Ty came over my house last night and we decided to record ourselves playing a game I recently purchased from Craigslist (of all places): Radiant Silvergun for the Sega Saturn. I suck at shmups pretty badly, so we don’t get very far. By the way, I’m the one you can hear in the video mashing buttons. It wouldn’t be the last time that night I pointlessly mashed buttons (we also played Vampire Savior).

YouTube Version

Video Netcast Version
Subscribe to Famicom Dojo on iTunes
Direct Link: Famicom Dojo S2 - Episode 01 - What Nintendon’t (incl. “Train Your Game”)

What, more Sega? Sure, but it will all make sense in context. Even Sega needs love too, you know!

Show Notes
Famicom Dojo Season 2: What Nintendon’t @ Powet.TV

Leave us a shout out below to let us know what you think, and what you hope to see in Season 2!

Also, don’t forget to join our Facebook page and Twitter to keep up-to-date on Famicom Dojo news!”

YouTube Version

Video Netcast Version
Subscribe to Famicom Dojo on iTunes
Direct Link: Famicom Dojo S2 - Sega Family Tree Special

How does the beautiful HD feel? Mmmm…

Show Notes
Famicom Dojo Season 2: Sega Family Tree @ Powet.TV

In honor of the launch of Season 2, the Season 1 DVD is only $9.95 for the month of March! March Madness? Clearly! Get your copy today!

Also, don’t forget to join our Facebook page and Twitter to keep up-to-date on Famicom Dojo news!

Usually Alex will send me some crappy and beaten up games to review for this column. Other times, rarely, the games are only one or the other. It’s why I’ve tried selling a few of the junky titles (they’re complete, and maybe someone out there WANTS to be the manager of a Japanese “boy” band made up of thirty-somethings), and it’s also why I have some pretty cool games in my collection that aren’t in a condition I’d normally accept them in if I were buying them. Today we’re going to do something different here at Head Off. Instead of reviewing junk in the poor-game-design sense, we’ll be looking at some junk in the beaten-up-and-missing-parts sense. All the games talked about today will be good ones.

Vampire Savior (The Lord of Vampire - yes the cover says this like it’s the subtitle) - Sega Saturn - Darkstalkers, as Capcom saw fit to rename this series in the West, is one of my favorite fighting games. In fact, I only really like two fighting game series: Darkstalkers and Tekken. That’s mostly because I suck at fighting games. While Darkstalkers isn’t the button-masher that Tekken is, I still find it much easier to pull off (and stumble across) combos and special moves. The thing that really endears me to the series, though, is the cast of characters. In what other game can you play as a homicidal, machine-gun-toting LIttle Red Riding Hood? Or an ancient Egyptian mummy complete with sarcophagus? Or a bee girl that shoots… bees… out of her… beehive? Okay that one is just plain weird. But that’s really the charm of the game. You have no idea what you’re going to experience. The backgrounds, art direction, character design… pretty much every gameplay element contributes to making this amazing fighting game come to life. The level and attention to detail that Capcom invested in this game is pretty staggering (they tend to be known for that, particularly with their fighters, but this is the only one I’ve ever been able to get into). So why did Alex give this one away? The copy he sent me was disc and manual only. This wouldn’t be too bad except that Vampire Savior requires a RAM cart. I actually had to trade for another game just to be able to play this one. (I traded for X-Men vs Street Fighter, another Capcom fighting game, and one which I played for all of ten minutes before turning off in frustration and boredom. See? I’m just not a fan of fighting games.)

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So everyone’s writing articles and making videos about the games from the last decade, but what about the decade that birthed the modern era? Check out which games were hot in 1989!

Show Notes:
KEEP PLAYING: Rewind - Games of 1989 @ Powet.TV

I’ve used this space in the past to lament the lack of quirky Japanese titles that have seen localization in the States, at least pre-Playstation. Many of the weirder games never made it over here simply for being deemed too “Japanese” as if us Westerners just wouldn’t get it (which seems to be true for the most part given how so many of the early attempts were commercial failures). Switch for the Mega CD was one early attempt at selling the American public a quirky, truly bizarre and completely Japanese-influenced game. It’s U.S. release, retitled Panic!, was met with poor sales and mostly negative reviews. I have to admit, I’d never even heard of the game and, at first, assumed Switch was a Japan-only release. The good folks here at Rising Stuff were kind enough to supply me with this wonderfully weird game to review and, after playing it for twenty hours or so, I feel obligated to track down the American release. Better late than never, I suppose. (Read the rest of the review by clicking the “more” link!)

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I’ve never seen so much Sega love from one person. Srsly!

Show Notes:
KEEP PLAYING: Rewind - Fatal Labyrinth @ Powet.TV

Greetings and welcome to the world of WildWillyWilson (AKA ianwilson1978)

I recently was made aware of this website by a friend and have since been avidly viewing it - having recently made my first purchase from the store (look forward to receiving this guys…)!.

I would like to firstly offer my gratitude to the team at Rising Stuff for allowing me the opportunity to contribute to the website. I have found both Alex and Sensei very helpful and welcoming…

I am 30 years old (31 on 27/9- please make a note in your diaries!) and live in Newcastle Upon Tyne-UK (does this sound like a dating ad?!). Since March this year I have rekindled my love for the Sega Megadrive and started a hardware/software collection. Like many a child of the early 1990’s I owned this fantastic console (at UK launch in 1990) and now 19 years later it still remains my favourite console of all time.

Why is it my favourite you may ask? Well, where do I start…

• Classic arcade conversions (See Golden Axe & Strider…).
• The dawn of the 16 Bit Era- the true Golden Age of gaming in my opinion and never to be bettered.
• Those brooding looks- it really was a fantastic looking machine; especially the Japanese model.
• The birthplace of classic franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Fantastic original games such as ToeJam & Earl.
• True heaven for any Shoot-Em-Up fan with a vast array of titles and many many classics.

I could quite happily go on…

To the current generation of kids happily playing their PS3 or XBox 360 (I own a PS3 myself), taking a look at the Megadrive now it might strike them as a simple machine with basic, dare I say crude, graphics and sound. However this is to misunderstand what the Megadrive stood for at the time- in an era where amusement halls where a haven for kids to have a machine that produced near perfect arcade ports was really something special!

However, I am digressing…

Prior to owning my first Megadrive a friend of mine bought an imported machine from a local importer in Sunderland called Megaware. This was in 1988/1989 and its what I now believe was an Asian PAL Megadrive (more on this here). Hence my love affair with the Megadrive started- the first game I played being Altered Beast (which we completed on our first run and the console and game where handed back to his mother- it was a Christmas present!).

Fast forward to 1990 and I received my PAL MD, whilst most of the games I played where PAL region I did play quite a few also which were JPN NTSC (the old method of filing the cartridge slot- shudder to think of it now!). Games like Fatman, Ringside Angel & Dai Makai-Mura etc… I always thought the cover artwork was fantastic and the Japanese/Asian machine itself looked more purposeful with “16 Bit” emblazoned in gold along with the dark red and blue colouring (though I will always have a soft spot for the PAL MK1 machine also).

With this in mind I made the decision this year to collect a full set of official Japanese releases- 427 less Tetris (which wasnt an official commercial release). A daunting task I agree but one which I’m determined to complete funds permitting, I’m not setting a time limit- though to have this achieved by 2011/2012 would be great.

So I needed somewhere to use as a focus point/portal for this project and after looking at various You Tube channel’s (and in particular a certain one by Luke Morse) I decided to create my own You Tube channel. This seemed a great outlet to record the progress of my collection along with recording gameplay footage for each game I purchase amongst other things.

5 months on and I have met some friendly people who share a love for all things retro gaming related. I have a total of 66 games to date in my collection- 30 of which have gameplay videos uploaded and I will be uploading the remainder in the near future.

I look forward to contributing to this site further in the future and thank you for your time!

Ian.

Sindra, the hardest working woman at Keep Playing (well, the only one), does it again with Arcus Odyssey.

Show Notes:
KEEP PLAYING: Rewind - Arcus Odyssey @ Powet.TV

I recently finished Snatcher for the Sega CD and thought I’d write up a review for it. Eventually, the second part of this review will focus on the PC Engine CD version, which is uncensored and has a revised third act. I can’t say when that review will be posted, however, since I don’t own the PCE version at this time. (Meaning: Don’t hold your breath, but it’ll be up at some point within the year at least.)

Snatcher, at first glance, seemed like the kind of game that I’d hate. It’s an adventure title without even point-and-click interactivity (almost all interface is handled through menus) married to a first-person shooter game. I don’t like to think too hard when playing games, nor do I have any reflexes to speak of. Worst of all, it was written, directed and produced by Hideo Kojima. The one point that has most gamers salivating over the title is the one that turned me off of it the most. My problem with Kojima is that his games tend to be chock full of verbiage, with long stretches of expository dialogue and cutscenes. He has also stated in at least one interview that he wants to make games as real as possible, to the point of wishing he could design a game that self-destructed when the player died. Knowing this, it’s no wonder I find most of his games in the Metal Gear Solid series to be incredibly tedious. Video games are not real life, and when they try to emulate real life, I get bored and frustrated very quickly. Read more after the jump!

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