HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY, YEAR OF RETRO GAMING!

 

BRAND NEW SERIES: IRVYNE'S GAME ROOM

Hello everybody in blog-land. Are you still there...?

Echo!

(Echo, echo, echo, echo...)

 

So 9 years after I first started this blog, I've returned with the first video of a new series. I hope you enjoy it. I'll be honest, I've had the idea of this series in my mind for a number of years now. I moved into a new house 2 years ago and set up a dedicated games room, which is still a work-in-progress.

I thought I would like to share some of the things I've collected over the years with all of you out there in internet-land, and here we are!

Have you got any interesting "Legend of Zelda" stuff to share?

I make no promises on timelines for this series. One memory that came flooding back to me in the creation of this video is how much TIME it takes to produce them. (It doesn't help that I'm a perfectionist - check the backgrounds and music clips throughout - each one has been selected meticulously) It might be weeks before Episode 2, it might be months. We'll see how I go. But I can tell you that the next cabinet includes Metroid, Mega Man and Final Fantasy games and tidbits. Three more of my faves! :-D

Hope you're all doing okay during this difficult time. Catch ya on the flip-side!

IT'S HAPPENED. IT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Although there have been a number of cool reveals at E3 so far this year, this - in my opinion - dwarfs everything else by far.
  

Square-Enix, thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU.

They finally did it.
  

Since poring over magazine articles and screenshots throughout 1994 and 1995 - about 25 YEARS AGO! - I have longed for the day that I would be able to play an official, translated copy of Seiken Densetsu 3. I'd pretty much resigned myself to thinking this day would never come. I've played through Neil Corlett's excellent translation a number of times and I even got a reproduction Super N.E.S. cartridge.
  

But now it's real. Square-Enix announced it this morning. And I've got it on my Switch now. It's enough to bring a tear to the eye.
  

"Trials Of Mana." Interesting that this is the title they decided to give it. Back in the day, it was rumoured to be called "Power of Mana," or "Secret of Mana 2," although I never liked that title, since it was technically the third game in the series.

There's also a fully 3D remake coming out next year. Not sure how I feel about that. I didn't even download the remakes of the first two games, since I heard they weren't particularly good. I also hate the way the voice-actors say "manna" instead of "mana." But we'll see how it turns out. I might be willing to get it to see the story playing out in 3D.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me. The only other E3 news that comes close is that there's an actual sequel to Breath of the Wild in development. Oooooooh baby!!

Now if you'll excuse me... I have to see if I can get Hawkeye to the city of Wendel. ^_^

VERY IMPRESSIVE!

It's crazy when you see a speed-run like this, you begin to realise... Games like Castlevania really aren't very long at all! That's why the developers needed to make their games so darn difficult!

ONE MORE STASH OF SUPER N.E.S. BOX-ART

Okay, here's 20 more boxes to finish the collection. If you've got any others that you'd like me to whip up, do let me know. I've had a bit of fun doing this, I won't lie.

 

1. Bubsy The Bobcat

(Poor Bubsy really hasn't aged well. The graphics are still pretty nice, and the tunes are great, but the gameplay is just so weird and imprecise. Play at thy own risk...)

 

2. Do-Re-Mi Fantasy

(Meanwhile, this cute little platformer is great! And I can verify that a translated-patched ROM works perfectly on the Super N.E.S. Mini! Huzzah!)

 

3. Final Fight

(A good port, but outside of the arcade, the game isn't really that great to begin with. Also missing two-player, but might still be worth having in your collection...)

 

4. The Lion King

(This game goes from good fun to borderline-unplayable, but it's almost worth having just for the excellent graphics.)

 

5. Micro Machines

(I haven't played much of this, but lots of people seem to love it.)

 

6. Mortal Kombat

(I put the second game in earlier, so might as well include the others, in case anyone wants them. The first game was revolutionary for its time, but it's really not a very good game.)

 

7. Mortal Kombat 3

(The third game is much better, but I still don't think it has a fraction of Street Fighter's playability.)

 

8. Plok

(This game starts as a fantastic fun platformer, and then suddenly becomes a dull collect-a-thon half way through. I never did complete it...)

 

9. Push-Over

(I'm including this here because it's a great puzzle game, but as of now, I can't seem to get it to work on the Super N.E.S. Mini... It just goes to a black screen and then comes up with a C7 error. Shame. But if it ever does work, here's the box-art for you!)

 

10. Sim City

(One of the Super N.E.S.'s launch games, and probably my favourite version of this game. Something about that calm, soothing music...)

 

11. Smash Tennis

(This great tennis game was for Japan and PAL regions only, which made putting it on the Mini tricky. I ended up patching my PAL cart to play as NTSC, and it mostly works. There are some hi-res menus that stretch out, but it's easy to figure your way around it. Also the game seems strangely fast - probably just because I'm so used to playing it in 50Hz!)

 

12. Sparkster

(This almost-forgotten Konami platformer is pretty darn difficult, but still good fun.)

 

13. Starfox

(Okay, I said I couldn't make it work, but my O.C.D. side gave in, and I made it work. I couldn't handle having "Starwing" next to "Starfox 2." Hahaha!)

 

14. Super Adventure Island

(There's not really a whole lot to this game, but it's still good fun.)

 

15. Super Adventure Island II

(The sequel is a much bigger, much more substantial game, with a few R.P.G. elements thrown in for good measure!)

 

16. Super Bomberman

(A classic. Too bad you can't have more than two players. But oh well, better than nothing.)

 

17. Tetris & Dr. Mario

(These are great ports of these puzzle classics. I find that I've been spoiled by modern Tetris however, and I really miss the inventory slot!)

 

18. Tetris Attack

(You know I hadn't even played this until very recently? It's barely Tetris at all - really a completely different game - but it's really addictive! Definitely worth putting on the system!)

 

19. TMNT Tournament Fighters

(It's not Street Fighter. But it's about as close as anybody got in the 16-bit era.)

 

20. Wild Guns

(For a game about crazily shooting everything in sight, this game is surprisingly tactical!)

 

So there you have it. Pretty sure I've made boxes for all of the main classics. (I've definitely filled up my little system anyway!) Let me know if you want me to make up something I've missed.

 

Til then, stay cool and enjoy your little mini-Super Nintendos! ^_^

EEEEEVEN MORE AMAZING SUPER NES BOX ART!

What's that? You'd like 15 MORE boxes for your Super Nintendo Classic upgrade? Well, I'd be happy to oblige! 

Let's see, this time we will start with...

1. Axelay

(The Super N.E.S. Mini doesn't have any Shmup representation, so this would fit the bill nicely)

2. Demon's Crest

(A relatively unknown Capcom game that's actually pretty good!)

3. Earthworm Jim

(In gameplay terms, this game hasn't aged very gracefully, but its great graphics and sense of humour still rock!)

4. Final Fantasy IV

(A lot of people have super-fond memories of this. Since the first FF game we ever saw in Australia was FF7, I only played through this game well-and-truly after the fact, and while it's definitely a great R.P.G., it's nowhere near as good as the ones that came after it. Speaking of...)

5. Final Fantasy V

(The story is dumb - FF4 has a better story - but the job-based gameplay is absolutely fantastic! The Super Famicom version never came to the west, so you might have to find a fan-translation...)

6. Jurassic Park

(The indoor first-person levels barely even run, but this game still manages to be pretty good. Its biggest problem - no save system - would be remedied with the Super N.E.S. Mini.)

7. Kirby's Dream Land 3

(Those of you playing at home might remember in Episode 67.5 I played the two latter-day Kirby games and found that I really quite enjoyed this one, although it was very odd that it got released so close to Super Star / Fun Pak.)

8. The Magical Quest

(Now we get to a trilogy of games the whole family can enjoy... because they're so easy. Good fun though!)

9. The Magical Quest 2

(The second game was very much more-of-the-same, but it added a 2-player option which is great for playing with the kiddies!)

10. The Magical Quest 3

(I must apologise for this box art - it's awful - but that was seriously the best I could do. The game never got released outside Japan, and there is barely any artwork for it at all online. I took this from the Japanese box, but of course, Japanese Super Famicom boxes were portrait layout. Anyway, this was about as good as I could get it.)

11. Mortal Kombat II

(There'd probably be some debate about which MK game(s) should be on the system. From memory, I actually felt like the 3rd game was the best one, but MKII is definitely the most popular.)

12. Prince of Persia

(Out of the thousands of different versions of this game, I think this was probably my favourite. Konami took Jordan Mechner's game and made it their own.)

13. Tales of Phantasia

(I never got around to finishing this one - it's still on my Pile of Shame - but I did think it was pretty great. I wonder if it might take up too much space on the Super N.E.S. Mini though...)

14. Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose

(This Konami platformer was pretty popular back in its day, but has been largely forgotten over the years.)

15. Unirally / Uniracers

(Did you know that Pixar sued the creators of this game, for allegedly stealing their I.P? And all copies of the game were pulled from shelves, making it quite the rarity?)

That's all for now. I'll put some more up later. Let me know if you have any requests. ^_^

EVEN MORE BOX ART!!

I'm on a roll! Here's ten more games I hope to add to my Super N.E.S. Mini when I get the chance!

 

1. ActRaiser

(Such a weird, great game! Though it'll probably remain forgotten to the sands of time...)

 

2. Aladdin

(Definitely one of the best movie tie-in games ever!)

 

3. Illusion of Gaia / Illusion of Time

(The middle part of the Quintet trilogy... I still have nightmares about the little pig roasting itself...)

 

4. Mega Man & Bass

(It's stupidly difficult and not as refined as other games in the series, but it's still an important part of Mega Man's history, and the ability to use save-states might actually make the game achievable!)

 

5. Legend of the Mystical Ninja

(Wacky Japanese weirdness was probably too weird for the original release - it was included in the Japanese version though!)

 

6. Parodius

(Speaking of Japanese weirdness... This game is bonkers! But that's what makes it awesome! It's also really fun.)

 

7. Pilotwings

(I'm not the hugest fan of this game, but it's an important part of Nintendo's history)

 

8. Soul Blazer

(The first part of Quintet's trilogy! It's not as good as its younger brothers, but it can still be quite engaging.)

 

9. Stunt Race FX

(Hey, if the Starfox games can run on the Super N.E.S. Mini, why not Stunt Race? I really wish Nintendo had somehow managed to bring these FX-chip games up to 30 frames-per-second. It would make them 500% more enjoyable.)

 

10. Turtles In Time

(An awesome arcade game got an awesome 16-bit port! The only downside is Konami's boring insistence that all of their games should have a dull grey box...)

 

There's 10 more boxes for ya! More coming soon!