Episode 006 – NHL Series (1992 to 1997)
EA SPORTS! If it’s in the game, then it’s in the game. And this week, we played plenty of games in Your Parents Basement, as we did our best to tackle the many volumes of the NHL series by EA Sports.
While discussion mostly focuses on the two classics of the series, NHLPA 93 and NHL 94, we also do touch upon the other 16-bit editions. It’s possibly the longest running series between the two major consoles, with 95, 96, 97 and (surprisingly!) 98, the same year as the last NHL game for the Sega Saturn. (Sorry Sega, we don’t mean to give you so much shade.)
To download this week’s show, click here! You can also subscribe to the show via iTunes, or manually use this link. If you like the show, be sure to give us some starrrrssss. You can also follow us on Twitter, or ‘like’ us on Facebook.
This week’s show notes are short, because all three of us were out ramblin’ this week. (That’s also why there wasn’t a news post – There should be one as normally scheduled Thursday though!) Here are three links though: Baseball Mogul, a fun baseball simulation, and Out of the Park, which is insanely complex and only for the hardcore sports simulation junkies. And the snifferoo from last week came from this YouTube clip.
Vidya Game News – May 28, 2015
“I love the Power Glove… I’m the only one. It’s so bad. Like you really can’t do shit with it.”
It’s the debut of a semi-new feature! We’ve scoured some online sites in an attempt to find some retro gamin’ news you might find interesting, to whet your appetite between shows. Except to see regular news posts on Thursdays for the next couple of weeks as we try this out. So, without further adieu…
– Remember how cool The Wizard was? Well… Not actually. But similar to that movie, there will be a 2015 Nintendo World Championships, as reported by Games Radar and tons of other sites. The entry rounds being held at eight Best Buy locations. For more info, go here.
– Just as a technical project, someone is porting Wolfenstein 3D to the Genesis. Like… they’re doing it now, in 2015. You can see a YouTube video here, and there is a message board posting about it here.
– For the Genesis and the SNES, there is a vibrant homebrew / indie scene. Example: here is a Kickstarter for a new SNES (and possibly NES) platform game.
– A port of Dragon Quest VIII is coming out for the 3DS.
– Sega is pulling a bunch of different games from its iOS offerings, per Pocket Gamer. Games removed include Streets of Rage 2, Gunstar Heroes, Shining Force and Sonic Spinball.
– On Reddit’s GameCollecting subreddit, someone managed to get their hands on TWO copies of DuckTales 2 at the same time! The subreddit itself has some other nice finds.
– A deep dive from Nintendo Life on the cancellation of Star Fox 2, from someone who worked on the game and played a completed Japanese ROM of it. However, a release and translation are probably unlikely, given legal issues with the now-defunct Argonaut Software.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– … Well, kind of. Super Mario Bros. the movie was released in 1993, and it bombed. Per Box Office Mojo, it only made $20.9 million on a $48 million production budget. It only opened fourth on its first weekend, behind “classics” like Cliffhanger, Made in America and Dave. It was out of theaters in about four weeks. The full movie is often posted on YouTube, and really, that’s a better option that expending any cash for that trash.
– Notable game releases: Mass Effect (2008), Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (1999), Crazy Taxi 2 and Dark Cloud (2001).
For the full list of history items, check out Moby Games.
Episode 004: Vectorman (1995)
Genesis does what Nintendont! Vectorman is hellishly hard, but it’s fun to turn from balls into a bomb and to explooodddeeee!
On today’s show, Steve, Todd and Huell are joined by their (non-British) friend Pip to talk about how impossible this game is, unless you’re using the Game Genie. (Yes, even save states aren’t enough to overcome Vectorman!) There is also talk of Genesis vs. Super Nintendo, and Vectorman vs. Donkey Kong Country. And of course, balls and Ballz.
To listen, click here! You can subscribe to future shows in the iTunes store – be sure to give us some starrrsss! – or by manually using this address: https://ypbpodcast.com/category/podcasts/feed/
Be sure to listen to the Snifferoo at the end, and if you’re interested in guesting on the show this week, send us an email at parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter, or Facebook.
Show notes for this episode:
- Vectorman can be purchased on Steam for $2.99, or as part of larger Sega classics packages for $7.50 or $29.99. Hard copies on eBay are going for about $5 to $10, and unlike some other games we’ve covered, the inclusion of the box and manual only ups the price range to $15 to $25. Vectorman 2 is in a similar price range.
- The Snifferoo from last week was the main theme from Vectorman, which can be listened to on YouTube here. The commercial that provides the opening music for this week’s ‘sode is here.
- Balls? No, Ballz!
Episode 001 – Super Mario Bros. + The Lost Levels
Episode 001 – Super Mario Bros. and The Lost Levels
Your Parents Basement is meant to be a fun podcast project, where some folks talk about their favorite classic games. Click here for our first episode on Super Mario Bros., as well as its way-too-hard counterpart, The Lost Levels.
Want to follow along to future episodes? Add this feed to your podcastin’ device: https://yourparentsbasementpodcast.wordpress.com/category/podcasts/feed/ We are absolutely looking for guests and game ideas for future shows! For both, please email them to us – parentsbasementpodcast@gmail.com – as opposed to leaving them as comments. (Mystery is good for the rest of the listening audience!) You can also follow us on Twitter. Supplemental material for today’s show:
- The opening theme comes from this helpful YouTube video.
- The Super Mario Bros. Super Show with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.
- Console Wars by Blake Harris, which was the first book I read that really focused on the rise and fall of Sega during the Genesis era from that company’s perspective.
- “The Secret History of Super Mario Bros. 2” from Wired, which talks about that game’s true origin.
- A deep dive on the failures of the Super Mario Bros. movie on Grantland. The movie rights changed hands in December 2014, suggesting that a second attempt might be coming soon.
Your Parents Basement 