Zoyous

I think there's still some people out there who buy them. I see them at online retailers for around $100-140. Although MS has been pretty good about maintaining backward compatibility as they've released new consoles, there have been some XBLA games that have been delisted and physical games that had licensing issues that mean they can only be played on a 360. I'm about to set mine back up to play a few games that don't have backwards compatibility on the Series... hopefully it still works ~ I haven't used it for about 10 years I think.

164,000 - I barely had any spare time to play but I wanted to get something in, because I really like the Master System version of Thunder Blade. Although I think there's some questionable hit detection in the 3D sections, I like the 2D stages. I especially like the graceful curves and arcs of the enemy formations - a stylish touch which actually wasn't in the arcade version. And of course the title screen is classic. For the bonus I played a quick round of After Burner, which I think is really good once you sort of adjust to the choppiness.

Agreed, this dude's topics read like focus group tests for shitty Youtube videos. The formula is: Present a polarizing issue in a way that insults a community in order to get them to respond in order to debunk the fallacious/incendiary premise.

Recess the screen back a little ways into the cabinet so there's some visual depth, and put some decorative asteroid illustration bezel around the glass in front of the screen, reminiscent of the original Asteroids cabinet. Then have some subtle but colorful reactive ambient lighting in the interior cabinet around the screen. Put a massive subwoofer in there so the explosions have some major bass!

You didn't mention the brand of your memory save cartridge, but if it is similar to my Action Replay cart, you're seeing the cartridge menu and not the Saturn system menu when the game starts. Without the cart, it would boot straight into the game after the Sega Saturn logo animation. Speaking of the Action Replay cartridge, it's an easy way to bypass regions so you can enjoy the vast Japanese library - and like DragonGrafx said, there are tons of Japanese games that you can fully play and understand without needing to read Japanese.

It was a bit of both - gameplay and tech specs. There was clearly a jump in the game design possibilities from 8-bit to 16-bit consoles, not just an improvement in graphics. Personally for me it was a desire to have a home gaming experience that had parity with the arcades (not realizing that when that eventually did happen, it would kill most of the arcades). But there was definitely a big emphasis in marketing on specs, as well, particularly with regards to the CPU. These days console generations present comparatively minor incremental improvements, and the new consoles produce results so similar to each other that it's possible for a cottage industry of A/V tech experts to exist who "create content" that points out the incredibly minute differences between them, that many consumers would otherwise never notice. But bringing it back to the Lynx, it did have some cool features that offered some new gameplay possibilities. One was the nice quality-of-life feature of accomodating both left- and right-handed players. Another was the possibility of playing vertically-oriented games. And one more was the ability to link up to 8 systems for multiplayer games (although practically speaking this was an expensive proposition with all players having to buy copies of the game and multiple connecting cables needed). I agree with what several others have said - it needed more and better third-party publisher support, or at least more aggressive licensing and then developing ports in-house or contracted with developers. But I don't know the details in how expensive those propositions would be. The timing was also awkward, as the Lynx debuted before Sega won their lawsuit regarding Nintendo's anti-competitive practices that kept most of the premiere third-party developers and publishers locked into exclusive contracts for the Famicom/NES. But its official commercial lifespan continued long enough that one would think they could have cultivated more third-party partnerships once lawsuit was decided and the floodgates opened. Ultimately those kinds of business relationships hinge on personal relationships, especially when you're not the market leader.

I was just wondering if anyone has played this game, and if so, how did you like it? I remember seeing the cover back in the day and being amused by the unusual title (abbreviated as EGG in large letters on the cover), but I never looked too closely at it. Recently I've been checking out screenshots, and I'm really impressed with the artwork. I'm not sure if this is actually the case, but the backgrounds appear to be large hand-drawn illustrations, with little or no tiling. I love the style.

I was so hyped but finally got tired of waiting for this game, so I did something a little crazy... I've got an advanced engineering background, so I actually fashioned a physical, real-world imitation of it using a couple of pieces of plywood and a few small fabric bags filled with corn. I know, it's an incredibly fanboyish thing to do when you're obsessed with a video game, but it actually works pretty well and to my surprise the family and the neighbors have been enjoying playing around with my "real life video game"!! I never would have thought you could replicate a game experience that has a custom controller like that!

At least you found that out before spending the money! I think I felt similarly at the time regarding handhelds - I was solely interested in the most powerful available systems so handhelds always seemed like a throwback to the previous generation of games. However, with the Lynx, the sprite scaling was something I coveted and was disappointed that it wasn't included in the base Genesis hardware. Actually I'm not sure how they made it relatively affordable in the Lynx.

As time has gone on and I've gained more experience in business, I have to say that this hyperbolic hot take internet gaming culture about "failure" is a bunch of uninformed bs. It generates engagement because it irritates fans, who feel the need (not unjustifiably) to set the record straight in response to oversimplification that often crosses the line into insults. Supposedly the Lynx sold over 2 million units. Ask your local artisans and independent businesses how difficult it is to sell a handful of anything. I work in marketing and I'm amazed at the amount of legwork the sales team has to do. The reality is, the Lynx did all right and had a decent run in an extremely competitive emerging market. Apparently everything is a "failure" compared to the Gameboy in the eyes of Youtube "influencers" (a.k.a. pricks who exploit algorithms that favor negativity and polarization). We should set a higher standard in our discussions on a forum like this. Also, there is always an element of "you had to be there" that comes from firsthand experience in the context of the era. If you weren't at least an older kid or teenager (the term and concept of "tween" did not exist then) at the time that the Lynx came onto the scene, I think it would be extremely difficult to understand how shockingly impressive it was from a technical standpoint. (When I learned, many years later, that it was designed by some of the same engineers who designed the Amiga, it made sense because that computer's debut was similarly stunning.) Also, to look at the 2600 library and dismiss it all as "unplayable" and express bafflement at how anyone ever paid for those games is not an enlightened point of view from an advanced future civilization... it's just an admission of ignorance on the history of video games and the businesses that sprang up around them. But, I guess that will become clear in 20-30 years when some young buck comes along guffawing about smartphones or some other current cutting-edge technology. Would it surprise you to find out I'll be turning 50 next week? 😅

Your ranking seems pretty idiosyncratic to me - I doubt most people would rank the 2600 library 6th out of 7. And ranking the Jaguar above the 2600? To many people, the Jaguar has only one notable masterpiece in its entire library and I don't even have to mention it by name - to underscore the point. But having said all that, it would be interesting to see a poll to see how your rankings compare to those of everyone else's.

When it comes to arcade ports to consoles, everything was better in the arcade until the late 90s. I never had a Lynx... actually, I've still never even gotten to play with one to this day, but just as an observer I've always been impressed with its arcade ports of Double Dragon, Ninja Gaiden, STUN Runner, and APB. Specifically because Double Dragon and Ninja Gaiden are more faithful to the arcade versions than other home versions, which are more like interesting re-imaginings using the same titles. STUN Runner and APB are also quite faithful to their arcade counterparts and weren't ported to other consoles. In general I think your list of games you like better on the other handhelds, are themselves greatly overshadowed by their counterparts on more powerful consoles. Sure, GG Shinobi is a cool game but it's not much compared to Revenge of Shinobi or even the original arcade game. Super Mario Land 1 looks like it has programmer art compared to, well, every other Mario game. Neo Geo Pocket games are cool, but compared to the Neo Geo originals? They're just curiosities. In my opinion, it was really with games that came several years into the handheld market, RPGs and Pokemon, that handhelds really came into their own as far as having gameplay experiences that had a good balance of long-term progression with short-term burst gameplay, where I'd say that any handheld actually provided an experience that arguably wasn't better elsewhere.

Here's my Bruce Lee score. I really like the sprites and background artwork in this game! I never played any of the original versions back in the day, but it's cool. I agree with fakecortex, the falling is a little bit slow and feels somehow stiff, but I reckon it's based on the original versions in that way. 1,312,550 - One more shot at The Ninja. I went for MDB's score from Dashopepper and Roland's instruction manual score sheet! I just looped the castle halls a few times to rack up the score. However, what I found out is, once you pass 1,000,000 points, you no longer get bonus lives every 100k. So it's just a matter of seeing how long you can last looping through the last few stages.

387,250 - I successfully did the task described on the "mental note" scroll, but didn't fulfill the additional requirement to get the ~10 million point bonus. But it does send you directly to the final stage, bypassing the castle hallways. It's just a psycho zone in there with so many of every type of enemy... I barely got the screen to scroll upward before I was swarmed!

285,350 - Made it into the castle, but so far I haven't been able to achieve the task described on the "take mental note of this" scroll due to losing a life. If you aren't able to do that, you'll loop through the castle endlessly. If you are able to do that, you'll get almost 10 million bonus points and a chance at the ending. Just one additional problem. The millions place in the score will not display on the final game over screen, so you'll have to catch a snapshot of it on the map screen. Good luck!

I don't really see any point in returning to the console market, but I might jump at a Sega-branded gaming PC if they went that route.

116350 - Once you get the red scroll power-up, your shuriken will cut through multiple enemies. So advance cautiously and then when a group of enemies appears, retreat and guide them into line with one another to hit multiple enemies with a single shot. This will increase your hit percentage and your end-of-level bonus.

92400 - The Ninja was one of the first games I got with my Master System. I love the art style in this game, and in general I really like most of the earliest (1985-86 era) games on the system for their simplicity and hidden depth.

You just said you spent over $8000 on retro items, you should be able to spend a few hundred to help keep them in the best condition possible. Just put a Sega sticker on your new Shopvac and an Atari sticker on your dehumidifier so it will feel like another retro purchase. 😄 I have similar leakage in my basement, and it's a big problem to get it fully sorted out. The first thing to do is to check the angle of the ground around all sides of the building to make sure rainwater is flowing away from the building and not toward it. In many cases that will solve the problem. If not, you have to move on to a drainage system (e.g., a French drain) around the building. If that doesn't fully fix the problem, you have to install a sump pump system around the perimeter of the basement inside. Having said that, I own my house so it makes sense for me to invest in those steps. Since you're renting, you should pressure the owner of the building to do this, primarily as a matter of health because mold is a serious health issue.

What do you expect your government to do about the weather? You should also consider getting a Shopvac to vacuum up the puddles so they don't take forever to dry out. And get a dehumidifier for your basement, so you don't get a bad situation with mold developing.

I definitely resonate the most with Sega's artistic approach to game design through the years more than any other developers/publishers. But as time has gone on, I've realized that I really prefer classic arcade experiences that can be fully enjoyed in a half-hour or hour-long play session. I would say OutRun 2 and its sequels/expansions are the epitome of that. That pretty much goes for all games, not just Sega - I do still play some new releases online with friends, but without that component of keeping in touch with friends, I probably wouldn't play many new games anymore unless they follow the design mechanics from earlier eras. I love the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series but got a bit tired of them after 5. I've been thinking about returning to it with Infinite Wealth. I love the mixture of the main story being a fairly serious, well-crafted drama, while many of the side quests are outrageously funny. I'm an unusual Sega fan in the sense that, I never actually played any Sonic games until a few years ago. (But I was there when Zaxxon and Turbo first came out, so please don't try to question my fan credentials!) Anyway, in the past four or five years, I've played quite a few Sonic games, old and new, and I find a lot of what is said about them online to be bullshit histrionics. In my opinion they're generally quite fun and offer something fairly unique among mainstream games. Overall I think the IP is being really well-managed by Sega as they're clearly serving content for fans of each era and style as the series branches out and evolves in various ways (2D, 2.5D, 3D on rails, 3D open world) as well as a good variety of media ranging from farcical to serious action. I think there are fans of particular types of Sonic games, who only want there to be more of those specific types of Sonic games, and get pissed off that that's not the case. But I think it's a stronger long-term strategy to diversify the series, otherwise you'd just have an IP like Mega Man that is consistent but that never evolves in any meaningful ways. I'm excited about the upcoming IP revivals. I know some people are concerned that Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi will have some GaaS aspects, but I actually think those worlds are well-suited for those kinds of elements. Shinobi might be the one that's closest to its roots as just a straightforward action platformer, although beautifully hand-drawn this time around. Beyond that, Sega is actually so diverse a publisher that much of the rest of their catalog doesn't particularly interest me. I feel like Atlus games have a dark and cynical aspect that actually doesn't harmonize well with "the Sega feeling," although they have cool art direction. And Sega has a lot of strategy titles but that's not a genre I've ever been interested in.

Gameworks was a joint venture of Sega, Dreamworks, and Universal, so I guess it makes sense that they featured a bunch of Sega games, at least in some locations. I went to the Seattle location once (apparently it's the only remaining one) but I thought its focus was too much on giant games and weird control schemes and not enough arcade cabinets. For a big space there just weren't that many games there.

Yeah, I played a lot of both VF and VF2 at a mall arcade outside of Nashville TN when they both were new. (Incidentally, this arcade also had a sit-down two-player Virtua Racer when it came out, as well as Sega's oddball Time Traveler/Holosseum games.) Similar to Cafeman's arcade, VF was placed right at the entrance, so it got a lot of attention at the time. I remember being surprised at how soon VF2 came out and how big of a graphical leap it was over the original. However, I moved away to a smaller town and missed out on arcades for the next several years, so I never got to play any of the later sequels in arcades. And that arcade in Nashville was closed when I returned on visits. I think there was a big downturn in independent arcades in the mid-90s, so that may be why most of the sightings of sequels after VF2 were in chains like Dave & Busters. My friends and I still play VF5 Final Showdown online occasionally, on the Xbox Series X via 360 backwards compatibility. As for why there haven't been any new sequels, they have released new versions of VF5 that have been updated in significant ways from time to time but it just hasn't been prioritized to continue the series. There are some rumblings, at least... when Sega revealed their other classic IP revivals in December, they mentioned in an interview that they were "looking at" Virtua Fighter so, here's hoping!

They're building a team of people who "get it," in each of their respective specialties, so I think things are heading in the right direction.