A look at gaming in February 1996

A strange truth about 1996: for every game that made you fall in love with your console, there were three that made you question your life choices. We dig into that exact tension, from the PS1’s awkward start to the pure mood and menace of Alien Trilogy—a shooter that still works thanks to sound, pacing, and restraint. If you remember buying a gray box and praying your latest gamble wasn’t another Lone Soldier, this trip back will feel all too familiar.

We revisit the high-water mark of light-gun gaming, when Saturn’s Virtua Cop and Virtua Fighter 2 stunned Japan and proved PAL conversions could sing. That surge forced Sony’s hand, leading to a PlayStation light gun, Horned Owl in Japan, and the Namco wave that delivered Time Crisis and Point Blank. We talk build quality, accuracy, and why the G-Con became the rare peripheral that felt like real hardware rather than a plastic afterthought.

On the sports front, Konami’s Goal Storm quietly laid foundations for ISS and Pro Evolution Soccer, showing how feel and momentum mattered more than licenses. Meanwhile, Actua Golf translated the swing meter and commentary into a TV-like experience that impressed families gathered around CRTs. Add in Duke Nukem 3D’s smirk and spectacle, and you have a snapshot of how genres stretched to fit new 3D expectations.

Then comes the twist: magazines whispered the Game Boy was fading in Japan… just as Pocket Monsters (red and green) appeared with a simple, brilliant loop—catch, trade, battle. The link cable, once forgotten, suddenly became the backbone of a culture. We dive into how that social design resurrected a handheld and seeded a global phenomenon that still defines portable gaming.

If you love the texture of that era—CVG’s dense pages, light-gun showdowns, experimental sports sims, and the hum of a disc spinning up—you’re in the right place. Hit play, share your most regretted 90s purchase or most cherished surprise, and help us spread Flashy B by subscribing, rating, and downloading. Your reviews and shares help more curious gamers find the show. What 1996 game do you think deserves a second look?

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Cheers gamers!

Transcript

Setting The Stage: February 1996

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Hello and welcome to Flashback. This week we're doing February 1996, and it's me, RGT, and as always, joined by now what can I say this week? I'll always have to. What you do say is the CEO of the unofficial controller podcast, co-presenter of Flashback.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

So some say a game and god collector of curios, a toy collector. Oh wow. Yeah. So that is a long list I could add to you. But anyway, if you're wondering who it is, it's George. How are you doing, George?

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Hello.

unknown 1:20

To that!

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Well I don't uh yeah, I guess I probably factor into some of that. Um good to be back. Hello to you. Another episode of Flashy B ready to uh drop out the socket. A little bit more a strained, nostalgic show than the main show, which is a little bit gaudy at times. So welcome to the calm area.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Hmm. Gaming corner.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

The gaming corner. Yeah. But I'm ready to rip in because I've seen the year, I'm excited. I have lots to talk about. Some things about games that you'd be like, George, but honestly, really. So you better keep an eye on the RGT because I could get a little bit dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

No problem at all. Um I think this is going to be a good one. Um I think most of them are good, they're just more interesting than anything going back and seeing all these nostalgia trips. And like I said, this is episode nine. Can't believe we're on episode nine already. Um, this is if this is your first flashback, um basically what we do, we do what we would have been playing in the era, we do the news, we do what we're what we would have been hoping to play in the era with a little bit of Stingrays boot, which is a little bit of a nod to our other show, I don't know if you control a podcast. Um, but I think let's jump in, should we, George? What we would have been playing in 19 February 1996.

Lone Soldier And Early PS1 Growing Pains

SPEAKER_03 2:38

Listen, I was looking through this list and I think we had a conversation off air. I can't remember if it was a dream or real or it happened on the other show or not. I don't even know anymore. But I was away on this list and it was reminded me of a time when PlayStation wasn't home and dry. And I remember a time where I bought this grey piece of magical plastic and I was bouncing around trying to find games to play on it. Now, the game I want to start with is a game called Lone Soldier. Uh now it's a young lad at uh Gotham Games called Josh, not the owner, but he was like one of the uh uh assistants there. Lovely guy. He had an uncle that worked on Lone Soldier, and I've actually got a signed copy by Matey Boy's nephew, it says on the front. No Gotham Games. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Well the weird thing was I was gonna Lone Soldier. I thought I had this game, I haven't. I don't know why this game rings a bell with me. I tell you why so I was gonna ask you about this on the show to see if you've played it. Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

I owned it. I think I got it at launch. As I say, it was a weird time for the PlayStation. There were no established names or brands other than third-party names and brands that could attach to it, so everyone was giving it a go. And in the early days of PlayStation, most of these 3D polygonal games were everywhere, but not all of them were of good quality. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that I don't remember Lone Soldier as being any quality at all. And it was times another game on this list, for every alien trilogy you brought home, you probably brought home three Lone Soldiers. The equation was way off in the early days, and I was struggling to every now and then you'd get yourself Alien Trilogy, which I'll get into in a moment because it's one of my favourite PlayStation 1 games, but then you'd be kind of bereft and looking round and thinking, well, have I bought the wrong machine? I think with with the success of PlayStation in the modern era, we forget that they had that difficult first console. Now we talk about we blowed up the wipeout posters and all that sort of stuff, but when that faded, what was left in the shop of Electronic Boutique was Lone Soldier to sort of bridge your gap from where you were to where they were going.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

And I think this also shows that you've got to remember a lot of these developers had had this thrown on them 3D, they'd come from 2D worlds, and a lot of developers didn't make it. They they folded when the 3D era started, it was just like completely alien to them, no pun for alien trilogy.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

Um and you could tell that with the with them earlier games, some of the difference in quality for a similar genre of game was like, well, hold on, but this is you you've only got to look look at I really like Nuclear Strike, which is the follow-up to the strike series on PlayStation, but you've only got to look at like the the beautiful pixel out of the Mega Drive to the kind of stretched warpy polygonal mess that we got. Like I say, I like the game, I think the underlying gameplay of it's fantastic, and I think the way the products are presented looked really nice. Again, it's not a game to talk about today, but as an example, that transition from 2D pixel excellence to achieving a similar look and effect in 3D, much as now the modern era people are struggling to get to 4K 60, 120. The era at that point was how do we make these polygons look good?

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yeah.

Alien Trilogy’s Lasting Power

SPEAKER_03 5:58

And in the case of Lone Soldier, it they were the polygons weren't exactly there, weren't millions getting chucked around RGT. I tell you that. The main character probably consisted of about four polygons. All triangles, all triangles, and it was all it was, it was it from memory, it had like a mercenaries vibe to it, kind of like a go anywhere, do anything. I remember like a very early copy of like PSM magazine, some unofficial magazine, having this like a full-page preview spread of it where they have the shots full height of the mag in the game in the games magazine. It was like, oh, this Lone Soldier could be good. 16-year-old me pumped up on goodness knows what, obviously, doubled down and brought Lone Soldier home, but uh it was a game that didn't stay long. Yeah, a game that did stay a long time, though, RGT if I may be indulged just a little bit more because this is a game I just want to talk about so much. Alien trilogy.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

I had this on my list as well.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

A game that I got at launch and I was having some success. I can't remember what came first, chicken or egg, whether it was diehard trilogy or alien trilogy, but either which way this worked round, in my head, it set these up and the set 20th century Fox Games division, it made me very excited at the time for the anticipation of what they were going to do with their other franchises or other things that they had hidden in the locker because diehard trilogy, the first one to me, was an absolute rip snorting success. You bring home the light gun, you've got the 3D sort of uh explore platform kind of shoot 'em up section for number one, you've got the aforementioned gun game for two, and in three, you've got this awesome, and what felt like at the time, full city 3D driving, albeit with a timer. So to me, how this framed up Alien trilogy was right up on the pedestal. Now, being an absolute sci-fi nerd at the time, I had like the aliens books and all sorts of dribble. So when this game landed and you saw it in the mags, it was one of those times where you were like, Yeah, I bought the right console, and everything about this RGT, I don't know what your sort of mileage with it was.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Just um I had a friend who had it back in the day, and I remember looking at it then thinking this is what the PC boys are playing. This looks impressive. Yeah, this is a first-person shoot where it's in, you know. If if you're a fan of alien films, which I'm a massive fan of, me and Mrs. RGT, you know this is alien, you know, and I was thinking this is it was really good. Um I was never into FPS games then, um, but the thing I look at now, this is one of the if if you're a bit of a generation past the original PlayStation, going back to an original PlayStation is quite hard nowadays, you know. Some of the games you'll think, oh, how did you play these? But obviously we have a nostalgia for it. But I think Alien Trilogy is one of the ones where the younger people can go back to. There's a big fad at the moment with these boomer shooters, which are first person shooters which look more retro and older, and this has that look. This is very playable. It's a very good game.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

When was the last time you played it?

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Uh about two years ago.

SPEAKER_03 9:11

I had a go on this probably in the last 30 days. Yeah, oh really. Research for the show RGT. And I will say this game stands up and holds up as good, toe to toe, shoulder to shoulder with any game from when it launched, the PS1 launch, to when it ended. I say, oh George, are you comparing it to Metal Gear Solid? Well, no, but actually, when PlayStation washed up, I think this would feature as still an impressive-looking game in nailed DSaic. We did get Alien Resurrection, I think, as a game now that again had a bit of a weird stumbled launch, and controls were interpreted in a very interesting way for modern gamers versus older gamers there. Um, and that game's obviously found its legs in modern life, but there's something special about Alien Trilogy RGT. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is because by by its component parts assembled together in the modern in a for a modern gamer, it should stink. Yeah. But it plays like an absolute gen.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

It does, and like I said, it was you know, I had friends who had PCs and Quake and all the rest of it, and Wolfenstein. That's where you play I but you didn't really think of I know there was a ports game to PlayStation at, but you didn't think of of that the PlayStation as being a first-person shooter machine.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Certainly not initially, and maybe you know, you look at the legacy of PS1 and it's like okay, it's a 3D platformer machine. Well, is it because you've got things like this, you've got things like Gran Turismo, you know, the plethora of sports games. There's a big mix there. It's a shame that it kind of is synonymous with Spyro and synonymous with Crash, but I guess that's more younger gamers nostalgia. People like me and you, or me probably more specifically, was like writing than zeitgeist. Alien trilogy to me is is you know that game that's got that sort of calibre to it.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

And like you say, it's very, very playable today. It's it it plays really well. There's no you know, it plays as a first-person shooter.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Yeah, controls are tight. Um obviously, to be critical through the modern lens, like we are dealing with kind of like sprites in a way, so almost sort of 2D flat sprites in front of the floor. An alien's gonna come at you at some weird angles, admittedly. Uh admittedly, but the sound effects perfect, the noise of the doors opening, brilliant, the soundtrack from the minute you open the door, it's got that real good sound to it. And and I think even in some ways, although it's not aged very well, the CGI movies that attach to the game are nice, they're they've got a good feeling, then they've got that authentic film vibe to them.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Yeah, and if you've come from seeing FMV on a mega CD, it's worlds apart, you know. You know, it's you know, it was it's completely worlds apart. So at the time it was like, oh wow, this looks really good. Yeah, I think I think trilogy is a brilliant job.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

I've got a question for you, if I may be so bold, because this to me is this is your sort of true wheelhouse.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

I bet I bet you're gonna say what's the top of my list, but carry on. I'll see if you've got it. I bet you've found a bit of a curio in the sports department on there.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

It's the Sensible World of Soccer 9697.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Now my question is No, it wasn't the one I've seen.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

Oh mate, I've seen, I've seen. No, we'll come back to that. That was on my list as well. I have seen.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Sensible World of Soccer 9697. Just intrigued, get your because I was on the periphery, I had the first sensey, don't get me wrong, but by the time 9697 rolled around, what platforms is this even coming out on? Amiga or PC?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Um I think 9697 may have been Mega Drive, I believe, and then over to um PC, I believe, because Amiga was winding up when it by then, so that was PC.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

That's what I was trying. I was just trying to make business sense of the idea of releasing that. Obviously, the brand it's dead now, I'll be honest. There's some store warts like you kind of propping it up, but the actual brand is dead. Yeah, Sensi.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Uh Matey um forgive me, I forget his name. He's obviously couldn't use the brand name, so he carried on with sociable soccer, which I really played a lot on on the Switch. That is the sort of spiritual successor to Sensible Soccer.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

I I I agree and I acknowledge that, but it's never found the success that Sensi did when it first exploded onto the scene as that top-down soccer game.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

No, oh god, no, no. Sociable soccer is made for those people who are craving to play sensible soccer on a modern bit of technology.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

That's all they're six people. Very generous of him to put all that time into a game that six people are gonna play.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Steady, there's eight, but um, yeah, if I remember rightly, I'm sure this was sort of the last sort of Swan Song, Amiga. I'm sure I can't remember which one came out on Mega Drive, but they were almost like the DLCs of the day. So you had like the I've yes, and they upgraded the rosters and made it slightly bigger or had bigger world leagues.

FPS Legacy On PS1 And PC Parallels

SPEAKER_03 14:18

But I've got two versions on the Mega Drive, one which feels like I've got a copy of it on the Atari ST, I've got a version on the Mega Drive which feels very vanilla, and then I've got another one, and I can't remember, but it's got a subtitle like you would have got on a DLC package back in the day, or one of the extra discs you would get for the S Tier Amiga version, and I think it was all repackaged as a car, and I can't remember which one it was, maybe World Cup or something along those lines. So is the sport game Curio actual golf?

SPEAKER_00 14:51

No. Ah, because I want to well, let me talk about this next one, and we'll go on to actual golf. Right. Well, this one I thought you'd have picked up on because this game is called Goldstorm and it is by Konami. I haven't seen it. Yeah, that is um up near Space Jam. Um Goldstorm, um, if you do a little bit of research, is the first sort of football game PlayStation wise that Konami made. Um it was almost, I would say, a test and bed. They put this game out and people absolutely loved it for the gameplay, bits and pieces. And then within what, a year, two years, ISS Pro Evolution Soccer was born out of this. This was like the precursor to Pro Evolution Soccer. Now, because of that, this game is rather expensive if you try and pick this up.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

So, this is a bridge between ISS and Pro Evo, is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_00 15:49

No, no, because ISS was what pre over Pro Evo was. ISS turned into Pro Evo as it went along.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

I had ISS on Super Nintendo though, did I not?

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Uh I think you had the uh I did. Yeah, but ISS they took on the ISS name and then it went to Pro Evo, but they done they done Goldstorm in like in between, then that went to ISS, and then it went to Pro Evo. So is this is this this is a standalone separate, but is it used? Did you have ISS on N64 instead, not SuperNES?

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Sure it was on Super Nintendo as well. I remember Terry Blow being all over it. I'm sure it was on Super Nintendo, but it could have been on PlayStation 1 to be fair. So Goldstorm is like their first 3D for A into this this 3D universe on PlayStation.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah, that was their first, and if you I never had it myself, but if you actually look at screenshots of it, you if someone showed a screenshot to New An ISS player, you think it was ISS, you think it was crazy. Right, okay. This was almost like the test bed went out, everyone loved it, and they thought, right, let's start a series of this and sh the rest is history. Um if you want to pick this up, if you're a bit of a collector of these curios and these early developed games, I mean this is quite hard to get hold of, and I think a box copy is sort of sixty to a hundred pounds depending on condition.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Or NTSC.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

PAL um it's quite a rare game to get hold of. I would imagine just back in the I mean on the PlayStation at the time there was there was a slew of um oh there was football games from things I mean, and some of them were absolutely shocking. I remember we we used to always try different games, me and my friends, and we bought one called Three Lions. And how honestly, it is it is abysmal. You play the game, uh if I remember rightly, it's a side view, when you go to shoot, it changes to like a first person mode, and it has like an archery target moving across the goal of which you have to stop to where you want the book to go into the net. And I was like, you've just completely stopped the play of football, it was just licensed rubbish, do you know what I mean? And yeah, yeah, but I always found this one quite interesting because I thought that's nice to see where it all started, what first gave them that, you know, they made this 3D football game and said, Whoa, hold on, people are enjoying this. We've we're on to something here, and then the rest is the rest is born out of it, you know. And uh I've just looked up, yes, international superstar soccer was a one-off game on the Super Nintendo, which they must they must have used the name just for that. Didn't make any more, they done Goldstorm, then they went to ISS, which then went on to N64 PlayStation, and then they with the evolution, George was right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

It was the Terry Blow was playing on Super Nintendo. I think the cart obviously Grey had a blue label with the guy kicking a football out of the cart label.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Yes, yeah, he's kicking it a goalkeeper, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

Yes, that's that's it.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Goalkeeper's diving, he's kicking it in the net.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

I'll tell you in the early days of sort of Super Nintendo collecting, that was a game you did see kicking around quite a lot. Loose cart. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Ironically, I think about nice.

Sensible Soccer, Goal Storm, And PES Origins

SPEAKER_03 19:11

Um, but yeah, so that was let's steer back into a wheelhouse you're gonna be safe in. Let's talk about actual golf because that's the game I picked up. Like I say, there's so many on here that I was just picking up, just feverishly, just trying to get a good PlayStation game, I think, and let that be a lesson to you. You know, PlayStation wasn't home and dry from the day one. It's not the history that they write now did not look like that to a frustrated gamer in 1960.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

But also, you you didn't know who was good devs at the time, so you had to sort of wade through the games that they gave.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

You literally did, yeah. Um, but one of the games that I got away with uh actually being not only a little bit good, but very good, and got a story to tell if we have time, but uh everything about this game felt like an evolution of every golf game that had come before.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yeah. It's it's rough if you go back now, though, George, as we know, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Oh, yes, don't get me wrong, it looks like someone's chip bent teletext, to be honest with you. It's that kind of no no, no. The individual holes, I think, on the fly through with the torque over still kind of feel semi-slick.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

It felt a step up from the 16-bit era golf games.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

It was one of those games that you got home and you were like, Yes, you know, dad's gonna walk in here and see this and be like, okay, so you didn't waste all your money on that thing.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Uh this is gonna be like, that's actually doing something that I haven't seen a machine in this house do before. So actual golf was quite safe. I didn't really know anything about golf. The only thing I really knew about golf was there was a hotel not far away where people played golf. Um, that there was a a bag of clubs in the barn somewhere, and that uh my real only relationship with golf, truly, was through a PC copy of the 1992 PGA tour series that we used to play on our dinner break. Or whenever no one was looking, if I'm being honest.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

When you're supposed to be doing data inputs, whatever it was we should have been doing, we were uh yeah, taking our time on that golf game, and then for this to arrive, and this is leading into the story. One of the van drivers at the place I was working at, he wasn't really into gaming, but he loved that golf game on the PC, and he was he was a bouncer, so it was like John's playing golf, okay, no problem. And uh he uh I said to him, I've got this golf game now on PlayStation. He was like, Really? Bring it round this Sunday. I'll cook you a Sunday roast, my wife will, and we'll play we'll play actual golf. It's like okay, yeah, okay, John. Uh so my dad dropped me off, and then I walked with a bag with a PlayStation one in it, my much beloved and much travelled PlayStation. One and this copy of Actual Golf. I think I took Die Hard trilogy because he was into movies as well, and I think I wanted him to see it, or something along those lines, anyway. And he was big into all the things I was big into at 16, 17, um, wrestling, movies, particularly ones like Die Hard or anything with like a little bit of an action edge to it. You know, he he he kind of uh woken me to the last Boy Scout, and we sat down and we played a little bit of actual golf, and then we stopped. And him and his wife and his son, who was only small, tiny, we ate this Sunday roast, which is a bit weird. So I was like doing my posh eating around this bouncer's house, and then we went down and finished the 18 holes, and then um I I must have borrowed the landline to ring my dad to come drive the 20 minutes to come pick me up.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

What was his verdict of Vecture Golf?

SPEAKER_03 22:57

Oh mate, he absolutely loved it. Obviously, the the sound effects were top tier. He was seeing it had a quite a big CRT tube because it was into his movies and his TV and all that. It was like his guilty pleasure, I guess. Um and uh it it looked and sounded fantastic on there, even obviously I was playing on a little portable, you know, so even I was getting a little bit of a you know a treat, a downstairs TV like upgrade for the PS1. Uh so yeah, and we just loved it. Yeah, we laughed, and you and I played it what in the last three years together. Yeah, it's a little bit of a challenge because the the input system for a modern gamer is very hard. And look, all golf games interact through some form of sort of slidey bar that you have to slap at the top and slap at the bottom, pretty much to simplify it. That is where most golf games are at and are still at. Obviously, we've moved to the kind of analogue control now, but there was something about actual golf where it it felt real RGT. Could good commentary as well.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

I don't know anything about golf, so who the commentators are obviously famous people. Is it John is John Daly one of the people that was doing it, or have I made that up?

SPEAKER_00 24:13

He he was a golfer at the time, so I don't think he's been able to.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

No, but I remember, yeah, I mean we had part commentary on like mega drives and that, which I found amazing at the time for cartridges, but then suddenly to go on to that CD, you had the clap and which sounded good and the spherics and the birds and the trees and and the stories as well, the ad libs and bits and bobs that we'd never had before, where it was instead of just commentating on what was happening, there was a little bit of sort of broadening of the narrative, like real commentary would be, which I always thought added a little bit of something extra to it. Another game I want to talk about very lightly is a game here called Allied General. Now, I don't think I had that, but I did have a game called Panzer General, which had very similar box art where you kind of controlled a uh a panzer tank, like a realistic World War II game. Um, my memories of it are a little bit oblique. I remember it being quite difficult, like a lot of those sort of military games, if they go in the full sim route, which if memory serves, that one did. Uh, but they can be a little bit obtuse. Is there anything else you want to pull off this uh what we were playing list RGT? Because there's a couple I could give a nod to as being sort of in the zeitgeist.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

I was looking at um Tempest, obviously, by you know Lama Soft and Jeff Minter. Um just seems to have a legacy that game. I mean, the re I mean, he even had versions of this right back on BBC Micros, and then obviously they had you know one of the more successful games, if any, on the Jaguar with with Tempest 2000.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

And Jeff Minter had a big run with uh Lama, some Lama based shooting games on the Atari ST, like it was his sort of second home, which is why it made sense to go the Jag.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Yeah, and his nickname was Yak, wasn't it? So he just named everything Lama Soft and and yeah, then obviously you got Tempest here X3, and I mean I've dabbled with Tempest games, and they're very you know, they're of Jeff's time, they've got that trippy sort of shooter, but they even now you still get like modernised versions that you can get on Switch store and bits and pieces like that, and it amazed me that such a unique game has got ports through nearly every generation of Yeah, I think he brought a renewed version to the 360, did he not?

SPEAKER_03 26:33

Not a Tempest, but I think of some of the Llama games, llamas from out of space or some other thing along those lines.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Yeah, I've even got I know sorry, this is an audio show, but Tempest 4000 on the PS4. Um so there was Is he fully involved in that though?

SPEAKER_03 26:50

Um I don't know.

Actua Golf Memories And Design

SPEAKER_00 26:54

I mean, I know this is Atari, which I know he was always that was one of his favourable consoles that he made for. Yes. Um but yeah, and just even then on the PlayStation that you know I think it's brilliant where we we what we were saying earlier, where a lot of these developers were lost after we went into the full 3D and polygons and bits, but that Tempest and Jeff Mentor and Lamasoft still kept going, and they still do to this day, and I think it's brilliant still having that sort of arcade y score, and I suppose would you call them a shoot-em up? I mean, they're you have you know you sort of shoot down a tunnel, don't you, and work your yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

I think you call it an arcade sort of shoot 'em up, wouldn't you? Really? Yeah, because he was at the era where games were like that. That as you say, unique is is one way to describe Tempest. Uh it's a rip-snorting game from start to finish. Feels a bit weird as you kind of if memory serves, you kind of crab around uh an exterior polygon into the screen, do you not? Like a certain fashion.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Yeah, it almost does look like a sort of a lobster, something like a little crab round the outside. That's right. As the things come up, you sort of shoot them back down, and yeah, there's sort of bonuses and bits, and a game you have to sort of learn the techniques and uh you know how you get round there quite quick. Originally, I would imagine that was probably better on a sort of a trackball, so you can guide it round. I think there is actually a version you can have a track ball on it, but um yeah, and only one more that I saw here where I thought quite interesting, which is a game I've got yet still never played, and that is Shell Shock on the Sega Saturn.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

Yeah, that that uh that game has got some legs, hasn't it? I mean that I think from memory that I'd like um I can't speak exactly because I've never owned it, but I think it had like some pretty interesting music, some sort of like edgy street characters based around tanks. I like I say my knowledge of it is to see it, it's artwork in various game shops as a game that I've ignored time memorial. Um maybe I should pick it up.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Yeah, I'll have to um have to uh dust the satin off another game.

SPEAKER_03 28:56

It's interesting to see this is that true hybrid era where we're seeing games for the sort of you know exiting Mega Drive Stroke Genesis, we're seeing games come for the you know, much maligned but at the time up and coming Satin. We're seeing PlayStation sort of hit its second wind as games like Alien Trilogy in the UK and uh Matchua Golf, Crazy Ivan as one to speak of, were starting to sort of uh find a little bit of traction and establish it beyond its launch games. Uh yeah, a real interesting time. And actually, as I started pouring through these, it's like, yeah, played that. Oh, had to go on that, or mate, had that, or it's interesting to see Pokemon Green and Red getting their presumably Japanese release.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Yeah, I've got an interesting story on that as well. Um yes, part of the news, yeah. Um, and also what I do know is that all the years we're done and the different months, I'll guarantee you there's always a football game, there's a bass fishing game, there's either a baseball or a hockey game, there's a tennis game that these were constantly and pinball, these were always constantly being redone, and different games of the genres. And you've got to remember back, I mean, nowadays, young people, you have EAFC if you play football, you if you're playing American football, you'd more than likely play Madden, uh MBA if you're playing baseball. Back in the day, we had a slew, you had to wade your way through. I mean, the amount of football games I had on my PS1 until I settled on FIFA and then obviously over to ISS. But there was so many with three lines and god knows how many football spin-off games that all these studios were doing, and you used to just get so many of them, just pick them up second hand and see which ones sort of fit. And I can even remember playing hockey games on there because I'd sort of played EA hockey on my mega drive and tried to continue, but that sort of faded out with me in this in this era. But um, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

Just before we hit the news, I feel like I've left an open goal, and depends how much indulgence you want to give me. But I want to just shout out to Civilization 2, a game I predominantly played on PlayStation 1 when I got one the second time around with the screen, spent hours on that. But one game that we can't leave on the table, Duke Nuke and 3D, another game that when we got a copy of it at work, we played that on the work machine, and just the things you could do in it that were just sort of to a teenager, especially, were like just real fodder to me, uh, using the bathroom, you know, the sort of gaudy female bits, you know, it probably wouldn't sort of survive in a game nowadays without getting a crazy rating on it. But it was it was another one of those Doom clones, but do you know what this one had its tongue in its cheek, and it and that's how I think Duke Nukem really, in its 3D iteration, really stuck the land in and kind of worked.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

And you got members probably Duke Duke Nugum at his peak, you know, and then they they had I think so. There was gonna be had a few more spin-offs, and then they were gonna be this big game. I believe it was for PS3, and ten years later that still weren't released, then 12 years, and then it I think it did release, but it was completely broken off, and and that uh Duke Nugum had gone then pretty much, you know, and we get sort of revivals from like Evercade and bits like that, who are bringing back the older games.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

I think Bullet Storm did a Duke Nukem tie-up or something along those lines.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Yeah, but that after that big disaster of a game, that sort of fade away. So this was probably peak Duke Nougam at the time, you know, and carried over to 3D very much.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

Considering that we did played it on Amiga and ST as like a 2D light. To come back quite unique pixel art in that first one, really. But maybe that's all it had in a world surrounded by that Tosh. But to come here and kind of nail that kind of failed movie, movie star, part of a franchise, keep churning it out, somehow cram that into a 3D game, somehow cram that into consoles and home PCs, somehow get that humour to work, somehow also get that to pay respect to the first games as well. Yeah, actually, when you look back at it now, that was a real shrewd move and actually really quite cool. Did set him up for ever diminishing returns from like a gameplay point of view, I admit. Like when he faded, it was probably right.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I think it's sort of seen as coarse, and the world was changing as well for a doom welcome game at the time. Yes, it was but yeah, some brilliant games there. I hope you like that. That's probably what we would have been uh playing around in uh February 1996. But now we've scared the very darkest back pages of all the game and mags and even delved deep into this modern interweb to bring you what was the latest stories, all of which are from Computer and Video Games magazine. Burst up.

SPEAKER_03 33:52

I miss C VG RGT. If we're gonna speak in acronyms or that.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Actually, I just got when I was researching this show, I found my free news items, and then 45 minutes had gone. I was just cruising through. The amount of articles they have in this is just I could have made about five shows for this for February.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

C VG was to me like the upper echelon of the mags. Is a mag that you took seriously. You had a similar vibe to Gamesmaster when that turned up, but C V G was the OG.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

Yeah, they there wasn't no messing about in this. There wasn't no um, like we said last week, there wasn't no threads for screen warriors in this. There was no this this was telling gamers what you need to know. We've seen this, we've done this, we've been there. Have you heard of this? This console's coming out, this game's coming out, it's brilliant. There's so many so many, you know, each some of the pages have 10 stories on shorter articles you could read through, and it's it's brilliant. It's packed, absolutely packed magazine.

SPEAKER_03 34:47

Great logo as well.

Strategy Curios And Tempest’s Throughline

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Yeah, absolutely brilliant. Um, but yeah, first up we have Amazing Sega PAL conversions. By now, you've probably seen official copies of Virtua Cop with the gun in your local game shops. Then again, you probably haven't. You see, since it was released on December the 8th, gun packs of the game have completely sold out. With new supplies not set to arrive until the end of January at the earliest. If you look, you can still get the game without the gun and brackets, we don't recommend it though. Or buy it as part of the new£349 Sega in-game package with no uh with no borders and full screen action. It's a mighty impressive conversion to, as in the UK version, of Virtua Fighter 2, released on January the 5th. The game runs at full speed with only um microscopic borders. We've played it and we can honestly say it retains all the speed and timing of the Japanese version. Although bizarrely, the character select screen has borders and um some don't doesn't go red. This means um it had been a Sega of America request. Although he still um he still retains all his drunken prowess, nevertheless it's a cracking conversion and far superior to the slow letterbox pal version of Tekken. Expect to see um similar brilliance from the UK version of Sega Rally set for release on the 24th of January. Incidentally, an amazing 700,000 copies of VF2 were sold into homes in Japan within the first two days of release, and sales of this of the uh Saturn compared to PlayStation in Japan went from three to one um uh to four uh four point seven to one prior to the game's release. So there's been a bit of VF frenzy out there as there has in been in our office, as you can see from part one of our awesome VF2 guide on page 78. Now I put this one in there. Firstly, this was the time of light guns, you know, things you know, like um Virtua Cop and all that, and it was a time everyone you had a CRT, and if you had a light gun, you could replicate that arcade gun experience at home. Plus, it's things like I don't I know we always see Sega Saturn as a flop, but here because of the release of this game, that's how big this game was at the time, to be out selling the PlayStation, to sell 700,000 copies of Virtual Fighter 2 within you know what what do they say, two days. I mean, that is unbelievable. And even now, you still think I mean, I know probably over in the PAL regions, yes, Agar Saturn did struggle, definitely, it got absolutely destroyed by the PlayStation, but there was obviously glimpses of hope here that that the Saturn was gonna do well, especially they were still sticking with that arcade vibe rather than the P world.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

I just think the Saturn era is just like we're just one more game away from making it, you know. It did feel like that. They listened to the fan feedback about some of the early uh Sega Saturn uh arcade conversions, and you know, they kind of sharpened up a little bit, uh, and they've now come at it here. It's nice to see a light gun getting some success. Um, it's nice to see you know peripherals selling out and going home. Uh, there's to be honest, like yeah, in the arcade you can play these shoot 'em ups and all that sort of stuff, but the more fun is had at home with some of these ones that come home, Virtua Cop one and two, you know, lethal enforcers, all those sort of police 24-7. I think it's another one of those ones, time crisis, all that sort of stuff. Die Hard trilogy, the second part. Um, this was the era, like maybe the best era for light gun games when we still had the tubes around that where they would work, where it was easy to do, and I think that we were a little bit sport for choice. I think obviously we got games on the PS2 and Dreamcast, etc., etc. But for me, that was the Wayne you were.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

I I felt that generation that was then waning light guns, they were sort of disappearing a bit.

SPEAKER_03 39:15

We'd seen like the my personal experience was this. I'd seen light guns at home, as the aforementioned Terry Blow Super Scope had seen with MBSIs the menacer, although in reality now I own was an adult. They're oh my god. So we'll leave that there. They were kind of like fun curio toys, but then when we got to the 32-bit generation, PS1 or PlayStation as it was known at the time in the Saturn, it really felt like we did actually then genuinely get the arcade experience at home. Yeah, and it wasn't like a broken version of what was before, it was kind of like a screen accurate version, the guns felt solid, it kind of progressed from like a novelty add-on.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

The guns were very similar to the ones in the arcade, so you also you know, and they had that recoil, some of them had the recoil.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

I was gonna say I had a non-genuine one predator, a logic three predator or something like that. Start buttoning a circle up the front, and then like red lights down the side of it. Yeah, and I think it had like a PS1 at lead end and a satin lead end season. Yeah, it was uh biconsole. Um yeah, and and because of that reason, there was just a plethora of guns on the market. Uh yeah, I think everything from this point down might have been a fade off. There were some high points, I think, like House of the Dead 3. Uh, I'm I'm kind of also wanting to talk about some of these sort of varying stats that are getting wielded up about Saturn versus PlayStation in Japan, and again, it does set obviously Sega and Sony's home territory is Japan. Uh, although sort of console sales have faded there over the years, it's nice to see this is that heady moment where the new the new entry was really up against maybe a cultural kind of beer moth in a way with its previous consoles and its domination of arcades and even gacha machines, and you know, Sega make all sorts of weird stuff, so you know, much like Sony's a household name, Sega was as well, and then Sony was stepping into their into their area, so it's nice to know that in the home market loyalty meant something. Um here in the UK, sadly it didn't matter for a lot, but I think that was more to do with the way the console was launched and handled and the way the games were released more than anything else, even the difficulty of coding for it, which is must much discussed. I think you know, frame it up a bit differently. You heard an awful lot about PlayStation as a consumer, yeah. You didn't hear anything about the Sega Saturn.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

No, and also obviously with PlayStation, it was easier to develop for and easier for the developers. So they basically said, look, uh, here's all these dev kits going out of everyone, just make games, put them on there, make games, put them on there, and yeah, and I think the devs are like, right, okay, let's give it a go. Sat Sega was still in that, they're still a bit old school. You still had to have that Sega, you know.

Duke Nukem 3D And Teenager Shock Value

SPEAKER_03 42:27

To to pay respects to one developer in particular, Core. I think from memory, Tomb Raider launched on Saturn first, but they didn't really put enough fanfare into it. Now there's a digital foundry video showcasing how how Tomb Raider works on these different platforms. When you see it work on the PlayStation 1, it's something you and I can recognise. It's made out of triangles and it's it's this 3D mesh within a 3D universe. When you see how they got that working on Saturn, where it's a load of pictures made up in a collage that are constantly generating, as you walk for, I was like, What how yeah, how did they even get so far down the rabbit hole of trying to get this working or making this work as a lead system where they're having to like half bake a load of static stills and then skew the camera off by 10 degrees or a degree or something where you then couldn't see the joins? I implore everyone to go dig that video up because I was like, my full respect to them. Yeah, we've talked before about how we had Street Race on PlayStation 1 and then we had it on Snares and Mega Drive, and it was a different game on every one of them. This is like the true top-level prestige version of them pulling that straight out of it. Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Unbelievable. And I think with the Saturn Heaven knows, I think originally it just had like a sixteen bit chip, and they were going to make it an arcade machine. Uh, late doors, they heard Sony were doing thirty two bits, they literally doubled the chips up, but then you had to I think it reminds me. You could sort of program in a three D space, you had to Almost sort of project the 3D, like you were saying, rather than build up with polygons, and it was it was tricky. Core done an amazing job doing absolutely unbelievable.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

And you know what a strange time for gaming. I just can't imagine that because we're never gonna get to an era ever again, I don't believe, where a machine is fundamentally doing something that different to the other machine that they're so far removed from each other where a version might work here but it won't work there, you're gonna see upgrades and downgrades in textures and different levels of quality, a texture and pop hit and all that usual drivel that we all talk about and ray tracing and this, this, that, and the other. But if Digital Foundry stumbled across a game on the Switch working in the same way or a similar or equally technically obscure way as it is on there, as it is on, say, the Switch versus the PS4 version, yeah. I mean, you'd never not hear about it, would you? It'd be incredible.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

No, no, you wouldn't, no. Brilliant. But yeah, that was uh that was all about the virtual cop with gun. But leads us on to this next story, George. What's it?

SPEAKER_03 45:03

Yeah, well done, uh RGT. This is sinuous. This is the uh a little bit of the news, it's called PlayStation Light Gun Revealed. Following on, the success of Virtua Cop on Saturn, it seemed inevitable the PlayStation would have to follow suit with a gun game. Well, Sony have the situation well in hand and have commissioned Konami to create the required device, presumably because they have previous experience with their own Justifier guns created for the Lethal Enforcers game on Mega Drive and SuperNares. Well, here's a result of their work. I wish I could show you this. I shall describe it to you in a moment using my superior vocabulary and seductive voice. Looking forward to this. Set myself up for a fall. And also a few people have just sort of screeched to a halt in the car and gone, hmm, that's uh wrong on two counts, Panyo. But read on, I will, sir. You lady. Well, the results of their work, the PlayStation Light gun is unknown, and when the gun is set to release for or how much it's going to cost. But the first title for it, Horned Owl, also pictured, big game, remember it well, is set for release on December the 29th in Japan. So it makes sense that the gun would be released at the same time. Strangely, the gun is done by Sony in-house, not Konami. And in fact, Konami have no plans to release any games for their gun. It seems likely though that Namco are working on some gun-related titles, so we might see Time Crisis and Tom Cruise favourite, this point blank on PlayStation. There's a fact that sort of died in 1996, isn't it? Now, I promised the listeners uh a description of this weapon RGT. Now, I have never seen this in the wild, so I guess it's never made it out. No. It's a a gun, obviously. Um shaped in like a futuristic pistol style. Uh the wire goes into the front of the grip, uh, which is unusual for game uh for the pistols that came out after it. Looks like the start button's been relocated to the rear stock of the weapon underneath where the trigger hammer would go on a normal uh firearm, and raised up on a circular piece of plastic by the look of it, is this uh is a red button secreted onto a piece of raised plastic, which I presume was some sort of start button. It's a pretty big board weapon, I would say. It uh you wouldn't want to get shot in the leg if that thing was real, it blew the leg off. It's the sort of shot from the cut. Hellboy's singular firing pistol. Uh and then the um it's got like a front grip to it, maybe with some other buttons mapped on to the other side. I think if you were a right-handed person, that would probably make the most sense. I don't see any other buttons other than the trigger, which is surrounded by like a little plastic front guard. I can see screw holes all over the image that I'm seeing, so it looked like it assembled in two pieces. As for the game Horned Owl, uh, I'm sure many people listening now thinking uh I listen to this because I want the experts' opinion on what these guys know. Uh, but they don't know anything about Horned Owl. Well, jump in the uh comments and let us know anywhere you find us. But Horned Owl to me looks like a light gun game which has a mirror of what anime screens attached to it that kind of narrate the action RGT. If you know anything about that, please message in. I would love to know. All I know is the PlayStation gun never came looking like that RGT.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

Um, um yeah, that Horned Owl looks very anime, looks actually quite good graphics for the time. It looks nice.

SPEAKER_03 48:41

Um, I think it was released You could get away with Blue Murder, though, couldn't you? Because you could just shoot at cartoons in these light gun games.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You could um yeah, it was released in Japan, it was also released in America, I think a year later, but we didn't get that in Europe, Horned Owl, that's hence why we we um my integrity survives intact. Yeah, um as and as for the gun, I would imagine that was the same. So I remember well, I've got one up on my shelf, the G Con now exactly point blank, big box, got that. That's what I always remember from the PlayStation era, and also I also remember um my mate who's the Resident Evil nut, who's very, very good at them games. He also got survivor he got Survivor with the little handgun.

SPEAKER_03 49:24

Oh, because there I've got a PlayStation original PlayStation 1 controller that's specifically for Resident Evil. Yes, it is but it's not a gun though.

SPEAKER_00 49:38

No, but they're if you get Resident Evil Survivor on the PS1, you've got uh at the time you got the proper little handgun packed in with a like a little nine mil Beretta or something. That's it. I couldn't think of the name of it. Beretta, yeah, with the little brown stock on, and used we used to play that shit. Now a lot of people hated that game, but it it actually is alright. It's a it's a you know it's yeah, I'd second that. It's time crisis with Resident Evil, the zombies that's not hate.

SPEAKER_03 50:01

It's a bit more rudimentary than that, yeah.

CVG Nostalgia And Saturn’s PAL Wins

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Yeah, yeah, you know, it's zombies come at you to shoot them out of the way, and then that puts you on rails and you go in the next corner, sort of thing. But yeah, we had good fun with it, you know, back in the day. But they're the two guns I remember. Obviously, this one I didn't, I would imagine, because of the Horned Owl game only coming to um um Japan and America, it's probably where this gun was sold. Um, but yeah, I I I put this in here basically just because of the link, you know.

SPEAKER_03 50:26

I think they'd seen you know, these figures here say, oh, you know, um well I didn't I forgot about this second piece of news, but I was waxing lyrical about you know gun games prior to us getting to that section of news about that gun. I didn't I I scan read it earlier, I didn't you know put two and two together, but there's me waxing lyrical about the pinnacle of gun games.

SPEAKER_00 50:47

Well, yeah, and here's like I say Virtual Cop and Virtual Fighter are literally out selling PlayStations nearly five to one in Japan, you know, and so I think I think you know Sonya looked at this and thought, right, we need to get on this bandwagon, we need an arcade shooter in here. Yes, we're doing all the 3D stuff. Who are we gonna get to do it? Well, we know who's built guns before, Konami. You know, a strange though they designed it though, and then Sony built it. I suppose they were a bit they wanted to make sure the tech was you know adequate.

SPEAKER_03 51:17

But I've I have no idea what went on with that arrangement. It obviously didn't last overly long in terms of like a you know production arrangement. Um and that gun that you've got the G-Con. Yeah, absolutely flawless bit of kit.

SPEAKER_00 51:34

It is a bit it even has it's got that mechanical sound when you fire it, the recoil, it's very it's a good gun. It's got a good weight to always love it.

SPEAKER_03 51:42

That predator I mentioned earlier, it was it it is it was a good gun, it is a good gun. I've got one now, but you know, at the time it felt pretty cool, but you play it now, and you know, I think the unit's pretty good example of what it was when it was new. The predator one is very clickety-clackety, it feels very rattly rattly. Whereas I find the G-Con, even now, after years of play, to be you know, a proper bit of kit.

SPEAKER_00 52:09

It does feel well built, the G-con. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_03 52:12

And it doesn't have that rattly bit to it.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

No, no, it feels solid. Yeah, it does feel solid. I mean, when I had when I used my game shed, I was I was then I didn't complete it, but I had a uh a big uh rack that I'd built, and I was putting uh CRT on top, holsters down the side, and then I was doubling up my consoles from Saturn to Dreamcast, um, uh PS1, PS all I down, so I had the guns all plugged in. I was gonna have a light gun station so you could just play all the gun games. Um but I never been awesome. Yeah, I never completed it. I had all the rack done and the TV on top, and uh that looks so good. And I was just like, Oh, I wish I could have carried it on because that was brilliant.

SPEAKER_03 52:55

I had the guns as well, and I thought if I could just what was the main stayer in that, which was the one that was nearly always the go-to out of all of them? Because obviously Dreamcastered House of the Dead. I don't know if you probably had a copy of Silent Scope on there, you know, what on Virtual Cop 1 and 2 on the Saturn, obviously, all the games that I've rattled on about earlier for PlayStation without boring everybody. What was the one that stuck in there?

SPEAKER_00 53:20

Um Time Crisis used to be popular. We used to like playing that. Um I tell you what some of the I know this is going off-piece into a different era, but one of the best times we ever had um playing on gun games, and it was basically because you could play this on a projector. I'd set up in my shed, because I had a big projector in my shed, 100-inch screen, right? We used to play PS3 with the move, House of the Dead in the guns on a hundred-inch screen. I used to clear the floor, and we used to stand and play that director's cut on the PS3. Superb. The moves actually surprised me more accurate than what you think. It was a lot more accurate than what the early Wii's were, and it was it was great fun. We used to play two players and huge screen shooting the zombies. I had stereo speakers around with the sound, you know, my JMOs and the techniques used to sound brilliant. We used to have so much fun with that. Um, and that's why I wanted to build this this unit, so we had all the gun games there. But yeah, time crisis was popular. Um, I wanted to re-get um the Survivor. I know a lot of people didn't like that with a little beretta, but I couldn't that's hard to get hold of now. I couldn't find it anywhere, but it's probably a bit expensive.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

I think to find it with that beretta as well is like getting harder and harder because I think it was compatible with other light guns. So if you picked it up, it didn't matter that you didn't have the beretta, but that package with that beretta was special. And maybe people didn't like the gun, but to me I like that gun.

SPEAKER_00 54:43

That was good.

SPEAKER_03 54:44

It looks smart, it looked like it was from the Resident Evil universe, it was a little bit special.

SPEAKER_00 54:49

Yeah. Right, we'll go on to our third bit of news then, and this one is And the Game Boy 2. Rumour has it that the Game Boy is near enough dead in Japan. With game shops placing cartridges in bargain buckets near the doors. Surprisingly, then, that there is still a selection of new and impressive Game Boy software at the show. Takara revealed Would You Believe Game Boy versions of King of Fighters and Toshidon. Kirby's Blockball is a rehash of the old breakout theme, and showing there's still innovation in Nintendo's little handheld, Pocket Monsters is an interesting RPG which allows you to train and then transfer monsters from your Game Boy to your friends via the link up cable. Thus you can accumulate a cartridge packed with rare and powerful specimens with which to do battle with. The game comes with comes in two versions, red and green, with a different kind of monster. We're partial uh we're particularly intrigued by this game, so rest assured when we get hold of a few copies, we'll delve further into it. Now, this is like one of the early articles of when this uh first dropped because they're still they're not even calling it Pokemon then, they're they're still calling it the translation Pocket Monsters. Yes. Um and they've shown they got some screenshots here of uh the green versions and the red versions of the game. Um, yeah, this just intrigued me because I just think when they were writing this, they had absolutely no idea of the size of what this would get to.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

I remember reading around this time, like it didn't break through here until it got the cartoon.

SPEAKER_00 56:42

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 56:43

And then it it took off. The cartoon wasn't really here in this time. So I remember this like being on the periphery of gaming magazines, like C VG, is it built abroad? And I think there was like a moment where it was, you know, last episode we talked about barco battlers, and this felt a little bit like because we were only on the periphery of the news. I don't think it hit home until what 99, 2000. Here it was kind of like in it was here, it was in machines, it was here as red and blue. Obviously, yellow came afterwards. Here it's presented as red and green, which is which is great.

SPEAKER_00 57:21

Um see me, I I the Pokemon I was just that bit older.

SPEAKER_03 57:30

Oh I know, but I was a weirdo.

SPEAKER_00 57:32

Yeah, what what do you mean were? Um I'm a weirdo exactly. Thank you. Um I was you know, I was that alien trilogy, Resident Evil, Tony Hawks. Pokemon didn't click with me, but and I could remember first uh hearing about Pokemon on the game, but I was thinking you just clicked monsters. I thought that's a kid's game, not interested. But then suddenly I was just see so many people with Game Boys playing the game, and then suddenly, like you say, the cartoon, and then you'd start seeing it in the in your gaming magazines all the time, and you suddenly think, hang on, this is this is getting a bit silly now. People are mad on this, and I mean you can tell how at test at last the test of time because um a friend of mine's daughter, um she's you know into a game, she's a gamer, she's in her early twenties, but then she borrowed an original Game Boy off me and a couple of copies of Pokemon because she wanted to play the original games and see what they're like and had an absolute ball with them. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 58:30

Have you seen the value of a ray copy of blue cart only though in somewhere like CEX? It's outrageous.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

What price are we talking? I mean, I picked these up for for a few pounds of oh no, do I dare look? You must. Oh dear.

SPEAKER_03 58:49

It's uh to me, it feels egregious to you. You might think it's okay, but uh but to to put some more meat on the bone here, it's interesting to see how they're reporting that the death of the Game Boy in Japan is is on the cards. They're kind of talking with surprise about how uh King of Fighters is getting a Game Boy version. And then you're too bad. Wow Bam! They kind of talk with a raised eyebrow about this game that uses a link cable prior to Pokemon. What games use the link cable? Like those launch games, that little logo on the front, like Breakout F1 or alleyway or whatever it was called, maybe baseball had the functionality in. I remember trying to pick up all the Game Boy games from the original launch that had the link cable compatibility in them. There was a little annotated mark on the front of the cart that would let you know it was link cable compatible.

SPEAKER_00 59:47

Yeah, yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_03 59:48

And and that kind of died then. I think there were the odd bit and bob game that kind of used it, but not really. But then all of a sudden, you know, link cables were appearing out of everywhere because people needed them to share their Pokemon with each other. So it kind of breathed life into that kind of what you would consider dead accessory.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:09

Uh I guess Nintendo were like, well, crikey, better make better make some more of these.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:14

Yeah, because it was it was very much like you say, a launch type thing. So I think you could play two-player Tetris with it as well, couldn't you?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:18

Yeah, I think you could, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:19

I think that had the little uh I remember there was that famous photo of Scarlett Johansson and um what's the other guy's name who plays Captain America?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:29

Oh yes. Uh messages on a postcard to an official controller.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:35

He's got his name now. Uh I wouldn't worry about it. My daughter loves him. But anyway, yeah, there's a famous picture of him when they're filming, they're on a rest day, and they're sitting there playing two player Tetris on their Game Boys. So that was obviously they had nostalgia for it from when they were younger. But yeah, the Link cable. Um I can remember because didn't you get Link Cable boxed in when you bought a Game Boy? I don't know if you did.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:57

I don't think you did. I think it might have been a separate accessory.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:01

Uh I always thought you got one boxed in, but I always remember thinking what I must have had one anyway, and I remember thinking Oh, maybe. I remember what do you use this for and never really used it and didn't think that's what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:11

Do you know what it kind of reminds me of? Like the uh in the modern era, the link cable or or the plug for the link cable reminds me of the plug that's on the bottom of the Wiimote for the for the Joy Con.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:23

Yeah, very similar.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:24

Yeah, I've got a um Pokemon themed one where it's like a Pikachu either end.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

Um I didn't even know they'd done one of those.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:36

Yeah, themed cable. I'm 99% sure it is.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:40

Um they probably thought right we're on to Saturn here, they start launching some Pokemon themed link cable.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:45

And that's why I brought it up because I think it's the only it's the only link. Have I got an official one somewhere? I probably did when I went on that link cable run, but uh car chase, but I I don't know where that is, but I know 100% I've got a Pokemon one. Because I think it all wraps up in a little poke ball either that wraps around the wire, and then you've got like a little Pikachu either side with a wire out of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:07

I've seen them, yeah. You are correct. Yeah, you are correct. Oh, I have seen those.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:13

But I don't know, I couldn't lay my hands on it because I always let the kids go feral. I mean one of them had a play it loud Game Boy, which I don't even want to imagine what that's worth now, and yellow.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:25

Um Yeah, I've got the Pokemon yellow Game Boy colour, is it I believe?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:29

Yeah, I think they did a colour version.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:31

I've got one with the little pack they had as well, carry case and all that that that that came with and the only carry case I've got are two I've got two Game Boy carry cases which are covered.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:43

They're ASCII ones, and when you open them up, there's a place for the genuine magnifier, there's a place for the and I took a bit of time to because there's a place to put your batteries, there's a place to put your different carts, there's a place to wrap your link cable, there's a place to wrap your headphones, and I was trying to make sure that I had the official thing for each official slot in this ASCII little case, and then there's a smaller one which is just like games and go, and they've got these little straps, but they've got these like these little grey grid patterns on it. They're I don't know why we're talking about this in 1996, but heck, I'm all in at this point.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:19

Well, I I was I was still playing the Game Boy '96. Um so here we are, that's legitimate. Um I I f let me think, I finished my exams in I think it was '95, and my dad done a thing we'd done for my sister as well, because my dad always said exams are too stressful. Pick a holiday, I'll take you on a holiday. Being a teenager, I went right, I want to go to ride beefer. Although I had to go and was fish with my mum and dad. I took a game boy, and I had for my game boy, uh yeah. So I had to try and keep it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:50

It's the wrong show to interrogate you about this holiday, so you need to bring this up on the main UCP side. I will do because I want to I want to get into all the nitty-gritty-gory details. Did you share a room with your sister just to give me oh yes, yeah. Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:09

Yeah. Yeah, trying to get into many mission when I was 16. Anyway, there was um I had a plastic. Can you remember the plastic hard grey Game Boy case?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:19

You saw it map. I had that, had all the games in. I had uh such a lovely set I had anyway. I had it stolen in the end by a neighbour, but long story short, but I had that lovely grey case.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:29

I love the idea, and I don't want to lean on it too hard of a 16-year-old who's wanted to go to Ibiza trying to get in manumission, but then uh actually got in.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

Got in, they're back in his room, he's playing game point! Exactly, yeah. I I went out his mum and dad Carl Cox all night, went back and played Super Maryland.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:49

Did your parents accompany you in there or not?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:52

Good God, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:54

So you were not chaperoned?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:56

No. My sister was older than me, so she was supposed to be looking after me. So we were supposed to be going out for a hamburg, and she went, I'll tell you where we're going.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:06

Oh my goodness gracious me.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:09

Okay, well we'll pick that up another day. But you were there, what games were you playing on that Game Boy in that in 96?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:14

Um, there was two games, and even though my dad my dad forgets this now, um, it's probably due to his old age, but he my dad was obsessed with Super Mario Land and Tetris. And we used to sit round a pool during the day under the shade, sitting there, and we'd have competition so you'd get the high score on Tetris and see how far we could get in Super Mario Land. My dad loved it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:35

Super Mario Land is particularly brilliant on that Game Boy.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:38

It's very good. And even now, when you look back at the Game Boys, I know you know, you show my daughter or people of that similar age, and they go, Oh my god, it's only like a monochrome one colour screen. It's like, yeah. But sometimes if you look carefully, it's got real good eight-bit graphics on, you know, they really done well. I know it's a television.

Pokemon Emerges: Red And Green

SPEAKER_03 1:05:57

But that comes through when you play it on like a Game Boy. Pocket with the ink screen or similar, and it comes through even more when you get to like the Game Boy colour or stick sticking a OG cart and a GBA. Oh, hang on a minute. These have got some serious stuff going on under the hood, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:13

Oh, yeah, yeah, they done well, you know. And yeah, so that was that holiday.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:17

This is where I did good because I raised my kids on Game Boys, so now they like they look at a Game Boy and they can appreciate Game Boy.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:25

Yeah, it's a good call. Yeah, definitely a good call. My daughter did used to play a lot of retro, but not so much Game Boy. She'd play, she was actually really good at sensible soccer, so she used to play that a lot as a kid. But yeah, so um I've put this story in, so I just thought that was interesting to see, even on the screen here. The Japanese version has got the Japanese writing on this screenshot with pocket monsters underneath. It's it's just that early. Even you look at the artwork on those boxes, George. I mean, oh I know, you wouldn't know that as Pokemon, would you? That was before they you know, you wouldn't think nothing of that. That almost looks like a Pokemon's rip-off clone, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:03

Well, when you go up earlier in the releases, it did have like that full because that's the front screen, obviously, attached to that article. That's the press start to play. When you go up in the article, there was uh Pokemon Red, Pokemon Green, it had the uh Japanese OG artwork on there, and it's like, yeah, that is what they look like. So the the branding and the theming and everything that we've got now, you know, to my mind didn't really exist. Like that original Game Boy games incarnation of this, that, or the other is is really that true OG inception of what it was. It's great, stands up really well. There is one thing, there is I bought it on Apple TV, but I don't know where else it's available. But it was a retelling of the game story of Pokemon Blue or Red, um, and I think it was called maybe Pokemon Blue or Pokemon Red Origins or something like that, and it was an anime story, but instead of telling the story of Ash, it actually told the story of like the the player in the game of the OG Pokemons. It was actually kids loved it. I mean, I just checked in and out. I sort of read about it and thought I'll get them that because they loved Pokemon, they loved it. You know, this is two kids in 2014 that I took on holiday, and they took a Game Boy each, and in the back of it was a copy of red, and in the back of the other ones was a copy of blue, and they had took that link cable with them. And I was a bit nervy at times because I thought crack if they lose that, like what am I gonna do? Uh, but you know, they were spattling, swapping, they were living 2014 like it was 1999, and it was beautiful to see.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:40

That is brilliant.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:40

I love it, and they were both fully invested in the story as well. Which I think, you know, for kids in 2014, I mean they were young, don't get me wrong. Um, but for them to be able to buy into the on-screen text, the story of it, when they were, you know, they had iPod touches and and such similar devices within fingertip reach. The the pull of this game, and admittedly the Game Boy's graphics are probably for them very accentuated because they know the Pokemon brand, they know what Pikachu looks like, so they imagine it more as the cartoon version that they're playing with. But even so, for those kids to grip in on a monochromatic screen and get some fun out of it in 2014, I think speaks volumes to the actual brilliance of Pokemon without dragging it too much.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:32

That that just that just reminded me as well, because I I saw a clip literally yesterday on YouTube on um shorts, and there was a guy um was sh is now showing his daughter getting her to play the game she was about seven or eight, but he was getting her to play his games he played when he was young, and that's and the title was When You Get Sidetracked in Ocarina of Time, and they were playing Ocarina of Time, his daughter was playing it, and he was like her wingman guiding her through, and she was fishing. She caught this massive fish, and I go, Yeah, yeah, and I was thinking, brilliant. She isn't sitting there saying where's the ray tracing, she ain't sitting there saying where's the haptic feedback, she's just enjoying a game from his era, and he's now reliving it through her again and playing it. And I thought, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:16

That is I watched I had the luxury of watching, they didn't fully grip with it, but I had the luxury of watching my kids get out of uh Kakuri Village or whatever it's called, beat the Deku tree and get out into Hyrule Village, no out of Hyrule Field. And that was nice to see that magic for them through their eyes, you know, on a sofa with bowl of popcorn, then 64 splayed out on the floor, cartridge in, you know, it was it's a nice memory for me, and it's uh and that Game Boy thing is a nice memory for me as well. Because they probably got more wheels out of the Game Boy than I ever did.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:52

Yeah, that's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Um, and before we leave the news, I will just say if you want a mix a mint boxed version of Pokemon Blue, it is nearly£200. Um you can get a loose cartridge for£32.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:08

Um, I think that's still egregious.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:12

But if you're really into it, it's it's a bit more affordable than£200 for a box copy.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:16

But yeah, I'm I'm very it's a bit of a lottery because you you're on the periphery Game Boy well Pokemon collecting, let's say just the carts, you don't know what you're buying.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:28

You've got to know what you're doing with them.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:29

You gotta know what you're doing, because you're putting down big books, even like 30 quid on a Pokemon cart could actually transpire to be worthless. Yeah. Uh if it's a clone.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:39

Yeah, you have to be careful. Definitely nowadays that's one of the most clone games, innit? So you have to be careful.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:43

It really is, and some of them do literally indistinguishable.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:47

Um, yeah, so if you are collecting, be careful there, do your research for your biley cartridges. Um, but it's now time for what we affectionatic Stingray's boot, whilst nestled between some counterfeit nappies and a dodgy copy of Battle for Endor is some of the new releases for March 1996. Spring Stop Wow Whoa. What are you looking to pick out of the boot here, then?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:11

I am very happy with the Spring Stop Wow Wall. I'll tell you why you would be. I'll tell you why I'm seeing Ray.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:20

He's come dressed as John the Bouncer from work.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:23

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:24

He's got a big leather jacket on, he's wearing some John Lennon glasses, he's absolutely massive as well. He's an ex he's got the look of an ex-wrestler because he was. He was Mad Moon Moose Muldoon who wrestled at Skegness. And this and Ray, and he's got a shaved head, and he's got a little bit of look of stone called Steve Austin about him. His son has come out as an overfed golden labrador retriever type creature. That's how I'm seeing Wayne.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:57

An overfed golden labrador.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:00

Yeah. Well, I'm seeing you know, where they get like the sort of bulgy eyes and they've got like big barrel bellies and they they kind of waddle rather than walk, you know, when you've overfed a Labrador that bit too much. Because they'll eat, they'll eat. Yeah, what Labrador's like, they just go. And then they'll eat some more. Uh yeah. That's that's how Wayne looks. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:26

Wow, that is that's an interesting look. Um, I uh can see Stingray. Yeah, he's dressed a bit like Ash from Pokemon.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:36

That's better, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:39

But he's got it muddled up because he's got Pokemon monsters written on everything. He's got a bit muddled up between pocket monsters and Pokemon. You know, it's sort of got the look. I mean, Pikachu looks like a sort of slightly defate deflated gopher.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:55

So he's almost I would argue he's he's trying to get ahead of the curve, but he also had to wear a house full of Gordon the Gopher t-shirts he had to rework.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:04

Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. Um, and then you've got Little Wayne, he's stepped out of there. He's struggling because he can only move from his ankles down. Because yeah, he's he's dressed as a game boy, but it looks like a sort of made out of sort of a mixture of cardboard and plastic. I'm a bit worried.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:26

I don't want to get into the detail because it's your vision. I want to know how someone can only move from the ankles down, like uh, because you're moving what what you're what the listeners don't know is you're holding up your l your fingers like legs.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:42

I'm I'm gonna explain as I go, but because the actual Game Boy comes all the way down to his ankles, so he is literally doing the foot shuffle, it's it's not a lot of backwards moonwalk.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:51

So it's not like it's not the paralyzed, it's just wrapped in a card box.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:58

It's restricting his movement and his breathing because the screen is sort of a painted green bit of PVC from a get from a greenhouse. There's no air holes in there for poor Wayne.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:07

So oh, he ain't got his head out of the top.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:09

No, no, he is literally his face is in there, you know, like a big Mario in the back of the screen. Yeah, it's it's it's disturbing, it's a disturbing image.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:20

Um, but your eyes and the ankle now show me this, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:25

Artwork and a bigster. Aye. Um what what's what's your first game you're gonna pick out of the boot then, George?

SPEAKER_03 1:15:32

Resident Evil.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:33

Yeah, I knew you'd do that one. Resident Evil.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:36

I'll tell you why, because I have so many good memories playing that game, my dad popping in, getting wrapped up in it, my mum sticking her head round the door, you know, getting wrapped up in it. It was, you know, after Alien trilogy and Diar trilogy, and you know, you could argue wipeout in some ways, it was that game that you brought home and you were like, Yeah, do you know what? This is something else, yeah, it's on sand. Yeah, but this is something that's not happening anywhere else, or could have happened anywhere else, or is happening on anything else other than this sort of console at this moment, and it it felt very PlayStation-y to me, obviously, because I link it to that, and also you've got to remember it's the start of a generation of uh genre.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:18

Do you know what I mean?

Link Cables, Game Boy Culture, And Value

SPEAKER_03 1:16:19

It's yeah, and you did and no one knew that at the time. I just thought it was going to be one of those standalone games, you know, because what else can you do? And it hit hard, and it was you know, I was a bit scared of it at times, even at you know, as a teenager. I think the jump scares more than anything. There's nothing that sort of stayed in your memory from Resident Evil. It wasn't like one of those that you know, overly stay with you, haunt you in your thoughts, can't sleep in a dark room sort of games. But it did have those jump scares that made it cool. Uh, what's your first game that you're picking? Are you gonna go resi as well? Um I wouldn't hold it against you. Well, I would, but also I wouldn't mind you picking the game.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:00

I was thinking resi, but also I'm trying to think of what I would have picked at the time, and it's gonna be a weird one, but I probably would have bought this because I was still experimenting to try and find that ultimate football game, so it probably would have been Olympic soccer to which I'd I thought you were gonna say that. I was gonna I would have parted with like 50 quid and then got it home and realised it's absolutely trash. Snyd thing is now I love playing these stupid soccer games now. I love playing them as soon as have you played that lately? Uh no, I played uh not lately, I played about two years. It's just hilarious. I love playing old football games because then you've got you've literally it's a bit like if you go back to Resident Evil now, you've got relearner controls, so it's like learning again. So you play these wacky football games, brilliant. So yeah, I think my my first pick will probably be yeah, Olympic soccer. Well, go on, pick another one, George. What are you gonna have to do?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:51

Uh I'm picking Panzer Dragoons by it's uh great follow-up to a Saturn game. I see it here, and it's probably Japanese artwork. So hey, we're taking some limiters, but we can we can do what we like. Uh I I would probably take that. It's a good looking game, it sort of evolved everything that went before it, and uh yeah, nice companion piece to Resident Evil.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:14

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Um I think I'll go for what would I have gone for my second one? There's there's quite of uh uh different forms of genre.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:27

That's Z6 in my mind.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:29

Mmm, yeah, definitely. I I think just because I think they've relaunched it and remade it just of lately is heretic. Um that's had a remaster just of late, isn't it? So I that would have probably been an intriguing one for March of 1996.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:46

It's FPS though, innit?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:48

It is for you not nowadays, I'm okay with the especially the older one.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:54

Dollar Fetcher Travel Sickness tablets.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:56

Yeah, I'll play an FPS again. Um yeah, it's all intriguing me. Um, a few um noticeable ones there. I mean, um Xvious 3D, I don't even know that had a 3D version. I think I've got I think I've got the master system game of that. Uh suppose that was another one a bit like Gallagher and um uh what are the other shooters that all tried to go 3D R type and bits and pieces. They all tried to hand it the 3D and you know fit it into a 2D shooter somehow. Dragon Ball Z, I might have mine's mad on Dragon Ball Z. Nothing that ever stuck with me, but um one of those games was uh Dragon Force on the Sega Saturn. Do you know that game, George?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:36

Uh is it RPG?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:38

It must be. I mean, that's a that's a PAL cover, so it must be.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:41

One thing I want to drag your attention up to is the fact that we've got 3D Tetris on Game Boy, uh Virtual Boy, yeah, which I completely blindsided me. I was like, hang on a minute, really? Yeah, so you could be sat at home playing Resident Evil, or you could be taking this monstrous looking thing, not even on the go, yeah, and and playing Tetris on it for about you know, I've done the signals about three times, but I think you know, give it 10 minutes on 3D Tetris on Virtual Boy, and you'd be being sick for a couple good couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:12

You can try it again soon because it's coming to the Switch library, so yeah, only if you get that ridiculous peripheral or make it hard one.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:18

I I I kind of yeah, you add in benefit, but not really. Um but there'll there'll be some nut jobs, possibly me, that go and buy a Virtual Boy dock for the no, I'm not doing it. I won't do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:32

No, you will. Um also intrigues me here is um virtual fighter animation for the master system. Now, I mean that must be I mean that is a late release, so would that have been just a sort of a one for lot of the Brazilian market?

SPEAKER_03 1:20:51

Show it to me, show it to me.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:53

Which which page is just above heretics, just above heretics on page three, is it? Yeah, well or was it a compilation for something else?

SPEAKER_03 1:21:03

That's always I wonder if it had something to do, because I I I can't I'm not an absolute sort of out and out nerd. But there was a Virtua Fighter kids game or something similar released with Game Gear.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:20

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:21

You don't think it's tied up with that, do you?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:23

It might well be. I'm just having a quick look to see if I can find anything.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:28

Because obviously the Game Gear and Master System games were pretty much for the most part interchangeable. What you got on one and you got on the other, like Sonic games, etc. etc.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:37

No, it was Game Gear and Master System.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:40

So this Virtual Fighter animation? Yes. Did it go by any other names?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:45

Um it went by in Japan as Virtual Fighter Mini.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:49

Hmm, maybe that's what I'm remembering. But yeah. I didn't know it was on Master System. The only time I've seen it in person, I think, is on maybe Game Gear, but you know, God knows where where or when that was. That'll be one that uh our co-host Scotty will be intrigued to get his mitts on, I'd imagine. I don't know why though, because I bet it's garbage.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:10

Probably. Um, especially on an 8-bit with your two buttons, it's gonna be a little bit tricky to pull a moves off. A bit like um what was it on the Game Boy that they said was coming out? Um King of Fighters.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:20

Yeah, or uh I think Mortal Kombat and the Game Boy, you had to use start to make the buttons from so one and two were punch, but then you press start and that made one and two kick. So can you imagine putting in a combo? I mean that kid would be popular with the ladies, or vice versa, but yeah, it would be uh I don't think I've I don't think I've ever seen anyone play it on the Game Gear and not just punch their way to victory.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:45

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you've just got a button mash out bad boys. Speaking of which, um my movie pick is gonna be bad boys to link it in.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:54

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:55

That was a late 1995 film, but that would have been about the time I'd have been getting that.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:59

Let me link it even further. Yes, because I'm gonna pick Independence Day.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:05

Yeah, you like that, don't you? That was a late, wasn't that though, '96, late '96.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:09

Hey look, I'll take every liberty I can see.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:11

Yeah, but then again, you've probably got that from Stingra, ain't you?

SPEAKER_03 1:23:13

So well, that's exactly where we're getting it from.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:15

Yeah, and I always say you do have someone getting up halfway through the film going to the toilet on the screen, but it's Independence Day.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:22

It's it in in the copy he's given to me. The person who stands up and goes for a wee in the middle of the movie is the person that's recording it, so it's a little bit of an extra treat. Uh, you get to see what the bathrooms look like. Um You're right, you're right. Wrong trick. No, I don't know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:37

Don't drag it down to that level. Um, come on, come on. You're big boy now. Um, yes, so good job. Talking about children's toys, independence, yeah, independence day, um, and bad boys, two great films, um, especially from that era. Um, I hope you enjoyed that. That was a look at February. Oh, I did 1996, yeah, absolutely brilliant. Um, I really enjoyed um those stories, um, things that we just take for granted now, but then when you actually start reading them back in the day, um that's awesome with the light guns. Um, when you see the stories about pocket monsters, which obviously becomes the the massive thing that's still going to this day, you know. I wonder how many total copies of Pokemon are sold over the years. I mean a lot, I would imagine. Uh millions. And it's one of them that's from the sort of the start of especially handheld gaming, right up to modern-day gamers. A lot of people have all played Pokemon, you know, whereas a lot of games are new and old and some are gone, but Pokemon's still there. So that found that interesting. Nice looking at the games, what we're about, and like George was saying that crossover of things still being released for a Genesis and Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy. But we were coming into that that 3D age with the polygon.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:01

By hanging on to your Mega Drive at this point because PlayStation felt a bit bit too risky.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:06

Yeah, yeah, and you know, it was a console boy Sony. I mean, they make tellies and stereos. What the hell's going on? Why are they making a con? They don't know what they're doing, it will never last, George.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:15

And I bought it, so it was really guaranteed to flop. But yeah, I guess when I got out to get the holiday money for a lad's holiday, they were like, right, push now, push now.

Stingray’s Boot: March 1996 Picks

SPEAKER_00 1:25:25

Yeah, brilliant. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed that. Um, thanks for listening. Thanks for downloading. I hope you're enjoying the shows. Um, a lot of say that aren't just going to be like in the 90s, we're going to go right up to you know mid-2000s and bits and pieces and see where we were. It isn't just really old retro. Hopefully, there's a bit for everyone in here. Um, if you're intrigued to join a bit of the community, jump on over to the Unafficial Controller Podcast Discord. Um, it's great little family in there. We've got some new members just joined. If you're into retro and sort of followed over from Flashback, jump in there and you know, have a listen to the Unafficial Controller Podcast as well. Um, check out our website at Unafficient Controller Podcast.com. Um, we will soon be adding a Flashy B page on there as well. So that'll all be linked in. There is bits on there now, but we'll we'll get that all done as well. Um, yeah, and just to say thanks to you, George, as always, for joining.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:15

Bit of housekeeping from me, just quickly, 30 seconds max. Please help us push Flashy B. We've launched this new spin-off show. We just could do with some reviews and some ratings. We know you've all got very used to leaving reviews and lots of ratings all over the place, nice ones as well. So very grateful um for the main show. But we must just ask you to soldier up one more time and and come and give Flashy B the love um that we think it deserves, and you're showing us that you're really enjoying it, so we'll keep doing more of it. But just help us get this in front of more people who are gonna love it. Don't be naughty and keep it as your special super secret little sneaky podcast. Spread it round.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:53

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, if you could, that makes a review um and especially a download rather than a stream, makes all the difference. Um, if you're new to the show, this is your first one. This is episode nine. We have eight other episodes plus a pilot. So if you could download those as well, it makes a massive difference. You know, have a little listen to them all. Let us know what you think. And like I say, if there's anything you want to let us know about, you can contact us on Instagram or X or even on questions at unofficialcontroller podcast.com.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:24

Or I'm finding I'm even we're even interacted in the comments on YouTube. So wherever you find this, however you're listening to it, if you want to engage, you throw something down. Don't forget it's normally me you're gonna be talking to. So I'm slow, inept, I'm a gamer from the nineteen ninety six era with still a cognizant memory. So using a modern piece of equipment RGT vouch from it's a bit beyond me, isn't it, really, to be fair.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:50

Oh god, yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:51

So patience, please.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:53

I'm I'm recording this with him for a Commodore sixty four with the old dial up.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:57

I refuse to use anything else.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:58

Yeah, exactly. Um And it's got an old regular modifier. It looks like a news report from 1966. But yeah, so thanks everyone. Hope you're enjoying it. Um and this was lots say February 1996. And I just have to say flashbacks, the games you loved, the stories you forgot. See ya, everyone, and I'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:25

You absolutely will. See you soon, everyone. Thank you.