SUPER PLAY CORNER + A BIT MORE FAME!

It's over, but it's still going!

This morning I found this over at GameTrailers...

Very exciting! Now watch those thousands of hits build up! I doubt Terranigma has the mainstream appeal to reach the 9,000+ hits that the Super Metroid episode got, but it's already over 5,000 which is just really exciting to me.

Meanwhile, it's time to finish off the...

By the time 1996 came around, the 16-bit era was effectively dead (with a few outstanding exceptions) and you could tell that the poor creators of a Super Nintendo magazine had their work cut out for them trying to fill the entire mag with content. Of course, a lot of it was made up by news and rumours of the upcoming 64-bit machine, but yeah, by this stage the poor Super Nintendo was living on borrowed time.

Again, some of these picture files will be large. So chances are, you might need to save them to your computer and enlarge them, so that you can read all of the text. Right. On with the show. Let's see some of the highlights of the final four issues.

I find this kinda funny. "Rare's Worst Kept Secret," which turned out to be completely false! LOL.

Awwww, why would you tease everybody like that...?

I remembed at the time, this was almost unthinkable news! SURELY it was an April Fools joke or something! How could a MARIO game not get localised?? Unfortunately, it was completely true, and I think SuperPlay's assumptions in the last paragraph were likely right-on-the-money.

The Super Mario RPG sequel would, of course, turn into Paper Mario, released a good 5 years later, and being a game that - in my mind, anyway - surpasses the first in almost every way.

This is funny. While some of the rumours are WAY off the mark (Kid Icarus 64? LOL!) some of them are surprisingly accurate!

Kirby's Air Ride - originally planned as a launch game for the Nintendo64, arrived SEVEN YEARS LATER on the GameCube... and it was crap.

 

Sad news indeed. But all good things must come to an end, and the time of the 16-bit machines was more-or-less over. They had taken the ships at the Grey Havens and sailed to the undying lands with all that was left of their kin.

I can't tell you how many times I saw this page back in 1996. I would read this review over and over again, just dreaming of the possibility of actually owning this game. It was good that SuperPlay got to review it in their final issue.

The worst games on the Super Nintendo. Did you get stung by any of them...? 

And here we have the final sign-off from the Super Play crew. If any of the people who worked on the magazine happen to read this blog (very unlikely, I know, but possible) thank you for your wonderful magazine. It was truly the best.

Meanwhile, have you seen Fredde Gredde's YouTube videos? If you haven't, you really should. The guy is my new hero. He's a Swedish musician that specialises in multi-instrumentation. Check out this amazing Wind Waker rendition...

... as well as this mind-blowing 10-minute rock tribute to video game music...

Mind... blown.

I just realised that I had forgotten to mention the final standings of the 171 games that played this year.

SIXTEEN games fell. They just aren't really fun to play in 2012.

FIFTY-SIX games sat. They're still okay, but fond nostalgia would definitely help you enjoy them.

And... *drumroll*

NINETY-NINE games stood the test of time. That's a pretty darn good majority of the retro games I played this year are - in my opinion anyway - still really enjoyable to this day. Go play 'em. NOW!

This will probably be the last update. For a while, anyway. Thanks once again for visiting. Peace out!

EPISODE 68

Here it is, the final hurrah.

Not really much to say that isn't already in the video.

NB. Apologies for the weird glitch at around the 5:30 mark. Strange... No idea why it rendered out like that.

Thanks once again for visiting the blog and for those who left feedback. It makes all the effort worthwhile when you know people are watching. I may update again in a few days time to finish off the Super Play Corner, but apart from that, this is the end of the Year of Retro Gaming blog... for now, anyway.

Happy gaming everyone!

EPISODE 67

And that, as they say, is that.

I don't want to sound soppy or anything, but from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to the 24,000 people who've visited this blog, for sharing this year (and a half) of retro gaming with me. I'm glad I ended the year with such a fantastic game.

I'm not quite done yet. Hopefully within 4 or 5 days the final episode should be up and then it's time for me to have a REST!! Thanks again for watching.

EPISODE 66

Second-last week of retro gaming, people!! And this is one of the longest videos. Sorry, I do tend to waffle whenever Mega Man is involved... <_<

So there you have it. Only one more game to play, and I'm halfway through it now. I should be done just in time for me to go on an overseas holiday for 2 months. Phew! I was wondering if I was going to make it for a while there...

Do you think MMX3 deserves to sit? It's not a bad game, but I just felt it was a noticeable step down from the previous ones, apart from the fact that it offered more different paths to play.

Catch ya on the flipside! :-)

SUPER PLAY CORNER: JANUARY - MAY 1996

Get yourself a big cup of coffee, this is gonna be a big 'un.

Due to the number of Super Nintendo games drying right up into 1996, there was less to really talk about in magazines such as Super Play, and most discussion had moved on to the upcoming consoles, the already-released PlayStation which at this time was a nice piece of kit but didn't really have any great games yet, and the on-the-brink-of-release Nintendo64.

As usual, I'll just let you know that some of the images here are large and the writing might be difficult to read. If you can't make your browser view them full-size, just save the pictures to your computer and view them in the picture-viewer of your choice. Enjoy! ^_^

Yet another great idea that just never really took off. I was amazed that Nintendo actually had the tenacity to release the 64DD in Japan. It was an interesting experiment, and one of Nintendo's first entries into an online-enabled system. The bottom line is though, the Nintendo64 should have used the DD discs as its storage medium right off the bat. Sure, they didn't hold as much data as a CD, but they were at least better than cartridges! The mad collector in me would love to own a 64DD, so it could sit alongside the Virtual Boy and Panasonic Q that I don't own either. ;-)

I actually own 2 issues of "Weekly Famitsu." Even though I can hardly understand anything, they're still a fascinating read... ehhh... a fascinating "look."

Here we go! *ding ding* Place your bets, and back your favourite. They're both great games, but I've gotta say, I agree with Super Play's outcome for the victor.

... And here was the news that no self-respecting Super Nintendo fan wanted to hear. It was almost too horrible to be true... Square had abandoned Nintendo. Funny quote there from the American guy about how the Japanese Square branch sent the N64 development kits back to Nintendo. Ouch. That's gotta hurt the ol' pride!

So here's Super Play's Top 100 Super Nintendo games!
A quick count told me that I've played 49 of these games this year.
What do you reckon? Would you change much of this list? I was a bit sad to see that Seiken Densetsu 3 was nowhere on the list (It should definitely be in the Top 10!) but perhaps they just hadn't played much of it yet. They SHOULD have, since its Japanese release was in September 1995, and this issue was published in March 1996. Oh well.
I think I'd probably have to agree with their Number 1 spot, although I'd probably move Final Fantasy VI and Super Metroid a bit closer to the top.

Ah, the first whispers of the GameBoy Advance... Or more likely the GameBoy Color, since that was still 2 years away. Amazing that the old black-and-white GameBoy lasted for so long.
LOL @ "SnesBoy."

I must admit, I have a soft spot for good video game OSTs, in particular the more grand, sweeping R.P.G. scores like Uematsu's Final Fantasy. In fact, in just a few nights I am going to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra perform a one-off concert highlighting some video game music. Looking forward to that!

I included this Q&A page purely for the answer to the question posed in the bottom-left-hand corner. Namely, what the crap happened to Starfox 2? This is the closest we ever came to official confirmation that the game had been canned. In fact, there WAS no official confirmation. I think Nintendo just drew everyone's attention away towards the big black bohemoth looming on the horizon and hoped that everyone would forget about poor Fox and co.

Phew! Hope you found that enjoyable and / or insightful. There were only ever 4 more issues of Super Play, which I'll perhaps post up another time. Meanwhile, the new Donkey Kong / Mega Man video should be up in a day or two... It's gonna be pretty darn big... Possibly the longest episode yet. Yikes!

See ya soon!

EPISODE 65

Here we are again! Get your mushrooms ready, it's Super Mario time!

'Tis a good 'un, that's for sure. I forgot to mention in the video that, although the poor PAL regions (once again) got shafted when it came to this game, it did get a local release on the Virtual Console... But... y'know, I've got the real thing, which is a thousand times better... 'cause it's REAL. So ner.

The next video should be up before very long. In fact, it could be ready to go in the next couple of days if I can chain myself to the computer for long enough. The end is in sight!! Two more videos to go!!!