The December issue is out and it's completely radical! We looked into one of the most popular TMNT games ever and why it's so awesome! We have also packed in even more RPG goodness and tips n tricks for all your retro games. A lot more information on the Japan Report about games you should be playing. There are many more things as well including a new section about a female gamer and her life experiences during her youth with video games. Check it out now!
November 30, 2015
November 27, 2015
Ads from the past 303: Sears Catalog Nintendo Store
Look at all these prices! Look at Bowser!! Why is his face all green????? WHAT? his koopas look like chickens! I wonder if they're still a 24 hour toll free number? So many questions....so little time! At least Mario is looking as good as ever!
Pokemon Card of the Week 022: Light Azumarill
Just as there were dark pokemon cards released, there were the light ones. Apparently, Nintendo wanted to a fight of good vs evil. I believe they discontinued such a brand with the later sets.
November 26, 2015
Bootleg Game of the Week 083: Sonic (FC)
This is an interesting hack of a game. Care to guess from which game? It's none other than Adventure Island. It sort of makes sense and would've worked if the bootleggers would've been less lazy! This game hacks Master Higgins into Sonic! Other than Master Higgins, the title screen is hacked to spell out Sonic and the Hudson is removed from the title screen only leaving soft. Lets take a look!
Well, it is an Adventure Island hack so the music is there. Sonic can't just take credit for it. Same goes with the bootleggers. Why are you so lazy????
The graphics fall short not because it's Adventure Island but because it's a horrible representation of a Sonic game. The first part of it was well done with the sprite character change, but the rest is left lazy and unfinished.... total disappointment.
It's Adventure Island, not Sonic but it's still enjoyable. I haven't finished it but I hope there is something changed in the ending although more likely there isn't...
The game is fun to come back to but wouldn't you rather play the original unhacked game if that's the case. I can't believe how lazy some of the bootlegs are.
Con conclude, this game is just another lazy hack of a good game. There is not much to say except, game ovah! till next week!
Retro Game of the Week 154: Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest (NES)
This is a game that gets criticized because someone said so but it's nothing like that. People should be thankful of this game because if it wasn't for this, games like Symphony of the Night wouldn't have existed. The fundamentals of the side scroller RPG elements were introduced in this game and although there are many faults in them. It's as good as you'll get for the NES. Lets take a look!
The music of this game is as memorable as any Castlevania game for the older consoles. The sounds are also well executed, and fit quite well. You will definitely find some of these tunes in other Castlevania games as well.
The game is an improvement over the first game. It's more about exploring so you'll have to search far and wide for secrets! The world is huge and everything looks great. You feel like you're in one big Castlevania world.
The game can be quite tough and unforgiving. This is what drove a lot of people off from it. Either way, if you want a challenge, this is it. The controls are very accurate and are simple. If you have played the first game, this is the same thing except in a larger world. There are level systems and an inventory. The game is quite fun especially when it gets dark.
This game can really be played through over and over and over. It's only a matter of finding out what you have to do. The bosses are easy at times which lacks the challenge over all but one can't complain about the awesomeness of coming back to it.
It may have gotten a lot of hatred, but this game is definitely worth picking up. The criticism received by it has lower the value of the game so you'll pick it up quite cheaply. That's one thing that criticism can do quite well.
November 25, 2015
Retro Gaming News: La Wares Romanian version released!
"Fellow Romanian fans everywhere, rejoice! For today, Dynamic-Designs brings you yet another fully translated SNES RPG in Romanian! This project took about three months to fully translate and beta test. Although the time it took to translate it was significantly less than the two former Romanian projects (Chrono Trigger and Silva Saga-II respectively), this game still had quite a few bugs in it that needed to be fixed. For those of you who may be wondering, yes, the English version will also be released eventually. The script is finished, but it still needs to be properly edited and reviewed before being released. Until then, enjoy Shin Seikoku: La Wares (or simply La Wares for short) in Romanian! And please look forward to many more upcoming projects in the future from Dynamic-Designs in both English and Romanian!"
Yu-gi-oh! Card of the Week 022: Red-Eyes Black Dragon
This is my favorite Dragon hands down. It's not only beautiful, but it has red eyes! Gotta love it in my deck!
November 20, 2015
Retro Gaming News: Yoshi's Island (SMA 3) Colour Restoration
"Before the release of the GBA SP, several games were given a brighter palette to accommodate for the lack of an unlit screen for the original AGB-101 model.
This hack restores the colour palette of Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi’s Island to match its SNES counterpart. The palettes were taken directly from the SNES ROM of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.
The package includes patches for both the USA version and the European version.*
- European patch made by mangaman3000."
Ads from the past 302: X-men Handheld
Handhelds were quite popular back in the 90s and late 80s. With the release of the Gameboy, others wanted part of the handheld market. This was one of the many handhelds released by Tiger. It was fun but only to a point. I rather have a copy of X-men on my Gameboy any day.
Pokemon Card of the Week 021: Nintetales
This is a very beautiful and wonderful Pokemon. It's also quite strong. I wish Brock would've kept his Vulpix!
November 19, 2015
Retro Gaming News: Ninja Gaiden SRAM
"Adds a save feature to Ninja Gaiden.
- After each level, the game autosaves you
- To load, you have to press select on the title screen"
November 18, 2015
Retro Gaming News: Last Armageddon
"Here is a very small translation of what was able to be accessed without advanced knowledge of compression involved. A few spots on the over-world have been translated and most of the menu screen has been done. This way if someone wanted to try the game, they can navigate a little easier in the menus.
Unfortunately this project will not go on further due to compression and being unable to insert English lettering into the ROM for some of the areas. If someone wishes to use this patch to further this translation, feel free to."
Retro Gaming News: Alex Kidd in Radaxian Rumble
"This is a hack of Alex Kidd in Miracle World made using KiddEd, aiming to provide new challenges for fans of the original, give the game a bit of an audiovisual update, as well as make parts of the original game flow a bit better. Most levels build on the ones in the original game, but there are some completely new ones as well.
Version 1.03d features longer and more varied levels, more sprite and music edits, and more uses of triggers to create new puzzles. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it if you liked the previous demo (1.02e) at all.
The story of the game is currently placeholder and will tie into a second episode at a later date.
I recommend using KiddEd to patch the game, but Lunar IPS should also work. The game has been fully tested in Emukon, but should work in Meka as well. It should also work on an Everdrive and has been completed that way by at least one person."
Retro Gaming News: SMB2 Improvement
"Description: This is designed to fix a few small things without changing the game too much.
List of Changes:
- Restored the sound effect that’s supposed to play when you die. It never worked due to a bug.
- Restored the missing 8th animation frame for tiles. It was never shown due to a bug.
- Swapped names for OSTRO and BIRDO in the credits.
- Changed PRINCESS to PEACH in credits and “contributor” text.
- Changed “PUSH START BUTTON” to “PUSH START”.
- Changed CLAWGLIP to CLAWGRIP in credits.
- Changed HOOPSTAR to HOOPSTER in credits.
- Changed TRICLYDE to TRYCLYDE in credits."
Yu-gi-oh! Card of the Week 021: Summoned Skull
The alternative art of this monster is flawless. I prefer this one over the other any day. Beautiful just beautiful!
November 16, 2015
Retro Gaming News: Phantasy Star Generation:2
"This is an English translation of Phantasy Star Generation:2, which is a remake (released on PS2 on 2005) of Phantasy Star 2 (released on Genesis in 1990)
This remake features the original version of the game released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, accessible from the title screen. The Japanese ROM has been replaced with the English ROM instead.
This translation has been heavily tested on a PS2 and have been played from start to end on it, so there should not have any crashing bugs left.
If was also tested on PCSX 1.0.0 from start to end, and so, is completely playable on it."
Source
Retro Gaming News: Final Fantasy Ultra
"A Final Fantasy hack, five years in the making. The philosophy is to add and change as much as possible for the better, while still staying true to the spirit of the game.
Here is a list of improvements.
- 12 classes at the start instead of 6
- Each class is especially good at one thing and average to bad at everything else.
- Except the Fool class, who is bad at everything.
- Battle animations sped up.
- Spells are divided into direct (the top two spells in a store) and indirect (the bottom half).
- Many spells added and altered.
- Spell names changed to be clearer as to what they do (SHLD instead of FOG, CLNS instead of PURE, etc.)
- Every level of magic has a single target damage spell and all enemies spell.
- FIRE only hits one enemy, making the HARM spell better against armies of undead.
- Generally less spells that kill or stone in one hit.
- More spells can be cast, especially for dedicated casters.
- Intellect influences the power of spells.
- Healing is much stronger
- Spell damage is also stronger, but since hitpoints have also increased, damage spells are only relatively stronger for casters with high intelligence.
- Enemies use more abilities, and do so in more interesting ways
- More interesting battle formations
- More interesting enemy properties, such as regeneration and elemental properties.
- TMPR spell works properly.
- Everything has more hit points, making fights more tactical.
- Enemies drop less gold, making chests much more attractive, and forcing the player to choose between which items they want to buy the most.
- Only two types of armor (Body and Shield) so there’s more room to store magical items.
- Only the 10 magical items can cast spells.
- Poison and regeneration is now at 10%.
- Any combination of classes (without twins or Fools) can properly beat the game.
- No combination of classes is remarkably better at beating the game than another.
Dungeons:
- Added escape teleports in most of the dungeons, making it more attractive to level up where the action and gear is.
- Balanced game to make full trip through whole dungeon on first try very hard, but rewarding to go in, get some loot, restock and go in again to get further. Most dungeons take around three trips to complete.
- Most fights can be run away from, except on ‘tiled’ squares. Dragons, Mindflayers, Eyes and Bosses are not runnable.
- Getting the Ship, Papyrus, Oxyale and Crown requires doing a dungeon.
- Four extra dungeons to do after Tiamat.
- All sorts of new paths and new tricks.
- Dungeons feature items found in nearby towns, giving incentive to try to get the items there instead of just buying them in shop.
- End dungeons feature special end-game weapons for each class.
- Boss battles made much more interesting.
Overworld
- Dash button added.
- Player can immediately go to Dwarf Cave, which is a tough trip but grants extra gold.
- Player doesn’t need Ship to get to Elves.
- Player doesn’t need Airship beat the game, as ports have been removed.
- Three places where player can fight against tougher enemies for experience boost if they’re into that kind of thing (like the original PoP).
- You now save a prince instead of a princess. Corneria has two queens. For gender diversity.
- Secret overpowered enemies for bragging rights.
- Mystic Key only unlocks items in Dwarf Cave, Elf Castle and Human Castle.
- No poison inducing enemies until the Elf area (by then the player should have some CLNS potions.)
Other:
- Hundreds of tweaks not worth mentioning.
- Years of polish thanks to dozens of playthroughs and feedback from playtesters.
Credit is due to PinkPuff for letting me build upon their hack, Final Fantasy Negative One.
There are two complete ‘Let’s Plays’ here:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e5IZvVrtWs
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r1-bIEqmRs
Discuss the game here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/522595-final-fantasy/72712637 And since I’m always keen on feedback, you can email me at: robertaugustdemeijer@gmail.com"
November 15, 2015
Retro Gaming News: Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest - EasyType
"Version 3.2 of the patch. Thanks go out to JCE3000GT for his Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Multi Editor which made this hack possible! Please rate this if you like it!"
November 14, 2015
Retro Gaming News: Streets of Rage 2 Restoration
"This hack restores all the stuff that got censored and removed from the American version back to it, it also fixes the names of three enemies and changes the music on one stage as well.
Here’s what this hack does to it:
It restores Blaze’s original flying kick sprites from the Japanese version.
It restores Mr. X’s cigar from the Japanese version.
It restores the number of enemy knockouts status bar on the pause screen from the Japanese version, press the “A” button to see it.
It changes the names of Galsia, Galuda and Mosquite to Garcia, Garuda and Mosquito. Sega mistranslated their names in all versions of this game.
It changes the music on the Pirate Ship stage to play the unused “Little Money Avenue” music track.
Included a extra patch that will add all this stuff to the European side of the Japan/Europe ROM, also included alternate versions of both patches that will change Skate’s name to his Japanese name “Sammy” as well.
The Pancake 2 utility tool was used to restore Blaze’s original flying kick sprites.
The 0xED hex editor was used to restore everything else."
November 13, 2015
Retro Gaming News: Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth
"First release of the Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth Spanish fantranslation & fandub.
The compressed file contains two patches, one for those who want to hear the original English voices and one with a full, new European Spanish dub, made between Traducciones del TÃo VÃctor and Estudios G3S.
It also contains a new, remade manual and quick guide in English and Spanish, as they contain story elements that are absent from the gameplay.
If you want to see a sample of the Spanish dub, check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32nxXdVDGwY"