Gabriel

It bewilders me too.

Back in the heyday of the Genesis and SNES, shortly before the advent of the PS1, I had glommed onto a top loading NES. Now, I love the old arcade games and the classic RPGs. So, I decided to try and get some of these types of games for my new NES. Back in those days Funco would run giant two page ads in the various magazines with lists of all the games you could supposedly buy from them. On these lists were such NES games as Dragon Warrior 2, Pool of Radiance, Donkey Kong Classics, Galaga, and others. Seeing as I was not having much luck finding the games I wanted locally at the time, and seeing as Funco supposedly had these games available for my purchase, I called them up to try and order some games. Anyway, I got a guy on the phone that sounded friendly and helpful at first. Then I started reading off the list of games that I was looking for. I think the rarest game on my list was Galaga. Still, every game I inquired about was met with a response of, "No. We don't have that one." The conversation culminated with my inquiry about "Donkey Kong Classics." At this request the guy on the phone absolutely burst out into mocking laughter. I sat there somewhat shocked and wondering what the hell he was laughing so much about. That was when he started on his little speech. To remind everyone, this was back in the days before "retrogaming" became cool. At this point, people that played older games were just fuddy duddies that were supposedly too stupid to see how much better Shaq Fu was than Missile Command. The kind Funco salesperson told me how I really should "upgrade my system" and "join the rest of the human race" by ordering a Genesis or SNES and several of the "inherently better" games available for those systems. He went on a bit longer about how NES games were obsolete and how anyone that purchased them was a sort of retard. The irony was that at the time I had access to a Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, SNES, and a 3DO. I also had a fair number of RPGs and other types of games for each of those systms, but I wanted to play some Dragon Warrior 2 on my NES, dammit! I just longed to play the older games. The modern games weren't scratching the itch. I concluded the call without purchasing a damn thing. The salesperson I talked to ensured that. Since then, I've built up, slimmed down, and built back up my classic game collection. Since then, retrogaming has also become a very major hobby industry. Where does this post come from? Recently, I finally got hold of Galaga for my NES. Getting that game after all these years made me remember that phone call to Funco. Gaming sure has come a long way.

As a "Complete NES Games Freak" you might want to pick up Final Fantasy Origins. It's a PS1 game, but that's one of the good points of the PS2. The only GameCube game I feel I can strongly recommend is Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters. We had some three player games of it a while back and it was a blast. There isn't really much worth getting on the X-Box. If you like fighting games, get DOA3. There just isn't much worth playing on it. Back to the PS2: Gun Game = Time Crisis 2 for methodical shooting, Ninja Assault for index finger blistering arcade shooting action. Fighting = Tekken Tag Tournament is the best option available at the current time, and its a $20 game! Driving = Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2. 3d scrolling beat 'em up = Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends. RPG = Hard to say. Xenosaga is nice, but it's more FMV than game. Final Fantasy X is a bit on the dull side. Grandia II is an excellent game, but suffers from being a poor port of a Dreamcast game. For RPGs, loot the PS1 section of local video game stores.

Actually, when I opened up this thread I figured it would be one of those with a negative title but luminous praise for contents. I just wanted to see what people are saying about the newest version of Zelda. Personally, I didn't buy it and I won't be buying it. Why? 1) Beyond the original Zelda on the NES, I feel that all the other installments are bad games. The further removed they are from the original, the more exponentially bad they get. 2) I feel that cel-shading is the anti-christ. I honestly feel that it is the ugliest form of graphics that I've ever seen. I don't think it makes things look like a cartoon. I just think cel-shading makes things look cheap (best case) or mind bogglingly crappy (worst case). And I have to say that, IMO, the newest Zelda leans heavily toward the bad side of things. 3) What is that guy's name? Miyamoto or something? It seems like he ruins every game he has touched for the past 10 years. For example, his touch upon Starfox 64 took a wonderful shooter and turned it into utter drek. He seems to actually try to take the fun OUT of games rather than try to make them entertaining. But, hey, if people like it, then that's their business. I still enjoy playing Battle Arena Toshinden 2, so people will call me warped for that. When people are having fun with a game they like, sometimes the good vibes rub off on us fellow gamers. Play what you like, and try not to ruin anyone else's fun. If you feel the game sucks, take it down to the used game shop and get $25 credit towards something you do like. Or sell it on eBay and get nearly the price of a new game. I did that when I felt Panzer Dragoon Orta sucked ass. I got Xenosaga as a replacement. That's a decision I certainly don't regret.

Genesis Must Haves Shining Force Streets of Rage 2 Sega CD Must Haves Dark Wizard Shining Force CD Lunar: The Silver Star Sonic CD (barring a PC port, this is the only place to play it) Playstation 1 Must Haves Front Mission 3 RayStorm GameCube Must Haves Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters

As far as I've ever been able to tell, the top loader fixes this problem. I've never lost save data from my RPGs when playing them on my top loader.

Back when Final Fantasy 3 came out for the SNES, I played the holy shit outta it. Within a couple of days I had gotten to the point where you're supposed to go into the Phoenix Cave in the World of Ruin. Sadly, some of the first batch of that cart had a bug that caused the game to fritz and lock up in the Phoenix Cave. I'd get fairly far down in the dungeon, and the game would lock up in a fight. After experiencing this about 5 times, I knew it wasn't somehow my fault. So I returned the game for a replacement copy. My second copy didn't have the bug (I eventually found out), but my enthusiasm for playing the game disappeared at the thought of going through all that effort to get to the Phoenix Cave all over again. I didn't play much of FF3 for about a year. Before that happened, I was in a sort of friendly race with a fellow RPG fiend to finish the game first. I was WAY ahead of him. He hadn't even gotten past the Floating Continent yet. His copy of the game wasn't a bad one, so he eventually got past the Phoenix Cave and beat the game.

I like the Phantasy Star games too. Dragon Warrior 1 introduced me to console RPGs, but even before that I had played Wizardry, the Ultima games, and Bards Tale on Apple 2s and Commodore 64s. I was no stranger to RPGs, and console offerings were simply a new breed with lower difficulty standards. I had wanted Phantasy Star 1 when it came out, but I never owned a Master System. I was finally introduced to this edition of the game through emulation. I must say that I enjoyed it. I never sat down to actually finish it, though. Phantasy Star 2 was one that I rented a little while after I first got my Genesis. I didn't like it very much. Nothing pulled me into the game and made me want to continue it. Phantasy Star 3 was the first game in the series that I played. I got my copy of it about a month after I got my Genesis. I finished it once. I didn't find it very captivating, but it was somewhat fun. Phantasy Star 4 was a game that I passed on when it first came out (who in their right mind paid $120 for this?), but I did pick it up later used for $20. I found this one more fun than Phantasy Star 3. It's definitely a solid title. I don't think I would rank it among the greatest console RPGs of all time, but it's definitely a quality game. I did feel that the ending came WAAAAAY to quick and was somewhat unsatisfying. Nowadays I have Phantasy Star Collection for my GBA and GBA-SP. I also still have my copy of Phantasy Star 4. I gave up my copy of #3 ages ago, and have waffled back and forth on getting an original replacement. I did recently pick up an actual Genesis copy of #2 just for collection sorts of purposes.

I was given DW4 for free. I'm told I got a really good deal. The elusive one for me is DW2.

Exodus is a decent game, and a good one to add to a collection. Ultima:Quest of the Avatar is a much more entertaining game, though.

Of all the games I play on my GameBoy Advance, Namco Museum is probably the most heavily used one. If you like Ms. Pac Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig Dug, or Pole Position, you will find it a must have. I've made use of it waiting for my turn in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, while waiting for my order at a fast food place, while in the waiting room at the doctors, lots of places. The Dragon Warrior remakes for the GBC are also very good. I highly recommend them. They're excellent for long waits in an office or if you have a long trip where you aren't having to drive. The Joust/Defender pack for the GBC is also pretty good. Although Defender is pretty hard to play, even on a GBA SP, Joust is awesome even on the small screen. Advance Wars is another in depth sort of game that I recommend. For an oldie but a goodie, be sure to pick up Qix for the original GB if you can find it. Monster Rancher Advance 1 and 2 are some other fun ones. They have the advantage that they autosave, so you can quit the game in a hurry if you need to.

I liked the first one for the NES. I've disliked every other game I've played in the series.

Dynasty Warriors 4 (PS2) Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 (NES) Namco Museum (mainly Ms Pac Man, Pole Position, and oddly Galaxian)(GBA) Pac Man Collection (mainly Pac Man and Pac Man Arrangement) (GBA) Joust/Defender (GBC game on GBA) Konami Arcade Advanced (mainly Gyruss) (GBA) I've been playing the GBA games mostly while waiting for it to get around to my turn in the multiplayer Romance of the Three Kingdoms game I've been playing with a friend. I'd like to be playing Xenosaga, but it seems that I get interrupted every time I try to play it. I haven't given my 5200 a good workout lately. I think I need to rectify that. It might be time for a marathon game of Defender or Star Trek.

ROFLMAO UIDOS (until I die of suffocation) ::gasp, wheeeze:: Nintendo controller! ::continues laughing and turning a startling shade of oxygen depleted blue::

1) Since I've never owned a Game Gear or a Lynx, I'm definitely not one to do a comparison on that point. 2) The screen is the exact same size as on a regular GBA. 3) It is compatible with all the games the regular GBA is, in other words, all gameboy games.

I got one on Monday. I like it. It's pretty cool. I put it through its paces yesterday. A friend and I sat down with the NES version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms II. Since Rot3K2 is a turn based game, and since it sometimes takes a while for one player to finish so you can do your turn, we alternated playing the new gameboy between our Rot3K2 turns. The screen was very nice. We never had to crane into a strange position to get the light we needed. The screen looked very vivid on Gradius Galaxies, Gyruss, Galaxian, Galaga, and most of the harder-to-see-what's-going-on games. The controls kind of suck. The D-Pad and front buttons don't feel very satisfactory at all and are somewhat recessed into the system casing. The shoulder buttons are cramped behind the folding screen and are clicky, but they feel really loose (like they might be about to pop off the system). Plus, since the GBA-SP is a vertical oriented handheld, it meant the D-Pad and front buttons were too close together. Overall, the system just feels tiny and cramped, and I don't exactly have big hands. I definitely prefer the layout and feel of the regular GBA to the GBA-SP. The initial battery charge that the system had didn't last long. After 4 hours of play with the screen light, the battery warning light came on. The power didn't die, but it wasn't a good omen. I recharged it last night, so we'll see if power performance improves. For those wondering about a headphone jack, the GBA-SP does not technically have one. To get a headphone adaptor, you have to order one from Nintendo. This headphone adaptor plugs into the AC adaptor slot, meaning that you probably can't use the AC adaptor with a headphone. The GBA-SP comes with the AC adaptor (and it is incompatible with the regular GBA). This adaptor is used for recharging the built-in battery and also for playing the system from a wall outlet. The GBA-SP can also be played while you are recharging it. Recharging takes 3 hours according to the manual. My GBA-SP had been recharging for 2 hours before I went to sleep, and was finished when I woke up. So, I can't verify if the 3 hour figure is accurate. Overall, I was happy with my purchase. It definitely served its purpose as something portable to play games on.

I agree. After my poor experiences with the XBox (pay $30 extra to unlock something it can already do, and then find out that it won't play half a dozen of my discs), I decided to by a pure DVD player. I'm just as happy with my 5 disc Panasonic DVD changer as I am with my PS2.

The PS2 is better. While I've encountered one DVD that won't play on a PS2 and another that has a problem about midway through playing, I've encountered many more DVDs that the X-Box simply won't recognize and refuses to play. The XBox player has a couple more features (variable speed fast forward/rewind and zoom) but when you can't play your movies on it, then it doesn't really matter much.

I have a fondness for Pac Man and Zaxxon. But my true sucky game love is Laser Blast.

Yes, but a search of completed auctions on ebay does show that a Final Fantasy NES cart complete with maps and box, but unsealed, can fetch over $50. Of particular note is that the box doesn't even have to be intact. $25 seems to be the average if you have the opened cart and the accompanying book and posters while missing the box. That's not too shabby at all for a semi-common NES cart that was selling in stores for $2.50 at the end of the NES era. And for the person upthread that mentioned Final Fantasy Chronicles being $20 in December, that is no longer true. The Squaresoft site now has them listed at the original sale price of $40 each.

I believe that if you compare nothing but stats, then it comes out like so: Intellivision < Atari 5200 < ColecoVision But remember also that the Saturn was more powerful on paper than the PS1, but the PS1 was able to outperform the Saturn in nearly every way. Architectures of hardware are so varied as to render bare stats meaningless.

Stargate ROX! I used to play the original with some regularity at the local 7-11. I was never very good. I think my high score at the time was something barely over 30K. I LOVED Defender on my 2600 and 5200. The 2600 version wasn't a very good port, but it was fun. On the other hand, the 5200 version was AWESOME. The 5200's problem was that it was way too easy, even on hard. The bug that hits around level 88 that gives you zillions of extra ships didn't help the lack of difficulty problem any. I remember purchasing the 2600 version of Stargate for about $2. I didn't expect much, but I wanted to see what it would be like. What I discovered was probably the finest arcade port to the 2600 that had ever been accomplished. The graphics were there. The gameplay was there. And the godawful difficulty was there. I never really liked the two joystick control on Stargate. I found it really awkward, because I never had a good place to put the second joystick. I think my highest score was a rather depressing 45K. My copy of Stargate disappeared. A little jackass thief that I was friends with at the time probably stole it. Someday I'm going to get a new copy to play on my 7800. It's a low priority though. I can play Stargate nowadays on my PS2 due to my Williams Arcade disc. I think my high score on it is over 100K, but I don't remember what it is exactly. Remember the cardinal rules of the Defender: 1) If you save a humanoid, it is a good day to die... 2) But it's better to save a humanoid and live. 3) Smart Bomb is your friend... 4) Hyperspace isn't. 5) Mutants suck. (for that matter, so do swarmers, baiters, munchies, space guppies...) 6) FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! 7) When in doubt, kill everything. It isn't your imagination. Everything IS out to get you. 9) Confuscious say, "Inviso is better than nothing." 10) Remember that death and mutants are very depressing, but the most humiliating thing in Defender is to die off with a reserve of smart bombs.

Why? FF Chronicles and Anthology are not rare. You can buy them straight off the squaresoft.com website. So, if those Final Fantasy collections are not rare, why would Origins be rare? Actually, they are indeed relatively uncommon, Chronicles moreso than Anthology. Thank you for the tip. I missed out on Chronicles when in came out. FF4 and Chrono Trigger weren't my favorites, and the expenditure of cash at the time was not an option. Since then, my financial situation has improved vastly, and I've wanted to add them to my collection. Sadly, the only option seemed to be paying near $70 all told for a sealed copy on eBay or spending $30 for the opened copy lacking the original case at the local GameStop (actually one of the few games they don't have the original case for). Wouldn't happen to know where I could get a brand new sealed copy of PS1 RPG Maker, wouldja?

A quick check on ebay shows that it is very possible for a sealed copy of Final Fantasy Chronicles to fetch significantly over its original price of $40. Opened copies seem to regularly get $30. As the PS1 is phased out further, the prices will increase even more. Final Fantasy Origins is much less promoted than Chronicles was. I'm a classic Final Fantasy fan and I didn't even know about it until about a month and a half ago. Plus, FFO is going to be a PS1 game. Most stores that carry games are no longer stocking new PS1 games. The PS1 is on its way out. FFO will definitely be a limited release title. In fact, it seems only specialty game shops are even considering stocking this one, and even then only in very limited numbers. So, we have a game at the end of a system's run, and limited distribution, the classic elements that produce "collectible" games. Look at Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn), Shining Force 3 (Saturn), Lunar 2: Eternal Blue (Sega CD), Dragon Warrior IV (NES). History tells us that games that meet these critera (especially RPGs) get respectable after market values. And people get carried away with Final Fantasy anyway. I've seen sealed copies of Final Fantasy 1 for the NES go on eBay for over $150. And FF1 is a pretty damn common game. (I still kick myself for not spending the paltry amount of cash it would have taken to purchase the 20 copies of FF1 that the local KB Toys had when they went out of business.) I have four copies of FFO on the way. One is for me to play. One is to give as a present. One is in case my first copy gets scratched somehow. And the last is for possible speculation. If I'm wrong, then I've wasted $60 on two extra copies of the game. If I'm right, then I won't have wallet shock woes in replacing a damaged copy, and I very well might get a return on my investment down the road.

According to a couple of sites that I looked at this morning, it isn't going to be released until April 8th. I seem to recall that it was supposed to have the original FF 1, 2, and 3 on it. The stuff I read this morning said it was FF 1 and 2 only. Hmmmm. But thanks for the heads up. I had forgotten the title of it. I'm going to be getting somewhere between two and four copies. I'll either order them online tonight or reserve them at the shop.