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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQdSVNn8x5k Just What Is the Sega Saturn It's Sega's 32-bit console! One of them. I guess. It famously did very not well in the US/EU but fared better than the Mega Drive did in Japan and just a smidge better than the N64. In the west, a lot of factors (a lot of which can be attributed to the idiotic forever war between Sega JP and Sega US) resulted in it being wound down early to prepare focus for the Dreamcast. It's a weird system that wasn't initially meant to do 3D and had another CPU bolted on late in the game to help with that, and used quadrilaterals instead of triangles for polygons - which to be fair, it was still the wild west early days of 3D console games so nobody was quite sure what would catch on. It's real drat good at 2D though. Alright So Now What I'm going to pick two games a month for people to have a go at and talk about, because there's a lot of cool poo poo on the Saturn that never really escaped. One game a month will be an exclusive, and one will be a port/multiplat because that's always kinda interesting to me. How Play If you've got a Saturn then you probably know you can flash a 4-in-1 AR with Pseudo SaturnKai or buy a pre-flashed cart, or use an ODE. For everyone else, thankfully Saturn emulation has gotten a lot better in the last ten years. On Windows, Mac and Linux, Mednafen (Beetle in libretro) is the most accurate but can be CPU heavy. Kronos is a good alternative these days too. Both of these support RetroAchivements under libretro. On Android, Yabasanshiro is kind of your only choice. And remember, you don't have to finish the games or whatever. Just experience them and chat about what you like and don't like, it's all good! Let's all love the Sega Saturn. This Month's Games https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4021443&pagenumber=4#post533051049 Previously January: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4021443&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1#post528948119 February: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4021443&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=2#post529504317 March: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4021443&userid=193149#post530182056 April: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4021443&userid=193149#post531039681 May: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4021443&userid=193149#post531624726 June: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4021443&userid=193149#post532368936 
kirbysuperstar fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Jul 8, 2023 |
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Jan 8, 2023 02:20
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Games for the month of January Dark Savior  A 3D action adventure game in the vain of Landstalker by the same developers, Climax Entertainment, featuring several different scenarios depending on how you do at the start of the game. It's something that's been on my list for a while mostly thanks to The Colonel talking it up. Manual: https://archive.org/details/Dark_Savior_1997_Sega_US_a Cheevos?: No Wipeout 2097/XL  Psygnosis' faster sequel to the first game and the last one to be ported to other systems before they made up with Sony. This version supports the Saturn Analogue pad! Wow! Manual: none that I can find but this at least tells you the item icons Cheevos?: No
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Jan 8, 2023 02:21
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I am in for this. I think if this takes off we should add a throwaway sports game each month since there are some really weird ones on this system.
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Jan 8, 2023 04:44
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I played through the first section of the boat and got to the island with about 9 mins on the timer. I have not played this before so well see what happens from here. I'm not sure why they put lava on this boat and then spilled it all over the decks. This definitely feels like it has DNA to the legion of lovely Dreamcast/Playstation horror games like Blue Stinger/Carrier and so on.
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Jan 8, 2023 06:26
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I played both Dark Savior and Wipeout 2097 back in the day and still got my copies but I also got the full PAL set so it's cheating to even mention that. I remember needing to hit the 60Hz switch I had modded on the console for Dark Savior but I think the Wipeout port was optimized (probably the luck of Psygnosis being an old PAL studio). I never got that many endings on Dark Savior, in fact I didn't realize it was infamous for it plus the surprise twist at the very last one, until much much later. Wipeout 2097 was amazing and honestly too hard for me to be good at it, but it certainly didn't make me feeling like I was missing out on not having a PS1 at the time (don't worry, soon as I tried FF7 that changed badly, bloody stupid Sakaguchi). Thank you, Psygonsis. And Takara. And Core. And whatever good third party games that got on this side of that gen's Cold War were much appreciated. I really should go back and try them again. I haven't thought about either for a very long time.
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Jan 9, 2023 01:38
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Yeah 2097 is an excellent port. Oh yeah I should mention, Dark Savior (I keep trying to write Saviour even though the PAL version also misses the U) won't display text boxes with YabaSanshiro, oops!
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Jan 9, 2023 02:36
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Recently attempted to play my old saturn and found out the composite port had collapsed. Working on getting a new part and I'm really aching to play the old classics Dragon force was such a loving good game man.
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Jan 9, 2023 14:11
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Sega Saturn owns! I have a Saturn, and so I am going to go in on playing the monthly games.
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Jan 9, 2023 19:03
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Jarvisi posted:Recently attempted to play my old saturn and found out the composite port had collapsed. Working on getting a new part and I'm really aching to play the old classics Get it fixed, soldier! o7 One can only set their head for Saturn:  Go there!
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Jan 9, 2023 20:17
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Is it a controversial opinion to say that I honestly dont like any of the JRPGs on Saturn? Lunar, and Grandia are great actually. But the exclusives just don't really hold up well at all, and i'm spoiled by the PlayStation 1 options that are just superior. SquareSoft released absolute bangers during that generation that are all timeless classics. I wish many of those games could have been on the Saturn, but i'm not sure the system was powerful enough to play them, or the technical expertise of the time wasn't there to make them work. I'm sure if someone were to have the source code for like Final Fantasy VII, you could get it working just fine on the Saturn in 2023 though. Sega was dumb for not making a Phantasy Star game for the Saturn. They actively refused it is my understanding of the situation.
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Jan 9, 2023 20:40
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Also the jrpg saves take up like 200 blocks each which is basically the entire internal memory on the saturn
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Jan 9, 2023 21:01
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It's safe to say that not continuing strong Mega Drive IPs was a big part of the Saturn not being the hit it could have been - the only original Sonic game was R which I like but you know.. No Streets of Rage (and then Fighting Force dropped its Saturn version right at the tail end of development)..I know that Shane Bettenhausen had dinner with..one of the planners on PStar 4 I think (not Kodama) and asked him about a Saturn Phantasy Star and was told "there was one planned but it fell through early on". I like the Shining Saturn games though, even Wisdom.
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Jan 9, 2023 21:39
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kirbysuperstar posted:It's safe to say that not continuing strong Mega Drive IPs was a big part of the Saturn not being the hit it could have been I feel this one is easy to explain: it's mostly not what Sega did at the time and I respect the hell out of that. Bear with me, please. Look at the Mega Drive's predecessor, the Master System. No Psycho Fox, GA Warrior, Zaxxon, Kenseiden, Dynamite Dux, Master of Darkness, etc got sequels on the Mega Drive. They were all great games on the SMS, but the only popular one that ended up getting not one, but three sequels on the MD, was Phantasy Star. Much like their arcade work, they went for different hits on the MD's first years. Sequels and keeping certain IPs going were an afterthought (good bye Alex Kidd, we barely knew you). New arcade ports of Alien Storm, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, etc. New IPs in Sonic, Shining Force, Streets of Rage, Ecco, ToeJam & Earl, Fatal Labyrinth, Herzog Zwei, etc. Plus celebrity collaborations with MJ and different sports people. As the Mega Drive got established is when they started caring about existing IP (Sonic sequels, Sonic spin offs on the SMS and GG, and so much bloody Columns, god...) to keep the three systems going with enough momentum at the same time (in Europe the Master System was still going strong somehow)... but that initial wave for the Mega Drive? Very much its own thing. I'm not surprised they tried that approach with the Saturn at first, too. Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter, Daytona, Sega Rally, Baku Baku, Bug, Guardian Heroes, Clockwork Knight... all new, this is a new platform, you cannot mistake it. How can one not be amazed with that approach/direction? You get a Nintendo console and there's a Mario platformer game, a Mario Kart game, a Zelda game, and a Pokemon game, and a Kirby game, and a Smash game. They are great, but c'mon? Where's the creativity? Everyone calls those consoles a "Nintendo" and it's not by accident. They didn't call the Dreamcast and the Saturn and the Mega Drive the "Sega". That kind of creative touch? Gone. It's a lost art now, for any non-indie studio. I didn't even get to Nights, Burning Rangers, Deep Fear, Fighters Megamix, Dragon Force, Torico, Shenmue (this was a Saturn game at first), Sakura Taisen, Initial D, etc, as those came out near the end, and yet, among the attempts at keeping legacy games going with Phantasy Star Collection and the Sega Ages line, they were still releasing new banger IPs like money was growing on trees! (it wasn't) And after that initial bad worldwide launch (a completely different matter), did Sega reconsider and thought about bringing in Sonic to the Saturn? Yeah. A decision that came too late and as mere afterthought, picking an inexperienced studio that wasn't ready for that sort of project (Sonic in 3D?? I'm sure they are going to get this right any moment now!). Sonic Xtreme was a mess, canceled too late, and oops, the system was already doing extremely badly everywhere but Japan. Poor Sonic R didn't happen in isolation or by accident. It was a consolation prize, along with Sonic Jam and a remastered Sonic 3D Blast. Man, this is a wall of text, I'm sorry. All to say I was very emotionally attached to this stupid, very stupid, company that was going in every direction at once and, much like the truly greats in art, it burned out too fast. But what an amazing time that was. Anyway. Go loving play Dark Savior and/or Wipeout 2097 right now! Appreciate the Saturn! It's not just the best way to play those Capcom/SNK/Irem/Taito arcade ports, there's a lot of treasures to find. I can only hope we will play many of those unique games together here, especially if you never experienced them before. Thank you for coming to my TEDx Talk! Saoshyant fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Jan 9, 2023 |
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Jan 9, 2023 23:01
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I started on Dark Savior this afternoon, its my first time ever playing the game. Got through the ship part, saved on the island and stopped for now. Will play more later.
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Jan 9, 2023 23:13
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That's a real good post and you know what, it worked for the only territory the main company cared about so who am I to judge! I got to the ruins in parallel 1 of Dark Savior last night, it's bit of a clunker (though the platforming is better than Mario RPG at least) but drat it really has something going for it
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Jan 10, 2023 02:31
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I can't say I will be there for every game or even many but some I might. Because I have a Saturn, a crt with S video, good normal pad, 3d pad, light gun, racing wheel, and a 4mb Action Replay.  (Not shown or hard to see because labels n stuff: Godzilla Real Time Monster Attack Simulation, Christmas Nights, Astal, Saturn Bomberman.) I just shared these images before posting and was told "Nice retirement plan". That's probably my N Gage collection but sure! Most outside of some racing titles were all bought back then because I am cheap and even some of these it hurt to buy at 50-70. But the Saturn is cool even if I have regrets about not getting x y or z game back then that are now absurdly priced. But so is the N Gage and Turbografx. What can you do? Enjoy the ones you have, look for ports or whatever, or pirate/emulate like a mofo because Sega hates the West most of the time. We can only blame Bernie Stolar so much. (That's Victor Ireland's job really.) Edit ps: yes I should use some Goo Gone to clean the sticker residue off the game spines. But the stickers are history and I won't remove them. Captain Rufus fucked around with this message at 09:08 on Jan 11, 2023 |
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Jan 11, 2023 09:05
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Come to think of it a friend of mine unloaded his copy of Rayearth for USD$870 recently Also I beat Parallel 1 and appreciated its.. 'mid-fantasy horror' kinda feel? It's weird because there's technological notes like autopilot, holograms and radiowaves but then everyone is still using swords and books and stuff. Looking forward to P2.
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Jan 11, 2023 10:46
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Dark savior controls like poo poo sorry OP
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Jan 11, 2023 17:35
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love the saturn. still don't have an ODE for it although fenrir looks easy to install, is it the best choice now?
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Jan 11, 2023 21:33
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Shibawanko posted:love the saturn. still don't have an ODE for it although fenrir looks easy to install, is it the best choice now? The ODE best choice is honestly the MODE, but 1) it's more expensive and 2) you don't want to give your money to those people who outed themselves as super racist during the early days of the Ukranian War. Fenrir is fine. But there's a third option if you have the money for it: the Satiator. It's plug and play, you don't have to mod install anything, and keeps your CD drive available if you want to use it eventually.
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Jan 11, 2023 22:13
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Weird, Wipeout 2097 /XL was not released in the US on the Saturn apparently. I guess the JP version is the one to get then.
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Jan 12, 2023 00:30
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I just ordered a pre-modded saturn with MODE because I'm an impulsive idiot with no self control. Will I have to buy 4mb cart and 1mb cart for the games that require them? I think yes but want to ask here. Is 1mb cart almost all SNK games? I guess I'll watch the gamesack video again but that was the impression that I got. My Pocket fills my neogeo/snk needs so maybe just the 4mb. I'm excited to get it. Too bad the thousand pound SONY CRT is over at my folks' house. Hopefully the HDMI looks alright.
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Jan 12, 2023 05:33
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Saoshyant posted:The ODE best choice is honestly the MODE, but 1) it's more expensive and 2) you don't want to give your money to those people who outed themselves as super racist during the early days of the Ukranian War. drat that looks like a good solution but it isn't cheap i'd join in on the gaming but at the moment i'm playing through sotn on the saturn and i want to finish that sucker first before i dive into the next game. the saturn has a lot of interesting games, anyone here ever try solo crisis?
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Jan 12, 2023 06:21
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bone emulator posted:Weird, Wipeout 2097 /XL was not released in the US on the Saturn apparently. Yeah it skipped the US, though given that Psygnosis were out in Cambridge, 50Hz is actually Fine for it
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Jan 12, 2023 07:36
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I'm legit surprised the US didn't get a game. It's always the other way around! Like, when I was making that post about the initial wave of Saturn titles, I completely forgot the cool 2D platformer Astal, which I didn't even know existed for many years into my Saturn ownership. Why? Because the PAL territories were judged unworthy of it, and it never featured in any local gaming magazine of the time or anything.
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Jan 12, 2023 12:50
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One of those rare cases where the JP cover is more garish and less cool than the western release:  Also, I thought they used LL instead of XL in Japan?
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Jan 12, 2023 18:45
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Astal is an alright game! I mainly just really like the art style, but the level design is pretty boring.
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Jan 12, 2023 18:53
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Captain Rufus posted:I can't say I will be there for every game or even many but some I might. Because I have a Saturn, a crt with S video, good normal pad, 3d pad, light gun, racing wheel, and a 4mb Action Replay. Japanese saturn games are mostly dirt cheap at least. -especially- if theyre Japanese heavy like jrpgs and dating sims &c. I played thru biohazard recently, which only rly requires a middling Japanese knowledge, and it’s super ridiculous how much the same game will command if it’s an NA copy. Biohazard is maybe 40cad whereas Resident Evil is about 400cad, loving 10x price multipliers. for a worse game too, the NA version had a bunch of fuckery to try to make more money off the video game rental market by removing auto-aim that’s series standard, less ammo, fewer ink ribbons, more powerful enemies. curiously enough the JP version is also more violent, it’s usually the other way around. some other differences are minor, such as in the portrait room there’s text describing a man as being like a model which is omitted for whatever reason cool collection anyhow  I’ll post my own before too long
OldAlias fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Jan 12, 2023 |
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Jan 12, 2023 20:02
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  still so much stuff I wanna get. not included is all the burnt CDRs. when I’m done moving I’ll join in as I’ve wanted to play dark saviour for a minute
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Jan 12, 2023 20:20
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Parallel 2 down, that was a wildly different yet similar ride. gently caress that Silver Castle platforming though holy poo poo
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Jan 14, 2023 03:21
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I just want to take a moment to say I tried this game out this game is crazy impressive - its extremely good looking. plays like poo poo but certainly this must be the best looking saturn game
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Jan 21, 2023 20:30
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D-Xhird for Harambe I am a huuge Sega Saturn fan. It is probably my all-time favorite console, or at least on par with the PS1.
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Jan 21, 2023 21:34
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Thank you for starting this thread. I just got a Satiator and have been filling up my card with games. It is a really impressive piece of hardware. If you have an action replay there is a patch for the Satiator that makes it boot correctly and provides a soft reset which is nice. Dark Savior - great looking game and seems like it would be fun to dig into but it makes a frustrating first impression. I died trying to get to the captains cabin around the outside of the boat and bunch of times and was not thrilled to get a game over. I’ll go the slow way next time. Wipeout - great music, ok racing, hitting walls is a drag.
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Jan 23, 2023 01:36
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I tried wipeout xl on my MiSter, and I'm not sure if it runs slow because the Saturn core is unfinished or because it is the Saturn version.
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Jan 25, 2023 10:29
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worms butthole guy posted:I am in for this. I think if this takes off we should add a throwaway sports game each month since there are some really weird ones on this system. Agreed. Really weird like Minnesota Fats : Pool Legend. It features elevator music, a pool game that looks like it belongs on genesis, and 90s FMV shot on a shoe string budget with staff members of Data East in some of the shots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_ASd-UmQ0o
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Jan 25, 2023 18:46
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mysteryberto posted:Agreed. Really weird like Minnesota Fats : Pool Legend. It features elevator music, a pool game that looks like it belongs on genesis, and 90s FMV shot on a shoe string budget with staff members of Data East in some of the shots. Wow, those FMVs are on the level of Crusader: No Remorse or Police Quest: SWAT. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3y08pXiTUk
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Jan 26, 2023 13:37
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bone emulator posted:I tried wipeout xl on my MiSter, and I'm not sure if it runs slow because the Saturn core is unfinished or because it is the Saturn version. Its probably a mix of both, but Wipeout on Saturn really does have pretty horrible performance.
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Jan 28, 2023 10:44
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mysteryberto posted:Agreed. Really weird like Minnesota Fats : Pool Legend. It features elevator music, a pool game that looks like it belongs on genesis, and 90s FMV shot on a shoe string budget with staff members of Data East in some of the shots. This was exactly what I was thinking lol
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Jan 28, 2023 14:37
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in japan and just bought 2 interesting games: baroque and smt devil summoner, will try to look four soul hackers too while im here
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Jan 29, 2023 15:29
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Baroque is very cool, one of Sting's finest works  Parallel 3/4 were a hell of a weird ride, as was the game itself. An ambitious game that ran out of time and money and is super loving clunky to play but man if I don't love what it goes for. and lol at Garian closing out by saying "eh Kay's sister was hotter" I'll have to think of February's games now I guess
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Jan 30, 2023 11:10
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