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 March 1997
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Play a little thought experiment with us: what if Sony never shipped the PlayStation, and the Sega Saturn went head-to-head with the Nintendo 64 on its own? That single question opens a surprisingly sharp look at March 1997, when sales charts, developer support, and hardware choices were quietly locking in the future of the console wars.
We start with the games we’d actually want to play from the month and why they still matter. Lost Vikings 2 reminds us how strong puzzle platformer design can outlive hardware cycles, while Micro Machines V3 is a love letter to couch co-op chaos and the way a CRT could make backgrounds feel “photorealistic” at the time. From there we hit the N64’s weird and wonderful side with Blast Corps, a Rare standout built around destruction as a mechanic, then compare Turok Dinosaur Hunter’s big, foggy ambition to the tighter focus of other shooters that would define the era.
The back half goes deeper into retro gaming history: PlayStation vs N64 vs Saturn sales numbers, the sheer impact of a huge software library, and why openness to third-party developers changed everything. We also laugh at the accessory arms race with the macro-heavy PsychoPad Junior, then connect a bizarre Bandai toy-and-memory-card fighting game to the future of toys-to-life, amiibo collecting, and the “friction” problem of extra peripherals.
If you love retro gaming, 1990s console history, and honest takes that separate nostalgia from reality, you’ll feel right at home. Subscribe, share this with a friend who lived through 1997, and leave us a review with the one game you’d rescue from that month if you could only pick one.
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Welcome Back To March 1997
SPEAKER_00Hello back. The games you love, the stories you forgot. This is episode 26, and we're in March 1997. I'm RGT, and as always, I am joined by the guy who's in Game in Heaven in 1997. Hope there's no delay and he's waiting for Stingray. Was a real someone in the village of Farmerton. It is UCP George. How you doing, young man?
SPEAKER_03Ho ho ho ho You went deep in the lore barrel for the main show there. That was a little bit indulgent, wasn't it? I'm doing well. I'm um I'm oiled up and ready to hit the track with you.
SPEAKER_00Mmm, March 1997, another one of our revisit years, so um, yeah, it's interesting. See what was about at this time when you think it's coming up for 30 years ago. It's quite scary, really, that some of these games where you think, hmm, were they really 30 years old? Well, yeah, they're coming up to it now. But um, let's jump straight
Lost Vikings 2 And Licensed Risks
SPEAKER_00in. What's you uh what would you have been hoping to play in March 1997, George?
SPEAKER_03Um I'm struggling to remember exactly where I was, but I'm looking at a game here Lost Vikings 2, which I felt like came out a couple of years prior to that, but it's here large and in front of us. Um Lost Vikings, as far as I'm aware, I had a little go on it last night on my piece of turd. Um it's a puzzle platformer exactly as I remembered it. Um he played three Vikings and they've each got a different skill that he used to navigate through the levels. So I was quite enjoying it for what it was. I think it it's nice to see it here. Um although I'm confused whether this was like an updated PC release or or what, but it was it was definitely on SNES a lot prior to this, as far as I'm aware. Definitely the first one.
SPEAKER_00Another game I want to talk about, if I may do you know anything about Lost Vikings, or am I just No, I've never never played the game. So I was quite interested when you know, before the show when we were talking, and you you knew about Lost Vikings and so I take it you'd played it on your SNES originally.
SPEAKER_03I think I had either that, the maybe the first one. Um or definitely did I have it or did I just idolise over it? I think I had it. Um I think I quite enjoyed it. I think it was like similar to I think it was made by the guys who made rock and roll racing, and that's probably why I was kind of like half-drawn to it. Um another game.
SPEAKER_00Sorry, I'll quickly jump in with a bit of research, Lost Vikings 2. It was on a Super Nintendo, but it was also on Sega Saturn uh DOS Windows PlayStation, and later later on got a bit of a resurgence on the Switch PS4 and Xbox One, so it was that sort of almost crossover period, I suppose, where it got released on Jules.
SPEAKER_03Maybe a Saturn release or PS1 release we're looking at here, which which is nice. So the other one I want to grab, if I may, because I've got me I've got my head on me at the minute, and we got Independence Day. Now, this was made by uh Fox Gaming, and now they had smashed it out the park with Alien Trilogy and Diod Trilogy, and I'd seen Independence Day at the cinema, so to me this was the perfect trifecta. Unfortunately, thanks to the the gaming magazines at the time, I avoided uh a classic home dunk here of absolutely buying a piece of turd. As far as I'm aware, Independence Day was a was a little bit of a not very good game.
SPEAKER_00So I was actually gonna put it. Oh because I um I bought this later on. I did buy this back in the day. Um you loved it. I bought this back. I wouldn't say I loved it, but I've I've played and quite enjoyed the game. Um, I've only played the first couple of levels on the Saturn. Um but it's like being under the ship and you have to do a certain amount of missions, shooting missions. It's not too bad, actually. I think maybe at the time we had a sort of bit of a saturation of flying, shooting sort of games, and it being a licensed game, it's probably a bit lost in that. But from what I've played, I think that's an alright game. It's pretty good.
SPEAKER_03To me, uh though, you know, considering the lofty heights of the two trilogy games, um this had probably some high expectations on it by me especially. Um, when it didn't land, it was a bit like that's a bit that's a bit disappointed. Uh, what's your first pick out of the what you've been playing bundle RGT?
Micro Machines V3 Couch Multiplayer
SPEAKER_00Um I think I'm probably gonna jump on to Micro Machines V3.
SPEAKER_03Mmm. Um Ain't that a banger?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_03I thought he came out earlier than this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I did as well, but I don't know if there was that. Like I say, like um like you were saying about Lost Vikings. I don't know if there was this sort of crossover period where things got sort of a bit of a boost from being dropped on a new system. Maybe I can't really quite remember myself, but um I remember just really enjoying the game. Um this was good. Yeah. Uh I'd had the other ones, or a couple of them on Mega Drive, I've got them all now, but um, I'd had the other ones on a couple of them on Mega Drive back in the day. Um, and just it was just a timeless game that you could spend so many hours in playing with your friends over and over again without getting too bored of the game.
SPEAKER_03Correct me if I'm wrong though, when this first you probably didn't have it when it first came out, you probably got it after, but I got this game when it first came out, and I'll be honest with you. The surfaces you were playing on at the time on the little CRT I was using, I was convinced of photorealistic. Obviously, I've gone back to it later, but on a bigger, more modern screen, and there's no way they are. Um, but I'd love to see it running on a CRT again, see you know how far off it was in reality. But yeah, graphically, for the backgrounds, the cars I think are a little bit cheap. They're kind of like 3D assets that kind of rotate on their mid-access point. But you know, it's a great game, and it's like you say, it's a fun multiplayer game. And I bet you that's cheap now for a PS1 game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would imagine so. I mean, it it came out PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, and they even done a Game Boy Colour version, which I know there's a lot of ports from bigger games onto Game Boy Color, which had to be quite a lot different, but I don't suppose you'd have to change too much on this. Apart graphically, the top-down view and everything probably made it a decent game to use, I would imagine. But um yeah, I've I didn't buy this on release. I I played this a lot, you know, I say a lot after release, but a a while after release. Um but just another, you know, you know what you're gonna get from mic machines, it's just one of them great, great um couch co-op games that you know, always handy to have. Um yeah, I could I love that game, absolutely brilliant.
Blast Corps And Rare’s Weird Brilliance
SPEAKER_00Um I will also go on to um my second pick, Blast Corpse. Nice. Now, this is a game I always knew about on the N64. I think I might I don't know if I've misremembered, but I I'm sure I had a friend who had this because it was just from that Blast Corpse logo. I remember seeing it on his shelf, and although I didn't really play too much of his N64, I just remembered this game, but it weren't until I got an N64 way down the line, sort of 12-15 years ago, that I then started picking games up, and I got Blast Corpse for it, and um what a unique game that is. Absolutely brilliant, you know, where you just got to clear the way for the um is it a nuclear bomb I think you've got coming through or something?
SPEAKER_03And I think it's a variety of different things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think the first level is a nuclear bomb. I can't remember, but anyway, yeah, and basically what you do is that they need literally to go as the crow flies to take this whatever that is, you know, in each level, and you have to clear the area, destroy, destroy the area for it to get through. Um, very unique idea, but very playable and great fun. Works really well on the N64, um, exclusive as well, I think, if I remember rightly. Um, but did you get this back when you had your N64? I don't think I ever had it. I don't think I ever had it.
SPEAKER_03I kind of always looked at it and thought, well, maybe it's to me, but it did feel a bit at the time to me, uh hollow experience. Um kind of it was the same thing over and over again, which maybe with a little bit more maturity I might have realized could have been fun. It certainly sounds like quite a fun early open sandbox kind of game in terms of what you can do. Um, it always reminded me of a game on Atari ST and Amiga called Hunter, which was like a variation of like midwinter, but you could like you with this 3D polygon model that could walk around like this map where you could literally do anything you wanted within reason. Um but yeah, I think we talked off air and I might be taking a stab in the dark, but I think this might have been done by DMA, who later became Rockstar, did it not?
SPEAKER_00No, this was actually done by Rare. This was their first N64 game. Ah, what's the one I'm thinking of? Um, are you thinking of Message Below?
SPEAKER_03No, Message Below. Let's get the interactivity going on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we were speaking about it before, weren't we? Um Rockstar game. I can't remember myself now, but yes, this was done by Rare, and obviously the famous Stamper Brothers produced this as their first N64 game, and obviously we know where Rare went on on the N64 after this, but um yeah, great game. And it's it it the thing I love about it is when you think of Rare and you think it's the Stamper Brothers, it's almost got that 8-bit micro game style to it. This is a sort of game you would have had on an 8-bit micro, and this is where they come from. This is all their experiences where they come around.
SPEAKER_03They do have that charm to them, which you kind of like your eyes, it's it's it's it's it's kind of lasted it reasonably well, even though it looks very N64-ish to most people.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. But it's a good, you know, if you're collecting for N64, it's definitely worth picking up. It's a great fun game and something unique. I've never really I suppose the only thing I'd say a newer game I'd say with similar premise would be Teardown, which is a more modern game but of a similar sort of premise of destruction. But that's a great little game, definitely give it a look. Um what else are you looking at on there and then
Turok And Early 3D Shooter Tradeoffs
SPEAKER_00George?
SPEAKER_03Probably I'm probably looking uh Clover Girls. I'm looking a dinosaur square in the eyes. It's uh Turret Dinosaur Hunter. Um game that I know from the N64. Um you were some dude that tore around these landscapes, very foggy landscapes, I must admit. Um fighting dinosaurs. It it was a it was a fun game, although obviously compared to Goldeneye, this thing sort of aged in not too well. I remember Turrek 2 needing the expansion pass, uh expansion N64 expansion pack and being you know maybe the poster boy of midlife uh N64. But uh Turk the Dinosaur Hunter 1 was the probably the launch game you got if you're you know one of the bigger boys, maybe if you're getting an N64. Um I enjoyed it, but I don't think it had maybe the length and breadth or depth of something like GoldenEye, really. Goldeneye made this look a little bit basic, especially with the bog.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think also I remember with Turok as well, it seemed to have came out, there was there was different versions on Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Colour. They seem to have sort of flooded the market with this sort of Turok brand, if I remember rightly, but it's never something that didn't quite appeal to me.
SPEAKER_03It took off and it was quite edgy. In in Turret 2, you had the the infamous weapon, the sub Celebral Bore, which was you know, me and my mate Martin, who you know uh often used to laugh about the cerebral ball because it was like a a bore drill that you fired and it kind of like went into the enemy's head and then sort of drilled in and they pumped their brain out. Now, this was all done in N64 blocky 3D detail, so you weren't really seeing much, it was just red pixels sort of spraying out top of a dinosaur's head. But uh yeah, things things have moved on. Uh I think Turret was brave because the levels were large and open, hence the the fog or the mist of the of the of the forest or whatever it was. But obviously, other shooters, perfect dark, goldeneye, they had a more linear, narrow path, which meant they could look great but also keep the focus moving forward. I remember Turk would be a lot of the time, we'd just be walking endlessly in circles trying to work out where to go next, trying to hook the outside of the map, looking for a way out or a thing, you know. There was a lot of that going on. Whereas Goldeneye and the other games there would be bam, door. It was very linear, and for that reason, probably not as brave, but that made the gameplay more focused. If you're looking for something a little bit more open, maybe you could argue a little bit more mature. Um, maybe give Turok a go. I can't imagine it costs much on N64 these days.
SPEAKER_00The first game I wouldn't have thought so, because I think in America, I think you get it in like the black is it a black cartridge, I think.
SPEAKER_03Two is a black one, I know for sure. Oh, okay. But I don't know about the first one.
SPEAKER_00Was it um was it Chirop that had a problem where they actually launched a game that wasn't complete and they had to rec draw and recall the cartridges?
SPEAKER_03Because obviously you couldn't there was a little bit, I think there was some miscommunication maybe about the expansion pack because I think you could play Turk 2 without it, but it was really only like the first level or maybe a training area, a little bit like Perfect Dart got rumbled with later on. You could play it without, but not really. And I think um Donkey Kong 64 also suffered from the fact that I don't think it needed the expansion pack, but there was a glitch in the code that made it so you really had to use it, and obviously, infamously now it's later transpired that I think the expansion pack was already on the board, and what you do is you just jump it when you put the expansion pack in. Correct me if I'm wrong, message below if I've got that wrong, but I do believe that to be
FIFA 64 Chaos And Space Shooter Story
SPEAKER_03true. Um, in terms of other games I would pick out from this list, I really don't think there is anything else for me. Um probably theme hospital, but only from a point of like having watched it played at a later point in time. Um maybe FIFA Soccer 64, which is a polygonal dog's breakfast these days, but it plays plays quite well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I got on this recently, I wouldn't say plays quite well, but the thing with it is is um it was difference to the other FIFA's, you had some big sprites, big characters on there to play with as well. And when you first play, especially with an N64 controller, you're a bit like what the once you get into it, it's actually really good fun.
SPEAKER_03I was round a mate's about 10 years ago, so quite some time ago, maybe a little bit more, and he had an N64 for shits and giggles in his front room, really. And I went round and I said, Oh, what do you got? And he didn't have many games, one of them was that FIFA and I said, Oh, put it in. He put it in. And first of all, like you say, it was a bit like, Oh my goodness gracious me. But then after that, we were like got actually quite I don't like football or really play football games, but we got quite competitive and quite good at it.
SPEAKER_00Well, the thing is as well sorts when you first play it, you think, Oh, I'm really bad at this game, and then you think, Oh no, I'm not, this is the way the game plays, and then when you realise your competitor is equally as handbraked as what you are, suddenly it turns into actually quite a good fun game because you're both battling against the game, but also not the knowledge of knowing how to play this certain football game. And actually, you could you could play some really good matches in that it's quite good fun. I've sort of I've recently sort of gone back to play old football games. I've had so much fun playing them like um me and my mate. If we go to uh the arcade lot retro replay in Norwich, we always play Virtuous Striker. It's just something about a game that's so addictive and so fun, you know, and it's nowhere near your FIFA's and your EAFCs, whatever it is nowadays, but it's just good fun and great fun to play as something that takes it back down to that just you know, almost makes it overly difficult, but that's the challenge of trying to score, you know. Brilliant fun, you know, and yeah, yeah, so I yeah, I understand that. FIFA 64, definitely a good one. Um, I'm gonna pick one more, um, which obviously for the audio listeners won't be very good, but for you, I will show which is Dark Light Conflict, which is the very last game on our list. Um my mate actually bought this for me um for a birthday present a few years ago. He always he was he was a bit like Mrs. RGT, he's he'd sort of go cleverly just sneakily look through my collection, see what's missing, and buy me something to add to the collection, you know. And this is one of them, Dark Light Conflict. Um I've got the Saturn version. It's again, you know, I like my spaceshooters. I was collecting quite a few of them for a while. This is quite a good game with quite a good story, and if I remember rightly, I think you know, go in the comments below if I've got this wrong. If I remember rightly, I think you were like one of the best pilots for Earth, and then there's um you have this battle with these aliens, the aliens capture you and then uh make you fight for them for a certain amount of time through which you then escape and go back to Earth after a while, and Earth is moved on a centuries later because you travelled at light speed, so everything is you know, so you go so it's quite a deep deep story. Um, but it's another one of them. Um you know, like your colony wars, great shooter, looks really good on the satin. Um, it's got that I think those sort of space shooter games in that era really try to have different storylines and different because I mean a space shooter is a space shooter, innit? So you need a decent story to to flush that all out. And Dark Light Conflict is really good. I'd recommend it to anyone. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's interesting you say that because space shooters don't come along very often. I think the first one I played that was just a shooter was a game called Epic that was on ST and Amiga. That was a beautiful, beautiful game to look at. The pixel iron that was absolutely astounding, but it was a space shooter and it it had a good storyline, and I do believe it also had Hulst the Planets as its sort of audio soundtrack to the game. Yeah, so you had like Hulst Mars Suite, I think, in the in the battle sections and things, which was always quite exciting. And then after that, there were kind of smattering of like wing commanders, and then I think I remember watching a mate play Freelancer for hours, but it was more of a trading game, a bit more of an epic uh elite. Um, and then you stumble across things like this and colony wars, and it's like, yeah, you know, you get a good story there, yeah, and it gives some agency to the things, the myriad of things you're shooting on screen, because otherwise it's basically asteroids, isn't it? Without being too brutal to it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, you need you, you know, and the 3D space shooter genre. If someone shoes you a screenshot of the cockpit in first person view, you're gonna be hard pressed to tell which game that is. Yeah, yeah. You need a decent story to to differentiate between the two. Um and this was uh this was actually um this was published by EA and done by Rage Software. But this came out on this came out on DOS PlayStation and Saturn. I've got the Saturn version. Now the Saturn version, correct me if I'm wrong, again down in the comments. I think the Saturn version's the easy one to get the easier one to get hold of.
SPEAKER_03Oh really?
SPEAKER_00So I think you can commonly get this on CEX in the UK, it's about £15 complete with manual on the Saturn, which is a decent price, but you they don't really seem to have the PS version very often. So I would imagine the Saturn one was maybe the one that they sort of pushed for. Um, but yeah, I'd I'd definitely give it a go. Like I say, if you're into your spaceship. I don't know, bit a bit weird, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, but they were obviously just the publisher, but yeah. So uh Dark Light Conflict. Well, I think I'm just trying to think there was anything else on here for me. I mean, there was a few honourable mentions, Need for Speed 2.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, I mean that that sailed me by.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I didn't play Need for Speed 2, but I did have a girl on Need for Speed 2, and now I've got a funny feeling. No, I again I might have misremembered this. I thought I played this on a kiosk in a game store. I might have got this wrong, but I thought I played this on a kiosk. But I remember playing it and thinking, oof, this looks really good. This looks like you know, this was sort of uh a real sort of road race that looked really good at the time, but I never I never did then. I think I've got it now, but I never picked it up back in the day to play. Um just trying to see if there's anything else MD. Tekken 3. Tekken games I used to sort of delve in and out of more. My mate was more into his Tekken, used to play that religiously, so I'd just join in and play sometimes. I more sort of remember Tekken 1, I think, as more being uh sort of you know, that look into 3D fighters. You know, we'd already had Virtue of Fighter and bits and pieces. Um Street Fighter 3 would came out, Battle Stations was out, Fallen Heaven, Jack Nicholas 4. Um, yeah, I think I'm probably about there. I think and you are as well, George. I think.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, definitely, mate. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, well, that leads us on then with uh to
Console Sales War And Market Momentum
SPEAKER_00the news. We've scoured the very darkest back pages of the Game and Mags and even delve deep into the interweb to bring you what was the latest stories in March 1997. First up from Game Pro magazine. This is entitled Inside Scoop. Despite all the holiday hoopla around sales of hard-to-find Nintendo 64s, Sony wants everyone to remember exactly which next gen system is number one in total sales. Late in 1996, the 15-month-old PlayStation hit the 10 million units sold plateau in global sales, over three and a half million units in the US. Trying to generate some good news of its own, Sega claimed that its holiday three-pack, a free bundling of VirtuaCop, Daytona USA, and Virtua Fighter 2 with the 199 Saturn, generated a sudden 400-500% increase in November and December sales, bringing in the 20-month-old systems uh total worldwide sales to over 5 million and US sales to around 1.5 million. The five-month-old N64, meanwhile, hit the 1.5 million mark in North America over Christmas and is closing in on having 2 million US units sold by the end of March. Over 3.5 million worldwide. Now they've they've put a little graph chart on here, and as I started from last week, um I've started adding these um to the flashback Discord group on there. So I'll add the articles after each show is released. I will pop them on there for you to all see what we're we're reading and where we've got them from. So there is a little graph on here showing the PlayStation, V to Saturn, VDN64. Um, I found this interesting because you know there was still obviously uh it was still obviously a bit raw between PlayStation or well Sony and Nintendo at the time from uh recent events that we all know about. So Sony's quite quite keen to uh express who was leading the way at the time, although the N64 hadn't been out too long, and you started to feel that how long they'd been out and what they were selling, you started to feel the writing on the wall a bit full of satin here.
SPEAKER_03Um I was gonna say to me, this looks like the start of the compounding of the issue for Sega. They have struggled against uh a non-brand in terms of gaming. We've talked about this before. Everyone knows what PlayStation is now, but when PlayStation came out, we'd already seen a Philips CDI, we'd already seen a Laserdisc machine, we'd already seen all these wide-of-the-mark things that never really took off from companies dipping their toe in the water. 3DO, my beloved, I'm looking at you. So for PlayStation to come along, launch a console that was only meant to be an add-on for the Super Nintendo, it to stick the landing, and then command that through an early lead, but not really versus Saturn, 10 million sold, uh, three and a half million in the US alone, which would have been Sega's stomping ground historically.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's true, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then they're looking at 50% down on sales. So although Sega talk of a 500% increase, uh 500% increase on four is not as many as you're hoping. So, you know, we're looking at five million sales there with 1.5 specifically in the US, which again is less than half. Um, so they're performing even worse in what they would consider their sort of home territory of the Sega market historically. Don't forget that Sega is a Japanese company but started as Service Games, which was a company set up to provide American servicemen like distractions and arcade machines to play while on tours around the world, predominantly in Japan. Uh so they have an interesting history. Um and then we look at Nintendo, who've arrived with their alleged 64-bit console. I say that, I know it is, don't come at me, but performance-wise, it it doesn't represent two times anything else that we're looking at in this in this time uh period. Um and yeah, off the back of the name and some well-received software in uh Mario as a great launch game. I think Mario 64 certainly moved the needle in terms of people's uh understanding of of uh the platforming genre and how that was going to transition from 2D to 3D, they stuck the land in, they incorporated the uh analog control for movement within that 3D environment. Um, but I think this represents to me a little bit of a sea change. Obviously, when it's all washed out, things were a little bit different. Yeah, Saturn didn't make the global impact they wanted it to. But the N64, I think, could be argued got a bloody nose here in a battle with the uh PlayStation 1. And really, from there, they were fighting what I would call a bit of a losing battle as being dressed up A by themselves and their competitors as a kid's machine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. And I mean, you look at this graph, and I say you guys listening who are in the Discord, you'll see it, and you've got Sony Tower on over Saturn one side, and you've got N64 catching the Saturn, and you can just imagine the Saturn's looking up at one side, looking thinking, well, they're now about to overtake us, and they're just getting swamped by these two massive consoles. But the PlayStation, and I think for me personally, I think the reason this PlayStation stuck like it did 10 million units compared to N64, which was later released, the three and a half million at the time. Um, and Nintendo, even to this day, are still a bit like this, but a lot freer. But at the time, they were still like to control what was on their system, they were very choosy that had to be their cartridges, their name, blah blah blah. Whereas Sony opened that up, they were one of the first companies to say, right, you know, make games for it. We want games, and because of that, I mean, what was there on the N64? 270 games, I think was it or something like that?
SPEAKER_03I don't know, actually.
SPEAKER_00Actually, I can't tell us getting wrapped up in the detail, just tell play it out, and then what is it, 15, 160, 1700 on the PlayStation? You know, I'm just talking power regions, really.
SPEAKER_03So it's I'm just having the thought experiment where you know, let's say the PlayStation never came out. Sony said, Yeah, we're not into video games, we had this failed experiment where I'm gonna make a CD drive for Nintendo, we didn't go anywhere. They ended up being treacherous dogs, and and that fell by the wayside. And the N64 versus the Saturn alone is an actually totally different conversation piece because on the Saturn, all of a sudden you've got CD quality sound, you've got the ability to display FMVs. All of a sudden, this becomes the machine that people probably end up buying over the N64. All of a sudden, Sega's sort of dominance continues for another gen. That represents a different Dreamcast. That represents a totally different mindset from this brand. In a way, I would love to see the alternate universe where the Sega Saturn went head to head with the N64 and what sort of games that produced, and and what games that were PlayStation bangers would end up on the Saturn and what would they look like?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's uh I I've I'm with you on that because I think if that was the only option of a disc based system, it's interesting.
SPEAKER_03Would one of them suddenly it I don't think it'd be as hard to program for anymore because people would be wanting to explore having because this was the era where people wanted to see the FMV.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, would we be seeing Final Fantasy VII on there, you know? Would we be seeing two? Yeah, yeah, we kind of would have had to. So that would have been Squares or Enix was it was was it Square or Enix who were doing it at the time, Square, and I think we're doing um, you know, their choice would have been cartridge or the satin. That would have been very interesting, and I think probably if Sony hadn't decided to jump into the console market, satin would have done pretty well in his generation, I would imagine.
SPEAKER_03It would have been interesting to see what those games look like because obviously the satin's got a certain I know the PlayStation's got a certain look, but the Saturn's got a certain, certain, certain look.
SPEAKER_00Well, I was I was watching um a video the other day, and that was comparing Saturn and PS1 games and certain games that are on both. And actually, people who could program the Saturn, it didn't have nowhere near as much um draw distance or pop-in as the PS1 had, but it was just tricky with them two chips and bits and pieces. But um I I quickly researched um the games, so this is what my point this is what I think the PlayStation done so well because they just opened it all up to anyone to make games. So um the N64 had 242 PAL released games, or 242 said stroke 243, so I would imagine there's a bit of a rare title out there. Um the Saturn had 241 PAL games, the PlayStation had between 1700 and 1900 PAL games.
SPEAKER_03So I think what were the total lifetime sales for those consoles? You have a little look into that while I read this next bit of news, and we'll see how the uh we'll see how the end of the tailor tape ended up being.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
Sony’s Macro Controller Craze
SPEAKER_03Um so I've got something here from uh GamePro magazine. Uh oh my goodness gracious me. Okay. This one's entitled, don't forget you'll be able to read this on the Discord after if you want to join. Simple click click on the uh link tree on the Instagram will get you there. This one's entitled Sony Goes Psycho with the PsychoPad Junior. A new programmable pad has hit the market for PlayStation. It's just a little psychotic. The Psycholab Pad Junior by Atlabs is a 10 move programmable pad that lets you set up buttons as macros, enabling you to tear off complex multi-hit combos with a single press. The pad's ergonomic setup follows the PS the PlayStation standard with the exception of a secondary multi-directional pad used as a macro switch to store even more saves. Programming the pad is more work than playing the game, so players unfamiliar with macro technology might want to learn the combos the old-fashioned way. This is a pad that represents to me the true unofficial controller. Um although it's hard to know if this is official. I I don't think it is. Uh, it's Act Labs, they're bringing this pad in. You've got to see it to believe it, because even in this 30-year-old image, this plastic looks fragile, to say the least. It looks malleable. It looks like the sort of plastic that would be very uh likely to be grey goo if you left it near a radiator.
SPEAKER_00It it reminds me of um if you go on Etsy and buy someone a soap of their favourite controller. Yes, it's got that that I mean that D-pad is just a single disc, it is gonna destroy your left thumb. I don't quite know what that is, but it's absolute garbage with a D-pad in the middle.
SPEAKER_03The thing is, like back in the day, you would walk into a game shop and there would be a whole litany of this tat dressed up, and I used to go in there thinking, well, I don't I just would try, I think I had in my life I've had some unofficial like tat, don't get me wrong, and I think the last real piece of tat I bought was like an N64 controller for cheap, and it was it it was awful, and I remember I would walk up to a door and I'd have to hammer the button to open the door really quickly because my character would immediately turn to the left. And I played through you know probably 30% of Ocarina of Time with this broken pad until I was rewarded with a brand new uh fair play, fair play to you, young man, for doing that constantly playing Ocarina of Time, turning left.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it was painful, but it you know jigging along left right, left right, left right.
SPEAKER_03It was it certainly made you keep your attention. You're very thankful for Z targeting, I'll give you that. Uh as long as there weren't multiple enemies. Um, but yeah, this sort of pad represents to me you go in, you think it's a good idea, you play fighters, or mummy goes in. The thing is, this concept's lost on mummy. So you're walking in as a kid, really, wanting to get the edge on your mate on Mortal Kombat. But I think this pad had arrived to solve a problem that was already dissipating.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think if you remember back in the time, everyone, especially this generation, everyone was making other pads. I mean, Capcom were making the Resident Evil pad with the buttons changed to make it easy to play tank controls, probably wasn't a bad idea. Later on, you know, what I've got in my collection, the chainsaw controller you had from Resident Evil 4, but there was just this period of everyone was making these controllers, madcats and god knows who else. There was, you know, like you say, used to go into electronics boutique or go into game, and they were everywhere. Now, I mean, I remember thinking, what was what was the original dual shock or Pierce One pad back in the day? Would that have been what 40 40 pounds? Would that have been for one of those?
SPEAKER_03I reckon it'd have been less than that. I reckon it was like 20 quid.
SPEAKER_00So I mean, these weren't that much cheaper, these were sort of 16.99, 1599. These were often more, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So you which you felt like you were getting something better because it was more, but it was shit.
SPEAKER_00Back on the UCP. Um we're allowed one, yeah, we're allowed one. Um, but yeah, and this lot I say to everyone, we'll add this on to um the flashback Discord. I mean, the Psycho Pad Junior, I don't know what the senior was then, because I mean that must have looked absolutely horrendous. But with these programmable buttons, I think the only one no, the senior came with a bus pass. Yep. The only one I think um I qu I quite like as a pad. Um my my brother-in-law, when he dug all his old game and tat out of his loft and gave to me, he had one which he swore by rather than a nez uh Super Nintendo pad, which is you know, Super Nintendo pads are great pad as well.
SPEAKER_03Was it that is it a clear Competition S Pro? It is, yes, it is they were freaking good pads, and they've got a million dollars. And I still use Mega Drive one.
SPEAKER_00I still use it now.
SPEAKER_03You could get a Mega Drive one.
SPEAKER_00What in clear?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it was the same pad, but it just had less buttons on it from memory. So you could get a three button and you could get the six buttons, so yeah. Yeah, the Competition S Pro was they just looked like proper bigger boys things in the magazines and whatnot, though, didn't they? There was something else.
SPEAKER_00If you did pop R type one, you could just pop up that auto fire on there, and yeah, really good. Great, great pads. Like I still use one now, but it's rare that these aftermarket pads were good. Obviously, Competition Pro. We all know about them from their joysticks back in the day, and that they always made good stuff with good parts, but these there was a Competition S Pro with a little digital screen on it, wasn't there?
SPEAKER_03Was there really? I reckon there was. It was like the premium doggy. There was like the Competition S digital S Prokeder, and then I reckon there was one with like just a stopwatch screen, but for whatever it was used for, I'm sure. Mate, did you get those numbers from the console sales? Yes, I did. How did it wash out then? How did it how did this race end?
SPEAKER_00Sega Saturn's total worldwide sales 9.2 million. Oh, oh they're all oh they're already at five. Yeah, so they were literally dead by this point. Um N64, 32.9 million worldwide sales. The PlayStation, I'll just I should just say the original PlayStation, really, because it wasn't a PS1 then, but anyway, um 102 million worldwide sales. So Oh goodness. I think that's what's I think that's what's known in the UK is a damn good thrashing. Um that is I mean to get combined N64 and Saturn were you know 43 million, and they still weren't even half of what PlayStation sold. And I still think I still think it is down to them being so open with games, and that's why we got so many. I mean, they had Cygnosis as well, like you said, they were they were doing the heavy hitters early on, they were the ones making the games, and but we just had so many games. I remember when I used to go in electronics boutique, and you'd see the N64 selection, you'd see the PS1 selection, and the PS1 selection was huge for games you could buy.
SPEAKER_03I will I will stand by the fact though, although the N64 had less, there was more I felt like there was more quality at the time.
SPEAKER_00I would agree with you on that.
SPEAKER_03There was a million like fishing bass drivel. There was a out of that 1900 games they talk of for Sony, there were like there were a good 400 of those that were just made to sit in garages on the rotating if not more, if not more on that rotator stack of drivel, budget copies. There was a lot of real fish and real golf, there was a lot of these 101 Dalmatians and 103 Dalmatian garbage and stuff like that that you'll that you'll never ever ever play.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know. So yeah, I'm agree with you on that. It's very rare that you'll there might be a game that you personally don't like on the N64, but when you actually look at the library, there's plenty you'd think, oh that's good, that's a decent dime, that's a that's a decent IP, that's a Mario, that's an so yeah, I would agree with you on that. I don't think there's nowhere near as the percentage of uh chaff as there is on uh PS.
SPEAKER_03No, there is some garbage games, don't get me wrong, you know, Superman 64, some of those acclaimed wrestling games. I'm looking at you, but outside of that, you know, everything else, as you say, might not be your cup of tea, but but forever it was, it was a serviceable game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. I think you can if you're collecting an N64 now, and especially if you're just doing cartridges, I think you know, most of them you'll buy, you'll be quite happy with what the product is at the end of the pair. If you're doing a full collection of PS1, you're gonna have to buy a lot of crap.
SPEAKER_03Oh, honestly, games that you probably that people still don't even know existed on there as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, there was by opening it up, you did get that, but it did make for a very sellable console, and yeah, like you say, the rest is history. But yeah, going back to the Psycho Pad Jr. Like I say, I'll add that to uh I'll add that to the flashback Discord and you can you can see it all in its glory. Um, it looks like it should be filled with shower gel to be honest, but yeah, I wouldn't have thought there's many people still rocking a psycho pad junior. If you are and you're listening, comment down below and then join our Discord and show us a picture of you playing Final Fantasy VII with your Psycho Pad Jr.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because you're a unicorn and you need to be appreciated.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I bet if you are using that, you're playing with fingerless leather gloves as well because you're s you're one hell of a cool cat. Um right, final bit of news this week. Um, this is from Fingerless Gloves.
SPEAKER_03The the idiot robber's best friend. This is don't worry, mate. I was wearing gloves.
SPEAKER_00Those ones, yeah. Oh I start the people who are wearing face masks but cut the mouse out because they didn't want to be restricted breathing. Yeah, that's not that's not really cutting it. Um this is finally from Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine.
Toy Models Plug Into PlayStation
SPEAKER_00Um, Bandai puts the play in PlayStation. Um Robot Fighter uses mix and match models to build characters. Every once in a while a video game comes into the office that's so off-beat and quirky, it elects oohs and ahs and the occasional huh from the EGM editors. That's exactly what happened with Bandai's ZXE D Legend of Plasm Plasma Lite, a fighting game from the Sony for the Sony PlayStation. This is this is one of the first ones I saw of this, and that's why I put this in. Um what separates this title from the crowd are four model kits that come with uh the game. These snap together models plug into the PlayStation via a special memory card and have interchangeable arms and legs. Instead of a fighting game with pre designed characters, the player can custom create his stroke her over. Fighting machine by mixing and matching the model robots pieces. Since the models plug into this special memory card, the PS can read the changes and create an on-screen version of the robot designed. Since the models were uh are only used to build the various fighting robots, they don't move or shake during the fight, their functionality is rather shallow. Still, the concept of linking PS games to toy models seems intriguing enough to consider its potential. For instance, imagine a fighting game that lets you choose the characters you want by selling them separately as action figures and customised memory cards. Unfortunately, gamers probably won't see that ZXED in the United States. First off, the package uh sports a hefty price tag, almost 180 bucks US for the game plus models. More importantly, the fighting game is rather poor. Um again, I'll chuck these pictures in. They have a picture of the robot, which looks I mean, it looks like something that that that kid off Toy Story had butchered Sid. Was it of Toy Story? Yeah, it looks like something he's butchered and bolted all these bits on because it it the bits are random. Now I did look this up, and this was released mainly in Japan, and a lot of collectors do look for this nowadays, but um it was an horrendous fighting game, apparently. But I think what made me think of this was people have tried it since. Ubis Ubisoft have tried it with the spaceship game that eludes me, the name of it. Starlink. Starlink, which was on no, that's is that it? Because that's Elon Musk's I think it is called Starlink as well, I'm sure it is. Um but that was on Switch and PS4 and Xbox One.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it reeks as a start-up Skylanders or like the NFT stuff that Nintendo have got behind. I think as you say, there was a Marvel Star Wars One, Disney One uh as well. Yeah. Um Disney Infinite, I think it might have been called. We've got the Skylanders like GeoForce or whatever it is with the different I think one of them has made a bit of a resurgence of late, I think. It might have been the Skylanders, but I think Yeah, I think that's kind of come back. I you kind of been in the circle where you walk into CX and you see these strange tat figures, some you recognise, some you don't, but you know, some have a priced like fiver, some are a quid, some are just thrown out of the boot of a car at a car boot, they're kind of like random tat, aren't they? People don't know what they are. I think this is an interesting concept. Like I like the idea of it, but shame the game looks like a load of engineers got round and came up with a solution for a problem that they probably ought to have started with the game. Yes. Um, it's one of those backward engineered concepts to justify what they've been spending their time and money on, probably. But uh, you know, Bando Bandai Namco, I think it was that you said at the start of the article that did it. I mean, you know, they've got their foot in the toy market. Um, people don't probably quite realise how wide Bando Bandai Namco go with the machines that they make, operating service in arcades, um, terms of pachinko and all sorts of different, you know, they've never really left the arcades really, but they provide all sorts of different entertainment um and software. So they are they've got, and obviously they're into toys um and computer game software. So this to me feels like a tie-up that made sense to them at one point in time. They could see the legs of maybe punting some of their toys out through this as well, with a little foot tech in it for some game they're working on, so this action figure also compatible with the ZXED system or some drivel. Um, I can see why they spent the time on it, but you know, they maybe should have got some of the software team to work on a more interesting software package solution because there's nothing wrong with this, it's a bit ahead of its time, and I think the concept's proven time and time again that kids will want to buy overpriced plastic tap that's worthless in 12 months to zap onto their machine. Uh yeah, I mean, smatch made in heaven, really.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I that's exactly what I was gonna say. I mean, my my daughter wasn't into it so much, but my nephew, when he was younger, was all over Skylanders, and and that's what he spent his pocket money on. He learnt what were the expensive ones, what weren't car boots. Whenever I took them to a car boot, let's find some Skylanders, you know. Uncle, let's go and find some Skylanders, and he did, and he had a lovely collection of Skylanders and he played it, but there was a very good game underneath that.
SPEAKER_03Skylanders was a good 3D platformer, yeah. It and off the legs of like Spyro before it even started.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so it it there was that game behind her, which they obviously missed the point with this. It almost seems like they had spare toy parts and thought, damn, how can we get rid of these? Quickly build a game under it, make a special memory card, and away you go.
SPEAKER_03Well, there's also that kind of you can I can also see the crossover of them having an audience as a kid, then transitioning to a being a teen that they then would normally kind of lose sight of as a as an engaged consumer. If they kind of make this crossover device that sells toys and gets them onto a console and again that gets them familiarised with their games as well, it's a win-win.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_03It's a bridging device.
SPEAKER_00You can, like you say, you can definitely see why they went down this route, and yes, they were ahead of their time because obviously later on I know the Star Link or Space Link, whatever it's called, didn't do very well, and they had loads of parts for that. And although it was a great idea, and actually the game wasn't too bad, it was a bit repetitive, but it was a half-decent game. Um, that you know they were ahead of their time, but they just didn't nail every aspect of it. It was a great idea, I think. I mean, 180 bucks back in the day, that's a lot of money. Um, and also they had four sets, which is probably a bit limited for what you could actually do. I mean, probably two or three rounds of a fighting game, you've probably seen what most of what the actual road they've got four sets, but it said the parts are interchangeable, so you know you don't need many sets with interchangeable parts before you've got what twenty thousand combinations. Yeah, yeah, very true. Um, yeah, it was interesting. Um I've I've always liked the idea of this bringing games to life and add-ons you can purchase. I mean, Nintendo make a living, a serious living out of it with amiibos, you know. You stick your amiibo on your controller and away you go. And I've even been guilty of buying a few amiibos, they're not from how I thought they worked, they don't quite work like I thought. I tried to do it with uh I was gonna have a second playthrough of Breath of the Wild. I thought, well, I can just boost this a bit from the start, and then you you Google which amiibo gives you like certain things, and you think, ah, that's a one. No, it gives you a chance of getting those things. So whenever you scan it, it'll drop a chest into the game, and you'll open that chest, and that'll just be like acorns. Alright, come out of the game, don't save it, scan it again. This time you've got a sword. I've already got that sword. You have to keep the so you've got like a 10% chance of getting that eye. So it's not all quite as clear as that with amiibos. That's gambling to me. It is gambling, it is gambling pretty much. But these amiibos, I mean, there's thousands of them, isn't there? And they some of them sell, you know, when they come out, they're sort of you know 30-40 pounds. They're not they're not cheap, these amiibos. So there is a market in it if you do it right, and I suppose most of them never come out there plastic wrapping. No, no. I mean, you you can actually buy people a bit naughty, you can actually buy an amiibo thing with every amiibo on it, can't you? And you can just scan it into your into your into your your switch or whatever you're playing on. Um but they had they've got the audience to do it, I suppose. Um Bandai Namco, if they had, if they'd linked this, rather than making this a standalone game, if they'd linked this to a really big IP that would be part of it, then maybe that would have had a chance of being a good one.
SPEAKER_03Well, the other the other boon for the amiibo over every other package out there is they built it into the machine, it's a non-negotiable, it's there. Skylanders, you've got to get the USB accessory to plug it in. You're already down before you got started. Same with the Disney Infinity, same with this. You have to buy an accessory for it to work. Nintendo Vow just got rid of that need, and then you just waft it across your console. Meaning the barrier to entry is removed. It's immediately I like that figure on the wall, I'm gonna buy it. It's tied into the game I'm buying. I get home, it's scan, it's go. The friction is removed. Yeah, although, as you say, it's gambling, the initial friction is removed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and also you're aiming at a fan base that would buy a figure anyway. So you you you add on a game extra, people are all over them, you know. It made me buy them, you know, and I ain't got only got three or four, but it made me buy them because of the advantages you get in the game, and then you think, well, afterwards, you've actually got a really nice figure to pop on your shelf. So it's it they're quite clever with that Nintendo. But like I say, this being a start-up IP and a system as well, it's quite a hard sell to start off with. If it had been linked to a big IP that Bandai Namco had, or if they made the product for an existing game, I could probably see it having a bit more legs, you know. But yeah, it it was a good try. Like I say, this does exist somewhere in the world. I'm pretty sure it was Japan only released um in the end, and I know it's quite rare, um, but it is it's a bit of a uh collector's holy grail nowadays, I think. I mean, I wonder if there's anyone who's got all four sets as well. I mean, that must be worth a few pounds with uh you know, with a full collection of these with all the the different add-ons and bits and pieces you can have. But yeah, that brings us to the end of the news. Um, a bit of a varied one from 97, but I thought it was quite interesting from console sales and how Sony and PlayStation wanted to make it very clear who was leading the way after the the newly arrived N64 had come out um with their with their bar charts of uh who was winning. Right down to the Psycho Pad Junior, which Psycho Pad's probably a bit extreme for something that looks like, like I say, should be filled with shower gel and hasn't has a little smattering of Super Nintendo colours on it. So I don't know what the Psycho comes into that, but also right down to Bandai trying to make a a toy accessory fighting game, which as we know by today is nowhere to be seen and quite a rare commodity in the game collecting world. Um so I hope you enjoyed those. Like I say, if you want to see more of those, jump in the Unafficient Controller podcast Discord and I will add these to the flashback area so you can have a read, have a look for yourself, um, and uh yeah, and and enjoy what we've been reading
Stingray’s Boot New Releases Picks
SPEAKER_00about. Um but 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 March Stroke April 1997. Spring stop what are you gonna pick from here then, young little George?
SPEAKER_03No, no, because stepping out of the bluebird this week is my god, I never thought I'd see it. Ray is a psychopad senior now what I'm seeing is obviously a human-sized psychopad, but don't let that blur the reality because it's it's it's much larger. He's got double D-pads down there. Not just a singular D-pad, he's got double big double D pads right there. The ergonomic grips are rubber-coated and the switches are aircraft grade aluminium rockers.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_03I don't think you probably want to interfere with rays.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay. We'll leave that there then. Well we don't know what they do.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, that's true. And little Wayne He's got out of the car as a psychopad junior dressed, bless his little cotton socks, as a psychopad senior. So he's wrapped his cheek buttons in foil to get that aluminium aircraft grade look. And bless him, he's got his little D-pad down there, but he's made one out of cardboard and stuck that right next to it. So he's also got his little version of his double D's. Aww. That's sweet, I think. And he's not he's not rubber-coated his sides. Trace just coloured them in black.
SPEAKER_00Oh, so at least they look like rubber, well I'm mine. Good Fan.
SPEAKER_03How are you seeing the uh Ray Boys?
SPEAKER_00Well he's got out of the bluebird, and first of all, I see Oh, that's a different leg. That's a bit weird, and then he's got out again, oh he's he's got another completely different leg. Then he's got oh, oh, what's the Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray? He's got two different arms, he's got a lot of metal torso, got an action man head. I think he might be trying to be the ZX C D here. He's got a different bolt on par. Oh hang on, he's got he's got a lead coming out of the back. Um, okay. Wayne's the memory card, the special memory card. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03What would happen if we imagine them as humans now?
SPEAKER_00It's weird. But yes, so they are they are conjoined. So to use Stingray as the robot, you need to plug Wayne in.
SPEAKER_03I don't want to think more about that.
SPEAKER_00I'd probably best not. What what game do you pick any other George?
SPEAKER_03Porsche Challenge, thousand percent. Game produced by Sony themselves that literally made the PlayStation sing. See, I don't think I've played this, is it? Oh, it's so good.
SPEAKER_00Is it really good?
SPEAKER_03Well mmm George Separate and Nostalgia. It's okay, right? But it's a game that plays really well. You kind of go racing against all the Porsche boxsters, it's built around a Porsche box to um car. There's alternate routes that you can kind of go through. It's um and it's a really good looking game for the time. Um a fun racer. Uh I recommend everybody try it out. I think that's my that's my pick. If you want me to pick another one, you can pick another one, yeah. Uh Doom 64. It's not the best Doom, but you know what? It's a fun, it's a fun.
SPEAKER_00I think it's a decent version on there, and I think from remember right.
SPEAKER_03To me, it's it's gotta be the OG, the DOS OG. Yeah, everything else is a pretender report, it's not right. So that's my second choice.
SPEAKER_00I think for me, I am probably gonna go for a Lundra.
SPEAKER_03Mmm, good choice.
SPEAKER_00As I've recently um picked up, actually got this when we were at OLL. Actually, funnily enough. I got a Lundra 2. I thought I'd like to get the original Lundra as well. For oh um, are you right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, oh I don't know how that came out in '97, but I'm sat looking at Star Wars X-Wing versus Typha.
SPEAKER_00That was then about to be my second pick.
SPEAKER_03Now, sorry for that, but I need to know more about this. Is this like a CD ROM later edition that brought in like audio? Or is this just as my memory just died?
SPEAKER_00Um, you Phil, I'll research for you.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so that's the that's my can't believe I left it behind game. Uh, also a game of note here at the start of a franchise Wild Arms coming out on April 30th, 1997.
SPEAKER_00Uh Star Wing X Wing versus TIE Fighter is a Windows only game, yeah, which came out in April 1997. So it was that time.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, that's right, because we had X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and then this must have been X Wing versus TIE Fighter, and yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So as you've um haven't that one, I will probably jump on then. I will No, I'm not having it. Oh, okay. I was gonna say then, in case you did want it, because I'm quite happy for you to take that out of the boot, I will take Wild Arms because it's a series I've always wanted to get into. Nice, yeah. I think I've got a couple of them Wild Arms games, they've always quite intrigued me. Then have you ever played those Wild Arms?
SPEAKER_03No, I haven't. I think I've got maybe a PS2 Wild Arms that I've picked up along the way. Is that Wild Arms 4? I wouldn't even like to commit to that.
SPEAKER_00I've got Wild Arms 4, but I've been watching the guy on YouTube, I think he's called PlayStation Paul, and he's been playing um Wild Arms 4, and it looks really good. Looks lovely graphics and that and the setting and everything, and I thought, hmm, I quite fancy having a play on that. So, yeah, so I'm gonna pick the original Wild Arms PlayStation, give that a go. Um what is gonna be your film choice?
Movie Picks And The Pierce Pack
SPEAKER_03Well, I've been thinking about this, and I think the film that I'm gonna choose, which really ties in with your one, is are you ready for this? Yeah, tomorrow never dies.
SPEAKER_00Ooh, yeah. Same actor, so yeah Beers Brasen?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you made him French.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Why not?
SPEAKER_03Plus, you know, he's Irish, isn't he?
SPEAKER_00That makes sense to you, I'm sure I'm sure. Uh Europeans. Yeah, I know. Uh Europeans.
SPEAKER_03I'm just straws right now.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. Oh, I thought you'd actually made a link.
SPEAKER_03Well, I kinda have, but I don't want to argue with you.
SPEAKER_00You made a link to this anyway, because I'm I've I've picked uh which actually came out in March, I believe, in 97 was Dante's Peak. So with the aforementioned uh Piers Brosner, James Baum, um, because he's Irish, but yes, um so Dante's Peak, and you've got tomorrow never dies. Um in my one he he dodges madmen and in your one he dodges magma. Exactly. I mean that that should be a double pack DVD with that tagline. Should be. It should be, shouldn't it? That you can imagine that, couldn't you? If he's not dodging madmen, he's dodging magma. Piers pack um your peers pack. I bet that exists somewhere, but I want a t-shirt.
SPEAKER_03I want something in downloads of a picture of that, a DVD pack with like on one side Dante's Peak, and then the other one tomorrow never dies, and across the top it's like Pierce Pack, and then it has that tagline at the bottom. That needs to be a UCP t-shirt by yeah, just in the commas.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, no, and it says in commas, it says on there, if he's not dodging mad men, he's dodging magman, and underneath it says UCP. Yes, it's nine out of ten.
SPEAKER_03Pierce pack across the top in like golden bronze, almost like the back of the rivets in it and a little shamrock in the bottom left-hand corner, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Just to represent. Yeah. Oh, that would be amazing. You know what you've got to do, Captain. Right.
SPEAKER_03Um listening to this.
SPEAKER_00This is before he's even born. He loves flashback. He loves to know what us oldies were doing before he was born. Exactly. That's interesting. Yeah. Um yeah, so let's do a bit of housekeeping before we end the show
How To Find Us And Subscribe
SPEAKER_00then. Um, as I say every week, if you're new listening to this, then why not check out our mothership show, which is the Unofficial Controller Podcast? Over 300, well, over 300 episodes on there. Um, also, you can check out the unofficial controller podcast website, which also has a flashback area on there and has now had recently added on reviews as well. But there's there's loads on that website, very proud of that. All the hard work Captain Scarlet has done on that. So we appreciate that. Thank you, Captain. Um, if there's anything you'd like to uh comment about the show or contact us, you can either do it by if you listen to this on YouTube, you can comment down below. You can I'll I'll tell you what, I hope the video comes out of this because you're a pain when I'm recording. Um you'll understand if you ever see this video, listeners, because I'm constantly being put off by a child. Um Yes, if you want to contact the show, comment down below. Or you can uh contact the show if you're listening on audio through your uh podcast provider or you can use our email which is questions at unofficial controllerpodcast.com. Um or you can contact us on Instagram or TikTok slash Twitter. Um and we also have a TikTok you can check out videos on there from what's on on flashback to what's on on UCP to various other little skits and bits and pieces. And we also, as I was mentioned before, have our Discord, which is the Unofficial Controller Podcast Discord. You can get a link to that off either my Instagram, which is Unofficial uh Unofficial RetroGamerThomas, or you can go to Unofficial Controller Instagram, get the link off there. Come join the Discord, there's various different challenges, there is uh different quizzes that go on, there's also the flashback area where you can read all these bits and pieces that we'll add on after each show. I think I've covered about that, and I George.
SPEAKER_03All I've got to say, wherever you're listening to this, this show is free. It'll always be free. As is a sister show, hit subscribe. Do us a favour. That's all we're asking.
SPEAKER_00Yes, definitely, and we'd love to get more eyes on flashback as well. So if you know anyone that is a retro gamer or you don't know, I've really more things to do.
SPEAKER_03This week we're just asking hit subscribe.
SPEAKER_00Um they're gonna do neither. They will because they love us. Yes, exactly. Um, is there anything else you want read?
SPEAKER_03I want to be their main home now.
SPEAKER_00This is an easy day. Um is that all you want read after the show?
SPEAKER_03Thank you everyone for listening to this boy. Appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00I do appreciate it. We appreciate all the downloads and lots of comments and um reviews.
SPEAKER_03And flashback's got a nice little growth on it, especially on the audio platform, which is nice to see. Uh it's predominantly it is an audio show, but obviously it's also on YouTube. But that also means it's listed on there as a podcast you can listen to while you're strutting about with your phone. Um also available on Apple and all the other places, so no excuse not to hit something somewhere.
SPEAKER_00Definitely. Um Well, thanks very much, George, again for joining us. My pleasure. Absolute blast. Thanks for having a uh a little nostalgic look back at March 1997. Um interesting to see the games and bits and pieces and the news articles that are about at a time. Um yes, and thanks to all you lot for downloading, listening, um your reviews, all your comments, very much appreciated.
Thanks For Listening And Sign Off
SPEAKER_00And it just leaves me to say flashback, the games you love, the stories you forgot. I'll see you next week, George, and thanks again, listeners.
SPEAKER_03Thank you, everyone. See you all GT.