Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Hyperkin DuchesS Is a Joy to Use

Posted on by Viljami

It has been already almost three weeks since I bought Hyperkin DuchesS. It is a game pad that works on Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One and PC. It is available in three different colors that are black, white and green. The button layout is very familiar to gaming fans that have played video games on original Xbox. IT also has the so called “select” and “start” buttons of a modern Xbox game pad on the left side of the controller. This controller costs currently about 55 euros. So, it isn’t actually a very expensive controller to buy.

The Hyperkin DuchesS is a wired controller. So, you hook it up to your console or computer with a long cable that has a USB-A, as is usual nowadays, connector. I had sligh issues because the cable pressed some of my keyboard buttons accidentally. I don’t think that is a huge matter. The game pad feels light. The button layout feels very nice and the controller works very nicely when you play some original Xbox game on an emulator or with your Xbox Series S/X or Xbox One.

I have had some good gaming moments using this Hyperkin DuchesS with Xemu. It is a piece of software that allows you to play some original Xbox games on your PC. Xemu does have some issues and all the games aren’t playable using it. I was able to play some Forza Motorsport. This game works very nicely. Also Hyperkin DuchesS is a good choice also for modern games. I played Rush Rally 3 for a while. It is a decent rally racing game from this year (2026). I bought it for my Windows PC from Steam a while ago.

The nicest thing about Hyperkin DuchesS is definitely the button layout and also the similar feel to an original Xbox controller. I think this green color was the most appealling at least for me. So, I had the opportunity to buy it. I think this might be the most popular color out of all three of them. The controller really gives you a touch of a real gaming experience with a real original Xbox.

I have recently played original Xbox games mainly through emulation. I emulate Xbox with Batocera or a regular Windows PC. The experience is deeper with my Batocera computer since I have connected it to my television. So, I can play original Xbox games from my couch. It has been several years since I last time had a real working original Xbox connected to my TV. There are a bit over 60 games for original Xbox that actually do work through backwards compatibility on Xbox Series X. Some games are available as digital versions from Xbox store.

I really hope that Xemu keeps getting better. At some earlier times it wasn’t as good of a solution in a way that it currrently is. Some gamers say that it is able to run about 80 percentage of games out of the whole original Xbox game library. Original Xbox has almost one thousand games that were actually released. I think Xemu is a good and solid emulator. It just still has some slight problems and there are some ways it could be improved as an emulator. You can just compare it to PS2 and/or GameCube emulation that works without issues with emulators like PCSX2 and/or Dolphin.

Also you can use Hyperkin DuchesS with Xenia. This is a Xbox 360 emulator. You do need a powerful modern PC to use Xenia. Xbox 360 has 2157 games in its game library. I have played Colin McRae Dirt 2 for some hours with Xenia. You can probably find Xenia and Xemu using your favorite search engine.

Playing Some Onimusha 2 (PS2)

Posted on by Viljami

I put some hours into playing Onimusha 2. This game was released by Capcom back in 2002 for PlayStation 2. This game was part of a purchase I made recently (maybe a week ago or something like that). That time I bought seven games for PS2. These games weren’t so expensive and Onimusha 2 had a price of 25 euros alone. It was the most expensive game out of all the games I bought. I also bought one “loose” game for PS1. That game was Ridge Racer Revolution.

I played Onimusha 2 for a bit over eleven hours. A bit sadly I got stuck badly to a point very near to the ending of the game. It was a very tough part and I just couldn’t get past it. I spent maybe half an hour alone in that part and decided to give up for now. This is not a rewarding way to end playing and trying to beat a game. But I want to be honest and tell you this fact.

Onimusha 2 is a good game. There are however some slight flaws in it. The camera angles make it a bit difficult to navigate at times. Luckily there are some maps in the game that make this a bit easier. There are several puzzles that might be difficult to figure out and solve. I can thank modern internet for being able to solve these issues very quickly. So, I actually didn’t get stuck with them at all. It is a bit difficult to try to figure the progression but I was able to manage to progress all the way to near of the ending of the game.

We can discuss a bit about the gameplay and how the character is getting involved in the action parts of this game. You have several melee weapons in the game and also some projectile weapons can be used. There are endless amounts of enemies and there is no point in trying to kill every enemy you see. Sometimes killing all of them in some area might help you to explore it more thoroughly. You get some health points from killed enemies. You don’t have to use an item every time your health is getting low.

Onimusha 2 is a bit old game. Some retro fans probably can feel some real nostalgia playing this game. You also have this view of how Capcom has developed itself as a game company all the way through the history of video games. You can compare this game to some of the latest games that have been developed by Capcom. I am of course talking about games like Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem. You can rally see how the technology and also game design has been developing all the way from 2002 all the way to 2026.

At this moment I have many games only waiting on my gaming shelf for me to get my hands on them. Just yesterday I bought the new Halo remake. That game is titled “Halo – Campaign Evolved”. I was going to buy the physical copy but ended up buying it as a digital version. At least I don’t have to wait for the game to be delivered. I also bought “Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 1” since it featured a very interesting Atari 2600 game named “Saving Mary”. I might write something about it to this blog some day. This collection of games has in total 50 games for Atari 2600.

I haven’t yet touched the other PS2 games that I bought a bit over a week ago. Maybe I do have time for them at some moment. There are also some games that are going to be released that I am waiting for. We have already in this blog touched GTA VI. Also I am waiting for Control Resonant and Rayman Legends Retold. There are also many other exciting games going to be released soon.

What Kind of a Video Game Shopper I Am?

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post I am going to describe what kind of a video game shopper I am. What games, devices and/or consoles I do buy? I make purchases often from different web shops and also sometimes from actual physically existing stores and I also sometimes buy games from flea markets that are located near where I live.

I got some inspiration from a recent purchase of some PS2 games. You can see the titles that I purchased in the featured image of this blog post. I did buy seven PS2 games and also one PS1 game that was a bit cheaper one since it was in a mediocre condition. It didn’t have the front cover and also the box was a bit damaged. Although the disc was in a good condition. That game is not visible in the image but I can tell you that the game was Ridge Racer Revolution. That game alone cost me nine euros.

I buy sometimes used PS2 and PS1 games. I currently don’t have a working PS2 in my setup. I do have a PSOne console that works just fine. I mainly use it when I do want to play something on a real hardware. It is nice to play some games that need several discs with it. After I have bought a PS1 or PS2 game I rip it with an external DVD drive to an ISO file and then transfer it to my retro computer. I have a Batocera setup and also Recalbox for Raspberry Pi 5. I use Recalbox for PS1 games and a bit more powerful PC for Batocera with which I play my PS2 games.

I have a medium sized collection of Sega Mega Drive games. I have only some tens of games that many of are the ones I already owned back in my youth. I did have also some PS1 games and a console that I unfortunately sold just before getting into studying into high school. I am still a bit confused about selling all that stuff. Back then I though I wouldn’t play games and I was thinking more towards my studying. I was thinking very differently back then because now I seem to still love playing video games and also retro games.

To describe me as a video game shopper a bit more thoroughly I should tell you that I do buy new games also. I have also a PS4 for which I own maybe one hundred games. I really haven’t properly counted them. I also have a collection of games for PS3. The newest consoles I own are Switch 2 and Xbox Series X. I also play some games on my Windows PC. Sometimes I play DOS games and I do have a small collection of big box games. So, I do buy new games and also PC big box games. Sometimes I even buy a game that is in its CD case only.

I bought a GameCube some years ago. I have some tens of games for it. I really actually play GameCube games today on an emulator. That goes with Xbox and Xbox 360 games also. I have owned an original Xbox and also a Xbox 360 but they eventually broke down and I decided to remove them from my setup. Luckily today there are good emulators for these consoles on a Windows PC that you can play many good games on.

Flea markets are fun places where you can find almost anything. I just recently found for example Need for Speed Payback for Xbox One for a cheap price of about six or five euros. Aside of being a video game shopper I also buy movies as DVDs, Blurays and 4K discs. I also like buying books from flea markets for a cheap price.

I like to buy some cheap games. As prices of retro games are going up I am going to try to keep the games that I own to myself and buy some more cheap games. I am not a person that would buy games that cost hundreds of euros. There is also a place in my hearth for emulation and game roms. If you are somewhat like me I can recommend to you a good website that holds many game roms and that site is called “Vimm’s Lair”. You can probably find it from your favorite search engine online.