Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: mega

Nostalgia With Mega Drive

Posted on by Viljami

I found a good way to feel some nostalgia with Mega Drive. I bought this game collection that has over 50 Mega Drive games. It cost me something around 20 to 30 euros. It is actually a “code-in-a-box” game this time. You can probably very easily tell if this collection is available as a digital copy. I don’t have a clue about that. I actually accidentally bought this version of this collection. Anyways this product is available also for other modern gaming devices. I have seen recently this available for Xbox Series X for 20 euros for a used and physical copy.

This seems to me like a bargain. I mean in the same package you get three Phantasy Star games, several Sonic titles and some games like Golden Axe and Streets of Rage not forgetting to mention a game like Kid Chameleon. There are so many good games in this collection. Even if you are just barely familiar with Mega Drive I can still recommend this collection for you.

If you think that you would buy each of these over 50 games separately I think many of us video game hobbyists would end up in bankruptcy. Phantasy Star II alone costs over 100 euros. The price tag for this collection would probably have four numerals. So, the point here is, they haven’t scant with this one a bit. These are definitely all good games. It would be hard to try to figure what game would be missing. Well, I did just come up with one game that’s missing and that game is Splatterhouse II. Splatterhouse III is also a good game and its not included in this collection.

The way I feel nostalgia while playing this game collections games is very clear. I did own a Mega Drive back in the first half of 1990s. Sonic The Hedgehog was the first game I played on this system. There is something so magical when I hear the music of this game. Take also for example the music of Streets of Rage II. What 16-bit game does have a better soundtrack? I think you are going to have hard time figuring that out.

What is so interesting about the audio side of the technology of Mega Drive gaming console seems to me the fact that it was actually a sound that was not CD quality. Sony achieved CD quality later but Mega Drive did this with its hardware and set the bar for Nintendo that also released a 16-bit console Super Nintendo. I think for a while Mega Drive was the leader when it comes to audio side of video games. We are talking about real history here. CD quality audio might seem as constant but you have to think hoe the technology was back then. Even PC didn’t have such a good audio quality back then. Of course Mega Drive gave some hard time for Nintendo that had to compete for several years with its 8-bit system NES.

I do recommend this Mega Drive collection for you. The price is very cheap. Also you get to see this cool virtual environment inside the menu of this collection. This is very cool feature. Some games, like for example, Phantasy Star II, that has already been mentioned in this blog post, might be games that you wouldn’t want to spend several tens of hours playing. These are retro games after all. I think if you totally hate retro games you have to consider if you really want to buy this. Modern games do have usually an overall better game design. This is because the industry has been developing several tens of years since we witnessed Mega Drive or anything like it.

 

Donkey Kong Bonanza Brings Back Some Memories

Posted on by Viljami

Playing Donkey Kong Bonanza just a moment ago brought some memories to my mind. I think this game is the first good game for this new Nintendo gaming console Switch 2. It definitely showcases what the console has to offer. I really enjoy the graphics and the whole gameplay.

Its been over 30 years since I got to play my Sega Mega Drive for the first time. I think the year was 1993. I used to play my Mega Drive for a while before I made my way to school in the morning. I only had a short way to my school and I usually went there by bike. So, I had about thirty minutes to play Sonic The Hedgehog before meeting my pals at our school and starting my then a bit short day in school. Those were the days!

Sega Mega Drive was my first gaming console. Earlier I had already played some games on our family’s personal computer. The computer had MS-DOS as an operating system. I remember many cool titles that I played. Some of them were a bit shorter and some took many hours to complete. Playing Sega Mega Drive was actually something that you couldn’t directly compare to what our PC had to offer.

One huge factor was the way that games on Mega Drive were played. With this console you only had to insert the game cartridge and start to control the character with the controller included. You did have to adjust some settings. You could even take another controller and give it to a friend so you could play together. Mega Drive offered support for two controllers. There was some kind of an adapter of sort that you could plug in to expand the multiplayer capabilities. We of course didn’t have any way to play in any kind of a network back then.

Sonic The Hedgehog was released for Mega Drive in 1991. Mega Drive had been in the markets for several years. Now it was time to change the strategy. Nintendo and NES had already an icon or a mascot – Super Mario. Sonic quickly became the character that represented this console. We have seen similar strategies from the era of Sony PlayStation in the form of Crash Bandicoot. You can also think that Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong Bananza now showcases Switch 2’s power in a similar way.

I really like Donkey Kong Bananza. I really like Switch 2. I have been playing some Switch 1 titles also. It is nice to have a backwards compatibility like this. Since I have bought Switch 2 I have bought some Switch 2 games but also some Swithc 1 titles. I am really waiting for Terminator 2D – No Fate to get released. The release day was actually just recently pushed to end of Octoberw while it was earlier set to be released already in September. There is also a new NBA2K game coming in the beginning of September. I am not sure about if I am going to invest in a new basketball game. It just seems that the game is modified only slightly. It takes a lot of time to complete a modern NBA2K game. I have bought NBA2K every year for at least five years in a row so it might be a good time to take a break in that matter.

There’s some games getting released for Switch 2 later this year. The next Metroid Prime game is getting released in this years December. We are also going to see Hades II also for Switch 2 in December. I already have Hades II for my current Windows PC. I am still looking for a good moment to buy also a new personal computer that would utilize the new Windows 11 operating system. You might have heard that Windows 10 is going to be somewhat unsupported in October. There is also an option to keep using Windows 10 by paying a small amount of money to keep the system supported. It is also possible to install Linux. I am thinking about this and I haven’t yet made my final decision about this issue. We will see how things are going to begin shaping in a moment. See you again soon!

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!