I have finally found the optimal solution, and still being able to use the Elgato Video Capture i bought (see previous entry about Playing & recording 8-bit and 16-bit consoles on you Mac / computer). While the Elgato / DVD recorder combination worked excellently with all my PAL systems I still couldn’t get it to work with my NTSC NES and my japanese Famicom, since the DVD recorder was PAL region it messed up the images.
I had to buy rca y cable splitters since the Famicom only had one output of composite image and video cords, now being able to split the signal to two places I can play through connecting the Famicom to a TV while also having it connected to the Elgato, which actually captures the video and image perfectly however generates a black image (“no signal”) while recording. The rya y cable splitters might not be necessary for the regular NES since that console already has two outputs, one for the antenna input in a PAL television and also the composite on the side, however it is more nimble not having to search for the channel and just playing through the AV channel ^_^
If anyone has any questions about this topic feel free to ask me, I’ve been researching into it and going through a lot of trial/error phases to know a thing or two about it by now ;D
I remembered watching this trailer quite a while back, and I was totally psyched about this Ultimate Tribute to the NES! Then i forgot about it.. and after browsing through my favorites on Youtube I found it again, and it has now been released since some time in January!
Tonight I’ve been playing through the whole game, it took me about 1 hour and 40 minutes, watching all the cutscenes and stuff (that are awesome btw!) ^_^
This game has it all, the retro 8-bit feeling and references to all the games we love <3 And it’s extremely funny! Here are just some of the things you will be able to enjoy and experience when playing Abobo’s Big Adventure!
Playing as MEGABOBO!
Earning medals for silly and funny things usually referenced to old NES games:
Working up your RAGE for amazing mind-blowingly awesome special attacks that are unique for each level!
References to Mortal Kombat, and in general pretty gory gameplay! =D
Finding hidden areas, where all the fun is at ;D
Abobo in Zelda:
Abobo in Balloon Fight!! With the Reaper from Castlevania!!!!
Encountering various famous NES characters all through the game, and with original NES music:
Awkward moments:
Or having babies with a mermaid.. or as they call it Merbobos!
Abobo in Contra, vs Krangby!!
YES! IT IS KIRBY WHO SWALLOWED KRANG TO BECOME KRANGBY!!!
Making reviews and wanting to be able to record what I’m playing so that I can show through video what the games are like. This has turned out to be a difficult problem to solve, but today I managed to solve all my previous issues.. with a little help from my friends ;D
I started out trying to record with a film camera, filming the TV screen. This was crap. Crappy quality, shaky, bad angles, ugly sound.. etc. So i moved on to borrowing my boyfriend’s brother’s HDPVR, this worked on and off, didn’t work with my NTSC or japanese systems, only my PAL. The recordings got a constant humming in the background sound and it was also a hassle to connect the thing, cords from the HDPVR to the TV, to the laptop (not being able to use my stationary computer=inconvenient) and to the console. I then had to transfer the files from my laptop to my stationary to work with them.
After talking to some stores, I got convinced to buy a DVD recorder. This worked, but not with my NTSC or japanese systems.. also it was a hassle having to record on DVD’s then transfer the files to my computer and convert them to files I could use. The recordings also carried a constant humming sound in the background and the image was laggy..
However the DVD recorder purchase was not in vain. A friend advised me to get the Elgato Video Capture from the apple store.
When I first connected it to the system and straight into the computer it didn’t work. Apparently because the consoles have some built in anti-piracy code (according to my engineer friend). The image looked like this and froze immediately:
BUT when I connected it through the DVD burner into the console the image was perfect, no lag, and I could play the games straight on my iMac, while recording!
It doesn’t look too messy, not too many cords or machines to connect together, and best of all, the sound is perfect!
I’ve been playing a bunch of Streets of Rage on my iMac tonight, with headphones, and OMG that games’ music is just so awesome! This is what the image quality looks like:
This is totally ok for my purpose ^_^
Now I haven’t had time to try it out with my NTSC machines or the japanese yet, but I hope it will work o_O The Elgato is said to be able to take all formats, however I’m not sure if the DVD burner might f*ck it up..
I’ll update once I find out ^_^
Have you ever wondered what if would be like to play Super Mario bros with Mario possessing a Portal gun? Well now you don’t have to wonder anymore! A two-man studio called Stabyourself has created an open source game that has merged the two games, giving Mario a Portal gun!
“A complete from scratch recreation of Super Mario Bros. with a focus on perfectly imitating the feel the 1985 classic gave us. Then give Mario a portal gun, add puzzle game mechanics from Portal and there you go. And if that wasn’t crazy enough, play 4-player coop, with everyone having their own Portal gun!”
Here’s a teaser trailer for the game:
And if you want to play it, you can download it here for all platforms including OSX! (I love it when they do not exclude us Mac users) ^^
The creators also have some other great games on their page, like “Not Tetris 2“, which is a Tetris successor with no boundaries. Quite interesting, now I know what I will spend my afternoon playing!
I recently bought Wolfchild for Sega Master System, mainly because the cover made it look like a really cool game:
Doesn’t that look absolutely rad?!
Well it’s not.. it could have been a really great game, the graphics are really good for an 8-bit game, the enemies and the stages are well designed, the gameplay is kind of fluent.. but.. there is NO MUSIC in ANY of the STAGES! why?? There’s a song during the start screen, this song is totally ok, if they were too lazy to just make any other songs then they could’ve just kept that one during the stages as well! But no, it’s just plain quiet, and you just hear the sounds of your punches and jumps… it’s weird..
Also the story is never being explained during gameplay, or even before that.. you will have to read the back of the cover to know that:
“Chimera terrorists have kidnapped Saul Morrow’s father and killed his mother and brother. Will his ability to transform into a lycanthrope warrior – a man-wolf with psychic powers – be enough to defeat an entire army?”
Or start reading the manual, where they’ve actually made a comic explaining the events, it’s 4 pages long.. or short…: “Sometime in the future, high atop a remote island somewhere in the southern pacific”… WTF
Still, this comic only explains the event of Saul transforming into a Wolfchild. What about the Chimera terrorists? Who are they? Who is their leader? Why have they kidnapped Saul’s father?
When you’re Game Over the game tells you:
Who the hell is Draxx?!? There’s nothing about him/or her in the manual, or on the back of the cover! This story is really confusing and vague..
Well apart from this, here’s Saul:
After collecting hearts you turn into a wolf (or Wolfchild??) that has Psychic Powers, which apparently makes it possible for you to shoot laser from your paws….
The first boss i ridiculously easy.. you just walk under him and stand behind him and keep punching.. it doesn’t hurt you to touch him.
The game really has some nice graphics and environments, here’s stage 2:
The second boss wasn’t too hard either. There was a simple pattern to his appearances on the screen and you just had to position yourself away from his line of fire and try to get some shots in whenever he appeared.
On the third stage they increased the difficulty level quite a bit. The stage was overall longer than previous ones, also it had a lot of traps and enemies that came at you without a warning, like the larva randomly falling from the ceiling, and this almost always got you hurt.
When I got to the third boss I was really irritated by the game, not having any music and all.. the constant jumping, bumping and punching sounds really got on my nerves.. I wasn’t able to try the spider boss enough to figure out a pattern, and I got Game Over.. I did not feel like starting up the game again.. even though it does give you password codes for each stage, which is a bonus! And the codes are only 5 letters long! Thumbs up Wolfchild, you did something right!
Here’s a video where you can experience the frustration of not having any music while playing.. I eventually looped the intro song (since it is quite good) so you wouldn’t have to listen to the quietness forever.
Someday I might try to finish this game.. but not until I’ve forgotten about the traumatic experience of playing a 16-bit game that feels like an Atari game with bad sound effects and no music.. probably won’t take long though since my memory is terribly short >_<
Actually, Champions of Europe, however it is exceptionally shitty. Not only do I not like sport games to begin with, but this just turned out to be the worst sport game I have ever played. Look how fucking psyched they are! Don’t be fooled by this misleading cover!! The game is nothing like what they’re apparently experiencing..
First of all we couldn’t even start a game, we had to resort to the manual (which I rarely do, I prefer figuring out shit myself) to find what all the icons meant and what the hell you needed to choose for a game to actually start.
Most obvious seemed to press the button at the bottom, but they put a demo as the default so before figuring out to change that we watched the demo three times.. >_<
Gameplay.. omg.. you can’t even grab the ball and bring it with you. You have be exactly ON the ball and even then your character will constantly give it tiny little kicks so you can basically just go straight forward with the ball. It’s not easy steering around on a giant football field with the tiniest little character in 8-bit with a D-pad.. We just ran around in circles around the ball until somebody accidentally touched it and it flew out of the field. That’s basically what we did for 2 whole games. No goals. Just chasing the ball around, without results..
You could apparently shout out some kind of formation codes for your teammates, but I don’t know football, so I don’t know the freaking codes!! >_< and they didn’t seem to do much use anyway..
4-3-3 guys! 4-3-3!!!
no wait.. 4-2-4! no! 5-3-2.. or wait was it 4-4-2? no I’m pretty sure it was 5-3-2.. FOUL!
This was the last time I had my boyfriend choose which retro game he wanted to play with me >_<
I advice you NOT to play this game if you ever come across it.. Here’s a funny video I put together summoning up the game:
Look how fucking psyched they are! Don’t be fooled by this misleading cover!! The game is nothing like what they’re apparently experiencing..
Here’s a funny video I put together summoning up the game:
Retro Video Gaming 