The Friday letters page discusses more 8-bit games that are still just as playable today, as one reader says goodbye to Games with Gold.
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Watching the numbers
So the PlayStation 5 is still a bit behind the PlayStation 4 but sales are up and it’s probably going to start overtaking it by Christmas? If it beats the PlayStation 4 it’s going to end up as one of the top five biggest consoles of all time… so why does everything seem so negative about it at the moment?
I’m not criticising people for being down on it, the lack of game announcements this year is just straight up bizarre, but what gets me is that we still don’t know why. If it was because of Activision Blizzard why are they still running radio silent? If it was for some other reason, what is it? Why won’t they tell us?
How can you have such a successful console and yet act like it’s a dead format? Why are you pushing things like Project Q when literally anything else would be more interesting? I don’t get it and the idea that the PlayStation 5’s schedules are just suddenly going to burst into life at some random point in the future seems so unlikely.
Looking at the console sales numbers there isn’t a problem, from Sony’s point of view, but if they’re just watching those numbers ticking up and not bothering to do anything else then they deserve every problem coming at them. There’s complacency and there’s whatever Sony is doing right now. I just don’t get it.
Tosh
Switching theories
It’s getting pretty hard to ignore the suggestions that the Switch 2 is coming out early next year and as unlikely as that seems I certainly wouldn’t bet against it. Two or three months doesn’t seem enough build-up under normal circumstances but considering how late games are announced now, before they’re released, maybe the same will be true of the consoles as well.
The thing that makes me still question it though is that Nintendo would have to announce it very early in January, for there to be any build up at all. But that risks really upsetting anyone that hadn’t heard the rumours and just got a Switch at Christmas. Like you said, the Switch was announced in October, even though it was released in March.
I guess they could be going for an Apple style ‘It’ll be out tomorrow’ but has anyone ever done that for video games hardware? I can’t think of any.
I see two real possibilities: this is all just wrong and it’s not out before April, which brings into question all these sources who really should know what they’re talking about – these aren’t trolls on Reddit, they’re well-known manufacturers making official statements about their future business.
The other option is the Switch is going to be announced this autumn, which will be wild but is any willing to bet against anything Nintendo does?
Focus
Over 35
Interesting question regarding which games that are more than 35 years old still stand up today. I’d say Pac-Man and even more so Ms. Pac-Man are still perfectly playable and enjoyable with a timelessness to their graphics and gameplay.
Williams classics Defender and Robotron: 2084 are still great and I still enjoy playing Galaga, Tempest, and Gauntlet.
I’m struggling to think of many console or home computer games of that age that I would genuinely want to still play now, other than the NES Mario games. Maybe Space Invaders on the Atari 2600, which I always preferred to the arcade version. Demon Attack on the 2600 I still sometimes play, so I’ll put that one on my list as well.
I’d not want to ruin childhood memories by playing any Spectrum games again, best left under rose coloured glasses I think.
PE
GC: We agree, and those are some good arcade picks. Robotron: 2084 is our favourite of the golden age coin-ops.
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Cave of Monsters
In reference to my email yesterday: I emailed Super Rare about The Touryst game on PlayStation 4 physical edition and they got back to me quite quickly, some of these game stores where they release or re-release games on physical media can take a few days to respond I have found. They said that unfortunately there is no free update if you put The Touryst PlayStation 4 game disc in a PlayStation 5 console.
So, I have decided to wait for a physical version of it on PlayStation 5 or Xbox if it happens in the future, but there are no current plans to release a PlayStation 5 version Super Rare have told me. I know you can get it physical on
Switch but would prefer PlayStation or Xbox as I like the achievements!
Andrew J.
PS: I see Strictly Limited Games are releasing Parasol Stars which is Bubble Bobble 3, I think the first game in this series is Rainbow Islands which GameCentral said recently was one of their favourite games. I was wondering what GameCentral’s opinion was on Parasol Stars?
GC: Bubble Bobble is the first game, followed by Rainbow Islands and then Parasol Stars. They’re all cast iron classics but none of the other entries are of any real note, although the recent Bubble Bobble 4 Friends was surprisingly decent.
Mickey System
After briefly looking at a few reviews of Disney Illusion Island I felt the need to look up a video of the Master System version of Castle Of Illusion, which I owned at the time. I haven’t played or seen it for over 30 years but it reminded how good the Master System graphics could be.
At the time I was probably already saving up for my Super Famicom, after reading about it in magazines, but Castle Of Illusion was a great game that tided me over whilst waiting for the SNES to be released in Europe and I’d quite like to play it again.
John Atkinson
Going quietly into the night
Well, there we have it, Games with Gold goes out with a whimper.
When Xbox 360 games were retired from the monthly updates the last game given away was Portal 2, a genuine classic game.
With the final Xbox One games we get… well, not a classic game.
The death rattle of the games offered up over the last year, after that, has been obvious in the total lack of interest Microsoft have shown the service that they must have been itching to shelve.
Any long term member of Xbox Gold will, however, be left with a massive collection of games that show the true legacy of the program. Including over 200 Xbox 360 games that are yours to keep even without continuing with Game Pass Core, so thanks for the memories Games with Gold.
Meanwhile, Sony continue to knock it out of the park with PS+ Essentials getting PGA Tour 2K23, the excellent Death’s Door, and Dreams.
Irve77 (gamertag/PSN ID)
No relation
Just been enjoying Venom: Let There Be Carnage on Netflix and it got me thinking, as a lifelong reader of Spider-Man comics, was Venom/Carnage the inspiration for T2000 robot in Terminator 2?
Sorry, it’s only loosely linked to Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man 2 game.
Johnny Alpha SD
Currently playing: Wolfenstien: The Old Guard and Resident Evil 2 Revelations
GC: You mean the T-1000? It seems unlikely, Venom had only been around for three years when Terminator 2 came out and probably didn’t exist when James Cameron started writing the script. Besides, from a visual perspective, the T-1000 was a fairly straightforward evolution of the effects from The Abyss.
Hail to the king
Per LeighDappa’s letter on Thursday, here’s a brief list of NES games I think still hold up well:
- Duck Tales 1 and 2
- Mega Man 2 to 6
- Kabuki Quantum Fighter
- Super Turrican
- Monsters In My Pocket
- Little Nemo
- Bionic Commando
- Gargoyle’s Quest 2
- Bubble Bobble
- Rainbow Islands
- Shatterhand
- Parodius
- Batman
- Batman: Return Of The Joker
- Contra/Probotector
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project
I also love Zelda 2, but I know a lot of people have issues with how it takes you back to the beginning point if you lose all your lives.
The NES also has the best version of the first Lucasfilm Games graphic adventure game, Maniac Mansion. I can’t in good conscience put it on the list above, since at this stage they aped the Sierra industry standard of letting you get to a state where it is not possible to continue the game without letting you know. If you know the dead ends ahead of time it can still be a lot of fun, but not good for first time players at all.
Lord Darkstorm
GC: We’re not sure we agree with many of those but it’s the second time today Rainbow Islands has been mentioned, so we’re not going to argue.
Inbox also-rans
It’s actually really easy to get past Zelda’s terrible voice acting and that’s switch to Japanese voice acting, which is what I did right from the get go. No way was I going to go through that again. You’re welcome!
Rynodyno
Is Read Dead Redemption really a game that needs a remaster? It looks fine to me as it is, especially on Xbox backwards compatibility. I realise it’s easy money but really, do we have to encourage this sort of low effort cash grab?
Peters
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Gannet, who asks what is the most excited you’ve ever been over an upcoming new release?
Although it’s the summer games drought at the moment, it won’t be long until this year’s big autumn games are upon us. But what’s the most you’ve ever anticipated a new video game and how did the dream compare to the reality?
Generally speaking, how invested do you get in pre-release hype and how do you feel about the suggestion that it can sometimes be more entertaining than the games themselves?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
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