sp1nz

3 more for the books:

Barbie: Game Girl

The Addams Family

Bionic Commando

I've been playing on RetroAchievements and random rolling games to master this year, so might as well join this endeavor. Here's first 5 I've beaten this year that are on the list unclaimed (in clear order):

Kirby's Block Ball

The Flintstones

Balloon Kid

The Little Mermaid

The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt

Just now, Brickman said:

I'm honestly surprised the game even got this many comments. I know Reed generally steers away from putting up games like this because of the really low turn out in the past, so it's good to see he gave an indie another go.

This place is definitely not up to date on indies or modern gaming so you have to take what people say about games like this with a grain of salt. Come here for the retro game discussions, but definitely don't come here for the opinions of modern and indie games 

Yeah, indeed. Anyway on Steam platform alone Celeste has 78438 reviews and Cuphead has 135731 reviews. Original Super Meat Boy has 24720. Now how you want to interpret any of that is up in the air, but it's certainly no "unknown" game.

Thinking more about it, I think it's THE platformer to play since Super Meat Boy for indies. Of course it won't be everyone's cup of tea in any case.

9 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Not sure if you're referring to my comments (I assume not) but I do want to say I am very familiar with Celeste. I simply haven't played it and have no desire to do so.

Not at all directed to you, mainly meant RH with the "It's just one of those games I've seen around for the last several years, but I've not heard anything about it.  I think this was an LRG release" and maybe sprinkled in some other comments. I'm not trying to paint people who don't know x thing in a negative light, just expressing my surprise/shock at the finding. I guess in general looking at retrohead forumers talking you could say that large parts of gaming sphere, especially in the current day, don't really exist to them, so in that sense it's not even surprising.

EDIT: I seem to have pulled the "Switch game" out of my ass in the context of this thread, when I should've said the "LRG game".

13 minutes ago, koifish said:

I'm not sure what you mean. Can you explain this?

1 hour ago, sp1nz said:

Also really shows how some people are not in the indie space, especially on PC when they don't know about this yet, just saying.

It's one of the most known/popular games in the spaces I'm in, so when people say they've heard about it for being a Switch game or have just heard about it in passing it just throws me for a loop. Like in my mind it's maybe one step removed from Cuphead's popularity as an indie game. Maybe that part of my comment was stupid but I just got that air from couple comments in the thread already and felt like putting it out there.

Anyway appreciate anyone's opinion/experience being different than mine.

One of the better 2D platformers in the last 20 years, but not quite at the status of "one of my favorite" games ever on this scale, so 9/10.

Fresh mechanic mixture of 8 direction air dashing and stamina-based wall climb. Masterclass in level design, mechanics allow for high speed movement, good level gimmicks that keep the gameplay fresh, fun collectibles, graphics have distinctive feel to them, good story and characters, difficulty can be tuned to be easiest shit ever with assists or hard deathless runs with optional golden berries. It's the full package for someone looking for a great platformer. Also really shows how some people are not in the indie space, especially on PC when they don't know about this yet, just saying.

1 hour ago, Sumez said:

That's good news..... if it doesn't mean their shipping prices are gonna get even higher again. Which they probably are 

Yeah... and what happened with this, customs are a killer of wallets:

https://limitedrungames.com/blogs/news/limited-run-shipping-initiatives-2023

"LRG EUROPE - COMING 2023

Finally, the most exciting change we’re making is implementing our European shipping branch to better serve our customers across the Atlantic. We’re partnering with GOE (Game Outlet Europe) out of Karlstad, Sweden, which will handle our warehouse and fulfillment operations. Alongside the new fulfillment center, Limited Run will launch a Europe-facing website around the same time.

We’ll have more details to share in the coming months, but you can expect our European operations to launch in 2023!"

Very good director after some weaker early movies; love the variety and vision. When I watched Spartacus I had the feeling of "they don't make 'em like this anymore", obviously not many people will pick this as a favorite, as Kubrick wasn't the initial director and didn't have full artistic control, but it's still my favorite historical epic film so far - it just feels larger than life and is beautifully shot, scored, acted and so forth. Shining's bathtub lady has haunted me ever since childhood, Full Metal Jacket and Paths of Glory are brutal with their anti-war message, 2001 is an interesting progression of acts ending in a visual spectacle and equally impressive mindfuckery, Clockwork Orange is a double whammy of deviancy and reformation, and so on.

This Bio-Hazard Battle rental was my favorite, as I didn't even know it exists and it wasn't even on sites/threads I know that collect that information. Never seen a red rental case for MD before this and never seen that kind of inner foam for MD rental before this, but who would fake this game out of all games. Other rentals are still being found, so it's not out of the question that it's a legitimate rental but I can't give its legitimacy 100% guarantee anyway:

Since I already answered this before I'll link to that:

Not much has changed in the amount of missing games, I've just focused on modern games in the past years. Also I have no problem owning bunch of filler games for consoles I love but if I started collecting today I probably wouldn't dream of owning the full sets I've been aiming for and would just do a full-on gamer selection (due to price, not due to general interest). I guess N64 and Dreamcast are possible sets too and but if I get Dreamcast set done maybe I start wanting a Saturn set, then Mega CD and 32X... oof.

Could also be that I stop going for certain sets or never cross some of the final thresholds even when very close and I'm not stressed about it at all. To be honest I can't even tell, if a full set I have or aim for is truly a region full set on paper, since there are weird imports and things that count or don't count depending on who you ask, what release area you are considering as a region or some games are just not very public knowledge or known in general. Also I started collecting with the intention of "playing everything", which was a silly thought in hindsight, collecting is collecting and playing is playing, there is a lot of overlap for many collectors/gamers but they are different interests at the core. For certain platforms I do wish to beat every game or at least play every game, but we'll see - at least for retro platforms the games are generally shorter endeavors, especially with enough skill.

I'm excited for all of them but also scared that SEGA will not do them justice. There is a world of difference between a polished experience and a semi-jank experience, and I feel like the modern SEGA development often results in the semi-jank experience. Fingers crossed that they're not just 6-7/10 games that you feel lukewarm about but a solid return to form with a homerun or two.

November Shmovember

Coolshop black friday purchases:

The Super Rare Games mixtapes are cool, maybe that's my young DOS/early internet freeware/shareware soul speaking:

B-stock Sonic Frontiers: The Music of Starfall Islands vinyl for £13 + shipping, didn't really find anything too faulty about it after opening it, even if I'm not super condition sensitive, so very happy with the pricepoint:

Numbers for fun:

• 007: Nightfire (GC)
• 1080° Avalanche (GC)
• 2Xtreme (PS1)
• 3D MahJongg (3DS)
• 40 Winks (PS1)
• 50 Classic Games (3DS)
• 688 Attack Sub (GEN)
• 7 Blades (PS2)
• 8 Eyes (NES)
• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (DS)

Mega Drive / Genesis A-Z for being my favorite platform:

• Alisia Dragoon
• Bare Knuckle III
• Contra: Hard Corps
• Dragon's Fury
• Earthworm Jim
• Fire Shark
• Gunstar Heroes
• Herzog Zwei
• International Superstar Soccer Deluxe
• James Pond 3
• Kyuukyoku Tiger
• Langrisser II
• Monster World IV
• NHL '94
• OutRun
• Puyo Puyo Tsuu
• QuackShot starring Donald Duck
• Ristar
• Shining Force II
• Thunder Force IV
• Undead Line
• Vectorman
• World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
• Xeno Crisis
• Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen
• Zero Wing

My gut feeling is that software has to be over 50% of the experience for the experience to be meaningful but many external factors may lower it below that threshold anecdotally but that's not a knock against the software's importance in an objective sense. Silent Scope on an arcade cab is amazing but it's just okay on PS2, so even if the software is "the same" and you're not being influenced by nostalgia or by negative feelings among other things, the hardware / player interaction aspects carry a ton of weight. You need the software to experience it in the first place but how you interact with it and in what circumstances will cause wild fluctuations on the importance of the software in the context of gaming. In the end the the very enjoyment of gaming is largely due to the variation of what will tick your boxes with different games, genres, hardware, gimmicks, difficulty, design etc. and it's not always the software that makes or breaks the experience but one would think that software is the driving force on average for the average game enjoyer, if things are done right.

August+October arrivals:

Something from an age old Kickstarter pledge:

Disgaea my beloved:

Limprint boogaloo:

And a vinyl OST as expected:

I want to play more but I get sidetracked easily: https://retroachievements.org/user/sp1nzoK

It's a very cool system even with its "flaws", for example, arbitrariness of challenges a dev might put out, revisions and incomplete sets that prompt revisions to begin with.

I think they're in the process of adding some kind of "game beaten framework" that disregards extraneous/arbitrary achievements and counts beating a game and/or completing a game with some distinction (not sure though). I doubt I want to compete in the framework in any real capacity but I might just happen to get on some mastery leaderboard on their ezine eventually just from wanting to complete lots of stuff on some system(s).

I tend to get pretty torn in gaming with choice paralysis / to be a completionist or not to be etc. Like if I start a new game through an emulator with achievements, it's a carrot for more than beating a game or even completing a game and that might be enticing at times but also really off-putting at times. When only playing through a game once or re-playing it once, then achievements can work as extra value that can be harnessed, but then again emulation can take away from the experience depending how you do it too. Do I want to 1CC / No Death some random kusoge just because I started it or just beat multiple games - anyway that's fully a me problem, not the system's fault for providing an option.

I remember playing Phantasy Star for RetroAchievements and drawing my own maps while going through it but at some point I noticed I screwed up and would have to replay half the game for some achievement and then lost interest for the time being. Spoiling yourself on what achievements there are and what their requirements are on first playthrough is not something I'm planning to do in games, RPGs will be especially bad for that, since they're not usually interesting to play through multiple times. At least Hardcore setting allows you to fast forward and doesn't consider it cheating, which I find cool, but in RPGs it kind of kills the vibe when you could abuse fast forward for leveling and stuff, it's a choice between saving your precious time or potentially losing interest from playing it in a way that didn't exist back in the day. I mainly like using fast forward for slow transitionary things with no gameplay I guess.

Casino Royale (1967) is my favorite, because it's a wacky comedy parody of Bond movies and the straight shooters tend to be middling stuff for me. Here are my scores for the ones I've seen:

Wonderful:
Casino Royale (1967) 8.2/10
Moonraker (1979) 7.7/10
GoldenEye (1995) 7.6/10

Strong:
Licence to Kill (1989) 6.9/10
From Russia with Love (1963) 6.7/10
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) 6.5/10
For Your Eyes Only (1981) 6.5/10

Good:
The Living Daylights (1987) 5.9/10
Thunderball (1965) 5.8/10
Never Say Never Again (1983) 5.8/10
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) 5.7/10
Dr. No (1962) 5.6/10

Average:
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) 5.4/10
A View to a Kill (1985) 5.3/10
Live and Let Die (1973) 5.2/10
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) 4.8/10

Dull:
Goldfinger (1964) 3.9/10
Octopussy (1983) 3.7/10
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) 3.6/10

Bad:
You Only Live Twice (1967) 2.8/10

TimeWalk's NES games were sold at $68-70 and SNES games at $95 brand new from their shop. I saw some insane sold listings back in the day but eBay can be easily manipulated and people get a wrong perception. Looking at recent eBay sold listings the perception for TimeWalk stuff seems to be $70-200 opened and $200-400 sealed depending on the game. Maybe put them on sale for $100-200 each (with best offer if you try the higher end), since I don't doubt there are some people out there that would drop at least $100 on each.

August Acceptables

Limprint stuff and BPM: Bullets Per Minute vinyl.

July Justice

PS4 CE from Pix'n Love's discount sale:

Kinda weird game combo for a release:

ROCKET LAWNCHAIR!:

Delicious Pizza Course:

May + June = Mambo Jumbo

April Abstainin'

March Munchin'

Here's a very cool addition to my collection: it's not on a big Nordic rental list on a Finnish forum, it's not in a decent MD collecting checklist book and it's not on Guardiana. Only time I've seen a red case and this kind of inner foam for a MD rental too. I imagine there's a minor chance it's a fake but I'm inclined to believe it's not.

Another Ryza CE:

Wonder Boy makes me happy:

Barrage of limprint stuff:

10 piece PS4 lucky bag from Red Art Games resulted in pretty good haul. No duplicates to what I already own and the top row of games was pretty high in my preferred pulls: