Hi, I'm Dranzerstorm
Welcome to the Video Game & Music Lounge
This world is dedicated to Video Games and Music as I'll be showcasing the following.
Video Game Reviews set to the same tones as Retro Retrospective's Anime Reviews
Music reviews of Anime Openings & Closings
Western Cartoon music
Vocaloid Classics.
We may even have some Top Tens
I hope this World entertains you.
On my quest to see what I can get from Videogames, I sometimes run into some unique subjects even I've never heard of, so for this post we look at Satellaview.
Back in 1995, Nintendo created a modem for it's Super Famicom or Snes if you prefer called Satellaview; this device allows anyone in Japan who owned the Satellaview to download and play games during select broadcast hours along with other features such as news, weather and magazines that weren't seen again until the Wii. The system required subscription charges but what you got was access to games that are now considered lost media today most notably Legend of Zelda.
The notable difference between this and the actual Legend of Zelda is Link wearing a baseball cap, there was also an option for a red haired girl with a pony tail, the choice was made so kids can put themselves into the game.
Other Nintendo properties such as F-Zero, Mario, Kirby and Fire Emblem got their own games as well, along with titles like Wario Woods offering prizes for high scores, the downside is that because these games were beamed in via satelite they were only available during the broadcast times live not 24/7. A modern comparison would be X-Box Live's 1 vs 100 game which uses a similar broadcast format.
The service went defunct in the year 2000 and was considered a commercial failure mostly due to the arrival of Playstation Sega Saturn and Nintendo's own N64. Also not helping was the Snes being at the end of it's run and a less enthusiastic attempt at reviving the system on the infamous N64DD.
To take something positive from Nintendo's experiment it paved way for the online gaming of today, X-Box Live, PlayStation network and Nintendo's Current Online Service wouldn't be possible without Satellaview testing the waters.
As for it's games, you'll be lucky to see them with only the Zelda games getting fan recreations.
I admit the lack of action is mostly me going through a busy, rough patch but I return with some reviews. Starting with Smash Ultimate.
Released to a glorious fanfare in 2018, Smash Ultimate is the latest in the biggest crossover game of all time.
Pros
Every character from every Smash Brothers is here with new characters
So well balanced no one character is too overpowered
Solid gameplay as is standard for the franchise
Any new character is treated with the same hype as a new console
Spirits mechanic works well
World of Light is massive with high replayability
Cons
Always a risk of chaotic fighting that cannot always be followed
You feel with the cutscenes they did make, there was meant to be a story as epic as Brawls
Online can be a pain in the ass
The hype of new fighters can lead to fake leaks which are extremely irritating
Lack of customization for Miis
Once you 100% everything you will have nothing to do until the new fighter/spirits/new modes show up
Overall
Still a fantastic game despite the obvious faults, it'll have way more staying power than most AAA games
Welcome to the first episode of a new series called Magic Moments, this will be spread across medias with video game moments here and anime and cartoons on Retro Retrospective.
The format will be four moments per episode showcasing a moment relating to the theme, so we start with cooking.
El Fuerte's Super Dynamic Cooking Time!!!
Whether you consider El Fuerte's special form of cooking to be good or bad is in the eyes of the many Street Fighters he feeds after defeating them; while not a popular character to select you can't help but feel good when you see his famous chant Super Dynamic Cooking Time!!! Which would get you pumped to make a nice chilli.
Cooking Mama Will Fix It For You
Nintendo has a way of helping you out in the basics and Cooking Mama was a unique way of doing that using the Nintendo DS' features to learn chopping, mixing and not over cooking, not good if you have a faulty touchscreen but watching Angry Mama more than makes up for it.
Cheap Cheap The Cooking Chicken's Rap
PaRappa the Rapper is one oddball of a game but I think the best way to describe this one is with youtube.
You know if other cooking programs did this it might give rapping more credit.
Cook Kirby's Hot Pot
Before Kirby traded his hot pot for a giant sword, he used to cook up his opponents in Smash Bros Brawl, this was taken from his main series games where he takes all his enemies and turns them into food, although considering this puff ball eats anything and everything it makes me wonder if he really has taste buds at all.
Sometimes copying popular games can be endearing and these titles definitely had the right idea at the time even if none of them could beat their top rival, to qualify for this list you must have power ups in the game, must have memorable characters and with a couple of exceptions must at least take some elements from Mario Kart.
Honorable Mentions
Nicktoons and Cartoon Network Racers: Both competed for the same crown but largely unmemorable
F1 Race Stars: Worthy attempt from Codemasters using super deformed F1 Drivers but the game physics are severely annoying.
Toy Racer: Spin off game to Toy Commander, too small to be anything significant.
Snowboard Kids: It's snowboarding but it at least it's worthy of mention.
Sonic Drift: Doomed by being a Game Gear exclusive but not bad for a first try.
Bomberman Kart: Forgettable but at least well designed.
Re-Volt: Other than power ups it uses physics too close to actual RC Racing and being sentient cars rather than characters means it can't go on this list but it's worthy of mention.
Vigilante 8 and Twisted Metal: Disqualified by virtue of being a battle game with cars rather than a racing game.
10. South Park Rally
The cast of South Park racing around town trying to reach checkpoints as opposed to following a simple track, the physics were solid for an N64 era racer but frustrating difficulty hindered the experience. South Park is a lot more sophisticated these days so something like this feels dated.
9. Pac Man World Rally
Pac Man has always had a go at every genre and with a few friends managed a decent outing as a racer but not nearly as solid as Ridge Racer.
8. Dreamworks Superstar Kartz
With challenging circuits and a colorful cast of characters, Dreamworks pulled off a surprisingly good kart title only let down by poorly designed AI.
7. Crash Team Racing
Crash had a few attempts at this and all of them played surprisingly well but largely forgettable characters these days doesn't give it much of a legacy.
6. ModNation Racers
The idea was to create your own experience and they nailed it, but very much a short lived trend riding on the success of Little BigPlanet.
5. Cars II
A surprisingly well built attempt from Pixar, and pretty much a no brainer, just a little let down by track choice but the cast of characters more than make up for it not to mention some interesting weapons to boot.
4. Konami Krazy Racers
The only one on this list that feels closest to the Mario Kart experience in terms of aesthetics and overall design, even the cast of characters are built on the same design of weight classes but stops itself from being an outright clone by some clever track designs.
3. Blur
This is the gritty Mario Kart, the one sold as a solid adult experience making it the exception to the rule, it's Mario Kart with real licensed cars and it was awesome, even now long after the companies that published this game abandoned it, the online community keep it going.
2. Sonic and Sega Allstars Racing
While the first game was good, the sequel was incredible, it didn't settle for imitation it took it to a professional level by challenging the most fierce of Kart Racers where perfection is the key to victory, I would put this number one, accept.
1. Diddy Kong Racing
This game is the only kart racer in history to compete against Mario Kart and fight it on a level playing field, the plane and boat functions that inspired Sega Allstars Racing's sequel started here and even Mario Kart these days has never managed to create the same experience Diddy Kong Racing did.
Time for a new game to add to this list, this time an alternative to the Kart Racer.
MIcro Machines is originally a toy franchise formed in 1986, known for it's micro cars and vehicles, a unique looking toy for it's time when it was up against the likes of Hot Wheels, but one thing it had over Hot Wheels was good games which began in 1991 where racing in Gardens, Bathtubs, Sand Pits, School Desks, Breakfast Tables and Billiard Tables were normal and defintitely one of my fondest gaming memories, it also provided one of the most unique gaming cartridges ever seen until Sonic and Knuckles. In it's first outing it had a setting which allowed it to switch regions, in the sequel released for the Mega Drive it came with extra control ports in the actual cartridge and even went the extra mile by having 8 player gaming using a control share system as well as the extra ports, it was the greatest multiplayer racing experience until Mario Kart took it back in the N64 era and by then Micro Machines popularity had faded but left a legacy of games like Toy Racer, Re-Volt and the spiritual remake Toybox Turbos.
Current State: It came back as an IOS android game this year albeit based heavily on the Toybox Turbo build rather than the original but still maintains the franchises involvement, otherwise it's last outing was a last hurrah to reclaim it's old form with V4 which never really grabbed the imagination of it's older brothers and was billed as an entry level racing game for kids but to be fair when your racing rivals are Gran Turismo and Mario Kart, you need to bring some serious gaming to the table, it was also around that time the toy went off the market until the toys came back last year following a deal with Star Wars
Why Should it be Revived?: In it's classic form, certainly, I'd pay a nice sum of money to see a virtual console release of the old games, also I feel it's too good to put on just phones and needs some loving on a big console.
