PS3/Vita Payment

I see a lot of complaining right now on this. A little shortsighted given it is three weeks away from the intended date, but not anything out of the ordinary. Sony is winding down on their PlayStation Store for PlayStation 3 and Vita. They will be open until whenever they deem is necessary to shut it down. By when, I don't know. They are looking at October 27th as the day they don't accept credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal payments.

This isn't new by any stretch of the imagination. Ending certain form of payments started with stuff such as the Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP. To expect console storefronts to function forever is impossible. The PC, I can't comment. Yet, I see this uproar. I wouldn't be surprised if it's people that want to make the PlayStation brand look awful. Nintendo and Microsoft are going to do the same thing. Whenever the 360 finishes up in terms of its online, there will be upset people. Credit and debit cards won't be usable on the 3DS and Wii U after mid January 2022 in Japan. Anywhere, I don't know. And those systems had decent lifespans, but not as long as PS3.

Certainly, the announcement of the store shutdowns earlier in the year have people on edge despite the decision to keep the PS3 and Vita ones open. There are parts of the world where a credit card is necessary when it regards to buying specific games with specific ratings according to a GameSpot article. These console manufacturers can't risk their old infrastructures taking hits if they were to be hacked. There are also computer games that no longer have multiplayer due to their infrastructures.

PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have a lot of digital games that will be lost unless there is someone that dedicated to preserving them. I hope someone has done that for the Wii, DS, and PSP, too. Because once PS4 and Xbox One are finished them along with the Wii U and handhelds are going to need major preservation immediately. We're talking thousands of titles digitally that could be lost. My ending point is to not make Sony out as the only bad guy. A lot has to be done to make sure a number of games can be played. Doesn't matter if the game is good or bad, having access to the full library is what will be important for the future.

Super Mario ManBabies

I always have the impression of The Legend of Zelda or Super Smash Bros. fans being the biggest babies for Nintendo franchises. I think Super Mario might have just eclipsed it for the time being. There have been plans for an animated Super Mario movie for quite a bit of time. Going back to around 2017 or 2018 did I hear something about it. Illumination and Universal have their cast. Chris Pratt and Charlie Day are Mario and Luigi. Anya Taylor-Joy I believe is the Princess. Bowser will have Jack Black's voice, and Seth Rogen will be Donkey Kong.

I've seen worst casting, but it's not a slam dunk. The only one I'd feel any confidence in is Black. He could seriously give Bowser a menacing presence. Rogen seems like a very weird choice for Donkey Kong. I can't comment on Taylor-Joy, but at 25 years old, maybe her voice is suitable for the Princess. Day, I hope the production crew are looking beyond just the Charlie Kelly personas that he does on Always Sunny. Maybe he does a surprisingly good job, but I need to see a trailer first before being critical.

Pratt being Mario I'm not sure I like. Sure, he's done Parks and Recreation, but when's the last time he did anything that was full on comedy? The problem is the fans being the absolute worst in reacting to the casting. Almost universally panned. A lot of them wanted the game series' voice actor, Charles Martinet, to do the role. I know he's had a very long tenure as it, but Martinet's voice of Mario is very awful and has been since the GameCube days. It is the definition of very generic and trying to be very high pitched. Mickey Mouse, he is not. And it is very grating to hear. There was a sweet spot during the Nintendo 64 days, but that was long ago.

Voice actors are also not recognizable outside of the gaming community. Cartoons, maybe, but not in video games. And Martinet doesn't have a huge resume, either. Not to mention he is in his mid-60s. It's like asking Mel Blanc to keep doing Yosemite Sam into his 70s and 80s. I can't imagine him doing Mario's voice for 90-100 minutes. Also, who can you get that is recognizable and do the voice? Not saying Pratt is the best choice, but fans don't seem to want to see other alternatives beyond Martinet.

My final word is this. Let's wait for a freaking trailer to drop before we fly off the rails. If the trailer doesn't impress you, don't see the film and vice versa. But the fans are acting like the most spoiled rotten children on the planet. Let's hold off on the rage meter before we even get a shred of footage. It's just a kids film. I'm sure Nintendo is paying attention to what Universal and Illumination are doing, casting or not.

Why Not a New F-Zero?

While what I talk about is applying to Nintendo, this can also apply to other companies as well. But recently, there was a former designer for F-Zero that said that a new title would require a new gimmick to sell people on it. In recent weeks, I believe the president of Nintendo of Japan talked about wanting to create new IP's, something that concerns fans. We're talking a company that has many small tiered games that are questioned on why they don't get a new release.

F-Zero was a relatively popular game on the SNES when it came out. Add in a handful of titles for the next 12-13 years and no new release since 2004. For as big as Mario Kart has gotten in the last 25 years (It has been big since its debut in 92, but I think 3D beginning with 64 helped it), not everyone wants to be only playing that. People want to see a new F-Zero. A new Wave Race. It's not like they are going to take over the popularity of Mario Kart. Not to mention these are all different types of racers. Sony had that with the original PlayStation. A sim racing game like Gran Turismo and a mascot type one with Crash Team Racing.

Even beyond racers, Nintendo is strange with its releases. No new Kid Icarus between 1991 and 2012. No new Punch-Out between 1994 and 2009. A 15 year wait for a new Pilotwings game. They may not reach Kirby or Metroid levels of success, but you can compliment this for something like the Switch. You can only go so far with playing the best sellers of Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Splatoon, and Animal Crossing. I would argue the oversaturation of Mario across many genres being a factor a little bit. Why play Golden Sun or Advance Wars when you can play Paper Mario or the Mario and Luigi games?

Companies should always think about creating new potential franchise. But the worry I think people have with Nintendo is abandoning them for so long that they question if there will ever be a new release. I could see Splatoon getting abandoned at the drop of a hat, and that's a moderate success considering it's fared better compared to other Nintendo releases. I also question if the company thinks there is appeal for some of their titles outside of Japan. We're not in the late 80s and early 90s anymore where knowledge is limited on some of these releases. 

We are in a resurgence of old franchises returning. Medal of Honor came back in December. ToeJam and Earl came out in 2019. Streets of Rage returned last year. A new TMNT set to release sometime soon. Mega Man, House of the Dead, Crash Bandicoot. The list goes on. Nintendo has a deep well of titles they can go back to. How about a new StarTropics? For some giggles, how about remaking Radar Scope? If there's a time to strike while the iron is hot, these next couple of years with the Switch is that opportunity.

Who's Delisting DSi?

Digital games have been around for a very long time. Consoles and handhelds for about 15 years, give or take. As time has gone on, it has become bigger and bigger. Almost to the point where there is too much oversaturation from indie developers. Ignoring computers and phones, the biggest library as of 2021 is the Xbox 360 and following it are the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The problem will come as the 360 and PlayStation will one day follow the path of the Wii. Nintendo's 3DS may have one foot already in the digital grave.

Recently, there was a number of DSiWare games that were removed from the 3DS eShop. A couple hundred, but from several game websites, most of them have made it back onto the service. Some are wondering why this occurred without warning. When the Wii was being shut down, Nintendo planned their shutdown way ahead so that things would settle down and gave their customers breathing room to get whatever games they wanted. It seems very strange, but maybe there was a glitch. That can happen, especially if there was no notification. Nintendo may be arrogant a lot of terms, but they are not that arrogant.

Some of it can be licensing. DuckTales Remastered was removed for a while on Steam, PS3, and 360 before coming back. There's multiple factors. Nintendo could have been hacked. That being said, I don't know how much interest there is in something like DSiWare. Anything digital for Nintendo that isn't the Switch as well. Not to say the install base moves on quickly, but the interest in PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, there's why some still stick to those systems. So they can try some of the digital titles that you can't get anywhere, especially on PS3 and 360.

If you're still interested in DSiWare, get some eShop cards and get what you need before Nintendo makes the announcement of delisting that selection. They're not that foolish when treating customers like dirt, but I'd assume a notificiation will come soon. Better to tell ahead of time.

Commander Keen at 30: Id's Debut

If you want a pioneer of computer gaming, Id Software has to be up there. Before the first person shooters after another that revolutionized a lot of things, they imitated Super Mario. Their first games were Commander Keen. The original trilogy, Invasion of the Vorticons, made its first episode debut back on December 14, 1990. It was a basic platformer. Completing objectives depending on the title. Fighting bosses. Death defying jumps. Standard fare.

You have to understand where computers were in 1990. The biggest games were point and click games and a couple other genre. They didn't have what was seen on the NES and Sega Master System for years. And the Sega Genesis and Turbografx-16 were beginning their runs. A lot of it comes down John Carmack mostly and Tom Hall. It started with recreating Super Mario Bros. 3, then the hot new title on the market. A sample size, but they got it to scroll. Nintendo liked what they saw, but declined to want a computer port.

Stuff like that is why Nintendo has been in bad situations for the last 25 years or so. Because Apogee became Id's publisher for a couple years and Keen was a huge hit. Part of it was the engine. That's why Duke Nukem came into fruition and several other titles. Developers and publishers could learn a thing or two and craft their work. Apogee had their own range of side scrollers. Epic Games had the Jazz Jackrabbit games. Of course, it allowed Id to look at how to make computers look cool and attractive to buy. Especially when they bigger than ever with Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 and Doom in 93.

I don't have any big memories of playing any of the episodes as a kid like I do with Wolfenstein and Doom. The only thing I remember was at some point in the mid to late 90s one of my family members playing a shareware version of Vorticons and doing okay. Back when floppy disks were prevalent. Shareware was actually not a bad idea before CD's became the norm. If you were impressed by the first episode, you could buy the rest the of the trilogy or set if you wanted.

It may not get the love now these days, but Commander Keen should be saluted for making Id a recognized company and for getting PC's to do much more than a couple genres.

Free Melee: Rallying Protest

A while ago, there was a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament that got canned by Nintendo because of a mod to play online. It caused a bit of backlash. This past weekend was supposed to have a Splatoon 2 tournament with the publisher having some involvement. A lot of players went with names in support of Melee. In the end, it got cancelled with Nintendo citing "operational challenges." It continues the ugly problems regarding emulation and the way they treat fans and gaming in general.

Companies have a right to protect their properties. If it's something on PlayStation 4 and 5, the Xbox One and series line, and Switch and 3DS, that's not a problem. But when it bleeds over to systems that have been dead for longer than a decade, that's where it gets problematic. I can't stand Melee, but it hasn't been re-released at any point since it first came out in December 2001. Nintendo to me goes overboard in the way they protect their properties. Some of it now is getting their fans a little tired of the way they approach things. A number of tournaments have had difficulties due to the stingy attitude.

I get it why they don't want to see piracy run rampant. But when its games that aren't on the market anymore, it makes no sense to me. And Nintendo hurts emulation because what's lost is more than just their games. We're talking sites that have thousands upon thousands of games. Titles that don't even get a sniff of daylight because of copyright issues, companies dying out, etc... for those reasons. Some games are not worth the asking price for. For NES, The Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak is not worth hundreds. Little Samson is not worth near a thousand dollars.  Even if its below a hundred, prices for GameCube games are not worth what they go for.

Modders have made Doom levels since 1994. GTA has tons of stuff for their games since GTA II's release in 2001. Sega does not go after the Sonic community's fan games. This arrogant attitude of Nintendo in their Japan division is going to be their demise one day. They'll still have fans, but the approaches they go in gaming is inconsistency and never knowing who they sucker next. Great software, shitty company.

Nintendo v. The Big House

This one is quite late, but its been on the backboard for a while. With the pandemic, you're not seeing tournaments, conventions, or anything. The Big House, a Smash Bros. tournament that has happened since 2011, got shut down by Nintendo for this year. All because they were going to use an emulator so people can face each other in the GameCube Smash Bros. game, Melee. A way to face each other online with netplay due to no online features at the time since no one was doing online in 2001 for consoles. That included a warning and a cease and desist and the tournament was canned.

There are two sides that I see. I'll start with why Nintendo is in the right. It's their property and they have every right to protect it. Even if it's a really old title like Smash Bros. Melee, they don't want to see something altered for something like a tournament. And they have strayed away from the series in terms of tournaments and all the controversy back in the summer regarding underage grooming and sexual assault. There's other bad moments, but nothing to level of those revelations. They are not involved, but they want to avoid any potential troubles. Waiting another year when things are normal should have happened with The Big House.

But that doesn't mean Nintendo is free from criticism either. They have been one of the most stingiest companies when it comes to emulation. Some of the big ROM sites were shut down in 2018 because of them. EmuParadise was heralded for not being a virus filled site before it shut down. Its difficult for people to find what they want and not worry that their computer will lock up because of something in the rom file on a website. Nintendo is hurting the scene a lot more. Yes, they have to protect their IP's, but is anything downloaded pre-DS damaging their bottom line? And it not only damages emulation for Nintendo systems, but others. We're talking Sega stuff, Atari, tons of computer games that will never see a re-release.

When you look at NES, SNES, and so forth, there are hundreds of games that don't show up on Virtual Console or the Switch online service. I don't know if Nintendo has a plan to do their own emulator for GameCube, but there are pros and cons to having something like Melee on Switch. It depends on what kind of fans it gets. But as a whole, they haven't done a good job with bringing older titles to their service. Wii U was a letdown and the Switch only has NES and SNES games with a slow trickling down. Nintendo keeps shooting themselves in the foot and think that emulation is a huge problem. For the modern stuff, it is a problem. Them, Sony, and Microsoft don't want to see their hyped releases getting pirated on their current systems. But for older systems, I'm not seeing how it affects them that badly.

Again, I understand where Nintendo is coming from. But emulation has been around for about 25 years. Maybe a little more. You're not seeing most people go to an arcade or pick up an Atari 2600 and NES. There are ones that want the real article, but it may not be possible to get specific titles without an arm and a leg or are too rare to find. That can be applied to other systems and computers. Emulation will never die out. Nintendo can keep fighting it, but its a losing battle and the damage they bring to it hurts the scene as I mentioned earlier. When people say they are out of touch, this is one of the big examples and its a shame that their Japan offices are stubborn about what their customers want outside of that region.

NES at 35

Gaming was doing fine in Japan and Europe. North America had the arcades and computers, but consoles were struggling. Although it wouldn't be nationwide until the following fall, Nintendo got the revival of the console market in the States going with the NES on October 18, 1985 in New York. Small things that would eventually convince retailers to accept gaming again along with customers who may have felt burnt out from the era of Atari.

While progression has been key for generations, Nintendo wanted to avoid the issues that plagued the earlier era that caused the game crash a couple years prior in 1983. Some of it with some meaning, but mostly an iron fist clad that resulted in an illegal monopoly. Seal of quality label, companies not overloading with so many titles. Control of production with The Big N producing carts, exclusivity (something that is a question in gaming today). But the tactics faded away when other competitors at the start of the 90s began to take over. Sega and NEC at the start of the decade and then Sony in the middle of it.

The NES had a healthy life from late 1985 up to the very end of 1994. It was where many got to see the likes of Capcom and Konami. A rise in seeing established characters and franchises from any developer and publisher. Mario, Zelda, Mega Man, you name it. Duds from companies such as THQ. Lots of unlicensed material with Tengen being the most recognized with their big Atari ports. Genres that anyone could get into. Platformers, sports, shmups, beat em ups. The list goes on. 

It holds a special place for me since it was one of the very first systems I got to play along with the Genesis in 1993-94. I'd put it in my top five of best systems ever because it has its console games and the arcade pick up and play quality that felt more special compared to future Nintendo systems. Graphics and audio that when used well was excellent. Simplicity in controls.  One of the problems being difficulty being very cheap depending on the title and the quality of it. It may have had illegal methods, but NES still is a grand system to try out. Just make sure your systems are clean and work properly. That 72 pin connector was one of their worst ideas ever.

Drifting Suit

Sites such as Wired and Nintendo Life have reported on this. Since the launch of the Switch three and a half years ago, people have experienced what is called drifting. Analog sticks that are not centered anymore. While use causes that kind of wear for anything since the Nintendo 64, it's popped up more often. There have been lawsuits. The most recent coming from a ten year old and their mother. I will not reveal their names, but here's the skinny.

According to the sites, the ten year old has had a Switch for a couple of years, Their Joy-Con controllers experienced drifting. They got another set of controllers and not even a year went by and they drifted. While that may not be everyone's exact story, it's something that has been too common. Like anything with analog controls, it varies. But the stories that pile on all around, something's not correct at whatever manufacturing plant Nintendo has. They have been fixing them for free lately, but it may not be enough.

Nintendo's lawyers don't think it's a big deal. It kind of is. The Switch will probably be gone in roughly four to five years. Maybe three. Even if you do it yourself, people will want to be sure they are getting a system that has been properly taken cared of. These drifts will be a concern for the next ten years. Some people hold on to systems after they die out. Though it will not kill them severely (a light slap, really), the Switch is the only system they have now. It is still doing well, but they have to do much better. They can't keep being ignorant on problems that cause them to still be the love or hate company in gaming.

3DS Discontinued

I was kind of expecting it to finish up with production next year, but this isn't surprising. Nintendo 3DS has been around since the early part of 2011. Now in 2020, The Big N has decided to pull the plug on it, giving it one of the more interesting lifespans of any of their handhelds. Obviously coming after the original DS, it would have been difficult to find the next hook. Three dimensional handheld was their gimmick.

It might be hard to believe, but I do kind of remember the complaints about the price. At 250 dollars, it was a bit out of reach for a handheld. The price drop that summer helped stabilize bleeding of sales and it caught on. Just not to the level of the DS. It's problem I think is not many companies jumping in on the handheld bandwagon. Support from Sega, Square Enix, Capcom, and a few others did get releases out there, but in comparison of library size, it didn't get the level of DS. However, eShop had old titles and a share of original games.

If people were to look back at it, I do think there will be a sense of appreciation. Unfortunately, there will be the question of "what if?" put into it. If Western companies were more involved. European publishers or developers like Ubisoft or Rockstar if they would have done anything. The usage of the 3D and if customers enjoyed it. If online was a substantial improvement over the DS. There are stuff in some people's eyes that could have been better.

Where does Nintendo go from here?  I don't think there will be a handheld for a while. Of course, the hybrid of the Switch will be something that will keep customers interested. Why waste resources to make unique versions on a handheld and a console? It is said that Nintendo is not getting rid of online immediately. I'd give it a good two to three years similar to the Wii before it disappears. Whether there's new digital games, I'm not sure. PlayStation 3 got a digital game release back in August. Until then, the 3DS will get its love. Try and get some of the titles now before the prices skyrocket.

Happy Half-Ass Mario

 In 1993, Nintendo did a great thing with releasing Super Mario All-Stars on the SNES that summer. Their 8-bit Mario platformers were given that 16-bit touch. A way for people to get into those games as the NES was dying out at that point. It's one of the coveted games for the system. To celebrate 25 years in 2010, they re-released it on the Wii and it was the same stuff. No additional features, no nothing. And it rubbed people the wrong way. They are repeating the same mistake for the 35th anniversary with 3D All-Stars. Unfortunately, this will sell.

While I'm not wishing ill will on Nintendo, this is disappointing, but isn't at the same time. To have Mario 64, Sunshine and Galaxy in one package is nice. Especially considering Sunshine has never seen a re-release at all since it first came out in 2002. But at 60 dollars, it is a little overpriced, though it would be worth it considering Sunshine sells individually for a very high price due to the GameCube resurgence from kids that used to own it back then. I think it being only 3D games is a very bad move. All-Stars 2 could have sufficed. I know  they have the NES and SNES stuff for Switch, but no Mario Land games, no Yoshi's Island. There is a great amount of Mario titles that could have been put into this collection.

What's upsetting is that other companies have done much better compilations over the last 20 years. Sega has done better with theirs and the Sega Genesis Classics is worth getting it for its 50 games and multiple versions of the same game. Konami has put out Contra and Castlevania collections that go back to their 8 and 16-bit roots. Even the Contra arcade games. They have also done a shmup collection. Technos has done one recently of their 8-bit games that includes Double Dragon and River City Ransom. If you want to go back to the PS2 days and earlier, compilations from Taito, Midway, Atari. Capcom had one. Namco Museum. They offered you so much and some small details here and there. Behind the scenes stuff depending on the compilation. Nintendo's effort screams barebones. I don't have that big of an issue with it being a straight port. But they could have put in more titles.

And the last thing I'll mention is that it's only going to sell for six months. Why deliberately limit it? You got from September 18th through the end of March next year. Unless there's something they are going to do, which I doubt, I can't think of any reason to stop selling. These games barely see re-releases compared to the NES and SNES ones. You could chalk it up as Nintendo being really stubborn. Not everyone can get an N64, GameCube, or Wii. Not everyone is going to shell out whatever those titles are used at a game store. If it was 50 dollars and you add in a few more titles like Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros., I don't think there would be much issue with the minority of people who are upset.

Celebrating an anniversary of a franchise is one thing. Nintendo just likes giving the finger to their blind fanbase because they know they will slurp up anything that has Mario slapped on the box.

Analogue Pocket Thoughts

Last year, there was an announcement made for the Analogue Pocket. What this is, intention wise, is to give people a modern handheld that plays the Game Boy line of portables. With it is the original, Color, and Advance. They sport big libraries and interesting releases, but most, especially the original and Color, suffered from no backlit screen. There is a delay for it and it won't come out for another year.

I do remember some disappointment about no additional portables from the get go. However, there is plans for three additional ones. Adapters will be set for the Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx, and Neo Geo Pocket Color. This will be nice since there are audiences for them. The Game Gear has an interesting library that has quite a bit of Sonic games, early arcade and Master System ports, and a fair share of original releases and Genesis ports. With the Lynx, it had original titles mixed with Atari's arcade ports. Both systems suffered from bad battery life. The Neo Geo Pocket was bad timing with money issues, Game Boy popularity, an acquisition and no care for the gaming market. Discontinued in less than a year in America. Two years in Japan. But it is home to many SNK ports, one of the more notable Sonic games, and a few other third party games including Pac-Man and Puzzle Bobble (Bust A Move in America). There is also a feature for music and letting it be played on a television.

At 200 dollars, it isn't that unreasonable. Three libraries and I would assume no region locking, which is what the pre-DSi line of Nintendo handhelds had. The same should apply to the Game Gear and probably the other two. It gives people a reason to look at the Nintendo competitors of the 90s. Getting into a handheld in general is not easy, but the ones you don't hear often is even harder. Unless you go to eBay, the likelihood of Game Gear, Lynx, and Neo Geo Pocket games is very rare in my experience. Even yard sales. Analogue has a good track record with giving a modern experience on the NES, SNES, and Genesis. They know how to tap into nostalgia while making it accessible for modern TV's and ones looking for a fix that doesn't require CRT televisions and hoping the front loading NES still works.

You hope that things get better by next May, which is when it is slated to come out. Portable 90s systems deserve their chance in the spotlight. Honoring the Game Boy line and the Nintendo competitors is a nice way to get interest into these six systems.

Smash Toxicity

Even with few titles in its 20 years, Super Smash Bros. has a great concept. Your favorite Nintendo characters fighting each other. Four players or more duking it out. Items, various game modes. There's things that make you smile. But we also see the fandom, which is very obnoxious and some of these tournaments have seen very vicious and disgusting moments.

A lot of this involves sexual assault. Stories have come out over the last few years regarding tournaments. People getting kicked off a team, let go. Possible criminal charges. It's blown up now with accusations of assault. I believe a woman assaulted a teenage boy. When you mix that in all together, it creates an even more toxic group that you didn't think was possible. While Nintendo has no involvement in tournaments, they are probably very disgusted out of all the trouble going on. But there can be some fault of trying to cater to people who just want to play for fun and ones who want a real tournament type game.

But ultimately, the fanboys are ones to blame. It's a toss up between this group, Zelda, and maybe Final Fantasy as one of the worst fanbases in gaming. Hell, I'd say Nintendo in general. The constant complaining about how nothing is like Melee. My thoughts on that game is that it's mediocre and the speed of it was too fast for my liking. Is there issues with all the games? Sure, but nothing that makes them unplayable. The ones that play tournaments take it too seriously. It's meant to be a party game with items and interesting stages that aren't like your typical fighter. A guy I knew in college, he was very chill, but would only want one specific stage in Brawl and no items. He'd let loose a little bit sometimes, but that was very rare. But he wasn't obnoxious compared to other community members.

Where this community goes after this, I don't know. Probably a number of criminal charges on the accused. Major changes to tournaments next year. Treating other people respectfully, but that's a tough challenge. The goal now is to clean up the Smash Bros. community. This can apply to other fighting game tournaments, too. Keep an eye on these people involved, especially with Smash Bros.. There is more kids and teenagers who appreciate those titles a bit more than Street Fighter.

Smashing toxicity may be the only way this community can be saved.

Track and Field (NES) Review

There aren't too many Olympic games that follow the basic standards of the games. Track and Field got a lot of enjoyment from many back in 1983 with excellent graphics and presentation along with the button mashing gameplay. It was ultimately brought to the NES in early 87 with events from both the arcade and the arcade sequel, Hyper Sports. Quite a bit of fun but in short bursts and not one you'll go back to frequently.

It's eight events, each with a required time or point request to qualify. You have three types. There's running with the 100 meter dash and 110 meter hurdle. Beat your opponent and qualify to advance. Mashing the buttons is all you have to do. Then you have the jump and throw events. Add in the jump by pressing up on the directional pad. High jump, triple jump, and long jump have degrees and finding the sweet spot when you jump will give you the best numbers. Going over the line means a foul on one of your three tries. The same can be said for the javelin throw, which has the same rules and mechanics.

Last are shooting events. Be ready on the button. Skeet shooting has you shooting skeets once they reach your cross hairs. Starts slow, but gets faster. Archery has you hitting a moving target with arrows. Try to get the sweet spot to nail those bullseyes. The wind could hurt your chances, making it the weakest event. There is the ability to play with another person and difficulty modes if you want fun or a challenge. The events are quick and easy to get into.

It's a colorful game graphically. Nice areas and character modeling are a big plus for an early game. Not to mention lots of smooth animation, something that was very uncommon for NES games. The audio is not anything to write home about. Decent tracks in the music. Sound effects boiling down to running and stuff being thrown most of the time. No voice samples, but that's a given. The difficulty is adequate and the qualification requirements go up every time you go through all eight events.

Give Track and Field a shot on NES. The only question would be your tolerance on arcade gameplay. It's a pick up and play one that you can get through very quickly. Solid effort, though something you'll want to pull from your shelf every few months.

Score: 7 out of 10

25 Years of Play

Tuesday the Third marked 25 years since the first PlayStation sold in Japan. It wouldn't be worldwide until the end of 1995 when it hit the States in September and later on in Europe. When you think about it, it is one of gaming's most consistent home consoles. The ability to have tons of support, sales, and companies behind it. You forget that Nintendo is one of the reasons why this exists.

The idea formed around the time the SNES was being made in Japan. Ken Kutaragi was instrumental in all this because he was interested in gaming. Ever think why the system had a good sound chip? Because of him. Plans were made to make an add-on capable of playing CD's and was unveiled in the early part of the 90s. But Nintendo began partnering with Philips to do stuff for their cd-I. It's a complicated story, but Nintendo still wanted Sony involved, but due to that partnership and Nintendo wanting full control of everything, Sony left and began working on PlayStation.

When you look at it, it strived for an audience that was more than kids. Sega had that idea with the Genesis at the start of the 90s, but Sony pushed that envelope further. But, it was able to get all audiences. Kids were able to play their Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, while adults could play Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil. The hardware was easy to make games. Companies figured out how to use CD's properly compared to earlier CD systems. Memory cards became the norm. System reliability has been a notorious issues. But Sony keeps chugging.

Without Sony, you don't see gaming as it is today. They are not the main reason for how it is, but it paved the way for how we look at stuff. I've been around for every home console with the exception of the PS3 (which I'm trying to make up for lost time). Getting them a few years after they released. The brand is still viable for gamers. And when PS5 shows up, it's going to continue one of the strongest names in all of gaming.

Game Emulation Stories: Volume 2

Since the first one is the biggest blog of the bunch, it's been very long enough to do a second volume of stories. I'll have at least a couple to talk about.

The first goes back to 15 years ago. Around this time, there had been sites that were doing their own arcade emulation. I believe the site was called 1980stees (it's been a long time, so the name is something else) and they specialized in doing early 80s arcade games. There was Donkey Kong, Frogger, and a couple other games from that era that I played. It was about as close as I could get, not knowing that there were places where you could get the actual arcade ROMs or even get the real PCBs on eBay. They did have some other flash games like one I played a lot that was based on Sonic Advance 2, which was the newest handheld Sonic at the time. I had good enjoyment out of it.

Going to do more 80s, this time called 1980sgames.com. At the time, roughly again 15 years ago, they had access to about every NES game released in America. Even included were some rom hacks of a couple games such as Aladdin. Unfortunately, emulation was rough with Nesticle or Nestopia. Once again, my memory is a little fuzzy. Regardless, the games ran really slow. Try playing through Bionic Commando or Back to the Future on that.

The site also had access to Sega Master System games and included both the American and European releases. It might have been the first time I had every tried out games for it. It's 8-bit Sonic games I definitely tried. Altered Beast and a few others I gave a shot. I remember the emulation being good, but the audio was a few pitches down compared to how it was on a real Master System. As far as that site was, it was okay. If you didn't want to hassle with emulators, it was fine, but it was not something I would have recommended. Now these days, the site's domain is up for sale.

And that wraps up volume two. I do have a bit more emulation stories I'll talk about in the near future. Here is the first volume:

https://sullivanentertainment.blogspot.com/2019/03/game-emulation-stories-volume-1.html

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Switch Lite... Could It?

Down the road, I do want a Nintendo Switch. I figured down the road, they would have a revision of the hardware and the past year or so has had stories regarding that. With the news regarding the Switch Lite, I'm not too sure how I feel about it.

I just looked at the design and it looks like a mix of the PSP, Game Gear, and the gamepad of the Wii U. Not necessarily a bad a thing, but it's going to be as the reports are saying a handheld only system. That would mean no docking station or any extra stuff to plug the system into a television or any of that. I do wonder what the numbers are and what skews into which part is favored. I'm guessing Nintendo thinks the portability should be a bigger emphasis. It also means the joycon controller is now hardwired into the system. I'm not sure if this will be a cost cutting measure or not, but who knows.

I would think the system would go for 200 or 250 dollars. It could be a little boost, but without knowing the reception outside of the hardcore gamers, it's hard to know whether people will bite. This should do decent, but how much people will actually play this revision, I don't know. But it is something that will be interesting come November and December.

My guess: Should do well, but it's a gutsy guess.

No Online Friends For Mario!

Multiplayer has been a thing for the Mario series of games since the 90s. Kart racing, four player platformers, party games. Alternative turns does not count, so no on the early NES and SNES games. You would think Nintendo would understand the grasp of playing online with your own friends. That's why playing with randoms for Super Mario Maker 2 has got to be one of the dumbest things they have done.

There is no defending it. For a company who has had a great wealth of games since the 70s and 80s, their incompetence in the last 23 years keeps their potential from being much higher. Personally, I've thought for a long time that a online Mario platformer could work. It has the stuff to do that. LittleBigPlanet did that in 2008, even though it's not always a pure platformer. But Nintendo's unwillingness to take a risk, which they should have tried on the Wii, makes me scratch my head.

To wait that long to do an online platformer, but to still screw it up in some way. I know online isn't Nintendo's strongest footing. I understand that. However, this isn't the 90s where people can always get together and play on one TV screen. I'm not advocating for offline multiplayer to die off, but to have both online and offline is a treat to people. And playing with friends online is something that makes a night good.

Maybe Nintendo will understand the issues, but I have serious doubt their Japanese staff will. When the 64 was around, they understood how big of a deal multiplayer is. Now they need to figure out online multiplayer fast because they are missing out on huge potential to get more people and an even bigger new generation of fans