Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: History of Gaming

My Tiny Collection of Sega Master System Games

Posted on by Viljami

I have an adapter that can bring me to games of the game system that was originally released before Mega Drive. This gaming console is Sega Master System. It wasn’t the first console that was manufactured by Sega. It was although something that could be a challenge for Nintendo Entertainment System. NES was released in 1983. Some years later Master System was released.

The complete game library of Sega Master System has a bit over 300 games. Mega Drive was strongly advertised to be a 16-bit system. Master System is a 8-bit system. It sold something from 10 to 13 million units worldwide. After all this was not enough for Sega that wanted to dominate the markets. The sligt failure of Master System caused Sega to really invest in the development of Mega Drive.

What am I playing my Master System games with? Well, I have a Retro Trio console that I can play Mega Drive games with. Already some years ago I was lucky to spot an adapter that enables you to play Master System games on a Mega Drive. It was also cheap but very difficult to find from any game shop or even elctronics web shop.

I have collected for Master System already some time. About a month ago I bought three more games for it. I already had this game that features Mickey Mouse. The game is titled Castle of Illusion. It’s a fun platformer type of a game. Three other games are Wonder Boy, Super Space Invaders and Psycho Fox.

It has to be said that if we make a comparison between NES and MS and think about all games that were released NES has more of them. In fact NES has about two times more games than MS. This is of course clear since NES was such a popular system back in the 80s and especially before the release of its serious competitor Sega MD. In fact it is said that back in 1988 Nintendo held 83 percentage of the video game market (in North America alone).

The latest addition to my Sega MS collection will be Bubble Bobble. I have ordered it but it hasn’t yet arrived (that’s why it isn’t in the featured image of this blog post). Bubble Bobble is an exciting game and it was released in the 80s for several gaming systems. It was released also for PC, C-64 and  NES. You can probably right now hear the theme music already playing if you are familiar with this game. This game is familair to me and I was introduced to it in the form of a PC game. I used to play it a lot when I was a kid. Today, I enjoy more the console version because I can use a game pad to play it. It is said also that the MS version was the best.

I can recommend any of these MS games if you got interested. These four games weren’t actually so expensive. Psycho Fox was 40 euros. Other games were something below 30 euros. Bubble Bobble was a bit more expensive. It cost me 75 euros. I have seen these prices going up a bit in last five years or so. Retro games seem to have a higher price today as this hobby seems to be popular.

Types of Games I Am Interested in Right Now

Posted on by Viljami

So, I am writing this next blog post about types of games, new and retro, and also gaming systems that I am right now interested in. I will also tell you my view on what are some popular devices right now. I am also trying to give you an idea of what games and gaming consoles are popular and also yet to be released. I am trying to give you an idea of what I am looking forward to inside gaming.

This posts featured image gives you a clear picture of some of games I have recently acquired. It’s all Xbox. I have here two games for Xbox 360, four for original Xbox and one also for Xbox Series X. I have ordered also some other types of games. I ordered recently two survival horror games for PS2. Those were Forbidden Siren and Resident Evil – Code Veronica X. I also bought NBA 2K23 for Series X.

Also I have to mention that I got a game for PS2 titled Ecco The Dolphin – Defender of The Future. I also got Luigi’s Mansion for Nintendo Switch. I have to mention also Final Fantasy VI for PS1. I actually play this now on my silver PS2 console. And I have one more game that I have purchased recently. That game is Metroid Prime Remastered and it is for Switch.

So these are games that I have bought recently. There’s quite a lot of them. I almost forgot that I got also some Sega Master System games. These are very cool games. They can bring you lots of nostalgia. They represent the 8-bit era of gaming and they were released in 1980s. These titles were Psycho Fox, Wonder Boy and Super Space Invaders. I play these games with my Retro Trio console that can play Sega Mega Drive games but also Master System games because I have an adapter for that.

If we talk about retro for a while I can say that I have plenty of games in that category. I have that Retro Trio console that can play NES, SNES and Mega Drive games. I have two adapters –  Master System adapter and a SNES adapter for Game Boy games. I also have a mini console that I can play Mega Drive games on. It is the first release of Mega Drive Mini. I haven’t had a chance to get into Mega Drive mini’s sequel.

I also play PlayStation 1 and 2 games. I have also my eyes on Nintendo GameCube games. They are a bit rare right now and most games are a bit expensive. I would like to get more consoles. I have been interested in Saturn and DreamCast. I have also Game Boy Color that represents my handheld part of my game collection. I don’t have a single game on Game Boy Color. I would like to get a Pokemon game some day. For NES I have plenty of games and the same goes to SNES. For Mega Drive I have several games mostly because I owned these already back in the day when it was the most popular consolle.

That’s it about what do I currently have and also things I have recently got. What are the things inside gaming that I would like to have? We can start from two new games that haven’t been released yet. These are Diablo IV and Forza Motorsport. I do know that there are many other interesting games coming at us this year. One game that I am a bit interested in is Final Fantasy XVI. That might be interesting.

For SNES and NES I mainly keep my focus on loose cartridges.The same goes with Game Boy games. They are a bit cheaper. I am not a person that looks for cardboards for these types of games. I do like PC big box games and that’s one more category I am collecting for. There are somne legendary titles mainly for NES that I would like to add to my collection. There are lots of nice shoot-em-ups for SNES and Mega Drive. I find those also interesting.

I am also looking for original Xbox titles. I currently don’t have original Xbox in my setup. I do have Xbox 360 and it can play original Xbox games. It doesn’t play all of them, however. I like to pick games that you can play with my X360. I have an intention also to get some a bit rare and kind of hidden gems for PS2. I am aiming for games that aren’t so expensive.

Which games are expensive today? Which games you can right now get some good money from? I would say that GameCube is popular. I have seen many games and consoles for sale lately. Eternal Darkness is popular. Also Silent Hill and especially the first three games are popular. System Shock 2 as a big box is popular. In overall I have observed that these prices have gone up in just five years.

I suggest that you keep your games to yourself. If you do need some money you can sell a game or two. If you aren’t palying them and if you aren’t even displaying them it might be a good idea to sell them. You can turn to your local game store or sell them for some person. In Finland we have at least two channels for selling your games (Huuto dot net and Tori dot fi). You can get a better price by selling your used games to some person instead of a gaming store (which is very understandable).

The State of Final Fantasy Series in 2002

Posted on by Viljami

Only some days ago I got a copy of Final Fantasy VI. I do have all other FF games that were released for the first PlayStation. These games are VII, VIII and IX. And also one game that I don’t actually own is Final Fantasy Tactics.

There has always been a sense of strategy in FF games. They also offer you a nice and long story and the ability to develop your character or even characters. I have this habit of not giving a name for a new character and to go with the name that is as default. That way you can have a discussion on a certain character if you have a friend that also plays these role playing games. I love also chocobos…if you don’t know what they are you propably haven’t played FF as much as some of us have.

I first got into FF as I got Final Fantasy VII for PlayStation back in the end of 90s. I really liked the game. It was maybe two years old when I got the game but it still had a lot to offer. This makes me, again, to think how stupid for me it was to sell my PS1 and all the games I had. It was actually the summer of 2000 that I finished FF VII. I had a long vacation in that summer. I was just about to start in high school and I did actually in the fall of year 2000.

Final Fantasy has its roots in NES and also SNES. The first FF game was released for NES. There were some games released for SNES. Back in 2002 when FF VI was brought to PS1 there was already a new PlayStation console available for gamers. It features graphics that make you think very strongly that this is actually a SNES game ported to PS1 that can also be played with PS2. My edition actually holds a  playable demo disc for PS2 that has Final Fantasy X in it.

What was going on with this title back in 2002? We had already seen many FF games for PS1. FF X was to be soon released. It was the first FF game that had an audio dialogue. All of the earlier games of this series’s dialogues were only in text format. It seems that releasing also FF VI brought something more for the fans of this series. It also brought some money for the developers of this game.

I have only started playing this game. It seems to be very good RPG. I don’t mind if the graphics are simple. I haven’t played so much FF games on SNES. So, graphics are just fine. You do need a PS1 memory card, if you are playing this with PS2. The game actually fits on only one CD. I know that FF VIII was delivered in a package of 3 or 4 discs.