_NetNomad

despite my love for the Saturn, there’s no denying that between it’s bizzaro architecture and short lifespan to make way for the Dreamcast, it ended up leaving a lot on the table. thankfully the homebrew community is picking up more and more speed

if you’ll stretch the definition of console to include computers, the MSX Turbo-R is another example. it was an 8-bitter but with a souped-up, faster z80 meant to at least give it a fighting chance against the onalaught of 16-bitters, but the few games it’s known for are all RPGs that look great but don’t exactly flex the speed of the new processor. and while the MSX homebrew scene is massive and still pumping out games by the dozen, the Turbo-R is a rare target for new games with it still commanding 1000+ USD prices. someday!

as i understand it prices varied widely because ROM size was a huge factor, so a massive jrpg and a smaller superfx game could cost the same amount. i’d be very suprised if any developers just ate the cost of it considering the chip shortages of the mid 90s

it’s a shame that this period of chaos at SEGA ended up giving console add-ons such a bad name. people were willing to shell out for add-ons in the cartridge, with how well SuperFX games did even though you were essentially buying the same upgrade over and over. people were and still are happy to buy mid-generation refreshes too like the DSi or the Master System even though if they already had the system they had to essentially buy it again. add-ons like this are more consumer friendly and more environmentally friendly

at least with influential you can argue that Shenmue influenced a lot of major games in the pop culture even today (although none quite as popular as Minecraft) even if it itself is a bit obscure. last year they declared Lara Croft the most iconic video game character or something like that and that one i can’t quite figure out from any angle

while i wouldn’t go that far, there are people out there who would call the 3DS remakes retro now

i’ve seen a few pictures like this before but it only just dawned on me- why is the card 3dge connector for mega drive and 32X games the same? you’d think even if it was all the same signals they’d add a few duds to the 32X card slot so that you don’t try to plug a 32X into a 32X or a 32X game into a mega drive. even a piece of plastic like the ones used to keep 3DS carts from being inserted into a DS would get the job done. i guess they wanted you to always leave the 32X in even when playing standard games?

paddle controls for me. imagune an f-zero 99-style game but it’s a huge game of warlords

were electronic dictionaries a bigger deal in japan than elsewhere? as far as i know, in america they were never anything more than novelties even before everyone had a computer in their pocket. i did a little googling and it seems like they were/are more common in japan but couldn’t find any reference as to why. my only guess is that it has something to do with keeping track of kanji but in the 80s they probably weren’t even capable of displaying kanji so /shrug

if the SPC is anything like most yamaha soundchips, once you write a value to it the console has to wait until a busy flag is cleared to write the next byte to the chip. unless you’re doing some very fancy multithreading, the CPU is just looping until it can do that. in this case because the SPC runs faster, the CPU is doing less waiting which leads to the game running faster

i agree with this. i think a lot of people disagree because it feels like arbitrary criteria at first, but even as someone who grew up in the 360 generation, you could feel that the leap to HDMI signaled something more than just crisper graphics. the 360 and PS3 were both chasing the PC gaming experience, whereas the Wii was the last “bring the arcade home” box. while things like the introduction of polygonal graphics, twin sticks, VR, and internet connectivity feel like bigger shifts on the surface, i think this was the most signifigant and the best place to slice gaming into two ages despite them overlapping for a generation

The CIO said ‘Why do we need a wiring closet, we’re a cloud first company’."

you have to laugh, because otherwise you’d cry

that’s like picking a favorite child! Power Drift, SEGA Rally Championship, Super Hang-On, and Hang-On GP, and OutRunners are all vying for that spot. Kirby Air Ride gets an honorable mention for the same reason as that other commenter, i can count on one hand how many times i’ve actually played the main racing mode

i picked up diamond again a few years ago and was flabberghasted by how slow it was, even compared to the gold and silver remakes. i was using a real cartridge on a real DS but it felt like i was playing in an emulator on a potato. i even disabled attack animations and it didn’t seem to speed things up at all. and then once the games became 3D, forget it, you can pick a move and make a run to the fridge before your turn is over

yeah i always go Mudkip and the only time i ever have to do any grinding is before the mossdeep gym

Shiren the Wanderer II - N64

Acrobat/Circus - Arcade

Bulk Slash - Saturn

Aleste - MSX

Penguin Adventure - MSX

Super Hang-On - Arcade