Systems the Critic Has Not Covered (Yet)

[MSR1701]

I think the critic should start looking into MAME and reviewing some old, obscure arcade games. There are thousands to check out. I've been enjoying playing through my system and finding weird or wacky games.

For example, Pirates (1994) feels like a hidden gem that would be right up his alley.

As interesting as MAME reviews would be, the Critic typically reviews physical items, not emulated or downloaded software

[ActRaiser]

I think the critic should start looking into MAME and reviewing some old, obscure arcade games. There are thousands to check out. I've been enjoying playing through my system and finding weird or wacky games.

For example, Pirates (1994) feels like a hidden gem that would be right up his alley.

As interesting as MAME reviews would be, the Critic typically reviews physical items, not emulated or downloaded software

Oh, I know that.

But, I'm finding that some of these games don't really have reviews posted online. It might be a niche he'd be interested in filling.

For most of the games with standard controls MAME works great and the games feel perfect. For games with trackballs or spinners you'll have to dial in the x y settings to where it "feels" right.

It's pretty sweet to be able to play Operation Wolf with a light gun and then swap over to play The Simpsons followed by some obscure game I've never even heard of.

[ThePixelatedGenocide]

There used to be -- and to paraphrase Mitch Hedberg, still is -- a great review series on YouTube called Swan Song that's dedicated to the WonderSwan and its hardware.

Unfortunately the series never got a tenth as many views as it should, and the author, Yanik Magnan, seems to have given up on it for now after running into some technical problems. But he got 61 reviews done and those are still well worth checking out:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 4wXMDqUb0I

Maybe he'll come back someday? A few other library coverage projects mysteriously resurfaced in recent months, thanks no doubt to the pandemic and people thinking "Hmmm, why don't I start back up again?", which was a nice surprise when it happened.

Thank you!

I actively seek out chronograming, and I've subscribed to far smaller retrogaming channels... but Youtube never once recommended him.

[ASalvaro]

i would love the Critic to start covering Amiga and Atari ST games..there are SO many good games out there to be reviewed

[MSR1701]

i would love the Critic to start covering Amiga and Atari ST games..there are SO many good games out there to be reviewed

I concur.

A mini C64 classic was releases fairly recently with the ability to play both digital files and from audio sources (tape or mp3), would LOVE a mini Amiga classic to show up...

[goldenband]

There used to be -- and to paraphrase Mitch Hedberg, still is -- a great review series on YouTube called Swan Song that's dedicated to the WonderSwan and its hardware.

Unfortunately the series never got a tenth as many views as it should, and the author, Yanik Magnan, seems to have given up on it for now after running into some technical problems. But he got 61 reviews done and those are still well worth checking out:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 4wXMDqUb0I

Thank you!

I actively seek out chronograming, and I've subscribed to far smaller retrogaming channels... but Youtube never once recommended him.

Glad you enjoyed it, and glad to bring Swan Song to wider attention -- considering the amount of work he puts in, and the polish of the videos, his stuff is criminally underwatched.

I maintain a list of chronogaming projects over at AtariAge:

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/26595 ... plays-etc/

Maybe there are some others there you haven't seen before -- and conversely, if you know of any that are missing from my list, do let me know!

[ThePixelatedGenocide]

Maybe there are some others there you haven't seen before -- and conversely, if you know of any that are missing from my list, do let me know!

The biggest omission, off the top of my head, are The Retro Pals, a couple of Twitch streamers who frequently do chronogaming overviews for everything from the Sega CD and PC Engine Arcade Card libraries to console developers like Micronics and Beam Software.

There's no topic too obscure ("3DO games about Pyramids! Dreamcast game shows! Star Wars Multimedia Educational Software!") they've been involved in gaming preservation efforts for a long time now.

But I should probably warn anyone expecting a dry documentary style...while educational, they lean more towards being a react style comedy.

Each specializes in a different area of gaming history, and there's nothing they enjoy more than torturing each other with obscure games most of the world has rightly forgotten.

Or letting their sadistic fans introduce them to new ways of suffering.

And yet, they also give each game a fair shake - they've got an exhaustive list of ranked mascot platformers, for example, and unlike most internet comedy shows, understand that just trying to objectively rank games like Megaman on PC vs. Darkwing Duck on PC Engine provides its own humor.

Plus, they're not afraid to be positive, when it's deserved. They spent most of the Neo Geo Pocket stream just gushing about the quality of the games, without a single hint of defensive irony.

They're not perfect - watching them fail to figure out ET on the 2600 was agony, as they were defending it for all the wrong reasons - but they wouldn't claim to be perfect, either.

Above all else, they just want to share their passion with anyone who enjoys videogames as much as they do.

[goldenband]

The biggest omission, off the top of my head, are The Retro Pals

Ah, I've got Retro Pals in there for their PlayStation Year Zero/Year One series, which they unfortunately seem to have semi-abandoned in favor of their more freeform Twitch stream archives.

They've done some light exploration of complete console libraries, like the Nuon and Game.com, as well as some deeper dives into games like Immercenary. I appreciate their work, though the straight Twitch VODs are a little too long for me to watch regularly.

[MSR1701]

The biggest omission, off the top of my head, are The Retro Pals

Ah, I've got Retro Pals in there for their PlayStation Year Zero/Year One series, which they unfortunately seem to have semi-abandoned in favor of their more freeform Twitch stream archives.

They've done some light exploration of complete console libraries, like the Nuon and Game.com, as well as some deeper dives into games like Immercenary. I appreciate their work, though the straight Twitch VODs are a little too long for me to watch regularly.

Not a huge fan of rewatching VODs on Twitch due to how much excess footage from pre-stream content/placeholding.

While I do enjoy watching the odd review on YouTube, I find myself of late collecting print copies of reviews when offered, including Game Boy Essentials (Pierre-Luc Gagne) and The Complete SEGA 32X Guide (Shawn Long); not only are they physical copies I can read at will (and with local internet being the pain it is at times...), but with some policy changes with services like Twitch (where videos past a certain age are now being deleted), I favor having printed, archived articles in front of me.

Another example is Service Games - The Rise and Fall of SEGA (Sam Pettus), which features history and reviews from a now defunct web page (which has been archived, lost and rearchived a few times) in print form.

[noah98]

I still think the Critic needs a TI 99/4a. Look at all of these amazing cartridges:

https://www.videogamehouse.net/gamemain.html

I also think the system has my favorite home version Burgertime along with a great Space Invaders clone, TI Invaders. The system and games are also relatively cheap as well.