Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts

I've not tried it either so I'm going on terms of how the layout looks and yep I quite like the original N64 pad as well.

Pokémon Black
I finally wrapped this up in bed last night. I’d gotten the credits before, both a month or two ago and back when this game released. I’d never done the rest though; explored the big chunks of the map which are locked behind the post-game, gathered up the Seven Team Plasma Sages, and finally beaten the Champion and entered the Hall of Fame.

There’s a lot of game here, and a lot to love about it. It has great sprite work mixed with some dynamic 3D environments, it has a cool world, and a really nice dex-full of monsters. The story takes itself very seriously, which can be a blessing and a curse. There are some epic moments, but there’s also a hell of a lot of chatting, and the core experience of being a Pokémon trainer and taking part in a league feels like an afterthought.

For all the complaints about the 3D titles, progression in this game is completely linear until after the first credits roll, and often the player’s route through the game is not determined by any kind of clever Metroidvania-ing with items, Pokemon, HMs etc, or even by the enemy team, but by really arbitrary human characters who just wait for you to do whatever you’re scripted to do and then bugger off. The opening is also extremely wordy.

The big thing that Black and White are so often lauded for is their difficulty. People say these were the last properly difficult Pokémon games. That’s kind of true, but guess what: it’s crap. The way in which they’re difficult is that enemy Pokémon are at a high level and your Pokémon take a long time to level up.

Of course, sometimes this did mean I was forced to battle smarter not harder and use typing and tactics and all that. But also, you want your Pokémon to be in at least the right ballpark, level-wise, and maybe you want to use the Pokémon you like rather than top tier picks.
That means gggrrrrriiiiinnndddiiiinnngggg. Slowly.

Anyway, where it shines, it really shines, but it’s issues happen to be ones that frustrate me more than the issues more recent games have.

If you’re wondering: As it’s set in New York, I named myself Katsito, which was Lilly in the appropriate Native American language for the area, and named all my Pokémon after Spider-man villains.

Pokémon Black is interesting in that I barely remember it at all. I remember getting it in my final year at university under a stress cloud, bringing it back to my girlfriend at the time (a woman I had little in common with, didn't really fancy, and wouldn't have had anything to do with had we not both got drunk in a bar one night talking about Pokémon), and us playing it for hours - but I don't actually remember any of the game. I remember other things from my final year (an anime I watched around that time remains my favourite ever); and I remember Diamond/Pearl, and XY, and the other two on either side... but not BW. I barely remember my team beyond my starter. It's bizarre.

Regardless, I think I'd have got on with it better than you (I like story focus in Pokémon and I like the all-new-for-the-time selection of monsters), but I also am not particularly fond of grinding and I don't think I'd have time for the arbitrary human blockages in this day and age.

Black and White released shortly after I first left home, and around the same time as the 3DS. I was in a very unique time in my life but I think I remembered them slightly more than you seem to have.

You're telling me that geeky interests in common don't automatically make a woman your soulmate!??!?

It was a pretty disappointing discovery for young Balla.

I remember very little about Black, other than that I enjoyed it. I looked at my sentbox to see what I said about Black for Buskalilly's Pokemon vote a couple of years ago:

HOT BAWS wrote:: These did a great job of recreating that sense of adventure that made the first two generations so vividly memorable. Although, to be honest, I don’t remember Black & White nearly as much as those. But with the graphical overhaul, experimental gameplay and a not-all-that-shite story too, it’s a trip that I fondly remember enjoying at the time! Looking back on it, I really liked that they removed so much of the utter bollocks (the worst being the capped use of TMs and the status effects outside of battles) and added loads of quality stuff, especially online.

~

Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts - Page 7 450135-disney-pixar-toy-story-2-buzz-lightyear-to-the-rescue-nintendo-64-front-cover

N64 Magazine said: “Surprisingly good 3D platformer, with fun levels and sturdy puzzles” 71% in Issue 39, ⅖ in Issue 59.
Nintendo Official Magazine said: “Wacky platformer. Bit too easy for older gamers”. 84% in Issue 96.

I finished Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!, the 3D collect-a-thon platformer that vaguely follows the plot of the excellent 1999 film. You control Buzz Lightyear through fifteen big, open levels that are mostly reminiscent of scenes from the film, such as Andy’s House, Al’s Toy Barn and the Airport. They’re all important settings in the film, yet there’s also levels for a big Construction Yard and a dirty, rainy alleyway, which I can honestly say I don’t remember being in film at all. At least where there’s source material, I think the levels represent the film pretty well. By large, I’d say the same for the entire game.

The structure of these levels doesn’t do anything surprising: each one has five Pizza Planet tokens to find, and finding X number of these tokens advances the storyline and unlocks new levels to explore. There’s no set order in which you need to collect these tokens, so much like Banjo-Kazooie, Jak & Daxter and Yooka-Laylee, you’ve got a good degree of choice as regards which levels you want to play, enjoy and fully complete. That also means you can pick and choose the levels you want to do the bare minimum in and just pass by them. They’re more or less all the same types of token to collect in each level though. There’s always a mini-boss, there’s always a time trial, there’s always a simple puzzle, there’s always a task to collect five of one item, and there’s always a task to collect fifty coins and give them to Hamm the piggybank. There’s power-ups to gain (like rocket boots and a grappling hook) and sub-bosses (like Emperor Zurg and Stinky Pete the Prospector) to break things up from time to time. These are all well, but it’s the levels themselves that keeps things fresh and interesting; they’re quite imaginative for the most part, with a very heavy emphasis on platforming and exploring the whole level.

I wouldn’t say Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue is a difficult game, but it’s probably more tricky than it needs to be. I blame the rank-rotten camera for that. There’s a lot of unnecessary frustration caused by the camera either getting stuck or just not keeping up. As you’d figure out, it results in too many missed jumps. There’s quite a lot of risk in the platforming, because some of these levels are huge, long and vertical, they take a while to traverse. Missing a jump or falling off a ledge and plunging straight to the bottom of the level undoes a lot of your effort, and it’s painful to lose that.

The Nintendo 64 was never able to handle full-motion video, so any cutscenes from the PlayStation and Dreamcast versions are instead switched out by static storyboard images with captions plastered on top. These convey the story very poorly, and looks rubbish to boot. So, unfortunately, are the blurry graphics and dull tunes. I actually remembered the Toy Story 2 game looking and sounding quite nice, and even with twenty years or technological advancement I was surprised at how badly they’d aged. I understand that’s this is just because it’s a lazy port though. A quick gander at a YouTube video of the PlayStation and Dreamcast versions of the same game shows that they have richer sounds, sharper graphics and a crisper framerate. On N64, it seems to be a quick and easy port that had little care or attention paid to it. That’s quite disappointing, as I feel that some flashes of technical mastery and a well-composed soundtrack can help carry a game that’s of middling quality. Sadly, neither does here.

Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue is rough but likeable, rudimentary but creative, and likely one of the better film tie-ins from the era. Yet on N64, it suffers from not only being a half-baked port, but also from being on the same console where there’s probably about fifteen games that do the exact same things – and do them better. The strength and depth of the N64’s 3D platformer library relegates Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue to simply being all right. It’s something I’d only really recommend if you’re a massive fan of Toy Story, and even then, get it on PSone or Dreamcast instead. 6/10.

I loved Toy Story 2 on PS1 then on DC. I've always wanted to play 3 which I do have installed on my Xbox One

There's definitely a good game that's worth playing tucked in there on PSone and Dreamcast, but the N64 port was pretty lousy.

Toy Story 3 is quite good. I've said before that I was disappointed by there not being a Toy Story 4 videogame, that could've been the bollocks.

N64 Magazine said: “Impressive update of the Olympic button-basher, with superb graphics and finger-knackering gameplay”. 86% in Issue 41, ⅘ in Issue 59.

Nintendo Official Magazine said: “A game that’s fun, addictive and looks as pretty as a picture”. 94% in Issue 96.

Reading that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were supposed to be happening at the time of typing put me in the mood for International Track & Field: Summer Games, Konami’s unofficial companion to the Sydney 2000 Olympic games. I think everybody with a passing interest in retro gaming is pretty familiar with Track & Field – it did really well in the arcades in the ‘80s, and did really well again when it was brought back and modernised for PlayStation in the ‘90s. The mandatory update for the ‘00s faded without a trace (remember New International Track & Field on DS?) and it’s a shame that the Switch update (Hyper Sports R) was cancelled recently. So, really, as far as console games go, the many versions of this 1999 one are really where the series ends. It’s on PSone, Game Boy Color and in a different guise on Dreamcast and PS2, but everybody knows that the Nintendo 64 is the best console of all time, so that’s where I’m playing it, my wrists, hands and fingers be damned.

Apart from a handful of new events and a graphical overhaul, this is pretty similar to the 1996 version of International Track & Field, and even that was really just a 32-bit version of the 1984 arcade classic. 100m Dash, Pole Vault, Hammer Throw and the likes all return, and new events debut, such as 100m Breaststroke and Trap Shooting. As is the industry standard for athletics games, most of Summer Games’ gameplay revolves around either button mashing or timing your button presses, with a bit of stick-twisting thrown in just to piss on your chips. It’s a simple control scheme, and with plenty of on-screen tutorials to introduce each sport it’s not a hard game to get to grips with. I broke a handful of world records on my playthrough, which emphasises how accessible Summer Games really is.

One thing that Track & Field will always have going against it is how knackering it is to play. The whole thing relies on your hammering away at your controller so that you can get the highest scores, and I know from first hand that playing these types of games from a prolonged spell will leave your digits and controller in rough shape. My controller’s analogue stick in particular took a pounding, as there’s several events that need you to spin it around as fast as you can. It’s the same stuff that got Nintendo sued for Mario Party, and I really question International Track & Field’s long-term playability when it not only causes physical exhaustion and tension, but damage to your pad too. To it’s credit though, the Tribute 64 pad seemed to withstand the punishment, but I definitely didn’t want to use my official N64 Pads – they’d cost a bomb to replace in decent condition.

If you think that a bit of muscular strain and potential pad damage is worth it, then International Track & Field: Summer Games is absolutely first class multiplayer game. I remember having an empty about ten years ago, and having a loads of mates round for some beers, a scran and a few retro games. I showed them my whole N64 collection, thinking we’d plug in Goldeneye or Mario Kart 64, but this was the game they chose to play. We took turns, shared the four controllers, and it was hilarious fun. It made for a really memorable night, and it’s one of my happiest retro gaming memories.

I knew I wasn’t getting the same experience as a single player, but I was nevertheless surprised by how adequate it was a supplement to the game’s obvious multiplayer focus. It’s well-presented, the graphics are crisp where they need to be, the animation is amongst the best on the console, and most of the events are entertaining for while they last. Summer Games is pretty decent stuff for a casual playthrough, although like with any Olympic game, the lasting appeal really isn’t there. While enjoyable by myself for the hour-and-a-half I played it, I can’t see me revisiting this until at least the next Olympic games unless I’m playing with other people.

I don’t think I can fully recommend a game that wrecks your pads and joints as much as this does, and I wouldn’t suggest that you go out of your way to play International Track & Field: Summer Games if you’re a solo player. I’ve also got to assume that the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 videogames do this exact same thing, just with a lot more flair, variety and lastability. But still, this is from a time when Konami were the undisputed champions of sports games, and I still got a bit of enjoyment from it in an old-school kind of way. 7/10.

N64 Magazine said: “Luge, bobsleigh, halfpipe, curling, they’re all here and they’re all extremely boring”. 32% in Issue 12, 0/5 in Issue 59.

Nintendo Official Magazine said: “Poor winter sports sim. Much too hard”. 75% in Issue 96.

I thought I’d see how Konami’s other N64 Olympic title, Nagano Winter Olympics ’98, stacks up.

This sees you competing in ten events from the February 1998 games, such as Speed Skating, Bobsleigh and Giant Slalom Snowboarding. It’s fairly standard stuff as far as Olympic games go, you just choose a country and compete to win the gold medal. It’s not a button-masher like the other Olympic games that came out before and tries to do a lot new with the genre, though it too often takes control away from you and plays out the events automatically. Still, when you’re in control, it’s all playable, Olympic-ey, and engineered for multiplayer fun.

Nagano Winter Olympics ’98 is a far more demanding and po-faced affair than any of the Track & Field games. I guess they were going for realism, but Nagano’s pace is a bit too slow-moving for a sports game. That serious tone doesn’t translate well, and unfortunately Nagano Winter Olympics ’98 ends up being quite dry and flavourless. The menu music tries to perk things up and the sound effects are first-rate, but the rest of the game’s format is uncheerful. There’s also only one of each course in each event, like one halfpipe for snowboarding and one slope for downhill skiing. Content is the game’s second biggest issue. It was a scadge at full price, and it’s no wonder that a £49.99 copy of this sat in my local Woolworths for literal years, untouched, well into the GameCube’s days.

It’s lack of charisma and lack of content isn’t what ruins it though. Simply put, Nagano Winter Olympics ’98 is unbeatable. Case in point: I raced a brilliant race in the Downhill Skiing event, going as fast as I could and hitting none of the flags or obstacles. I thought it would be enough to at least challenge for the podium, but no: I finished ten seconds behind second-last and twenty-three seconds behind first. It’s a two-minute race! That type of problem is in nine of the ten games, and it doesn’t matter whether you freely control your Olympian’s actions or you just have to press buttons rhythmically, they just can’t be beat. The exception is Curling: that’s competitive, and genuinely quite good! I’d happily have had a fleshed-out Nagano Olympic Curling ’98 instead of what we got (although that would probably be the rarest game ever now, because no other prick would have bought that).

I remember getting Nagano Winter Olympics ’98 in a big bundle at the old GameStation on Glasgow’s Union Street, eight games for £30 I think. Some of the other games I got in that bundle (Yoshi’s Story, Mario Party and Pilotwings 64 spring to mind) have lasted me years, but Nagano quickly went to live in a drawer. I could never get the hang of it. I remember trying again with my mates later, but without any on-screen tutorials, nobody could work out the controls, and we just got a bit pised off. This is my first go of it in nearly fifteen years, and it’s ended much the same way. Nagano Winter Olympics ’98 is playable, and quite a cheap and common cartridge to pick up in the UK, but it’s unexciting and ultimately mediocre. 4/10.

Outstanding as ever, Cappa.

I remember Track and Field on the N64 and you're right, it was literally a pain to play. It feels very much of its era - I can't imagine putting a controller on the floor now and jabbing at two buttons relentlessly. Perhaps Konami were marketing it as the best players could be considered athletes, as you'd feel like you just did a 100m sprint after a bash on this.

Nagano was one, as you said, I'd see on shelves but had no interest in playing. It seems quite a niche game, but then maybe Cool Runnings was still in people's minds? Saying that, I do recall Grandstand showing slalom skiing on Saturday afternoons, so maybe Winter Olympics were more popular than I give them credit. What stands out here is the fact Nintendo Official Magazine gave it 75% and labelled it poor. 75% is a good score. This fed into the "if it's not 90%+, it's crap" mantra that many videogame review outlets still suffer from. I'm guilty myself of only buying N64 games that hit that sweet 85%+ mark that they called "Star Game" (I think). I miss the days where EVERY game was reviewed. I doubt any major site would cover this type of game in 2020.

Ah, Nagano Winter Olympics '98. I barely remember IT&F, but Nagano was one of N64's notorious 'bad reviews' and I loved it. I think they gave it a proper few pages as well in their slagging off! Marvellous stuff - not for anyone who bought it, clearly.

GJones is dead right re. what he says about review scores, but that's just what ONM did.

Cheers for the kind words, gjones. I'm enjoying typing these, and I hope that folk enjoy reading them too.

NOM really fostered that culture of "if it's not 90%+, it's crap", didn't they? That 94% they awarded International Track & Field was well over the top though, and comfortably the highest-scoring game I'll be reviewing over the coming weeks. They rated it higher than Super Mario 64, F-Zero X, Lylat Wars and Mario Kart 64!

On a Nagano note, that "poor" 75% they awarded it is actually better than their scores for Mischief Makers, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and both the Bomberman games, and a mere 5% less than the "cool" Wave Race 64!

Yeah really good to read Cappa, and with myself holding out to next gen (I say this but Xbox are adding 4 new games to Game Pass such as Tell Me Why and a few older ones I might checkout this month alone, then you've got likes of Tony Hawk which isn't next gen bound), I can see me playing some retro/older games.

I turned the PS3 on last night as I could plug it in with the PS4 gone, had a quick look through the store which is now wonky due to it being updated to look like the PS4 also a few games such as like every FIFA missing from it.

I am tempted by Festival of Blood, The Rain and Tokyo Jungle though of it.

NAGANO REPRESENT

I really want to give that a play sometime. Before I had my interview here, the only thing I knew about Nagano was that the N64 apparently has good curling. I've now actually been to the place where that curling happened . . .

Now that's pretty cool - no pun intended...

OR WAS IT INTENDED? No

I mean that you saw the actual arena used in the Winter Olympics, as opposed to perhaps seeing a place represented in an N64 game.

They're all still here. There are museums inside and ice skating rinks and stuff like that. Theres commemorative olympic stuff all over Nagano- they're very proud of it here.

That's quite nice to read. At least as far as I can see, there was basically no legacy left behind from the Commonwealth Games that took place in Glasgow six years ago. The woman who skippered the British curling team to Winter Olympics Gold in 2002 (?) still gets the odd gig to do a few primary school talks round here, so at least there's that...? Meh

~

N64 Magazine said: “Strangely compulsive multiplayer tank blaster”. 74% in Issue 26, ⅗ in Issue 59.
Nintendo Official Magazine said: “Zoom around in tanks. The multiplayer really rocks”. 84% in Issue 96.

I bloody love a good tank game, I do. So, I dug out Battletanx: Global Assault on the Nintendo 64 to satiate my appetite for destruction. I had no affinity for Battletanx whatsoever: I don’t remember it coming out, and I hadn’t played it for any longer than a few minutes before now. That box art is as uninspiring as it could get, but the plot – wooft! – it’s a belter.

From the back of the box wrote:: 2001 AD- The world as you know it is no more. A deadly virus has wiped out 99% of the female population, and the few surviving women are now worshiped as QueenLords. You are Griffin Spade, warrior and BattleLord in a post-apocalyptic future. With only the BattleTanx at your command, you must save mankind from extinction!

Battletanx: Global Assault was so much better than I’d imagined it would be, and a very satisfying game to complete. It’s a game that’s as much built for speed as it is for big explosions and total destruction. Immediately, I was surprised with how the tanks handle – they’re really zippy, and they feel very responsive. Even though the levels and environments aren’t massively detailed, they’re good fun to explore with intuitive controls like these. The analogue stick moves you about, Z fires your gun, the C buttons moves your turret and special items are launched with the A button. It’s not exactly Steel Battalion in it’s complexity, think more along the lines of Blast Corps.

The campaign lasts nineteen missions, and I’d say there’s a decent amount of variety to what you’re doing. You’re battling across the USA, England, France and Germany against a backdrop of a grunge/metal soundtrack, but they’re drowned out by the sounds of weapon fire, buildings blowing up and tanks exploding. It’s largely simple, cliched stuff – ‘kill all enemies’, ‘escort the convoy’, ‘save the prisoners’, etc – but these missions can be approached in a load of different ways with the ten tanks you can choose from. Some are really heavy duty and can blow up whole buildings in a couple of shots, and others are a lot more nimble and rapid-fire. It wins no points for originality, but it’s put together very well, and has just enough strategy and danger to stay fresh and entertaining.

I’m sitting here typing up my thoughts, reflecting back with a smile on my face and thinking ‘that was a damn good game’. Battletanx: Global Assault is more dynamic and refined than it had any right to be, and it’s still immensely playable today. It’s reputation is as a multiplayer game foremost, and I can see how the levels, weapons and speed would translate brilliantly to being a four-player experience. 8/10.

Didn't expect that! I was always curious about this game - in fact there may well be two Battletanx games on the N64. While they were considered primarily multiplayer titles, I never knew someone that owned a Battletanx game. And nor did the magazines at the time really use them in "Star Club" challenges... Sounds like the very definition of an underrated gem.

I don't remember Battletanx at all, but that review made me smile. Apart from the plot. Meh

I'm confused: are QueenLords and BattleLords the same thing?

They might as well be, as it bares no relevance to the gameplay.

I only knew of The 3DO Company (the game's developer) from those Army Men games that were pumped out every few months between the late '90s and early '00s. There was one I borrowed on the PS2 that was just terrible, and such a sorry excuse for a game. Because of that pile of arse, I expected the worst with Battletanx Global Assault, but I honestly really enjoyed it. It's nice to be pleasantly surprised, as to be honest some of these N64 games I've been completing have fallen way short of my expectations.

I look forward to the QueenLords vs. Incels battle on Twitter in the last quarter of 2020.

Presumably the game'll be called Twattletanx.

N64 Magazine said: “Repetitive and disappointingly unimaginative platforming with the marshmallow blob”. 73% in Issue 49, ⅗ in Issue 59.
Nintendo Official Magazine said: “Kirby’s back for platform fun and ace spit attacks”. 83% in Issue 96.

I finished Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards a while back. For the most part I really like the Kirby series, I just the find the games to be so friendly and approachable, while being uncomplicated and stress-free. They're quite nice to saunter through between bigger, heftier games. That’s why I chose to go through this Nintendo 64 one again, and it did the trick.

It’s a side-scrolling platformer that you’ll be instantly familiar with if you’ve got experience with any of the Dream Land games, Kirby’s Fun Pak on SNES or Kirby Triple Deluxe or Planet Robobot on 3DS. Kirby floats, inhales and hoovers up enemy abilities as he has done since the NES days, and in truth The Crystal Shards doesn’t overly elaborate on this formula. It mostly plays exactly as you’d expect: very safely. Where it does differ is in it’s 2.5 perspective (a la Klonoa) and with it’s unique ability system. Kirby can consume an enemy and then regurgitate it to spit it back at another enemy as a projectile, combining the two foes’ attributes into one. This lets you meld your power-ups and come up with some really creative combos, such as Stone and Fire turning Kirby into a volcano, Fire and Needle turning Kirby into a flaming bow and arrow, and Ice and Cutter turning Kirby into a set of ice skates. Kirby Star Allies on Switch had a similar idea, but I think Kirby 64 does it better. Using these double-abilities to solve the games puzzles and collecting most the Crystal Shards is necessary of unlocking the final boss and ending. Unlike many other, later Kirby games, Crystal Shards makes you experiment with your abilities, and it’s good fun to do that.

I’ve reflected back on Kirby 64 before, in the Simply The Best thread from a few years ago. I knew I’d typed about it before, and here’s what I said:

HOT BAWS wrote:: Moving into 'aye, it's all right' territory here, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards passed me by when it originally came out on the N64 in 2001; I didn’t really miss much! The hybrid abilities are a great idea that should be revisited, but otherwise it lacks vitality. All in all, I’d say that it’s quite good for what it sets out to do. Ultimately, nostalgia is fine, but I definitely prefer the more ambitious, varied and forward-thinking Kirby games that appeared after this.

I think I nailed it with those thoughts, and to be honest I don’t have much to add after this latest playthrough. Kirby 64 remains a perfectly agreeable and pleasant example of a Nintendo 2D platformer, but it’s lacking in challenge, longevity and, crucially, imagination. But yet, are you really picking up a Kirby game for it’s thought-provoking story, sixty hour playtime and deep, rich gameplay?

You’d be mental to pay CEX prices for this - it’s £160 boxed! – but happily it’s had a another life on the Wii U Virtual Console, where it only costs £8.99. It’s well worth that. All in all, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards an easy-going, warm-hearted adventure that was good to nestle down to over a couple of lazy lockdown evenings. 7/10.

Speak for yourself. Personally I want a two-hour cut-scene about the latest floating eye boss' origins, motivations, and philosophy.

That certainly does read like a review of a Kirby game! I do prefer the ones with a tad more imagination (Power Paintbrush, Robobot) but there's nothing wrong with having games that are just a familiar comforting experience. Again, though, those are awfully damning words from N64 for a 73%. (Incidentally I remember them going on a bit about the Flaming Ice Cube. Is that actually used for anything other than a laugh?)

£160 what the f***

That's not even mint, is snowboard kids 2 worth £1250?

» Random retro thoughts
» Last game you finished and your thoughts
» Last Game You Finished and Your Thoughts MKII
» Last Retro game you DIDN'T finish and your thoughts (sometimes old things are bad)
» Last Retro Game You Played? What Retro Game Are You Currently Playing?