The Future is Now: Neo Geo CD Overview and Super Sidekicks 2 Mini Review

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Welcome the latest edition of the Teeezy game console collection, the Neo Geo CD. As a fan of arcade action, beautiful sprite work, and obscurity/history, the SNK and Neo Geo brand has always interested me. So much of the gaming experiences in the 1990's was bringing the arcade experience home, whether it was actual ports of games, improving technology, or even control schemes. So what did SNK do? Literally bring the arcade technology home! The Neo Geo AES was released in 1990 and had the same hardware framework as their arcade cabinet counterpart, the MVS. Those same games were brought home from the MVS to the AES playing exactly the same as their arcade counterpart. Being ahead of the home competition allowed SNK to support the MVS well into the 2000's well after the PS2 and Xbox had released, despite the architecture not being comparable to those systems. So what's the catch? The cost! The system originally released for $650 with games costing around the $200-300 dollar mark. Just as a reminder, that's 1990 $650. Adjusting for inflation, that puts the AES at $1553.30 in 2024. Needless to say the AES was a boujee console for a boujee consumer. A status symbol if you were lucky enough to own one as a kid. Because of this, SNK wanted to make their games more accessible to a larger audience, and with the revolution of CD-ROM technology they had a solution.

Enter the Neo Geo CD. Released in 1994, the Neo Geo CD was created to capture that larger audience by appealing to a more reasonable price point. Instead of placing the games on a large cartridge, SNK opted to place their games on a CD-ROM to charge around $40-$60 dollars for a game. In addition to the cost change, the larger storage capacity of CD's allowed for clearer red book audio, and added bonus content like concept art or exclusive content. This sounds like a dream scenario, but if you research the console or read reviews/coverage of the console in its heyday one common point of contention comes up, and that's the loading. The reduced memory and the nature of CD-ROM technology means that the larger your games, the more loading is required for a particular game. This works fine for smaller, earlier Neo Geo releases, where loading either happens all at the start or are comparable to other games of the time. As games got larger however, the loading times grow exponentially, especially with fighting games, the Neo Geo's bread and butter. On larger games like King of Fighters '98 or The Last Blade, loading happens sometimes after only seconds of gameplay followed by almost a minute of loading. SNK realized this issue, and in Japan actually released the Neo Geo CDZ featuring a double speed CD-ROM drive which helps load games faster, but it was too little too late. It is unavoidable if you're playing on original hardware, you will feel it. Nowadays, Neo Geo games are regularly available across multiple platforms or on original hardware with multi-carts, so is there any reason for playing on a Neo Geo CD today? Well for one, how can you ignore this fun little boot screen?

Charm aside, there were a few other reasons I was looking out for the console. There are a handful of console exclusives released that caught my eye, like Crossed Swords II a action RPG played from a pseudo 1st person perspective. As a fan of Saturn and PlayStation I also appreciate the packaging of NGCD games. They look good on a shelf together, and I might have a slight obsession with spine cards... Additionally, after playing lesser ports of Neo Geo games on consoles released in the same generation, you get a closer experience to the original on the CD because its built off the same hardware as the AES, just with a different mechanism to load the games. Personally, those loading times aren't something that I've been concerned with, as I play on a lot of other CD-based systems and deal with loading all the time. Some of the larger games I probably wouldn't look to play on the NGCD, but as another console to collect for, the library itself is very well balanced and doesn't have a lot of filler/shovelware. A perfect example of something that I would have no interest in on other consoles, but I've been enjoying on the NGCD is a soccer game. 

Super Sidekicks 2 is that soccer game, and was released the same year as the CD console. The game itself isn't very deep, but instead offers fast paced action with fun presentation. You play as the country of your choice, and go through a world tournament until you eventually become the world champ. The game is easy to pick up with a 3 button setup for both offense and defense, and the game gives you a brief tutorial before starting each session. Personally, the defense doesn't work as well as the offense with slide kicks and shoulder checks being difficult to hit, so I don't bother with it outside of some desperation plays. I wouldn't be talking about this game without its presentation. When you score a goal you get a fun cutscene of your player celebrating, or the opposing goalie punching the ground in anger. After halftime or at the start of a game you can hear the crowd chanting "Oleeee Ole Ole Oleee!". The best is when someone gets fouled, which shows both the player that got fouled and the player that committed the foul's reactions. It can turn into the player going super saiyan if you get fouled, and the computer player getting so pissed he screams and runs off the field. Outside of the main single player game, there is an exhibition mode if you want to play a single match or a 2-player game, and even the option to view the arcade attract mode which is fun. Not many sports games grab my attention outside of racing games or the occasional golf game, but this is the first soccer game that I can appreciate and for that I applaud the Neo Geo CD. 

Thanks for reading! I don't think I'll be prioritizing my collecting efforts for the Neo Geo CD, but any stand out experiences I play on the console I'm sure I'll talk about here. In the meantime, I'll be plugging away on a larger group of posts releasing later this year, with other content ideas in the meantime. I also really appreciate any feedback, so let me know if this kind of thing is interesting or if I should focus more on other content!

Sources:

https://www.giantbomb.com/neo-geo/3045-25/

https://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg90-neo_geo_cd.htm#page=reviews

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo_CD

Torg Gaming Expo Pickups and Experience

 TORG Gaming Expo '23

I missed out on Midwest Gaming Classic this year with changing jobs, but I had to go to TORG with it being a short drive away! TORG is held annually in Columbus, Ohio and is one of the premier expos in Ohio for video games. I was able to go last year for the first time, and I'll go into my experience more in just a second, but overall it was better than last year on just about every front! I also was able to set aside a decent budget for games this year as well with Genesis games and a few uncommon titles which I was happy to find most of what I was looking for! Lets get into the experience overall.

Experience

Huge shoutout to the expo staff for running a smooth experience this year. Last year TORG was just a one-day con, but the turnout was so good that they expanded it to the weekend and so they had much more people on staff to help people getting in. Again looking at last year, the line to get in was pretty long and if you don't know Ohio weather in November, it's pretty chilly especially at 9 in the morning. This year we were able to get in super quick, we were inside the venue in a separate waiting area, and the staff actually let us in 15 minutes early which was awesome. I'm pretty sure they also moved buildings even though it was technically the same venue as last year because it felt much bigger. There was probably 100 different vendors from individuals to local game stores to art vendors and tabletop games, all pretty standard for a convention of this type. It was also nice that they had food trucks outside of the venue as well as a food court inside the venue. We didn't stay the entire day, getting there at 9:30 and leaving around 3 but it only started getting busy around lunch time with our first trek around the expo being pretty chill. Best part of all, its only 20 bucks for a one day pass. I think they got it right this year for sure in terms of an overall experience and I'm excited to go next year.

Games

Now for the fun part, what games did I get? I got 11 different games this time around, and after not buying any games for like a month I was itching to buy. I won't post a ton of photos for some of the lower dollar items but I'll add in some of the highlights. Let's start with the Genesis games. First off I picked up some common games that I had found elsewhere but weren't in the best shape when I did, so these ones were in nice shape. Early on I found a nice CIB copy of Ms. Pacman which I wanted to try the 2-player after seeing it online. I also found a copy of Nigel Mansell's World Championship, which might be a hidden gem on the Genesis. The game also came out on Snes, but I really liked the music, there were a ton of courses to select from and the driving itself felt pretty good. I wish the tracks were a little bit wider to make passing cars easier but for 10 bucks it made sense to me to get it CIB. Not quite CIB but at least in the box I got Gunstar Heroes as well which was a much needed addition to the collection. I was surprised at the price as well, getting it in box for what you could get it loose was nice.

Lastly on Genesis I got Burning Force which I was really looking for and excited to get. The copy I got is really clean and the game has been a lot of fun so far. I only made up to stage 3-2 so there's more to experience, but well worth it having on my shelf. I'm looking to eventually get a few more of the Namco Genesis games with Rolling Thunder 2 and Phelios primarily on my list, but all in due time. 

From taking a look at my list of games that I was keeping an eye out for, I had a lot more DS games that I didn't end up getting, but I did get some Vita and 3DS games to fill the gap. Mario and Luigi: Dream Team was the first purchase of the con, and something I knew that I would be in the mood for after playing the Mario RPG remake on Switch, especially because I loved the previous games in the series. I also got a pair of Vita racing games, Ridge Racer and Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed. I heard that the Ridge Racer game was generally a pretty weak entry, and after playing it I can see that because there isn't a ton of single player content off the bat, but DLC certainly helps with that. Sonic Racing on the other hand was harder than I expected initially, but I can see myself playing a lot of this one as well. I'd say next on Vita I'm looking for Shiren the Wanderer and then spending some more money on some of the higher tier RPG's like YS and a few others.

Lastly, I picked up some miscellaneous PlayStation and Saturn games that I had my eye on for a long time now. There wasn't a import Saturn stuff unfortunately, a lot of the import games were Famicom, Pc Engine and surprisingly a lot of import GameCube games. I was able to find a copy of Fighters Megamix on Saturn that was imported thought, and added that to my collection pretty quickly as it was cheap, and I later learned that it might still be factory sealed which is cool. One pair of games that I had my eye on for a long time were Ace Combat 2 and 3 which I got both this time around as well. The more retro games I play nowadays, the more appreciation I have for Namco and what they've done not only in arcades but also during the PlayStation as well.

 By this point during the day I had bought most of what I was looking for, so we had stopped and ate some lunch and then took some time to check out the game museum that was there, and got a chance to play some Typing of the Dead 2-Player which was awesome! It definitely makes me want a Dreamcast sooner rather than later. There was still one game that I was looking for in particular, being Outrun 2006 Coast to Coast on PS2. The Xbox version looks better sure, but it's much more expensive and I just want to play the game. We went back around to the tables we had been to, and found one that we must've skipped over because they had a huge PS2 section where we found a copy! By this point of the convention I was pretty satisfied with my pickups, and started looking for some other goodies I could take home. I ended up getting some pins, t-shirts for my girlfriend and a custom tumbler cup and straw with the Q-Bert arcade marquee.

I had a great time at TORG this year and will definitely make it an annual occurrence. If you're nearby Columbus or even if you're a little further away, definitely try making it to the con next year because it seems to be getting better year after year. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I'll have another article up at the end of the year recapping some of the games I had a chance to play this year and I'll rank them in order. 

New Game Pickups 7/28/23

 New Game Pickupssssss

Back again with the new game pickups. I haven't been shopping for games as much as I used to over the past year or two, but that still doesn't mean I don't pick something up from time to time. I was able to sell some items I haven't played and that contributed to my budget, as well as take some friends to an arcade about 45 minutes away from me which was nice. They have an awesome media store there with a little bit of everything, and they were also one of the only stores I came across local to me that were willing to take my extra import Saturn games. Eventually I want to get a Neo-Geo CD and they actually had a few games, I should've picked up Crossed Swords there while I had the chance, but such is life. With that being said here are the games I was able to find local to me!

ESWAT is an early action platformer similar to your Rolling Thunders and Splatterhouses, where you aren't so much focused on the platforming but more the action side of things. Trying it out I had some issues in level 2 trying to figure out what to do, but after about 10 minutes or so I was able to progress. Other than that, its a solid, challenging experience that isn't very expensive either which is nice. These types of games are the reason I bought a Genesis so I'm happy I could expand more on my collection.

Yet another Genesis game we have Forgotten Worlds, a horizontal shooter by Capcom. Horizontal shooters for me always have had more personality than vertical ones, and Forgotten Worlds is no exception. In the game you can control the direction you shoot with a decently intuitive control scheme, where A and C rotate you and B shoots. I feel like the music leaves a little to be desired, and the game isn't exceedingly hard especially during the first few stages once you learn the controls and the stages. Another nice addition to the collection and one that feels feasible to beat in a short amount of time. 

I'm gonna be honest, I didn't even know this game existed. Pinballs games are something I wish were still being pushed out on occasion. Growing up I played some Pokemon Pinball as well as Fantastic Pinball on Saturn more recently, and I think video pinball gives experiences that you can't get from normal pinball games. The table in Pinball of the Dead is pretty neat and I'll definitely play more of it. Now I just have to get the Ruby and Sapphire Pokemon Pinball as well as Sonic Pinball Party both on GBA.

I've been playing my Vita a lot more recently, and so I was on the look out while at the arcade for some Vita games. This one was a recommendation from a friend that works at the arcade, made by the same people that worked on Odin Sphere and Dragons Crown which I was all about. My friend had some pretty high praise for the game so I may check it out sooner rather than later, but we will see. 

This was the other Vita game I was able to pick up while at the arcade, complete as well! I know Teraway was one of the few games that really took advantage of all of the Vita's features which some people may not be about, but as someone who grew up with a DS and Wii, gimmick controls are something I'm more accepting of. I wasn't a huge fan of LittleBigPlanet when I played it, but I have more faith in a 3D platformer I feel. Outside of Persona 4 Golden this was one of the Vita games I knew I wanted from the point of initially getting the system, so I'm happy I was able to find this one.

Expanding the Vita collection once more with a visual novel mystery game from part of the same series as 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. Visual novels are a genre that I'm wanting to get more into as of recent, and from what I've heard this series is a good one. Another game I'll be on the lookout for will be the Nonary Games which is another entry in the same series. It might be a while before I actually do end up playing this one, but I'm happy I was able to find the game for cheap!

If you've read my recent magazine spotlight you may recognize this one. Let's Tap was one of the first creative endeavors after Yuji Naka left Sega and formed his own company named Prope. I remember reading about this game back in the day with the fascination of being able to play the game without actually having to hold the controller. I don't know if I have a suitable surface for the Wii remote to sit on, but I'm sure I'll be able to find a suitable substitute. I was looking a little more into it and in Europe the game actually came with a foldable box along with the manual for you to rest your Wii remote on. 

I recently got to experience the Mister in all its glory as something to play my retro games on, and Kickle Cubicle was one of the games that we played while testing some things out. A fun little puzzle game that actually reminds me quite a bit of the arcade game Pengo by SEGA. Basically you push blocks around a top down stage to try and kill enemies and complete the stage. A fun little game which I found at a local shop, the same as Xexyz. I don't know much about Xexyz but I liked the name of it and it's by hudson who makes a lot of games on NES that I enjoy, so I figure that I give this one a shot as well. For me, games like these are a main reason why I love collecting for the NES, with a lot of games that I've never even heard of turning out to be someof my favorite games on the platform. Kabuki Quantum Fighter is a great example of a game that unless you collect or know about it, you'lll likely never play. But, I'm getting ahead of myself as this is a post for another time.

Another game I enjoyed on the Mister was Devil Dice on PS1.  How I had never heard of this game prior to this point is beyond me, but this one was right up my alley. Devil Dice is a two-player competitive multiplayer puzzle game where you play as a lil' devil climbing on top of dice and trying to match the faces up to eliminate them from the board. It really is unlike any other game I've experienced and was a ton of fun. They also mad e some further sequels on PS2 named Bombastic which may be a bit easier to find in the wild. Still, give this one a shot if you ever get the opportunity!

Project X Zone to me makes complete sense and I don't know why I didn't have this game sooner. From what I understand its a crossover between Sega, Namco and Capcom all wrapped up into a tactical RPG experience . I read and watched some reviews on this game before buying the special edition that I found, and some people were complaining about the story, but the story isn't the main reason I would play this game. For me, its all going to be about the fanservice and which characters I recognize and can build my team around. There was a 2nd one of these actually made as well (how the hell that happened I'll never know) but its a little more expensive than this game, so I'll have to see how this one turns out

Lastly, these two were a complete surprise to me as I hadn't even known of their existence until I saw them. The Magnavox odyssey 2 is a console I don't often collect for just because its not something I have hooked up very frequently. From time to time I do come across some Odyssey 2 games in the wild, but I was very surprised to see these two. Let's start with the Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt. Unfortunately I found out I was missing a few pieces including the manual and some smaller pieces involved in the higher levels of difficulty offered, but even without you'll still be able to play the game. Its a one or two player game where you're able to trade stocks on the open market. As long as you buy low and sell high you should turn out just fine. As far as the 2nd game, The Quest For The Rings looks to be similar to a DND adventure. I don't know too much about this one so I'm excited to learn more as I play because I have all the pieces for this one. 

That's all for my recent pickups! I got some big games I'm looking forward to in the month of August like Sea of Stars and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, but those won't come out physically until much later I'm sure. I know this article is coming out a bit later than when I started writing it, but I wasn't stressing myself out getting a post out. If you read all the way through let me know if there are any other games I should keep my eye out for! Thanks again and I hope you have a great rest of your day!

New Game Pickups as of 6/15/23

 New Game Pickups June 2023

Welcome back to another edition of new game pickups where I highlight some games that I've been buying over the past month or so. This month was pretty busy outside of game collecting, my apartment just had some nice renovations done to it with a new kitchen/bathrooms being put in. This meant I had to put away all my games before the contractors came in, and I had to reorganize all my games which was nice change of pace. I did get some time to make some to do some decent game shopping and go to some game stores I don't normally go to, as well as a pretty big purchase that I'll detail a little bit more in another post. With that being said, let's take a look at what I spend my money on.

First off a DS game that I had known about growing up, and decided to check out, Trauma Center: Under the Knife. Developed by Atlus and published by Nintendo here in the states, Trauma Center is a visual novel/surgeon simulator with a fun twist where you find out you have special surgeon powers and you help as many people as you can. I think I originally found out about this believe it or not from Super Smash Bros Brawl, where they had the Chronicle section that showed every Nintendo published game up to that point. I started playing this one and so far it's pretty good. The characters have personality, and definitely takes some darker themes being that you're saving peoples' lives after injury or disease. Some of the surgeries I've done have been pretty stressful too, I don't think I could be a real surgeon lol. A lot of the surgeries that I have done have been pretty down to the wire, but you unlock some tools that make things a bit easier in order to fight off a new disease that pretty much only you can treat. So far so good, I'm interested to see where the story goes with this one.

Here's one that I was looking to get back after having as a kid. Fossil Fighters is a DS RPG where you dig for fossils, resurrect them and fight in battles with other dinosaur owners. Very similar to Pokémon with it's creature collection, pretty simple story and battle system but I remember having a lot of fun with this one. Trying to dig up fossils to the best of your ability trying to make sure that they'll get as strong as possible was pretty cool, and I liked how all battles were 3-on-3. Thankfully I still had the sequel Fossil Fighters Champions, but somewhere along the line I had lost my cartridge for the original game. I still had the case for the game so now it's sitting pretty on my shelf

 This was a mega cheap game that I only really got because the store I bought from I was using store credit, and didn't want to leave 3 bucks just sitting there. That being said, True Swing Golf has a neat little background. The game was developed by T&E Soft (who made every golf game known to man) and actually published by Nintendo and marketed as part of their Touch Generations line of games that were meant to appeal to a wider audience. Nothing could be easier than swinging a golf club with a stylus according to Nintendo until they figured out what a Wii remote could do. I enjoy a few golf games from time to time, so for 3 bucks I figured why not. 

This one I was really happy to find as Metal Slug games are some of my favorite to pick up and play. Metal Slug Anthology is a collection of games from the series 1-6 giving you every major Metal Slug game up to that point. I bought the Wii version of the game but it also came out on PS2 and PSP. I actually was going to buy the PS2 version, but the Wii version was 10 bucks cheaper, and my Wii collection isn't as big so I figured this would be a great addition. One thing I am a little disappointed in is that it doesn't support the Wii classic controller, but after reading the manual it looks like GameCube controller support is available which is enough for me. I really only played the OG Metal Slug and Metal Slug X so I'm excited to check out all the other games in the series, especially with some co-op too.

It's not every day I get to find a new racing game to obsess over but I think Auto Modellista will fill that void for me. Developed by Capcom, this was an era in the early 2000's when everyone was trying their hand at simulation racers after the major success of Gran Turismo. Capcom's attempt has a few things to help it stand out, with the main one being a cel-shaded art style. Most games from this era with similar art like Wind Waker or Jet Set Radio have aged really well, and Auto Modellista is no different as the game looks awesome. Capcom themselves have made a ton of great games in the past, but aren't really known for their racing games so it'll be interesting to see how it plays. I also don't really know why the GameCube version of the game is so expensive, I thought the PS2 version would be as well but the game was like 15 bucks. Look out for a review later down the line once I sink my teeth into it. 

Watching the new PlayStation presentation one of the games that had me most excited was the announcement of the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake. That game along with a few other games they announced might be the reason I finally get a next generation console. Along with actually playing Metal Gear Solid 3 before the game comes out, I wanted to check out some other Kojima games that he had made before the game came out. One of those I actually found while out shopping, Zone of the Enders. Zone of the Enders to my knowledge is a mech hack and slash game with a pretty involved plot. I learned about the game from SomecallmeJohnny on YouTube and his review of Metal Gear Solid 2. Either way, I think it looks interesting enough to check out.

As a Sega Saturn fan this one was probably the pickup I got most excited to find. Nights Journey of Dreams is the direct sequel to the Saturn game Nights into Dreams. The Saturn original is one of my favorite games for the platform with its great visuals for the console as well as gameplay that isn't really matched by any other game because it's so unique.  I remember this game being covered in Nintendo Power as well, so when I saw this on the shelf I had to pick it up. I'm sure the game will use some sort of motion control since it is on the Wii, but most games from the Saturn didn't get follow-ups so I'll take what I can get.

Last but certainly not least we have the only new release out of all of these games is Capcom's newest entry in the Street Fighter franchise, Street Fighter 6. I wasn't really following the prerelease information about this game too much so I didn't have that same hype I would for some other games, but I really enjoy a lot of the older games in the franchise and the game looked beautiful so I wanted to give it a shot. After playing the game for a few hours with friends and in the training room I'm loving it so far. Characters are more expressive and have some great new tools like the Drive Rush or the return of the parry system to all characters which I'm a big fan of. This is also the first fighting game that a lot of my friends are playing simultaneously which I'm excited about, because normally I'll just grind out combos in the training room and play the arcade modes. Right now though the characters I'm enjoying the most are Dee Jay and E. Honda, although Lily and Kimberly are pretty cool to mess around with as well. Capcom is having a hell of a year in 2023 and I can't wait to see what they put out next, including the remake of Ghost Trick to look out for!

Overall a little bit slower this month, I didn't really get a chance to go out and game shop the way I would like but still got some great games added in. There's another surprise coming soon like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, but I'm still working on that before I fully write that post out. In terms of what is on the horizon, my lovely girlfriend is very excited to play the new Bethesda release Starfield and I don't have a good PC to really play on, so a new Xbox will most likely be in my future as well which I'll be excited to sink my teeth into. I've never owned a Microsoft console, and I know it does have some backwards compatibility with the older consoles that I'll be interested along with some newer releases like the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake. Otherwise thanks for taking time to read and I hope you have a great rest of your day!

New Game Pickups as of 5/6/23

 New Game Pickups!

Here we are back again with a new game pickups. The rest of this month has been pretty good overall, found some decent games that I've known about for a while now, as well as some games I just picked up on a whim. Local game shops have been pretty good as of late, the one closest to my house had some uncommon games brought in. I mostly have been buying lower dollar games, I haven't found anything super interesting as of late that's higher dollar. Research has been slow as well finding those games that I'm SUPER interested in, mostly because I've been learning about my new job, but I've also been actually playing some of my games (crazy I know). With that being said, lets look at some of the new games!

Game #1

It finally came out! At this point I never thought it would with all of the delays from it being one of my most anticipated games of 2022, to one of my most of 2023. Originally developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Gameboy Advance, with this remake developed by Wayforward and published by Nintendo, Advance Wars is a strategy RPG where you control an army and it's units in order to defeat another army. I grew up playing the original Advance Wars and it's what got me into branching out into some other SRPG's. The charm of the units and character design, music and simple to understand yet difficult to master combat were things I was looking forward to in the remake. Something interesting that I saw (haven't confirmed yet) that because the game was delayed for about a year, if you got the physical version you aren't able to redeem the gold points for the game because you have to do so within a 12 month period of buying the game. Strange how this series has a history of delays due to real world events, with this game being delayed because of the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the original release being cancelled in Japan and not released until several years later in a combo pack because of 9/11. That being said, I'm glad the game is out now and I can't wait to sink my teeth into this game once I finish some other games.

Game #2

This I picked up on a whim, and because it said Sega on the cover lol. The DS was heavily marketed towards general audiences, so games like this with real world connections and just being simple to understand were prevalent. Sega Casino is another in a line from companies just capitalizing on the trend of the time. It's got 11 different games on the cart that originate from casinos like Blackjack, Texas Hold em' and Roulette. I'd be excited to see if Sega has any of their flair in the music or extra options, maybe see if I can customize my cards or something neat. If not, I got it for 5 bucks and its another piece of Sega to add to my collection.

Game #3

Similar to Sega Casino, this game is part of the Touch Generations series of games that Nintendo put out meant to appeal to a broad range of people. This game however, is a little bit more serious being a murder mystery visual novel. Nintendo has a history of visual novels, originally making a few for the Famicom and actually rereleasing some on the Switch as the Famicom Detective Club games. The game plays similarly to the investigation sections in a Phoenix Wright game where you play as a detective using the touch screen to find evidence, talk with people and try to solve the mystery. As of recently I've been gravitating towards the Visual Novel as a genre, its something that has become much bigger in the states but it wasn't always that way. 

Game #4 

This was another game I picked up on a whim. Growing up I played the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games quite a bit and was always wanting something more than that franchise. I'm hoping that this game will fill a little bit of that gap. Here you play as a Chocobo that ventures through randomly generated dungeons trying to get to the end of it, and maybe fight a boss, leveling up through battling other opponents in a mix of top down SRPG and JRPG combat. The Chocobo series has been prevalent since the PSX era with racing games, mystery dungeon games and other minigame collections. This game also got a remake on the Switch, known as Chocobo Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy!. I don't think this game will have it, but I'm looking for a mystery dungeon game that has some good multiplayer, maybe have 2 players explore each floor simultaneously. I don't have super high hopes for this game, but it's something that I don't see very often so I just had to pick it up. Most of the time when I do pick something up without any substantial research, it's because of a franchise or company that I know from prior experience, or because the cover art looks cool, which this game falls under both categories for me.

Game #5

Personally, I'm not huge on GameCube collecting at the moment. It's that perfect time for most people that grew up with the system to 1. be nostalgic for GameCube and 2. have the income to throw around on reliving that nostalgia. The cost along with me having most of the GameCube games I would already want means I'm not really on the look out. However, Wave Race caught my eye. I've been playing a little bit of the N64 original on my switch, and knew that the GameCube game was the only direct sequel to that. Picked it up for a decent price, and I'm excite to try it out!

Game #6

Similar to Sega Casino, picked this one up on a whim. I liked the specific branding of the New York Times, and I thought now that I'm a little bit older I would know more items to put on the crossword puzzle. I was wrong, still suck at them. Not horrible though.

Game #7

Here's a game that I had known about for a long time, but never really got into until the past few years. I had originally read about the game in Nintendo Power, and then saw Issac in Smash Bros. Brawl as an assist trophy, but I hadn't played the GBA original until about 3-4 years ago. Overall, I enjoyed my time with the game and have the direct sequel. This was the only time i've seen the DS game out in the wild, and so I just had to snatch it up while I had the chance. Probably not going to play in the near future but it's nice to know that I have it in good shape waiting for me to get around to it. 

Game #8

A few months ago I watched a video detailing by Sean Seanson on every Psygnosis game ever released/published by them on the PS1. There were quite a few games I knew that I had to pick up at some point or another, and Demolition Derby was on my list. Also released on the Sega Saturn, this is a racing/car demolition game from the very early era of the PS1. I found it for pretty cheap and it good shape, so another one off of the Psygnosis list.

Game #9

An all time classic. Ice Climber was one of those games I had seen around at a few stores, but never actually pulled the trigger on them because I knew what the game entailed. Not exactly the pinnacle of platforming, but influential on the early NES landscape as part of the Black Box series of games. I think that I enjoy the game a little bit more than most people do as I have a little bit more patience for it. That being said, don't ever spend more than like $20 on this game, it's just not worth it at that. 

Game #10 and #11

For me, these were just pure nostalgia purchases that I didn't have in my collection yet but did when I was a kid. Wii Play still holds up quite well, and it's collection of minigames were a great way to introduce the Wii to my brother and I along with Wii Sports. Wii Music I can't really say the same about. I didn't play it as much as a kid, but the novelty is still fun to just go in and try out some of the instruments. Maybe someday I'll get enough people to have a jam session with 3 other instruments. Probably not, I want to keep my friends not try to push them away lol. 

Game #12

Another old Nintendo Power recommendation, Zach and Wiki was a game that I had my eye on for a long time. Created by Capcom the game was a great showcase for motion controls early on in the Wii's lifespan. I don't really know too much about the game itself, but I had finally found it at a local game store, and I knew I had to grab it then and there.

Game #13

Here is probably the best game out of everything that I had bought in this batch of games. With the new remake out it brought a few people out to praise this game and how it improves upon the original without ignoring what made it fun in the first place. I do want to eventually play the remake and enjoy the RE series from the little that I have played, and I feel like I'll enjoy the remake even more once I play through the original and take note of all the improvements on the series thus far. 

Well I believe that's everything I bought since the last time I did one of these posts. I'm pretty pleased with the amount of games that I was able to find, and got to go to some game stores that I don't normally go to on a regular basis. With that being said I think I'm going to take some time out and focus on a few bigger games rather than just impulse buying games off of their cases/cover art. Probably will end up importing a game or 2 for my Saturn, and looking into some PS2 and PS3 games that I would really want. Thank you for reading and go get some new games yourself!

New Game Pickups 4/13/23

 New Game Pickups!!

    My game pickups have been pretty slow over the past month or so, I was in between jobs and buying a ton of games wasn't exactly on my money saving agenda. I typically like to go out to some local game stores, which I'm super thankful that there are several in my area for me to choose from, but for today I just got some games off of ebay. Most places local to me don't really have import Saturn games, or Saturn games in general for that matter. 

Game #1

Side Pocket 2

    Side Pocket 2 is an early release billiards game for Sega Saturn by Data East. It was released over in the states as Minnesota Fats Pool Legend for Saturn. I enjoy billiards games quite a bit, Side Pocket on gameboy I enjoy quite a bit, along with the ios 8-ball everyone has played at some point. So it made sense to get a billiards game on my favorite system. I especially enjoy the awesome artwork that appears on the front cover. It has a classy style with the hand-drawn sections of it reminding me of a potential advert from the 70's or so. The game itself is pretty simple, a few different modes of play, 2 player modes as well as a story mode. The cutscenes are fully voiced fmv's in Japanese, which you can tell is just as bad as it's English counterpart. Overall it's a pretty simple game, no frills or anything like that, but as something cheap (I got the game for around $5) it seemed like a game that would be fun in a 2-player setting or just to kill an hour or so.

Game #2

Tokimeki Memorial: Taisen Tokkaedama

    I enjoy long form content on Youtube quite a bit, just someone who has done exhaustive research about games that aren't often talked about but have their fans I have an appreciation of. After watching the almost 6 hour review of Tokimeki Memorial on Action Button's Youtube channel, I wanted to get some adjacent products including a copy of the game itself. The Saturn version of Tokimeki Memorial Forever with you IS getting a fan translation, but it will be a very very slow process, so in the meantime of playing the actual game I bought a few puzzle games. This game has you choose one of the girls from the main game, has some in between match dialogue ala Puyo Puyo, and is a simple vs. style puzzle game. Match up the color icons to attack your opponent and clear them from your field, and set up combos for some impressive trash on the opponents side. One aspect I thought was neat was how the game deals with the trash it sends you. The trash pieces have their own color just the same as other pieces and need another line to be cleared to be fully activated and matched with. Similar to Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, another great puzzle game on Saturn and other platforms, it can lead to your trash filler pieces becoming a big part of a retaliation combo onto your opponent. Again, another simple game that I got for cheap, but I was surprised at some of the goodies that came along with the game. Cute little stickers of each of the characters to be used anywhere, along with some chibi-style artwork in game and on the manual make for a comfy experience overall. 

    Like I said, overall a slow past few weeks for buying games, but I'm looking to check out some newer out of state locations and pick up a few things here and there from my local stores. I'll try to update these once or twice a month to continue showing what I'm looking for, and possibly some good deals or stories that come along with them. Thanks for reading!