Vidya Game News – August 23, 2018
A
nother week, another news roundup! Two in a row is one short of a streak! Huzzah!
- Thanks to Strictly Limited Games, Project Hardcore will see the light of day. The game was thought to be lost after being delayed for new systems in 1994, but it will now be released on the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita.
- A couple good, claysic RPGs will be released for the Switch in the next few months. According to Siliconera, a remaster for Grandia I and Grandia II will be coming out. Also, from Gematsu, Phantasy Star will come out in September. Kotaku has a longer piece on the upgrade work Sega is doing on this, and other games.
- Also coming to the Switch will be Vs. Excitebike, per Nintendo Life and Famitsu. Check out our past show on the game here!
- An old Texaco station in Kentucky has transformed into a classic vidya games bar. Nice! Read more about it here.
ON THIS DAY (OR CLOSE TO IT!) IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
- In 1993, Nintendo and Silicon Graphics announced a collaboration on 64-bit hardware, Project Reality, that would later become… The Nintendo 64. Read the original press release here.
- Moonwalker turns 28! Way, way older than the tykes featured in the game. Check out our previous episode, an awesome, loose conversation with Friend of the Show Backsack, here.
- In 2003, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and SoulCalibur II were released. Both were popular in their respective genres, and holy hell, they’re both 15 years old at this point???
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. When possible, we attempt to link to original sources for all reporting, and we don’t typically link to stupid multi-page galleries. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – April 7, 2016
– On Polygon and a bunch of other sites, Sega announced that it had finalized its acquisition of Atlus. As of now, operations aren’t supposed to change at either company as a result, except for Atlus helping in some North American localization for Sega games.
– Now Gamer has an interesting piece on the failed development of the M2, a follow-up to the 3DO, that never saw the light of day. Panasonic still spent $100 million on it though, and its tech made its way into some Arcade games. Read the piece here.
– Micah Mertes of The Omaha World-Herald has a neat story on a tech museum that had a “petting zoo” display for April 1, featuring old systems, typewriters and Tamagotchis.
– Mike Matei of Cinemassacre (home site of the Angry Video Game Nerd) has a video on the top 10 obscure NES asshole enemies. Check it out here! It’s NSFW and frustratingly accurate.
– From IGN and a bunch of other places, there is now a 24-carat gold NES available. (Warning: Autoplay video.)
– Jimmy Maher of The Digital Antiquarian has a great long read on how the NES muscled its way past the 1980s computing industry, thanks to a focus on fun games.
– Ryan Gibbs of The Young Folks reviews Atari Vault, the 100-game Atari collection that recently came out for a bunch of different platforms.
– From ABC News’ Avianne Tan, a grocery store created a Super Mario Bros. display from soda boxes.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– To circle back to a news roundup item… Not many games have historically been released on April 7, buttttt, Atlus was founded in 1986. If you’re into RPGs, you know them as the developers of Persona and the Shin Megami Tensei series of games, as well as quirky stuff like Etrian Odyssey and Radiant Historia. And, Rockin’ Kats! (And by the way, the director of Radiant Historia would love to make another one, per Siliconera.)
– Per Moby Games, in 2005 VIS Games filed for bankruptcy. Their most prominent games were a very bad version of Earthworm Jim 3D for the Nintendo 64, and State of Emergency, one of the few Rockstar Games that wasn’t a smash hit. However, it did inspire this awesome Lewis Black rant.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – November 5, 2015
“I like video games, but they’re really violent. I’d like to play a video game where you help the people who were shot in all the other games. It’d be called ‘Really Busy Hospital.’” – Demetri Martin.
Shameless plug: Distant Arcade is a neat retro gaming site that Steve’s old reporting buddy Andrew Martin runs and writes for. Give it a click, would you? Steve also wrote a piece on Battletoads for the site back in the day. And oh yeah, the rest of the news links:
– A new Micro Machines game will be released on mobile platforms, according to Patrick O’Rourke at Mobilesyrup. The original racing game was one of the classics for the NES, although surprise surprise, it was hella hard.
– There was a really cool classic find this past week, as Cameron Koch of Tech Times posted the original press release for the NES.
– On the Fallout 4 release date of Nov. 10, Nuka Cola Quantum by Jones Soda will be available at Target. See a picture here.
– A formerly unreleased Swedish SNES game, Dorke and Ymp, is coming to Steam, per Chris Priestman at Siliconera. It looks like a puzzle platformer with a vibrant art style, although a bit awkward to play.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is now an adult, as it came out 18 years ago.
– In 2003, The Return of the King came out for the PC, PS2, Gamecube and Xbox. It was way better than past YPB game The Lord of the Rings for Super Nintendo.
– It was only eight years ago, but Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came out. In 2013, Call of Duty: Ghosts came out for the 360, so the series kind of likes November.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Vidya Game News – September 17, 2015
I am Error. Read these news stories.
– Hey, what are the odds? Shortly after our episode on Tecmo Bowl, it was released for the Wii U shop. Clearly, we’re influencing companies!
– In mixed news, depending on where you stand on Square Enix doing yet another remake… Final Fantasy Adventure, which is actually the first game in the YPB-covered Secret of Mana, is getting a remake for the Vita and smartphones. Siliconera has an article here. It is keeping the same story from the original, but upgrading the graphics and what not.
– Mashable has a sponsored story on some racin’ games from the past. Pre-2000, they focus on F-Zero, Micro Machines, Mario Kart 64, Gran Turismo and Crazy Taxi, and I’ve played four out of five of those splendid games!
– From the AV Club, a piece by John Teti on how Super Mario Bros. is the loneliest Mario game.
– There were a bunch of articles released this week about the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. But as Frank Cifaldi points out in an older piece for Gamasutra, the actual release date of the game in the U.S. is up for debate. Time.com also has a cool slideshow on the evolution of Mario’s look.
– Of all places, USA Today has a good, long oral history on some of the Playstation’s development, on the anniversary of its launch 20 years ago. It’s by Mike Snider, and you can read it here.
– Speaking of the Playstation, Nathan Birch at Uproxx has a good collection of some of the trivia on the device, like that Crash Bandicoot was hated by the Japanese portion of the company and that the system worked better upside down.
– There are now Sega-inspired kicks, although I agree with the comments, that the boxes look cooler than the shoes.
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Depending on what source you use, Kingdom Hearts was released today or yesterday in 2002 for the PS2. While it wasn’t my cup of tea because of its reliance on button mashing and a stupid AI, the presentation values (graphics and sound) were top-notch for the collaboration between Disney and Square.
– Some game called Grand Theft Auto V came out for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Although it’s only two years old, it’s kind of a big deal, to the tune of 54 million copies and counting.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Episode 020 – River City Ransom (1989)
Episode 020 – River City Ransom (1989)
This week in Your Parents Basement, we are trying to rescue one of our girlfriend’s by fighting through hordes of high school gangs and potentially murdering them! From 1989, we’re playing River City Ransom by Technos Japan.
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TIMESTAMPS
- 0:00 – Intro. This is a sweet cover of the “Boss Theme” from River City Ransom by Sergio Elisondo. He also does a cover of past YPB topics Contra. You can find our episode on that game here.
- 49:20 – Emails. The gang talks motion games (and mostly slags on them), and the past games from 20 years ago, in honor of Show #20.
- 1:05:00 – Snifferoo.
SHOW NOTES
– Todd Brisket mentioned that he does Twitch from time to time. You can find his account here, which has the benefit of providing some peeks at his play sessions for past and future YPB games.
– Patrick Klepek of Kotaku had the most recent update on the sequel, River City Ransom: Underground, in October. Although the status of the game was up in the air after Arc System Works acquired the rights for River City Ransom and Double Dragon, the only thing unknown now is when the sequel will actually release. Siliconera had the original article on Arc System Works acquiring the licenses.
– Juese Cutler submits a piece on Cultured Vultures about the demise of X-Strike Studios, which had planned video game adaptions of things like River City Ransom. It’s very… long, but hey, maybe you’ll find it interesting?
– River City Ransom is available for $4.99 on the Nintendo eShop for the 3DS, Wii and Wii U. At least according to most reviews, it’s faithful to the original NES version, and not the Game Boy Advance version that changed a few aspects here and there.
– According to Price Charting, actual carts for River City Ransom are fairly pricey. The game itself for NES runs between $25 to $40. The box and manual ups the price range, $60 to $80. The Game Boy Advance version, which isn’t held in such high esteem, goes for $15 to $25 for just the cart, but the box and manual only ups the range to $20 to $40.
– The list of prominent games from 20 years ago can be seen here on Wikipedia. There is also this REALLY long list here on IMDb.
Vidya Game News – September 10, 2015
Hey, you know what starts tonight? Football! Football, football, FOOTBALL! Tom Brady, football, Deflategate, FOOTBALL!!! #hottakes. Oh, and here is some vidya game news:
– The original PlayStation was released 20 years ago, roughly, as it hit American shores on Sept. 9. Mike Minotti of the Gamesbeat column at Venturebeat has a piece on the mediocre launch titles. “Highlights” included Ridge Racer, NBA Jam Tournament Edition and Battle Arena Toshinden.
– Similarly, Entertainment Weekly online’s Aaron Morales has a look at the Dreamcast’s super sweet 16.
– Project X Zone 2 is an odd, mash-up tactical RPG. Among its playable characters are Captain Commando, Heihachi Mishima from Tekken, and now, Segata Sanshiro from Sega Saturn ads. Sato at Siliconera has a summary here.
– Chelsea Stark at Mashable has grouped together 10 cool Super Mario Bros. music covers here. And in a video for Eurogamer, the developers of SMB talk World 1-1.
– In a great column idea, whodeyfans at SB Nation uses Tecmo Super Bowl to project games.
– From Reddit, a Super Mario Bros. video is used to announce a pregnancy.
– U.S. News and World Report has an article on moving out of your parents’ basement. Ugh, who would ever want to do that?
ON THIS DAY IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY…
– Hey, some actual games of significance were released! You know, like Kid Klown in Crazy Chase for the SNES in 1994! Big time stuff! (JK on that one, but for reals…)
– Spyro the Dragon came out for the Playstation in 1998. It was an incredibly popular platformer, and along with Crash Bandicoot, the closest thing Sony had to a proper mascot.
– The third volume of the .hack//G.U. series came out for Playstation 2 in 2007. Entitled Redemption, it closed out the last console version of that games series, which has some intriguing elements.
– In Japan, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest came out in 1993. Oddly, this was an inverse of the usual practice, as the North American version came out in October 1992. The game tends to be viewed dismissively by Final Fantasy fans, but it’s a perfectly average RPG for the time, with surprisingly good music. Also released in Japan on this date in history: Mutant League Football in 1993.
Video game history information comes from GameFAQs and Moby Games. And as always, if you’d like to support the show, do so via our Amazon link.
Your Parents Basement 