Cynicaster

Back at it again last night. Spyborgs - a decent beat-em-up type action game. You deploy in teams of 2 - either with another player or a computer controlled partner - and basically beat the shit out of hordes of enemies like it's 1991. The game plays primarily with the nunchuk stick and buttons, but you have this weird ability to "discover" items using the Wiimote pointer and a swipe gesture. You have the ability to "upgrade" your abilities as you go, which I hope eventually brings some new attacks and tricks to the table, otherwise the game will probably run out of steam. TV Show King Party - who comes up with these names? Anyway, it's a bog standard trivia/quiz game set up to play like a "game show" with a host, etc. Trivia doesn't necessarily need to be dressed up to be entertaining, so I can see this one being fun in groups. The "You Don't Know Jack" games have been a favorite in my family for many years, but that series can be tricky for newcomers because the weird ways that the questions get phrased tends to confuse people who may otherwise have the knowledge to answer the question, but just get thrown off by the phrasing. A game like this Wii title is just vanilla Trivia, which there is definitely a place for. Carnival Games - hands down the shittiest "mini games" compilation I've tried so far. Hot garbage. Mario Strikers Charged - apparently a sequel to a Gamecube game that I've never heard of. It's basically soccer with some typical Marioverse touches added (power ups, special shots/attacks, etc.) You pick a Marioverse "main" character as team captain (i.e., Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Wario, etc.) and then have 3 other more "generic" players on your team (shy guys, hammer bros, etc.) This setup makes it kind of reminiscent of Ice Hockey on NES where you pick between skinny/medium/fat based on your preference. I've never played a soccer game that I have much cared for but this one is very charming and approachable, and seems like it could be a blast to play with other people. Super Swing Golf: Season 2 - I only played for about 10 minutes to do the tutorial and see how the controls work, and then work through an actual hole or 2 to see how it plays. First impression is that this is pretty cool. The motion controls work more or less as you'd expect, and the game itself reminds me a bit of the Hot Shots series, which is a good thing. On the scale of "simple/arcade" on one end and "complex simulation" on the other, this game looks like it might be in the goldilocks zone. Will definitely bring this out when friends are over and put it to the test.

There are only 3 that I can think of where I have ever thought to myself "man, I love the look of this machine." 1) Sega Genesis, original 2) Atari 2600 Vader 3) PS3 fat I'm pretty indifferent about the aesthetics of most other consoles that I can think of.

I got drawn to the Lynx in spring of '91 by a big spread in EGM (April 1991, issue #21), which was right around the time of the Lynx II release. At the time I thought it was an actual editorial feature from the EGM staff, but looking at that magazine now, it looks more like a paid puff-piece from Atari that is deceptively dressed up to look like an unbiased feature. Either way, I fell for it hook/line/sinker and absolutely HAD to get a Lynx. I got a discounted Model I for my birthday that May, and sold my Game Boy stuff to finance some game purchases for the Lynx. Blue Lightning was my first game, and I was pretty blown away by it back then. Klax was next, and to this day I still enjoy that game, with the Lynx port being my favorite version of the game by a wide margin. I later had Xenophobe, Electrocop, Ninja Gaiden, Chip's Challenge, Road Blasters, Gates of Zendocon, Golf, and probably a few others. I still have a few of these carts from the 90s and have picked up a few others as an adult. Sadly, my original Lynx met a premature death when it crashed to the floor from up on a shelf, but I do have a Lynx II that I grabbed off e-bay in 2011 or so. There's no sugar-coating it from my side; overall, the Lynx was a big disappointment. I remember after a while starting to reeeally regret selling my Game Boy, which just seemed to have so many more fun games to choose from, not to mention so many more kids to trade games with. I still play Blue Lightning once in a blue moon (badum tssssssss) and it's... OK, I guess. But it's pretty sluggish and dull, and I usually struggle to sit through an entire game. I can see in retrospect that the impressive-for-the-time scaling effects and sound were able to carry the game for me in 1991, when I was a young video game enthusiast always craving the next graphics upgrade or feat of technical wizardry that I could use to brag to others on the BBS's. But now, none of that stuff matters anymore. It's a common theme of perspective for me, looking back at retro games now vs. how I looked at them when they were new. When they were new, they could score big points - no, huge points - with things like graphics and fidelity to arcade originals (if applicable). But in the present day, the criteria have shifted significantly. Having "graphics that were considered top notch 30 years ago" just doesn't carry much weight, at least not for me. Is the game fun? This is the only question that matters anymore, and the Lynx game library really struggles to answer this question in the affirmative. I'll always wonder what could have been if the Lynx were supported by even a fraction of the third-party developer muscle that the Game Boy enjoyed.

Games played last night: Jeopardy – I was pleasantly surprised at this one, I played a quick solo game against computer opponents and it was pretty fun. Having Alex Trebek as host is great. I think it’s very important to have the host read out the questions just like the TV show, and Alex does that here. This makes the game a million times better than the crappy Jeopardy I bought for my daughter’s Switch over Christmas. Mario vs. Sonic at the 2012 Olympics (or whatever it’s called) – for most events it took me several tries to even figure out how and when I’m supposed to move the wiimote. There are onscreen instructions, but I found them pretty useless for most of the events I tried (which was only a fraction of them). Once I figured out what to do with the controller on a given event, I was entertained. I can see people criticizing this game and its controls for being shallow (especially since Wii MotionPlus is disappointingly absent) but I don’t fault this game too much for that because shallow controls for Track & Field games is a tradition that goes back to the early 80s arcade game. These games have always been about some simple combo of button mashing and timing, which maps just fine to motion controls without necessarily being much better or worse. What matters in a game like this is the presentation and how the results of your inputs play out on the screen. On that front, this game gets high marks. Sniper Elite – kind of neat WW2-themed third person shooter that emphasizes stealth and keeping distance to maintain the advantage of your sniper rifle. Looking through your scope and popping off enemies using the IR pointer function of the Wiimote works well. Graphics look very dated but I’m not a stickler for that so don’t care. Seems like there’s potential for this one but I don’t see myself devoting the time needed to work through a “campaign” type game like this. Luxor Pharaoh’s Challenge – a fun little puzzler that uses play mechanics that I first saw on an old arcade game called Puzzloop. The arcade game used a spinner to aim your shots, this one of course uses the pointer on the Wiimote. Pretty fun take on this formula but I got bored after 10-15min because the challenge was not ramping up. The arcade game quickly ramps up and kicks your ass, which makes it a fun score blast type thing that can be enjoyed in little 5-10 minute tidbits. This type of game does not benefit from a “story” IMO, but I understand that home games have different design criteria than coin-op games. Transformers: Cybertron Adventures – I only played this for about 5 minutes before going to bed but it seems to be a sort of rail shooter with a few extra gameplay elements. I loved transformers growing up and I’ve never really got into a Transformers video game so I will give this one a bit more attention. Seems cool at a glance, and it sounds like Peter Cullen is the voice of Optimus Prime so that’s a bonus.

I was trying out more Wii games last night. I've talked about some of the stuff I've enjoyed, so I'd be remiss if I didn't touch upon some of the duds I've played as well. Last night's session was devoted to "Game Party 3." Video below is not mine. I've checked out a few of these third-party "mini-games compilations" and some of them are helping me understand how the Wii ended up with a reputation for being a bit of a haven for low-priced shovel-ware. With the huge popularity and critical acclaim surrounding Wii Sports, I guess it's easy to see why a bunch of copycats came out of the woodwork to try to cash in on the craze. Not only that, but there's no denying that these types of games lend themselves to the motion controls of the Wii, because the real-life actions can be easily mimicked with simple swipes and gestures. If the controls of Game Party 3 weren't so half-assed and shallow then I could see my buddy and I getting a lot of play out of this one. For example - horse shoes and lawn darts. If there were actually some nuance to the technique and some production value to the presentation, I think those would be a lot of fun. But as it is, you do the simple "toss" gesture and the results seem almost random. I mentioned earlier that my friend and I have spent a lot of time playing Shuuz (horse shoes) on MAME, and the trackball controls on that offer much more precision than what I'm picking up from this Wii title. Too bad.

For sure, I was having a blast despite the simplicity of it. I'm sure the Wii remote has all the motion sensing capability that would be needed to make a more advanced system but maybe they play tested that idea and found that the simplified controls had much fewer missed or misread inputs, so it was a good trade off. I do have a balance board so I'll try that out too. If it's used for dodging I'll be surprised if I'm able to use it with enough precision to get anywhere, but then again I didn't think the game would be playable with the punching gestures either and that turned out to be incorrect, so I gotta at least give it a whirl. It is a decent workout as far as a video game goes. It's enough to actually burn calories but still tame enough that I feel like I can do it for a long stretch of time without agony.

Last night I tried Punchout! with motion controls, which I thought was going to suck. But somehow, I was having a blast. I'm only about 30 min into the game but wow, it looks really nice and seems super fun. Nintendo sure are masters of polish, at least when it comes to their legacy IP. It's not lost on me that the "motion controls" are pretty shallow in the sense that your punching technique really makes no difference. If the accelerometers in the remote/nunchuck register a blip, they map it to a button press. You even have to press "up" on the control stick while punching to do head shots, as opposed to physically punching high or low. Still, it manages to be fun. I'll be playing a lot more of that one.

Yeah, I picked up Mario Galaxy and Paper Mario because my daughter is currently going through a Mario obsession phase. I have heard the names through the years but as of right now I know absolutely zero about what the deal is with either of these games, how they work, or how they hold up in the Marioverse. The Ultimate Shooting Collection looks kind of cool, even if I have other ways to play all of those games. I was thinking about Gamecube stuff - another console that I know almost nothing about. My Wii does have the GC ports, but after spending a little bit of time trying to research the game library, I'm not seeing much that looks like it would be a good match for the types of games I want to play. It looks like there are a few shoot em ups but nothing that I can't play elsewhere.

Punch Out is already on my radar because Mike Tyson's Punch Out is probably an all-time-top-10 game for me, and I really enjoyed the SNES game as well. Thanks for the other suggestions. Regarding emulators and CRTs, those are both definitely in my wheelhouse. My Wii is hooked up to a CRT, in fact. I was wondering if it would be better on a more modern TV but after seeing how it plays/looks on my CRT, that's where it's going to stay. What are the good emulators on Wii? I was thinking about that and came to the conclusion that it's probably pretty limited for my use case because the "1" and "2" buttons on the Wii remote seem to be the only ones that would be usable when using the controller as a conventional d-pad. Which means, anything beyond 3rd gen would be tough unless I went and bought the classic controllers, which I don't want to do because I'm really trying to limit the amount of new junk I buy.

A few of my friends had Wiis back when they were current and I dabbled with them a tiny bit back then, but for the most part I kind of wrote off the Wii as gimmicky and stupid. My now-wife already had a Wii when we met 11 years ago, and we've carried it with us ever since, but never hooked it up. A few months ago I decided to hook it up and get some games. Well, color me surprised. I'm having a lot of fun with this thing. What initially prompted me to hook it up was that I wanted to add some easy, arcade-y type games to my basement game room for when a certain buddy of mine comes over. We often get together for beers and games and he genuinely enjoys playing but if he doesn't "get" a certain game immediately, he shuts down and gives up on it, which makes it difficult for me to find new games to suggest. Our list of go-to games hasn't grown much at all in the last 10+ years (full of casual-friendly stuff like Golden Tee and Shuuz, overdone classics like Galaga and Pac-Man, head-to-head stuff like NBA Jam and Windjammers). I realized that there were probably a ton of simple, sort of mindless walk-up-and-play games on the Wii, and I haven't been disappointed. Part of what I found dumb about the Wii all those years ago was that the motion controls in some games seemed pointless at best, and exasperating at worst. I've always been open to motion controls as a concept, so long as the technique with which you move the controller actually impacts your result, as opposed to pointlessly replacing button presses with wrist flicks and arm waggles just to say you have done so. There are indeed a lot of games that seem to fall into the latter category, which is a shame, but not surprising. But the games that make good use of the Wii remote and/or nunchuk are genuinely a lot of fun. The concept seems a bit quaint now, after having tried my nephew's VR headset with its motion-based controls, but whenever I try VR I feel like I'm going to vomit so I'm more than happy to use the Wii on a CRT instead. Light gun games are kind of a no-brainer due to the Wii controls and my desire for arcade-y experiences, so I've picked up a second Wii remote and 2 zappers. Some cool light-gun type games I've been playing: House of the Dead, Resident Evil, Ghost Squad, Chicken Riot, Medal of Honor Heroes 2 I've only got about 45min in on each but Sin and Punishment 2 and Red Steel 2 so far seem pretty bad ass. As I write this, I've actually got a bit of a stiff shoulder from RS2... getting old sucks. I didn't really care for the original Wii Sports back when it came out, and I still don't care much for it, but I'm really digging Wii Sports Resort because I think the WM+ brings some much needed fidelity to the controls. Wario Ware Smooth Moves seems cool in a very "WTF" kind of way, only have a few minutes on that one so far. If anyone has any simple party-type games that they'd recommend, I'm all ears. I'm mostly interested in games that require the Wii specifically as part of the experience, as opposed to games that use only conventional controls, because elsewhere I already have more of that than I can handle.

That button layout looks painful with the buttons to the left of the stick. Mat Mania is an old fave of mine from childhood that I still fire up once in a while strictly for nostalgia. I say "strictly for nostalgia" because the game is broken. You basically have to choose one of the following: 1) use cheap exploits to marathon the game indefinitely or 2) lose almost immediately

Yeah I've got a RG351MP and I think it's great, but yes, reliable emulation pretty much tops out at PS1. That's totally fine for me, though. Having the later games in your pocket sounds great in theory but I feel the tiny screens on these "pocketable" handhelds are much better suited to the older games and simpler control schemes. Playing PS2 on ~4" diagonal screen with oddly placed shoulder buttons just isn't that fun, IMO. Even a lot of PS1 games I've tried aren't very fun in that format even if they are fun on the TV.

I have the same PS2 that I bought in 2001 or so, but it has spent the vaaaast majority of that time just collecting dust in a closet until about a year ago when I set up a bunch of consoles to play their arcade-style games (mostly shoot em ups) with arcade controls. I'm not much of a dual analog stick type guy so games that work well with arcade sticks and buttons are kind of my jam. I've played a ton of PS2 since then. Some of my favorite titles so far: Espgaluda DoDonPachi DaiOuJou Mushihimesama Homura Ibara Dynamite Deka Backyard Wrestling Contra Shattered Soldier Neo Contra Gradius V Intelligent Qube ReMix Rez Recently I set up a flatscreen TV on a rotatable wall mount so I can easily play shooters in TATE mode. It looks freakin awesome. My wife happened to have another PS2 from around the same time which was also collecting dust so I brought out that one too and set it up on a different TV to play racing games with my Logitech GT Drivng Force wheel. Many of the games I've tried on PS2 with the wheel have not worked very well but there is GT4 and I've also quite enjoyed Burnout 3: Takedown. On that note, if anyone has any recommendations for PS2 games that are arcade-y in nature and play nice with digital controls (i.e. d-pad) then I'd love to hear about them for my setup. Driving games that work with Logitech wheel as well.

All true, which is why the advice I will give 100% of the time is to not upgrade. Get a full ROMset, get the corresponding version of MAME singing and dancing just how you like it, and archive the whole setup for replication later. My daily driver ROMset is v122, which is pretty ancient (circa 2007, I think). But it plays almost everything I want to play, and plays it well. As mentioned earlier, I do run recent versions of MAME just to bring a few newer games into playable status, but that's it. One weekend I remember I did try a few old favorite games on the newer version of MAME just to compare it with my old version. I remember trying DoDonPachi, Popeye, and a few others. I'm not saying there are absolutely no differences in the emulation "quality" between new and old, but I can tell you this: if I tried to claim I could describe any meaningful differences, I'd be bullshitting. They feel identical to me. I guess I get the urge to stay at the bleeding edge and have the latest and greatest everything, so long as it's dead easy and straightforward to do. But as we've discussed here, it's not with MAME. And to me, as such a huge fan of MAME, it seems a tragedy that anyone who would otherwise have a hoot diving into the MAME archives would shy away from it due to frustrations related to upgrading ROMsets when upgrading ROMsets brings such little practical benefit in the first place. It's like deciding not to buy a swimming pool because you don't want to drain it and refill it every few months. Just enjoy it and don't do that.

That's consistent with what I read as well, so sounds like you lucked out on that one if you're able to play burned discs. I'm pretty sure the optical drive emulator will not work at all on VA2 though, but I don't know if some "early bird" VA2 builds are excluded from that or not. I'll check it out, thanks for the suggestion.