I know there's a few other big Terranigma fans on the site... better get this done before they can get one out :P

One of the advantages of emulation is the opportunity to play games that weren't released in your territory. Thankfully roms don't have constraints such as hardware region lockouts or television/power incompatibilities.

Of course if you're insane enough to want to acquire the physical game you have to figure out how to deal with these issues. A daunting task to be sure, but one I gladly took on with Terranigma. A game that was released in pretty much every territory except North America, acquiring this game in a playable format was quite the journey.



First step, finding a cartridge! For some imports this is really the only step. Really not hard right? Well, only if you know Japanese. Thankfully it was released in Europe so there's your...



... damn ...

Wow, PAL Terranigma carts are pretty expensive as it turns out! The Japanese carts go for $20-$50, but the PAL ones easily go for $150+. No biggie though, I managed to get one for a reasonable price ($100-ish, complete with box and instructions), which is far easier than learning moonspeak. Now to plug it into my SNES and enjoy the good times...



... uh oh ...

This is where the big problem came in. If you've ever read up playing imports on an American SNES you no doubt know about the plastic pins, and for Super Famicom games that's all you need to do. Unfortunately with PAL imports you run into two other issues: the region lockout chip and the PAL display format. After some digging I found out both of these can be solved... however even with practice I can not seem to learn how to solder.

Thankfully having more money than sense at the time I found a website that solved my issues. A Super Nintendo modded to not only bypass both of those issues, and can even do so without too badly mangling the case! Sign me up!



... erm ...

Right, UK power switches would require an adapter... christ this is getting kind of silly at this point. Quick check shows that I need to buy a modded UK SNES, get it shipped to me, and find a US to UK step up converter/adapter. After a bit more back and forth with the site they let me know that they have a modded Japanese Super Famicom, which thankfully won't need any kind of adapter, for about $200.

Now, why would I go through all this for a game I can easily, and already have, play on an emulator? Partly for the challenge of seeing if I could (as I did have disposable income at the time), and partly because... I really like that game. Imagine the gameplay of both Secret of Mana and Legend of Zelda melded together, a perfect overhead blend of 2D overhead action and RPG mechanics, with music I would put up against anything else out there. And without giving too much away you not only rebuild the world and bring back all manner of life, but you guide humanity throughout it's evolution until the story reaches an ending that'll tug at the toughest heartstrings.



It was quite a journey, very expensive but very informative and worth every moment and penny... now if only it wasn't 5000 kms away in storage due to my move to the west coast.

This is in response to Jonathan Holmes' latest Talking to Women About Video Games, in which he addresses online passes for Uncharted 3 and wonders why people would be upset about such a thing. He then goes on to question whether such people are even real gamers.

First off, if the accompanying article wasn't there, these videos wouldn't make much sense. The impression I get from watching these is that Jonathan Holmes portrays a raging gamer, which I assume he thinks is anybody who doesn't agree with his stance? And then this raging gamer needs to be humbled by a woman, who in this case also has the gall to challenge their hobby? If I'm wrong, than what's the point of these videos and what's actually being discussed?



I'm going to maintain the stance that online passes should be fought all the way to the end. This isn't even specifically about online passes, but it's about the simple fact that a dev/publisher should never be charging us for stuff that they used to give away for free. The apathetic stance some people want to take is why we have ingame advertising. It's why we had achievements in Alan Wake for being advertised at. It's why we had an unskippable advertisement in Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. It's why we have day one DLC that is on the disc. It's why we have to pay a fee for the privilege of paying a fee to download DLC if we dared to buy Mass Effect 2 used. It is why there are day one patches because out of the box a game is broken to the point that it is unplayable like with Rage. It is why we're being charged in this particular case for multiplayer on a service whose biggest selling point over its competitor was that it has FREE online multiplayer.



Honestly, what's to stop devs from saying "You want to see the single player ending? You should have bought it new! Now give us another $20 for the privilege!". Why does "online pass" have to refer to just online multiplayer? Maybe it means you have to be always connected some custom online service that sells your personal information to sketchy third parties if you want to play even the single player of Uncharted 3. You probably think that's ludicrous but I'm sure if I talked to gamers years ago about all the other stuff I mentioned they'd think I'm insane because of course companies would never do that. You dismiss online passes now because you don't care about the online multiplayer, but I can guarantee eventually they'll touch on something you consider important, and you won't appreciate being told to just suck it up and take it.

As consumers we can never give companies an inch, ever, because they will always take a mile. If they want more money then they need to innovate and sell us new stuff, not just claw back stuff they previously gave out for free and start charging for it. If making games costs so damn much right now, maybe they should be looking inward and making the process of making a game more efficient rather than just passing the buck onto the consumer as they release buggy game after incomplete game. I can not stress this enough. Even just within gaming there are way too many corporations that are too large and bloated for their own good, and efficiency is down the toilet. I don't care what game you're making, if it costs you scores of millions and hundreds upon hundreds of people to make, maybe you should be figuring out how to make that process more efficient rather than bragging about your costs and then complaining about how used game sales are bankrupting your company.



Being a gamer isn't bending over, spreading and letting your favourite companies take as much as they want from you. Refusing to do that isn't "grumpy principle". If anything, that apathetic attitude you're putting on display means you're the worst kind of gamer and the worst kind of consumer: the blind fanboy that'll just accept anything from a company and tell off anybody who dares question your opinion. Only difference with you is that you're calmer and more well spoken about it, and can get women to make your point for you.

Now let me get into the actual article. Firstly.. of course everybody who plays video games is a gamer. How dare you take that elitist posturing stance about "oh, well clearly you're not as much of a gamer as I am because you're complaining about having your consumer rights slowly stripped away from you by greedy and bloated corporations, hohoho". How can you praise Nintendogs, one of the games often cited by people who want to segregate who is a "true gamer" and who is just a "casual gamer", and then say to anybody "are you really a "gamer"?". Everything you're saying in this article sounds as silly as when someone states their opinion on what a "real gamer" is.

There's no kinds of gamers! We're all gamers. And besides, this isn't about who is a gamer and who isn't. This is about being a consumer and not letting companies take advantage of you. Even if it's just taking the time to input a code because you always buy a game new, that is still something being taken away from you and as a consumer who allegedly cares about this industry you should be furious about anything that is taken away from you. I say it again, if companies are so cash strapped they should be selling you NEW things, not making you pay for things you used to get for free or for cheaper, whether it be in money or in time. And for you to have the gall to tell anybody what they can and can't like, and that they should consider not playing games anymore because they dare to challenge corporations who most certainly don't have your best interests at heart, makes the worst kind of consumer. Companies LOVE you! You are exactly what they want: you are okay with everything they do and don't question them at all, instead turning against your fellow consumers who just don't want to be exploited.

I know it's a losing battle, just as it was with everything else I mentioned. The market clearly wants to be nickel and dimed to death, have advertising and marketing destroy anything that was once innocent and just simply fun, have all sense of individuality and solitude in gaming eroded, and innovation stunted to the point you'd think it's going backwards. I will still fight this though and I will always fight this, because I love games and the gaming industry just that much. Because I remember a time when the market was new and innovation was rampant, and everything was so shiny and cool. And the primary motivator in making a game in most cases wasn't just making a franchise for maximum profits, it was about making a entertaining experience. Maybe that's all just rose tinted glasses though, but I still hope that naive time can be experienced again. Because from where I stand reading things like your article Jonathan Holmes, it is not looking good.

Hey everybody! Just thought I'd pass along a few things. First off, as some of you might know, Blockbuster Canada is closing off a third of their stores. To clear out the excess inventory they are having a massive clearance sale. Right now the three stores closing in Vancouver that I've checked are at 70% off EVERYTHING. You want a movie? Done! Brand new game? You betcha! Popcorn or candy? Absolutely! From what I've been told 70% is as high as the discounts will go, and the affected stores will all be closed at the end of next week (June 18th). Pickings are getting slimmer and slimmer but it's definitely worth a look!

Which brings me to the next part of this post: what I just got from one store:


Total cost? $47. Both games are sealed and not previously played. There's even more I saw there that I want (like a new copy of Halo Reach for $18), and will probably check again on, but I think this is enough for now.

PS: I'm back down to two jobs again, with much more stable and efficient working hours. Hopefully this will give me more time to be around here again, both reading cblogs and playing games with all you lovely people. Or at the least stop being a burden on my fellow recappers. :)

It's still Destructoid's 5th, and even though I had to bail on my recapping duties for tonight (Thanks Bey! <3) I wanted to do a short blog with a few video links.

http://www.gametrailers.com/bonusround.php?ep=8&pt=1

http://www.gametrailers.com/bonusround.php?ep=8&pt=2

Sorry for just the links, but there doesn't seem to be any way to embed them

That's what made me aware of Destructoid. At the time I was just farting around the tubes, and the only community I was involved with was ScrewAttack. And nothing against SA but my heart wasn't in that, I just really liked their videos and podcast and saying so was about if for my community contributions.

I actually started reading all three sites from that show (Joystiq, Kotaku, and Destructoid). It's funny to see the style of each site's rep compared to the site they represented. Only Destructoid held my interest enough to keep reading though.



Shortly after starting on the site I discovered RetroforceGO which... well it got me through a very tough summer, and I don't think I ever properly thanked everyone from the show for that. A few months later I went to E 4 All and while too nervous to say hi to anybody I recognized, I had seen enough and actually signed up.

It's been an amazing three and a half years for me, and through it all I wouldn't trade this site, the community, and my experiences with it for anything. Thank you for being cool people that I can feel comfortable talking about video games to. <3

As you're all aware, Duke Nukem Forever is coming out in just two short months. After fourteen (!) years in development, people really aren't sure what to think. A lot of people have very fond memories of Duke Nukem 3D, which when it was released was a trailblazer for first person shooters, both in terms of interactivity and personality. Many games, especially first person shooters of the time, had a mute protagonist that was devoid or any sort of personality. Duke Nukem shattered that mold, bursting with an over the top personality and always ready with silly/crude one-liners. For many people Duke Nukem 3D, with its first person perspective, is the definitive Duke.

But right now I'm going to look at Duke from a different angle: that of a side scroller.

I know that it's pretty easy to forget, but Duke Nukem started out as a side scrolling series. The first time we see Duke is in 1991 in the appropriately titled Duke Nukem. There was no alien invasion, no babes to protect and save, and definitely no Pig Cops to give the boot to. Duke was just a mercenary hired by the CIA to stop Dr. Proton, a genius scientist who turned evil and is using his army of TechBots to try and take over the world. And apparently he could do it in time to watch Oprah.



Yep, Duke was manly enough to wear a pink vest and watch Oprah. Not quite yet the renounced symbol of masculinity and bad-assness, Duke was more subdued. He had the brash and cocky attitude, but no more than any bro with an ego. Gameplay-wise Duke Nukem mostly was a fairly standard action platformer, tasking the player with navigating the level, usually needing to explore and find an item or switch to proceed. It had little touches that made it stand out though, such as health pickups you could shoot which would alter their properties. Soda cans would give more health but had to be grabbed quickly before they rocketed off the screen, and live chickens would turn into nicely cooked ones.



I only ever played the shareware version of Duke Nukem, so I don't know if he made it home in time for Oprah, but it was especially for the time a fun action platformer. For the sequel two years later however, Duke really ups the ante.



Yep, he's wearing the iconic red tanktop now. Now world famous for his earlier exploits, he's apparently drawn the attention (for the first of many times) of aliens who abducted him while he's doing a talk show interview for his autobiography "Why I'm So Great".

Wait...



Huh... guess it's a reprint?

Anyways, the aliens are looking to scan Duke's brain and use his knowledge and experience to invade Earth. There's no plans specifically for women this time just a general invasion, but by now Duke Nukem is a bonafide hero and as such uses an "explodo-molar" (!) to bust out of his cell and begin his lifelong crusade as the ultimate Alien Ass-Kicker.



Duke Nukem II plays pretty much the same as the first, but greatly improves on graphics and sound, has vehicle segments, and overall just has a better flow. As a character Duke's self-confidence has shot through the roof, and his general tone and attitude is much more inline with all the stereotypical macho action heroes of the time. I mean, shooting a smiley face into a target just because he can? That's badass! As another sign of his new attitude, bonus points are given for collecting Duke Nukem merchandise such as tshirts and game cartridges.

Several years and many post Duke Nukem 3D first person adventures later, Duke returns to his side scrolling roots with Manhattan Project. A bit of a weird title, one which I think was only made to stop the fans from asking about Forever for a little while longer. There are no aliens to fight in this outing, instead the villain is Mech Morphix who bares a striking resemblance to Dr. Proton. I guess the rename was done to not disrupt the continuity of Duke Nukem Forever, which at least at the time was going to have Dr. Proton as the villain. Morphix is using a combination of killer robots and an army of mutants created using a radioactive goo called G.L.O.O.P. which he must have obtained during the events of Duke Nukem 3D as it results in the infamous Pig Cops.



Seen as a bit of a mix between the Duke Nukem games of old with Duke Nukem 3D, the game is a "2.5D" sidescroller with many weapons and stylings of the first person games. Duke's attitude and voice is in full effect here, constantly spouting wisecracks and one-liners. As mentioned it's a sidescroller but often the perspective will shift from the expected left/right, sometimes going in and out or moving at an angle. It's definitely worth checking out for any Duke Nukem fans, as it can be demoed on XBLA, but in my opinion it's just not as memorable as the "core games" of 1, 2, and 3D.

So there you have it: Duke Nukem from a different perspective. I know there was several third person action games for the Playstation, but I wanted to focus on Duke Nukem's side scrolling roots and highlight his adventures before he found himself in a porno theater. :)

This is... well either just under the wire or late. Either way I'm happy I wrote it and I hope you enjoy reading it :)

For the sake of things I’m going to mostly refer to Doom and Doom 2 as the same thing for this article. They’re both pretty much the game game (more like Doom 1.5, nyah), or at least have all the same draws to them and if you had one chances are you had the other. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to spend a bit of time talking about Doom. <3



The early 90s was when I was introduced to PC gaming. My parents bought an overpriced computer in 1992 during the Lillehammer Olympics, and I have vivid memories of my hatred of video game chess developing when Canada lost the gold medal hockey game. (thanks Chessmaster 3000!)

Like most PC gamers (at least those on a budget like my pre-teen self) did back then I played a lot of shareware games. Now, some of you might not have been familiar with the glory days of shareware, which usually offered of up to a third of a game included with most PC-focused magazeine, free if you were lucky enough to have online access, or for a couple of bucks on it’s own. There was never any of this “exclusive demos” or “early beta access” mess. Games were designed to be episodic and you’d get the first for pretty much the price of the disc/packaging.

These weren’t short experiences either, and Doom (bet you were wondering when I’d finally start talking about it) was no exception. Of the 27 levels available in the original release of Doom (pre-Ultimate Doom), 9 were available on shareware. And you can bet I played the living hell (hur hur) out of it. Countless space marines have fought their way through the demon infested facilities of Phobos to an untimely end just past the Barons of Hell. Some made it through very quickly, some managed to cheat their way to invulnerability, and eventually (once I got good enough) some managed to punch their way through the entire thing.


I saw this a lot

Yeah, I played it that much. Eventually of course I ponied up and bought first Doom II, then Ultimate Doom (the original with an bonus fourth episode), and proceeded to send a lot of undead soldiers and hellspawn back to the hole they crawled out from. I played Doom frequently for the next decade, and will to this day still boot it up every now and then.


The true face of fear

What could make this game have so much appeal after more than 17 years? I mean, it’s the most basic of first person shooters. You just collect key cards, open doors and shoot everything that moves. There’s no inventory management, moral choices, dialog trees, or even reloading! Of course it’s those very things that make it so good, all presented at a blisteringly fast pace. The correct way to play Doom is to stand still as little as possible. The longer you stand still the sooner the hellspawn will kill you. You need to frantically run, strafe, and shoot until there’s nothing left, all the while keeping track of scores of enemies at a time as well as where you are in relation to health/ammo pickups and any escape routes.

And while you’re doing this you’re treated to a soundtrack that’s sometimes haunting and sometimes foreboding, but always rocking your face off. I hope I don’t have to mention the iconic E1M1 song, but just in case:



What’s this? You’ve played the game enough times and are sick of the levels? Well in addition to being a pioneer for first person shooters, online multiplayer (it coined the term “deathmatch” after all) and violent games it was one of the biggest proponents of user generated content. Back when you could talk about a WAD without making people giggle, everybody took a stab at making their own masterpiece levels. There are enough custom levels and even total conversions of the game to last for hundreds more playthroughs. I couldn’t even begin to list them all here. Many, for better or worse are still available online today.


Not the greatest mod ever, but pretty darn close

Through it all though, I could just as easily boot back up Knee Deep in the Dead, and relive the glory days of first person shooting... pewpewpew...