Flashback
Take a walk through gaming history as we pick a random date in gaming history and bring you the news from that time as if it was now , different era every week - covering all of gaming history
Flashback
A look at gaming in January 1994
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The funniest part about 1994 is how confidently it imagined the future. One minute you are lining up shots in a top-down Amiga pool game, and the next a magazine is telling you Nintendo is about to drop a 64-bit home VR revolution like it is inevitable.
We take a proper nostalgia dive into January 1994, starting with the games that were on the list and in our heads: Team17’s Arcade Pool, the strangely punishing side of “serious” military sims like Super Battle Tank 2, and the way Canon Fodder 2 mixes sharp gameplay with a sobering reminder of loss. We also spend time on Sensible World of Soccer, a retro football classic that still feels alive thanks to its career depth, transfers, and that unbeatable top-down flow that modern games keep chasing.
Then we flip from games to gaming culture and history. Long before price-tracking apps and instant marketplace data, magazines were already pushing cartridge collecting as the next big hobby, complete with printed price guides and early “holy grails.” From there we hit peak hardware myth: SNES Super FX chip hype, polygon promises, and the absolutely wild “Project Reality” Nintendo 64 rumors that tried to sell us on Silicon Graphics power and home virtual reality.
If you love retro gaming stories, old game magazines, console rumors, and the weird path from childhood play to adult collecting, you will feel right at home here. Subscribe, share this with a friend who lived through the 90s, and leave a review if you want more deep dives like this. What’s the most ridiculous gaming rumor you ever believed?
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Welcome Back And OLL Recap
SPEAKER_02We're getting to love the stories you forgot. This is episode 18, and this week we're in January 1994. I'm RGT, and as always, I am joined by the Sega Omega, the Nintendo Tremendo, the Dual Shock Saver. That's UCP George. How are you doing, George?
SPEAKER_04I'm great. Um did you make those up or have you written those down over the last week or so?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I made them up. I've been trying to remember them over the last few weeks, yeah.
SPEAKER_04The Amiga Omega.
SPEAKER_02The Sega Omega.
SPEAKER_04Sega Omega.
SPEAKER_02The Nintendo Tremendo.
SPEAKER_04I'm into that. Although one has to wonder what that even means.
SPEAKER_02God knows, but it rhymes.
SPEAKER_04That's my number one myth. I can't deny it, mate. I can't deny it rhymes. No, you have got quite the um part of fun in store, RGT. Are you ready to strap on a satchel and get back to our childhood?
SPEAKER_02I think so, yeah. I mean, last episode we done May 2005. Um, yes, we missed last week. Sorry about that. We were doing an event, so we were very extremely busy last week getting ready for that event.
SPEAKER_04Uh actually, they might find some benefit in one of the on-stage sections that we did at OLL. Yes, because it's console wars, isn't it? Which has got a bit of a flashback tinge to it.
SPEAKER_02Exactly, yeah, yeah. We were uh lucky enough to be involved with the stage side of things, and we've done a thing called console wars, like George said, um, with audience participation. So we had group stages, like a World Cup, if you think of a World Cup, and each that was randomly picked out that each console was against each other, and we got the crowd, we had to put our points across while we thought they should go through and narrowed it all the way down. I won't say who won. Go and check out Unoffish Controller Podcast uh YouTube. Give us a sub, like, give us a comment, and you can see the video on there. You can see the whole uh video of me and George going through the uh the games with Mags, middle-aged gamer guy. Um, but it was great fun. So if you were at OLL and you're listening to this, thanks for coming to see us. It was brilliant to speak to you all and meet new listeners, meet old listeners. It was great show, wasn't it, George? We had a great time.
SPEAKER_04It was fantastic and a little bit of a nice sort of pat on the back that we're doing the right thing with Flash UV as well. We had some nice comments, which is which is lovely to see. Obviously, we've had some online, but to get some in person is special. Tickled you anyway, didn't it? In the downstairs, so it certainly did.
SPEAKER_02So that was just nice to um nice to hear that people are listening and enjoying as such a new show. Um, but people look forward to it coming out, and I think people dislike the nostalgia trip and the reminisce we do about these old games.
SPEAKER_04When will Flashy B not be a new show?
SPEAKER_02We're episode 18, so I'm still saying new at the moment, but I think I don't know, 20-25 episodes in, and then I sort of embedded a bit then, isn't it?
SPEAKER_04Embedded you. Yeah, we are.
SPEAKER_02We're embedded in your ears.
SPEAKER_04That's something to look forward to, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it certainly is. But yes, like we say, this is uh January 1994 this week, so you know we've gone fairly back this week, and um there was a lot of games I was looking on this list. I was thinking, hmm, I didn't realise that was out in 94. 94 seems a bit of a distant memory now, but we still had some good games out, it was still quite a high standard of gaming at the time. Um but yeah, let's look into what we uh we would have been playing. Um
Remembering Arcade Pool On Amiga
SPEAKER_02or would I have hoped you'd have to be a good one?
SPEAKER_04You tease me, go on then. You come out and you tell me.
SPEAKER_02Um I think I'm gonna start with there's one on here, um and I think a lot of people forget about this, but this is there's a few of their games on here actually, but this is by Team 17. Um this is Arcade Pool. Um I used to love this game, and until researching this show, completely forgot all about it. It was just that box art, that cover art, and I suddenly thought, oh my god, I had this, researched it a bit and thought, no way. I loved arcade pool. It was a top-down pool game. Was it?
SPEAKER_04I was gonna ask, I needed clarification.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was a it was a top-down arcade game, uh, arcade pool game, but very addictive.
SPEAKER_04That sort of more in the same orchestration as the box or the traditional sort of horizontal view.
SPEAKER_02Um, no, it was literally straight down, so you looked onto you were viewing the table from the top. Yeah, so sprite work or yeah, I it it was, but it was it was Team 17 are always known for their pretty good graphics, you know, and this was always very colourful, very clear. And if I remember rightly, you could pick between the American nine ball or your English eight ball. Uh, me and my friend used to play this and love it, and used to use use your mouse on your Amiga, you know, and to line your shots up and see who could see if you get a clear up from a break. And yeah, I used to really enjoy that. That was more you know, you had your snooker games and you had your um your Jimmy White's cue ball and things like that, but this was a bit more like I say, it was arcadey, but it seemed felt like you're in a pool hall and playing and trying to beat people in a pool hall, and yeah, like I say, just a really well-made little game. And I think Team 17 just they just shone on the Amiga at the time and knocking out so many games. Um, and this was just one of them, but yeah, absolutely brilliant.
SPEAKER_04I don't know if I've ever played that, but I reckon I'll be awesome at it because uh I can play that game for hours and not lose a single ball down the hole.
SPEAKER_02So well, the actual the the players you'd play against, you know, the computer players. That's a classic line, that is.
SPEAKER_04Uh caught you sleeping as well, didn't it?
SPEAKER_02It did, yeah. Yeah, brilliant. If you know what that line's from, let us know. Give us a comment. Um yeah, the actual AI members in the game were all the Team 17 staff. Oh wow, that's cool.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's got sort of uh shades of micro machines going on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, but it was um the oh actually I just read on here, funny enough. Sorry, I was distracted then. I just I didn't realise this. The um the lowest difficulty lowest difficulty controlled computer players were all the uh staff members um of Amiga Power.
SPEAKER_04So Weather Team 17 had a bit of a a bit of an ongoing uh I think a lot of the British developers had quite a fun relationship with a lot of the publications at the time. They're all kind of at the same age, they'd all kind of grown up together. Um I think it was quite a nice little sort of pool of people. I think the industry might have been a little bit more sort of had a little bit more breadth and depth and exchange in it, maybe in that era. It felt a little bit more bedrooms to millions. Obviously, now the route to working at a developer is is a lot more extreme. But at the time, you kind of stumbled out of school and went and camped in team 17's foyer until they let you make the tea, and then you know, a couple of weeks later they might let you they might let you draw Azul's eyebrow or something ridiculous, you know. And the world felt a little bit more open, even though you wouldn't ever dream of doing it yourself. You always in the back of your mind thought, well, if things get a bit desperate, I'll just go camp in Team 17's conservatory, they'll be alright with that. Obviously, I don't recommend this, but it was the it felt very open, the industry.
SPEAKER_02And I think the way the games were at the time, I mean, not so much maybe a bit before '94, but it's probably a similar similar premise that you know, a lot of these there were so many of these British development houses, you know, just you know, in Derby, Nottingham, Leeds, Liverpool, all over the place from Gremlin to Team 17. And the way you got in was they'd advertise in the paper, and you'd see it and say, I've made games, can I come for an interview? And I say, Well, send this to your cassette of your game, and we'll say it, and you you send your game and you've made, they'll play it and say, Yeah, you've got a job, bang, you're in. Nowadays, obviously, things are different. You've got your university and you've got to learn, you know, your computers and all the different graphic styles and packages, but back then that was literally off your own merit. If you were good enough, you got a job, you know, and yeah, and I think that's with Team 17. They had that whiff of lot I say, starting from nothing and coming up a bit like Codemasters, bit like and they were very prolific in this time in their games, and I don't really remember too many bad games them doing. Um I've actually got the Amiga C D 32 release of this, so I'll have to try that to see if there's any any different to the normal Amiga, and probably not.
SPEAKER_04RK pool, you've got on Amiga C D 32, yeah. And you've never played it?
SPEAKER_02No, well no, I I haven't. Um, because at the moment I'm still waiting to get my Amiga C D 32 recapped, so I haven't turned it on yet, but I'll have to have a go. Once it's recapped, I'll I'll have a go and see, yeah. See how we get on. Um, but yeah, that interested me, RK Pool. What
Jaguar Racing Regrets And Tank Sims
SPEAKER_02about you? Anything on there for you, George? Uh yeah, there's a there's a couple of games.
SPEAKER_04Um I didn't have this at the time, um, but I had it after the fact when I had a jag. Um yeah, there's not much to say about check had flagged the racing game. Um it felt like a it definitely 100% felt like a poor man's virtue racer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was gonna say it was that's what they were aiming at, weren't it? They were crossing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but it it it wasn't even close to that.
SPEAKER_02It's the system supposed to be trevel of power, it's weird. It's weird.
SPEAKER_04I mean it's working on memory alone, and I this cybermorth and something else, and this was better than that, but that is by no means a recommendation of quality. In fact, I'll tell you what it is, it's a recommendation of being absolutely dire. I remember distinctly staring at my TV, praying that something good would happen because I felt like such a muppet for owning it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Uh I'll tell you another game I had. Um Super Battle Tank 2 on the Super Nintendo. Oh yes, I oh uh an unintelligible mess to a 13-year-old kid. I either had battled Super Battle Tank or Super Battle Tank 2, one or the other, but this cover looks insanely familiar to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think I've got the first one, I believe. I think it's supposed to be a bit of a sim, innit?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, if I was a grown-up, I'm sure it would have been great. But to me as a kid, it was a bit like what the hell? Um, and it was one of those moments where you're kind of looking around in these different viewports and all of a sudden you were dead. Um, it did feel cool at times, so I remember you know feeling like we're chundling out across the desert. And in in those days, you your head wrote the game more for you than the game did. Yeah. So you were sat there sort of and it the joy of a kid's mind is you didn't need VR. Boof. I was in it, yeah. Yeah, um, probably would have cut some cardboard, not in '94, probably, but if I'd been a bit younger, I would have been cutting cardboard up and making a tour or something weird.
SPEAKER_02You know, that's sort of like when I used to try and play them almost simulator games on the spectrum. 90% of the graphics was in my head. Some lines and some dials on a monochrome screen. In my head, I was flying up the bridge aisles and all.
Canon Fodder Finds War's Dark Joke
SPEAKER_04Um while we're here and we're in the military theme, I'll uh I'll bring forward Canon Fodder 2. Um, obviously a sequel to an absolutely banging game. Uh more of the same, really.
SPEAKER_02I think this one was more strategic, wasn't it? They made this one a bit more of a trust uh strategic uh version because I think that was didn't they have the who was that journalist writ all the levels for it, didn't he?
SPEAKER_04Oh, I didn't know this.
SPEAKER_02Uh Stuart Campbell. Ah right. Yeah, he done all the levels for Canon Fodder 2. So I've and I think it was a bit made a bit more strategic rather than the like the first one was and a bit tougher.
SPEAKER_04My mileage on Canon Fodder is definitely more with the original game. Absolutely love it. I mean, you know, the sort of it comes across as a silly war game, you know, your soldiers and whatnot, but it does try and take the time to make you realise the futility of war in a way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Your individual soldiers as they pass, you know, you end up with these little white crosses on a hillside, and let me tell you, by the end of the game, that's a lot of crosses.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Uh and I think it it strikes quite a somber tone. The gameplay from Canon Fodder 1 and 2 is peerless, it's very simple. Yeah, I I'd argue it's probably better under mouse control, but I've probably done most mileage with it with a pad.
SPEAKER_02Which do you play it on?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because I always played it on Amiga, you see, so I was just yeah, I think I dabbled with it on the ST where it was mouse.
SPEAKER_02Ah, okay, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, man, yeah, you know, made sense.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Then obviously later collecting for retro consoles, picked it up from Mega Drive. But do you know what? Equally makes sense on a pad once you start playing it.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um, instead of saying this is where in fact I can't remember now how you do control the input. Messaging to let me know. Like I said, I don't like to cheat too much when we're on air, we always try and play it from memory. Um, but the abiding memory of Canon Fodder is wow, a great franchise. And and weird, really. I guess the transition to 3D kind of killed it, but we never really saw much more from them on that franchise.
SPEAKER_02No, I remember they they done um because I used to get the Amiga magazine, they done a cross they used to do demos on they didn't know your discs. I think you might have spoken about it on the show before, and they done a crossover once where they called it um Canon Soccer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They done their own little mini-level, and that was a Christmas theme on a football pitch. But you ran round and you were shooting the football players as they blood.
SPEAKER_04Well, going going back to your earlier point again, just once showing that kind of cross-pollination of the UK games industry in the sort of early to mid-90s, really until PlayStation came alongside buying out scenes and things like that. There was this cohesive world where you would get a demo of like Christmas levels of cannon fodder on Amiga format or a Christmas version of or a magazine version of Sensible World of Soccer for you to have a mess around with. And these are all, as you say, I do believe in Scentsy, there are actually magazine teams in the leagues.
SPEAKER_02In one of the versions, well be, yeah, might well be. I used to love it. I mean, you see December, get the Amiga magazines at December, and like you say, there'd be like a Christmas James Pond level, or there'd be a Christmas, like you say, crossover canon soccer, and it was so much, and you used to sit there and go through all the games on your disc and play, it's be brilliant fun. Yeah, I used to love the Amiga magazines, he'd be brilliant formatting that and user, and yeah, really good.
SPEAKER_04Um, format ones to me were I was talking to um, I think it was Gazcon. Yeah, he mentioned about it. I said I was a big ST format user, but the the format brand, Amiga Format, ST format, was really strong.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, very strong.
SPEAKER_04And that magazine in the ST one, I don't know what the Amiga one was like, but you'd have maybe 10 pages of game reviews, and then like this massive slew of like technical jargon talk in there that just went completely over my head.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It was a big boys magazine, a bit of a demo scene in there, but then they'd go to serious stuff like you know, word processors and development tools and 3D architecture program, you're like, what the hell?
SPEAKER_04But it made for a mature read though. I didn't feel dumbed down.
SPEAKER_02It also opened my eyes up to seeing things I didn't know the Amiga could do, you know, and see yeah, it was brilliant. It was it was you know a
Sensible World Of Soccer Still Shines
SPEAKER_02brilliant system. But talking about soccer, I mean, I know we always I always come back to this, but we've got sensible world of soccer, yes, 94, which is I think um I think it was only available, I think they you could get it on Xbox 360. I think it was just Amiga and DOS, I think, I believe. Um, but this was you had your more of a career mode on this, um, so you could manage up to 20 seasons um with a transfer market.
SPEAKER_04Um, that's what this is. Yeah, so it was just you still played though, didn't you? Or player manager if you wanted to.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, that is sensible soccer, but it was just opened up, so you had all the leagues, you could play 20 seasons, and then you could buy and sell players. And I remember I used to put so much time in this, and this is the one I always thought, oh, I wish they had a port of distamor systems because it was there's so much more depth to it. Um, but again, you know, sensible software, so it's a great game. Um, never you know, just having the transfers made it for me. Being able to buy and buy and sell players was just absolutely brilliant, just opened the whole game up.
SPEAKER_04There was something special about that game that's never been touched in a football game since. Like I know everything else within it has been done, but there's something about the core spirit of that game. The sort of somewhere in those pixel characters is some really special source. It makes that game really special. And I know we've had ports to modern systems where they tried to make it our 3D and do this and do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they done sort of sensible soccer 2006 and things like that, didn't they?
SPEAKER_04But it's yeah, and I had one on the 360, it was pretty much like a carbon copy port, I think. Pretty much.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that was but Sensible World was on there on 360. That'd be it.
SPEAKER_04And I remember thinking, oh yeah, I remember I remember getting Speedball 2 on there as well. And yeah, that they've still got that magic, but there's I just wish there was some way of bringing that to now, and they've never quite done it.
SPEAKER_02No, definitely very true. I mean, um it's just one of them games that stood the test of time. They bang average football got very close. Their gameplay, you're playing. It's the gameplay is a bit more technical than it's a bit more you can do than sensible, but they almost harness the the way the players come out, the sounds, the crowd. It's it's almost like a love letter to sensible soccer, and that's the closest I've ever come to playing, even like when I used to play a lot of sociable soccer on my Switch. I still, you know, you could see the essence coming out, but it wasn't sensible soccer, it was just a top-down football game with a similar name. It wasn't sensible. That's that's a shame. Yeah, but it was good, but no you don't really think I think if you're a sensible fan, you'd enjoy that, but you wouldn't you wouldn't straight away get that nostalgia hit. Whereas I think bang average football, you started playing my first match on there and thought, ooh, this this is familiar. This is familiar. So yeah, yeah, really good. It's quite a compliment.
SPEAKER_04Anything else on this list you want to mention?
SPEAKER_02Um, I was gonna say uh 1942 the Pacific Air War, which I think was only on DOS, it was only um released on DOS, but 1942 themselves as a as a shoot 'em up, I used to love um right from the 80s. When you used to do your special, your special and you go and do a loop the loop. Yeah. And then there's certain and the and the planes would get bigger and take more hits that you had to hit down. Then you'd get the line of the red planes that if you shot them, you've got to power up. Used to play out in the arcade all the time. That used to be my gun to the city.
SPEAKER_04To be honest, so many variants of this to exist. It's got to be one of those games that most gamers have either seen or touched at one point in time. Yeah. I think, well, actually say that of a certain uh vintage.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean you had all the different 1942 ones, and they done a 1943, didn't they? 44, I think they may have done. I'm not sure. Probably. There's there's many of the same sort of ilk of game. Um, but yeah, it was one of them that it was a different shooter because you had the older planes, you know, you had like World War II planes and that, so it was that was a different, you know, it was a bit different to everything else that was you know, sci-fi and put in the in the future. So I always enjoyed I always enjoyed that. Um I think my back there. Anything else from you then?
SPEAKER_04Um I just want to mention the iconic bandwagon jumping Clay Fighter 2 Judgment Clay. Uh, this was a game that I remember being a bit garbage, but the advertising budget was probably sh would have been better spent on the game. Um, but this is everywhere, it was on the mags, it it was everywhere, and actually quite an iconic style to grab. Um jump in the comments if you had some mileage with Clay Fighter 2.
SPEAKER_02Uh just Super Nintendo, was it?
SPEAKER_04I think that might have been on Snares, yeah. I don't think that was on Mega Drive from memory.
SPEAKER_02Um they'd done a Clay Fighter on N64 as well, didn't they?
SPEAKER_04I think so. It kind of was hanging around for a while. It kind of had that kind of it was a bit like the Rise of Robots, weren't it?
SPEAKER_02That had this big it was it pushed and pushed and pushed it because of the way they'd made it or whatever, and it was you know yeah, yeah. But I I do remember seeing a lot about that. Never never played it, but I do remember a lot about it. But yeah, well, I think that's uh that's about there for what we were hoping to play.
SPEAKER_04Um I think so. Yeah, shout out to Mega Man X apparently coming out as well.
SPEAKER_02Ninja Warriors as well for SNES, that was that was coming out. Um few games like that, Fire Emblem uh Mystery of Emblem of the Emblem. Um, so there's a few games like that.
SPEAKER_04Uh Choplifter 3, you know, Brian the Lion starring in Rumble in the Jungle RGT. You've done your research there, pal. Fair play to you.
SPEAKER_02You can't miss out, Brian.
SPEAKER_04You can't. And then, you know, at the end of the month, it's not Brian, but Brain Lord.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. So there were some random ones there that people have probably most forgotten about and never heard of it. Brian Lord. Brian Lord, yeah. Um, but that leads us on to um the news.
Cartridge Collecting Gets A Price Guide
SPEAKER_02We've scoured the very darkest back pages of all the game and mags and delve deep into the early interweb to bring you what was the latest stories of January 1994. First up from Video Games magazine. This is entitled Replay Tired of the Same Old Street Fighter clones. Collect classic cartridges. Mmm. This interests me because of something that we talk about nowadays.
SPEAKER_04Was that the appropriate noise?
SPEAKER_02Mmm.
SPEAKER_04Mmm. Mmm.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I just seemed this seemed really early to be collecting games, if you know what I mean. So whether they had a bit of foreshadowing for what was going to happen in the market, I don't know. But anyway, it goes on to say the video game staff has always thought of video games cartridges as the last great gold mine of the collectors at Marketplace. Our collection of toys, trading cards, and comic books have been increasingly tougher to build upon, with an annual price guides and even monthly magazines attaching dollar values to these simple childhood pleasures. But by contrast, video game collecting has been almost completely ignored as a hobby. It doesn't even really exist as an offshoot of the toy collecting craze, which seems peculiar when you consider the game cartridges represent a highly uh a hugely significant chunk of the total sales of any major toy store. To help you get in on the ground floor of the cartridge collecting craze of the mid-90s, trust us, it's a sure thing. We heartily recommend the second edition of Digital Press Classic Video Games Collectors Guide, a comprehensive look at good, bad, and hard-to-find cartridges for the Atari VCS, Mattel Intellivision, ColecoVision, Odyssey and Vectrex, among others, edited by the highly respected fanzine, mainstay and game historian Joe Santulli, with input from such luminaries as Jeff Adkins and the ubiquitous Russ Perry Jr., this handy guide is a dream come true for fans and collectors of classic video games. If you're cynical about the idea of a cartridge price guide simply because nobody has done one before, you'll breathe a sigh of relief when you see how brutally realistic and conservative these numbers are. Of the hundreds of games included, only a handful are valued at a price that is higher than the price they originally sold for in stores. The most common titles, like Atari's Air Sea Battle, Combat and Space Invaders, are valued at just $1 each. Additionally, Trivia fans will find a wealth of classic cartridge information on the guide. Did you know that programmer Rob Fullop of Night Driver and Demon Attack fame independently released an Atari 2600 game called Cubicolour that only 60 copies are believed to exist? What about Frogo's Psy Romania for the Atari 7800? It was advertised but only may only exist as a prototype. Then there's the elusive dark tower game for Vectrex. Has anybody seen this? Holy Grail of a game of the game industry. If you spot uh any of these titles at a local garage sale or flea market, don't pass them up. The Digital Press Classic Video Games Collectors Guide lists them at 500, 100, and 100, respectively. Now, for 1994, this is why I put this in because they're already talking about collecting obviously a lot of the 80s systems and cartridges. Um but also because it's a sign of the times, your your pricing guide is is a book. But you're literally thinking, well, to keep that up, you'd probably have to release one of them a year because things are gonna fluctuate so much, aren't they? Whereas nowadays with spoil, you know, you've got anything online to check what prices are and where they're going.
SPEAKER_04Um but this was an early shot at trying to frame up the video game collecting market and establish kind of a baseline. Joe San Thule, for what it's worth, is still the boss of Digital Press, and he's also the director of the National Video Game Museum in Montclair State, hails from Frisco and I'm not gonna be able to. So he's still in the scene and has been, and he formed Digital Press with his best friend Kevin in 1991, uh, an organization devoted to the documentational and archival of video game history. Interesting guy. Um he is almost like the Moses of the video game collecting scene. Um at this point, he's literally defending um the hobby RGT. Without Joe San Thule, maybe your whole collection could have been acquired for 50p a game.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, apparently so. I mean that that is incredible, isn't it, really? And I mean, Atari cartridges, are they still worth a lot now? Some get a few more.
SPEAKER_04They're still kind of at their dollar mark though, aren't they? Basically on the cruidity of the crudidity of the um the graphical representation. You're not going to get a modern kid playing Atari for more than 10 hours, are you?
SPEAKER_02No, well I think you can get I mean I'll just look at me, you can get Air C Battle for Atari for looking round about £15, 16 pounds. You can get original cartridge for two or three pounds, so with the rate, so with the rate of inflation. I don't know if you'll ever find that. Let me have a look. Um but with a rate of inflation, they've probably gone down.
SPEAKER_04I think so.
SPEAKER_02Um you can't really find one listed. So that is super rare. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Um but yeah, it's well if it was rare then it's rare now, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Well, it certainly is. I mean it's like I say, I just find it interesting that they're already looking at that, but obviously we're now looking at what they were playing as their modern games at the time, which we're now collecting, you know, your Mega Drives, your Super Nintendo's, you know, it's it's it's carried on. And I wonder if any of these people that bought this magazine, I wonder if they've still got their collections now. I wonder if there's people out there that are still collecting from this era.
SPEAKER_04Oh, I should think so. Well, Joe Santulli for one, and um, you know, Joe, if you're listening, get in touch. I know we've got a lot of listeners in uh Texas off the back of the uh El Paso tapes, so it'd be interesting to um get in touch with him and find out more about his national video game museum enterprise.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because you know, looking at some of these games, mate, I mean uh 2600. So what they got here, Spectro Vision's Chase the Chuck Wagon. They've got that in at 200 bucks. Uh I don't know what that's worth these days. Tell you what, I'll rip into the news and see if you can find any price comparisons for the
Super FX Chip Promises Pseudo 3D
SPEAKER_04listeners. Uh next up from Nintendo magazine, new SFX games on the way. Oh yes, baby. Um I don't know why I got that excited, I don't think that was appropriate. Uh, as exclusively revealed elsewhere in this issue of Nintendo, are planning our stock of new SFX games, the first of which should be launched early next year. Nintendo themselves are very confident that the games are going to blow everyone's socks off, but aren't yet revealing what they are. However, we do know that there will be at least three Nintendo FX games launched in the first half of next year, all using the improved FX2 chip. Kicking off the FX2 Invasion will be the long-awaited FX tracks, a completed version of which is due to debut at the Consumer Electronics show at Las Vegas in January. The game was first previewed at Chicago in the summer, 40% complete, definitely looking a bit rough around the edges. The game has then pulled in for complete overhaul, and the results could be on show soon. Meanwhile, the word on the street is that Starwing and original FX developer Argonaut are breathing away on a Transformers style game, and Elite's FX tracks competitor Power Slide is also shaping up nicely. Whichever way you look at it, Early 94 is going to be an SFX festival, and we'll be bringing you full details on all those games very soon because this is Nintendo magazine, and we're always first with the games that matter.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. That was interesting to see when the FX was then you know coming through, coming into development. And I remember I remember always hearing about the FX chip thing, and what is this FX chip? What is it? What is it? Um and you never I mean, I suppose a lot of people didn't think at the time that you'd actually um the way to improve your system, and because it's you know, your your your cartridge is a bit of hardware at the end of the day to actually use the cartridge to boost the hardware console you've got.
SPEAKER_04Obviously, you can't do it nowadays with discs and digital, but I'm not 100% sure that the FX2 chip ever actually came out.
SPEAKER_02No, I was just thinking I was just talking about the first one, but yeah, the first one amazing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the upgrades that were promised here look sexy. Yeah, nothing already came out. I had to do that.
SPEAKER_02It's a British guy, wasn't it? Invented it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, there was, and he was uh Argonaut, I believe, yeah, from memory. And I just double checked to make sure I hadn't gone mental. Uh the S Super FX chip was used in Mario World 2, aka The Screaming Baby Yoshi's Island. It was used in Doom and bizarrely a European exclusive ski game, Winter Gold. What a waste of an X Chip F game. Obviously, it was already kind of shoehorned in for the famously unreleased Star Fox 2, which I all had our grease emits into. Yeah. Nintendo magazine getting on the hype bandwagon, banging the drum for something that never came out. I presume those games never saw it to completion in their uh development cycle, which is always a shame to hear about, I have to admit. Um you've got to think though, in in 94, they've probably got to be looking at the production cost of what it makes it costs for an FX chip, thinking, well, you know, we've got a new console on the way, yeah. Yeah, and the bigger boys came on waffling that they wanted the 3D shooting game doom. Yeah, I mean, what on a Super Nintendo? Yeah, they said they wanted it, give him it, give him it. And then in comes Pierre. Oh, Bonjour Michel, what to make a skiing game. Oh, whatever, Pierre, yeah. You you you go do you. Um, and that's the full length and breadth of the development of the FX2 chip, which is a shame because I think that I don't think it would have moved the needle for him, so I see why it got sort of nose-dyed, but it would have been a nice little swan song for the snares alongside Yoshi's Island, I think, to have given the owners in the era Star Fox 2. I know it probably would have been commercial suicide, but hey, do you know what? The console deserved it, I think.
SPEAKER_02I think so, yeah, definitely. Um, but yeah, it was that strange era where have you played any FX games? Obviously, Star Fox, I've really Star Fox, I would say, is probably the main one I've played. Um, which if you don't know what Terry Blow had Stunt Race FX. Yeah, I have got Stunt Race FX, but I don't think I've played it. Um if you don't know, if you listen, don't know what the FX chip was, it was actually a a chip which almost done like a pseudo 3D on the Super Nintendo, but it was the chip was in the cartridge on the game itself, right? Polygons, didn't it? Yeah, so it sort of almost pushed it, you know, the polygons era. Um it's it's rough nowadays if you go back and play. I mean, Star Fox's frame rate's quite low, but at the time it was very impressive because we were seeing this sort of stuff on PCs and bits to have it on your console was Star Fox will be your most curated FX chip experience. Yeah, yeah, but it was and then obviously Sega then tried it with their sort of Virtua Racing and bits and pieces they done there because on here.
SPEAKER_04Um don't know what it stands for, probably some like Sega or something processor or something.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, probably Virtual Processor or something, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um but and that was only ever used in one game, yeah. And that was Virtua Racing's Mega Drive port. Um, which in some ways is impressive because if you don't forget, now I know this game was expensive, but it soon tumbled in price, and now it's pennies, and I don't know why, because you'd imagine it'd be quite rare. But um the only alternative would have been to pony up and get a 32x, virtual racing on that, and you know what, was it that much better? It wasn't a 32x worth better, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02No, no, definitely not.
SPEAKER_04That was when it actually it's the one game you can't use in the 32x. Oh, is it really? Because the SVP needs to chip in a certain way and it can't chip in that certain way because the 32x is chipping in that way, I believe.
SPEAKER_02Ah, I never knew that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So it's dead to you. See, if you get the 32x, you've got to upgrade, they knew they smelt the loyalty and then they had your pants down a second time. First time, shame on them. Second time, shame on you.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. If you're rocking a tower of power and got two copies of Virtue Race, and you know you like the game, yeah. Or you don't, but you're just all in.
SPEAKER_04You're all in, you PSPR2.
SPEAKER_02I checked a couple of those while you were doing that awesome bit of news there, George. Um the Konami's Marine, you can pick up for about 30 bucks now, so it's about the same. So the rate of inflation is actually.
SPEAKER_03I knew it, I knew it.
SPEAKER_02But Atari's Quad Run, which was 40 bucks there, will set you back over 200 bucks nowadays if you want that. So that's raised up. Um but I mean, other ones like Atari's Frog Pond prototype. I mean, yeah, good luck finding that. Uh yeah, that was always gonna be difficult. Yeah, there's some rare ones there, but yeah, I suppose that you know they're they're predicting, they got a few of them right, but yeah, interesting with the super effects. Um, but let's get on to our next Take us to the bridge, you handsome devil.
SPEAKER_04What's this?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is uh hyper Nintendo update.
Nintendo 64 VR Rumors Go Wild
SPEAKER_02It is true that Nintendo's much vaunted 64-bit machine has been put on ice. Will it be an arcade-only machine or is it just all gossip? Um, a couple of magazines have recently reported that Silicon Graphics were planning to pull out of the project reality deal with Nintendo. Tish and Pish more like. We spoke to Silicon Graphics and they they were told that this was just the usual rumour mongering um that happens during any big deal. Project reality is still on schedule, and you can expect to see the fruits of this venture um in an arcade near you towards the end of 94. If any problems do arise, they'll be linked to the use of virtual reality headsets in the home. The poor design of the headsets display system can lead to headaches and nausea. Apparently, your eyes uh misinterpret the miniature TV's perspective and can't work out whether they should be focusing on a distant or close object. Research is currently underway to find a new kind of viewing system. So when the home version of Project Reality does finally arrive, we could be seeing a true revolution in the uh world of home entertainment. Live 3D action in the comfort of your own home with a 64-bit processor, uh 24-bit true colour graphics, and some of um and some as yet undisclosed custom graphics chips. This should make the existing VR arcade machines look a bit pathetic by comparison. Get it into homes, and you may have some weird social phenomena on the way. Uh, wild palms, anyone? Now, this interests me because it's all around this N64 rumours and I mean home VR systems, they didn't have as arcade. The only thing they got right was at 64 bits.
SPEAKER_04This made us a SNES owner at the time. I ate this up like a ravenous, starving pig at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I couldn't get enough of it. I was quite happy to walk round my chest out thinking, yeah, that next Nintendo machine. Just by the fact its mere existence is there, my SNES just suddenly ramped up. It got suddenly more powerful. This is playground thinking here. Suddenly, my SNES is more powerful than anything else out there because this project reality is out there, and they're not mucking around Nintendo because they've gone and got themselves in bed with the people that make the computers that made the graphics for Jurassic Park for Terminator 2. This is serious business. Now that was in the movies in '92. It can't be beyond my imagination. We've got that in our home in '95, '96. This is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_0464 bits of power. I cannot wait to get hold of it. Now, throw in the idea that Project Reality, oh baby, no. We're dripping into something else. We're locking into the Matrix at home in the arcade. It's next level. When will the Nintendo Drivel dry up in this era? Because what we got, what we actually got, it did not look like Jurassic Park. Now, I came in a bit heavy-handed pre-show. I was like, that's yeah, you reminded me about this era of absolute toss that was smoking around all over the place. And you've only got to look at, and it wasn't just in my imagination, you've only got to look at programmes concurrent from the time like Bad Influence, where they were like, Whoa, look out, and into you coming in big, coming in hot, show a massive CGI trailer of like shiny surfaces, reflective metals, and you're like, oh my goodness, for 1995, this looks edgy. Or 94 for sure. This looks edgy. Um what we got was a compromise at the best. Um they went for the kitty safe route. Um better to get the uh better get the cartridge. Um the machine was nowhere near silicon graphics capability, and that I I don't know if many people remember this. Little bit of mistruth or misreporting that went on during this period because RGT, was it all in my head or did everything I've just said exist?
SPEAKER_02I remember because I was um I was Pega Drive at the time.
SPEAKER_04This would have scared the living shit out of you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, because um I my my best mate at the time had a Super Nintendo, and that's when you know, I've said before, we used to take each other's systems and swap and bits pieces. We never really we weren't like bloody console wars, you know, we weren't fanboys, we just enjoyed playing on on the other ones' games, you know. It was brilliant. We tried to always buy games that everyone couldn't get, you know. So yeah, but I remember he used to always get the magazines. Um his dad ran a car dealership, so he always had the latest stuff, and he's he'd always come home getting the magazines.
SPEAKER_04And I remember once he had a couple of this kid's like my hero, by the way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and uh he he had a he'd always have a his dad get two or three magazines at a time, and he'd he got him two Nintendo magazines at the time. I remember looking through it, and one had said that the or Ultra 64, it was then known, yeah. It was again was silicon graphics, it was doing all this stuff that no one else could do, and then the other one it was a similar story to this. It was VR, it was discs, and it was all we were like, hang on, these are out the same month, and no one knew the only thing that any of them ever got right was it was 64 bits. Yeah, and by the time the N64 came out, we didn't even have a clue what it was called, whether it was cartridge, we didn't have a clue.
SPEAKER_04I don't think Nintendo did somewhere, somewhere in a warehouse in Japan is a million real N64s, these super powerful silicon graphics machines that literally blow your socks off. You play Mario 64 on there with a VR headset, you are freaking Mario. That's why they had to pull it, they're like, No, no, no, release that underpowered thing because we could kill people, but this is next level, they're not ready for this.
SPEAKER_02That's what it sounded like. I mean, geez, there were so many rumors about that, and then 'cause it was quite late to market as well.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02Um And all almost immediately, I remember I had PlayStation, I had a friend who had an N64. And I remember going, he said, You walk around, I've got this, I've got that, we'll have a look. And I remember playing that, thinking, right, this is double the power of my PlayStation. This is going to be amazing. And then I went and played it.
SPEAKER_04Did that build that up a bit?
SPEAKER_02Oh god, yeah. I was going around there thinking, well, this is double the power of my PlayStation, right? And I've seen all the thing about silicon graphics, I've seen all these bits and rumours that do screenshots in magazines of a perfect sphere steel ball, and you're like, this is what it could look like. And we're like, oh my god, this is photorealistic. Now I went round there and played a couple of games. I thought it's just the same as my PlayStation, just with Vaseline on the screen. Yeah, I'm not you, but it's double the power of your PlayStation. You're like, is it? Was it double the power? I'm not quite sure it is double the power.
SPEAKER_04I think some of the scale and breadth of the levels within the games was superior on the N64, but the textures were inferior. So it depends how you want to look at it. I think the analogue controller, and this is this is this is completely outside of all the silicon graphics dribble. You know, the analogue controller kind of moved the needle, felt cool. Yeah, and it you know, the controller for all the stick it gets is actually quite intuitive when you're playing the N64 in the moment with the cartridge.
SPEAKER_02It was it was very brave and clever at the time. I mean, yeah, I I'd if I have one now, I've got a brawler 64. I prefer to use the generic sort of style of a layout of a controller. But back in the day, yeah, yeah, I got a brawler one there. But back in the day, using um when my mate had his N64 and going around to try on that controller, I was just like, geez, it's got three handles. What the hell? You know, and I was like then working, and I you sat there playing thinking, yeah, actually, I quite like this. This is quite cool. It felt cool with a trigger and that your hand in the middle and then your D-pad on the left.
SPEAKER_04Mate, when you were playing like Goldeneye or something like that, and you had your hand on the on the pistol grip and your finger on the trigger, it yeah, it felt right, didn't it? It felt right, it felt right, and then the stick to move, like, yeah, I know, okay. So you had to go R what are the R button, there was only one, to kind of free yourself, your head look into the 3D vein. Yeah. You know, to do free look. But you know, that was a restriction of the machine that we're using it on, and probably no one had ever thought about oh what if we did the oh what if we held a D-pad and that, you know, it no one had quite got there at that moment. So this felt like a really intuitive solution to the world of 3D, not only moving a uh you know a character around in the third dimension, but also operating within the third dimension within the first person as well in shooters and bits and bobs like that. So yeah, no one ever sort of second guessed it at the time. Obviously, going back to it now, and I've gone back to a few N64 games and been like, oh god, yeah, uh hang on a minute. Ye uh um hang on. Okay, I'm what yeah, I've got oh sugar, yeah. So you're gonna put the camera on those yellow buttons. Oh holy hell! Yeah uh okay, I've got it. Uh uh I don't know how I played this back in the day, but I'm I'm I'm getting by. Yeah, and it's what very much one of those. But you know, the console ended up coming out of it pretty well, one of my favourite games of all time is on the system in Ocarina of Time, and I've got you know a few happy memories of you know feeling like a bigger boy game.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I know a lot of people tend to speak about now like things like um Tony Hawks games where you didn't get a full soundtrack because there's cartridge and compressing the sound. But I was watching Flandrew on YouTube the other day, and he was going through all the versions of Resident Evil 2 and he had the N64 version.
SPEAKER_04Yes, now um I had that. Can you believe?
SPEAKER_02Forgive me, I cannot remember who published or developed that, but they they sourced it out to this company and they got that whole game on that cartridge, and in some ways it probably looks better than the PS PlayStation version, and they added bits in, and they nearly had all the sounds, everything it was a bit more, a little bit bit compressed. But if you went side by side, you aren't gonna know too much. And they got that they got a two-disc game onto a cartridge, and you just thought fair play. There are some magicians developing that.
SPEAKER_04It was a big pile of cash. I tell you that now, and I should think it's probably a big pile of cash now for that reason, but uh it impressed the hell out of me.
SPEAKER_02Because I think they also added in that you could use more of an analogue control rather than tank.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I do believe you could.
SPEAKER_02You could switch that was the only version where you could actually switch out.
SPEAKER_04I don't remember having it for an extended period of time because it wasn't long after getting that before I kind of hopped into being a Dreamcast owner, I don't think. But uh yeah, it felt right, yeah, it did.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, definitely did. Um, yeah, it's just there was definitely some impressive things that system could do. Um, and obviously you didn't have the load times and bits and pieces being a cartridge, but a brave move from them.
SPEAKER_04But yeah, like you say, this I had to put this in because when I read this article, uh no one else remembers this or talks about this or even mentions it in passing. You have to physically grab someone by the scruff of the neck and Sharma magazine and say, Look at this, look at these lies. Yeah, this is from Total Nintendo magazine as well, who is basically saying the official Nintendo magazine had all the Metallic Marios and all the balls and all the Jurassic Park graphics in and everything, chick and floor and all that, yeah. All of it, mate.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, and it you know, this is 94, and they're telling you you can have a VR C D system. They've even got an artist impression of a Nintendo 64-bit console project reality. Well, what's he got?
SPEAKER_04C D32, mate for the audio. Oh, this is an audio show, so for the audio listeners, this thing looks like a CD32, but imagine imagine that then being made by Bush. And then Bush just and then a headset, a VR headset that looks like a crossover between Oakley and Bush.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And you have except where Bush probably took the major lead in the design.
SPEAKER_02But also, where would where did this artist? Why can you have an artist impression of something that you have no images of? What's the point? You've literally just done a drawing of something random. There's there was no pictures out there. Go on him. Amazing. Yeah, that'll look just like that. I actually did have got a PS5 with the V.
SPEAKER_04Um, but but this is a literal V that will sit on your shelf, yeah. Makes no sense, but it'll look beautiful. Yeah, it's made out of felt.
SPEAKER_02But interesting times, there is a lot of uh a lot of rumours. I think we could do a whole show just on the funny N64 rumours at the time. You could probably get 20 articles on here.
SPEAKER_04I would love to try and find some of those mag articles where they do like the the the dump of what it's gonna be.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I picked I picked this one just for how ludicrous it was about home arcade system with VR headset and everything. As if you're going from a SNES to that, so it's worth but they just got away with publishing this stuff. But I hope you enjoyed the news.
SPEAKER_04That was uh Well, imagine to this day, the only time Nintendo have ever really put out anything with VR would be Labo.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04Unless there's some sort of Japanese arcade experience I don't know about.
SPEAKER_02Or Virtua Boy.
SPEAKER_04Or Virtua Boy, yeah, but yeah. How how how dare that occupy space with what this is pretending to be, though?
SPEAKER_02But yeah, like we say, um interesting news articles from the early start of collecting cartridges and how it was then starting to get the people's attention of collecting, especially the older 80s games, right through to the Super FX chip um down to the hyper Nintendo update of this sci-fi virtual reality N64 that we never got. Um, but yeah, I hope you
Stingray Boot Picks February 1994
SPEAKER_02enjoyed that. Um it's now time for what we affectionately call Stingray's boot, what's nestled between some counterfeit nappies and a dodgy copy of Battle for Endor is some of the new releases for February and a bit of March 1994. Springstop Wow Whoa!
SPEAKER_00Yeah, way man!
SPEAKER_02How are you seeing the Ray this week?
SPEAKER_04I'll tell you what, mate. Ray has stepped out the motor, and I tell you what, I can't quite see him, he's making my eyes itch because he's looking the graphical fidelity of him is everything I ever imagined Project Reality to be. He looks more realistic than a human being itself, but he's kind of shimmering and glitching in and out of existence. I can't believe it, he can't believe it himself. The weird thing is, Wayne's come as the fabled system that's running Ray, so he's come out of this sort of strange metallic cube, just sort of hovering two to three inches above the floor, kind of sending sparks into the floor below Ray. I'll be honest with you, it's an ethereal experience. I feel like maybe this is how maybe the ancient people saw gods and angels. I don't want to look at him too much longer because I feel it might get a little bit raised as the lost arc, RGT, if I'm honest with you. So I'm just gonna look at the floor and sort of navigate by touch round to the boot. Wow. How are you seeing him? Because if you're seeing in the same way, just lock eyes with me. Yeah, not as intensely as that. And how are you seeing him? Well he's off on the eyes, mate.
SPEAKER_02He's isn't he saying Bluebird has just come out of the dark with neons underneath, a little little hum has just pulled up. It looks like something out of Tron, but when you get a bit closer, you realised he's just put a line of them cheap Chinese LEDs around the car and plugged it in a cigarette lighter. Oh yeah. And he's stepped out his Synthwave music plan in the car, he's stepped out looking like Kavinsky, the Synthwave legend and French DJ. He's got a hyper he's got a hyper Nintendo VR headset on. But his coat, when he opens it up, is just collectible Atari cartridges. And Wayne's got out Wayne and he is just a tiny tiny little Star Fox. Uh what's his name? Um Box McLeod. Box McLeod. He's got the full gear on the lot, he's like cosplay, but a small cosplay.
SPEAKER_04He's got the furry head on, or is he just like yeah, like is he face painted?
SPEAKER_02No, he is full fur, head to toe. He's hot, but he's he's he's alright.
SPEAKER_03What a strange combo. Yeah, it is. Should we shuffle around the back?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, let's have a look. What I'm gonna let you pick pick a couple, I'll let you pick first.
SPEAKER_04I'm not mucking picking about it, mate. I'm gonna take probably what I am literally seduced by this. Let me get this. This is Sonic 3. Can you believe that this is that here? Get ye hands off me, I was gonna grab that. You can have the you can have the one the clone cart that Ray's got. I want the OG. I want this fresh. I'm having that. And is that Tom Cat Ali on the Mega C D I see as well?
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, filthy animal. Danger zone! Ah, way to the danger zone.
SPEAKER_04So if I if I go with all that Sega goodness, well, I am gonna go with Castlevania bloodlines.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna grab that because you know, you can't beat a bit of Castlevania.
SPEAKER_04That's that's Mega Drive as well, baby.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it certainly is. Um and I think I think you know, I'm stuck between two you've got a lot here, Ray. I'm stuck between wind jammers or NBA jamment tournament edition.
SPEAKER_04I might drop a movie so I can get jammed. That's where I'm at.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna go NBA jam tournament edition. Um, but there is just some honourable mentions here. Um Flintstone's game was out, um, surprise at Dinosaur Park, we had XCOM, we had um Windjammers, um, the Star Tropics 2, Zoda's Revenge was out, Warrior Land, Super Maryland 3, so oh, Fighter's History Dynamite. There was a lot of their art of fighting too. There was a lot of decent games coming out. Even the um Shin Megano Tensei 2 was coming out, which is obviously sort of the what old um Persona spun out of, you know. That's correct, yeah. Yeah, um Virtuous Soccer as well, great fun game. But yeah, so there was some there were some great ones. The one that interested me here, George, I don't know if you heard about that. The Elder Scrolls Arena.
SPEAKER_04That's one of the games along the way. Is that Elder Scrolls 3?
SPEAKER_02So it is linked into the main Elder Scrolls. 100%. No way. I'd never heard of it until I researched this show. I didn't know about that at all.
SPEAKER_04But yeah, it's some one thing that's piqued my interest, Sonic Drift. Yeah, looking cool there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that does look cool, doesn't it? What was that on Game Gear? Uh let me have a quick look. I think it was Game Gear, wasn't it? Sonic Drift.
SPEAKER_04While you're qualifying, whether I know what I'm talking about or not, I tell you I'm gonna pick a movie. And I think because Ray's a bit crazy, because this movie's shrouded in controversy. Game Gear. Game Gear, yeah, thought so. And it looks good on there. Um I tell you what
VHS Picks The Crow And UFOs
SPEAKER_04I'm picking. Now I don't know if you know about Ray, but he can get you cam copies of anything. Now he's got me a VHS here, and it feels a little bit like a snuff movie if I'm honest with you, getting it this soon. But he's got me a copy of The Crow Brandon Lee's final performance, and to be honest with you, a cracking movie. I watched a remake the other day.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Please leave films alone.
SPEAKER_04Unnecessary.
SPEAKER_02I even got the UMD of that, the crow, because I thought that's a film you've got to have on UMD, I think. Oh, that's dirty. It is dirty.
SPEAKER_04That's you. Oh, that's you in a dark alleyway, kind of watching that on your PSP in the out of the corner of your coat, like yeah.
SPEAKER_02With the no, it's like I've got the uh the travel suction cup for the windows to just find a random door in an alley and then just stand there and watch it so I ain't got to use my arms.
SPEAKER_04I don't imagine the crow would I I can't ever imagine the crow using that.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I think so.
SPEAKER_04Maybe I'll tell you what, here's a compromise. He hangs it on a rusty hook.
SPEAKER_02Perfect.
SPEAKER_04He's got a little carry caddy for it and he just hooks it on a rusty hook. Like that thing tingle tune or he sent me, he's got a little thing on you could hang it. Yeah, and you just sort of sit growling at it.
SPEAKER_02Growling at it. So you're gone for the crow.
SPEAKER_04I have gone Yeah, what are you picking, mate?
SPEAKER_02I have gone for fire in the sky.
SPEAKER_04If you've ever heard about that, that real life abduction thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, guy got abducted and disappeared for two weeks, didn't he? And then they found him.
SPEAKER_04Oh mate, that gave me nightmares. That's yeah, that was on board.
SPEAKER_02I cannot remember his name, but yeah, he was him draw the witnesses as well, didn't he? The loggers and stuff, and he came back a little while later and people didn't believe him, but then they found there was he had stuff under his skin and things as yeah, strange, strange things. But I did really enjoy that film, so yeah, I got the VHS of Far in the Sky.
SPEAKER_04I thought you would be uh taking four weddings and a funeral, might be getting a little bit romantic. It's red and window everywhere I go.
SPEAKER_02Yeah! The old Marty Pello there, belting it out, mate.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, no, I went with fire on this guy. I like a bit of the old alien abduction and UFOs and that, and that's uh my street. Nice. Um I'll do a bit
Housekeeping Discord And Listener Challenges
SPEAKER_02of housekeeping now. I know we do something. C Ray! Yeah, C Ray, thanks for that. Appreciate that.
SPEAKER_04Um, no sound for him going because we're that cheap RGT.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Um, can't afford that yet. Get a few more episodes in, we're there.
SPEAKER_04Episode 25, sound effect for leaving.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. Um yeah, bit of housekeeping. Don't forget our website, and not us just saying we do, I know we do this every week, but it's just for new listeners when they come in. Yeah, check out Unofficial Controller Podcast website. Um, it's various different bits on there. Um there'll be an area as well for our events and stuff. So you once we get around to getting them uploaded, you can see OLL and all the pictures from OLL and links to the video on the YouTube. If you want to see us at OL, like I said at the start of the show, go over to the Unofficial Controller Podcast YouTube channel. Give us a sub, watch a few of the videos. You can see our unofficial controller podcast video and audio and audio of flashback on there as well. If you use YouTube, um that's getting good now. We're getting a few comments and good little community growing on there. Email us if there's anything you want to say to us about the show or years you'd suggest or anything like that. That is questions at unofficialcontrollerpodcast.com. Um, let us know anything you want, really, or if you want links to the Discord, you can, which leads me on to the Discord. Um, you can get us you can get an easy link from that if you go to RetroGamer Thomas Instagram and do my link tree, or you go to the unofficial controller podcast Instagram, go to the link tree, you can join straight into the Discord.
SPEAKER_04Um you can go anywhere from there, mate, to be fair.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we've we've uh we've gained a link. Yeah, so just there's ways of getting in there. And worst come to worst, if you still can't find any of them, drop us an email, we'll send you a link. Um, we've had a new member this week. That was Erin, who was the champion of our uh Final Fantasy IX.
SPEAKER_04Congratulations, Erin, and what a hard fought battle down on the studio floor of Epic Studios Norwich, mate. I have never seen such well. Let's first of all talk about the very distinct techniques that everybody used. Erin had a foot tap technique to try and keep the rhythm going, which I actually noticed was still being used during other people's goes to keep that rhythm in check, which I was like, right, okay, we got a clear winner here. Yeah. Uh I think Mark had the kind of pull into the body. I'm not looking at the controller, just kind of at one. Yeah, just at one, uh, very much at one with the screen. Um, so like a myriad of of different techniques unfolded on the day, but really it all boiled down in the end to our three competitors, and then really Eren just walked away with it, really, in the end.
SPEAKER_02So we had Eren was the winner, Mark was second, and Matt was third place. Um we had some great scores in there. I mean, Eren won with 2-6-1, I believe, in the end. Oh no, mate, which which will make you laugh that me and George only got one. Um, shows how good Eren was at it. But basically, what we've done, we had discuss those that can game, those that can't podcast. Exactly. Um, we had Final Fantasy IX, we had a CRT, we had original PS1, and we had the skipping challenge on there. Um, and it was a challenge that we do on our Discord, challenge accepted by Digital Mungry, our uh member and volunteer who helped us on the day. And he brought the challenge live there, which was just brilliant because there were so many people trying to beat the scores. People kept lube and background to have another go, check the highest scores out. We had some goodies for the winners, first, second, and third prize. We had a flashback tote bag with controller holder in a venom controller holder.
SPEAKER_04Can I just say I don't have a tote bag and I would kill for one of those tote bags? That is an exclusive merch, so enjoy that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that is the only time them tote bags are out. So that was just for that that event. Um, so I hope Mark, Matt, and Aaron are listening. Um, and thanks for joining the Discord, Erin. I see you've been chatting in there and being you know very sociable about games and stuff, so it's much appreciated and a very, very honourable member of the community.
SPEAKER_04That brings a that is beautiful. Thank you, Aaron.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, from having to go on a challenge to someone you never met of a or of a uh podcast you'd never heard of to actually join the community.
SPEAKER_04And hey, I tell you what, my son better sharpen up because uh Aaron might come for him. Uh challenge accepted, baby. Uh I think it's time a few of you started a little bit bit more. Kind of step your game up now because that number live on a show floor with people watching that level of performance in the comfort of the home surroundings, you have got what they're what I'm gonna call the UCP secret weapon going forward. Unbelievable. I couldn't keep calm in front of all those people playing that game.
SPEAKER_03I got one. Okay. That's all right, Matt. I was determined to get to two. In the comfort of my own home. I may have eventually got to two. On the show floor.
SPEAKER_04Surrounded by folk eagerly anticipating the end of a very hard fought competition. They all kept their cool, but I tell you what that makes Challenger Accepted a whole new environment on Discord now. It does, I think.
SPEAKER_02It definitely does, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the Gormults down. I can't wait to see the next couple of months of challenges roll out for a while.
SPEAKER_02Definitely. And if you're interested in not saying these challenges, um over on Unoffus Controller Podcast Discord, Digital Monkey does a challenge accepted, which is like that. It's a different monthly challenge, normally a high score, a quick in and out one that doesn't take too long. He also does Let's Get Quizzical, which is Quizzical! It's wrong, show, sorry. Yeah, which is a uh weekly little quiz he does. Nothing major than that, you can just go through and have a go yourself when you've got a spare 10 minutes. And we've got other things on there, we've got my hidden gems, we've got our Gen 7 playthrough. Um great man at work.
SPEAKER_04I can't get it out of my head now. No, let's figure that out.
SPEAKER_02Um, but yeah, check us out on TikTok, check us out on Instagram, and like I say, don't forget questions at unofficial controllerpodcast.com if you have any questions you'd like to ask us or any shows you like us to do or any specials you can think of, or you know, let us know. You know, get involved. That's what we want.
SPEAKER_04That's a great point, RGT. If you're listening at home and you're like, oh, I like a bit of this, and why don't they have a cover of my favourite month in gaming? Hit us up, let us know what it is, let us know what in particular that interests you about that, and we can try and sculpt a show around it while doing a normal episode as well. Or if it's a particularly insanely brilliant idea, we'll drop everything and go do that.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Exactly, yeah. So uh let us know. Um yeah, and just feel free, like you say, on if you're listening or well, you'll be listening, but if you've got it on YouTube, because it is audio only on there, but if you're you know, drop us a comment, anything on there, let us know.
SPEAKER_04Sub to the channel, like the comment section wherever you're listening to this. If you're listening to the on um audio, you can click the fan um mail section on there now, can't you? Yeah. And get included in the show that way.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and yeah, so you can uh like um George was saying, you can you can contact us through your provider as well, the podcast provider. Um you can message us on there. Um and I think now it does let you let us know who it is who's messaging us. So um if you want to give us a message about the show or any games you've played, you know, give us a bit your history, give us a bit your nostalgia. If it's a game you mentioned Acent World of Soccer or Clay Fighters, let us know your your your history with that, you know. Um it's always interesting to hear other people's nostalgia and bits and pieces as well.
SPEAKER_04Um that's what brings it alive, RGT, and I think that's what's special about this show. It kind of just gives people an hour of living in that moment, I think. Hopefully you try and bring it alive. Um great times.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, brilliant.
Goodbye Until Next Week
SPEAKER_02But yeah, so um yeah, thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, thanks for commenting, sharing. Um like I say, if you've got plenty of friends who are retro gamers, let them know about flashback, let them know about the UCP as well if they're more into their modern stuff. Um but yeah, just let us know. More the feedback the better. Um but so like I say, thanks everyone. Thank you, George, as always. Um absolute pleasure.
SPEAKER_04The joy is all mine, and and to be honest, the actual true pleasure of this is uh like it being part of the listener's day or week or hour or whatever it is, it's a beautiful experience.
SPEAKER_02Definitely. Um just leaves me to say flashback, the games you loved, the stories you forgot. See you everyone, and I'll see you next week, George.
SPEAKER_04See you all GTA.