Super Monaco GP on Genesis – Pre game

I’ve never really been into racing games. They’re always ok to play for a bit of a distraction, or smashing friends with blue shells when they’re in first place, but there have been very few that have ever held my attention. I think only the original Gran Turismo on PS1 and Super Monaco GP have ever really had any staying power for me.

Because this is a retro games blog (and I decree that PS1 is NOT RETRO) I thought I’d spend some time thinking about Super Monaco GP. Now, in my memory this is a Sega Genesis game. However, I’m starting to wonder if that is actually the case. You see, it is at least ALSO a Sega Master System game.

(insert some research time passing… think of some amazing elevator music)

Thank Gord it’s also a Genesis game, I have not lost my mind grapes!

http://www.retrogameoftheday.com/

This might’ve been one of the first games I had on my Genesis, I certainly played it a lot. Or, did I even OWN this game? I have a really strong association between a friend of mine and this game… maybe it was HIS game?

At any rate, I remember the gameplay being smooth and the courses really challenging. One particular corner sticks out in my mind: after a looooong straightaway having to break hard and gear down from 7th to 3rd gear. Strange that I can remember that one particular corner, but not if I even owned the game. Brains are weird.

I remember a cool league or circuit-type business that was a lot of fun, there must’ve been standings, but I don’t remember how I did.

We shall soon see!

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NBA Jam TE – Sega Genesis – Game the Game

JOHN STARKS! The dude I couldn’t remember from the Knicks is John Starks!

BUT I decided that I wouldn’t go with ol’ Starksy for my first game, so I chose Da’Bulls. Now, this brings me to an ENTIRE part of NBA Jam that I forgot about: you chose a 3-letter name and immediately set about defeating the entire NBA, starting with the Mavericks.

So, needless to say, I dispatched of the Mavericks without a lot of trouble (I mean: Pippen… come on)…

In my massive 8 pt stomping of Dallas, I learned the following about this game:

• Using your CPU partner is 100% boring, but actually works (I don’t remember this at all… did I always play this game with friends?)
• I’m not as good as I remember. Seriously. I didn’t get ONE “HE’S ON FIRE”
• I had a hard time dunking really awesome dunks. I don’t remember this aspect being that difficult. You know, the “jam” aspect of NBA Jam…
• I didn’t get a single block
• Mashing turbo made my thumb hurt (A – shoot; B – turbo; C – pass) feels like I used a different combo. ALSO, remember when the controllers actually made your hands HURT? Geez, my old man hands can’t take this kind of punishment anymore… probably because they took all the contorted-into-weird-Sega-Genesis-controller-shapes-playing-games punishment when I was a teenager
• The CPU IS A DAMN DIRTY CHEAT IN THE FINAL MINUTES OF THE GAME AND YES I KNOW I COULD’VE TURNED THAT OPTION OFF, BUT SERIOUSLY IT HAS A BUILT-IN CHEAT MODE FOR THE DAMN DIRTY CPU PLAYER?!?!?
• And finally, the defensive strategy of ‘knock the other guys over’ seems to work well 🙂

Never did figure out what the “TE” gives me… though I did see online that apparently it’s possible to unlock a whack of hidden players. Like, Bill Clinton…

If you’re into that.

Which I’m not.

Final game stats

And sweet zombie jesus, if you REALLY want to get into the game without playing the game, I found a 4.5 hour playthrough on YouTube… so there’s that…

Because I don’t have a good way to grab video, want to be as multi-sensory as possible, and don’t want to deprive you of an actual review of NBA Jam TE on the Genesis by someone how sound like a game-reviewer, I found this for you:

… aaaaaaaannnnnnndddddddd

Yes, I chose “ASS” as my name. And you would’ve too, you saucy minx.

PS – here’s the pre game.

NBA Jam TE – Genesis – Pre Game

http://gamesdbase.com/game/sega-32x/nba-jam-te.aspx

“FROM DOWNTOWN”

Did I own this game? I don’t think I did… I probably would’ve played it on Genesis (was it even ON SNES or NES??? Must’ve been… anyway). This was definitely a game that I only really played with friends and almost never on my own. Seriously, 2-on-2 and you’re NOT going to do co-op?

I think it was likely a rental. DO YOU REMEMBER RENTING VIDEOGAMES? Holy crap, I suddenly remember renting games, spending 48 hours straight playing them, and having to return them. I love Steam and I buy my share of used games, but renting was a different way to think about gaming…

“HE’S HEATING UP”

One of the things I’m very sure about is that I only ever played NBA Jam, not NBA Jam Tournament Edition, or as those of us with blogs with visitor counts in the single digits per week call it, “TE”. In fact, I don’t think I had ever heard of TE until a few weeks ago when I started browsing top-100-old-game-lists. Relatedly, TE is #9 on Dorkly’s list and #87 on Retro-Santuary’s. These things are incredibly subjective so I’m not surprised by the huge variation. IGN gave/gives regular NBA Jam 8.3, great, out of 10 and says that the Genesis version is scaled down from the SNES version. I FEEL RIPPED OFF!

I’m interested to see if I can spot any differences. From my initial reading it seems like TE has loads of easter eggs and I’m guessing a new, or perhaps improved tournament mode? Dear reader, can’t you tell already that I’m one intelligent SOB?

“I DON’T REMEMBER ANY MORE OF THE CATCHPHRASES FROM THE GAME”

As for gameplay, it was 2-on-2 and I remember loving to sink 3-pointers as <can’t remember his name> from the Knicks… you know… not Patrick Ewing, the other guy. There was turbo or something too, right? Rationing turbo was important for dunks and steals right?

Is it obvious that I don’t recall many details? I mainly remember this game featuring huge dunks ,being  frustrating because the CPU always got super-tough near the end of the game, and it generally being a metric buttload of fun. I can’t wait to put some time in on it.

OOO and the basketball lights on fire!

I’ve written the gaming game post!

COBRA TRIANGLE – NES – Pre Game

Original Box art (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_Triangle)

This is one of the defining games of my childhood… for some reason

I remember playing a lot of this game as a kid, but I don’t actually remember much about it or really remember liking it that much. It’s strange that I remember anything about it, come to think of it.

There’s definitely a boat, and I remember jumping stuff using powered platforms or something. Maybe there were weapons that I probably had to pick up??? There may have been puzzles and random things shooting at me because I remember dying all the time and I don’t think there was a save feature (did ANYTHING have saves* back then???).

SSSSSEEEEECCCCCSSSSS

In fact, the only thing that I clearly remember about Cobra Triangle is that each level has a timer labeled ‘secs’. And why do I remember such a weird detail, you may ask? Well, asky-pants, I remember because one time my old friend Neil once tricked me into yelling “SECS” with my mom just just outside my room.

OK, if you don’t get why that’s funny, say ‘secs’ out loud to yourself… and pretend you’re like… 10.

I bought Cobra Triangle a long time ago (probably years ago) when I first got my NES-as-a-grownup and never got around to playing it because: a) I’m kinda lame, and b) I don’t spend enough time playing games!

What others say… er… said…

IGN gives Cobra Triangle a 7.4, Good, rating and says it was released in 1989. They also rated it 66th on their top 100 NES games of all time. Cool.

* hilariously, my phone originally autocorrected ‘saves’ to ‘sadness’. Touché autocorrect, touché

PS – I wrote this pre game whilst doing fishing dailies in WoW. For the record, the Dojani Eel and Wolf Piranha quests can just go shut the hell up with each other.

Next up, the GAME GAME coming soon.