Tanooki

Maybe the difference is those few pages and one vs two folded up posters.  That could do it.  I'm overly basic on this, not looking up sizes, but if the box is like 1 1/4" thick, and the game was about 1" within the sleeve, you just have a 1/4" to play with not bulging the box sides so whatever fits fits, and if a sleeve gets removed to add another 1/8" they'd cut it.

If not for the Virtual Boy, and perhaps other smaller (sub-300~) game libraries which are largely easily accessible and mostly not price toxic yeah I'd say some people would go for it as it's not too bad, and could be far more costly over time compared to a drinking, smoking, or drug habit...perhaps others less seedy like old car restoration and so on.

I wouldn't touch it anymore, but I started that journey before the scalpers squatters and resellers made it into the decade and some ongoing circus.  I had attempted it last as this mess started, saw writing on the wall and stopped it cold.  It just doesn't make sense for price, and given a library size the epic costs involved.  Throw in these wonky yet licensed small run outfits doing little pushes that people get just to scalp for stupid prices and I pity anyone going anywhere near that hot mess, say like, the Switch being a prime example of that.

Take what Contra did right early on, apply that SNK magic, and there you go -- Metal Slug.  A franchise that has been pretty consistently solid over the years (at least) on their arcade hardware.  Even some of those home editions on handheld have been fantastic too.  A really nice balance of high animated detail, cute but yet serious visuals, the weird moments mixed with the grittiness of what's going on.  Great spread of weapons and in time tanks from the Metal Slug to the oddball camel with mounted cannon.  One of the best run n gun games ever made, tops Contra easily in many aspects, not just a spiritual successor to that franchise but an improvement.

Oh yeah the money is a factor, anyone who says otherwise is either pretty wealthy, in denial, or lying to look more above it all.

And on that note, I did pull the trigger.  I spent hours about a week ago and I photographed my console and it's hdmi cable/module hookup, the gb player with disc/sleeve/case, the wavebirds, the accessories and added controller to go with the console, and all the games, import games, and freeloader.  I gave friends until the 24th to pick anything they wanted at a generous discount, then the rest went up on ebay on the 26th of what I put up.  It was a bit much so I held back about a third of the games.  They're moving, and I'm pleased some have sold, a number have bids, and my guess given how I did it there will be some serious last minute sniping clicks.  I put it where the BIN was the average sales price and the start being 30% less made them very attractive.  Most of my stuff I'm the original owner of so it's spotless or close which helps.

When all is said and done my resources will be back to full and perhaps a bit higher too really from being tapped out largely from finally getting my new computer which delivers tomorrow.

Wasn't Paper Mario GC coming in a few months for the Switch?  Was a date exactly ever set?

Currently I've pulled it all and it's largely up on ebay and selling, my entire gamecube collection, just over it.  So stuff that overlaps I do care about still I'd dig up.

The only thing I'm surprised with on that list is how Contra didn't have a better than a 2 point rating on there, and that kusoge mess Ikki even made the list.  Maybe it was a local flash mobbish style campaign to promote a turd for laughs.

...gee I wonder, Dragon Quest might just make that list for the next one right?  It's not like the game was so toxic to schools and jobs they had to after a point get the company to do weekend releases of that to keep up attendance.

A positive thing of sorts.  A week ago I saw something I forgot about existed, a Game Gear adapter for the Mega Sg.  I looked to their site and saw it was sadly bundled with two things I'd never use, so at $50 and another 20-30 range on shipping I went to ebay.  Seems some people TOO just one a specific adapter, so I picked up a new one of the things on there for $25 and it's way way into the territory of money well spent.

Playing those GG games up on the TV in HDMI really makes them pop.  Visuals are clean, the audio is very nice, and it's just a nice thing doing those using an official sega controller as well.  I took a little time with Sailor Moon, the first Sonic game, and a couple others.  I feel more motivated to use the stuff again as the old GG is nice, works 100% right still amazingly, but is a bit of a pain to setup since I don't use batteries on it.  So, I moved my tray of GG games legit, imports, and vintage multis to my console cabinet for easy access.

I really need to get Aerial Assault still  ...and maybe see what a boot of GG Aleste 3 costs.

I don't come across daily here as I did awhile back because reasons, but yeah I'm in.  Maybe I can find a clear flat something to put it into and hang it like my SNES hanging store display sign, or just find a nice print under it and throw it into a frame like that large menko card.  Feel free to PM me about it, it'll remind me.

Maybe it's not just height be thickness, the combination of the two are enough to cause the issue because the sleeve is a static size leaving only so little room for bulk aside it before bulging the box.  So you have a RPG with a 50+ page manual/guide and a couple of 12 way folded over or so maps it just is too much.

I would fall into the camp of an original owner, but the box is gone, and I don't remember it having a sleeve either because the two maps and 80 page manual/guide along with the various inserts stuffed the box tight.  NES Open Tournament Golf also had a tall thicker manual and inserts, don't recall that one having a sleeve did it?  I was under the impression games with a roughly box sized dimension manual had a little thinner block inside and no sleeve.

Here's a throwback from ratty NA, the images still work on that tools backup of the site, if this isn't stage the guy is physically cutting open the seal on the box and unloading the contents so you can see them all laid out.

https://archive.nes.science/nintendoage-forums/nintendoage.com/forum/messageviewfa6d.html?StartRow=151&catid=5&threadid=773

The wizard replied to it someone did it a few years earlier on NES World and same result with no sleeve, and the other contents including the thinner blue foam block so the tall paper fits right.

From my understanding what has been designed is designed and done, and they're sitting and spinning on it because of no motivation to kill a cash cow that just won't drop off in hardware sales.

There has been speculation and stuff, especially since the X1 is a dead chip no longer made other than basically for them.  They'll want a system that doesn't alienate people (one of their lessons learned) that can run the old games, but can do far better on the new.  Odds are showing it's a variant of the T234 chip, Odin it goes by, but a variant custom for Nintendo.  This should allow them to continue to use their current game on a card tech yet have the benefit of far superior hardware that works well with current battery and screen tech as Switch did years ago.

Keep in mind they had a 64GB switch card designed day one but with $50-60 on games, the tech was not there for a fair price not wanting to ding people with $70-80? games so they shelved it for depreciation of price over time.  32GB has been used all along for a minimal but improving profit, so 64 must have really sucked, but now?  It would make sense if 64GB card were affordable, and that would put them on par to store a modern console more or less as Ultra Blu Ray is at 50GB(single) and 66GB (double) density format.

They know they can't win in a hardware race.  They know trying to sell a console is suicide as well.  It'll end up being another handheld you can dock for higher resolution play on a TV again because it prints money for them, clearly.  If they can suck in the old consumers with a samey ($350~) priced system as the OLED that allows all the games from the last nearly 7 years to work as well they'll be sitting in a very comfy spot.

Imagine something like we have now, same price as OLED, that still functions the same way.  The unit now can as the OLED shows with the dock, can run in 4K mode, can use the old and new game media sharing the same cards.  Potentially an easy win if they don't fall into the arrogance traps they did in the past and don't go for the stupid more is better, sometimes just less more is enough to win.

Strange how blue was perceived, for me I was more literal on the color and for me that's the Taito cart of Rainbow Islands I have, better than the release that left Japan too.

Next week yeah maybe Contra, maybe not, could be other popular Konami titles too like Salamander.

I learned his lesson back in the NA era.  I had a TV fail, got another in the main room (we still have it, kids watching Pokemon right now) and that Samsung was a turd for lag.  I had no clue, thought that Nintendo couldn't code for crap as Mario Allstars Wii was so lagged a goomba got me because you physically could see him go after I pressed, so I sold it in disgust.  A year later someone joked, I felt I should not back out of a returned joke to that and ended up with another copy, on another TV.  This TV I heard something about processing modes, so I used displaylag dot com and found one in the mid 20s for ms of lag, suddenly Mario worked 100% right.  Lesson learned.

My TV I had earlier ago this year failed, this time I decided to get a more PC style screen, got a TCL Roku TV, the rating on it is sub 5ms, basically it's a non-touch Android Tablet pretending to be a TV as it has no tuner.  That thing is fast, I've hit no perception issues at all. I can go between using NES/FC games on my PVM color monitor CRT or that screen and get the same results.

So I doubt the AVS is at fault, the TV likely is.  It's not some emulator causing a layer of lag.

On 12/23/2023 at 2:52 AM, Sumez said:

Tried playing this game on multiple occasions, including on its release.

Every single time I've stopped relatively early due to how dreadfully boring it is. So my rating really isn't the most reliable - but if it were really any good it probably shouldn't actively make me not feel like playing it  Personally I prefer video games being fun. 

Eh you're not alone, I took part in this one and another in a bundle deal some years back on GoG when it had this huge slice.  I tried, twice to like this one and its sequel as well.  They're just so so painfully slow and a bit clunky.  I guess I'm spoiled by BG Dark Alliance 1&2 PC/Console(re-released in HD recently) and even Diablo too.  It just actively makes me bored using it, it's almost like taking digital sleeping pills it's that bad.  I don't mind slow, but something is fundamentally wrong with that game and how it plays as it is a fun vampire.  I've played worse, but not a lot, so I gave it 1 more point than you.

@Tyree_Cooper Wow that looks amazing, just noticed the dimensions on the back which is around 8.6" by just over 12" for it which is a decent size too.

Is that like some see through plastic sheet poster of sorts?  Tempted, just trying to figure out the how to hang/display/frame it since something will maybe need to go behind that clear spot.

Well yes, but you'll have to experiment to see if the label can handle it because that looks a bit beat.

Alcohol like most solvents will lift that ink like a kids watercolors tray, done and done.

I work in paint a bit in the last few months, and in there the boss is a retired chemist and he tipped me off to something actually making sense I had been doing the last few years when it comes to the stuff.

Windex (and derivatives)

Windex doesn't ruin inks and surfaces, but it decimates paints, many types but in particular acrylics.  You can even salvage cloth(clothes, etc) if you soak it in that stuff before it starts to set and scrub it out it comes right off.  But on paper, metal, plastic, wood, and other sorts it will rub off.

I've had luck taking sharpie off genesis stickers (last one was being ballsy with Streets of Rage 3 some twit put SVP right over the middle of it (large too) a couple months back.  I put the windex on a strip of clean, white, undyed, unscented paper towel to dampen but not soak it, and I got to carefully rubbing bit by bit, and it came off, 100% with no original ink loss.

I've done this for some years now with SuperGB/GBC, N64, Genesis, SMS and other weak stickers with no laminate.  The only time I've had it not go well, the sticker was already degraded in the first place so any contact with anything other than a dry finger was going to visibly worsen it.

I remember you can get genji gloves and various items to max out like 9999HP physical damage with a bit of work.  Since everyone can just be a clone of another you can get a short list of buffs coupled with cures to hand around, and then get Ultima and a couple others and just wreck stuff like its no ones business.  Cacatuars the little cactus dudes pop up at this one area fairly constant and they give a lot of points that just boost the job levels the fastest as well to get into those things.

Hey no dumping on Holy Diver, I used a rom rarely over the last 2 decades on that, but I got a NES retrobit cart second hand early this year and it's hard, but I mean really, it's fair.  I got a few stages in until it got ugly, which is more than I can say I did with Castlevania back in the day which many love to compare it to.  I think if I applied even 1/4 of the struggles of that old NES game to that Famicom title I'd kick its ass in far less time.  It's not jank, stiff works, picky definitely, but it's not a broken game.

I am with jonebone, working 60hours~ roughly now, I've got a low bullshit threshold so I do not waste a lot of time on self destructive time wasting crap when it comes to games.  I want to get in, have fun, maybe get somewhere to save it or not, then get out, or if short...finish it.  I'm over large load screens, memory cards, dramatics.  He was right about the games made for guides, that stood for like 15-20 years easily and only rotted out because YT killed the printed guide.  I still go for the guide on games I have, why.... not cheating per say, time savings.  I don't want to get lost and piss added hours in a dungeon or mountain side, show me where to go MAP PLZ THX!

These days I'm in the dawning hours of selling my gamecube stuff off, largely stuff I bought at retail, I'm settling on carts, they're more stable and you can get in and out faster.  Famicom is largely doing it too since you can go for a high score and go until you're wasted and that works.  If I get stuck, YT or gamefaqs is there, works for me.  I don't rush there, and much of those don't even need it, NES, SFC, SNES, Gen, GB to GBA and GG either so it's all good.

I argue they're not harder, I argue we got spoiled, lazy, crunched for time, and less patience for bs than a kid has.

Fair enough, but this isn't some thing with age.  I tried it back as far as 1995 and didn't like it then either as it felt like I was punching with bubble wrap gloves while being hit in the head with a cartoon glove loaded with horse shoes and bricks when the enemy made contact.  It aggravated me back then, still does now, so that's why I prefer it.

On 12/16/2023 at 3:18 PM, NostalgicMachine said:

For me personally it doesn't, because I only purchase and keep the games I actually want to play, and the games that I actually enjoy.

I had several hundred NES carts at one point (432 to be exact!), and the majority of it was crap I never played. I reached a point where I realized it was just taking up space, and nobody cared except me, and it wasn't even close to a full set. I also knew I wasn't going to acquire the final few carts for a reasonable price anyway, so it was a no brainer. I liquidated a TON of my collection around 2014-2018.

Now I have like two dozen carts each for the NES, SNES, and Genesis respectively.

Smart move.  I hit that reality back in 2012 when I was about a 100 less than where you were.  I offloaded over 200 games and turned it into stuff for other systems feeling the writing was on the wall to keep ahead of the price ramp up curve which worked.

Right now I think I've mentioned it here, if not elsewhere I've been thinking a lot over 6mo now about the gamecube, really ever since my original day one unit choked largely oddly just being idle.  The stories of drive issues, cheap chinese replacements, finicky GC discs from age/wear especially the double density types and rounding that off with it largely ignoring price cooling put me off it.  I just added up what I have this evening and even with Cubivore gone to pay for a pet mid-year it's still a considerable sum.  It's just taking up space, the toxic value of it is a burden as much as the room, already contacted a couple local friends who asked about titles before.  I'm probably going to just kiss all optical gaming media goodbye here right after Christmas.  It'll take time to image it, but I priced it where it's more aggressive to sell even with the 30% bin on ebay over where many copies go.

I'm not down to even doing that anything near at all to 20-25~games per system, I'm still well over the 500 mark, but my perspective on it is that's nearly 40 years of games which is few per year.

2 hours ago, mbd39 said:

Bayou Billy would be much better regarded had Konami kept the US difficulty closer to the Japanese version. Especially the driving stages!

Mad City, bought that about a month ago and is so much more enjoyable.  That was Konami's probably most infamous middle finger to the renters.  You make your character hit people so that impacts do 4x less damage than the FC title, and in turn allow the enemies to do 2x the damage to your life bar so you die off really fast. Combine the crap they pulled with the actually should be fun driving stages and the game is just awful.

Castlevania III also got screwed with bad, very badly which is a shame.  Grant made into a joke with a tiny dagger while the oriignal the butter knife thrown out was your weapon, and all four characters take the same damage not far more for support and even more in general on the belmont.  Konami really had it out, just like a few others such as the bs they pulled with Ninja Gaiden games.

NES games weren't really more difficult, except those largely spiked to mess with the rental market.  Not across the board, some are just hard, like Ghosts n Goblins by design, and some due to bad design like the vertical stages with Silver Surfer.

Ehhh I've always stuck to the Fighter, Thief, W and B Mages, just find the whole setup more enjoyable, even if it's not as easy as some builds let alone cheesing it like the post a few up.  The B Belt/Monk is fine, and it speeds it along a bit not needing to buy stuff, but I enjoy the fast rate of the thief, but more so when the guy goes Ninja after the class change.  I've never found much I've liked about the red mage, can't get the best spells which I'm not a fan of, nor can it use the better upper end of the weapon and armor stuffs either.  Both a jack of all trades, but not given they cap out before becoming exceptional at anything.

1 hour ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I always thought that was a positive for the game as well.

I mean what it came out I think in 1990 for us like 3 years later than overseas.  At that rate I was 13, and I had tried briefly at jr high to do a little classic DnD, so I get the whole nameless faceless built it character so it worked for me.

The only thing I ever truly hated in that period, the garbage MP system, I was used to having magic points and rolling for them to hit/save/backfire.  The caps just seemed counter intuitive and stupid, forcing me to keep like a crap load of 50HP restore bottles when taking a dungeon or cave seriously.  The XP/GP never bothered me in many places, but one that really ground me down was the ogre hunting outside of Elfland to handle that stretch in the area as it felt like an odd wall.  So when Origins, Dawn of Souls, mobile popped up I was all over the XP/GP improvement due to lack of as much free time as a kid, and the real magic system to keep things interesting at the same time.  Sure it streamlined it, but the core charm of the game outside wasn't tarnished, it's why I keep the cheapo digital copy on iOS all these years since it came out.  Like I said I have 2 ratings for it, and averaged it as it seemed most fair.  It was a last ditch game for the company, but also a learning game, as much as FF2 (fc) was as much so if not more on what NOT to do (which they didn't bone again so badly until 8.)

Idle hands...oh wait, they're not.

3 hours ago, RH said:

Remind me, how much talking did Link do in Legend of Zelda?  Oh wait... remind me of how much talking Link's done?  Ever?

The NES was very much a transition system from the very barebones days of the 2600 and the future when there would be "loads" of memory for games for systems like the SNES or Genesis.

There are compression tricks you can do tiles, sprites and even some game mechanics but text dialog is heavy.  Line-for-line, there's little to no compression you can put in a RAM cart from that era, so having "silent" protagonists makes a lot of sense.

So what is an RPG going to feel like if text is kept to a minimum?  Well, it's going to feel like a colorful, interactive story where you fill in the descriptors that are missing.  You imagine the dialog and you engage the story on a more mentally creative level.

It's definitely not a perfect game but it is a great game for it's time.  I've not read the manual, but I know it's big compared to standard NES manuals.  I assume most of those pages are dedicated to setting up story context to help you fill in the imaginative gaps of what's going on.

I still own my original manual and poster maps, and I'll say this much.  It's an 80 page handbook of a manual with everything you need to get started and go a ways into the game either not totally blind.  I also was bored one weekend in the 90s, and I typed the entire thing out, even the image box descriptors all in a text file and uploaded it along with in that era a number of others.  It can still be found online, but that one was by far the most time consuming.

FF1 just works without personalities and talk, though I do like they seemingly do have actual preferred names for the characters which I only recently discovered.  The thing is, it took the D&D approach, create who you want, name it how you want, and YOU be that link, not just more script fed to you.