Big Bully Busick

19 hours ago, FLips said:

That He-Man game looks incredible. Love the animation style on it. With a little more depth it could be like the Dungeons and Dragons beat em ups.

The VIP Demo Disc I won arrived earlier today so I've had a little go of it. It thankfully isn't a demo of the Pamela Anderson vehicle, but a regular demo disc. The playable games are:

• ESPN Extreme Games
• Mickey's Wild Adventure
• Mortal Kombat 3 (UK and France only)
• Total NBA '96
• Twisted Metal
• Warhawk

As you can probably tell it's from 1996 so you're looking at early games and ports from the last gen. There's no preview videos here oddly, and of all the discs so far it has the worst title music. Real ear-piercing stuff.
I've had a go of Mortal Kombat 3 which was exlcuded from the German release due to their strict laws at the time. It's always weird to go back to stuff like the old Mortal Kombats or the original GTA games and see what all the fuss was about. Even as someone who lived through it and knew how, for a kid at least, realistic those games could feel, you would think adults would find them comical.
MK3 has Kano and Sonya playable and The Streets level as the only stage. It does taunt you with the full roster including Smoke visible, but alas they're locked away. As someone who had this on the Mega Drive I can tell the graphical and sound differences but I would never say it was worth the console upgrade, especially as Mortal Kombat Trilogy was out not long after and was amazing. They miss a beat by not having the AI do a fatality by default to really demo the game.

Mickey's Wild Adventure is another port, this one of Mickey Mania from the previous gen. Again, great game but unless you owned both you won't be able to really appreciate the differences. The playable level here is one of the worst and most boring ones too, being the ghost level. It's a brilliant platformer with some stunningly creative levels and this demo shows none of that sadly.

I tried NBA 96 as well but it's not for me. I've never been a fan of basketball both on the TV or in games (though NBA Jam, Space Jam and Inside the NBA all get a pass) and this didn't change my mind. For as amazing as the PS1/N64 era was for other genres like platformers, RPGs and action/adventure, it really is a no-man's land for sports games other than racers. A clunky middle period between the pick up and play simplicity of the 16 bit era and the fluidity and speed of the PS2 onwards.

Warhawk was an early big-box game (which are just lovely) and apparently received critical acclaim and releases. It's not my kinda thing though. Maybe I'm just bad at it, but I imagine if you like stuff like Ace Combat it might be up your alley. It's like a grown up Starwing. I just flew into everything I saw like a daddy long legs though. It does look impressive for 1995 though.

Twisted Metal is up next, I assume a spinoff of the Samoa Joe tv show. We all know what Twisted Metal is and while the demo is very generous with the character select (you can pick anyone from what looks like a full roster) it's lacking in the gameplay department. One Arena Duel and it kicks you back to the demo menu so good luck with the load times trying to get multiple goes of this one. Combat racers have never been my jam the same way battle modes on kart games haven't. If you like that sort of thing though then Twisted Metal and Carmageddon are the two PS1 big names to look at.

And lastly a game that pleasantly surprised me was ESPN Extreme Games. I expected a Tony Hawk knockoff but instead got a very responsive and fun Road Rash style brawling racer. Skateboarders, BMX bandits, Lugers (not Lex, but the guys that lay on their backs on skateboards downhill) and Rollerbladers all race from A-Z with all four shoulder buttons throwing left and right high or low punches and kicks to knock the other racers on their arse.
There's big stunts and jumps to do, cash to be won and, though I didn't quite work out what it did, a count for how many hoops you've raced through. It's even got those pixelated digital graphics that Road Rash has. Looks good, plays great. Only thing missing was music which the full game has, so that's an all-rounder.

A little something for everyone on this demo. Not taking into account what I owned on previous gens and only judging them on face value, MK3, Mickey and ESPN would all be potential buys for me, though a better level choice on Mickey would turn it into a definite yes. NBA 96, Warhawk and Twisted Metal don't do anything for me but I see the value in the latter two, especially in 1995 when the console was fresh out and there wasn't a full library to compare them to.

The demo disc years were truly amazing 

Alot of people collecting them now too

7 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Oh, wow! It never occurred to me they could've done essentially a Golden Axe port for MOTU. Why didn't they?! Glad someone's done it now, anyway.

The franchise was made for a hack n slash type game instead we got stuff like this

And this (I owned this one sadly) 

Now this fan made game is pretty much exactly what I wanted from a Masters of the Universe game in every way

Instead we got some terrible adaptations of the franchise littered around various systems that nobody cared about

I absolutely love how remisisant of the show this is, from the art style to the sound effects and soundtrack 

And you can even choose Lion O for some fantastic reason 

16 hours ago, Merzbow said:

Maybe on a similar avenue, games on vinyl!

This video just popped up on my feed featuring a little game about The Thompson Twins of all acts, I know Chris Seivey/Frank Sidebottom also had a game on a b-side of his, too.

I imagine even at the time they were a pain in the fucking arse to get working.

 

She is amazing 

Watch her repair videos 

On 5/13/2024 at 3:58 PM, MB1975 said:

Honestly, Im not the one to ask,  If ever there's a situation of someone just being "the bloke who writes the checks" its me for Progress.

I believe the focus is on a few things (Im a layman remember)

1. Providing a great platform and structure for talent to flourish and want to be part of and represent Progress.  Theres alot of wrestlers that, this is their full time job.  And pulling in 100 quid a show doesn't cut it, but they supplement with merchandise.  We want to be supportive in this.

2. Improve our streaming service and video content.  The WWE contract ending was a blow but nothing we hadn't anticipated.  it would be a really shitty business plan to rely on one contract to survive.  I expect us to still be selling content to them.  We have so much they want.  Things just need to settle first.  The double whammy was our streaming and subscription provider shitting the bed and us having to pivot so to speak.  My main thing in doing anything is, don't fanny about rushing to do it.  Do it slowly and do it correctly, so its robust and meets purpose.

3. More and bigger venues.  We are at a point with alot of our shows that we could use a bigger venue.  The jump in price compared to how many tickets we will sell is a big gamble though and we certainly do not want to increase prices.

 

As for "where does it fit in" - Like I said, I don't know the scene.  All i can tell you is the stuff I've seen and teh stuff I've been to, I see alot of fans having a great time.  Maybe it doesn't grow a whole lot.  Maybe it stays as it is, with a small, loyal fan base and one day its passed on to others with the passion.

I popped up on here because someone on the boxing forum I'm on asked me if we were going out of business.

 

What boxing forum you post on out of curiosity? 

8 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

I hope it didn’t spoil the food!

Nope I did that naturally unfortunately 

9 minutes ago, FLips said:

Sorry not trying to backseat mod or anything, I just don’t think you’re doing them justice!

Edited last two posts 

It's a very valid point and I totally agree with you

Just now, FLips said:

Some are definitely missing (Mega Man 8!) but that‘s a cool list i’ll definitely be having a try of.

@Big Bully Busick I watch your Youtube stuff during work but it might be worth talking a bit about the links you post rather than dead dropping them! They’re interesting stuff and it would be nice to get some discussion going.

Fair point

I'll do more of that moving forwards

Admittedly I droppthe last one whilst cooking 😂

Now this is a game we all played at a video shop in Stratford in the 90s

Before the days of street fighter 2 and fire balls, this was button mashing at its finest (that still applies today) 

Thought I'd fire up the Super console X and see if it holds up and whilst it's alot of fun, boy I haven't been as frustrated with a game as much as I was with this one in years 

So I'm going to be doing some more of these challenges 

The systems I collect for only which are 

Any form of Xbox

Any form of playstation 

Nintendo Wii and Wii U

And the Switch (it's possible to add these but very difficult) 

Rules are I can't just pick cheap games but only games I intend to play and think I'll enjoy somewhat 

Now £10 is relatively easy and buying 3 games shouldn't be a problem but once I complete each challenge, I'll be moving on and lowering my budget

So if successful the next time will be £7 then 5 and I'll finish at £2(god knows how I'm gonna achieve that one) 

Hope you enjoy and always love to get feedback of any sort on my content 

19 hours ago, FLips said:

Because I clog this board up with retro game stuff all over the place when I should maybe just keep it in here, you might have missed it when I played the full game a while back and posted about it in the PS1 thread.

Obviously I’ll be doing a little write up of the demo as well though, cos it’s a different thing innit?

Vib Ribbon is brilliant fun

It's on PS Plus currently and I played a ton of it recently 

On a slightly different note, I was playing Taito's Violence Fight over the weekend and throughly got my arse handed to me

It's been edited in to a video I'll drop tonight 

Croc was very good for it's time

I recently played through it again and as you mentioned, the controls haven't aged well but once you get the hang of it, it's still a fun time 

25 minutes ago, FLips said:

The covers are night and day aren't they? The PAL cover is awful in it's own right.

It really is

It screams £2 at CEX but obviously it's a bit more than that lol

9 minutes ago, Version1.0 said:

2 hours ago, FLips said:

Fun coincidence actually. I was watching @Big Bully Busick’s Youtube channel and he picks a game up and says “what on earth is that”. 
I knew what it was straight away.

It’s the Japanese copy of Mr Moskeeto! It’s definitely a fetish thing.

 

Makes sense now

I've only ever seen the Pal release cover 

51 minutes ago, FLips said:

Just had a quick look (I’m meant to be working) and as someone who also scours CEX and retro stores at any chance it seems right up my alley! Will watch properly later, nice one.

Much appreciated 

10 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Went in one yesterday as had time to kill before the bus. They had the GTA collection on PS One for £58!!! 

Is this normal?

Probably cheaper than what you'd find on ebay tbh

Recently started a YouTube channel which is heavily focused on retro 

https://youtube.com/@Wizbitsrandomgaming?si=YgXa0M-KHxdyoDZ7

I like Oku

See him tons at Wrestleforce locally and really impressed 

Shannon Moore Vs Omas

Van Hammer Vs Hornswoggle

4 minutes ago, The Dart said:

Wasn't on Takeover though.

Did they not televise it? 

I was there so only flicked through the show when back home

On 11/29/2018 at 10:46 AM, Angle_fan said:

Elias has become every bit of the star I knew he would be 3 years ago. It's amazing how well he's done. He never even had a Takeover match! 

He did

Takeover London Vs Bull Demsey

On 10/30/2018 at 10:10 AM, Sphinx said:

Do a significant amount of Tories like Barca compared to other go on 

3 hours ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

I got them all right, being a psychopath and everything, but look at Bob Orton Jr. Everytime I see that figure, I start to believe the rumour that he was a prototype for the "Cowboy" Bret Hart figure. Bret even says in his book they had all the merchandise drawn up before he told them where to go. It looks nothing like Bob Orton.

Same here

I had quite a large amount of LJNs at one point