Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Category: 90s

Getting Into Final Fantasy Origins

Posted on by Viljami

There have been many Final Fantasy games released throughout history. Some of them are spin-offs. If we consider the main line of Final Fantasy games and think about its definitive roots you simply cannot forget the first two games that were originally released for NES and/or SNES.

So, you want to play these two games? You have several options. I, myself, went with the Final Fantasy Origins that was released for PS1 in 2003. That seems pretty late for a PlayStation 1 game don’t you think?

What are the other options? Well, you can go with the “pixel remaster” collection that I have been considering also buying. This collection includes all first six Final Fantasy games from I to VI. So these are remakes of these games that graphically seem like some SNES games. Or, at least they come near to that. They are remasters after all.

One option for a hardcore Final Fantasy fan is to go with the original NES version of the first game in this RPG series. Graphically it isn’t as nice as the SNES version of the game. The first game of this RPG series wasn’t published originally in Europe at all and also North America got to see Final Fantasy with a delay of several years.

Final Fantasy as a video game series didn’t get a justified beginning in the PAL region firstly at all but this all changed when in 1997 we got to see also in Europe the seventh FF game to be released for PS1. After FFVII conquered almost every gamers hearth it was acceptable for the gamers in Europe also to see some earlier releases of this famous game series. After all we saw every game that were already a pretty big thing in other parts of the world to get released for PS1 and after that we saw even more games for newer gaming consoles.

This one blog post is too short for us to properly discuss about Final Fantasy as a game series. Instead I am going to write tot you about how I felt getting into the first game of the series. I bought the copy of this game already some months ago. It might be already a year ago or so. I just haven’t had the time to play it, yet.

I was familiar already with FF1 as a NES game. I have tried my hand playing it. This PS1 release includes two games FF I and FF II. It isn’t the most priciest retro game but it isn’t also the cheapest. The way I started to play it was to actually rip these two discs as rom files. After that I transferred these files through Ethernet to the Raspberry Pi 5 based Recalbox. I like to play nowadays my PS1 games this way as it is easier. I do have the hardware, of course, also. It is just easier because you don’t have to mess so much with memory cards or minding of the disc getting scuffed.

The game itself is an adventure type of game meaning you can have conversations and you are trying to obtain some objects that will guide you in your quest. The actual battles are turn-based and they occur at random moments. You have to be in a zone that gives you these occurrences. There are some areas where you don’t have the battles. They are kind of turned off.

The game is also about character development. In the beginning you get to choose four characters with some different character classes. I for example created a group of two Fighters, a White Mage and a Black Mage. I decided to go with a team like this. As you might know I think that there must be someone in the team that can also heal other members and itself also. Fighters are good for fighting and they get powerful combat weapons and armor while Mages can have very powerful attack spells also. It is one point to spot a weakness in monster that are trying to attack you.

Final Fantasy games usually take a long time to finish. I think FF I takes about 16 hours to complete while the second one takes about 22 hours. I think playing Final Fantasy Origins is a good way to deepen your knowledge even more about this RPG that might just be the series that brought these kinds of video games to Europe in the first place.

The Direction of Sega

Posted on by Viljami

There has been a lot of discussion lately about Sega and the statement that they made about not looking so much back. It has also been said that Sega is not a retro game company. They are going to focus more on modern video games. This makes me think about all the classic titles of the past. There is also a question about what new games we are going to see and will Sega bring back their most classic intellectual property like for example Sonic, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe and so on.

Nintendo was the first game company to release a mini console. This happened with the release of mini NES that was followed by mini SNES console. This happened in between 2016 and 2017. It is not needed to say that these consoles were very popular. Sega released a bit later a Mega Drive mini console. We have also seen a PlayStation console of this kind among with some Atari, Amiga and Commodore 64 consoles.

Game consumers have been waiting and hoping for something from Sega like a mini Dreamcast or mini Saturn. It has now been stated that this is not going to happen. It is stated that Sega has no interest in bringing new mini consoles that would include some retro games. Instead it was said that the company wants to identify as a modern game company. Fans have also hoped to see something related to Sega CD and/or Sega 32X. This makes me think that we are probably going to see some new game titles that are going to be released in the near future.

I actually have this Sega Mega Drive classic/mini console that I bought for a cheap price, as always, some years back. If I remember correctly it cost me 60 euros. That is a cheap price for a retro game console that comes with several tens of games installed. It is very easy to hook up to your television screen as it has an HDMI connectivity included. It came with two controllers and they were very nice and of a good quality. Sega also released a bit later a second Mega Drive mini console that included some more games including some Sega CD games. There were a total of 53 games included. The first mini console had 40 games included.

For me, personally and as a video game enthusiast, Sega has been very important since the beginning of my interest in video games. I did play some PC games and tried out NES but Mega Drive was the first actual video game console that I owned back in the beginning of 1990s. The system was not so expensive at that time and it had many great games. I also had some friends that had a Mega Drive also so we could swap some games. My favorite games were Sonic 1 and 2, Streets of Rage 2 and Golden Axe just to give you some idea. Later I continued in this path and got my second gaming console and that was PlayStation 1.

As we are waiting for some news about new video games that are going to be released by Sega we also have to think that there probably will never exist a mini console made out of some classic game consoles or games. We just have to accept that and start to look in to the future. Will it be a bright one? We have to wait some more and just see how things start to shape up. What will we see when it comes to the future of Sega? What will we see in the future of video gaming? With these thoughts deep in our minds, or something clever like that I am now ending this blog post. I also wish you a very merry Christmas!

About Sega Dreamcast

Posted on by Viljami

Sega Dreamcast was released 1998 in Japan and 1999 in North America and Europe. Its game library consists of about 600 games. This is considerably lower than all games that were released to PS2, a console of the same era and console generation, that had several thousands of games in its game library.

Some other gaming consoles of this generation were Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2. So, Dreamcast was competing with these giants. This was an era in which we saw definitely more games released than we have in todays world of gaming. It has to said that the competition was tough. PS2 sold most consoles and had the most games in its library while Xbox and GameCube sold well but not as much as PS2. In 2001 Dreamcast was discontinued. It didn’t sell well.

Today Dreamcast is considered to be a definite gem as a retro gaming console. You can get the original console for about 200 euros. It is also possible to play it by emulating Dreamcast on a system like Recalbox that you can run on a Raspberry Pi 5 or PC. Raspberry Pi 5 has enough power to run Dreamcast emulation while some older Rasbperry Pi models might lack this power. We have to consider if this way of playing Dreamcast is actually legit or not. After all every Dreamcast game isn’t available.

I have solved this problem with buying this Dreamcast Collection for PC. I bought it a long time ago but it seems to be totally legal. This collection has four Dreamcast titles in it. While Sega quit manufacturing gaming consoles they still make video games for other systems. There are lots of good quality games still getting released by Sega. This tells something about their position as one of the most legendary game companies in the history of video games.

Sega’s history includes classic consoles like Mega Drive / Genesis, Master System and Saturn. However some of its products weren’t so successful. They did take a wrong direction with releasing 32X and Mega CD. They weren’t commercially successful which evidently lead to some financial problems that lead to discontinuation of Dreamcast.

What are some good games for Dreamcast? There are some role-playing-games like Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II, a boxing game, Ready 2 Rumble, many 2D fighting games, some 3D fighting games, like Virtua Fighter 3tb, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, Resident Evil – Code Veronica and many others. The game library is in its entirety a very solid and of good quality. I think that finding a bad game for Dreamcast is a difficult task to complete.

I do have some critic also about Dreamcast. The fact that the controller only has one analog stick makes playing first-person-shooters a bit clumsy. You have to map movement and aiming differently than you would with a better gamepad. Also when compared to some newer consoles Dreamcast lacks some power. But it has to be said that when considering it to be a retro console it handles its business very nicely.

It would be great to get something from Sega today that would be legit and also of good quality when it comes to retro gems like this one. There would definitely be many gamers that would like to buy a mini console, a remake or a completely new game from some of these classic titles. We have to see and wait for what the future holds for Sega fans.

Are You Waiting for GTA VI (or Not) ?

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post we are talking a bit about the upcoming video game from a video game series that might be the biggest name in the game. I am talking about Grand Theft Auto and especially the sixth game in this series.

I still remember clearly how it felt like playing the first Grand Theft Auto. There were possibilities in this games. You could impact and interact with the world that was inside this two dimensional video game. Violence was present and you could just tear everything apart until there was more and tougher forces on the streets to calm you down.

Many times it was not so necessary to commit violence in the game. But also many times you killed, in the video game, someone for example by driving over a person or shooting someone. I remember what my father said when he realized that I had played a game like this. It could have also been one of the first two Fallout games, also, I don’t remember so clearly.

First two GTA games were golden or at least in my memories they are. I still own a copy of both of them for PS1. However, the third GTA was the game that made GTA series a historically very important. GTA III was released for PS2 and PC in 2001. GTA III had bright colors represented in three dimensional environments. It had many relatable characters.

We saw GTA IV in 2008. It was released for PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows. It was finally 2013 when GTA V was released. It made its way to many consoles going past even whole console generations. I mean that GTA V was first released when it was still the dominant era of PS3 and Xbox 360. When time went by we saw releases for PS4 and Xbox One. This game is also available for the latest and current console generation.

To tell you the truth I never was so excited about GTA IV or GTA V. I tried hard to advance in GTA III but after all failed to finish the game. I think GTA III is the most important game in the series. And the first two GTAs are just so much of a memory for me to dwell in as they bring me so much nostalgia that I prefer to play one of them before I would even start getting into a game like GTA V.

As you can probably tell from the attached image I still have a sealed copy of GTA V for PS4 literally in my hands. I think I bought it for 25 euros and this was already some years ago. You could say that this means I don’t have an interest to play the game. You are actually right with this one. I am not saying it is a bad game. I’m just saying that it isn’t interesting for me.

I could go on about GTA IV or GTA V and how especially the fifth game doesn’t interest me. But there is something happening soon that might take my concentration. What’s happening? There is going to be a new GTA game released. The game is the sixth in the series. This might be a hit. This might be a nice game. For all we know there are lots of expectations for this game to be a success. We can take it as a game for us gamers. We can deal it and review it as a piece of digital art and also a piece of gaming.

So, the final question is, are you expecting this new GTA game? Just ponder it a little while. Think about how you feel about this soon to be released video game right now. Is it going to fail and flop? Is it going to make some developer company some profit? Or would it be the case that it just brings something new to gaming? Whatever it will be we are going to see soon…

Gremlins 2 (NES) – Some Notes About Gameplay

Posted on by Viljami

Gremlins 2 – The New Batch is a very neat Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, game. In this game you control the main character, Gizmo. I am not going to go over the movies plot or setting. If you haven’t seen Gremlins 1 or 2 yet I think you should really watch them especially if you’re really into 1980s and 1990s entertainment.

As with any NES game the controller is a lot more simpler compared to a modern gaming console. You have directional buttons, select and start button and A button and B button. This is of course very logical and clear to anyone familiar with NES. I am mentioning these because I think that Gremlins 2 makes great use of the controller. The movement of the main character is very fluent in every way. As fluent as in a retro game like this can be.

The movement consists of directions (up, down, left, right), jumping and shooting. When you press the jump button Gizmo is up in the air for a short moment. You have to try to time your movement and jump so that you actually get over a gap in the game. This takes a while to learn but is very essential in the actual gameplay.

There are a total of 5 levels in this game. It can take several hours for the player to finish the game. The amount of continues isn’t limited in any way so you can continue to play as long as you wish. You get a password when you loose your life and you get to this menu where you can choose to continue to play or quit playing. At the end of the level 1-2 you get a better weapon that deals more damage and shoots a bit further. It is difficult to move to any other direction than directly to up or down or left or right but this is also possible in this game.

There are some clever strategies in Gremlins 2 that you can utilize to try to succeed better in playing the game. When you fall off the edge you get a chance to float around with a balloon. This way you can move freely over enemies or gaps until the balloon wears off and you fall to the ground. You have three hearths of health. When you get hit with an enemy you loose a half of a hearth. So, you can get hit six times after you loose your life and have to start from the beginning of the level. After getting hit you are “immortal” for a while and you should take advantage of this to progress more efficiently.

Sometimes enemies move in directions that are random. Try to figure where and how the enemy is moving and then shoot it to destroy it. Collect pearls that you get from defeated enemies. You get to go to a shop at times in the game and you can buy more lives, health or upgrades to weapons. Write down the password each time you die in a level.

Graphics and animation, also in the cut scenes, are very adorable for a game that was released in 1990. I am currently in level 2-2 out of the total 5 levels that the game ultimately has. There are many different enemies in the game that have you to think about different kinds of strategies. This is a very good NES game that I can recommend for every NES fan. I have the actual, real, physical copy of the game that I do play on my Retro Trio console. The game is a bit cheaper when it comes to its price. It can be bought from a game shop (here in Finland) for about 30 euros. You can probably get it cheaper if you buy from some private individual or from flea market of some sort as is usual with older, retro type of, video games like this.

How to Rip Your PS1 Games

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post we are going to go through about how to rip your PS1, PlayStation 1, games to rom files so that you can play with an emulator or a piece of hardware like Raspberry Pi 4/5. This way of copying your games for your personal use is completely legal. What is currently illegal is copying rom files of games that you don’t own and/or if you share some games that you have ripped to someone who doesn’t own that particular game. We are dealing with a sensitive legal issue right here and things can change, for better or worse, in the future. I don’t want to encourage you to break law in any way.

So you have your PlayStation 1 game. What else do you need? Here’s a list:

  • External DVD drive
  • A PC running, preferably, Windows 10 (this guide has been written using this OS)
  • Magic ISO Maker (the software that actually rips the disc and converts it to the rom file)

External DVD drives today cost something from 40 euros to maybe 60 euros. You don’t need a special DVD drive. You just need something that works. The DVD drive should be connected to your PC through USB. Many PCs today don’t have a DVD drive so you might need an external one. If you have internal DVD drive or something like that you can also use that.

The discs that PS1 uses are colored in black on the side that gets read in the DVD drive. That doesn’t stop the disc from being read. Note, also, that you can rip your PS2 games in this similar way if you are into emulating PS2 also.

You do need a special software. I am using currently Magic ISO Maker (trial version). However there are also some other alternatives. You might want to check them out also. Ripping the disc is pretty straightforward. You select “Tools” from the upper main menu. Then you select “Make ISO from CDRom”. There is a new window that pops up. Select your DVD drive that has the disc in it and make sure that you have connected the USB cable of the DVD drive to your PC.

Then you select your DVD drive from the drop-down menu. Now click the folder icon on the right side of the part that says “Output File” and choose the destination where you want to save the rom files and also give these files names. This doesn’t have to necessarily be the name of the game that is being ripped but that could make things somewhat easier. Then change the file format (“File Format”) to “BIN image file”. That way your game will be in a form of two files that are .bin and .cue. You need to copy both of them to your game library or the location that you are running your emulated games from.

Now make sure that there is Make CD Image selected from the radio buttons that is titled “Option”. Then just click “OK” button. Now the disc of your PS1 game gets ripped to a BIN-file and a CUE-file. You can rip multiple games and place them in some folder where you can have one game in one folder. That way you will find your games easily.

Looks Like I’ll Be Playing Gran Turismo 6 For a Long Time

Posted on by Viljami

How I got to playing Gran Turismo 6 all over again? It started when I was going through PS1 games and I got to play Gran Turismo 2. It is a very good racing game but the graphics just seem too outdated. This happened many weeks ago. I was thinking about how I stopped playing Gran Turismo 6 for PS3 and I wanted to finish it. It was in my opinion  a better game than GT 2 would be. So, I started getting back into playing Gran Turismo 6.

If we consider that almost all Gran Turismo games are very good I can, in a positivite manner, say that Gran Turismo 6 is definitely in the top three of all GT games. I am not saying that it is better than Gran Turismo 4 which is by the way a game that has such a legendary status in gamers and racing fans minds. It might compete with GT 7 that was a very good game but was maybe a short one. I didn’t actually complete, that is to play the game and achieve everything that the game has to offer, Gran Turismo 7. I did finish it although.

How Long To Beat website tells you that it takes 44 and a half hours to finish Gran Turismo 6. When I look at the statistics that the game kindly offers I find that I have completed maybe 43 percentage of the game and I have driven maybe 19 hours. This is the actual point of this blog post. I think I still have a lot to play if I wish to finish or even complete Gran Turismo 6.

Gran Turismo 6 isn’t a perfect game. Graphics are nice. They are not as nice as with GT 7. This must not be a surprise because GT 7 was released for PS4 and PS5. We didn’t see a release for Xbox as we didn’t see Forza Motorsport on PS. That has been the way since the war between PS and Xbox first became. Noways we do have some conversation about some these exclusive titles getting released for both Xbox and PS. This makes sense since a game like FFXVI is getting a release for PC and it might even be released for Xbox also.

I don’t clearly know if my controller is working fully. I checked if there would be any professional level game pads for PS3 available. This made me a bit disappointed. I only saw some Spartan Oplon controllers, which I do have a  one piece that is presented in this image next to this blog post and also there were some basic Dual Shock 3 controllers also available. I do have a racing wheel but I have to confess that I am not so into racing wheels. I just never got the hang of it and I have played with a controller since the end part of 1990s when I was getting first into these Gran Turismo games which then has lead to me to this day which I seem to be spending playing Gran Turismo 6.

Is Gran Turismo 6 a good racing game? Definitely. Should you spend almost 45 hours playing it? Well, if you do enjoy it, then go ahead. But if it feels like you have seen the whole game after 20 or so hours I advise to you to think about this decision again. I do have games that I have played hundreds of hours but these games are kind of a special cases, like NBA 2K games for me (:D). I had an idea of a blog post in which I would have discussed with you about how long would be the preferable time to spend on a video game but this current topic seemed more interesting to me. Anyways…happy Saturday to you, my reader. We’ll see each other when you read my next blog post. Take care!

Getting Into PS1 (What Games Should You Play?)

Posted on by Viljami

There are thousands of games for Sony PlayStation 1 that have been published since the console was released in the middle of 1990s. The amount of games can be overwhelming especially if you are new to PlayStation 1. In this blog post I am going through some of the best games for PS1 in different genres from roleplaying to 2D and 3D platformer games.

Lets start with RPGs. Roleplaying games usually take longer to finish. It is improtant to know something about the game that you are about to start to play. First RPG for PS1 that comes to mind is, of course, Final Fantasy VII. While there are more RPGs, also, this must the most improtant out of all of them. It practically brought the Final Fantasy series to Europe and made it a popular game world wide. You can also check titles like Breath of Fire, Grandia, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story and Suikoden.

Maybe the favorite genre in PS1 games for me is racing. The first racing game that comes to my mind is, once again and of course, Gran Turismo. There were two Gran Turismo games released for PS1. If you are new to Gran Turismo I suggest that you start from the first game. Other good racing titles include Colin McRae Rally 1 and 2.0, Ridge Racer (at least Ridge Racer Type 4), Need for Speed series and Driver 1 and 2.

PS1 has also some great FPS games in its game library. While the graphics aren’t as impressive as with some later releases in this genre with some newer hardware. My first suggestion if you are interested in FPSes is Medal of Honor and the sequel Medal of Honor Underground. There was also a port of Doom and also Final Doom and I think these are also worth of getting into. I mention here also Alien Resurrection.

What would a list of the most significant PS1 games be without some survival horror games? If you’re into this genre you have the opportunity to check and play the games that almost started it all. I am saying almost because maybe the first survival horror game that was ever released was Sweet Home and it was originally designed for NES. Games that I have in mind right here are Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3, the first Silent Hill and Clock Tower.

Lets take a look at some fighting games that were released for PS1. Fighting Force 1 and 2 delivered some classic street fighting in a 3D environment. Games like Mortal Kombat Trilogy and many versions of Street Fighter brought you some 2D fighting while Tekken series and Battle Arena Toshinden presented some fighting content in 3D. I can also mention Bushido Blade here. If you are into stealth style of fighting you should check Tenchu and also the sequel for it.

There are also some very good 2D and 3D platformers for PS1 and I have to mention some good games in this genre also. We cannot forget Crash Bandicoot. There were a total of three games released for PS1 in this series. Spyro The Dragon is also one good game in this genre. If you like 2D platformers check the first Rayman and also Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee and the sequel to it.

Other good games that I haven’t mentioned yet in this list are: Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2, Metal Gear Solid, Tony Hawk Pro Skater series, all sport games, Spider-Man series, Wipeout, Tomb Raider series, Castlevania Symphony Of The Night and all other titles that you might find just if you look deeply into the PS1 game library.

There must and there has to be a game that I forgot. And of course this is the list of most important PS1 games in my opinion. You might have a different idea of it. If there are thousands of games there also have to be some hidden gems and you have to spend some time with PS1 to get to know these games. But anyways I hope you did find something from this blog post. I hope this gives you some sort of an idea of what games you shoudl play when you are starting to get into PS1 and its huge game library.

Finishing and Completing Games

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post I write to you, dear IGD blog readers, about finishing and completing games. The thing is that for me back in the 1990s and in the era when PlayStation 1 was the most powerful gaming console it was a habit to finish a game that I had bought. There are some reasons why I am not today finishing all these games that I have.

First that comes to mind when thinking about finishing anf completing games is that we have seen hundreds, even thousands of new games becoming available fom older consoles, like PS1, and for consoles that have been released after that. Just think about thousands of games released for PS2. Add also games that were released to these systems: Xbox, GameCube, Xbox 360, PS3, and so on. There have been many games releaseda and so there are more games to be finished.

Finishing a game is a one thing. Some games can be completed. The difference between these two is that when you finish a game you have had enough from the game. It has provided you some entertainment. When you actually want to complete a game after you have already finished it the game seems to have still something to give to you. So, you play the game until there is nothing left to accomplish in it.

There were many PS1 games that I finished. There are a few games that I wanted to play even after I had finished them. These games are Gran Turismo 1, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Colin McRae Rally 1 and 2. I don’t know if I completed for example THPS 1. I did unlock every skating level and achieved a gold medal in every competition but I didn’t finish the game with every character. There was also some characters that could be unlocked and this was kind of a bonus for someone that was feeling  a deep motivation to totally complete the game.

I think in a way I have become busier. I don’t have as much time for video games than I had back in the 1990s. Also the society has become very different from what it used to be. The games often try to hold the play and games have become longer than they were. The capacity that a game takes from your disk has grown. It went from one CD, about 650 MB, to one DVD, to one Bluray to something like over 100 GB. There are more possibilities in a single game and there is more content. Also game manufacturers have become more ambitious with their games.

I used to complete every game I had. Back in 2014 I tried to complete every game that I bought for my then so shiny PlayStation 4. It started well. I was using PS4. I finished maybe five games and after that the backlog started growing and I started to skip a game that I got stuck with and buy another game and start playing it.

Even back in 2006 when I played mainly original Xbox I had some more ambition in trying to finish the games that I had bought. There has been a shift in this way. We are seeing more games that are very long. Publsihers are trying their best to get players hooked in that particular game and to play their game for a very long time. At the same time we are seeing fewer games.

So is the innovating started to become less of a thing when it comes to modern video games? We are seeing fewer games than back in the say era of PS2 and original Xbox and other consoles of that era. The stakes might have risen. And there is more money involved.

Some of The Limitations of 16-bit Era

Posted on by Viljami

I have recently stumbled on to two great games that were first published for the 16-bit game console era. The first game I am going to mention here is Turtles – The Hyperstone Heist. It was originally released for Sega Mega Drive in 1992. You can also play it from the collection of Turtles games that was just released a while ago. I am talking about The Cowabunga Collection. You can pick it up for 40 euros from Xbox Store if you want to.

The other game that made me think about the topic we are going to go through here is Super Castlevania IV. It was released for SNES in the 90s. There were three Castlevania games released for NES before this fourth game was released. This is a good video game that has action and also some mediium level puzzles that the player has to solve. The Hyperstone Heist is basically a “beat-em-up” in just the way that you could imagine a Mega Drive fighting game to look, feel and sound like. Actually we can say that it reminds a lot of Streets of Rage games.

These two games do offer a challenge for a gamer. They are both great games. It just seems to me that these games have some sort of limitations. They are over 30 year old games after all. What are these limitations? That seems to be the reason for me to write something like this. Lets go over some points that I am right now thinking about.

Back in 1990s you didn’t have a way to save your game. So, as a starting point the games were designed to be played in a one session. In Super Castlevania IV there is a password option. Before anyone even had an idea of some sort of a memory card, that were later commonly used in gaming consoles, passwords were a way for a player to continue playing the game even after you had powered off your console. The issue was that lasting memory was expensive. The consoles did have sort of memory but it wasn’t for means to save a game.

Some limitations could be circled with clever game design and programming. Game designers had to know the console they were developing the game for very well. I don’t have a clear idea of what programming language was actually used but I am guessing the code that was used was sort of C and/or pure assembly code. You shouldn’t underestimate the talent that game developers back then had.

Why is the era called “The 16-bit Era”? What this basically means is that everything from background graphics to sound effects would have had to be in 16-bit format for the processor to be able to handle them. This was a huge step from using only 8-bits. Some 8-bit consoles include Sega Master System and Nintendo Entertainment System. 16-bit consoles include at least Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. What this also means is that graphics were more detailed and sounds and background music also. Later there were even 32-bit and 64-bit consoles released but they did belong to other and newer console generations.

The music that had to be compressed is today called “Chip Tune”. This music genre has its roots in as deep as Commodore 64. You can enjoy many music tracks of this genre online. You can try your luck and trying to find something interesting. If you’re interested just make a search with this genre as a search term.

You know back in 1990s we didn’t have 3D modeling in our video and computer games. Instead there were animations that were created using sprite sheets. They were basically some 2D images that were sort of rotated to create a feel of constant graphical flow. We could have a character in our game that had a way to display which way it was currently running. This is one significant limitation. Although you can’t really compare these two ways to create graphical output since they can create very different kinds of results.

You had way less going on while you were playing. Do you know these modern action RPGs? They handle and use a way more data than game consoles did in the 90s. This is one limitation. The last limitation that I am going to mention here is the quality, or maybe the lack of it, when it comes to controllers and game pads. If you are playing on an original system this can be a serious limitation.

There are many ways to play these games of 16-bit era. You can get your hands on an original and physical copy of the game and the console. You can download an emulator, a game file (actually not so “legit”) and connect a USB game pad to your PC. You can also get a collection, like Cowabunga one, for your modern gaming console be it Series S/X, PS4/PS5 or Switch,

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