Redmond

Nightmare Creatures 2. Do not believe anyone who calls this a hidden gem lol. The atmosphere from 1 carried over, but the gameplay is way slower, there are only 2 combos ( in NC1 both characters have like 20 combos ) and there are no more one-hit kills. They should’ve just made this a survival horror game based on story/exploration/puzzles given how weak the combat is. You still might get something out of it if you were a fan of the first game, but just be prepared for a slog. I played the Dreamcast port, and hopefully the PS version is a little better as this one was really buggy ( glitched above the map, got stuck on/in a few objects and had to reset, there is a kinda funny bit where you can freeze snowflakes in mid air by walking backwards ).

I will upload pics for the others shortly, just had the manual ones already up. Splatterhouse - Complete - $75 Legendary Axe - Complete - $35 Startling Odyssey - Complete, crack on front of casing, disc is very good - $100 $55 shipped. In decent shape aside from the 2 tab marks/tears on the back.

$150 Shipped OBO. Complete sans the registration card. Case/Insert are good, no fading. Manual has some creasing/marks. Game cart has some scratches/abrasions but sticker is good. EDIT: I tried to add a few more pics but there was an issue with uploading them, I'll get that fixed shortly.

No way man, SEGA through and through ( granted, I skipped the Saturn as a kid, although that kind of saved me from the potential depression of the Sonic that never came ). My console trajectory went Genesis >>> N64 >>> PlayStation 2 / Dreamcast ( I had Xbox and GameCube as well, but Xbox was almost exclusively a Halo machine ). That said, I've never really had any brand loyalty or w/e outside of being a fan of SEGA stuff, but at no point was I ever looking at systems over the games. I played most of the SNES initially (DKC, Super GNG, Mario, TMNT, Bomberman, etc ) over at friends' houses and enjoyed it just as much. IIRC I bought Symphony of the Night on eBay when I was pretty young ( believe I sent a money order for it ) before I even had a PlayStation.

Skullmonkeys - I almost 1 CC'd this, but the last world is a real PITA (granted, I'd be kind of disappointed if it wasn't). I think I was let down a bit by this game in the past, as the gameplay doesn't quite live up to the brilliance of the graphics/soundtrack, but once you accept it for the challenging no frills platformer that it is, it's pretty solid. For anyone potentially playing it, I'd probably also mention that it peaks in difficulty around the middle ( a world/section called Deathgarden ), so if you can manage to get past that it levels off afterwards.

$35 shipped obo. Does have some scratches but is tested/working. Does come with an empty case.

I got a bit paranoid as I searched repros and the first site that came up had the MPEG logo and looked similar to mine, but I would imagine they are noticeably poorly made in person whereas this would have to be some PCE Works level stuff. I also found a sold copy of the MPEG logo and it was a fair bit under the going rate, so I assumed it was perhaps some sort of known fake or something, but then after reading the description I realized the price was lower due to a missing manual and they'd just used a printed cover or reprint manual I guess, odd. This would also seem to verify it: https://dcemulation.org/dumpcast/viewtopic.php?t=860

I was actually gonna post something similar and thought nobody would need it so I wrote like a few paragraphs and then scrapped it lol. I can't recall exactly what I wrote, as they are pretty close, but the sharpness between the authentic/fake is pretty stark in person, although that could possibly be tweaked as well. The circle symbol following the 4-3-1 also seems to be added on the PCEWorks copies and absent from authentic copies ( unless there's a variant or something ). EDIT: Tyree_Cooper mentioned this one already, whoops.

I initially thought this was maybe a reproduction or something, but now I just think it's a variant I guess (hopefully). If anyone has the same copy maybe they can check. I've included side by side pics of a copy I originally bought from an EB Games or something when it was originally released and this one I recently acquired. The main noticeable difference is instead of the Q Sound logo to the left of the ESRB, it has an MPEG Sofdec logo. It's also a different shade of blue. All of the embossing or w/e ( the repeated Blue Stinger title ) is nearly the same with only minor differences. The data sides both say "Licensed by Sega" or w/e in the outermost (inner) ring. The MPEG Sofdec one has *7s* T-13001N for the ring code, whereas the others have %BLUESTINGER followed by a code. The manual cover is noticeably lighter and kind of washed out looking. EDIT: Whoops, if someone could move this to the Collector's Questions (if possible), that would probably be the better/appropriate spot.

Any idea on the Duo? ( beyond 2021 anyway )

I don't think a beat-em-up, especially one like SOR2, is much different gameplay-wise or quality-wise from anything else. Beat-em-ups do have a weird reputation as the red-headed step child of gaming or something. EDIT: Discriminating against beat-em-ups makes you a gaming racist.

11/10. I don't think SOR2 needs any qualifiers like "within the genre". Does that mean a beat-em-up that's a 10/10 can only be a 8-9/10 "regular" game? Just not sure how that works out. A lot of beat-em-ups are garbage, but I don't feel as though SOR2 deserves to be dragged down or judged through a different lens because of that.

Sonic 2, so I could get to play the added Hidden Palace Zone. I could see Slay the Spire being decent on mobile, I think I downloaded/bought it but never actually played it though.

It wasn't that one. The graphics were basic 2D sprites. I also don't necessarily think the voyeurism was that big of an aspect of the game so much as something they maybe tossed in just to try to get people to buy it.

Still on a survival horror kick. Darkwood - I feel like I saw this game a year or two ago and just kind of dismissed it based on the top-down perspective or something, maybe the description of it being based around crafting/survival. Either way, big mistake. Atmosphere/setting-wise, it reminds me a lot of Fallout 1, in the sense that you're dropped into this large, obscure world without knowing very much, and it's extremely immersive once you get into it. The story/lore is executed well, as a lot of it is left up to the player to either discover or infer. Amazing soundtrack/sound design, definitely recommend to play with headphones on for the full effect. It's actually free to download/play as well via torrent ( legally ), which is good in the sense that it's, well, free and since this is a game I feel benefits from going in as blindly as possible ( the trailer spoils some of the fun, although not terribly ). Then, if you like it, consider throwing $15 towards the developers as that is a small asking price for the experience. Dead Space - I played this one back in the day on the PS3 but only recently decided to revisit and finish it for one reason or another. Like Darkwood, the sound design is really well done. Pacing-wise, Dead Space gets going very quickly and seldomly lets up. I would say though I wouldn't mind if the length was cut down by a third or so. Somewhat random aside, but I could see Splatterhouse revived as a survival horror game using Dead Space as the basic framework ( somewhat slow, methodical movement, upgradeable weapons, with the surrounding woods being more open/not as scary, with the Mansion having a similarly claustrophobic vibe as the ship in Dead Space. )

This was a DOS game that I played on some shovelware collection. From what I can remember, it was similar to Hugo's House of Horrors graphically and gameplay-wise. You were a private investigator or something along those lines. The main identifying bit was that there was a section where you could look into a window at a woman, I want to say you had binoculars or something and I can't remember what it showed exactly but it went into a "To see more, buy the full version" bit. I don't think it was Leisure Suit Larry either.

Onimusha Warlords. For some reason I thought the original title was just Onimusha and was under the impression Warlords was some sort of spinoff or something, then I actually read the page and realized it was a remaster. Nice game though for the hour or so I played it ( I beat it back in the PS2 days but that's been a while ), beat the first boss and got through some trap / puzzle bits and really got a bit further in the game than I intended to. Apparently this didn't sell so well and Capcom has since canned remasters for 2-3, which is a shame. As an aside, and not to knock the game, I think it's held up fairly well, but I kind of wish there was a game with a similar setting that was an actual survival horror game. The journals that you find and some of the demons are pretty creepy, but Samanosuke is a bit too much of a badass for the game to be scary ( at least beyond initial playthroughs where you aren't as adept/familiar ).

The little kits to make it full size were kinda neat, too bad they only made 150 of those.

Recently beat Aggelos on Series X. Pretty solid Zelda II / Monster Boy style game. On sale on Switch online store right now @ $4.99, definitely worth picking up at that price ( sale ends in an hour or two tho ).

Custer's Revenge.

I want to say the latest COD was up to something like 150GB, maybe even 175+, but it looks like it's down to 103.5 now. Another thing too is data caps, my previous ISP had one and I want to say it was 1 TB or something, and then they would charge X amount for every 10 or 100GB past that.

I haven't played Hybrid Heaven since it originally came out, but I remember it had some pretty innovative stuff going on. Given how RPG-starved the N64 is, it's surprising that Hybrid Heaven is still so overlooked ( especially when you have middling to bad RPGs like Quest 64 that still have a decent reputation, granted Quest is probably a bit more accessible ). Aidyn Chronicles, technical issues aside, is also another forgotten RPG worth checking out. The Castlevanias for the 64 are great. They do a good job of blending different action/adventure/survival horror elements. I think it's only in recent years, largely due to the AVGN review, that people have soured on CV64. Well, that and the obvious criticism of not being exactly like the 2D games ( it does lean more towards the slower, exploration side of things at times ).

I went with an 8. Some solid platforming for the most part. I played this a while back as part of the trilogy collection and didn't make it past the turtle bridge, as it seems a lot more unforgiving than it is here ( although it was still the most difficult part and took me about 20 lives). As far as criticisms, I guess the island theme starts to get a bit repetitive at some point, the bosses are somewhat janky and a bit too easy, but I still liked them. The perspective isn't an issue for the most part, only on the bridge levels and a few other spots, but the game is pretty forgiving as far as checkpoints and lives are concerned.

Mischief Makers. Completed the 53 Golden Gems bit, not too bad ( granted, I had to consult a guide for around 4-5 of them, there are some pretty well hidden ones ), Lunar's mech fight probably took around 50 tries to perfect, not super difficult but there's 1 bit where you have to fight him on the ground and it's pretty tough to predict his moves. Considering going for S-Ranks now, Treasure does not mess around with those though.

Mega Man Legends 2. I would imagine there's one in Legends 1 as well, but it's been a while since I've played it. And not really trivia, but I'm playing thru Mischief Makers at the moment and there's a sort of Olympic games portion where, among other things, you have to solve math problems.