LunarDream

Salvation from the Soul

Sega GameGear: Outrun

OutrunThe best racing game released on a SEGA machine ever. I can’t believe OutRun 2006 is just released. I mean I played this game on arcades, on Mega Drive and it was my addiction on GG. Clear animation and lovely mix of colors. The controls were very basic, since you have the option of AT/MN gear shifting choice at the start screen, and pressing down on the control-pad will shift gears in the MN gear choice. 2 players mode is also available if you have a game-link cable connected with another GG. I played this game days and night just to listen to its good music, aside from trying to break time records. An all-time classic.

November 8, 2009 02:09 Posted by Lunardream | Heaven in a Pocket, Video Games | | No Comments Yet

Sega GameGear: Bare Knuckle II

The 3rd post in this series is about Sega GameGear, a lost gem from the 90s. This machine was all of my life back then in high school. Bright colors, excellent list of games and better grip than Game Boy. Although Nintendo did beat Sega in acquiring more 3rd party licenses and exclusive releases for Game Boy, Sega had a good fan base in the US and a better advertisement campaign. The downfall of Game Gear started when Sega was looking at other options beyond their Mega Drive since Nintendo’s Super Famicom was gaining props from all video games magazines for the exclusive excellent releases of Street Fighter II, Castlevania 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more. Starting with the Mega-CD and moving on to 32X, Sega mostly depended on 3rd party publishers to release GG games. I knew that Game Gear days were over whenever I checked the releases lists or E3 news in EGM, and saw no sign of any plans for blockbuster releases. I think that this machine had great potential for improvement in the hardware, which was what all the players were complaining about. The size was too big, the sound could have been made externally stereo, the battery consumption problem and the annoying bright display. The most thing I loved about GG is the Japanese cover art for games. This system had some of the best artwork for game boxes, I just feel terrible for not saving those boxes. I’ll try next to upload some images of scanned manuals I still have. The following is a start of a list of the best GG games to own:

 Bare Knuckle IIBare Knuckle II.
A port of the Mega Drive release, this release was reduced in game size to fit into one game cart. Max is out of the game and the sprites were minimized to fit into the small screen. Let’s not forget that Adam was also skipped in the 1st part on GG, so axing Max out wasn’t surprising at all. The music sounded tiny but was faithful to the works of Mr. Yuzo Koshiro. A super move was added to make the game more interesting, although it got hard at some points due to sluggy movement. Still, the best Beat’em up on a handheld during those days. The funny thing about this game is the look of our heroes on the title screen, it sounds corny!

September 18, 2006 05:24 Posted by Lunardream | Heaven in a Pocket, Video Games | | No Comments Yet

Nintendo DS: SD Gundam G-Generation DS

While I was writing the first part one of this post, I couldn’t stop myself from connecting some GBA games to Nintendo DS’. Nintendo DS is the formal answer to Sony PSP and their trash talk about what they can do with their hand-held. Anyone who has seen the PSP got to admit that it’s a powerful machine. Although PSP sounds like a powerhouse, it lacks originality in features and support from 3rd parties in creating original games, not the repeatedly ported games from console to another. Porting starts in the negative side at first, till it proves its competence and surpasses the original format. Well, in case you side with Nintendo and get a DS, this is what you should buy:

 

SDGGGDSSD Gundam G Generation DS.

Bandai knew that the success of SDGGGA on GBA would demand another part on the DS, and boy they couldn’t wait. From the first impressions, I knew that I’d buy this game blindfolded. The graphics and the neat animated cut-scenes won my heart. The music is based on the original sound tracks of the Gundam anime shows. The cast in this game is huge since there are many split routes and different scenarios to follow. Like always, Bandai offers us secret characters to hunt and make this game more enjoyable. Although anyone could notice that there are some limitations in the usage of the power of the DS, Bandai rushed this game faster than schedule to meet the fan demand. I wish that they’d make a better follow-up.


August 3, 2006 02:45 Posted by Lunardream | Heaven in a Pocket, Video Games | | No Comments Yet

Gameboy Advance: Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls.

Time to deliver some video games lists. Well, I’d like to start off today with Nintendo Game Boy Advance. This machine re-wrote history for handhelds and lifted Nintendo from its N64 setback and the early weak sales of GameCube. Game Boy has always been a winning game console in its many manifestations (well, except for Virtual Boy) and Game Boy Advance SP without any doubt received the best hardware design. So, if you’re going to grab a one by chance, why don’t you check out this games and by the way, I’m going to use the Japanese cover boxes, since it has better art than its US/European counter.

FF I&II

Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls.

Two redrawn, redesigned FF games packed in one catridge with all-new monsters, side quests and story line and a compelling price. I had doubts about buying it, but I sure was never mistaken because this tiny legend rocks!.

June 14, 2006 19:20 Posted by Lunardream | Heaven in a Pocket, Video Games | | No Comments Yet