Photos - R-Type (PC Engine/Turbografx)

Some terrific screenshots from the stunning PC Engine/Turbografx version of R-Type.  Released five months after the launch of the PC Engine in March, 1988, this spectacular arcade translation became the console's killer-app and cemented its place as the king of arcade shoot-em-ups.

R-Type's fame has lessened somewhat 20+ years later, as scrolling shooters have all but disappeared in the 3D polygon age.  But its impact can never be overstated.  For all intents and purposes, R-Type defined side-scrolling shooters as much as Konami's Gradius.

This is what "hardcore game" used to mean years ago, before the phrase was hijacked by insecure, overgrown nerds who are determined to turn video games into movies.  This game is brutally hard and will kick you around like a tin can.  Here is a true test of the gamer's skills.  If you want "casual games," then get a Playstation 3 and passively sit through endless Final Fantasy and Hard Rain cut scenes.  Real hardcore gamers prefer to bruise their fingers shooting aliens in R-Type.

Photos - Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition (Genesis)

Aha!  I knew I was doing something wrong.  It turns out that my Gens emulator was playing SF2 in the wrong country mode.  That explains why it was playing so slow.  After switching to "USA," everything snapped back into place as it should, and the game is fast and speedy as ever.  Yay!

Now we're back to a three-way tie with the PC Engine and Super Nintendo again.  Heh heh.

Since I've posted photos from the other versions of Street Fighter 2, I have to show off the Genesis Special Champion Edition.  The graphics on this version are darker, and there's a stronger contrast, compared to the others.  But that's a consequence of Genesis' ability to display only 64 colors out of  a palette of 512.  Why Sega didn't opt for more colors in the design remains a mystery.  Look at what 256/512 does for the PC Engine.

On the upside, Genesis SF2 has the most animation of all the home versions.  The arcade intro is included, the countdown animations are present, and more moves are preserved.  These are all good bragging points, and demonstrate that Capcom genuinely worked hard to push the Genesis to its limits.  They worked their tails off and it shows.

Photos - Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition (Arcade)

Since I'm on this short-lived Street Fighter 2 kick this week, I might as well snap some photos from the arcade version.  Here's Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition.  Of the original SF2 series, this is my clear favorite.  Capcom quickly piled on too many sequels and upgrades, and I just felt burnt out by the whole cynical cycle.  I really didn't bother with Street Fighter until many years later with Third Strike on the Dreamcast, and Alpha 3 on MAME.  Great games, kids.  Great fighting games.

It's a terrific luxury that we can fire up MAME today and play any of the original arcade games on our computers for free.  It's a rush to play the arcade Champion Edition whenever I wish.  It gives me an appreciation for Capcom's outstanding home versions.  They managed to cram a very large game onto tiny cards and cartridges, running on vastly inferior hardware.

Street Fighter 2 really was one of the greatest video games ever made.  It belongs on the short list with Pac-Man and Robotron and MULE and Super Mario Bros and Tetris.  Even after a thousand sequels over two decades, the 1992 SF2 Champion Edition remains as fun and competitive as ever.

The Replacements - Alex Chilton

I'm sure everybody knows the sad news by now.  The death of Alex Chilton has sent shockwaves through the indie music world, and a generation of music lovers who were influenced by his work.  He was a living saint to the post-punk world.  Naturally, The 'Mats were being played on Twin Cities radio all day.

This reminds me, I really need to get this album on vinyl.  Rhino reissued Pleased to Meet Me and Tim and I still have to pick them up.

Record Collector on the "Final" Jimi Hendrix Album

Somebody was kind enough to post these scans from Record Collector on the latter, unreleased recordings by Jimi Hendrix.  The article was inspired by the 1995 CD release Voodoo Soup, which was one of many attempts to reconstruct the "Final Jimi Hendrix Album."  Since then, the Hendrix family gained control of his vast output, and eventually released the CDs First Rays of the New Rising Sun and South Saturn Delta.

I think this subject arose because of the newly-released 2010 album Valleys of Neptune, which is entirely composed of never-released tracks and alternate versions of classics like "Stone Free."  Because it's not a reconstruction, but an honest collection of songs, it's being received warmly, and may become part of the hallowed Jimi canon.

I've generally avoided the posthumous Jimi albums, because you can never tell where the artist's original vision ended and the record producer's ambitions begin.  I've seen enough pillaging of Tupac's tomb to know better.  That said, I have a Robert Ludwig pressing of the 1971 LP The Cry of Love, and it's absolutely fantastic.  On some days, it's my favorite Jimi album, if only because of its earthier, garage rock sound.  It sounds just like a Seattle Rock album from the '90s.

Video - Street Fighter 2 - Genesis vs. Super NES

Sometimes I think my brain must be playing tricks on me.  I'm finding that my memories of Street Fighter 2 are crashing head-first into the experience of playing them today.  Case in point: this two-part comparison video by Classic Game Room HD - SF2 Turbo on Super NES is paired with SF2 Special Champion Edition on Genesis.  Despite my experiences long ago, heck, even against my short playing time late last night, this is a revealing experience.

The bottom line foe Sega and Nintendo fans is that both versions are equally brilliant.  There are some small graphical flourishes on both versions, little bits here and there.  I still insist the Genesis version has more moves, but these are the light and medium moves that no one ever touched.  The Super NES translation did a masterful job of masking its omissions.

The audio still seems like a case of lesseer of two evils.  SNES Street Fighter has that mellotron sound, softer and toned down on the high and low end, almost a remix on some tracks.  It's smooth bit dull much of the time.  Genesis Street Fighter has a heavier bass and drum sound, and some really terrific keyboard effects.  Pity those scratchy-as-hell voices get in the way.

I really wish Classic Game Room had included the PC Engine version, which seems to shock everybody by competing evenly.  It gives the SNES Street Fighter a serious run for its money, and that's a stunner.  In fact. many arcade purists might prefer the PCE.  Who would have guessed that?

Update: Right now, I'm thinking its a tie for the lead, between the PC Engine and the Super Nintendo.  The Genesis version gets sent back to third,  for two reasons.  First, the scratchy voice samples are driving me batty.  Play Chun-Li on Dhalsim's stage with the elephants, and try not to go bonkers.  Two, and this is a shocker, Champion Edition plays slow.  I knew I wasn't imagining things last night!  Genesis CE runs slow.  Thank goodness Hyper Fighting is perfectly fine.  But for now, Genesis gets sent to the basement.

BBC World: Who Does Health Care Best

This message thread was in response to a BBC report last summer on health care systems around the world, including the UK, Canada and the US.  It's a very long discussion, very illuminating, and for an American like me, very depressing.  I'm naturally curious to know what the rest of the world is thinking about this nation's health care system, and Obama's efforts at reform.  So many people are polite, patient, sharing their stories of visits to the hospital or travels around the world.

When it comes to US health care, the reactions are always the same: shock, bafflement, dismay.  How could the wealthiest nation in the world not take care of its citizens?  How is this even possible?  There's a genuine concern from the rest of the world.  They love America, and they want us to live up to our ideals.

From the few American voices who defend our status quo, this is deeply disheartening:

I live in the US and for me the health care issue comes down to one thing; more taxes. I am sick and tired of paying taxes. No one has given me a good reason as to why I should work like a dog to support other physically able people. I work six days a week, about ten hours a day, and every time I look at how much taxes I am paying it makes me want to jump off a bridge.

If Obama wants to fix health care more power to him, but please do not raise my taxes. What ever happened to government creating a safe platform so that every one can fend for themselves. The government needs to be involved less with my personal life.

Nowhere else in the world do we read such cruelty and disdain for others.  Nowhere else do we witness such selfishness.  This is the attitude of much of America, of a people seduced by greed and materialism and the Ayn Rand gospel of "I've Got Mine."  An America where everyone fends for themselves?  Don't take my table scraps?  These are the fearful words of a peasant.

In 30 years, the ruling class has smashed this once-great nation into ruin.  If anything is to ever change, they must begin here, in the hearts and minds of every American.  This false gospel of selfishness and greed must be rejected.

Brawndo Has Electrolytes

Isn't it just depressing to see how many Americans are still terrified of the Soviet Union? I swear the cultural mindset of this country is embalmed in 1968. It's so easy for C. Montgomery Burns to send the suckers into a panic, it's downright embarrassing:

Speaking to the Huffington Post shortly after his speech, King declared that a peaceful uprising, a la the successful overthrowing of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia on the streets of Prague in 1989 "would be fine with me."

"Fill this city up, fill this city, jam this place full so that they can't get in, they can't get out and they will have to capitulate to the will of the American people," he said.

"So this is just like Prague under communist rule?" the Huffington Post asked.

"Oh yeah, it is very, very close," King replied. "It is the nationalization of our liberty and the federal government taking our liberty over. So there are a lot of similarities there."

Iowa sucks. Are they all crystal meth addicts or something?

If You're Not Scared of Flying, There's Something Wrong With You

It's time for me to schedule my next trip to Bogota and spend time with my girlfriend-slash-future-wife.  And that means facing my old friend, the dreaded fear of flying.  I hate flying.  Correction: I hate turbulence, and I hate being knocked around five miles off the ground.  And I hate the way the airline industry tries to sugarcoat this experience.

I know these websites are doing their best to help people like me overcome their fear of flying, but this doesn't help.  If anything, it just gives me new reasons to panic.

If you have to fly on a commercial airline, you must make yoru peace with two very unpleasant facts.  One, the airlines are trying to calm you because it's good for business - "Turbulence isn't a problem at all!"  Two, you're going to get kicked around like a bean in a tin can.  Turbulence isn't in your head, and there's no such thing as a "smooth flight."

An engineer on this site offered his own measurements (using a glass of water on the plane) to measure turbulence, and there is some comfort from rationally knowing your situation.  But it's still going to scare the hell out of me to see the plane rocking and the wings flapping.

It's such a wonderful scam the airlines pull on you.  Before the flight, they will calm and comfort you, assuring that violent turbulence is a fantasy from Hollywood disaster movies.  It doesn't really shake like that.  It's calm!  Then you get on the plane, and the flight attendents cynically sneer about the last time they smacked their head on the ceiling from yesterday's sudden nosedive.  Here's yer drink, now quit yer bawlin'!

I've been on 12 flights last year, all round trips to Bogota and back.  I've flown to Houston, Atlanta, and New York.  I have never been on a calm flight.  Never.  Two flights qualified as "calm" only because the cabin was shaking on two axis occasionally.  They're "calm" by default.  Every other plane was a panic-inducing roller coaster.  And everybody else on the plane will tell me that I've had it easy.  You don't know what real turbulence is like.

So, kids, the moral lesson is this: Don't believe anyone who says you shouldn't be afraid of the turbulence on the airplane.  If you're not freaked out, then you're not paying attention.  Mammals have a moral obligation to be freaked out at 35,000 feet.  You're on a roller coaster and you might as well make your peace with it.

Photos - Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition (PC Engine)

Might as well show off some more screenshots from the PC Engine's Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition.  Outstanding translation of one of the all-time greats.  As soon as you can spare seven bucks, download it to your Virtual Console and plan for the late-night parties.

Street Fighter 2 - The 16-bit Shoot-Out!

Like most of the kids from the '90s, I'm a big fan of Street Fighter 2.  I played it way too much in the arcades, and way too much on the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.  Tonight, while going through PC Engine/Turbografx games for Virtual Console reviews, I decided to spend a little time with the Japan-only Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition.  To my great surprise, I really loved this version.

I liked it so much that I've been forced to reconsider which 16-bit console had the best version of Street Fighter 2.  It was always a tossup between the Super NES and Genesis versions; the Genesis Special Champion Edition was closer to the arcade, the SNES Turbo had the better audio.  Now here comes along the PC Engine Champion Edition, recently released on Nintendo's Virtual Console.

So let's take a look at some examples from the screenshots...This is Zangeif's Russian stage.  The first screenshot is PC Engine, the second is Super NES (Turbo), and the third is Genesis.  It's very, very close between all the versions.

When I was playing, the PCE felt the most fluid.  It was very swift on its feet, the characters felt large on the screen, and highly detailed.  I'll need to snap some more photos, but the faces looked sharper and more detailed than either the Nintendo or Sega versions.  That's how it felt to me.  There's less nuance in the color shading, but everything looked so bold and confident that I didn't mind at all.  I really loved playing the PCE version.

The Super NES Turbo looked the most refined, and that's to be expected, since it's the most powerful hardware.  However, the graphics felt slightly washed out, and that's a common feature on many SNES games.  The colors are easy on the eyes, and the match was as swift as ever.  This version lacks the extra animation frames of the Genesis version.

The Genesis version looked the darkest of the three, but also the most richly saturated.  It's as though the contrast was turned way up.  I'm surprised to see it look so much rougher than the SNES version.  In my memory, both versions looked nearly the same.  You can see that the Genesis was being pushed to its limits.  Strangely enough, it felt slighly sluggish, a couple beats slow.

Let's take a look at another stage.  Once again, first screenshot is PC Engine, second is Super NES, and third is Genesis...

Chun Li's China stage has always been my favorite, thanks to the bright graphics and bustling city scene.  This time I made sure all the photos match, so we can take a good look.

Once again, the PC Engine version felt the most colorful, the most vibrant of the three.  I loved looking at this version the most.  This is easily the best looking game in the PCE/Turbografx library.  The audio also felt right; slightly mellow, but the voices are perfectly clear and the sound effects felt true to the arcade.  I know the Super NES and Genesis Street Fighters are technically "more advanced," but this version hits me in the gut more.  It's more emotionally satisfying to me right now, like a really good Shure cart on the turntable.

The Super NES Turbo has the sharpest graphics, and the most refined, of the three.  There's really no contest.  The resolution is much higher and color shading is more pronounced.  However, the color tones are the most neutral, and there's that slightly washed-out feeling.  The Super Nintendo never could do "gritty" well.  The sound effects are satisfying, and it's keyed to the console's strength, but it's notably different from the arcade.  I'm not sure how I feel about those crowd sounds at the end of every fight.  It feels tacked on.

And there's no doubt about it now: the Genesis version runs slow.  I have no idea why this is.  But it is slightly more sluggish than the other Street Fighters.  On the upside, this version is the most animated; this is especially true when compared to the Super Nintendo version.  Colors and graphics are sharp, detailed, not overly saturated, still a bit of contrast.  Sound effects are very punchy.  Voice samples are atrocious.  Good Lord, it's hard on the ears.

Final Verdict

This was a very interesting shoot-out.  Each home version of Street Fighter 2 has its set of strengths and weaknesses.  The PC Engine version is the big shocker.  I honestly didn't expect that version to look and play as good as it did.  It's the best game ever made for that system by a country mile.

If I could only download one copy of Street Fighter 2 on Virtual Console...hmm, tough call.  Aw, skip it, I'm going with the PC Engine/Turbografx.  I can't yet say it's the best version; but for now, it's the most addicting and satisfying.  Ask me again in six months and we'll see what I think.

Virtual Console - Everything on Sega Master System Sucks

I spent part of my evening playing through most of the Sega Master System games currently available on the Virtual Console. Back in the '80s, the NES completely dominated the video games market, and I don't think I knew any kid who had the Sega. Thank goodness for that, because it was a lousy excuse for a videogame system.

If you're curious about the Master System, and wanted to download some games to VC, let me spare everyone the trouble, and offer this simple piece of advice: Everything on Sega Master System Sucks. There, I said it. We all believed it back in the '80s, and time has proven us right. This is the crummiest machine Sega ever built.

I'll be generous and say the only really good game on the system was the original Phantasy Star, but even then, the Genesis sequels were a hundred times better. The game hasn't aged well. None of the Master System games have aged well. It's a bit strange, really; the Master System was touted as the superior hardware to the Atari 7800 and the NES. Fat chance ever seeing any proof from the games. Nearly all the library's titles are cutesy, cuddly, and downright childish. It's much closer to the style of arcade games from 1984, in that dark age after Atari and before Super Mario Bros. And it's all so sugary and saccharine and hokey. Eww.

Sega's reputation as masters of arcade videogames would be secured on Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast. During the Master System days, their games sucked. I swear Yu Suzuki was the first talented designer on their roster, as Outrun, Hang On, and Afterburner demonstrate. But that's literally it. Everything else just stunk.

Alex Kidd was a pale knockoff of Super Mario, without any of the speed or charm or inventiveness. There's a reason why Sega killed that dopey mascot. Who wanted to play a happy, grinning monkey-boy, anyway? Sega pushed through three or four games in this series...why? Were kids being punished? Was the Master System really a subversive plot by retentive parents who didn't want their kids playing video games? It's like being served broccoli and calling it candy.

Move right down the list. Enduro Racer, repetitive and boring. Fantasy Zone, cutesy and boring. R-Type and Wonder Boy, decent for the time, but surpassed on rival consoles. Sonic? Way better on Genesis. Secret Command? What the heck is this? Wasn't it called Rambo at some point? There are a dozen classic run-and-gun games on the NES. No thanks.

I guess this leaves Phantasy Star. That was the only standout game a generation ago, and nothing has changed. If you were the poor sucker whose clueless parents came home with a Master System instead of NES, you could grit your teeth and live with a few other titles. But we're not in that fix anymore. You can download every classic video game off the internet in seconds. Why waste your time on the pale wannabe when you could be enjoying the real thing?

Remember the mantra, kids: Everything on the Sega Master System Sucks. Except for Phantasy Star. Maybe.

Sony PS-8750 Turntable

Here are some wonderful photos that I found online some months ago, and I've been holding on to them ever since.  This is the Sony PS-8750 direct-drive turntable, their star player from 1975-1978.  This was the precursor to the PS-X lineup that I love to much.  The Magnadisc and X-Tal Lock systems were, ahem, "borrowed" from Denon's tables, provide remarkable speed stability and precision.  It's the reason these Sonys are so highly prized.

The design is elegant, packed with details and components, yet still clean and efficient.  I especially like the carbon-fiber tonearm, which looks to be a step up from the rather chincy arm on the PS-X5/6/7 lineup.  I'd be thrilled to have this table in my collection, especially one that looks as nicely as this one.

Here's what The Vintage Knob has to say about the Sony PS-8750:

The fitted tonearm is a variation of Sony's own PUA-1600S (S for short) version, a tonearm one could purchase separately to fit even higher grade turntables ; the version used on the 8750 had a carbon-fiber tube. The headshell is also carbon-clad (SH-160). The PS-8750 was also adorned with a special OL-2K mat containing a micron-thick plastic "skin" itself containing a very thick oil. Other nice touches : the lid has an anti-static treatment, the output plugs are gold-plated and the arm's pivot rests on two sapphire bearings.

Long Live the PC Engine

I really love the design of the PC Engine.  It's remarkably elegant and futurist, and shockingly compact.  This games console was designed in 1987, at a time when all home systems were large and bulky, as though size was a measure of its power.  But, as any kid who ever took apart his Atari 2600 VCS will tell you, it's mostly just air.

To my eyes, the PC Engine looks even better in the 21st Century.  Perhaps I'm reminded of the Sega Dreamcast, which is very, very similar.  I wouldn't at all be surprised if Sega was inspired in their designs.  They wanted to get away from the bulky, bloated Saturn, and demonstrate their new, fresher, more svelte side.  The compact style is a perfect homage to NEC/Hudson's game machine.

Back in the day, I never had much interest in the Turbografx-16.  Just look at it.  Yuck!  That Americanized design was a travesty: lumbering, bulky, and to my surprise, very light.  The Turbo felt fragile in my hands, unlike the heavier and more stylized Genesis.  It was no contest who would prevail.

And, yet, if the PC Engine were on the shelves in 1989, instead of the Turbo...well, things might have turned out differently.  I think Sega's arcade pedigree and talented pool of game designers (nobody but Sega could have created Sonic the Hedgehog) would have become the deciding factor, but that's a very big "maybe."  If Hudson could have delivered all those amazing Japanese games, the hits that were forbidden because of Nintendo's draconian contracts over developers, the 16-bit battle would have been very different.

Oh, well, that's all in the past now.  The combatants are dead and buried, and the memories are rapidly fading.  Thank God there's a heaven for video games: emulation and the Virtual Console.  And Thank God for Ebay.  I still think a PC Engine is cool enough to add to your home theatre system in the year 2010.

Photos - Dracula X (Castlevania: Rondo of Blood)

Here are some screenshots from Dracula X. This was the fifth console title in the series, after Castlevania 4 on the Super Nintendo. It's arrival on the PC Engine cd-rom was a major surprise, coming from a time when cd-rom was a new and untested medium. Thank goodness Konami wisely avoided the pitfalls and gimmicks that cripples the Sega CD: endless voice acting, full-motion video, over-produced pop music. They kept to their roots, and that was the smart decision. Indeed, at the time, Dracula X had a decidedly retro feel, walking in the shadows of the earlier NES titles.

Meanwhile, the polished, "modern" 16-bit look of Castlevania 4 was virtually swept under the rug. I remember being wowed by the rich, luminous graphics in that game, playing in my college dorm room during the winter of 1991. As an early Super NES title, it showed off the graphics effects masterfully, and the haunting music, based heavily around instrument samples, was captivating, brooding, and slightly jazzy. With Dracula X, the direction of the series turned sharply, and for better or worse, defined the Castlevania style from that moment on.

Why was this game never released in the US? I still can't grasp a credible excuse. Where was Konami? Where was NEC, and later, TTI? What were they thinking? Was the Turbografx (and Turboduo) too far gone by that point? Was it considered to controvercial? Was it too expensive to localize? Was the Castlevania brand no longer considered reliable at retail? Or did somebody in charge simply drop the ball? Dracula X has finally arrived, yes, but fifteen years late. I want explanations.