873 )

After coming from Orta and PD1, I had to finally play PD2. Fun little playthrough. Saga coming soon!

- Die Hard Arcade

Another short game, I had to farm some credits in the extra game to get through, but this was fun. Will have to try out Dynamite Cop on Dreamcast at some point

- Jung Rhythm (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2173193070 )

The precursor to Parappa the Rapper? It might as well be the same game. At first I thought this was kind of tough with the timing, but I figured out how it works, then I found the big exploit where during the "adlibs" you just smash every button repeatedly and it gives you a shitload of points anyway.

I tried out Ninpen Manmaru like tiesto posted and this game was boring. I played like 3 levels and was just not feeling it. Sorry!

Was just watching your PD Zwei vod.  I don't think I ever beat that one.  I also don't think I realized it was a prequel.  Have you played PD Saga before?  Simple but fun battle system (almost too simple), but loved every minute of it.  It amazes me they've done nothing with that game since.

Die Hard arcade and DC2 are so much fun.  Doing the grapple combos were the best.

[demi]

Have never played PD Saga, read about it a lot in magazines as a kid, along with a lot of Saturn library. So I am playing as much Saturn as I can to get it out of my system. Bucket list!

[Polident Hive]

More Saturn gaming:

- Die Hard Arcade

Another short game, I had to farm some credits in the extra game to get through, but this was fun. Will have to try out Dynamite Cop on Dreamcast at some point

If you want to mess with emulation, there’s a pseudo third game. More a remix of the second game for arcades. Runs on some dreamcast emulators because it’s naomi hardware. There’s also an update of the Saturn game on PS2 that’s pretty cool.

[Himu]

Check out D, D-2, Nights, Guardian Heroes (on xbl for 360), Demi.

[demi]

I've played D and D2 already, and have Nights and Guardian Heroes downloaded, they're on the list!

[Svejk]

Check out D, D-2, Nights, Guardian Heroes (on xbl for 360), Demi.

I regret not giving Guardian Heroes an honest try back then. I bought it cuz it was Treasure and had great reviews, but the controls and the plain shifting just did not click with me at all back then for some reason.  Sold it off pretty quickly and struggled to buy it back when bork told me I made a big mistake. 

[Joe Molotov]

Check out D, D-2, Nights, Guardian Heroes (on xbl for 360), Demi.

I regret not giving Guardian Heroes an honest try back then. I bought it cuz it was Treasure and had great reviews, but the controls and the plain shifting just did not click with me at all back then for some reason.  Sold it off pretty quickly and struggled to buy it back when bork told me I made a big mistake. 

Don't worry, it's only worth $5 now.

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/guardian-heroes-tm/BPBPGV9MXWPB

[Himu]

I've played D and D2 already, and have Nights and Guardian Heroes downloaded, they're on the list!

Nights is one of the rare perfect games. Enjoy.

[Bebpo]

Die Hard arcade and DC2 are so much fun.  Doing the grapple combos were the best.

Yeah, these are so good.

[Joe Molotov]

Playing Elden Ring NG+ to get back to Mohgwyn's Palace for the DLC. I did all that the first time through, but then I left my NG+ save at the tutorial, so I had to redo it. Not too hard at Lv. 160; just steamrolled Radahn on my way to the Consecrated Snowfields.

[demi]

Saturn quick hits:

- Steamgear Mash

A japan only title by Tamsoft! I know that name because they made GUARDIAN'S CRUSADE the best game ever. Anyway, it's an isometric platformer/action game where you navigate a maze and find powerups to blow up blocks to progress. Kinda metroidvania? But not really. Anyway, I got lost a lot and the map isnt very helpful.

- Amok

This game is made with a voxel engine! It emanates early PS1 aura, which can be menacing or embracing depending on your viewpoint. Me personally I liked it. It also has this crazy menu music from Jesper Kyd. I didnt finish it though, the levels kind of dragged on and you only get "one life" unless you reach the next level which gives you a password, so if you die, you start all the way back at the beginning. But it wasnt bad.



- DecAthlete

One of several sports arcade games on the system. It was cool, but there really wasnt much for me to get out of this besides carpal tunnel from mashing buttons.

- Steep Slope Sliders

A snowboarding game made by Cave! Also I had no idea how to play it, but file it under sports arcade game. I'll stick with other snowboarding games.

- Shinrei Jutsatsu Taroumaru

A japan only title that is apparently one of the "holy grails" of Saturn collecting as there were like only 7000 copies made. It's a side scrolling action game where you zap shit a lot. The entire game is one seamless transition between levels, there are no "levels" if that make sense. Also this game hurt my wrists BAD because of how goofy the targeting and how attacking works. Thankfully there didnt seem to be any game overs?? So I just powered through it.

- Crimewave

A european exclusive, where you drive around and shoot cars to earn money to proceed to other levels? At first I was like "dude this looks like Future Cop LAPD" but it definitely is not as good as that gem. I only played for a little bit before moving on.

[tiesto]

Wrapping up the last few sidequests in Sea of Stars before I go for the final dungeon. Honestly, while it looks great, the sluggish traversal through long dungeons, battles that take too long (especially boss fights) coupled with a limited moveset and attacks that are all drawn out and rely on timed attacks (and in this game, they're necessary), the lack of feeling overpowered due to how tight the game's balance is, generic story for the majority of it, and (mostly) mediocre music made the game a bit of a chore in spots. Kinda disappointing since I had extremely high hopes.

Also, just collected all 100 CDs in Rockman and Forte. Gonna go for the castle next weekend when my friend comes over.

[tiesto]

I tried out Ninpen Manmaru like tiesto posted and this game was boring. I played like 3 levels and was just not feeling it. Sorry!

Naah, it's okay, I totally get that! It gets to be super frustrating due to the jank, stiff controls, and frustrating late-game levels. I like the aesthetic and thought the game had a bit of charm, but I can't recommend it to all but hardened fans of early 3D platformers.

For more Saturn, I suggest Legend of Oasis, Linkle Liver Story (this has a fan translation), Bulk Slash, Astal, Galactic Attack, Soukyugurentai, and of course Shining the Holy Ark.

[demi]

Saturn gaming:

- Shinobi Legions

I enjoyed this game up to the final stage, which was straight bullshit. But I got through, fought the boss, and died which required me to do the bullshit level again. Eventually I gave up and used a save state on the boss so I wouldnt have to do that again. But this was still a relatively enjoyable game with a few BS stages. Enjoyed the digitized characters, goofy ass FMV movies.

- Burning Rangers (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2178329528 )

This is a game I constantly saw on magazines, and I finally got to play it. It's.... fine? Short game, only 4 levels. The replayability I guess is finding all the people but there's really no bonus ending or anything for it.

- Bulk Slash (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2178331935 )

This is an english translation that was released recently, and it is a very professional one. Complete with english voice acting. I think you're supposed to play this with a twin stick controller (like Virtual On?) but it's playable with a controller. I enjoyed this one, nice graphics, pretty fun gameplay, and the replayability I guess is "leveling up" the different girls you can use as co-pilots. I wound up finding some german chick near the end.

- Tryrush Deppy (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2179302288 )

A nice simple 2D platformer starring an anthromorphic taxi cab. Also has a car with tits. This game has a gas mechanic that essentially acts as a timer. Nice colorful 2D gaming.

- Willy Wombat (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2179304248 )

This game took me by surprise, after playing so many "short" games that ended within the hour of pressing Start, ol Willy comes around and shows me that there are lengthy games on the Saturn. This is a 3D isometric platformer, and it actually has english voice acting. Apparently this is the game that caused Naughty Dog to change the name from Willie Wombat to Crash Bandicoot. I enjoyed this one a lot, it had an early PS1 aura that was comforting.

- Daytona USA (played via Xbox)

I just got all the achievements. It's Daytona USA, we all know what this is

[Polident Hive]

That Bulk Slash translation patch added in twin stick controls. As a bonus or flex or whatever. Don’t think the original had the option. Or maybe a case where it’s hidden behind code.

Burning Rangers, frankly, always seemed notable for being a “3D” game from Sega on the Saturn. Cool game.

[Svejk]

Saturn gaming:

- Shinobi Legions

I enjoyed this game up to the final stage, which was straight bullshit. But I got through, fought the boss, and died which required me to do the bullshit level again. Eventually I gave up and used a save state on the boss so I wouldnt have to do that again. But this was still a relatively enjoyable game with a few BS stages. Enjoyed the digitized characters, goofy ass FMV movies.

- Burning Rangers (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2178329528 )

This is a game I constantly saw on magazines, and I finally got to play it. It's.... fine? Short game, only 4 levels. The replayability I guess is finding all the people but there's really no bonus ending or anything for it.

- Bulk Slash (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2178331935 )

This is an english translation that was released recently, and it is a very professional one. Complete with english voice acting. I think you're supposed to play this with a twin stick controller (like Virtual On?) but it's playable with a controller. I enjoyed this one, nice graphics, pretty fun gameplay, and the replayability I guess is "leveling up" the different girls you can use as co-pilots. I wound up finding some german chick near the end.

- Tryrush Deppy (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2179302288 )

A nice simple 2D platformer starring an anthromorphic taxi cab. Also has a car with tits. This game has a gas mechanic that essentially acts as a timer. Nice colorful 2D gaming.

- Willy Wombat (vod: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2179304248 )

This game took me by surprise, after playing so many "short" games that ended within the hour of pressing Start, ol Willy comes around and shows me that there are lengthy games on the Saturn. This is a 3D isometric platformer, and it actually has english voice acting. Apparently this is the game that caused Naughty Dog to change the name from Willie Wombat to Crash Bandicoot. I enjoyed this one a lot, it had an early PS1 aura that was comforting.

- Daytona USA (played via Xbox)

I just got all the achievements. It's Daytona USA, we all know what this is

Shinobi Legions was legit good.  Controls were still tight, albiet the cheese digitized graphics.  The sword play was a ton of fun, with the ability of blocking or knocking back projectiles.  Slicing people in half satisfyingly sounded like hot butter being splattered.  Back then, when still watching re-runs of Power Rangers, I enjoyed the 90's style FMV action.  But yeah, there were some serious BS levels.  Especially the one with those giant missles the pan by half the screen.  Fuck that level.

Burning Rangers was a bit meh.  I overhyped myself for it back then, because it was Sonic Team and they could supposedly do no wrong.  Played through it once and sold it afterwards.  NiGHTS it was not. 

Speaking of Nights, I assume it's on the list?  If you haven't played it, it's highly recommended you play with analog support.  The 3D controller it came with was godtier at the time.  Loved that controller.  It's a shame hardly any other games on the Saturn used it.

Also curious if you had Dark Savior lined up.  That was another game I was extremely hyped for, but Land Stalker it was not.  Also another played once, and didn't care to play again, even though it has branching paths and mutiple endings.  They shouldn't have strayed from the LandStalker formula and gameplay style.