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Virtual Console is Nintendo's name for the service that will allow them to provide roms of classic games to Wii customers. Along with NES, SNES, and N64 games there will also be Turbografix 16 titles available on the service.

The more I hear about this system the more I like about it. Now if the have Parasol Stars for it I'm completely sold.

Puzzle Bobble

first hit on google, a better description of what Hitler sees when he closes his eyes... er, Snacks n' Jaxson:

http://mvt3k.overclocked.org/episode006.htm

I've known about this game for years, thanks to Mystery Videogame Theater 3000. I can't read Seanbaby's review at the moment due to being at work, but my guess is the one just linked is better.

It's pretty hilarious. Then again, Mario 2 featured a transexual dinosaur who ejected eggs from its snout which you then threw back at ver, so I suppose Snacks'n Jaxson isn't all that beyond the pale for videogame weirdness.

Sega Saturn - (1 Star)
Shortest marketing life span I have ever seen. Their marketing guys went to lunch and never came back.

In japan, Sega had the most awesome marketing guys working for them during the Saturn/Dreamcast era. They made the legendary Segata Sanshiro campaign for the Saturn.

It was protagonized by a Judoka, called Segata Sanshiro (a pun on a famous Judoka called Sugata Sanshiro), who traveled through Japan, pummeling kids who were playing baseball, or dancing, instead of playing with their Sega Saturns.

Genius!

It also featured a kick ass theme, in Japanese, that featured another pun on his name. Segata Sanshiro was mispronounced as "Sega Saturn shiro!" which means "Play Sega Saturn!".

Other idiotic things Segata did included training with a giant Sega Saturn on his back, and punching a giant Saturn controller. Or throwing another Judoka, that exploded when touching the floor (for the bomberman game).

This campaign was so succesful, that it keeped the Saturn selling, even with the lacking game library.

http://www.vgmix.com/ http://remix.overclocked.org/ The two best VG remix sites I know. Much better than the OSTs, mostly because you've heard those variations a million times already.

I'm gonna go a little farther with this set of critiques...

1 - Very limited due to hardware of the day. Desperately needs a remake to at least bring it up to the level of 6. Magic system was far too simple. Item system was OK.

2 - Needs a *real* US release. Playstation ports are slow and sucky. GBA lacks the living-room-comfort factor Also should get "the treatment" and bring it up to more modern standards. Once they've done that, I could play it and comment on it as a game.

3 - Has anyone that doesn't read/speak Japanese even seen this one? Same stuff as 2.

4 - Fuck "easytype". Give me the real deal. And a sequel. They did X-2, why not IV-2? Then again, there really wasn't much left to do at the end. As far as the game goes, Magic left much to be desired, though weapons/armor were fleshed out quite nicely. Needs a few more special items (tails and such) and some side quests.

5 - Ownage. Needs an update, but not much of one. A few more secrets and side quests would be nice. The Job/Ability system kicks ass, as does most of the magic. It would be nice if you couldn't just walk into shops in the first 3 towns and buy 90% of the black/white spells in the game, though. 1 had them spread out through the entire game, which was nice.

6 - Perfection. Scads of playable characters, and a way to configure your battle parties accordingly. Spells were restricted at first (making them precious), then opened up to all (making them powerful). This was balanced by the large numbers of MP needed to cast anything worthwhile and the small MP gained on each level-up. Weapons/Armor is fleshed out to the max. Plenty of secrets, special items, and side quests to go around.

7 - OH GOD IT BURNS! No story, awful magic system, weapons/armor are pathetic at best, secrets, special items, and side quests all spring from a crunched release schedule and the inability for Square to release a finished game on time combined with the odd quirks of leftover code that had to be cordoned off from the player's view. How many billion hours of perfectly useable geek time were wasted trying to figure out how to get Aeris back?

8 - The story is just... odd. It makes NO sense. None. It's there, it's trying, but all you can get from it are bits and pieces due to crappy cutscenes and lack of meaningful dialogue. But all the FF's have suffered from a distinct lack of meaningful dialogue (like "..." in, well, all the FF games and check out Zany Videogame Quotes for more). The magic system was interesting and refreshing. It would've worked better if it was added onto one of the other FF magic systems. Weapons/Armor were virtually nonexistent.

9 - I only played this one a little bit. I remember getting to disc 2. The constant splitting of your party got annoying very quickly. Every cutscene would send someone else out of your party in a game where you would barely survive even regular random fights. Very difficult. And the story was getting weird by disc 2. I don't remember magic being crap like some of the others, so it must've been ok. Weapons and armor were hard to come by, I recall. I never made it far enough to get to any special stuff or side quests.

And that's when I gave up on Final Fantasy. I don't have as much time to play as I used to, and I think that's part of why I didn't enjoy the more recent games. Or maybe they really were just that crappy, and I just lost interest quickly due to that. One thing is for sure... whether they make their games for Nintendo or not, they need to go back to making them like the ones they used to make for Nintendo. The ones on Sony systems should be destroyed, buried, and forgotten.

That and Bubble Bobble. No, not Puzzle Bobble. Bubble Bobble.

A whole article, and yet not a single word about how Snood is a straight rip-off of Puzzle Bobble...

> I'm wondering if you would consider rewriting a Shakespeare play in this format...

My god, this would do wonders to help students who need to write reports on reading.

But in the mean time I bet you will enjoy this...

Anyone peering in on this topic would be wasting his/her time by going to vgmusic.com - MIDI is a poor representation of the true glory of the videogame soundtracks of yesteryear.

With the development of digitally ripped (not recorded, we're talking the actual original data ripped directly from the game) soundtracks in the format of NSF, SPC, GSF, USF, PSF, and others, there's absolutely no point to downloading poorly interpreted general MIDI adaptations of these songs.

Download entire soundtracks in original format.

PSX and PS2
NES
SNES
Nintendo 64
GameBoy Advance

Don't subject yourself to the lack of organization at a poorly designed (ahaha powerlord sux at php rofl ;D) MIDI site.

It's remixes you're looking for? Look no further.

vgmix.net
Overclocked Remix

I'm also a big fan of the Grandia series, and I'm amazed that it's not more popular. As well as being witty and well written, it has the best combat system of any RPG I've played; it's fast paced but very deep indeed.

Anyway, I find that when I play it on the PS2, the original Grandia hangs occasionally in the midst of battle. I've always suspected that this was either a memory leak or a disc streaming problem, which I imagine a PC-based emulator would be less prone to. So, do you get random hangs (e.g. climbing the wall towards the end of disc 1) with the emulator?

OC Remix

There is a lot of game music out there that's amazingly good, especially from the PSX era onwards.

A lot of the Squaresoft RPGs on the SNES had awesome music as well. RPGs in general tend to have pretty good soundtracks, in fact.

Opps, I forgot that the original overclocked.org is so outdated that the main links don't work. To view the comics, click goto http://www.overclocked.org/current.htm and then use the pulldown menu to choose your episode.

Here are some other places to listen to videogame music in nontradional ways.

First there are the minibosses http://minibosses.com/ They are a cover band of videogame music that preform live shows. They even have a few MP3s on their site.

Then there is djpretzel's remix.overclocked.org http://remix.overclocked.org/ Here you can find tons of songs set to a beat. For the true emulation nerd, check out the original overclocked.org http://www.overclocked.org/ comic strips. They are well dated, but still bring a smile to my face.

Here are some other places to listen to videogame music in nontradional ways.

First there are the minibosses http://minibosses.com/ They are a cover band of videogame music that preform live shows. They even have a few MP3s on their site.

Then there is djpretzel's remix.overclocked.org http://remix.overclocked.org/ Here you can find tons of songs set to a beat. For the true emulation nerd, check out the original overclocked.org http://www.overclocked.org/ comic strips. They are well dated, but still bring a smile to my face.

I guess it's linky time. There's an entire website dedicated to weird video game quotes, even many that aren't even Japanese:

Zany Video Game Quotes

The idea is not that games should create new forms of music,
the idea is that music can change a game from being 7 points rated
up to 8 points.

Play any game, especially like Silent Hill or Doom3, and you will
not be able to say that what you hear does not add to the tension
in the game.

Music should be same. Music should add to the game.

Old Commodore 64 games had powerfull music. It played while game
was loading, it was not ambient, it carried a tune which you could
whistle. Can you whistle to me the Doom3 tune? its too ambient
and its too bland. Can you whistle to me Duke Nukem 3d tune? YUP!

Another point, a remarkable game that broke grounds with music
was Jedi Knight (not sure if 1 or 2), depending on whats happening
(or about to) the music tone would change from being peacefull
minuet to a violent orchestral explosions.

Here is another thing, visit remix.overclocked.org
or vgmix.com and count remixes, both
sites sport slightly more than 1000 remixes for ALL platforms
from handhelds, through consoles, to pc based games. Then visit
a site like remix.kwed.org and you
will see 1000 remixes of c64 games alone.

That should tell you how memorable c64 music is, and how little
people recall and liked music from other system.

music should be memorable
music should add to the game
music should not be treated as the background ambient noise

--
/apz, I want music I can whistle while in the bus

Hmm... I thought Snood was pretty derivative.

There is the Video Game song remix site that I've visited from time to time. Some of them are very well-done remixes. If you're into video game music, check Overclocked out.

Better than an article

I highly doubt that. Second place MAYBE, but not first.

Battle Rangers would take #1. Hands down.

Best Video Game Quote Ever.

Ditto.

Yeah... but are you still willing to say that after listening to this?

*honk*

Flubbed URL. I think you meant to post this link: http://remix.overclocked.org/

Um, try this instead: http://remix.overclocked.org/index.php

They all look like Puzzle Bobble to me, and that was for the SNES, which is even older than the platforms listed for Bust a Move. I can't find any source for a NES version having existed, though the arcade and GameGear versions listed on that page may have been of that era.

If you want to hear some unique sounds, check out Overclocked Remix. This is a growing community of enthusiasts who remix original game soundtracks, sometimes creating stuff far better then the original. They have many varieties of remixes that would fall under the categories of techno, industrial, and jazz. Tons of talent there, definately worth checking out.

Yes indeedy that was from Impossible Mission, one of the raddest games for that sweet, sweet little C64 that we know and love and jerk our pathetic little pricks to whenever we get the chance.

Yeah, sure the Turbo Duo was great, but did it have full voice emulation, a host of killer robots AND heroes that had 15 frames of RUNNING ANIMATION?!

I think you and I both know the answer to that!

If anybody wants to get the sound clips from that sweet, sweet game (really, the sound bites are fucking phenomenal and awesome) one should head, MOSEY if they would over to ZVGQ and peruse the IM page. Truly, worth your time. And a way fucking better meme than the Zero Wing intro (coincidentally, ZVGQ was the originator of that insipid, braincurdling little sack of shit and Lago would rather have nothing to do with the site anymore as a result) Hooray for progress!

Linky poo: http://zanyvg.overclocked.org/impossiblemission/in dex.html

BTW, old versions of Connectix Virtual Game Station would play Japanese titles without mods.

That almost gives me a good justification to owning a cell phone :)

I got a couple of awesome arkanoid theme remixes off of Overclocked Remix that were pretty good as well...

I can still see excitment on graphics or sound with modern games. It's just on a very diffrent level.

No longer is it "Hey, they mad the NES say 'IM BAD' using nothing but beeps and tones!!!" ala "Bad Dudes". Now it's "Wow, the soundtrack to this game rocks. Music is top notch, etc, etc..." Ever watch a movie? Ever thought "The soundtrack to this film is great." Same thing with modern games.

Graphics, however are not at that nearly 100% realistic level yet. The Final Fantasy movie came damn close, but it's still not there. And no games produce that kind of quality in real time yet anyway. So, yes, it's very possible to get excited about graphics of a new game the same way we did in moving from Super Mario Bros to SMB 2 or 3, or NES to SNES, or MIDI to Sound Blaster(TM). I stil remember the first time I played Doom with a sound card. WAY diffrent experience! Now there are games like Thief that are so sound centric, that it's unplayable without sound.

But aren't we missing the big picture?

Citizen Kubuto looked great, but what about gameplay?

I'd rather play Super Mario Bros. 3.

It's more FUN (to me at leat). It's got better game play. New games aren't all devoid of great gameplay (Half-Life, Max Payne, Starcraft, Super Smash Bros Mele, and the Grand Theft Auto series come to mind...)

These days the next big thing can very well be a great new way of using the game to tell the story (Wing Commander did this, and so did Half-Life (Think about it, what other game never leaves the 1st person perspective even for a one second cut scene, ever?)) Or the next big thing can be a gimick like Bullet Time in Max Payne. Or it can just be a georgous new rehash of an older saga, like Metroid Prime. On the surface, it's just a FPS, in the Metroid universe. the graphics are georgous, but are they more or less so than Return To Castle Wolenstein, or Alien Vs. Predator 2? I dunno. Hard to say. But Metroid Prime certainly has me excited. I can't wait to delve into another chapter of Samus' adventure. We shall see how well a side scroller like Metroid translates to an FPS.

For further reading, may I suggest you play any of the Donkey Kong Country series on the SNES. Pay close attention to Cranky Kong. You'd like him. ( ;

Does anyone know if this going to be 3D or 2D? I am guessing the former because the Full Throttle sequel is 3D from what I have seen thus far. If my guess is correct it will be interesting to see how Sam & Max translates to the 3D world because it was very 2D animated game with some weird geometry and architecture in some areas. I remember Max had a secret 3D cameo in Jedi Knight and that looked kind of weird. Fingers crossed they get the same voice actors and composer too, which if you have never heard you can hear in this remix

I can't download any files through "Save target as..." in Internet Explorer for the past half a day. Even attempting to right-click links to save web pages that load normally results in a 7-second wait followed by "Internet Explorer was unable to open this internet site..." I was wondering what was happening.

Ironically, I CAN still use Kazaa Light - it's working perfectly. I've been able to download several techno songs mentioned in a recent slashdot article. Incidently, happy hardcore is a fun little sub-genre, though I still prefer video game remixes - which I can't download now from overclocked!

I'm located in central Florida. Perhaps the local Time Warner folks are just experimenting now. I'll call tech support monday if nothing resolves itself.

It appears that another peice of evidence that ISP's can't police intellectual properties and still be expected to provide a stable service, if that's what they are doing in my case. :^)

Ryan Fenton

• Minister
• Kahr
• Bassic

Remixes: I'm a big fan of video game remixes, for instance. In cases like those, there's next to no legal issues involved, and there should be no charge. Similarly though, would other types of remixes be immune, even if they extensively used clips from existing songs?

Unusual selections: If a radio station had, for instance, old audio commercials, which although possibly copywritten, would generally raise no major issues over lost income for the owners, would those follow similar charges? How about theme songs, or approved short song clips?

On a related note, would station creators be responsible for metering just what was being played at all times, and to how many people? The sheer processor use and disk space required to keep such a log alone would bankrupt most online radio stations, I'd think.

Ryan Fenton

Looks like OverClocked ReMix.
As I can see, some of the composers are the same in the album and the web site. heh.

BTW, OC Remix has perpetual bandwidth problems. You'll probably have better luck downloading these mixes from a P2P filesharing tool (the FAQ encourages people to share on OpenNap, Gnutella, Kazaa, etc.), or from OCR's IRC channel (on EnterTheGame).

BTW, OC Remix has perpetual bandwidth problems. You'll probably have better luck downloading these mixes from a P2P filesharing tool (the FAQ encourages people to share on OpenNap, Gnutella, Kazaa, etc.), or from OCR's IRC channel (on EnterTheGame).

Also, search for the Rabbit Joint and try and find their "Legend of Zelda" song. You will laugh your ass off. "Link...he come to town...come to save...the princess zelda!"
It used to be on MP3.com, but it's gone now. Probably lawyers didn't like it.

You can find it at Overclocked.

• GBS (Gameboy)
• GYM (Genesis)
• VGM (SMS/GG)
• NSF (NES)
• SPC (SNES)

OverClocked Remix

There is another site that has been around for a while that deals only with video game remixes as well. Overlocked Remix has listings of numerous MP3 format video game music remixes. The genres range from classical to techno to ambient to rock.

Since you need to create a fairly high quality remix in order to get listed on the site, almost all of the music on that site is worth the listen.

They also have some remixes. Mostly it's ripped stuff, though.
Also, if you're willing to wade through tons of "inspired by" shit, MP3.com's electronic section has lots of good remixes...many are also on other sites like remix.overclocked.org, though.

• Puzzle Bobble
• Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
• Mahjongg (the real game, not the Taipei solitaire thing)

I've heard it commented many times that the series as a whole is slowly declining and even more whining over Uematsu's musical ability, yet none the less the game continue to be popular enough to warrent a decent fan following. Each release will the first introduction to the series to many gamers. I would venture that many of those gamers do not own a SNES or NES that they could play the older games on, so the only frame of referance they have are the more recent sequals.

Square wouldn't be making another sequal if they didn't think there wasn't a demand for it.

Probably the same reason that almost half of the remixes at Overclocked Remix are from a Final Fantasy game. :P

Holy Lord! That Japanese Sex Catalog was the funniest display of bad grammar since Metal Gear! If only this were around in A.D. 2101, maybe CATS wouldn't have expressed his frustrations so viciously....

Holy Lord! That Japanese Sex Catalog was the funniest display of bad grammar since Metal Gear! If only this were around in A.D. 2101, maybe CATS wouldn't have expressed his frustrations so viciously....

Now, most of you "l33t c0unt73rs7r1k3 d00ds" out there could probably care less that Mame(mighty mighty Mame), runs on Bill's little black-and-translucent-green baby. You'll just go back to your pansy girl game of Counterstrike, secure in knowing that you'll never put money into the Beast From Redmond's coffers, that you'll never wrap your greasy, sweaty hands, hands that still reek of smegma from your last session of furious masturbation to shoddily rendered Sailor Moon animated .gifs... No, you'll never wrap those hands around the meaty, massive, beautiful Xbox controller. No, you'll just go back to bitching about snipers and wall hacks.

This bitter, dissafected recluse, on the other hand shall be clamoring for an Xbox. For you, little whitebread Halflife-playing suburban pinko, will never know the utter joy that I, and folks like myself will be partaking in when we boot up the Moon Rangor, Monkey Donkey or Photograph Boy rom images.

You folks may be content with playing you Halo, and your Munch's Oddysee, or even the purile Counterstrike, but as for me, baby. As for me, I'll find my evenings curled up in front of a roaring, sparking space heater, Xbox controller in hand, pounding the mortal fuck through the Insane Worrier...

I bid you, fellow Slashbots, a warm farewell...
________

Now, most of you "l33t c0unt73rs7r1k3 d00ds" out there could probably care less that Mame(mighty mighty Mame), runs on Bill's little black-and-translucent-green baby. You'll just go back to your pansy girl game of Counterstrike, secure in knowing that you'll never put money into the Beast From Redmond's coffers, that you'll never wrap your greasy, sweaty hands, hands that still reek of smegma from your last session of furious masturbation to shoddily rendered Sailor Moon animated .gifs... No, you'll never wrap those hands around the meaty, massive, beautiful Xbox controller. No, you'll just go back to bitching about snipers and wall hacks.

This bitter, dissafected recluse, on the other hand shall be clamoring for an Xbox. For you, little whitebread Halflife-playing suburban pinko, will never know the utter joy that I, and folks like myself will be partaking in when we boot up the Moon Rangor, Monkey Donkey or Photograph Boy rom images.

You folks may be content with playing you Halo, and your Munch's Oddysee, or even the purile Counterstrike, but as for me, baby. As for me, I'll find my evenings curled up in front of a roaring, sparking space heater, Xbox controller in hand, pounding the mortal fuck through the Insane Worrier...

I bid you, fellow Slashbots, a warm farewell...
________