Overview forgames

Thrill ride

Coaster

Building a coaster is cool, but also being able to ride it makes it the selling point.  And that’s exactly what this game does!  You can build and ride your own coasters!

For a fun fact, back when I was a kid and heavily playing this game, as my magnum opus of roller coaster building, I tried my best to copy the coaster found in the music video "Love Rollercoaster" that was covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  I was even able to beautifully mimic the part of the coaster that looked like a lady.  Unfortunately the riders didn’t care much for it and gave it a mediocre score.  Screw them!  They can just Suck My Kiss!

Brawlin' it up

I’ve been thinking about getting some games for the Vita lately, and the one on top of the list may be an import, which is something I tend to avoid.  But Uppers may be the rare exception.

Uppers is like a combination of two game series.  It’s one part Kenka Bancho, one part Senran Kagura.  Meaning it’s one-half badass brawler, one-half scandalous fan service.  I’m personally more interested in the brawler half as it follows in the shadow of the Kenka Bancho series.  A series I love a lot.  And with Uppers being developed by Bullets, the makers of the Bancho series, we’re getting the authentic experience.

But with the role of Producer being Kenichiro Takaki, who is the man behind the Senran Kagura series, which I have never played, and really don’t care to play because it dives way too deep into that ecchi scene, but am glad to see it looks like the game is more about the beat ‘em up action aspect than it is the fan service stuff (at least that’s what I think based on some screenshots and a few video clips).  But since there’s no way he’s not going to add his signature shots of over sexualized ladies in games, it’s good to see it just may be the sprinkles on top of this awesome action sundae.

I was thinking about waiting for a local port to come to the US, believing maybe either Atlus or XSEED would pick it up, but I waited for other games to come out stateside, but to no avail.  I like to get the localized version of games because I actually like to have a story with my games, regardless of how insignificant it may be, but I might have to bite the bullet and get the import version of Uppers and depend on gamefaqs for the story because I’m itchin’ for a new KB styled game. Either that or just learn the darn language.

Jammin’

ToeJam & Earl

If you look beyond the surface, TJ&E can be interpreted as a mirror's reflection of humanity and just how terrible we would be to act as hosts for guests from another planet who just need an intergalactic tow truck to get them on their way.  As for the environment, a metaphor for the structure of the Earth in TJ&E could be implied as a sign that danger lurks near, similar to how a winding road leading to Dracula’s castle with jagged cliff sides connected by natural arches are symbols of caution as they eventually lead to the Count’s front door.  The unhinged structure of each level is further evidence of how unstable the inhabitants of Earth are.

But I don’t care for any of that kind of deep analytical take on things.  I like the game ‘cuse it has aliens and funky music.

Archaeological dig

For the most part I like collecting physical media as opposed to digital and then displaying said physical media on shelves along with related knick-knacks spread in front of them.  Something about seeing an entire collection at a glance, all within your visual perception is striking to me.  Maybe it stems back from being a child when walking down the video game aisle at a Toys "R" Us or perusing all of the big box PC games in the computer software section at a Best Buy.

Though not to be confused with hating digital versions of media.  Far from it.  If a game can only come out as a digital only release, then by all means let it come out without a physical version.  And same goes to all media like music, movies, TV shows, and books.  I bought digital only copies from all types of media, but when it comes to games, I always lean towards the physical boxes than digital when given the choice.

And if you look at my gaming collection, there was always a glaring omission from it.  I have games from every console Sony put out, games from both the original Xbox and 360, Saturn, Sega CD, 32X, and Dreamcast.  Heck, I even have a spot for NES and SNES games (even though my SNES collection includes only one game).  But the one obvious gap that I had was from my Genesis collection.  This has been bothering me for a while now and I finally mustered up the courage (but mostly just happened to remember) to go to the storage shed at my parent's house and retrieve my collection of boxes for Genesis games.

It’s not much but the essentials are there.  My Sonic collection, a gambling game, and Revolution X ;-).  My collection of games I own for the Genesis is small as I was more of a renter than I was a buyer.  That and my allowance wasn’t the largest, so my physical collection grew mainly from birthday and Christmas gifts.  I still need to retrieve one more and that’s the box for Sonic & Knuckles.  Hopefully it won’t be MIA for long as I got a tip from my Dad where it might be at, so when I go back to visit, fingers crossed that it’s there.

I needed to retrieve them because they were in an outside storage shed that’s exposed to outside conditions.  It did help, though, that the boxes were stored away in large container tubs, but given that every season they’re exposed to near freezing conditions during the winter months and then intense triple digit temps during the summer, who knew how long they might have lasted out there?  When I found them, they were fortunately just a little dirty from all the strong winds the region is known famously for, but other than that, they were still in great shape.

All of the manuals and original paperwork were still in the boxes and the cover art was still in pristine condition.  I removed everything and cleaned the boxes with just some running water.  I didn’t use any cleaning chemicals or soap as it didn’t seem necessary for just removing dirt.  I then wiped them dry and let them sit out for more drying to make sure not a single drop of water was left so the paperwork or cover art wouldn’t get wet.  The box for Sonic 3D Blast was unfortunately crushed, but thought a process of stretching out the outer case by sticking a thick manga book in it and then “squishing” the inner box in between some items in a bookshelf for a couple of days, I was able to reshape the cardboard so it looks fairly straight now!  Huzza!

All in all, things worked out pretty well.  And that’s not the entire collection all as I have many more Genesis games, but they are loose with no boxes.  I even have more boxed versions, but I wanted to show off the ones from my childhood collection standing alone.  Then after you add in the games my brother owns for the Genesis, and you have a library of games worthy of displaying on a shelf.  Only problem is: I think I may need more shelving! :-D

Wild in the streets

Streets of Rage

This was originally planned to be an article for Streets of Rage 2, as that was the game from the series I had a more fonder memory of playing as a kid, but after recently going back and playing both the original and the sequel, I was surprised to find out that the original was waaaaaay better than 2, so I decided to do the article on Streets of Rage instead.  But definitely not Streets of Rage 3.  That’s a cheap, heap of trash, quick cash in of a game that had no reason to come out.

Tales from the trenches

Probably old news to everyone else, but I just came across Andy Gavin’s personal blog where he wrote in detail what happened during the development of Crash Bandicoot.  It was a really fascinating read from the beginning when they took a road trip across country to begin development on their next game following Way of the Warrior, to when they were Sony’s leading game at their booth at E3 1996 (and quickly hoisted to become PlayStation’s mascot during the PS1 era), to finally releasing the game.

In addition, I loved how he appended his partner’s opinions, Jason Rubin, to what he wrote about from the first few postings.  It’s great to hear from two different perspectives on the same topic he was discussing. Then he went further by getting others to speak their mind during the development process, from both inside and outside of Naughty Dog.

Both Andy, Jason, and the team did so much for the game, including Andy creating a programing language that was light on resources so they can take full advantage of the PlayStation’s hardware and capabilities!  So inspiring, so cool!