Hart & Usagi #118

In episode 118 we talk about the Game Boy Advance Castlevania games getting ports to current consoles, ResetEra being sold for millions, how to pronounce “Gleylancer,” Space Suplex podcast wrestling topics, and much more.

Enjoy and remember to subscribe via RSS or Apple Podcasts and follow the Hart & Usagi Podcast on Twitter!

TOPICS:

• Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute, Cotton 100%, and Panorama Cotton coming west in 2021
• Looks like the PS4 CMOS Battery issue has been fixed with a firmware update
• Disney Classic Games Collection: Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Jungle Book announced for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC
• Castlevania Advance Collection announced for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC; now available
• Activision Blizzard to pay $18 million settlement after being sued by US employment commission
• Classic shoot ’em up Gleylancer coming to PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch on October 15
• Gearbox Software gets a new president as Randy Pitchford moves to head up Gearbox Studios team
• There’s a SpongeBob Squarepants Xbox Series X now, because of course there is
• ResetEra gaming forum sold for $4.5 million
• Steam has banned games based on blockchain tech with NFTs, but Epic seems down with adding them to its store
• Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition launches November 11

SPACE SUPLEX TOPICS:

• The Demon from WCW returned at Impact’s Slammiversary.
• 8 Ways That Kevin Dunn Is Helping To Ruin WWE
• AEW and Owen Hart Foundation announce partnership, annual tournament
• AEW Dynamite moving to TBS on January 5, 2022, Rampage to remain on TNT
• AEW Dynamite Draw With Kenny Omega Was Bryan Danielson’s First-Ever Five Star Match
• Pat McAfee Jokes About WWE Stars Getting Stuck In Saudi Arabia, Happy He’s Not Going
• Michelle McCool & 9 Other Wrestler Names You Won’t Believe Are Real
• AEW unveils TBS Championship for the women’s division

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Mike: @usagi704 | Domain of Usagi704 | Instagram | Games for sale at PriceCharting.com

@HartandUsagi

@SpaceSuplex

A Decent Boll Film?

Welcome back to another “I got more movies” post. Shall we?

Assault on Wall Street is a 2013 film starring Dominic Purcell of Prison Break fame. It was directed by Uwe Boll. The horror! I know. Sure this movie isn’t ground breaking by any means and it’s actually about what the title makes it sound like, but it’s nowhere near as bad as anything based on the video games that he’s done. Give this one a chance and check it out. You might actually be surprised that it’s not half bad.

I’m no stranger to Disney’s Aladdin. I saw it for the first time when it was originally released on home video. It was on one of those ancient things called a VHS cassette. It was what we had at the time (and we liked it). I personally never owned a copy of it until now, but it was always very memorable.

An extended edition of The Martian was acquired at a decent price with all of the audio commentary I can handle. It features both cuts of the film which is something I wish was done with The Patriot on Blu-ray.

What Game Do You Have The Most Copies Of?

The following is my reply to the topic “What game do you have the most copies of?” started by cosmostein77 in The Candid Collectors’ Union.

I only have two of the exact same game on the same system. That game is Twisted Metal. I have one long box version and one jewel case version.

Games that I have different versions of are:

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance – PS2, GBA
Disney’s Aladdin – SNES, GEN
Doom II – PC, GBA
Fatal Fury – GEN (coming soon), SNES
Final Fantasy VI – SNES, GBA
Killer Instinct – SNES, GB
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – SNES, GBA
Max Payne – PC, PS2
Mortal Kombat – SNES, GEN, GB, GG
Mortal Kombat II – SNES, GEN, GB, GG
Mortal Kombat 3 – SNES, PS
NBA Jam – SNES, SCD
Quake II – PC, PS
Samurai Shodown – GEN, SNES
Sonic the Hedgehog – GEN, GG
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – GEN, GG
Street Fighter Alpha 3 – PS, GBA, PSP
Street Fighter II – SNES, GB
Stuntman Ignition – PS2, PS3
Sunset Riders – SNES, GEN
Super Mario World – SNES, GBA
Super Street Fighter II – SNES, GEN
Tecmo Super Bowl – NES, SNES
Tetris – NES, GB
Tomb Raider: Legend – PS2, GBA (Euro verison), DS (Euro verison)
Twisted Metal: Head On – PS2, PSP
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 – SNES, DS

Playing Licensed Games

For my next few games that I play I’m going to tackle the licensed games in my collection. If that includes crap, then so be it. Here’s the laundry list of games that I plan on playing that fall into this category.

Batman Begins (PS2)
Biker Mice from Mars (DS)
Conan (PS3)
Crue Ball (GEN)
Disney’s Aladdin in Nasira’s Revenge (PS)
Gungrave: Overdose (PS2)
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (PS2)
Justice League Heroes: The Flash (GBA)
Mickey Mania (SNES)
The Punisher (PS2)
The Red Star (PS2)
Rise to Honor (PS2)
RoboCop Versus The Terminator (SNES)
Spider-Man 2 (PS2)
Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run (PS2)
TMNT (PS2)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PS2)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers (GB)
Transformers (PS2)
VR Troopers (GEN)
WCW vs. The World (PS)
WWF Raw (SNES)
The World Is Not Enough (PS)

Of course this list isn’t comprised of every licensed game that I have. Some I have already played (ie: Astro Boy: Omega Factor) or there are too many similar titles (ie: the rest of the WCW/WWE games) to be considered.

Now onto purchases that I made today at Gamestop. I took advantage of a coupon that was printable off of ps3fanboy.com. It’s for 25% off of any three used PS2, PS3, or PSP games. Here’s what I got.

Flatout 2 (PS2)
TMNT (PS2)
Yakuza (PS2)

Also from JapanGameStock.com I bought two used Super Famicom controllers and a PS1 memory card.

On the PS1 memory card were some old saves. Take a look.

The New Games of August

Here’s a list of the latest game acquisitions from over the past month. How many? Well, I could have you just count them, but I’ll be a nice guy. 17.

Gunstar Heroes – GEN
Well, SonicHomeboy, you’ll be happy to hear about this one and “about time” is right. It’s game only, but I can’t really ask for much more other than to be happy that I now own this treasure by Treasure.

Aladdin – GEN
I’ve heard that some people prefer this version over the SNES game. Before playing it for a little bit, I could not understand why. After giving it a go, I honestly still don’t know why. The controls aren’t that spot on and the hit detection doesn’t seem to be all that great.

Biometal – SNES
How many remember or even know of this game? My guess it not many. I never knew about this shoot-’em-up until one of the local store clerks mentioned it. I figured I’d at least try it out while I was there. Surpringly enough it’s pretty sweet.

Batman Forever – SNES
Unlike Biometal, I’m sure everybody knows about this awful game based on an equally awful movie. Thankfully the craptastic follow up, Batman & Robin, didn’t get the game treatment too.

Cybernator – SNES
Here’s a game that I found out about from this ScrewAttack Video Game Vault…video. I think it’s better than average, but truly not by much.

Power Blade – NES
Power Blade’s not average by any means. It totally kicks ass. I should know. I’ve already finished it.

Final Doom – PS
I never got into Final Doom like I did at the time with the prequels. What’s odd about this game is that it looks like the PC games, but has the sounds of Doom 64. I’m not sure if that was the best design choice.

Twisted Metal – PS
Yes, I do already own a long box version of this game. So why buy it again? Is it because I’m crazy like that? Nope. Actually it’s because the long box doesn’t hold the disc very well.

WCW Backstage Assault – PS
I knew better than to get this game at the time in 1999 even though I was a big fan of the sport back then. So why now? Price. $4.

Burnout Legends – PSP
It’s Burnout 3: Takedown on the go. Enough said.

Motorstorm – PS3
I enjoyed the little bit that I played this game at a friends place a few years ago. Now it’s made even better at the greatest hits price with the cool red case.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory – PS2
I have the first game and I didn’t care all that much for it. However from reviews I’ve read, Chaos Theory looks to be much better and maybe what I’ve been looking for.

Here’s the last five games coming your way.
The Orange Box – PS3
Batman Begins – PS2
Samurai Western – PS2
Beyond Good & Evil – PS2
Killer Instinct – GB

1993 Game of the Year

Here we go with one of the dynamite years in video game history, 1993.

NOMINEES
Aladdin (SNES)
Doom (PC)
Lords of Thunder (TG-16)
Mortal Kombat II (Arcade)
Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES)

Honorable Mentions
Final Fight 2 (SNES)
NBA Jam (Arcade)
Saturday Night Slam Masters (SNES)
Star Fox (SNES)
WWF Royal Rumble (SNES)

1993 Game of the Year: Street Fighter II Turbo
Runner-up: Doom

Wow. 1993. What year that was for video games and great ones at that. I played tons out of all 10 of these games at the time (only exception being Lords of Thunder) and loved every bit of it.

The Game of the Year for me was without a doubt Street Fighter II Turbo on the Super Nintendo. The first game was great on that system, but this game had everything that I felt was missing previously. It had playable bosses, same character vs. same character without the need for a code, adjustable speed, and basically two games in one with Hyper Fighting along with Champion Edition. Plus, I always liked the new color scheme for the fighters.

Doom as the runner-up is a great choice as it was the first ever first-person shooter that I played. It also interested me enough to find demos for other FPS games at the time like Wolfenstein 3D and Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold. If you have yet to experience this revolutionary game, then I highly suggest checking out one of the many ports of this game.

Previous entries: 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992

Double Dragon, Battletoads, Super Mario All-Stars, and more!

Here’s a quick list of games that I most recently bought.

IT’S ABOUT GAMES
Turrican (GB) – game only
Super Mario All-Stars (SNES) – game only
Aladdin in Nasira’s Revenge (PS) – complete
Quake II (PS) – complete
Rainbow Six (PS) – complete
Devil Kings (PS2) – complete
Contra: Shattered Soldier (PS2) – complete
Kill Switch (PS2) – complete

STICKMAN’S
Golden Axe II (GEN) – game only
Battletoads & Double Dragon (SNES) – game only
The Italian Job (PS) – complete
Sunset Riders (GEN) – complete
Rise of the Kasai (PS2) – new

RRW6 – Day 1 & 2: An Early Start

I decided to start Retro Revival Week two days early (same as SonicHomeboy) since these are my days off for the week. I’d have to say that my favorite games for these two days were Operation Wolf from the Taito Legends compilation and Double Dragon II on the NES. Here’s the list of games with photos.

MEGA MAN 8
I played though the opening stage and Grenade Man’s stage, but no further progress was made. The anime scenes are definitely of the time the game was made. Much slower paced than today’s shows like Bleach or Naruto. The sled parts on the snow level were pretty tough and I’m sure that those that have played it know what I mean.

TAITO LEGENDS
In this compilation I played the following games.

Bubble Bobble – I only got as far as level 10 during my best play through with a final score of 111,980. I’m sure that’s nowhere near as good as EightBitWarrior is capable of.

Operation Wolf – I only used one continue on the second and final stages (out of six) even though I didn’t beat the game. It’s a little easier controlling with the analog stick than the d-pad. My final score was 207,700.

Return of the Invaders – Probably the best of the Space Invaders games included in this collection. I still didn’t get very far as I had some problems with a specific enemy that could reflect my shots back at me. My final score was 46,500.

Space Invaders Part II – A disappointing sequel to a classic game where the only difference that I could see was the addition of color.

Rastan – One of my favorite games on this disc. It kicked my ass only because I haven’t played it in quite awhile.

Operation Thunderbolt – This sequel to Operation Wolf doesn’t quite pull off the excitement that I get from playing its prequel.

Thunder Fox – A pretty good action game that Usagi704 finds more exciting that I do. Maybe I’ll give it more of a chance later this week. Final score: 178,700.

FATAL FURY 2 & STREET FIGHTER II: SPECIAL CHAMPION EDITION
Played some matches against Usagi704. The better game was SFII, but Fatal Fury 2 was also pretty fun.

DOUBLE DRAGON II: THE REVENGE
My progress in this game was pretty good. I managed to get up to the temple level only to die when trying to jump on the platforms over the first set of spikes.

ALADDIN
My skills on this game have lessened over the years. They went from being able to beat the game to having problem at the beginning of the second part of level 2. I still find the game pretty exciting, however.

WOLFENSTEIN 3D
I was able to play up until the third boss where my ammo ran out. If the game expects me to use a simple knife on this boss, then it’s sorely mistaken. Here’s the wonderful death screen that I was presented to after dying.

Also, say what you will about this port to the SNES of the PC classic, but that’s still one manly looking title screen. :lol:

Speaking of manly games. Take a look at this Video Game Vault by ScrewAttack on Operation Wolf. It’s pretty entertaining.

Well, that’s about it for my first two days. Expect more to come tomorrow. Until then remember that Retro Rules! :)

Retro Revival Week Game List

Here’s the 17 games that I plan on trying to play during next week’s Retro Revival Week.

GAMES I MUST PLAY
Mega Man X4 (PS)
Mega Man 8 (PS)
Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (GEN)
Double Dragon II: The Revenge (NES)
Fatal Fury 2 (SNES)
Tomorrow Never Dies (PS)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (GEN)
Taito Legends (PS2)
Twisted Metal (PS)

GAMES THAT I MAY PLAY
Aladdin (SNES)
Brawl Brothers (SNES)
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (PS)
Duke Nukem: Time to Kill (PS)
One (PS)
Rage Racer (PS)
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (PS)
Wolfenstein 3D (SNES)

Retro Rules! :)

Last Bit of Games Bought Last Week…

…at least I hope so for now. :P

The first set of five games came from It’s About Games. I went there to get one new PS3 game so go figure that I’d find some harder to find games and get them instead.

Aladdin (SNES) – game only
WCW vs. The World (PS) – complete
Spyro: Year of the Dragon (PS) – complete
Crash Bandicoot (PS) – complete
Battletoads (NES) – game & box

This second group I bought all new. The top three DS games were bought as part of the “buy 2 get 1 free” sale that was taking place at Toys-R-Us. Geometry Wars: Galaxies and Space Invaders Extreme here bought at Meijer. I was happy to get Space Invaders Extreme. It’s as fun, if not more so than, the demo and it was only $20! :)

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (DS)
Sonic Rush Adventure (DS)
Geometry Wars: Galaxies (DS)
Space Invaders Extreme (PSP)