Tag: PlayStation

Retrogames in 2023 had quite the year

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The video game industry saw plenty of high-profile releases and announcements in 2023. Retrogames were no exception to this. Even going into 2024, I can’t shake the feeling that 2023 was one of the best years in gaming ever. From Tears of the Kingdom to Baldur’s Gate 3, there was plenty to talk including some of the remakes. Here is a not so all encompassing and a not so chronological list of the retrogame related happenings from the past year.

Two scary good horror remakes start off the year

Capcom

                Both Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 stun players by recreating their genre defining gameplay.

Persona 4 Golden widens its release and Persona 3 Reload announcement

Atlus / Sega

                Fans of the series can finally play these JRPG staples in more places and an ambitious remake for Persona 3 are announced in 2024.

Goldeneye comes to Xbox

Rare / Nintendo

                Not much else to say here, this FPS legend deserves every bit of its praise.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition also arrives for Xbox platforms

Microsoft

                This undisputed classic needs no introduction, and this particular entry is always welcome.

Metroid gets a prime remaster

Nintendo / Retro Studios

                It’s a fantastic release and a very welcome update, full of graphical enhancements and modernized controls.

Final Fantasy music and gorgeous pixels

Square Enix

                The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters see a much needed console release and we get a wonderful collection of works from veteran video game composers in Theatrhythm Final Bar Line.  

Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection

Capcom

                A much beloved series of games is rereleased for modern systems with better-than-expected sales. Mega Man Legends ports anyone?

System Shock comes back

Nightdive Studios               

This release reviewed well, the cult classic is finally given justice.

Double Dragon barely leaves a trail

Maximum Games

                Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons looks cool but is barely mentioned after its release.

Long dormant mechs rise again

FromSoftware Inc., Bandai Namco Europe S.A.S

                Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon went on to become one of the best action games of the year and Front Mission 2 Remake is released.

Sea of Stars releases

Sabotage

                Comparisons to Chrono Trigger were made and excellent art styles brought this to the forefront of many headlines this year.

Gargoyles Remastered

Disney

                Another Disney platformer sees a formal release away from the confines of history.

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection is a master of none

Konami

                These broken and wonky ports receive heavy criticism from hardcore fans and Konami promises to fix them with updates and support into 2024.           

November brings us two amazing remakes from the golden era of RPGs

Nintendo / Square Enix

                Star Ocean: The Second Story R gets new features and a well liked 2D/3D visual update. Meanwhile, Super Mario RPG is recreated from the ground up, but remains largely faithful to the late SNES release.

Fortnite brings back the original map

Epic Games               

Perhaps for pandering reasons, but still a wild success.

Square Enix has us drooling for more Final Fantasy

Square Enix

                The second installment of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy is shown in 2023 and is set for the early months of 2024.

Sony announces the PlayStation Classic

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It was in the cards, Nintendo has been releasing their classic mini consoles, Sega has been licensing their properties to make mini consoles… Now Sony has joined the pack, following the popular formula of shrinking an iconic console to fit in the palm of your hand and stuffing them full of classic games that meant something exclusively to that particular console.  The PlayStation Classic is here.

https://youtu.be/nl2h8LDq_oI

The PS Classic will come with an HDMI cable, two of the non-DualShock type controllers and a USB cable to serve as the power source. It’s going to release on December 3rd for $100 in a lot of territories, packed with 20 games, five confirmed right now.

  • Final Fantasy VII
  • Jumping Flash
  • Ridge Racer Type 4
  • Tekken 3
  • Wild Arms

I’d say this is great news. This is a great move for Sony as it caters to PS fans and retro gamers alike. There are a fantastic amount of PS games that could be placed into the system, sadly only 15 more can make the cut. So, you would think that only the most popular games for the system would be considered like the integral Metal Gear Solid, genre defining Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill, at least one Crash Bandicoot game or Spyro title, another racing game like game like Gran Turismo 2 and maybe even Ape Escape.

So… what’s the bad news?

There is a lingering problem with a few of those games I mentioned. A lot of those classics utilize the DualShock controller. Not just for the rumble feature or the analog sticks individually, but in some cases in unison! I can say that I prefer the use of the analog sticks in Crash Bandicoot: Warped and Gran Turismo. Hell, Ape Escape won’t even work without a DualShock because it was designed around it. Metal Gear Solid has some easter eggs concerned with the use of the DualShock controller. Not including a DualShock controller or offering one as a separate purchase would be doing a disservice to any PlayStation fan, or any consumer in general.

Is $100 dollars a fair price?

Simply put, yes. But further analysis would say that a consumer is getting their money worth in hardware and software alone. If we take the price points of the PlayStation One Classics that are available for the PS3 and PS Vita on the PSN store, they range from $5.99 to $9.99. Do the math and 20 games at six bucks a piece plus the hardware included is a steal. Also, I would say that Sony is going to cherry pick from the work that they have already done emulating those for the PS3/Vita.

Are people going to hack it?

Yes as well. Assuming that when you plug it into a computer, it will be recognized as a writable device.

What else is there to know?

At the moment, not much else. Just the five confirmed games and initial specs. Who knows… maybe you can hook your console up to a computer and download extra game packs. Maybe Sony is holding back and will release a DualShock controller compatible with the mini console, because honestly, it’d be a damn shame not to. There might be other built-in features like save states, rewind capability etc. that have yet to be announced. And judging from the instruction manual schematic included with the promotional images, the memory card slots aren’t going to do anything.

 

As excited as I am for this, there are still some hardcore fans that have yet to be pleased.

Grandia I and II are getting a Switch release late this year

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No word on an actual release date, this particular announcement is going to release some time this winter. But, this is seriously a surprise! Grandia II has been re-released a number of times on the PlayStation 2 and PC. However, Grandia I has not seen as much love. Other than a downloadable version for the PS3, the original game in the Grandia franchise has not seen as much attention. From the buzzwords in the news, it also appears to be a HD remaster, whatever that means these days. So, I wouldn’t expect all that much except for some higher resolution textures and a wide screen aspect ratio.

What I am more curious about is the localization options. Are we going to get the Sega Saturn release graphics? Will we receive the English voice acting seen in the PlayStation One release? Many questions remain… Nevertheless, this news excites me that TWO of the best JRPG’s of all time are coming to a great console.

 

The “half-step” console that nobody wanted

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The Sega 32X.

Before the PlayStation 4 Pro and the Xbox One X, there was an infamous add-on to the Sega Genesis. My friends and I would always joke about what a waste of money it was and the fact that it was likely a piece of junk. In an age where producing an upgraded version of a current console to sell to hungry consumers exists, Sega of the 1990s tried something bold and almost succeeded.

I was never on team blue, but in retrospect, it was either pretty cool or probably pretty disappointing arguing for blast processing. This time around, trying to be ahead of the curve proved to be disastrous for Sega.

Also, do check out more of the Gaming Historian, it’s a great channel filled with well produced mini-documentaries.

Chrono Trigger surprisingly releases on Steam! But…

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I would be saying hooray! …But, this may not be the exact release you want. So, how could you release Chrono Trigger and mess it up? Well, maybe it has some annoying load times like the US PlayStation release?

Let’s not start with the negatives out right, but the good things the Steam version does.

  • It’s out on the PC, for everybody!
  • Extra dungeons from the DS port (arguably the best version right now)
  • Gamepad support
  • Autosaves
  • Other Steam goodies like trading cards, if you’re into that

So no, the load times aren’t an issue. But probably the main gripe everyone is going to have is this:

20180228105155_120180228105214_120180228105413_1

I mean, look at it! This is not the Chrono Trigger I remember. Sure, the interface is not my favorite, in fact I could probably deal with the new menus and be fine. However, two other things stand out. The font is ugly. It straight up does not fit the feel of the game. It’s huge, plain and out of place. Like the font itself is too modern looking for its own good.

Second is the graphics filter. You can tell the graphics are smoothed out in the Steam release, which initially isn’t a turn off, but the more I played it, the more it felt like I was looking at a blurry painting. The Steam release has some different colors, objects and a few other noticeable changes. For comparison, here’s a screenshot of what it should look like on the Super Nintendo.

Chrono_Trigger_Gato_Fight_Intro[1]

At the very least, we got Chrono Trigger, again. Not exactly in the best form, but at least we got it. And I can’t not recommend this game to someone who hasn’t played it or doesn’t have another medium to play it on.