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Just in time for Christmas, it's a Christmas-themed game. This is a holiday level pack for Jazz Jackrabbit which was originally released as a standalone.
So grab a cup of eggnog or hot chocolate, and watch Jazz blast zombies and other beasties to the tune of popular Christmas carols. Just like the Christmases of old.
Merry Christmas from Tero's Classic Gaming
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Nothing new this week
Well, I tried to record something this week, but with no success, and I've also been really busy with holiday preparations.
Hopefully there should be a new video up next week.
Hopefully there should be a new video up next week.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
SNES Plok
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It's my 50th game run! To commemorate this occasion I'm going to attempt one of the most difficult platformers out there, Plok. This game has haunted me since my childhood with its malicious level design and punishing gameplay mechanics.
This is a very good run. There are some mishaps, but considering that this game has no checkpoints and some stages take close to 10 minutes it could be a lot worse. Plus, there's a lot of really tense moments where I somehow come out on top, those are always entertaining.
Well, another painful chapter from my past finally closed. It's satisfying, in an "I'm never going to play this game again" kind of way.
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It's my 50th game run! To commemorate this occasion I'm going to attempt one of the most difficult platformers out there, Plok. This game has haunted me since my childhood with its malicious level design and punishing gameplay mechanics.
This is a very good run. There are some mishaps, but considering that this game has no checkpoints and some stages take close to 10 minutes it could be a lot worse. Plus, there's a lot of really tense moments where I somehow come out on top, those are always entertaining.
Well, another painful chapter from my past finally closed. It's satisfying, in an "I'm never going to play this game again" kind of way.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
GB Megaman V
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More Megaman. This particular game introduces the Mega Arm and P-Chips. It also features the easiest incarnation of the Yellow Devil in existence.
It's also a pretty expensive game, which is made doubly plainful by the fact that I have now owned this game on 3 separate occasions. Game seems to have a mind of its own.
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More Megaman. This particular game introduces the Mega Arm and P-Chips. It also features the easiest incarnation of the Yellow Devil in existence.
It's also a pretty expensive game, which is made doubly plainful by the fact that I have now owned this game on 3 separate occasions. Game seems to have a mind of its own.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Tero's Top 10 - GBA
Well, I need an extra week to practice something that I'm working on, and I haven't done one of these in a while, so I thought I'd try to write up one of these top 10s for GBA.
There's obviously some debate as to whether GBA would count as a classic system, since it's currently only one generation old. It certainly plays like one, but even you don't think it would count, you can see what types of games retro gamers like in a more modern system.
1 - Megaman Battle Network 2
2 - Summon Night: Swordcraft Story
3 - Sonic Advance 3
4 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
5 - Game and Watch Gallery 4
6 - Advance Wars 2
7 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
8 - Rhythm Tengoku
9 - Megaman Zero 3
10 - Yu-Gi-Oh: The Eternal Duelist's Soul
This is a pretty diverse list. It actually might not have been, because the GBA is very much a franchise system - most games that appear on this list have at least 3 installments - but I generally tend to list the best one in the series and not the others unless they're very different. To some extent, the placing of the various games here represents their franchises as well as the individual games.
Megaman Battle Network is a bit of a divisive franchise because there's no question it starts to get milked later on, but by MMBN2 the series was still really hot. MMBN2 expands the original in basically every way you could ever want and is an amazingly polished game. It basically gets the nod over 3 because it came out a year earlier.
Summon Night Swordcraft Story is a Tales clone of sorts that's built around weapon crafting, and basically everyone who's played it agrees that it's one of the best GBA games. This is a rare RPG that I've actually completed 100%, complete with grinding everything to the maximum level. And I've actually beaten the game a couple more times beyond that. It's just a really awesome title.
Sonic Advance 3, is, in my opinion, the second-best 2D Sonic (after Sonic 2), which should explain its position here. The game is very fast, has great music, and the addition of the "partner powers" is pretty cool and makes Time Trials much more interesting than they have been in other games. This is a really solid package and those who've dismissed Sonic for a while should give it a try (it's also much better than the DS Sonics).
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is another game that's kind of divisive. At the center of this debate is the story, which is a vaguely philosophical examination of escapism vs reality. However, many people seem to miss the deeper undertones and consider it childish. One thing everyone should be able to agree upon though is that the gameplay is great and there's an absolute ton of content in this package. I'm sure I spent well over 100 hours getting everything in this game.
Game and Watch Gallery 4 suffers from some degree of recycled content, but at least they pick the best games from the previous collections to offer again (and the new games they give are pretty good, too). If you're ever going on a long car trip or something, this is your game. It also tends to be the resident of the GBA slot in my DS.
There's not much to say about Advance Wars 2 or Megaman Zero 3. These are super popular franchises and with good reason. I picked Zero 3 because it shows the most polish and the story actually manages to be pretty interesting.
Everyone knew a Castlevania game would be on here, but I'm sure the choice of Circle of the Moon over Aria of Sorrow is one that would draw criticism. Essentially, CotM is on here for its time of release, it came out really early at a time when there wasn't too much else to play on GBA, and it pretty much ruled the roost for a while. Plus, the ability to play the game over many different times with drastically different skillsets was pretty cool, it forced you to learn the ins and outs of all of the game's mechanics.
Rhythm Tengoku is an import music game, which most people probably have not played or even heard of, though they may have heard of its DS sequel, Rhythm Heaven. This is a very quirky music game (think Warioware, but with music), and it's a load of fun and very addictive. I'd also give it a slight nod over the DS game because the buttons work better than the touch screen for a game as picky as this one.
And last, but not least (well maybe least), we have Yu-Gi-Oh EDS. I'm sure lots of people groaned at this, particularly those who most associate the franchise with its show, but this is a really awesome card battle game. Yu-Gi-Oh has a really accessible ruleset that keeps battles exciting, and the progression structure in this game is really well laid out. Though I've never bought any physical Yu-Gi-Oh cards, I was hooked on the game franchise for a long time. EDS gets listed here over the half dozen other GBA games because it was the first and I liked it's ruleset the best.
A couple titles here are conspicuous in their absense. The most obvious is Pokemon Third-Gen (RuSaE and FrLg), which I'm sure tops many people's lists, but I was never really that into it. To me, the Pokemon formula felt like it was beginning to get stale at this point, few major additions were really made to third-gen beyond adding a lot more pokemon. I did, however, enjoy the third-gen pokemon games for GC, the use of double battles kept them interesting (if not balanced, double battle is kind of broken). Thankfully, fourth-gen (DPP, HgSs) shakes up the pokemon world to a massive extent and that was enough to get me to put over 400 hours into it.
There's also Golden Sun. Let's not get into this one, suffice it to say I could rant for several paragraphs about why I feel this is one of the most overrated games of all time.
As usual, some games just can't make the list, there are only 10 spots. The next five games would probably be, in some order: Fire Emblem, Mario Golf Advance Tour, Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure, Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga, and Riviera: The Promised Land.
There's obviously some debate as to whether GBA would count as a classic system, since it's currently only one generation old. It certainly plays like one, but even you don't think it would count, you can see what types of games retro gamers like in a more modern system.
1 - Megaman Battle Network 2
2 - Summon Night: Swordcraft Story
3 - Sonic Advance 3
4 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
5 - Game and Watch Gallery 4
6 - Advance Wars 2
7 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
8 - Rhythm Tengoku
9 - Megaman Zero 3
10 - Yu-Gi-Oh: The Eternal Duelist's Soul
This is a pretty diverse list. It actually might not have been, because the GBA is very much a franchise system - most games that appear on this list have at least 3 installments - but I generally tend to list the best one in the series and not the others unless they're very different. To some extent, the placing of the various games here represents their franchises as well as the individual games.
Megaman Battle Network is a bit of a divisive franchise because there's no question it starts to get milked later on, but by MMBN2 the series was still really hot. MMBN2 expands the original in basically every way you could ever want and is an amazingly polished game. It basically gets the nod over 3 because it came out a year earlier.
Summon Night Swordcraft Story is a Tales clone of sorts that's built around weapon crafting, and basically everyone who's played it agrees that it's one of the best GBA games. This is a rare RPG that I've actually completed 100%, complete with grinding everything to the maximum level. And I've actually beaten the game a couple more times beyond that. It's just a really awesome title.
Sonic Advance 3, is, in my opinion, the second-best 2D Sonic (after Sonic 2), which should explain its position here. The game is very fast, has great music, and the addition of the "partner powers" is pretty cool and makes Time Trials much more interesting than they have been in other games. This is a really solid package and those who've dismissed Sonic for a while should give it a try (it's also much better than the DS Sonics).
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is another game that's kind of divisive. At the center of this debate is the story, which is a vaguely philosophical examination of escapism vs reality. However, many people seem to miss the deeper undertones and consider it childish. One thing everyone should be able to agree upon though is that the gameplay is great and there's an absolute ton of content in this package. I'm sure I spent well over 100 hours getting everything in this game.
Game and Watch Gallery 4 suffers from some degree of recycled content, but at least they pick the best games from the previous collections to offer again (and the new games they give are pretty good, too). If you're ever going on a long car trip or something, this is your game. It also tends to be the resident of the GBA slot in my DS.
There's not much to say about Advance Wars 2 or Megaman Zero 3. These are super popular franchises and with good reason. I picked Zero 3 because it shows the most polish and the story actually manages to be pretty interesting.
Everyone knew a Castlevania game would be on here, but I'm sure the choice of Circle of the Moon over Aria of Sorrow is one that would draw criticism. Essentially, CotM is on here for its time of release, it came out really early at a time when there wasn't too much else to play on GBA, and it pretty much ruled the roost for a while. Plus, the ability to play the game over many different times with drastically different skillsets was pretty cool, it forced you to learn the ins and outs of all of the game's mechanics.
Rhythm Tengoku is an import music game, which most people probably have not played or even heard of, though they may have heard of its DS sequel, Rhythm Heaven. This is a very quirky music game (think Warioware, but with music), and it's a load of fun and very addictive. I'd also give it a slight nod over the DS game because the buttons work better than the touch screen for a game as picky as this one.
And last, but not least (well maybe least), we have Yu-Gi-Oh EDS. I'm sure lots of people groaned at this, particularly those who most associate the franchise with its show, but this is a really awesome card battle game. Yu-Gi-Oh has a really accessible ruleset that keeps battles exciting, and the progression structure in this game is really well laid out. Though I've never bought any physical Yu-Gi-Oh cards, I was hooked on the game franchise for a long time. EDS gets listed here over the half dozen other GBA games because it was the first and I liked it's ruleset the best.
A couple titles here are conspicuous in their absense. The most obvious is Pokemon Third-Gen (RuSaE and FrLg), which I'm sure tops many people's lists, but I was never really that into it. To me, the Pokemon formula felt like it was beginning to get stale at this point, few major additions were really made to third-gen beyond adding a lot more pokemon. I did, however, enjoy the third-gen pokemon games for GC, the use of double battles kept them interesting (if not balanced, double battle is kind of broken). Thankfully, fourth-gen (DPP, HgSs) shakes up the pokemon world to a massive extent and that was enough to get me to put over 400 hours into it.
There's also Golden Sun. Let's not get into this one, suffice it to say I could rant for several paragraphs about why I feel this is one of the most overrated games of all time.
As usual, some games just can't make the list, there are only 10 spots. The next five games would probably be, in some order: Fire Emblem, Mario Golf Advance Tour, Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure, Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga, and Riviera: The Promised Land.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
SNES Wario's Woods
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Here we have Toad's 15 minutes of fame, Wario's Woods. It's an action-puzzle game that bears some resemblance to Dr Mario, but it plays a lot faster since you can move your pieces around more directly.
Actually, it's more like 90 minutes of fame. This game is extremely long for a puzzle game.
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Here we have Toad's 15 minutes of fame, Wario's Woods. It's an action-puzzle game that bears some resemblance to Dr Mario, but it plays a lot faster since you can move your pieces around more directly.
Actually, it's more like 90 minutes of fame. This game is extremely long for a puzzle game.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
SNES Donkey Kong Country
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Next up is Donkey Kong Country, a game I'm not particularly crazy about. Prior to this posting, I have never achieved 101% in this game, despite many hours of trying. As a symbolic fresh start, I have deleted my previous save files; it's time to do it right.
The fact that I have never properly cleared this game is the main reason I chose this over its sequels, both of which I feel are superior to the original. Also, I suppose it is more iconic.
This playthrough is now complete.
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Next up is Donkey Kong Country, a game I'm not particularly crazy about. Prior to this posting, I have never achieved 101% in this game, despite many hours of trying. As a symbolic fresh start, I have deleted my previous save files; it's time to do it right.
The fact that I have never properly cleared this game is the main reason I chose this over its sequels, both of which I feel are superior to the original. Also, I suppose it is more iconic.
This playthrough is now complete.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
SNES Tiny Toon Adventures Buster Busts Loose
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As promised, this game isn't an action-platformer, it's back to regular platformers (the list of games that make for good viewing doesn't encompass a huge range of genres). This game is a lot like the Capcom Disney games, except made by Konami, so you can expect a fairly easy game with a lot of opportunities for hotdogging (a few of which result in my demise).
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As promised, this game isn't an action-platformer, it's back to regular platformers (the list of games that make for good viewing doesn't encompass a huge range of genres). This game is a lot like the Capcom Disney games, except made by Konami, so you can expect a fairly easy game with a lot of opportunities for hotdogging (a few of which result in my demise).
Saturday, October 3, 2009
GB Batman
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Well, here's yet another action-platformer (I'll have to make sure the next game I do is from some other genre). After all the recent press around Batman from Arkham Asylum, I figured I'd get in on the Bat-action with Batman for Game Boy.
This is played via Super Game Boy, I've even set the border to the theatre one so you can feel like you're watching the original Tim Burton movie. Except without the plot and with a lot more guns.
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Well, here's yet another action-platformer (I'll have to make sure the next game I do is from some other genre). After all the recent press around Batman from Arkham Asylum, I figured I'd get in on the Bat-action with Batman for Game Boy.
This is played via Super Game Boy, I've even set the border to the theatre one so you can feel like you're watching the original Tim Burton movie. Except without the plot and with a lot more guns.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
NES Journey to Silius
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Okay, this is pretty similar to the last game I posted. Maybe I was just in an action-platformer kind of mood.
This is a pretty impressive playthrough, I don't die at all in this run.
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Okay, this is pretty similar to the last game I posted. Maybe I was just in an action-platformer kind of mood.
This is a pretty impressive playthrough, I don't die at all in this run.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tero's Top 10 - GB(C)
Gameboy is a system I've yet to cover here as of this writing, but it may be appearing soon. With that in mind, here's a list of my favourite Gameboy and Gameboy Colour games (most sources, including Nintendo, treat these two as though they were the same system).
1 - Pokemon RBY
2 - Dragon Warrior 3
3 - Legend of the River King
4 - Pokemon GSC
5 - Link's Awakening (DX)
6 - Kirby's Dreamland 2
7 - Game and Watch Gallery 3
8 - Mega Man V
9 - Super Mario Land 2
10 - Shantae
Okay, this is maybe not the most interesting list ever. There's really only two games you might be surprised to find on here, Dragon Warrior 3 and Legend of the River King.
DW3 is an extremely good game, the only strange thing about listing it here is that it should maybe count as an NES game. Still, there's a lot added to this remake, particularly the monster medals, that give it a lot more life than the NES version had, and I consider the GBC version the definitive one.
Legend of the River King is a game that a lot of people probably don't know, it's a fishing RPG from Natsume. It's a pretty unique game, and the Gameboy versions are very well done, it still holds up well after all this time.
The rest of the games are obvious, though I spent a while considering the last game. Also under consideration was Mario Golf, Donkey Kong (94), the Wario Land games, and Xtreme Sports, but in the end I went with Shantae, mostly because it's a very neat game and it's not too well known.
Anyway, generally I feel that Gameboy games don't hold up quite as well as some of the other systems. These games do, but it doesn't feel like there's quite as many choices here as you would expect when you consider how many games are available for Game Boy. It probably had something to do with production values, handheld games tended to be seen as being of lesser importance, so you didn't see quite the same amount of polish into most of them. This made the ones that did get that extra level of attention stand out that much more.
1 - Pokemon RBY
2 - Dragon Warrior 3
3 - Legend of the River King
4 - Pokemon GSC
5 - Link's Awakening (DX)
6 - Kirby's Dreamland 2
7 - Game and Watch Gallery 3
8 - Mega Man V
9 - Super Mario Land 2
10 - Shantae
Okay, this is maybe not the most interesting list ever. There's really only two games you might be surprised to find on here, Dragon Warrior 3 and Legend of the River King.
DW3 is an extremely good game, the only strange thing about listing it here is that it should maybe count as an NES game. Still, there's a lot added to this remake, particularly the monster medals, that give it a lot more life than the NES version had, and I consider the GBC version the definitive one.
Legend of the River King is a game that a lot of people probably don't know, it's a fishing RPG from Natsume. It's a pretty unique game, and the Gameboy versions are very well done, it still holds up well after all this time.
The rest of the games are obvious, though I spent a while considering the last game. Also under consideration was Mario Golf, Donkey Kong (94), the Wario Land games, and Xtreme Sports, but in the end I went with Shantae, mostly because it's a very neat game and it's not too well known.
Anyway, generally I feel that Gameboy games don't hold up quite as well as some of the other systems. These games do, but it doesn't feel like there's quite as many choices here as you would expect when you consider how many games are available for Game Boy. It probably had something to do with production values, handheld games tended to be seen as being of lesser importance, so you didn't see quite the same amount of polish into most of them. This made the ones that did get that extra level of attention stand out that much more.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
NES GI Joe
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It's been quite a long time since I did a run of an NES game, and I was playing this recently, so it seemed like a good choice. This game is an action platformer, kind of like Contra or Megaman, except starring the heroes of everyone's favourite series of Public Service Announcements.
I was worried the video quality on this one might not be that great, but it's amazingly clear, so enjoy.
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It's been quite a long time since I did a run of an NES game, and I was playing this recently, so it seemed like a good choice. This game is an action platformer, kind of like Contra or Megaman, except starring the heroes of everyone's favourite series of Public Service Announcements.
I was worried the video quality on this one might not be that great, but it's amazingly clear, so enjoy.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
N64 Bust a Move 99
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I wanted to do a Bust a Move game, and I picked this one up recently, so it seemed like a logical choice. The Vs Com mode is also shorter than Bust a Move 2, which helps make a no-continue run possible.
This is by far the most popular video I've uploaded in a while, so I decided to do my first ever follow-up video, the second set of videos shows the Win Contest Mode, and I unlock the ever-elusive final character.
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I wanted to do a Bust a Move game, and I picked this one up recently, so it seemed like a logical choice. The Vs Com mode is also shorter than Bust a Move 2, which helps make a no-continue run possible.
This is by far the most popular video I've uploaded in a while, so I decided to do my first ever follow-up video, the second set of videos shows the Win Contest Mode, and I unlock the ever-elusive final character.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
SNES Super Mario World
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We're back! And speaking of back, I'm getting back to my roots by posting videos of very easy games where I show off a lot.
Super Mario World is, in my opinion, at least in high contention for the title of Best 2D Platformer of All Time. Save for simultaneous multiplayer, it's pretty well got it all. Lots of levels, lots of secrets, lots of powerups, and Yoshi! What a winning formula.
And this run is finally complete. Next week will be a new game.
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We're back! And speaking of back, I'm getting back to my roots by posting videos of very easy games where I show off a lot.
Super Mario World is, in my opinion, at least in high contention for the title of Best 2D Platformer of All Time. Save for simultaneous multiplayer, it's pretty well got it all. Lots of levels, lots of secrets, lots of powerups, and Yoshi! What a winning formula.
And this run is finally complete. Next week will be a new game.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Photo Thread Update
As promised (elsewhere), I have updated my photo thread (which you can find on channel 4) based on the new shelf I got that weekend. If you just want to see the new pictures they are here:
1
2
3
Please continue to leave your thoughts on Youtube in the poll (Channel 6), so I can figure out where I should dump my next video.
1
2
3
Please continue to leave your thoughts on Youtube in the poll (Channel 6), so I can figure out where I should dump my next video.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Veoh Gets on my Nerves
A new video is up, see the post below this one if you haven't yet.
Anyway, I've gone through all of the videos I had posted on Veoh and changed the category to "Entertainment" because the "Tech and Gaming" category was starting to become filled with adult videos (they show up in the sidebar). Things should now be worksafe again.
Still, a further annoyance is that Veoh has apparently started showing 5-10 second ads prior to every video, they're not very long, but it's still annoying.
Ultimately, I'm kind of considering switching sites (also partially because no one ever uses Veoh, I get a fraction of the views I used to get here), probably to Youtube this time. I've put up another poll (you can reach the polls by setting the channel thing on the right to 6), asking for your thoughts on this issue, please check it out.
You can also comment on this entry.
Anyway, I've gone through all of the videos I had posted on Veoh and changed the category to "Entertainment" because the "Tech and Gaming" category was starting to become filled with adult videos (they show up in the sidebar). Things should now be worksafe again.
Still, a further annoyance is that Veoh has apparently started showing 5-10 second ads prior to every video, they're not very long, but it's still annoying.
Ultimately, I'm kind of considering switching sites (also partially because no one ever uses Veoh, I get a fraction of the views I used to get here), probably to Youtube this time. I've put up another poll (you can reach the polls by setting the channel thing on the right to 6), asking for your thoughts on this issue, please check it out.
You can also comment on this entry.
GBA Megaman Zero
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It's Megaman Zero! Whether or not GBA counts as a "classic" system is a matter of some debate, I suppose, but this game is 7 years old, and it certainly plays like a retro game.
This is another video that you may have known was coming if you read the articles I put up. I went to all the trouble of replacing the battery for this game, so I thought I might as well do a video of it.
Anyway, this is played on the Ultimate mode, which, despite the name and how hard it is to unlock, is actually by far the easiest. It's funny how if you play this game with no Cyber Elves, it's easily the hardest Megaman game, but if you play with them all, it's probably even easier than Megaman X.
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It's Megaman Zero! Whether or not GBA counts as a "classic" system is a matter of some debate, I suppose, but this game is 7 years old, and it certainly plays like a retro game.
This is another video that you may have known was coming if you read the articles I put up. I went to all the trouble of replacing the battery for this game, so I thought I might as well do a video of it.
Anyway, this is played on the Ultimate mode, which, despite the name and how hard it is to unlock, is actually by far the easiest. It's funny how if you play this game with no Cyber Elves, it's easily the hardest Megaman game, but if you play with them all, it's probably even easier than Megaman X.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tero's Top 10 - PSX
Okay, it hasn't been long since the last one of these, but I've had a very busy weekend so it'll have to do.
The PSX, I would say, is a very solid choice for "best system of all time". In a lot of ways, it represents a continuation of what the SNES was (and what the N64 wasn't), but it also brings about a shift in the focus of gaming - rather than seeing it as a hobby for children and "geeks", the Playstation began to agressively target a mainstream teenage demographic, expanding the market beyond what it had ever been before. It sold ridiculously well, and with this, a gargantuan software library was produced, spanning over 4000 titles. That's more than 10 times more games than were produced for N64!
1 - Tales of Phantasia
2 - Choro Q2
3 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
4 - Chrono Cross
5 - Monster Rancher 2
6 - Final Fantasy Tactics
7 - Final Fantasy 7
8 - Suikoden 2
9 - Parappa the Rapper
10 - Snowboard Kids Plus
Obviously, with a system library like this, making this list isn't easy, it's basically a long process of "think of a game, see if I'd take it over any of the current games, shift down". I'm apparently reasonably consistent, though, because I later found another list I had posted for PSX and it contains roughly the same games (though in a different order).
One thing you'll immediately notice about this list is that it contains a fair number of imports, in particular, the top two slots, which are about the only ones I'm consistent on. Tales of Phantasia is very similar to Tales of Destiny (which is an awesome co-op RPG, compare to how I also rank Secret of Mana very high for SNES), except better in basically every respect. Choro Q2 is my favourite game in the Choro Q series, it's similar to Gran Turismo except it has more content and is more arcadey.
Positions 3-8 contain a lot of PS1 all-stars, and it's really just a matter of their placement in the list. Symphony being third isn't a big surprise, though I used to rate this a bit lower since it'd been a long time since I'd played it and I'd forgotten to some extent just how awesome it was.
Of all the games on this list, the one that moves by far the most is Chrono Cross. Most of the games here are extremely solid in all respects, but CC is more of an unbalanced game. In particular, the gameplay and story of CC are not spectacular, but it has fantastic presentation, in particular, I'd say it has the best soundtrack ever composed - it's powerful, it's artsy, it conveys the thematic differences between the two worlds brilliantly, and the game is easily worth playing for it alone. I would totally pick the theme from Home Arni Village for the first dance at my wedding (to the confusion of all present), it's that good. Where I place Chrono Cross on the list depends on my perception of the relative importance of Presentation vs Gameplay at any given time. I would, however, generally pick Chrono Trigger as the superior game.
Monster Rancher 2 is really the only other surprising pick in this group, and if you've played it, I don't think it's too much of a stretch. Of all the pokemon clones, this is definitely my favourite one, it's basically Pokemon + action RPG + simulation.
Parappa is a late addition to this list. It's kind of an odd choice, because it's such a short game, but to me at least, it's probably the funniest game of all time. When I think of all the enjoyment I've gotten out of freestyling on this game, I just can't leave it off the list.
I guess one other thing of note is that while my N64 list omits the "biggest name", my PSX list doesn't. I've always liked FF7 far more than Ocarina of Time, FF7 is one of my favourite FFs. The thing I like most about FF7 is the atmosphere, it combines artistic design and music in a way that I think makes it more immersive than any game to come beforehand, and it still holds up pretty well all this time later. It's kind of like Chrono Cross that way, except it trades some music quality for much better gameplay (as such, I waiver on which one I rate higher).
The final slot is definitely the biggest battle here, just like on the N64 list (and probably every list) there's a whole next stratum of games which battle for this slot. Snowboard Kids Plus is an upgrade to Snowboard Kids for the PS1 (you'll notice I said in the N64 list that SBK's absense has something to do with the PSX), which adds some very needed length to the game. I can't really give any justification for why this comes above the games listed below, they're all very even.
Once again, I can easily list 5 more games that I was considering for this list, Bishi Bashi Special 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Marvel vs Capcom, Megaman X4.
The PSX, I would say, is a very solid choice for "best system of all time". In a lot of ways, it represents a continuation of what the SNES was (and what the N64 wasn't), but it also brings about a shift in the focus of gaming - rather than seeing it as a hobby for children and "geeks", the Playstation began to agressively target a mainstream teenage demographic, expanding the market beyond what it had ever been before. It sold ridiculously well, and with this, a gargantuan software library was produced, spanning over 4000 titles. That's more than 10 times more games than were produced for N64!
1 - Tales of Phantasia
2 - Choro Q2
3 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
4 - Chrono Cross
5 - Monster Rancher 2
6 - Final Fantasy Tactics
7 - Final Fantasy 7
8 - Suikoden 2
9 - Parappa the Rapper
10 - Snowboard Kids Plus
Obviously, with a system library like this, making this list isn't easy, it's basically a long process of "think of a game, see if I'd take it over any of the current games, shift down". I'm apparently reasonably consistent, though, because I later found another list I had posted for PSX and it contains roughly the same games (though in a different order).
One thing you'll immediately notice about this list is that it contains a fair number of imports, in particular, the top two slots, which are about the only ones I'm consistent on. Tales of Phantasia is very similar to Tales of Destiny (which is an awesome co-op RPG, compare to how I also rank Secret of Mana very high for SNES), except better in basically every respect. Choro Q2 is my favourite game in the Choro Q series, it's similar to Gran Turismo except it has more content and is more arcadey.
Positions 3-8 contain a lot of PS1 all-stars, and it's really just a matter of their placement in the list. Symphony being third isn't a big surprise, though I used to rate this a bit lower since it'd been a long time since I'd played it and I'd forgotten to some extent just how awesome it was.
Of all the games on this list, the one that moves by far the most is Chrono Cross. Most of the games here are extremely solid in all respects, but CC is more of an unbalanced game. In particular, the gameplay and story of CC are not spectacular, but it has fantastic presentation, in particular, I'd say it has the best soundtrack ever composed - it's powerful, it's artsy, it conveys the thematic differences between the two worlds brilliantly, and the game is easily worth playing for it alone. I would totally pick the theme from Home Arni Village for the first dance at my wedding (to the confusion of all present), it's that good. Where I place Chrono Cross on the list depends on my perception of the relative importance of Presentation vs Gameplay at any given time. I would, however, generally pick Chrono Trigger as the superior game.
Monster Rancher 2 is really the only other surprising pick in this group, and if you've played it, I don't think it's too much of a stretch. Of all the pokemon clones, this is definitely my favourite one, it's basically Pokemon + action RPG + simulation.
Parappa is a late addition to this list. It's kind of an odd choice, because it's such a short game, but to me at least, it's probably the funniest game of all time. When I think of all the enjoyment I've gotten out of freestyling on this game, I just can't leave it off the list.
I guess one other thing of note is that while my N64 list omits the "biggest name", my PSX list doesn't. I've always liked FF7 far more than Ocarina of Time, FF7 is one of my favourite FFs. The thing I like most about FF7 is the atmosphere, it combines artistic design and music in a way that I think makes it more immersive than any game to come beforehand, and it still holds up pretty well all this time later. It's kind of like Chrono Cross that way, except it trades some music quality for much better gameplay (as such, I waiver on which one I rate higher).
The final slot is definitely the biggest battle here, just like on the N64 list (and probably every list) there's a whole next stratum of games which battle for this slot. Snowboard Kids Plus is an upgrade to Snowboard Kids for the PS1 (you'll notice I said in the N64 list that SBK's absense has something to do with the PSX), which adds some very needed length to the game. I can't really give any justification for why this comes above the games listed below, they're all very even.
Once again, I can easily list 5 more games that I was considering for this list, Bishi Bashi Special 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Marvel vs Capcom, Megaman X4.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
N64 Snowboard Kids
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Not long after Mario Kart 64, of course, comes another wacky N64 racing game, Snowboard Kids!
This game was constantly compared to Mario Kart 64 (well, it basically is Mario Kart on Snowboards), and usually unfavourably, but it does have something of a cult following and it and its sequel are frequently recommended by N64 enthusiasts. It also has great music.
This game is even more luck-based than Mario Kart ever could be, though, so making a video of it is a pretty imposing task. I actually got this run in one attempt, and it's remarkably close to perfect, except for the fifth part, which is pretty sad, but there's enough awesome moments in the first two to make it worth it.
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Not long after Mario Kart 64, of course, comes another wacky N64 racing game, Snowboard Kids!
This game was constantly compared to Mario Kart 64 (well, it basically is Mario Kart on Snowboards), and usually unfavourably, but it does have something of a cult following and it and its sequel are frequently recommended by N64 enthusiasts. It also has great music.
This game is even more luck-based than Mario Kart ever could be, though, so making a video of it is a pretty imposing task. I actually got this run in one attempt, and it's remarkably close to perfect, except for the fifth part, which is pretty sad, but there's enough awesome moments in the first two to make it worth it.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
SNES Yoshi's Cookie
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I admit, there are times when I'm tired or I haven't been playing much lately and I try to pick something easy to accomplish. However, this usually backfires spectacularly and an hour later I realize I've set myself some Herculean task that's going to take at least a full evening.
This is one of those times. I had apparently forgotten just how hard (and unbalanced) this game is after playing the Gamecube version a lot. I must have lost at least 10 times (and each attempt takes close to half an hour) before the planets aligned and I was able to win.
On the plus side, the extremely difficulty level of this game and how close it often is should at least keep this video interesting. I did smoke the computer pretty bad this time, though.
My capture card continues to be annoying on SNES games, but thankfully it stops wavering after the first match.
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I admit, there are times when I'm tired or I haven't been playing much lately and I try to pick something easy to accomplish. However, this usually backfires spectacularly and an hour later I realize I've set myself some Herculean task that's going to take at least a full evening.
This is one of those times. I had apparently forgotten just how hard (and unbalanced) this game is after playing the Gamecube version a lot. I must have lost at least 10 times (and each attempt takes close to half an hour) before the planets aligned and I was able to win.
On the plus side, the extremely difficulty level of this game and how close it often is should at least keep this video interesting. I did smoke the computer pretty bad this time, though.
My capture card continues to be annoying on SNES games, but thankfully it stops wavering after the first match.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Power Struggle
For years, I've always known this day would come. I just never knew when. Or what it would be.
But then, lo and behold, I was greeted by this:
Can you tell what option should be in this picture?
A copy of Megaman Zero which I had recently picked up wasn't saving properly. At first, I assumed the cart must be damaged, or the Gameboy Player on the GC wasn't working right. This theory was supported when it did save okay a few times in my DS, but it lost the save later.
I was about to return the cart (I'd have to ship it back, at my own expense), when something occured to me. Is it possible this cart uses a battery?
It's always the one you least suspect
I would never have guessed, because battery-backed RAM was already almost totally phased out by 2000, and this game came out in 2002, but it turns out that a number of early GBA games actually do use batteries. And this one was totally drained, outputting a mere 0.3V instead of the 3V it's supposed to provide. And so, it was time for my first ever foray into battery changing.
First, I had to buy the battery. GBA games use CR1616s, which are a common type of watch battery, so buying one was no trouble (it cost me $6). The next step was to desolder the old battery, which is also not very difficult (though you want to go a bit easy on it, you don't want to fry the board).
Here's what the board looks like with no battery on it
(There are no more pictures because I was too busy soldering things)
The next step is to remove the leads from the battery. This requires some chiselling, but isn't too difficult. Then, the leads need to be hammered back into their original shape (thankfully, they're pretty malleable).
The next part is the really hard part, which is getting the leads on the new battery. Soldering to a battery is not easy in the first place (you put a little solder on the lead, a little on the battery, push the lead on top of the battery, then heat the lead), but in the case of a GBA game it's FAR harder than normal because the battery fits in the case only by the absolute slimmest of margins (see the photo of the open case above, there's a tiny slit cut in the top cover, that's for the lead, to give you an idea of how tight it is). If the leads aren't super tight to the battery, it's not going to fit.
There's a trick to this, which is to put a little piece of electrical tape over the rim of the battery where the top lead would touch the sides (you can't allow it to touch the sides, or you'll form a circuit between the top and bottom of the battery and it will short). With the tape there, there's no risk of the leads touching, and thus you can push the lead right to the edge rather than having to bend it up. I didn't realize this the first time and had to de-solder it, but you can learn from my experience.
Anyway, eventually the leads were on the new battery and it was ready to solder back to the board, this is comparatively easy. The case still didn't shut perfectly (it's still a touch too tall), but it does close and the game fits in the system, I consider that close enough.
If you were doing a game for a different system, you'd have more space, and you might be able to simply use electrical tape to put the leads on - GBA is not an easy one to start with. Also, apparently you can buy batteries that come with the leads on them, and this would cut out 75% of the work, just unsolder the old battery and solder in the new, easy as pie. I need to find out where you can get those from.
Anyway, so begins the moment of truth. The game starts up, and I'm able to complete the first level, that's a good sign.
But the real test is what happens after I turn it off
Success! My save is still there! And hopefully next time it will be easier!
And on the plus side, I played the first stage so much that I'm a total master of it now.
Does the S stand for Soldering?
But then, lo and behold, I was greeted by this:
Can you tell what option should be in this picture?
A copy of Megaman Zero which I had recently picked up wasn't saving properly. At first, I assumed the cart must be damaged, or the Gameboy Player on the GC wasn't working right. This theory was supported when it did save okay a few times in my DS, but it lost the save later.
I was about to return the cart (I'd have to ship it back, at my own expense), when something occured to me. Is it possible this cart uses a battery?
It's always the one you least suspect
I would never have guessed, because battery-backed RAM was already almost totally phased out by 2000, and this game came out in 2002, but it turns out that a number of early GBA games actually do use batteries. And this one was totally drained, outputting a mere 0.3V instead of the 3V it's supposed to provide. And so, it was time for my first ever foray into battery changing.
First, I had to buy the battery. GBA games use CR1616s, which are a common type of watch battery, so buying one was no trouble (it cost me $6). The next step was to desolder the old battery, which is also not very difficult (though you want to go a bit easy on it, you don't want to fry the board).
Here's what the board looks like with no battery on it
(There are no more pictures because I was too busy soldering things)
The next step is to remove the leads from the battery. This requires some chiselling, but isn't too difficult. Then, the leads need to be hammered back into their original shape (thankfully, they're pretty malleable).
The next part is the really hard part, which is getting the leads on the new battery. Soldering to a battery is not easy in the first place (you put a little solder on the lead, a little on the battery, push the lead on top of the battery, then heat the lead), but in the case of a GBA game it's FAR harder than normal because the battery fits in the case only by the absolute slimmest of margins (see the photo of the open case above, there's a tiny slit cut in the top cover, that's for the lead, to give you an idea of how tight it is). If the leads aren't super tight to the battery, it's not going to fit.
There's a trick to this, which is to put a little piece of electrical tape over the rim of the battery where the top lead would touch the sides (you can't allow it to touch the sides, or you'll form a circuit between the top and bottom of the battery and it will short). With the tape there, there's no risk of the leads touching, and thus you can push the lead right to the edge rather than having to bend it up. I didn't realize this the first time and had to de-solder it, but you can learn from my experience.
Anyway, eventually the leads were on the new battery and it was ready to solder back to the board, this is comparatively easy. The case still didn't shut perfectly (it's still a touch too tall), but it does close and the game fits in the system, I consider that close enough.
If you were doing a game for a different system, you'd have more space, and you might be able to simply use electrical tape to put the leads on - GBA is not an easy one to start with. Also, apparently you can buy batteries that come with the leads on them, and this would cut out 75% of the work, just unsolder the old battery and solder in the new, easy as pie. I need to find out where you can get those from.
Anyway, so begins the moment of truth. The game starts up, and I'm able to complete the first level, that's a good sign.
But the real test is what happens after I turn it off
Success! My save is still there! And hopefully next time it will be easier!
And on the plus side, I played the first stage so much that I'm a total master of it now.
Does the S stand for Soldering?
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Tero's Top 10 - N64
Well, it's been an exhausting week and I have nothing ready, so it's time for another filler post. I really went all out on this one, though, and I've actually gone back and made the previous top 10 posts longer (click on Channel 4 to find them).
The N64 is an interesting system. On one hand, it's often cited as the system where Nintendo went bad, this generation saw the birth of Playstation and a ton of Nintendo franchises left and never came back, on the other it has a number of absolute masterpieces on it. It also has an extremely small library, containing only 400 games total (most other systems have >1000), and yet naming 50 high-quality games would not be difficult.
1 - Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
2 - Banjo-Kazooie
3 - Super Mario 64
4 - Pokemon Puzzle League
5 - Road Rash 64
6 - Super Smash Bros
7 - Mario Kart 64
8 - NBA Hangtime
9 - Mischief Makers
10 - Blast Corps
With the exception of the top 3 picks, this was agonizing. Obviously, the first thing that must be mentioned is that there's an obvious omission here - This list does not contain either of the Zelda games. I've never liked 3D Zelda, most particularly not on N64, I've always found Ocarina of Time boring, despite repeated attempts to like it. I think the fact that Link is so slow and effectively has his feet glued to the ground kills it for me, here you have this huge, expansive 3D world, and you're stuck exploring the very bottom of it at a snail's pace. There's also far too much dungeon crawling. I've always felt 3D Zelda would be much better if it was basically the same as Mystical Ninja.
Speaking of which, the top pick is, perhaps, the most obvious top pick ever. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is probably the best game of all time by a fairly significant margin. Even if we ignore the fact that it came out in 1998, I still think it compares favourably to just about every other platform and adventure game ever. Even something like Okami still couldn't quite compare on even terms, and it came out almost a decade later. It's a timeless masterpiece in every sense of the word.
Mario 64 and BK are, I think, relatively obvious for slots 2 and 3. The ordering of them is definitely debatable, I think Banjo-Kazooie is a better game overall, but Mario 64 was first and it's definitely more iconic. In the end, you have to choose one or the other.
The other 7 games, as much as I agonized over the placement, are sorted near-randomly. Every time I alter the order, I feel it puts one of the games too low. You'll just have to accept that the difference in quality between slot 4 and slot 10 is extremely small.
Interestingly, some of my favourite obscure games for the N64 have actually been squeezed out of this ordering. Every time I hastily made a list of best N64 games, Flying Dragon, Penny Racers, and Snowboard Kids would tend to place in it. However, as much as I love them, the more I poured over the list of N64 games, the more obvious it became that there are some games that are a little better. Some of this also has to do with the PSX, you'll see how when I make that list.
Ironically, this actually took almost as long to write as it would take me to beat an easy game. Since I worked on it for so long, I might as well state that those 3 games in the previous paragraph, plus Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Golf would be my top 15.
The N64 is an interesting system. On one hand, it's often cited as the system where Nintendo went bad, this generation saw the birth of Playstation and a ton of Nintendo franchises left and never came back, on the other it has a number of absolute masterpieces on it. It also has an extremely small library, containing only 400 games total (most other systems have >1000), and yet naming 50 high-quality games would not be difficult.
1 - Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
2 - Banjo-Kazooie
3 - Super Mario 64
4 - Pokemon Puzzle League
5 - Road Rash 64
6 - Super Smash Bros
7 - Mario Kart 64
8 - NBA Hangtime
9 - Mischief Makers
10 - Blast Corps
With the exception of the top 3 picks, this was agonizing. Obviously, the first thing that must be mentioned is that there's an obvious omission here - This list does not contain either of the Zelda games. I've never liked 3D Zelda, most particularly not on N64, I've always found Ocarina of Time boring, despite repeated attempts to like it. I think the fact that Link is so slow and effectively has his feet glued to the ground kills it for me, here you have this huge, expansive 3D world, and you're stuck exploring the very bottom of it at a snail's pace. There's also far too much dungeon crawling. I've always felt 3D Zelda would be much better if it was basically the same as Mystical Ninja.
Speaking of which, the top pick is, perhaps, the most obvious top pick ever. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is probably the best game of all time by a fairly significant margin. Even if we ignore the fact that it came out in 1998, I still think it compares favourably to just about every other platform and adventure game ever. Even something like Okami still couldn't quite compare on even terms, and it came out almost a decade later. It's a timeless masterpiece in every sense of the word.
Mario 64 and BK are, I think, relatively obvious for slots 2 and 3. The ordering of them is definitely debatable, I think Banjo-Kazooie is a better game overall, but Mario 64 was first and it's definitely more iconic. In the end, you have to choose one or the other.
The other 7 games, as much as I agonized over the placement, are sorted near-randomly. Every time I alter the order, I feel it puts one of the games too low. You'll just have to accept that the difference in quality between slot 4 and slot 10 is extremely small.
Interestingly, some of my favourite obscure games for the N64 have actually been squeezed out of this ordering. Every time I hastily made a list of best N64 games, Flying Dragon, Penny Racers, and Snowboard Kids would tend to place in it. However, as much as I love them, the more I poured over the list of N64 games, the more obvious it became that there are some games that are a little better. Some of this also has to do with the PSX, you'll see how when I make that list.
Ironically, this actually took almost as long to write as it would take me to beat an easy game. Since I worked on it for so long, I might as well state that those 3 games in the previous paragraph, plus Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Golf would be my top 15.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
PSX Choro Q2
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And it's another Choro Q video, this time for Choro Q2, which I feel is the best one. This game is much closer to simulation-style racing than Choro Q 64 (Penny Racers), so it might not be as exciting to watch, but I find this game grows on people. In half an hour I've seen people go from "What is this stupid game?" to "Come on! You can pass him!"
I was originally going to do Choro Q1, but I realized that people probably aren't going to sit through a half-dozen of these, so I might as well bring out the big guns.
This run is now complete, enjoy.
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And it's another Choro Q video, this time for Choro Q2, which I feel is the best one. This game is much closer to simulation-style racing than Choro Q 64 (Penny Racers), so it might not be as exciting to watch, but I find this game grows on people. In half an hour I've seen people go from "What is this stupid game?" to "Come on! You can pass him!"
I was originally going to do Choro Q1, but I realized that people probably aren't going to sit through a half-dozen of these, so I might as well bring out the big guns.
This run is now complete, enjoy.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
SNES The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse
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You may have had a tipoff that this would be the next game if you read my previous article.
It's been a long time since I posted a video for a Capcom Disney game, so I felt I was due. Magical Quest is kind of a fusion between Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers and Bonkers, with maybe a touch of Bionic Commando thrown in.
At any rate, this is a very good run, I barely die at all here. There's also some pretty slick moves that I pull off on some of the bosses (boss 4 in particular). And my capture card behaves pretty well this time, it only has problems during the intro cutscene.
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You may have had a tipoff that this would be the next game if you read my previous article.
It's been a long time since I posted a video for a Capcom Disney game, so I felt I was due. Magical Quest is kind of a fusion between Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers and Bonkers, with maybe a touch of Bionic Commando thrown in.
At any rate, this is a very good run, I barely die at all here. There's also some pretty slick moves that I pull off on some of the bosses (boss 4 in particular). And my capture card behaves pretty well this time, it only has problems during the intro cutscene.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Case Wars
As some of you may be aware, there exists a chemical defect in many of the first Super Nintendos to be released in America. Apparently, a flame-retardant chemical used in the plasting casing eventually breaks down, causing the system to change from its usual grey to an undesireable sort of yellow colour. You can see the difference in the picture below
Coloured SNES on left, normal SNES on right
The SNES on the left is the one I've had for ages, so as you can see it suffers from the yellowing syndrome (there are some that are worse, though). The one on the right is a garage sale SNES that cost me $3.
It would have been easy to simply exchange my old SNES for the one here, except I'm kind of attached to it and the other SNES doesn't actually even work. So, I'm going to do the next logical thing and swap the outside casing on the two systems.
Getting the SNES open is something of a pain, much like the N64 it uses an unconventional type of screw. Thankfully, one of the many zillions of screwdriver bits I have lying around will grip them and getting the system apart is not difficult.
A SNES, taken apart
As you can see, all of the innards are all screwed to the bottom casing. Rather than risk unscrewing these and having everything get out of place, I decide to only switch the tops. The top is the piece that suffers from the heaviest discolouration, anyway.
Here it is, screwed back together
The two halves are still very slightly different colours but you have to look real close to see it. At least the two-tone colour scheme looks better with the browner plastic on the bottom.
Of course, the most important question is, does it work?
And there you have it. $3 well spent. And as an added bonus, it came with a copy of Super Star Wars.
Addendum: Oops, it later occured to me that in the process, I re-region locked my SNES (the region lockout is part of the top half of the SNES). A short tab cutting later and it's back to playing Japanese games.
Coloured SNES on left, normal SNES on right
The SNES on the left is the one I've had for ages, so as you can see it suffers from the yellowing syndrome (there are some that are worse, though). The one on the right is a garage sale SNES that cost me $3.
It would have been easy to simply exchange my old SNES for the one here, except I'm kind of attached to it and the other SNES doesn't actually even work. So, I'm going to do the next logical thing and swap the outside casing on the two systems.
Getting the SNES open is something of a pain, much like the N64 it uses an unconventional type of screw. Thankfully, one of the many zillions of screwdriver bits I have lying around will grip them and getting the system apart is not difficult.
A SNES, taken apart
As you can see, all of the innards are all screwed to the bottom casing. Rather than risk unscrewing these and having everything get out of place, I decide to only switch the tops. The top is the piece that suffers from the heaviest discolouration, anyway.
Here it is, screwed back together
The two halves are still very slightly different colours but you have to look real close to see it. At least the two-tone colour scheme looks better with the browner plastic on the bottom.
Of course, the most important question is, does it work?
And there you have it. $3 well spent. And as an added bonus, it came with a copy of Super Star Wars.
Addendum: Oops, it later occured to me that in the process, I re-region locked my SNES (the region lockout is part of the top half of the SNES). A short tab cutting later and it's back to playing Japanese games.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
SNES Pac-Man 2 The New Adventures
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Well, here's a game that's very different from the ones I've uploaded so far. Pac-Man 2 is almost a point-and-click game, but it has some key differences from the genre and it's a bit more action-oriented. It's pretty much a one-of-a-kind game, and I've always enjoyed it (it still holds up pretty well, too).
Once again, my capture card has a bit of trouble locking on to the SNES signal (it gets it after about 90 seconds). I might consider going back to an emulator for SNES games that aren't very action-oriented because it gets a slightly crisper picture.
or
Watch Part 1
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Well, here's a game that's very different from the ones I've uploaded so far. Pac-Man 2 is almost a point-and-click game, but it has some key differences from the genre and it's a bit more action-oriented. It's pretty much a one-of-a-kind game, and I've always enjoyed it (it still holds up pretty well, too).
Once again, my capture card has a bit of trouble locking on to the SNES signal (it gets it after about 90 seconds). I might consider going back to an emulator for SNES games that aren't very action-oriented because it gets a slightly crisper picture.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
N64 Mario Kart 64
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Finally, a Mario Kart video! I picked Mario Kart 64 because it was easy, but the goal I chose for myself was to beat all 4 cups consecutively, and it took far more tries than I would have thought. I was also very rusty because Mario Kart 64 has a number of key differences from the later titles.
I eventually decided to give up and just do all four cups separately, but of course, upon deciding to do that I actually got them all in a row (but on different vids), so I decided to see if I could do it again. I got it this run on my next try, and while there are tense moments, I generally dominate the game. Except for the boost start, for some reason I just can't pull it off. And I've lost my shortcut skills.
In the end, I finally got my Mario Kart 64 groove back, but now I bet I couldn't play Mario Kart Wii to save my life.
or
Watch Part 1
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Finally, a Mario Kart video! I picked Mario Kart 64 because it was easy, but the goal I chose for myself was to beat all 4 cups consecutively, and it took far more tries than I would have thought. I was also very rusty because Mario Kart 64 has a number of key differences from the later titles.
I eventually decided to give up and just do all four cups separately, but of course, upon deciding to do that I actually got them all in a row (but on different vids), so I decided to see if I could do it again. I got it this run on my next try, and while there are tense moments, I generally dominate the game. Except for the boost start, for some reason I just can't pull it off. And I've lost my shortcut skills.
In the end, I finally got my Mario Kart 64 groove back, but now I bet I couldn't play Mario Kart Wii to save my life.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Nothing New This Week
Well, I tried several things, but I just have no luck this weekend. Everyone has their off times, I guess.
I'll try to find something that works for next weekend, until then, Happy Easter to Internet land.
I'll try to find something that works for next weekend, until then, Happy Easter to Internet land.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
DOS Jazz Jackrabbit
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Well, this is a surprise, it's a video from a DOS game! (unsurprisingly, it's a mascot platformer)
Jazz Jackrabbit is one of 2 especially notable platformers on PC from this era (PC gamers should be able to identify the other one). It's a pretty cool game and I especially like its soundtrack.
When I moved this to youtube, I decided to record the second episode as well. The second episode is a real nightmare, so it took a ton of tries to get this to go right.
or
Watch Part 1-1
Watch Part 1-2
Watch Part 2-1
Watch Part 2-2
Well, this is a surprise, it's a video from a DOS game! (unsurprisingly, it's a mascot platformer)
Jazz Jackrabbit is one of 2 especially notable platformers on PC from this era (PC gamers should be able to identify the other one). It's a pretty cool game and I especially like its soundtrack.
When I moved this to youtube, I decided to record the second episode as well. The second episode is a real nightmare, so it took a ton of tries to get this to go right.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tero's Top 10 - SNES
Well, I'm taking a one-week break from videos, so now here's another filler post for you all.
The SNES is probably my favourite of all systems. It basically takes what the NES did well and expands on it in every way. There's just such an amazing line up of classics for this thing.
1 - Megaman X
2 - Secret of Mana
3 - Super Mario World
4 - Chrono Trigger
5 - Kirby Super Star
6 - NBA Jam TE
7 - Biker Mice from Mars
8 - Super Mario RPG
9 - Seiken Densetsu 3
10 - Robotrek
Actually, I've always considered the SNES a "boring" system to make a list of best games for, you can see there's absolutely nothing surprising in the top 5 except for "what order they go in".
Speaking of ordering, I have retroactively changed this entry so that Megaman X is in slot 1. I've always been debating MMX vs SoM for slot 1 on SNES, but as time has gone on, I've shifted towards MMX more and more. For one thing, I've always had trouble calling SoM a 10.0 game (I think I'd give it about 9.9 or 9.8, as good as it is, there are some definite detractions), but I don't feel that way about Megaman X. Megaman X is an easy 10.0.
The bottom 5 is where the list gets somewhat personalized. SD3 being on here shouldn't surprise anyone, seeing as how Secret of Mana is such a favourite of mine. NBA Jam TE is here because it's a fantastic multiplayer game, and perhaps moreso than any other game it can cheer me up in minutes no matter what the issue is. The other two games you probably haven't ever heard of, but they're great - Biker Mice from Mars is what you'd get if you took Rock and Roll Racing and made every part of it better.
I spent ages on Robotrek vs EVO for slot 10, they're both quirky favourites, one is an odd RPG based on making robots, the other is a platformer based on Evolution. In the end I went with the one I've played through more times.
It's probably considered scandalous that Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy 6, and Donkey Kong Country aren't here. You'd probably see all of them if the list was expanded to the top 20, they just don't quite make my top 10. As mentioned above, I consider SNES to have the strongest library ever, so all of its top 25 would probably be top 10 material on some other systems.
Interestingly, almost all of these are games I played when I was younger (including SD3, I had a Japanese friend who had the cart). I don't think this is so much indicative of bias so much as I just happened to have very good taste even back then. After all, by the time I was 12 I had probably played as many games as many people will play in their entire lives. The only exception to this is Biker Mice from Mars, which was recommended to me only recently, but I knew it would have to go on the list the moment I played it (it ended up bumping fellow SNES racer F1 ROC 2 off the list).
It's a good thing I bought Chrono Trigger back when it was cheap, too.
The SNES is probably my favourite of all systems. It basically takes what the NES did well and expands on it in every way. There's just such an amazing line up of classics for this thing.
1 - Megaman X
2 - Secret of Mana
3 - Super Mario World
4 - Chrono Trigger
5 - Kirby Super Star
6 - NBA Jam TE
7 - Biker Mice from Mars
8 - Super Mario RPG
9 - Seiken Densetsu 3
10 - Robotrek
Actually, I've always considered the SNES a "boring" system to make a list of best games for, you can see there's absolutely nothing surprising in the top 5 except for "what order they go in".
Speaking of ordering, I have retroactively changed this entry so that Megaman X is in slot 1. I've always been debating MMX vs SoM for slot 1 on SNES, but as time has gone on, I've shifted towards MMX more and more. For one thing, I've always had trouble calling SoM a 10.0 game (I think I'd give it about 9.9 or 9.8, as good as it is, there are some definite detractions), but I don't feel that way about Megaman X. Megaman X is an easy 10.0.
The bottom 5 is where the list gets somewhat personalized. SD3 being on here shouldn't surprise anyone, seeing as how Secret of Mana is such a favourite of mine. NBA Jam TE is here because it's a fantastic multiplayer game, and perhaps moreso than any other game it can cheer me up in minutes no matter what the issue is. The other two games you probably haven't ever heard of, but they're great - Biker Mice from Mars is what you'd get if you took Rock and Roll Racing and made every part of it better.
I spent ages on Robotrek vs EVO for slot 10, they're both quirky favourites, one is an odd RPG based on making robots, the other is a platformer based on Evolution. In the end I went with the one I've played through more times.
It's probably considered scandalous that Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy 6, and Donkey Kong Country aren't here. You'd probably see all of them if the list was expanded to the top 20, they just don't quite make my top 10. As mentioned above, I consider SNES to have the strongest library ever, so all of its top 25 would probably be top 10 material on some other systems.
Interestingly, almost all of these are games I played when I was younger (including SD3, I had a Japanese friend who had the cart). I don't think this is so much indicative of bias so much as I just happened to have very good taste even back then. After all, by the time I was 12 I had probably played as many games as many people will play in their entire lives. The only exception to this is Biker Mice from Mars, which was recommended to me only recently, but I knew it would have to go on the list the moment I played it (it ended up bumping fellow SNES racer F1 ROC 2 off the list).
It's a good thing I bought Chrono Trigger back when it was cheap, too.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
50 Posts and 1000 Hits
My site has finally reached 1000 hits! And they aren't all me! The counter doesn't count me!
Thanks to everyone who has visited this site, and special thanks to all of those who came back after the first time. I hope you're enjoying it.
Anyway, my run of Mystical Ninja continues to be updated (I think it should be done 2 weeks from now) and I've put up a new poll regarding Veoh. Please let me know what you think, though I think I'm going to stick with it.
Thanks to everyone who has visited this site, and special thanks to all of those who came back after the first time. I hope you're enjoying it.
Anyway, my run of Mystical Ninja continues to be updated (I think it should be done 2 weeks from now) and I've put up a new poll regarding Veoh. Please let me know what you think, though I think I'm going to stick with it.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
N64 Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
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It's Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon! This is one of my favourite games of all time, in my opinion it's both the best N64 game and the best 3D platformer ever. It's also hilariously Japanese and has a lot of funny dialogue. It's really just an amazing tale with almost infinite replayability.
It's also much longer than any game I've done before, so I have to split this one into parts. This video is comprised of 20 individual parts, but the playlist will allow you to watch them all back-to-back.
So sit back and enjoy, this is one heck of a game.
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It's Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon! This is one of my favourite games of all time, in my opinion it's both the best N64 game and the best 3D platformer ever. It's also hilariously Japanese and has a lot of funny dialogue. It's really just an amazing tale with almost infinite replayability.
It's also much longer than any game I've done before, so I have to split this one into parts. This video is comprised of 20 individual parts, but the playlist will allow you to watch them all back-to-back.
So sit back and enjoy, this is one heck of a game.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Something Big is Coming
Okay, I spent most of tonight recording a new video, but I'm not posting it yet for a mysterious reason (and no, it's not ENTIRELY just to build suspense).
To tide you over until next week, here's a filler post. I'll probably get around to writing up all the systems I've spent a fair amount of time with eventually.
To tide you over until next week, here's a filler post. I'll probably get around to writing up all the systems I've spent a fair amount of time with eventually.
Tero's Top 10 - NES
The question "what are your favourite games" is one that comes up a lot in games communities (I've even joked it's the gamer's equivalent of "What's your sign"). My answers change constantly, both because I'm always playing new games and because I can't remember what I answered last time.
Still, it seems like a good thing to go in a blog about Classic Gaming because blogs are supposed to be vaguely personal and it's something I've made reference to a lot of times. It also buys me several posts worth of filler. Don't be surprised if these posts randomly change in the future.
And of course, you'll probably disagree. That's not surprising. Note that it says "favourite games", not necessarily "what do you think are the best games".
I'll start with the NES, because it's the system I've covered the most here.
1 - Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
2 - Snake Rattle n' Roll
3 - Bubble Bobble
4 - River City Ransom
5 - Double Dragon 2
6 - Super Mario Bros
7 - Kirby's Adventure
8 - Stunt Kids
9 - Mega Man 3
10 - MC Kids
Apart from the top 2 slots, this is very difficult to choose, but I forced myself to only pick 10. One pattern is that the top 5 games all have simultaneous co-op - the NES is one of the greatest co-op systems available, and you can see that dominance reflected here.
Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers has always been my favourite NES game, and it's definitely the single game I've beaten the most times total. It's a very easy game, but it's extremely well made and is still fun even when you're extremely good at it. I always recommend it to anyone who is just starting at gaming, because I believe it's the best game ever at what it does.
Snake Rattle 'n Roll is pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum. Where CnD is just extremely solid but conventional, SRnR (what is it with NES and 'n?) is extremely unique. It's an isometric platformer with gameplay that can really only be called bizarre. Still, it's very fun, and most people I know who know what it is rate it pretty high. It's also pretty hard, actually, I only beat it for the first time a few weeks before I made the video of it and I've had it since childhood.
Of course, I'm sure I'll take some flak for including MC Kids and not Super Mario Bros 3. I've always slightly preferred MC Kids to SMB3, mostly because of its emphasis on exploration. I prefer SMW to SMB3 (and to MC Kids, for that matter) for mostly the same reason.
Most of the rest of the choices should be familiar to NES fans. Astute viewers may notice that I eventually subbed out DuckTales for Kirby's Adventure, it just didn't feel right leaving Kirby off the list after I went back and played it again.
Still, it seems like a good thing to go in a blog about Classic Gaming because blogs are supposed to be vaguely personal and it's something I've made reference to a lot of times. It also buys me several posts worth of filler. Don't be surprised if these posts randomly change in the future.
And of course, you'll probably disagree. That's not surprising. Note that it says "favourite games", not necessarily "what do you think are the best games".
I'll start with the NES, because it's the system I've covered the most here.
1 - Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
2 - Snake Rattle n' Roll
3 - Bubble Bobble
4 - River City Ransom
5 - Double Dragon 2
6 - Super Mario Bros
7 - Kirby's Adventure
8 - Stunt Kids
9 - Mega Man 3
10 - MC Kids
Apart from the top 2 slots, this is very difficult to choose, but I forced myself to only pick 10. One pattern is that the top 5 games all have simultaneous co-op - the NES is one of the greatest co-op systems available, and you can see that dominance reflected here.
Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers has always been my favourite NES game, and it's definitely the single game I've beaten the most times total. It's a very easy game, but it's extremely well made and is still fun even when you're extremely good at it. I always recommend it to anyone who is just starting at gaming, because I believe it's the best game ever at what it does.
Snake Rattle 'n Roll is pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum. Where CnD is just extremely solid but conventional, SRnR (what is it with NES and 'n?) is extremely unique. It's an isometric platformer with gameplay that can really only be called bizarre. Still, it's very fun, and most people I know who know what it is rate it pretty high. It's also pretty hard, actually, I only beat it for the first time a few weeks before I made the video of it and I've had it since childhood.
Of course, I'm sure I'll take some flak for including MC Kids and not Super Mario Bros 3. I've always slightly preferred MC Kids to SMB3, mostly because of its emphasis on exploration. I prefer SMW to SMB3 (and to MC Kids, for that matter) for mostly the same reason.
Most of the rest of the choices should be familiar to NES fans. Astute viewers may notice that I eventually subbed out DuckTales for Kirby's Adventure, it just didn't feel right leaving Kirby off the list after I went back and played it again.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
PSX Pocket Fighter
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Pocket Fighter is a fun little fighting game. It's incredibly simple, but it's still kind of entertaining. Hopefully you'll be entertained.
Also, Happy Valentine's Day, Internet land. You can follow Felicia's search for fame and romance in this video (here's a hint, she doesn't have any success either).
I initially picked this as a test video for Veoh. However, I've sinced moved it over to Youtube. Since this was fun to do, I've added a second playthrough using Tessa.
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Pocket Fighter is a fun little fighting game. It's incredibly simple, but it's still kind of entertaining. Hopefully you'll be entertained.
Also, Happy Valentine's Day, Internet land. You can follow Felicia's search for fame and romance in this video (here's a hint, she doesn't have any success either).
I initially picked this as a test video for Veoh. However, I've sinced moved it over to Youtube. Since this was fun to do, I've added a second playthrough using Tessa.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
SNES Megaman X
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It's my 30th upload spectacular! Megaman X!
Of particular note is the fact that I now own a capture card, and as such, this video was not created using an emulator. Nothing against emulators, mind you, but a game like Megaman X is significantly harder to play with a keyboard. Now you can really get a good feel for my abilities (though not at the very end of the video, ugh). This also allows me to get around all further emulator compatibility problems, so it's a handy thing to have.
Megaman X is one of my all-time favourites, but it's hard to play with a keyboard because the shoulder buttons are really important. As such, it was a natural choice for my first capture card video. The game is also fairly easy so I wouldn't have to attempt it a ton of times.
There's still a couple bugs to work out in the process, though, the card really doesn't like the explosion effect used by this game and the video gets a little wobbly after it happens. Sometimes it takes the card a little while to lock back on to the signal, which is worst in Boomer Kuwanger's level. I've been fiddling with the settings and have managed to reduce how often this happens, but not totally eliminate it. Thankfully, this problem doesn't seem to exist on systems from the N64 era and onward. Must be something different about how the SNES sends the signal.
On another note, this will probably be my last video for Google Video (see the post below this one). It's a shame GV is closing, it was a good service for this kind of thing. I hope I'll be able to find something else that works as well. At least this is a good note to end on.
This video has now been completely redone, eliminating the video distortion effect, and the death that was in the previous run.
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It's my 30th upload spectacular! Megaman X!
Of particular note is the fact that I now own a capture card, and as such, this video was not created using an emulator. Nothing against emulators, mind you, but a game like Megaman X is significantly harder to play with a keyboard. Now you can really get a good feel for my abilities (though not at the very end of the video, ugh). This also allows me to get around all further emulator compatibility problems, so it's a handy thing to have.
Megaman X is one of my all-time favourites, but it's hard to play with a keyboard because the shoulder buttons are really important. As such, it was a natural choice for my first capture card video. The game is also fairly easy so I wouldn't have to attempt it a ton of times.
There's still a couple bugs to work out in the process, though, the card really doesn't like the explosion effect used by this game and the video gets a little wobbly after it happens. Sometimes it takes the card a little while to lock back on to the signal, which is worst in Boomer Kuwanger's level. I've been fiddling with the settings and have managed to reduce how often this happens, but not totally eliminate it. Thankfully, this problem doesn't seem to exist on systems from the N64 era and onward. Must be something different about how the SNES sends the signal.
On another note, this will probably be my last video for Google Video (see the post below this one). It's a shame GV is closing, it was a good service for this kind of thing. I hope I'll be able to find something else that works as well. At least this is a good note to end on.
This video has now been completely redone, eliminating the video distortion effect, and the death that was in the previous run.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
RIP Google Video
Unfortunately, Google Video posted recently that they're shutting down uploads to Google Video.
This is bad for me because I host my videos there and there really aren't many other good places for game runs. I'm looking into other places, but it's difficult to find something suitable.
You can help, actually, if you know of a good video hosting site.
My needs in a video site are as follows:
- Allows game videos (many sites don't)
- Maximum file size is at least 500 megs.
- Maximum video length is at least an hour
I would also prefer it to be somewhat well-known and not a total pain to use.
So far, the one I'm most considering is Veoh. They don't limit the size or length, and video game movies are allowed, but there's a catch - you have to install a web player in order to watch movies that exceed 30 minutes.
This is bad for me because I host my videos there and there really aren't many other good places for game runs. I'm looking into other places, but it's difficult to find something suitable.
You can help, actually, if you know of a good video hosting site.
My needs in a video site are as follows:
- Allows game videos (many sites don't)
- Maximum file size is at least 500 megs.
- Maximum video length is at least an hour
I would also prefer it to be somewhat well-known and not a total pain to use.
So far, the one I'm most considering is Veoh. They don't limit the size or length, and video game movies are allowed, but there's a catch - you have to install a web player in order to watch movies that exceed 30 minutes.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
NES Metal Storm
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And we're back to platformers. This is a pretty short game, but there's a number of interesting things about it. The graphics are quite good for NES (and GV didn't really butcher them), and it has an interesting gravity flipping mechanic that adds a bit more puzzle into what would otherwise be a straightforward action game.
This is a game most people probably haven't heard of, but it's a short video, so you can watch it and get some idea what this game is all about.
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Watch Part 1
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And we're back to platformers. This is a pretty short game, but there's a number of interesting things about it. The graphics are quite good for NES (and GV didn't really butcher them), and it has an interesting gravity flipping mechanic that adds a bit more puzzle into what would otherwise be a straightforward action game.
This is a game most people probably haven't heard of, but it's a short video, so you can watch it and get some idea what this game is all about.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
NES Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road
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I wanted to do something not a platformer to break it up, but it's hard choosing something that'll be interesting to watch (and also fast to learn how to do, I've been a bit busy lately). Eventually I came up with this.
You could argue that I don't actually "beat" this game, but it never ends, past this point it would simply repeat forever.
Oh, and I'm the pink car, in case you're confused.
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I wanted to do something not a platformer to break it up, but it's hard choosing something that'll be interesting to watch (and also fast to learn how to do, I've been a bit busy lately). Eventually I came up with this.
You could argue that I don't actually "beat" this game, but it never ends, past this point it would simply repeat forever.
Oh, and I'm the pink car, in case you're confused.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
NES Adventure Island 3
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This is a game I've been attempting every now and then for a while, which explains the somewhat unusual timing of this upload. I almost always lose all of my Clubs on the last stage of World 7 and have to restart my run (the boss of World 7 is very hard without one), this was one time where everything actually went smoothly.
This is actually the first time I've totally beaten the game, so I was just winging it for the last couple levels.
or
Watch Part 1
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This is a game I've been attempting every now and then for a while, which explains the somewhat unusual timing of this upload. I almost always lose all of my Clubs on the last stage of World 7 and have to restart my run (the boss of World 7 is very hard without one), this was one time where everything actually went smoothly.
This is actually the first time I've totally beaten the game, so I was just winging it for the last couple levels.
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Player Info:
- Tero
- I'm just a guy who plays far too many video games. I own an Intellivision, NES, SNES, N64, Playstation, Playstation 2, Gamecube, Dreamcast, Wii, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance, DS, and PSP, as well as far more games than I could count.
I started doing these game runs both as a way to show off and to challenge myself. Mostly the former, though.
What Else is On:
Gaming Websites
GameFAQsThis is basically the number one resource for gamers. Has basically all the information about games you could ever want, and one of the biggest gaming communities out there.
Other Websites
Google VideoThese fine folks host my videos. Though the quality isn't the best, this is a great site if you have long videos to upload since you don't have to break them up.
Comic Genesis
This is a cartooning community for amateur cartoonists, though a lot of the work there rivals what you'd see in print in terms of quality. A lot of my friends have comics here.
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If you want to link to this site, you can use this graphic (please copy it to your own server), or you can just do the old text-link thing.
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