Random retro thoughts

I watched that the other night, and I thought it was pretty audacious how he went in on Mark Green and Jes Bickham. Especially with Mark Green during his South Park Rally chat, it almost felt personal.

The choice of games wasn't so bold though, it's mostly safe stuff that I think anybody can agree on. NGamer Magazine was the one that I thought ripped the pish with suspect reviews. I blew hundreds of pounds on games that Matthew Castle & co got really excited about - games that were free for them, but the best part of fifty quid for me.

'It was packed with a team of writers who weren't bound by political correctness' is a very good way to make me start second-guessing my childhood. I'll watch the entire thing later, but that's a dreadful start.

When I hear Tim Weaver, Matthew Castle and so on talk about those old mag days now, they are quick to lament that there was a pretty bad "lad culture" at the time, I don't think it's too surprising.

Still, they were never as bad as ONM, who literally called things they thought were a bit lame "gay".

N64 Pro Magazine was more about sport, bevvy and normalising sexism than it was about N64. At least from back when I was growing up, I don’t think the stereotypical lad culture was as fierce in the Nintendo magazines as it was with the PlayStation magazines. I can’t think of any pre-mid ‘00s games magazines that weren’t guilty of it to some extent. It’s mental to go back to something like an old issue of Official Nintendo Magazine and see an advert for a phone wallpaper of Michelle Marsh’s cameltoe printed parallel to an 86% review for Spongebob Squarepants on the GBA.

Oh yeah, there was definitely some bad stuff going on in the adverts across all magazines. The Cheatmaster's leather-clad female equivalent springs to mind. And occasionally I remember Scullion's words about how the NGamer-ONM rivalry got quite nasty. I still cling to the hope that, as you both say, it was better than others of the same time. CVG was a heck of a lot worse from the few issues I got.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

an advert for a phone wallpaper of Michelle Marsh’s cameltoe printed parallel to an 86% review for Spongebob Squarepants on the GBA.

And I'm not sure what's worse. I do remember those and even at the time wondering who would want (let alone pay for) a chronic leaf or a squirting cock.

Buskalily wrote:

Still, they were never as bad as ONM, who literally called things they thought were a bit lame "gay".

I definitely recall Greystation, but Gaystation and Shaturn ring a bell too. It was only a few years earlier SEGA were using "poof" in their Street Fighter 2 adverts. As great as those days were for gaming, we have come a long way really.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Michelle Marsh’s cameltoe

72%, Amiga Power, July 1996

Sony must have taken it on the cheek because this a real thing

Today, on this Thanksgiving occasion, I would like all my GNamer Forum brethren to come together, celebrate our blessings and be thankful for Quiz Party on the Wii.



Perhaps the best of the Roy Walker computer games, although I’ve not played The Last of Us or The Witcher 3, so I don’t know for sure if Roy Walker’s in them or not.

Old receipts in retro games was mentioned in the Last Game You Finished thread, so I thought I'd dig out my favourite one:



You have to say 'fair play' to the Dundee student who bought Alone In The Dark 4 for full price, quickly went 'nah, balls to that' and punted it for a brand-spanking-new copy of KuruKuru Kururin.

GAME's 10 day returns policy was a thing of beauty. No idea why anybody bothered their arse with Blockbuster when this was a thing.

I used to abuse the return policy in GameStation, a lot.

Aw, KuruKuru Kururin was definitely one I missed out on because I was young and foolish at the time.

I don't think I've played much, or indeed any, Kururin in my life but any time something has to spin to get past something else, that's what my brain thinks about.

The sheer disrespect that Rumble Racing got in the 2001 GOTY cycle is an absolute crime. Anyway have a nice weekend everybody.

I recall it getting a 9/10 in one of the PS2 mags at the time - PSW probably as that's the only one I remember buying. I need to give it another bash. Then I'll see if I can play some Rumble Racing again.

Only found about Game Sack because of Cappa, they've just put up a video about the Wii.


Good little video, and as someone who missed the Wii that's a good mix of stuff, with most of it looking like it holds up still thanks to art styles.

Enjoy a bit of Game Sack and that was no different. Still miss Dave though. The editing on the console breakdown with all the satisfying clicks and clunks is some of the best stuff on YouTube.

I missed Dave too. But then I found out he's a big Trump guy, so bollocks to him.

Anyway, I watched that Wii episode last night and I quite enjoyed it. There wasn’t a ton that was new unearthed though, mostly just covering games that anybody with a concentrated interest in the Wii would know about. There’s dozens of interesting Wii games that you never hear anybody talking about – off the top of my head, GTI Club Super Festa!, The Munchables, Let’s Tap and Tornado Outbreak spring to mind. I thought Game Sack would have been the perfect show to give them that sort of coverage.

Ex-NGamer forumite PheonixAsh (I think that was his username?) publishes Retro News Round-Up videos on YouTube. He does this on the first day of every month, and the May 2022 one marks ten years of it.



Anybody else watch these?

I do sub to them

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Piepacker - a cloud gaming platform with a social focus - has gone into open Beta.

https://piepacker.com/ 

There's about sixty games here, with a mixture of indies, SNES, Mega Drive, PlayStation, N64, Neo Geo, GBA and Arcade. They're mostly pretty good games as well - could be worth a look.

Looks like Piepacker has rebranded as Jam.gg - I had a look and it's a lot slicker now. I got it working and had a few games of Magical Drop II without any issue. Street Racer chugged, yet Metal Slug X ran like a dream even with a webcam on. It did suffer slowdown when the screen was busy, but I think Metal Slug always does that. Breakout on the PS1 is a horrible game, but it's unclear if it's because of input lag or it's just a pile of shite.

If anyone fancies a bash on some old games, let me know.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Ex-NGamer forumite PheonixAsh (I think that was his username?) publishes Retro News Round-Up videos on YouTube. He does this on the first day of every month, and the May 2022 one marks ten years of it.



Anybody else watch these?

That's it, I was literally trying to remember who it was behind the account yesterday, I watch from time to time and it's good stuff, I'm not as in to my retro as most so it's a good way for me to keep up to date.