AndrewTS

comment on 16 - actually, the tubes say such a beast is in the works, and will be shown/announced soon at Wee3 (the new, eunuch-y version of E3). comment on 17 - I distinctly remember that, and laughing my BUTT off at it. "So long, Plumberbox; you weren't worth waiting for." (launches it in a skeet shoot cannon and blasts it apart)

10. Gunstar Heroes' new box art. Old: http://gunstarheroes.classicgaming.gamespy...apanese_box.jpg New: http://gunstarheroes.classicgaming.gamespy...gunstar_box.jpg Although I guess it's not that bad compared to other box art changes. 11. http://ytmndsega.ytmnsfw.com/ 12. Shining Force 3. A game so HUGE and EPIC it had to be split into 3 parts. A game too HUGE and EPIC for the US and Europe to get parts 2 and 3. 13. Sega making a game so HUGE and EPIC it apparently had to be split into 3 different games with different SKUs, rather than making it a multi-disc game. 14. Panzer Dragoon Saga's limited production - "Nope, we still don't think people really dig RPGs in the US much. Let's make, like, 20 copies of it." 15. Sega Ages -- "Imagine your favorite games from the classic Sega days...now imagine them being raped by semi-PS1 era polygons and terrible control. And sold separately. And since US gamers will be wise to it by that point, let's plop them together on one disc and market them as 'classics'".

7. The awesome pack-in value that was Altered Beast. Because if anything will make you satisfied with your purchase, it's a slow-ass, generic side-scrolling beat-em-up that's got rather freaky voices, decent graphics and not much else.

HEADLINE: Gamer loses 15 pounds playing Wii!

At it's best, they were the #1 console maker in the U.S., had quite a bit of "edgey" marketing and kicked Nintendo's asses for a bit. Then there's pretty much every other point in time. Sega, once a mighty force in the game industry, is a 2nd rate publisher that was bought up by a damn pachinko company. How did they get there? By being really, really dumb. Everyone knows the biggies, but let's reflect on all of the little things that made them yesterday's news, shall we? Add as many as you want. 1. Beyond Oasis -- Sure, it's near the end of the Genesis lifecycle, but one of Sega Japan's more respected figures (albeit more as a music composers) has directed this kick ass little game that rivals the Zelda series in many ways. So, do you actually market it? Or throw it out on the market with limited production, a few lousy magazine ads, and pretty much ignore it's existence? Well, if you're Sega America, yes, that's exactly what you do. Who cares about building what could be a mega-huge new IP leading towards the next-gen when you can hock a ton of crappy licensed games? 2. We don't need no stinking RPGs -- Sega had absolutely no interest in promoting RPGs in the States at all. It's arguably because of Nintendo taking a wash on Dragon Warrior back in the 8-bit days, but come on--things changed a hell of a lot since then. Despite the fact that Sega had a glowing RPG series of their own, and a really good strat RPG series as well, you'd barely know they existed based on Sega's American marketing. 3. Knuckles' Chaotix -- So, the 32X is not really doing all that hot...granted, this happened before with Sega CD, but surely Sega could do something to save it? A must-have title to spark interest in the platform? Let's go to Sonic!...wait, no, how about that new character, Knuckles? Okay, great. So...do we get the Sonic 3/Knuckles team on it? Naw, how about most of the key Sonic CD players? Okay, questionable, but acceptable. But Knuckles alone wouldn't be in it...how about Knuckles and a bunch of other fuzzy and non-fuzzy anthropomorphic characters? Sure, why not. Although, how about we implement a play mechanic that gimps their speed at the expense of new play mechanics? Hmmm...now, we're getting a little more dubious. Okay, how about we release it in what is clearly an unfinished state--nearly no enemies in the levels, tons of little bugs, and virtually no puzzles that make any uses of the great new play mechanics? Brilliant! Oh, and make it impossible to buy anywhere. 4. FMV games -- Back before Nintendo figured out non-gamers would go nuts over digital sudoku, training their brains, and electronic puppies, Sega reached out towards the casual/non-gamer market. Sega decided that these potential gamers weren't interested in games because they weren't enough like really ****ty movies. Man, wasn't Dragon's Lair great? The animation, the humor, the deaths, the....um...gameplay based on pressing arbitrarily selected button commands at specifics points in time? Well, that's what Sega decided their CD system needed. But let's boil down the game to it's basics. Forget the gorgeous animation humor--that gameplay! That's it! Married to really grainy footage of actors who were hasbeens or never weres. Of course, Sega wasn't the only one to get into the act, because the 3D0 folks did too. Before Dana Plato and Kirk Cameron moved onto more worthwhile projects like snorting lots of coke and/or Christian propaganda films, they were doing FMV games. 5. "We're done here, shut out the lights when you're done Ninty." -- You have to hand it to Sega, they knew when to move on. None of this silly "supporting your system as long as it's commercially viable." Oh no. When the 32X and upcoming Saturn were on the way, it was time to focus exclusively on them. What? What's this? Nintendo has a new game coming up? With a computer-generated ape? Ah, who cares. They're like totally stuck in the past, dudes! It's all about sticking crap in the cartridge slot of your existing system and really awful 3D!

I've made that point about Beyond Oasis in the past. What's remarkable about it isn't just that it's a good Zelda clone, but it is still so polished. Crusader of Centy was a flat-out, blatant Zelda clone, and it lacked really any identity of its own. Beyond Oasis, OTOH, had fantastic graphics, gorgeous animation, well-designed dungeons, and it had a darker tone than any Zelda at the time. Sega of America had a retarded policy of the time of pushing a bunch of crappy licensed games at the time, while original IPs and *any* RPG would be lucky to get a print ad. However, Beyond Oasis has some flawed control. Despite being out long after the 6-button came out, the control was CRAMMED into 3 buttons. So you have silliness like jump and duck being controlled by a single button (tapping results in jump, holding results in a duck). It's very awkward. "But man, if any company could be considered the WCW of gaming it's Sega. They had everything and ruined it through monumental stupidity." Agreed. The reason I'm a big Nintendo fan--I used to be a huge Sega fan first. "P.S. I am still holding out for the TurboGrafx's Neutopia on the VC. That would be my first online purchase for the system." Isn't it kind of redundant, with 2 classic *real* Zelda games already on there?

Anya doesn't like the 8-bit.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/nintendo/new-vc-t...ousy-231849.php BEYOND OASIS!! (Yeah, I noticed OOT is on there too. I already own it enough, though. )

You forgot the full title, which is Kid Kool and the Quest for the Seven Wonder Herbs. No comment necessary. Did it have multiple playable characters, though? There's lots of debate on just what the hell game Decap Attack/Magical Hat Flying Turbo Adventure is the sequel to. Geez, Vic Tokai sucked at naming games.

Zapper?! ZAPPER?! There is no Sega "Zapper"!!!! PHASER! Psycho Fox is awesome. I never heard or played the game until I played my brother in law's master system...in 1998 or so. Even so I played the crap out of it. Good game. Double Dragon in SMS is better than the NES for one simple reason: 2 player simultaneous. I've never played the Genesis Double Dragon--Double Dragon dojo says the controls suck on it, though. I've actually picked up some master system games, a Master Gear converter, and have a Game Gear on the way through Ebay.

Wario Land: Master of Disguise, the awesome new DS Metroid-ish game is due out in March for the U.S. We all know about the Wario Ware games, but his platformers are really awesome too. Try them if you haven't already (and have a GBA to play Wario Land 1-3 on). Oh, and a look back at Wario's humble beginnings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuwSGbYw4X8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ6OcJLgWOY&NR Nintendo had such awesome commercials back in the day. Youtube doesn't have the Wario Land 1 (SML3) commercial, though.

I assumed so, and it was mentioned in the original topic that people could drop hints and stuff.

Countering the Magic Punch is the key. Tap down to block about every half-second. As long as you can at least successfully block the last few punches, he gets dizzy and has to take a breather--score a direct punch to the face immediately when he's stopped spinning to score an instant knockdown. Also, when he's about to punch you in the face and the jewel flashes, hit him in the face to earn a super punch.

It's less "not any games" and more "the games that are coming out are lame licensed games, gamecube ports, or both." When *I* can't muster much enthusiasm for Prince of Persia Wii (another lame port), that's pretty bad.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/ds/gears-cracks-j...arts-231307.php Gears of War does something Halo couldn't: penetrate the Japanese market like a vicious tentacle beast.

Don't judge it by whether or not you'd listen to the song by itself. That totally isn't the point. The stories, the beat patterns, the dance moves of the Agents--all factors that, even with an annoying song, can make for a really fun gameplay experience. Although there are perhaps 1 or 2 (La La and Skater Boi namely) that are so bad you just want to get through it and not be bothered with ever again. However, YMCA is *scary* fun. Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! is filled with overplayed Japanese pop that I'd never listen to by themselves, too. Yeah I'll probably pick it up and suffer through the music, but damn you I didn't know La La and Skater Boi were on there too. That doesn't help me wanting to buy it. If it helps ease the pain any, they're just covers, not the actual recordings.

I picked up the game. Wal-Mart had like 5 copies left. As opposed to EB, where they have no flipping idea when they'll even get the game in. It's Scurge: Hive all over again. I don't expect to dig into it for a while, but I figured may as well get it now before the presumed low print run leads to it becoming super-rare and selling for $60+ on Ebay. Oh, and it ran $29.92 at Wal-Mart, in case you're wondering the price. I expect whenever EB/Gamestop actually gets the game it'll be $34.99.

Don't judge it by whether or not you'd listen to the song by itself. That totally isn't the point. The stories, the beat patterns, the dance moves of the Agents--all factors that, even with an annoying song, can make for a really fun gameplay experience. Although there are perhaps 1 or 2 (La La and Skater Boi namely) that are so bad you just want to get through it and not be bothered with ever again. However, YMCA is *scary* fun. Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! is filled with overplayed Japanese pop that I'd never listen to by themselves, too.

Yup. It's cane dude. Odd that you "weren't that good at it." I've managed to make nearly everyone else my bitch, especially with time attack practice. I can even counter the Bull Charge on both MTPO and SPO (left body punch right on the 3rd hop for the instant knockdown).

I've never managed to beat Hoy Quarlow on Super Punch Out.

You're not the first person I've heard express their dislike or outright hatred for Canned Heat, which is somewhat surprising to me not only as a Jamiroquai fan but because there are several truly awful songs on this game much more deserving of scorn. I'd like to rephrase that: I have no problems with the song, but I hate the Canned Heat level. The beats are so weird and awkward. It took me a heck of a long time to beat it on normal. Jumpin' Jack Flash on Normal is killing me.

Congrats on obtaining your Wii, Leena. How you end up getting it? I know you were adamantly against camping out for a sale.

Yeah, so stupid it was terrific (Infomercial the Musical). It also featured the "I'm-a-gonna-go to hell when I die" song.

http://www.court-records.net/icons/mirica.png http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp...px-Karin-z3.jpg Hmm...well, both are Capcom games.

If it works it shouldn't matter for a trade in. Whomever would end up with your system has no warranty save for what the retailer offers, anyway. A while back when EB/Gamestops were taking trade ins on broken PS2s for refurbishing, I gave them a phat one that was opened and previously had a flip-top lid installed. They took it anyway and gave me the appropriate credit.