Hardware Check! - OnLive Microconsole

So yeah... it's this thing.

So small and yet so hot... LITERALLY!

WellUnreal007 the AUGH-man!

I'm sitting here at work, stuck and slighty frustrated with no ideas in my head and a game review in the works along with another blog post and all I can do for WellUnreal007 is make a blog post about him on his birthday.  In case you don't know who Unreal is, it's this dude.

I'm starting to notice that a lot of us are using this picture a lot.

Hardware Check! - Coming soon...

Also, two exams to go.

Fun times at Gameworks

Good times.

I remember when it was my 17th birthday, where life was somewhat less complex then it became.  I've heard about Gameworks being over at San Antonio, Texas at the Quarry Market.  I immediately made it my mission to hunt this place down on my birthday, and with success, I have found my dream place.  A place where I'm surrounded by arcade machines, just like the times I was little!  I enjoy the arcades!  They may be a great place to pointlessly and even mindlessly waste all your allowance from being a spoiled brathard earned cash from mowing the yard and all other chores for your parents.  I usually play it safe and play the games I know, but this was an exception.  There are not many places that house even pinball machines these days, so I felt compelled to try out as many of their games as I can, win or not!

Hardware Check! - X-Arcade Dual Arcade Stick

I gotta come out of the closet in this one.  I'm a huge arcade nut.  Every time I go into any store, be it a gas station, a pizza buffet, a home decor store, I cannot help but pop in a quarter into one of those machines, trying out whatever games they had.  If it's any by Namco, Capcom, Konami, Nintendo or Sega, you bet your buttocks that I'm jumping on to those games.  I've always wanted to build my own cabinet but I never gotten to it since I never designed the blueprint and have yet to get the funds and the help to get it done, but if I could then Hell to the Yeah I'd get it done!  If there is an arcade cabinet I find left untouched, I'm gonna go touch it, then stick my quarter in it, work the joystick and... oh wait I'm doing a hardware review.

scxcr: A friend.

In case you're wondering, this popped up in google image search.

Well today is the birthday of a good friend of mine, scxcr.  For those who don't know him, he makes game reviews, lets plays, and footage from his adventures in various of conventions just to name a few.  Here's his youtube channel along with his blog spot.  What I'll be going over in this post is my thoughts on him and how we came to be.  We'll start at the beginning of our friendship, as far as I can remember anyway (and yes, WellUnreal007, I'm even guilty of doing it in text.  Bite me.)

Hardware Check! - The RetroN3

The advertisement is 3/4 right.

While me and everyone else was at Connecticon, I was walking by one of the few game isles along with lillylivers and shadowsnake123 as I notice this beauty of a compilation of three classic gaming systems, being the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo.  I've heard of other systems like this such as the Retro Duo or the NC Twin, but this one has the best of three worlds; or I should say it IS three worlds in one.  It went around $60 at that panel, but I've been reluctant in buying it for reasons involving saving money, how it'll fit with the rest of the luggage I was carrying (I had three bags, two of which are backpacks and I had to get shadowsnake123 to say one of them was his in order for the two bags for free thing Southwest Airlines had to work, and all three of them are filled up to the zippers.  Don't ask what I brought).  Not buying this along with Heart of Darkness for the PS1 (a game by Eric Chahi who also made Another World, one of my all time favorite games) was the biggest regrets I had at the convention.  Then one day, I decided to buy it online instead from this website, and I have not regretted it since.  Well except I didn't get the console in red since they didn't have it in that color at the time I ordered it.

Instead, I got the black system, as if the rest of my hardware wasn't black already.

The system itself includes a set of composite cables (the yellow/white/red plugs for the electronically illiterate) along with an S-video cable for slightly better picture quality.  Of course there's the power cable which the plug itself is box shaped, just like the older systems.  Because... nostalgic I guess.

 "These fucking things should be banned!" -James Rolfe

One minor inconvenience aside, what else were included in the system are the two "wireless" controllers.  As you have noticed in the first picture, those are the two controllers.  They are shaped and designed just like the old genesis controller, only lighter and more cheap feeling.  The reason I had the quotes and the word choice for the caption in the first picture is because the controllers aren't exactly "wireless."  Yes, they are without any wires to plug into the system, thus making them "wireless."  BUT, in order for the controller to work, aside from having to use two AAA batteries, you have to point the controller to the IR Receiver at the very front of the system.  Both controllers have two bulbs on top that send the signals to the receiver.  My problem with this kind of technology is that I have to keep my wrists fixed in position, as a slight movement of the controller will have the signals miss the receiver, thus making the controls unresponsive.  So it's kind of like using an 80s-90s style remote control, only more picky in where you point the thing, and requiring two hands.  That's some unneeded stress just to control the game.

Also known as the "Fuck Me" spot.

The genesis style controller works well with each of the three systems.  Though while the controls are responsive, despite the picky receiver, it doesn't feel right playing NES and SNES games with it.  Don't get me wrong, the controls are good and they are arranged to be similar to the older controllers (such as A being B, and B being A and C being R, and so on) but when playing games like Contra or Super Mario World, it just makes me want to use my old NES and SNES controllers instead.  Thankfully, the system does include two controller ports for each system.  This means you can still use your old NES, Genesis, and SNES controllers as you please for each of their respective systems which is a huge plus.  As for how it functions, as there are controller ports for each system, there are three cartridge slots for each system.  You can fit each game in there, and interchange which system you want to play with the knob on the top of it.  Putting in the cartridge did feel rough when I was putting in the first time, as in it didn't feel as smooth as placing em in their original systems.

Now to finally get to the bottom line.  How well does it live up to the original systems?  Really well I must say!
The games I played on this system are Contra, Super Mario Bros, Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World, Another World (SNES), Rocket Knight, and (god help us) Batman Forever.

A reminder that there is a game worse than Sub-Zero Mythologies and MK Special Forces.

Each game all runs really well, which pretty much holds no difference in performance in comparison to their original consoles.  Though I have heard rumors that there are some games that don't work for this system, but after looking at the rumored non-working titles, it's mainly the more obscure games so I don't mind the incompatibility for certain games that much, especially games I could easily play on a genesis emulator anyway.  The games look as they're suppose to, even with the S-video plug.  I've played a little bit of Batman Forever's training mode, which is basically the versus mode of the game only with one stage, green/blue-ish textures for characters and pseudo-Mortal Kombat with four players, two being artificially (un-intelligent or intelligently overpowered) opponents, and wow, Mortal Kombat it is not.   To make up for that, I popped in Rocket Knight Adventures after wards and realized how fantastic and difficult the game is, with the good controls, great looking graphics, catchy music, etc.  Another World is still an amazing game in its own right, I love the Mario games in All Stars, blah blah blah, bottom line, the games works great with the Retron 3.

Just in case you were curious as to what I was listening to while typing out this blog.

Over all, the system was well worth the purchase.  If not for the fact of owning the same consoles for the second time (third if you count the NES as I purchased a Generation Nex long before this), it makes it easier to organize my gaming set-up as I had put away my NES, Nex, SNES, and my broken Genesis consoles and bought this out in their place, making it a lot more convenient to use.  If you find this system anywhere and you would like to play something for either of the three consoles, it's well worth picking up.  I'd recommend you finding the original controllers while you're at it, unless you wanna give your wrists a bit of a work out (assuming they don't cramp out on you)

Bandwagon much?

With the appearance of Blogger accounts from my good friends, SCXCR (http://scxcr.blogspot.com/) and WellUnreal007 (http://wellunreal007.blogspot.com/), as well as knowing that Jquelta/blondeguygamer has a blog since a while back (http://blondeguygamer.blogspot.com/) and just finding out that wizwar100/lazyworkcreations has one too (http://wizwar100.blogspot.com/), or if you are one of these people looking at this, you may immediately think that I am just jumping on the bandwagon.

You're only half-right.

I'm typing this while drinking up a big glass of skim milk with the Breakfest essentials chocolate mix (it's pretty much a multivitamin milk that's good for ya, both taste and nutrients, and never get between a man and his milk), while listening to the Op40 theme from Black Ops


One of the best things about Black Ops since the Black Cats music from World at War.

Pointless bickering aside, I've been wanting to open a blog for a while.  Actually, I have before but it never really kicked off.  Let's just say I was really taken up in my college homework along with just work in general as well as just barely having anything to talk about.  It's been so long to the point to where I barely remembered that I had a blog before.  Ever since I was reading scxcr's blog, my interests in remaking a blog were coming back to me.  Then college and my job was holding me back again.  Then when everyone else was starting up their blogs or just letting me know they had blogs, I finally caved in and well, here it is.  Like the name?  It's kind of a last minute decision, but it is partially within context I suppose.

Nonetheless, here I am.  What you may expect from this blog is my opinions on different matters I look at, perhaps an analysis as well, along with thoughts on various of games, and of course written reviews as time goes.  Til then, expect a few commentaries on some of my videos.  Thanks for your support.  :)

-AngelHalo