Granaboard 2013 virtual gathering

[That_Bojack]

Ill check out the Genesis version. I've been looking for a good way to round out my Genesis collection with good and more obscure titles. So how's life been for you lately?

[midnightryder259]

Can't complain. Except when I can .

Been considering another go at Grandia 2, DC or PS2 emulation(don't have my DC anymore). Not sure I could get the PC version going(or that I'd want to put up with program installations anymore, anyway).

If it seems like I have been these last 4 years or so, I don't mean to get on Nintendo, or the SNES' case. It's just that consoles loud minority of nerds, that haven't let the last 20 years go(who make up most of the video game history writing, and Youtube shows), are just that irritating. Honestly, thinking about it's library, aside from maybe Super Punch-Out, and it's best Fire Pro game, I honestly have no desire to play anything on it right now(not even those 2).


Edit: Hmm, seems every time I mention a Sony console/handheld, and I'm not logged in, something automatically makes a URL to where one can buy said console/handheld.

[That_Bojack]

Can't complain. Except when I can .

Been considering another go at Grandia 2, DC or PS2 emulation(don't have my DC anymore). Not sure I could get the PC version going(or that I'd want to put up with program installations anymore, anyway).

If it seems like I have been these last 4 years or so, I don't mean to get on Nintendo, or the SNES' case. It's just that consoles loud minority of nerds, that haven't let the last 20 years go(who make up most of the video game history writing, and Youtube shows), are just that irritating. Honestly, thinking about it's library, aside from maybe Super Punch-Out, and it's best Fire Pro game, I honestly have no desire to play anything on it right now(not even those 2).


Edit: Hmm, seems every time I mention a Sony console/handheld, and I'm not logged in, something automatically makes a URL to where one can buy said console/handheld.

Heh, I've been arguing with a die hard SNES fan and it's like talking to a priest or rabbi. It's like, I tell him about all these excellent Genesis games and since many are from genres he doesn't care about they don't even seem to count, and he's on the FF train for RPG's and I had to remind him that not only is FFVI not the best RPG of the 16 bit era, it's not even the best RPG on the SNES because of how badly Crono Trigger curb stomps it. So it's like, he doesn't care about Phatasy Star IV, Herzog Zwei doesn't even matter, nor does Dynamite Heady or Gunstar Heroes and the list goes on and on and on.................. damn, all worked up now!

[midnightryder259]

Yeah, that seems to be the M.O. of the Nintendo fanboy. "They're(/their consoles are) the best, just because." "The NES>any 16-bit console not made by Nintendo." Logic

Honestly, I'd even put Phantasy Star IV above Chrono Trigger, just for the Macro system. So hard to go back to the individual inputs every round, after that. Plus, honestly, show me a better paced/less padded game in that genre.

Well, at least you haven't been arguing with a troll, who's best arguments are insults, and thinking the internet makes up majority opinion, which must be correct because it is, even if they're not really taking what happens to be the internets opinion.

[That_Bojack]

Heh, he's actually one of my better gaming pals, very well informed. Just he didn't grow up with a Genesis either (or get trips to Grandma's house where I played a ton of Genesis) or get a Genesis and research the Sega titles or the massive amount of work and contribution that one company cranked out for gaming. Without the Genesis to sucker punch Nintendo's nutsack the entire industry would be much worse off IMO. Hell, breaking Nintendo's 3rd party monopoly as well as they did was probably a solid net positive for the industry. But since the SNES has FFVI, Zelda 3, Yoshi's Island, and Metroid 3 none of this matters of course.

[midnightryder259]

Actually it was a law suit by Atari that broke Nintendo's stranglehold on 3rd parties. Sega just made some damn good games, while picking up the 3rd parties Nintendo didn't lock up, like Technosoft, who chose to develop for Japanese PC's than the Famicom/NES.

That said, I think the Genesis did the most, of any console, to shape the industry.:
*Taking market share away from Nintendo, and even owning them 2:1 in '93, opened up the market for other competitors(obviously Sony and Microsoft benefiting the most). Without that, if Nintendo still dominated, there would have most likely been a 3rd crash from people getting sick of Nintendo consoles...
*...Especially taking into account that they may have never allowed blood in any of the games that appeared on their consoles, making stuff like Grand Theft Auto PC exclusive. Sega embracing that, on the other hand, eventually led to the creation of the ESRB, and proved that people still play video games beyond childhood.
*Sonic 2 had the first known release date, ironically on a Tuesday, the day we now expect to get new games on. Before Sonic 2s Day, games were out when they were out. People had to call into stores to know if a game had finally released. Also, it set the template for Mortal Monday. The sad part is that Sega of Japan wasn't able to participate, as the Dragon Quest III incident(300,000 employees/students played hooky to buy the game on yet another Tuesday) made Japan decide it was best not to release video games on week days.
*Before the Genesis, Europe mostly stuck to micro computers for video gaming. Some countries Nintendo won would complain about making that statement, but it took the Genesis before people started to see the viability of home consoles for gaming. (plus, like everywhere else in the world, it may have been late in Europe, but was still 2 years before the SNES).
*Nintendo kind of kicked western development to the curb, or at least it wasn't as ubiquitous on their consoles as Japanese development was, or as Western development was during the first 2 console generations. Many of the 3rd parties Sega would acquire for the Genesis were western, which brought their design back to home consoles in larger numbers. This would allow Western development to start to get better at developing games for home consoles, which would eventually take over by the end of the 6th generation(Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, X-Box).
*In 1990, Sega of Japan had the Sega MegaNet. An online service that allowed people to download games. That wasn't the first time this idea occurred, however, some of those games allowed Japanese players to play against each other online. This service also allowed for online banking. In 1994, Sega of America came up with the Sega Channel. This allowed people, for about a 3rd of the price of a new game a month, to play any of up to 50 new games a month. So not only does online multi-player begin here, but also 2 separate industries(online banking and online rental/streaming).
*Most would give the SNES credit for the button layout of modern gamepads. They seems to forget that the first gamepad with an ergonomic shape, as all the previous consoles gamepads were rectangular/square in shape, was the original 3 button Genesis pad. Most modern gamepads, and even the Rii mini-keyboard/mouse touch pad that I'm using with this laptop(it really has a shitty keyboard), have roughly the same shape.

As for games:
*The first home console port of a Madden game(the original no less), thus ensuring that series becoming a major home console franchise(whether the RPG nerds like it or not ).
*Going back to the bit with Technosoft, while RTS games had been attempted before, even the predecessor to the game I'm about to mention, none of the machines they were created on had the processing power to actually make them real time, until The Genesis provided one for Herzog Zwei(Zwei being a German word for two). If that weren't enough, Dune 2 is often credited as being the codifier for the genre. It was ported to the Genesis as Dune: The Battle for Arrakis. Either way, Real Time Strategy starts with the Genesis.
*Columns, though ported from an arcade cabinet, was the first match 3 jewels type of puzzle game. Also the first with massive chain reactions.
*Sonic the Hedgehog. Brings physics to platformers, popularizes anthromorphic character design for video game characters, has more imitators than the original Super Mario Bros.(including Donkey Kong Country, or are we supposed to believe making Donkey Kong Jr. an animal mascot with attitude would have just been an original idea by Rare, without Sonic's existence?), and pushed the Genesis to the point where it could open the market up for other competitors, actually stealing the thunder from the SNES/Super Mario World.

There's a reason this is a memorable console, no matter how much the fanboys, and the ones who became "historians" want to say otherwise. Otherwise it wouldn't be on their minds enough to try to verbally trash.

7/7 Update: Just remembered the gamepad thing.

7/31 Update:
We'll have to see, but Sonic looks to have a bright future:
Sonic the Hedgehog
- YouTube
(^Between Mania and Project Sonic 17)
Hell, even the Sonic Boom game coming out this year(3DS) looks good.

[That_Bojack]

How was is Atari broke Nintendo's 3rd party stranglehold? I thought the only time Atari went to court with Nintendo was over Tetris and its override chip?

BTW, picked up a Saturn. It has onboard memory to save your games............... essentially making it the first hard drive system. The CD player also has audio effects you can choose for the fun of it. I now firmly believe Saturn hardware >>> PS1 hardware. Also because Tomb Raider runs far smoother on Saturn than PS1 (at least according to vids, haven't seen it IRL yet).

[midnightryder259]

I don't have all the details, but basically a court case between Atari(or Tengen, which was a bit of a mixture of Atari and Namco) and Nintendo, which didn't necessarily go so well for Atari, led to an investigation into Nintendo's business practices, which lead to breaking Nintendo's illegal policies. That was actually The United States Department of Justice, but Atari is the closest video game company you can link to shattering Nintendo's stranglehold.

The Saturn was harder(more complex) to program 3D for, so I imagine if Tomb Raider did come out better, it's because the programmers were more skilled. It usually murdered the PS1 in 2D though. Better fighting game ports and whatnot.

[That_Bojack]

I don't have all the details, but basically a court case between Atari(or Tengen, which was a bit of a mixture of Atari and Namco) and Nintendo, which didn't necessarily go so well for Atari, led to an investigation into Nintendo's business practices, which lead to breaking Nintendo's illegal policies. That was actually The United States Department of Justice, but Atari is the closest video game company you can link to shattering Nintendo's stranglehold.

The Saturn was harder(more complex) to program 3D for, so I imagine if Tomb Raider did come out better, it's because the programmers were more skilled. It usually murdered the PS1 in 2D though. Better fighting game ports and whatnot.

I'll have to look into that. I had heard that Saturn curbstomping Nintendo for a while made some in roads into 3rd partying but it was really Sony and their sweet, sweet, infinite at the time yen that bought out all the 3rd parties.

Heard somewhere that Tomb Raider was meant to be a Saturn game. So it was ported to the PS. I bet in reality, the Saturn is a lot stronger in 2 or 3d than PS1 except you had to be the rain man of coding to make it work.

[midnightryder259]

Oh hell no, the 3rd party thing happened in the 4th generation, otherwise the Genesis would have never seen TMNT, Sunset Rider,(their first 2, and worst on the console, but still good anyway, just no comparison to their SNES counterparts) Rocket Knight/Sparkster, Contra, Castlevania, Street Fighter, Saturday Night Slam Masters, The Great Circus Mystery, Wily Wars(Sega Channel, then Japan/Europe), and Punisher. (At least, I don't think they would have seen that later Capcom stuff. They had a deal early on where Sega themselves programmed Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Forgotten World, Strider, Mercs, etc.). I'm sure there were more than Konami and Capcom, but they're the 2 biggest examples.

If I hadn't linked to it before, here's one known source to grab Streets of Rage Remake: Streets of Rage Online - The #1 SOR Resource Site and Fan Community
I think there are some server issues, or something, so you can only grab 1 file a day. After the main file(first link there), I'd suggest the 5.1 update only. Neither update are necessarily needed, and you can enjoy 5 on it's own, but their are bug fixes and additions. This one was C&D'd by Sega, a week after release, so now you can find it easily enough. I think that was actually deliberate on Sega's behalf(plus the development team was in contact with Sega the full 8 yeas it was in development, so... Just speculation though. Sega would obviously never confirm one way or another).

Edit: Well, Nintendo killed the Metroid 2 remake...