Random Gaming Thoughts II ~News Items Beware~

Console-tinted glasses? I can only agree. On a personal level I know how sheltered a gamer I am in terms of those larger sandbox games. I'm aiming to get into the genre as much as the Switch and my available time allows.

Sure it's like the fish and chips in Budleigh Salterton are the best in world but I've not had them from every place in the world.

I didn't know if I should post this in the Xbox 360/One game I'm playing (will anyone actually read that?) or last retro game as I started playing Fable: Anniversary last night which is HD remaster on 360 (last gen) of the OG Xbox title (retro) and I've got some rambling to do as well.

I would say I'm a big fan of the Fable series and the first along with the GOTY-like version The Lost Chapters on the OG Xbox have to be one of the games I've finished the most ever part from maybe Halo: Combat Evolved.

I missed the Anniversary edition as it was a late exclusive Xbox 360 title and the 360 was long dead to me by then but knew it was a backwards compatible with Xbox One, that I've had it on my Xbox list of OG, 360 and One titles I'd like to pick up and/or play.

Then last night a mate at work who's just got a One X retweeted a tweet to me about four 360 games which are now going to be One X enhanced which includes Fable Anniversary which got me rather excited but then when I checked out the tweet he sent me from Major Nelson he also posted about Game Pass that day.

Now I knew Fable Anniversary was on it but coming in March, Super Lucky's Tale is being added which up in till A Hat Time came to the Xbox One would have likely been the best platformer on the system and I'd almost bought it in a GAME sale had back in January for £13 but I held off just in case it did come to Game Pass.

I resubbed to Game Pass last night after taking up the 99p offer around Christmas, I got another offer to come back with 3 months for £12 which will take me to May 27th, I don't know what will be added past the March line up that Major Nelson tweeted which includes Super Lucky's Tale and most notably the unreleased Sea of Thieves which is a £42 preorder on Amazon.

Looking through the current games on Game Pass before anything gets added in March and to be clear some games will leave in March but they have a section on Game Pass, telling you which ones will be leaving meaning you'd just play them first, I managed to find 20+ games to download that I wouldn't mind playing which includes Fable Anniversary, Halo Wars Definitive Edition, Mad Max, Sunset Overdrive.

For £12 for 3 months, I've got 20 odd decent games too play before anything gets added, One X enhanced titles including backwards compatible games which Microsoft does for free and starting with Sea of Thieves what is a brand new £42 exclusive on the service along with that being a cross-play title.

This sort goes back to an article I wrote about the Xbox One now having an identity, as this is all great for gamers and sure I feel Xbox has the weakest and blandest first party line up but take someon like gJones who was talking about getting his kids into gaming and out of the three consoles on the market the Xbox One is likely the best for that as it's the cheapest to buy, a year worth of Game Pass will cost £96 without any deals and then you've got things like Xbox Live Arcade titles of classic games such as Banjo-Kazooie, Mega Man Legacy Collection, Sonic CD that a kid could even learn about gamings past, I'd be trying to push this more towards familys and the One S then what MS seems to be doing which is pushing the One X to the hardcore.

Basically, MS is actually doing a great job for gamers and Fable Anniversary is just as funny as I remember it on the OG Xbox.

At first I thought it was ironic, but it does seem like a lot of you blokes think 'Videogamedunkey' is God's gift to YouTube. May I ask what's so good about him, and which video of his I should watch first to get a flavour of the man?

He's just an all around funny guy that isn't pandering to a set crowd/does his own thing which is a very very rare thing on youtube - as for what videos to watch? Maybe try his dunkview videos where he reviews certain games, I see there's one up for Celeste but I if you haven't finished the game I'd be careful of spoilers.

I never heard of him along with most of the peeps Drunka brought up in the Jim Sterling thread. I was wondering what you'll all on about when someone posted dunkey.

Oh yes. Definitely don't watch the Celeste one until you've finished the game at least.

Celeste spoiler: super-secret collectables:

Aye, that was interesting. I see what people see in him, sort of. I watched the Smash one too. I should probably give him more chances before coming to a conclusion.

I watched the Celeste one before I even downloaded the game. Don't remember anything spoilerific though so it's all good.

He's at his best when he's just goofing around, his Metal Gear 5 one in particular is one of my favourite as he does some incredibly stupid things I didn't even know where possible long after completing the game.

Treesmurf wrote:

I watched the Celeste one before I even downloaded the game. Don't remember anything spoilerific though so it's all good.

He's at his best when he's just goofing around, his Metal Gear 5 one in particular is one of my favourite as he does some incredibly stupid things I didn't even know where possible long after completing the game.

Aye agreed on that, his BotW video is another great one.

I think he's good for a laugh - very good, in fact, as evidenced by that MGSV video Smurf was on about - but I definitely don't see his reviews as being anything more than a more serious extension of him having a laugh. I've noticed his fans have been heralding him as this fantastic game critic, but I think that's stretching it somewhat. He's a very funny dude though, that much is sure.

If I remember right I think some of his early dunkviews used to be really tongue in cheek.

Aye, and I think you need to go into those video with several pinches of salt in tow, which is something a lot of his fanbase forget to do.

Seems like one of those cases where I'll find him really funny, fall into a youtube hole of absolutely pissing myself . . . and then get bored of him until six months later I do the same thing again.

Yeh, I'm not one for watching his content as soon as it comes out but after a month or two passes I go back to check what he's put up & pick what I like the look of.

There's a new Mega Drive collection been announced for everything but Switch. Bit mince, but there's still some decent stuff on it. Random thoughts...:

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle -
Alien Soldier -
Alien Storm -
Altered Beast -
Beyond Oasis -
Bio-Hazard Battle -
Bonanza Bros. -
Columns -
Columns III: Revenge of Columns -
Comix Zone -
Crack Down -
Decap Attack -
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine -
Dynamite Headdy -
ESWAT: City Under Siege -
Fatal Labyrinth -
Flicky -
Gain Ground -
Galaxy Force II -
Golden Axe -
Golden Axe II -
Golden Axe III -
Gunstar Heroes -
Kid Chameleon -
Landstalker -
Light Crusader -
Phantasy Star II -
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom -
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium -
Ristar -
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi -
Shining Force -
Shining Force II -
Shining in the Darkness -
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master -
Sonic 3D Blast -
Sonic Spinball -
Sonic the Hedgehog -
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 -
Space Harrier II -
Streets of Rage -
Streets of Rage 2 -
Streets of Rage 3 -
Super Thunder Blade -
Sword of Vermilion -
The Revenge of Shinobi -
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron -
ToeJam& Earl -
Vectorman -
VectorMan 2 -
Virtua Fighter 2 -
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair -
Wonder Boy in Monster World -

Quite an unadventurous collection there, and there's some good stuff missing, but it's still got more good than not.

Soon as I saw it I was like where is the Switch version which brought a view cynics that it might be down to VC as could sell these games for £5 each etc but then we have the Mega Man Collections coming.

On the games, no Sonic 3 or Knuckles is pretty bad but those two don't make many things and I believe the only collection they're on it the Mega Collection which was for Cube etc.

On the games in the collection though

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle - Okay game
Alien Soldier - Never played but is from Treasure
Alien Storm - No idea
Altered Beast - Why oh why do we keep having you turn up in games
Beyond Oasis - AKA The Story of Thor which it was called in Europe & Japan and it is a Zelda-like and a good one and that
Bio-Hazard Battle - No Idea
Bonanza Bros. - No Idea
Columns - Could we get this crossed with Tetris next
Columns III: Revenge of Columns - Same as above
Comix Zone - Banger
Crack Down - No Idea
Decap Attack - Top Notch
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine - It's okay
Dynamite Headdy - From Treasure, so you know it's good
ESWAT: City Under Siege - No Idea
Fatal Labyrinth - No Idea
Flicky - Not great
Gain Ground - No Idea
Galaxy Force II - It's okay
Golden Axe - Good
Golden Axe II - I don't know what Cappa is thinking with his thumbs down as this is great
Golden Axe III - We didn't get it here in Europe and I've never played it
Gunstar Heroes - Best game maybe on this collection
Kid Chameleon - Not good
Landstalker - I've played Time Stalkers on Dreamcast
Light Crusader - Maybe Treasures worse game at least on Mega Drive maybe
Phantasy Star II - I get the thumbs down as it's a JRPG
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom - The worst of the 3 games
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium - Good as Final Fantasy VI or is that III seeing Story of Thor is going by the name Beyond Oasis and Golden Axe III is in this collection
Ristar - One of the best 2D platformers on the Mega Drive not named Sonic
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi - No Idea
Shining Force - It's like Fire Emblem
Shining Force II - Maybe the best Force game
Shining in the Darkness - Not played but I do know it's a dungeon crawler
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master - No Idea
Sonic 3D Blast - Awful and again with the American naming when it's called Flickies' Island in Europe and Japan
Sonic Spinball - Love this
Sonic the Hedgehog - It's good
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - But this is better and the 4th best 2D Sonic (I think)
Space Harrier II - Classic Suzuki
Streets of Rage - Good
Streets of Rage 2 - Great
Streets of Rage 3 - Crap but I didn't play until years later and the two I have #nostlgia
Super Thunder Blade - Not a fan
Sword of Vermilion - Bad
The Revenge of Shinobi - This one I have played and own 3 times on Mega Drive due to Mega Games but not much of a fan
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron - Love ToeJam
ToeJam& Earl - and Earl as well, Wonder what's happened to the 4th
Vectorman - No Idea
VectorMan 2 - No Idea
Virtua Fighter 2 - See I liked it in Mega Drive but the Saturn version is the proper version
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair - Decent game
Wonder Boy in Monster World - And again a decent game

Certainly, stuff in there I've missed due to my age at the time as I wasn't playing likes of Shinobi at 3 or 4 or buying new Mega Drive games on release such as Streets of Rage 3 wasn't viable at the time, then I guess the 1995 and beyond games I would have missed due to the PS1.

I have gone back to play a few of them in collections but not got that nostalgia and my Mega Drive nostalgia is Sonic, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, TMNT etc but of course some like Phantasy Star 4 much like FFVI show their class still years later without nostalgia.

And that's it for another Random Gaming Thoughts thread! I'm shutting this one down before Forumotion does it for us, at the 'magic' 1,000 replies marker. Please feel free to start RGT3!