Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Tag: mega drive

Altered Beast and The Showcase of Sega Mega Drive

Posted on by Viljami

Altered Beast is a game that was available when Sega Mega Drive was launched back in 1988. You have to consider that this game was one of the first games ever released for a game console like this. Nintendo had its 8-bit system in the markets. Sega gained the position of the most powerful gaming console in the industry. At that point SNES wasn’t yet released. I think SNES had a bit more power to it when compared to Mega Drive.

I am mentioning this detail because you know how it is when a console launches. It usually has only a few games and these games aren’t the best ones that will be made for this console. Everyone seems to understand and know this. You need a game that you can play right? So you have to choose at least one from the ones that are available. This pattern was recognizable also when systems like Saturn and PlayStation launched.

Altered Beast is a nice game. You control a character that gets waken up from grave to beat all kinds of beasts. You basically control the character with three buttons of the controller. One button gives you jump, one gives you a hit with a fist and one makes you kick. You can also crouch with down button. This game reminds me a lot about Splatterhouse 2 that was also released as a Mega Drive game later. You also get upgrades. When you get enough of updates your character transforms into a beast that is faster and stronger than it was earlier.

The game play isn’t perfect. Still this game kept me playing for some hours or maybe about three hours. I couldn’t get past through the boss at level 2. Like any Mega Drive game this game also gets you easily frustrated. This is a common feature in Sega’s games. There is a bit of a repetition going on. But it’s not the worst game of Mega Drive I have played and I think it showcases the abilities of this gaming console nicely.

I think for me this was a nice pick up. I paid about twenty euros for this game. I think it is a huge part of gaming history and also part of the legacy of Sega Mega Drive. This wasn’t the only game I ordered as I also bought two PlayStation 1 games. These other games were Bomberman and Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX Maximum Remix. So this time I bought three games for a low price.

Differences between Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter

Posted on by Viljami

I finally managed to get my hands on original Street Fighter II SNES cartridge. It is not a rare or expensive game. But it is definitely a good fighting game and has earned its position as one of the greatest fighting games ever.

There is however competition. Street Fighter games are always compared to Mortal Kombat series’s games. Back in the 90s these two were the best fighting games that any decent arcade, or a video gaming console, had to offer. It was before we got these 3D styled fighting experiences like for example Tekken or Virtua Fighter.

The competition between these two brands was furious. Nintendo wanted to get more young players to enjoy their games. There is no blood in Street Fighter II. In Mortal Kombat you have these deadly fatalities that can be executed after you have beaten your opponent . This was also a time when consumers were becoming more aware of violence in video games.

I played Street Fighter II for a while. It got me to understand how it is different when compared to Mortal Kombat. The latter was released for Sega Mega Drive and the first one was a SNES title. First thing that caught my attention was the differences between controllers.

The way you play these games is almost identical. There is one fighter against the other fighter. The moves are however different. You do have kicks and punches and you can throw your enemy to the other conrner of the screen. Mega Drive doesn’t have shoulder buttons in its controller while SNES does have. Button layout is a bit different when compared between these two gaming consoles.

Mortal Kombat is the one of these two that shows elements of brutal violence. Street Fighter doesn’t show you blood and violence is a bit more cartoonishly expressed. Is it okay to show how violence in real life affects your victim? I don’t have a clear answer. Both of these games are violent. Do you have a problem with it? Well, I don’t as I think of it as fantasy. I do understand that you might have to have a conversation with younger palyers on this topic at some moment.

While this might not be a good time for a discussion about violence in video games but it is a time for me to try to finish this blog post honestly. Both of these fighting games are great. Maybe I should say that I like both of them and that they both have their own strengths. So I can recommend both of them if you have the ability to also play both of them.

Comparison of Two NBA Jam games

Posted on by Viljami

The latest post I wrote some days ago was about basketball games and how they have evolved. While we’re at the subject I am going to continue to write about basketball games. So todays subject is to compare older NBA Jam game, actually it’s NBA Jam Tournament Edition for Sega Mega Drive, and a newer one that is NBA Jam for PS3.

It’s amazing to think that while graphics and controls have evolved a lot the game called NBA Jam has really changed just a bit in all this time that is between the first Mega Drive release and the PS3 release. You still play with two basketball players against two other players. There are some details that have been added. If you haven’t played the original Mega Drive version you can still most likely enjoy the newer version.

The newer version has challenges for one and two players. I think it’s more fun to play with a human player be it against each other or as teammates. I have to mention that this game wasn’t first developed for Mega Drive. To be exact it was  developed first as a game that would be  played in an arcade. This was also where my first experiences of this game started back in the 90s. We put some coins inside the machine and played against each other. This is probably where the game aimed and this is where it becomes attractive to us players.

I have to tell more about NBA Jam since it is one of my favorite games of all time – at least I think that way right now. Maybe it’s just my favorite basketball or sports game. The players heads seem to be a bit big. This is because they originally wanted to bring more details to the players heads. I think NBA Jam was released also for PC. If a player scores points three times in a row, with no other player scoring, he becomes “on fire”. So about any shot will go in. If some other player scores the “on fire” wears off. I can tell you that when this player is hot you must shoot three pointers or at least this makes sense if you are trying to beat your opponent.

I enjoyed both of these games. Mega Drive version has more nostalgia but PS3 version has better and updated graphics and it also brings some details and features that wouldn’t have been possible to create in a Mega Drive version of NBA Jam. I didn’t pay a lot for any of these two games. Actually I think I bought them for exactly the same price and that was about 15 euros. I bought Mega Drive version from a flee market and PS3 version was found from a store and it was on discount. So, I liked both versions and I still play them casually. This is also a fun game to be played in a house party but maybe it is too nerdy for that…I don’t know…It might depend…