Areala

Some Super R-Type gameplay: *huggles* Areala

You certainly lose something from not being able to experience them in their natural state, in my opinion. It's sorta like going to the zoo: you can see a panda there, and it's really neat to see it, but since it isn't in the wild you aren't getting the FULL experience of watching a panda. On the other hand, there's something to be said for using emulation to pass areas that were always too difficult or time-consuming for you to pass, since part of the joy of owning the game presumably is being able to experience the whole thing, and nothing sucks worse than getting to a certain point in a game, getting killed, and having to start all the way back at the beginning. Me, I'll take the original experience over a PC processed remix any day, but your mileage may vary as the saying goes. Also: to perform a dragon punch successfully with the keyboard, I believe one can press forward, down, down + punch and it will actually work. In a similar vein, I seem to recall being able to press down, down, forward+punch to hurl a fireball as well. *huggles* Areala

Mine was Super Dodge Ball, but that's OK because the 1-player mode is meant to be beaten in under an hour. Multi-player and Bean Ball modes are where that game is at. It's still one of my favorite games ever, and I play it to this day. *huggles* Areala

Can they appreciate them? Possibly, though not growing up with it makes it hard to appreciate anything when there's "something better" out there. In a way, I believe people my age and right around it were the luckiest in the world: we've seen games evolve from blips and bloops of Space Invaders into the amazing array of first-person shooters, RPGs, and action titles that a mere 30 years ago would have been a joke. We've also profited from growing up in an era where skill was required to beat a game. There was no difficulty selector for games like Ninja Gaiden or Super Mario Bros. 3: you either figured out the best routes to take, or you didn't beat the game. Many games to me seem "dumbed down" compared to the ones of yesteryear. Remember in the original Final Fantasy how much strategy was involved in knowing your enemies so that you didn't waste attacks on monsters you had already killed? *huggles* Areala

I guess technically the first home game console I owned was a Pong system, though that was really my father's. The first actual console that I myself owned was an Atari 2600, and after that an NES. *huggles* Areala

Given that the Wii shows all signs of utterly dominating the 360 and PS3 this generation, I believe Nintendo has successfully found their niche and will be sticking to it for the forseeable future. Honestly, I'd like to see Sony and Microsoft back off from the "everything in one box" model. I don't need a console that can browse the Internet (that's what my PC is for). I don't need a console that can serve as a media hub for my house. I don't need a console that can rip and play CDs or allow me to watch movies. All I need is a console that will let me do what consoles have been doing now for thirty years: play video games. That is, literally, ALL I need. Everything else is a waste. You don't need power to make a classic, and often having access to more and more power means altering and ruining tried and true formulas. Nintendo went back to basics, ignored the two heavies who were beating the crap out of one another in the center ring, and performed an end-run around both of them and emerged as the winner this generation. I see no reason for them to do otherwise in another few years. *huggles* Areala

I'll go for the obvious, then a not-so-obvious. ...Shigeru Miyamoto. This man almost single-handedly revolutionized the way games were designed. Instead of having static screens where all the action took place, Miyamoto envisioned a world that encompassed more than just the monitor, that could be explored by moving left, right, up and down. He also introduced the gaming world to its most enduring and recognizable icon: Mario. ...Gunpei Yokoi. What do "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night", the Game Gear, and Lara Croft have to do with Yokoi-san? Everything. Yokoi introduced the world to the concept of portable gaming with his Nintendo Game & Watch handhelds, then went on to design the Game Boy, which Sega immediately ripped off by creating the Game Gear. Yokoi introduced the world to the game design that spawned the original Metroid and every other sequel/spinoff that has utilized the action RPG idea of a side-scrolling 2D world where much of the map is unavailable until you have found the right item, design that is so common these days as to have its own portmanteau name: Metroidvania. And in Samus Aran, Yokoi gave us the first recognizable human female hero in video game history. Samus showed girls the world over that saving the universe wasn't strictly a male occupation and that women in games could do more than sit around waiting for male heroes to rescue them from bad guys. Without Samus, there's no Lara Croft, period. *huggles* Areala

I assume you are talking about the "Sega Classics Collection" on the PS2. And yeah, they were a horrible affront to everything that made the classics...well, classic. *huggles* Areala

I think it has the potential to increase Sony's sales in the handheld market, and the digital content distribution via the PSN could put some extra money in developers' pockets if they don't have to make physical copies of their games. It's a neat experiment, and I'll be interested to see the results. *huggles* Areala

Technically I was a member, but only for the last issue. After that, it converted over to Nintendo Power. But yes, I still have that issue (R.C. Pro-Am) and read it. *huggles* Areala

Would I? If only you saw my game collection...I'm the biggest sucker in the world for compilation packages. Midway Arcade Treasures 1, 2, and 3, Namco Museum 50th Anniversary, Fatal Fury Battle Archives vol. 1, Sonic's Genesis Classics Collection, Taito Legends 1 & 2, Capcom Classics vol. 2, Activision Anthology...you name it, I've either got it or I want it something fierce. I'd love to see a Sega Arcade Classics with Golden Axe, Sega Ninja, My Hero, Outrun and so forth (Altered Beast is on the Genesis Classics collection). A Nintendo Arcade with Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and others would be fabulous. Do I want it? Heck yes I want it! *huggles* Areala

Some would argue that Haunted House was the original survival horror title. Dino Crisis was, in my opinion, far more than just "Resident Evil meets Jurassic Park". The characters in Dino Crisis were quite well-defined, the dinosaurs required completely different strategies than zombies, and the voice acting was leaps and bounds better. *huggles* Areala

Part of the problem probably comes from the interface, which is a very quirky control scheme that tries its best to replicate the experience of playing with access to a normal keyboard like the PC version, but it's quite clear that the SNES was not up to this task, and the programmers just did the best they could out of a bad situation. In addition, unless you played AD&D yourself, the rules would have made little sense (THAC0? Memorizing spells? Food consumption? Is AC 5 better or worse than AC 4? Why can't my Neutral Evil Halfling be a Paladin?). *huggles* Areala

Some "Eye of the Beholder" play action. Needless to say, I think it was better on the PC, but they sure made an attempt of it on the Super Nintendo. *huggles* Areala

It might seem this way, but I really do manually type it in at the end of every post. It probably annoys people, but hey, if you're annoyed with a huggle, then there's not much left that I can do for you in this life. *huggles* Areala

Well...I was a bit concerned, but I figured it was safer to think I misunderstood you. If I was mad, you'd have known it. *huggles* (<----note return of huggles) Areala

You'll have to let us know what your impressions are of the machine once you get some stuff to play on it. Does it just do NES games, or does it do SNES titles as well? (I can't quite tell from the controller pictured). *huggles* Areala

Super Castlevania IV, Super Metroid, and Link to the Past are all still stunning-looking some 15+ years after their initial release. Super Metroid, especially, holds the candle in my book for single best-designed video game of all time; there is LITERALLY nothing for which you can fault that game. If perfection ever existed as a Super Nintendo cart, Super Metroid is it, no ifs, ands or buts. Zombies Ate My Neighbors on the Super NES loses a bit when you play it single-player, but as a two-player game it's a phenomenal time waster. It's a pity the pseudo-sequel, Ghoul Patrol, was nowhere near as good... *huggles* Areala

Heck yeah I played Battlespire! I still have my copy, boxed with the manual. It's cranky under Windows XP, unfortunately, and since it's a Win95 game and not a DOS release like Arena and Daggerfall, I haven't been able to play it in years. But I'm hopeful that one day I can again loot the Battlespire, converse with the Mock Turtle, and harass the Daedra as a nameless hero of Elder Scrolls lore. The other game you're talking about is just called Redguard, and it wasn't nearly as fun as Battlespire in my mind, though it had its moments. Lots more swashbuckling and combat-oriented than Battlespire was. *huggles* Areala

Alright, I was going easy on you this time. Next time, I'll pull out the bigger guns. *huggles* Areala

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAW!! C'mon into my domain, ladies and gents, and let's talk about the best durn console ever crafted by human hands (that's the Super NES for those of you who hold differences of opinion with me). *huggles* Areala

This forum's default view is set to the way the normal forum operates: topics are listed and sorted by posting order, and the most recent posts are at the top. While this makes it simple to keep up with updates when you've been browsing for a while, it makes it a bit hard to locate a specific game in the database without resorting to the Search function time after time. To remedy this, scroll down to the bottom of the page within the forum and check out the lower-right corner of the screen. Where it says: "Order: Last Post", click on the drop-down menu and change it to "Order: Topic Title". Then change the box next to it from "Z-A" to "A-Z" and click the "Go" button. The forum will sort itself into alphabetical order by game title, which should make locating a specific game very simple, especially if you aren't sure exactly how to spell it. Under the current naming scheme for the forum, game titles starting with "A", "An", or "The" will be listed instead by the next word in the title. For instance, "The Combatribes" will be found under "Combatribes, The" and not "The Combatribes". This should help prevent confusion and increase the general readability of the forums. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! *huggles* Areala

Well...I just checked the date and it is not April 1st, so I assume that they are serious. My only thought is, anything below 60% in most schools is considered an F. So, 50% or 0%, it's still an F. Why should this matter to them? Because they MIGHT score well enough on the tests and final to bring up a grade of 50% but not a grade of 0? I don't get it. Your parents will be (or at least SHOULD be) upset over a grade of F whether it's counted as 50% or lower. So, sorry about you, school in another state, but to borrow liberally from a prevailing internet meme...SCHOOL FAIL. *facepalm* Areala

Love it or loathe it, Survival Horror is here to stay. I'm curious to know peoples' views on this genre, what your favorite entries were, and which games or companies dropped the ball in your opinions. *huggles* Areala

Combatribes in action on the SNES. Note that in keeping with Nintendo's more family-friendly image when it was released, all the blood from the arcade version was removed. *huggles* Areala