Random Gaming Thoughts Thread *NO NEWS ITEMS*

Here we go. I suggested a thread like this a while back, and have no decided to make it happen myself.

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Two things today.

1. August 7th 2013 - today! - marks the twentith anniversary of me playing games! That's right: my older brother got Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land two days after his seventh birthday (5/8/93) and let me have a shot of it. Twenty years of gaming. Just think about it. Bloody hell.

2. I see a few people are cluttering the N64 thread with Dreamcast chat. Let me tell you what I think about the Dreamcast. At best, I find it to be a good console to dip in and out of occasionally. SEGA's in-house staff made some of the best arcade titles of the time (Crazy Taxi, Virtua Tennis, 18 Wheeler, the list goes on) which eventually made their way to the Dreamcast, but those were games designed for a fifteen minute blast - not for sustained gameplay over the course of weeks and months. Outwith of those games designed purely to take a quid off of you every few minutes in the arcade, I felt it had almost f**k-all going for it. At the risk of being unpopular, I wouldn't say that the Dreamcast possesses two truly great games - and I feel that I'm stretching it with Jet Set Radio. It's got maybe a dozen-or-so good(ish) games like Sonic Adventure 2, Power Stone and Virtua Tennis 2, but I feel that it didn't have a monopoly on the day's great games at all. Why people bum the Dreamcast so hard is an absolute mystery to me.

Does Reader Rabbit on the Amstrad count? Because if so, that's my first game. Suspect it doesn't though.

Yoshi really needs to be in some better games, doesn't he?

I think more Falcom games should be localised and brought to the west, such as at least the second act of the Sora no Kiseki (better known as Trails in the Sky) so us jrpg nuts could sink our teeth in to them.

Square Enix should take more of an active role in picking up games like Falcom games and other well liked but less known jrpg franchises and bringing them over to the west. Atlus' and the Tales of series success here shows there is a small but dedicated market for the genre and I think it would be great and a fantastic side income for a company such as Square to do such a thing, and they have the power to make it work. Of course this would only happen in my fantasy world of heaven, but mark my words, if I was the king of this world I would make it happen! :king: 

Nippon Ichi is probably a better bet in this regard, not only are they doing Atlus stuff in Europe, it's clear Squeenix' plans for the west are pretty much covered by what used to be Eidos.

Phillips wrote:

I felt it had almost f**k-all going for it.

Totally agree - it's such a non-console in my eyes. If you came up to me and said I could only own and play one console for the rest of my life, the Dreamcast would be very, very low down the list.

It'd probably be the Wii for me, funnily enough, if only for Brawl.

Phillips wrote:

Twenty years of gaming. Just think about it. Bloody hell.

Crikey. I could not put my finger on when I started gaming properly but I know it began with the Atari 65XE.

Balladeer wrote:

Yoshi really needs to be in some better games, doesn't he?

Absolutely. Let's start by having a Mario game where you can take him in between levels again.

JayMoyles wrote:

If you came up to me and said I could only own and play one console for the rest of my life, the Dreamcast would be very, very low down the list.

What a question! You could almost make a thread out of that on its own. My answer has to be 3DS at the moment because - with some notable exceptions, of course - you can access most of the best games from Nintendo's entire handheld history.

I've always felt that using the Wii remote pointer-style would be a much more effective way of aiming eggs than the metronome-like system in Yoshi's Island, yet the Wii is the one Nintendo console since the SNES that hasn't had a Yoshi platformer.  Ludicrous.

I've think Yoshi's done alright for himself. The first Yoshi's Island is an absolute classic (and, in my opinion, the finest Nintendo game prior to the N64), Story and Touch 'n' Go are dead underrated, and - brace yourselves - Yoshi's Island DS isn't the disgrace that many frame it as being. Yoshi's Cookie was alright when I played it as a child too. Universal Gravitation is a bit dodgy, mind, and Mario & Yoshi is right down there with the most mince puzzlers of all time.

I'm pretty fond of the dreamcast as it was he first console I saved up my own money for, loved the likes of Shenmue, worms world party, Headhunter & Legacy of Kain: soul reaver.

Obviously if it never all went down the drain it could've been truly great.

beemoh wrote:

Nippon Ichi is probably a better bet in this regard, not only are they doing Atlus stuff in Europe, it's clear Squeenix' plans for the west are pretty much covered by what used to be Eidos.

They don't actually translate things though, just get the region lock swapped and the legal stuff sorted for distribution. And games like the Sora no Kiseki series would need some serious manpower behind them, they're not impossible or anything but from what I've heard the second part being so text heavy is why xSeed never managed to publish it on the psp.

Phillips wrote:

Yoshi's Island DS isn't the disgrace that many frame it as being.

I think the disappointment factor really played a huge role here. It's not a god-awful game, but going in and expecting Yoshi's Island Reborn will only end in tears.

It's all a matter of opinion. I didn't like either Yoshi DS game, and found Story a bit lightweight, but that's just my opinion.

Apart from the Wii Pointer being a good way to aim eggs, which is fact, and if you disagree with me you should feel bad and go bang your head against a glass bottle or something.

This is why you want a dreamcast,
Soulcalibur, you should try this with fishing rods (motion controls) it funny as hell
Shenmue 1 & 2
Ikaruga, other shumps if thats your cup of tea
Resident Evil -- CODE: Veronica
Dead or Alive 2
Sonic Adventure 1 & 2
Phantasy Star Online, a mmo on a console this is why the cast is so good as it was so ahead of the time
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, best version
Jet Grind/Set Radio
Power Stone 1&2
Skies of Arcadia, possibly best rpg all time
Street Fighter 3's and more 2D fighters like marvel vs capcom
Chu Chu Rocket, User Created Content which could be shared online4

And so many more things.

My 1st game was Sonic 2 back in 1993. If i had to pick one console and have it's in entire library it would actually be a Xbox 360, I know crazy talk as i don't even own a 360. But think about it there's a huge library of 360 games, XBLA which includes retro games and last gen, BC with original xbox which gives you even more games.

JayMoyles wrote:

Phillips wrote:

Yoshi's Island DS isn't the disgrace that many frame it as being.

I think the disappointment factor really played a huge role here. It's not a god-awful game, but going in and expecting Yoshi's Island Reborn will only end in tears.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. That was an amazing time to be a Nintendo gamer, with the likes of WFC, Nintendogs, the tantalising promise of the Virtual Console and the relaunch of NGC, but with Yoshi's Island DS we'd seen it all before. It's not a fond memory of what I recall was a groundbreaking time in my gaming life.

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Masofdas, ya diddy - you've went and missed out Crazy Taxi, my favourite game of all time! Nonetheless, here's the main reason why I don't see much reason to revisit the Dreamcast: with the exception of the first Shenmue, all of those games that you've listed are available on other platforms. The Dreamcast was stripped of any purpose in my collection on the day that Jet Set Radio HD was released. Doesn't mean that the games are bad, natch. They're good wherever you play them.

You could you say that about any console though phillps everything seems to be re-released now a day's. But I prefer to play on there original console, like all those dreamcast game's. It's like your N64 collection a lot could be re-bought but you still collect as you like the N64, same with me with the dreamcast and of course it being way ahead of the time.

Most of my N64 games in those photographs were bought at the time the N64 was current, to be fair. There are only two occasions I've bought N64 games via other means - both on the Virtual Console, and one of them didn't even come out here. There's some that can be out elsewhere, but more that you'll only find on the machine, such as (off the top of my head) Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, Mystical Ninja, Pilotwings 64, Excitebike 64, WWF No Mercy, Body Harvest and Silicon Valley. Even in 2013 it's got plenty of great exclusives.

I prefer to play stuff on their original consoles too, there's no doubt about that.

Somebody on CVG was asking me whether Sticker Star was worth buying.  It really got me thinking about how far the Paper Mario series has fallen since the glory days of the original and TTYD.  SPM wasn't great, but I'd say that PM:SS was average and no better.  Hopefully the series will get a shake-up on the Wii U.

Talking of the Wii Remote pointer, that was the ideal opportunity to try to revive light gun games. Quick release of Duck Hunt on the VC, followed by Duck Hunt Wii. You know it makes sense.

Oh, Sticker Star. There was a point where I made myself stop posting in the thread for that game because I was just bashing it all the time and making myself sad. However, by the standards set by the series, it was a poor effort. I've said it before in this here forum: Nintendo are scared of trying to make something that will live up to The Thousand Year Door (as they are with Star Fox 64).

Perhaps they're trying to distance Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi?

If so, there doin it rong.  

Been speaking to Balla about this, I will be doing after the DS vote (unless phillps is doing his) a system vote to find out which is really the best system also worse. Hopefully everyone will enjoy this, i will set some guidelines and that nearer the time.

Why is the Vita still stupidly expensive? Or I should be saying, why is the wi-fi model as expensive as the 3G model and $350 on its own? By the time you add in a memory card that isn't pathetically small it's $400. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to buy one in several months time so I can play that new Ys game and finally play Persona 4 Golden, but that price is just silly all things considered. I just don't get why the wi-fi model is the same price as the 3G+wi-fi model, I thought it was supposed to be cheaper.  

masofdas wrote:

Been speaking to Balla about this, I will be doing after the DS vote (unless phillps is doing his) a system vote to find out which is really the best system also worse. Hopefully everyone will enjoy this, i will set some guidelines and that nearer the time.

Nah, somebody will have a problem with the definition of "console".  I guarantee it.

@Phillips you ever played Toy commander on the DC? If not I'd think you'd enjoy it & its definitely one you can't get elsewhere either.