Sunday, January 15, 2012

Lost Levels - Sequelitis (plus some Dreamcast stuff)

You may not believe it, but I'm still picking up old games on occasion. Sure these are from almost 4 months ago. And sure, I've had these photos ready for 3 months. That doesn't mean I'm lazy... just busy. Right? Whatever. Games.

As a freshman in college I was fortunate to have a wealthy grad student as a suite-mate. No, I didn't care that he was old enough to buy booze. I was too busy playing games on his PS2 and Dreamcast. Many, many hours spent not making friends and playing GTA III instead. I don't remember the games I played for the Dreamcast, because all the the labels for the discs were missing. And by missing, I mean they were never  there. Like every other person who paid for the console, these were downloaded copies. I think the fanciest disc logo used two different Sharpie colors. 

Being the good honest consumer that I am I figured buying legitimate (albeit, used) copies of Jet Grind Radio and Sega Bass Fishing was the right thing to do, 11 years late.



Jet Grind Radio was one of the first games with cel-shaded graphics when it was released in 2000, and to this day it's still one of the best looking. Skating around town, tagging the walls of Tokyo-to never looked more gorgeous. Having a killer soundtrack didn't hurt either, including a track by Jurassic 5. This game is seriously a great reason to seek out a working Dreamcast console, which is definitely next on my list.

Until then I'll stick to picking up other random games, like these sealed PSOne games. The Midway Arcade Hits is nothing special (there was another collection available, with a cracked case), but I am partial to the Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Prior to the kurrent release for modern consoles, this kollection kompiled all the best of arkade fighting history. 

I know, that was korny right?


Digging back a bit further are these primo Sega Genesis sequels to Thunder Force and Shinobi. Both were in great shape at a thrift store in Boston and came with the original manual. I've never tried many shoot 'em ups, let alone the Thunder Force series, which comes with high recommendations from Finngamer. If I'm going to try a new genre, it might as well be one of the best.



Lastly is the second game in the Baldur's Gate PC series, the Shadows of Amn. I played some of the original Baldur's Gate back in high school, during the short-years between console ownership. Along with the occasional playthrough of Dark Forces and Jedi Knight I dabbled in some more traditional rpg's. Sadly I never graduated to this highly rated sequel. Until I get this puppy installed I'll just admire this gorgeous set. It's hard to imagine this is how standard games used to ship less than a decade ago.




Mmm, maps. My one weakness.

That's it for now, stay tuned for my recent playlist. I've completed a couple games in the past few months and started a bunch more. Thanks for reading!

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