That’s great news. I’m definitely interested in whatever they’re making.
I was pleasantly surprised how well most of the gameboy stuff aged when I pulled it out of storage last year. Half of the games I had as a teen are still a lot of fun, or good enough to appreciate how the genres have changed.
Totally true. I’ve been investigating Game Boy over the last year because I bought a Super Game Boy to use with my Super Nt and there really are timeless classics on that system. What I really like is many of them are quick plays, designed specifically for portability, and yet have lots of depth below the immediacy. It’s what I also loved about the Game Boy Advance games which was where I finally stepped into portable Nintendo.
If Analogue makes an FPGA handheld, they’ll probably have my money. I’ll probably get myself a Mega Sg for Christmas. I really like what they’re doing.
Man…that seems like a tricky thing to do physical design for to make it a) reminiscent of the original, while also b) respecting modern ergonomics and size / battery expectations. I’d be very interested in what they come up with. Maybe something Game Boy Color-ish?
It’s certainly possible that it will be Game Boy Color-esque. I don’t think we should rule out the possibility of it being a TV connected device that plays all the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games.
That’s the article. Analogue 8 sounds intriguing to me too. I’d love to see an affordable device that covers all the 8-bit stuff. Realistically, as our old hardware fails, this is where things will need to be unless you’re getting repairmen involved, which I would do depending on the machine.
While I picked up Astral Chain on Friday and intended to play that exclusively as time allowed this past weekend, I ended up playing something else entirely yesterday…
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/sega-ages-gain-ground-switch/
Gain Ground is one of Sega’s somewhat forgotten arcade games that after years of mostly ignoring it, I might put up there among some of the most impressive games of the era. It’s a classic not because of how it looks (which is rather homely to be honest) but because of the gameplay, which is sublime.
The gist is simple…
A long period of peace has deprived the earthlings of their instinct to wage war. The Federated Government, greatly concerned regarding this ever increasing dangerous situation, developed a Gain Ground simulation system in the year 2348 in an effort to instigate their ever waning fighting spirit However, suddenly without warning, the Supercomputer went berserk and took many of the citizens as hostages. In order to rescue the POWs, three of the bravest warriors were urgently dispatched to go forth into the deadly Gain Ground.
…because 1988.
What makes it so unique is that it’s a hybrid of action, shooting, strategy and even a little puzzling. The game’s characters all have strengths and weaknesses and there are levels you absolutely must have certain characters to clear. Figuring out who and when is part of its charm and puzzle nature. Strategizing how to best use each person on a particular level engages brain work you rarely find in action games. Because death for any one character could mean losing them until a Game Over, each of them is so precious. Occasionally you may have to sacrifice someone to attempt a revival that you require for the next difficult level to come. It’s really intricate and involved but if you’ve never played it and you saw it in an arcade, you probably wouldn’t have any idea about all these underlying mechanics.
I find it to be quite brilliant, and when this Sega Ages release came out, I just didn’t have the time to play it. I think it shipped the same week as Alex Kidd but also that Out Run was on sale that week so I bought that instead. Gain Ground is $5.99 until Thursday in the US and tomorrow in the UK, I think. The controls definitely take some time to grow accustomed to, and you will die a lot. It’s an arcade game for sure and it is brutal in the ways that description entails, but I’d also argue it’s totally fair. I know when I’m getting greedy or being careless and that’s when I pay for it. I’ll play it a bunch more.
The Ages updates include a bug fix for the final level, a rewind feature that should make the game easier to play, flip grip support, a mode where you get all the dudes right at the start instead of having to locate them throughout the game, and a bunch of other smaller things. It also is a blast to play multiplayer for two or three players. That adds more enemies to fight though, so expect it to still remain difficult, although you can mess with difficulty too. Probably not the first game you thought of for Sega Ages, but one that totally stands up to the test of time due to its unique and rarely imitated gameplay.
I learned many, many years later it had a cult following, in the ways of Psychic-5, Xain’d Sleena or other brilliant arcade games that were not trying to simply eat your quarters. Heck, back then, I had even no idea you could finish some of the games!
I have been intrigued by this Sega Ages release — in truthfulness, any game in that marvelous collection is intriguing me nowadays!- and all the comfort it seems to bring…
Now with your write-up, I’m definitely picking it up and that will give the lovely [not]Saturn pad some play time!
It’s kinda nuts. The Nintendolife review of the Sega Ages release isn’t very kind to it and one thing he complains about is that the characters are sometimes left or right handed! It actually does affect how you play, which IMO is a brilliant little detail but in his opinion is a maddening addition. That sort of attention to detail is so unique in its design that it could frankly only come from Japan in 1988.
The strange thing is the designer is listed as “Mac Austin”. I can’t seem to find any info on that person. There is an interview with the programmer here that’s pretty dang interesting…
I love stuff like this…
Sega: At the time, in 1988, I think it was rare for an arcade game to only have non-scrolling single screens. Was that also something you decided on during that design stage?
Yoshiki Ooka: Originally, we wanted to implement scrolling but scrolling games are hard to play in multiplayer. For example when one player is in the back doing his best, but the others move forward and force the screen to scroll. There are games that implement that, but in the end not all players can move freely. This game is more tactical; you have to plan ahead when to kill which enemy, and you have to form a strategy and follow it. When we started programming, we had endless arguments until we just put in the fixed screens. By the way, the top-down perspective was planned from the beginning.
…like, think about that kind of thing today… how many would simply take that step back and basically say (paraphrasing): Let’s restrict it to one screen, because people are assholes and scroll shit too fast.
I can’t help but read this is a direct hit at Gauntlet — man, those jerking scrolls were infuriating!
Japan had such a thing for improving games.
Edit: haha, in the interview, he makes it even clearer!
Destiny did something similar these days. They choose not to have matchmaking for Raids, because, basically, people are jerks, and they want to encourage you to find your own groups and organize it yourself, with the idea that you’ll find people who are closer to your own desire in how to play the Raid, versus what an algorithm would do by throwing you in with random strangers.
I’m not sure if it was the right decision or not, but not playing the Raid until I actually played it with my friends when they were actually free, it was definitely a hilarious and exciting experience. We played it again one day but used 3rd party software to put us in with other strangers, and it wasn’t the same, since the other guys had a lot more experience than us, and were rushing us along the whole time, telling us exactly what to do instead of letting us figure it out.
The Smash Bros Terry Bogard reveal trailer is some quality Neo Geo sprite comedy. Also some quality trolling.
Gain Ground isn’t as great as i remember because about half the characters are mirrors of another with a simple control twist, but it’s still a ton of fun and the music is burned into my brain.
I have a giant pile of Master System, Genesis and (lesser) SNES games i should probably sell at this point. Kind of tired of lugging them around with me for decades.
In Japan, the Darius Cozmic Collections have finally reached the downloads out of their cartridges. Of course, they are ridiculously priced: 5.616 yens for the Arcade one (the one to buy, with Darius, Darius II and Darius Gaiden), and 7.020 yens (!) for the separate “Consumer edition”, featuring all the ports that were thought to be shit compared to the arcade originals back in the 16 bits day.
Seeing what happened with Ninja Warriors Again (who got released recently in the West, at a much more sensible price), I think we can hope!
I grabbed Gain Ground and I totally can see how it was throwing off people, especially in a time when Arcade games were all about being so flashy compared to consoles or computers.
This version, with all the extra bits made to make you enjoy the game properly while you learn it, is amazing. I didn’t expect the Tate mode, with some amazing cabinet artwork, nor how good System 24’s resolution looks on a modern screen.
And that tune is darn catchy.
If you decide to sell, LMK. I still buy Genesis and SNES stuff as budget allows. That said, if you have a place for them and have any inkling of playing again, keep ‘em!
Lately, as much as I enjoy certain modern games, I find myself so much more enamored of the 16 and 32-bit eras of gaming. I think it’s because of the length of these games and all that lovely sprite design and animation. I just really prefer the quick hitting style of arcade games and the home games of that era.
No messing around back then! Right down to bidness.
Darius Cozmic Collection finally as a digital release is nice. I will likely get the arcade one if it ever gets to the US. I adore Darius Gaiden on Sega Saturn. That game was just beautiful and haunting with that amazing Zuntata soundtrack!
Notable is the Darius game that will be on the soon to be released Genesis Mini. That’s an all new port!
As long as we’re here, might as well mention that SNK announced their new hardware, which is Fight Stick, apparently. Maybe similar to the bizarre stick Capcom announced (i.e. built in games)? Or maybe just a stick.
No details on the parts or anything either. Really just a tease at this point.
First, why this when they hold the secret to one of the best joysticks ever. Second, this looks nothing like the (awful) Neo CD controller.
Who are those guys claiming to be SNK?!
Yeah, that was a weird announcement, which I guess I kind of expected, because SNK really struggles to understand their niche sometimes.
That said, I’ve spent some time with that Neo Geo Mini and it’s damn good. The screen is impressive. I’m very happy with that purchase.
I would’ve rather seen a nice ~$30 release of those Neo-Geo USB controllers that cost more like $50 to import. But I already have arcade sticks.
Hey y’all, do y’all know if it’s possible to control a Wii without its sensor bar?
The sensor bar is pretty much just 2 infrared LEDs. So yeah, but you do need something similar.