Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Tag: 1990s

Are We Lacking Excitement?

Posted on by Viljami

I barely remember the beginning of the 90s. No, I wasn’t partying hard back then. I mean that I was only a young child that didn’t have this ability to understand some things. I got the idea for this blog post as I was once again playing some Golden Axe 2 for Sega Mega Drive. It was first released in 1991.

I remember that this was one of the most popular games we had that time for Mega Drive. I definitely connect this game as a defnite Sega game. There are some games that just make me feel this way. We can mention games like Sonic and Outrun. This can tell you only how skillful these engineers and game designers were. They were not playing with their technical skills.

If we think about technology we can think about 1980s and how Commodore 64 influenced several young people to commit a huge amount of time to programming and getting into this technical field as a hobby. Some might have even made it to the industry as a professional. I can think of people like Linus Torvalds right here. Did you know that he is also from Finland? Well, he is.

While users of Mega Drive gaming system weren’t able to program or design their own games with this device there definitely was some sense of excitement towards technology, computers, games and everything else related to video games.

If you play Golden Axe 2 for a while you can notice how thoroughly the makers of this game have thought about many aspects about this game. First of all we have here some very carefully designed characters. We also have these surroundings that can make your imagination take a dive in to the wolrd this game presents. There is also a light story among with some enemy characters. All this just explains the quality of this work. This is defnitely a good game of this era.

The gameplay is very nice also. Graphics could be better. It’s a shame that we haven’t seen a new Golden Axe game for a while now. There was a game released for PS3 and/or Xbox 360 some time ago. But I think that this game looks good if you think about it being released back in 1991.

What would I add to this game if I had a change to modernize it? It lacks some character development in my opinion. I could see this game being a very nice action RPG if it would be brought to this day. If there would be experience points and some way just to develop your character. The story and surroundings are just so detailed. This game has taken some influences about some phantasy literacy and maybe even movies. So it would be a good fit for a role playing game.

Mega Drive had a deep impact to game development. Did you know that Diablo was inspired by NHL 94? Well, it was. Turn based role playing games were dominating the markets before Diablo was released. The developers at Blizzard thought that they should bring these action features to the world of role playing games. At the same time real time strategy games were beginning to become more popular.

But we should return to the main question that I set in the beginning of this blog post. Were things different back in 1991? And if so how? The biggest change there has happened is that video games are a way bigger business today. Do we have enough room here to create something unforgetable? Are we still excited about new technology and with the same time about building new phantasy stories, worlds and characters?

I think we haven’t lost all of our excitement. But if we wish to progress in this world of gaming we have to keep this matter in our minds. Money is important, I know that. But it shouldn’t take away these opportunities and all this excitement. So let me say, once again, don’t loose your dreams! Don’t loose the excitement…

Missing Old Times and Playing Alien 3

Posted on by Viljami

I got Alien 3 for Sega Mega Drive. I paid 25 euros for it. It might not be the best Alien game ever. There are although many elements that make this game interesting for me. I also got Mortal Kombat for Mega Drive and a NES game that was actually Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers.

I am thinking of collecting some more Mega Drive games. There are over 900 games for this system. I currently have a bit over 30 games. I also have the Mega Drive mini console. While Iike to own the cartridges the classic mini offers the opportunity to use save states which makes playing more comfortable.

I miss the 90s. We seemed to have that feeling of progressing technology and everyone thought that this fast advancement would continue. Well, it has continued, but today we also see all of these threats of technology and there are lots of difficult issues with modern and ever developing technology. We are facing an issue of technology bringing more difficulties than advancements and improvements to our lives. Technology has grabbed us and is holding us as hostages in a way.

Alien 3 is a shooting game. Your mission is to rescue all persons that are captured in the maze. There are 15 levels for you to play. I played this game for some hours and got to level 4. There is a lot to play for a 90s Mega Drive game. You get to choose from different weapons. Ammo is somewhat limited. You can choose a grenade launcher, flamethrower, submachine gun and grenade. You will have to combine the use of these three weapons since ammo is limited as I stated already. There is also a time limit.

The world of sound is very nice in this game. When the time is about to run out you get an annoying beeping from the game. This is, well, annoying. Otherwise I like the sound in this game. You have to play the levels for a couple of times so that you can figure when an alien is jumping at you or where to find a captured prisoner that you need to release. It is said that this game takes 4 hours to complete. Í think this is very close to true.

I like Alien 3. I am going to try to complete it when I have some more time. It brings me very comfortable memories from an era of past. I can recommend this game if you like solving puzzles and figuring out where to move in a challenging maze. If you like 90s 16-bit Mega Drive games I think you will like this one also.

Games That Brought Consoles to 2000s

Posted on by Viljami

I remember clearly my first steps that I took towards game consoles. My first device was Sega Mega Drive. I could keep playing for maybe two to three hours back then. Games were simpler than today. They were challenging but they were also very repetitive. Graphics weren’t anything amazing. Controlling your character with the game pad was simpler as there were less buttons to use than gamers today have.

I got to know PlayStation soon. I have gone over this already several times in this blog. It was about 1997 and I got my PS1. I got to play Gran Turismo. Racing seemed to be perfect genre for console players. I am talking about consoles here because there are clear differences between computer and console games especially in this time period. There was something great about games back in the 90s. It gave players a hint of where this field was heading.

I don’t see today anymore such a great difference between PC and console games. Back then we were excited about PlayStation. It was easy to plug in to the television. It had awesome new kind of game controllers that were never seen before. A bit later analog sticks made it possible to move even smoother inside the game’s three dimensional world. Consoles seemed to have conquered our living rooms while computers had their position in our home or work offices.

So PlayStation had ruled for a couple of years. It was clear that some day there would be even more powerful device in our living rooms. This was PlayStation 2. It had a capability to play DVD content. It had its flaws also. It didn’t have Ethernet or hard disk drive. But it had something we lack today and that was the extreme backwards compatibility of games and even memory cards and controllers. What were the games that pushed console gaming more and more towards the leap that was ahead?

I was a bit busy in my life this time. I was away from gaming for several years. Althought not completely but I made some choices that made an impact personally. I sold my PS1 and all my games and other accessories. I totally skipped PS2. I only got to know a bit about this era of gaming as I played some PC games and original Xbox games later. I was interested for a short period of time later about PS2. I have to say that I am not so interested in getting to it anymore. I enjoy newer games more and PS2 games don’t give me such a rush of nostalgia that PS1, NES and Sega Mega Drive are able to bring. But there were these great titles that I used to play. And now is a good time to get to them and to how they revolutionized console gaming.

If you think about it, it becomes more and more clearer. This was what would eventually happen. Games would become more and more popular and more and more acceptable as a hobby of an adult person. Think about titles like Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill. You can move in these games to any direction. There is a lot to discover and explore. They have a story in them. Graphics are as good as can be if you consider the systems that were running these games. This is finally what brought the need for new gaming device and that device was PS2.

Games were changing and improving in many sides. People were starting to take gaming a bit more seriously. It wasn’t anymore just a hobby for children. And I think this is what makes that era in gaming so important and special.

Some Nostalgia from The Dawn of 3D Modeling

Posted on by Viljami

Sometimes I find myself going back to where it all began. It was my beginning inside gaming. Somebody else might feel different about this. For me the 90s was an inspiring period of time. We saw the rise of 3D modeling and textures. The development of technology enabled players to enjoy more and more realistic graphics. First came Doom. It brought a realistic environment that you could move in. Soon games like Tomb Raider and Quake were released.

One of my favorite games of this time was, and still is, Kingpin – Life of Crime. This articles featured image is from that game. There are some reasons for me to like this game. A rap, or hiphop, posse Cypress Hill was very deeply involved in this games development. They appeared as voice actors and also produced the music that was in this game. What is the game about? It takes place in some ghetto somewhere. The player takes a role of a gangster. Basically this game is a first person shooter.

3D modeling has come a long way from these days. It was 1999 when Kingpin was released. I think about this as I just a while ago have played a really nice rally game – WRC 9 that was released recently. I think about how much the job of a 3D artist has changed. Back in the days you could see the models edges. Now you don’t see such edgy graphics. I also think about how much it affected gaming that there suddenly were graphics processing units that could reliably convert 3D graphics for players to enjoy.

3D acceleration in home computers brought computers that had more performance. Earlier it was thought that processor in computer was the component that made it faster and stronger. There was more to it. Some time ago we saw also some other components that can bring your PCs performance stronger. I’m talking about solid state drives or SSDs.

I strongly believe in the development of technology. We are going to see many advancements that are also somewhat related to gaming. Be it virtual reality or the development of sharper screens this is bringing us as human beings more advanced games. Technology has many qualities. Bringing games for players to play is just one side of it.

If you are interested in Kingpin – Life of Crime go check this website : https://www.kingpin.info/

Sega vs Nintendo – What was it all about?

Posted on by Viljami

Nintendo released a maximum mega hit gaming console back in the 80’s. It was called NES or Nintendo Entertainment System. Atari had released gaming consoles targeted to use inside customers living rooms. It was about the time when arcades were quickly challenged by these kinds of devices you could easily set up inside your own home. The trend was there. Personal computers, PCs, were becoming more and more popular also.

While Sega Master System wasn’t a very bad console it couldn’t fully challenge NES. Sega knew they had to release a better, more powerful, gaming console to compete with Nintendo. Mega Drive, or Genesis as it was called in the USA, was released at the end of 1980’s and in Europe right at the beginning of 90’s.

I remember clearly the commercial of Mega Drive. It was a promise to bring arcades to homes. It delivered graphics and sound at 16-bit quality instead of earlier gaming consoles 8-bits. If Master System didn’t have so many hit games Sega promised also to bring good quality software in the form of great games. Sonic The Hedgehog and Golden Axe II were some of the most popular titles back then with not forgetting some greatness that was brought to paying customers by games like Splatterhouse, Streets Of Rage and for example Kid Chameleon.

Nintendo had Super Mario. Can someone say seriously that Super Mario wasn’t a great game? I think no one would say or think that way. So he was the mascot of the whole NES and also Nintendo. The battle for the gamers hearts (and money) was ultimately bloody and sweaty. You can have, if you wish, a great debate about which console had better games then the other.

As the battle continued Nintendo seemed to take in consideration how violent some games were. They started to deliver fighting games with no blood, hockey games without fights and cute characters that might seem to appeal to younger audience. Sega instead was reaching for customers that wanted this kind of rawness in their games. They didn’t remove the blood or the violence. You have to remember that things were a bit different back then since games in general weren’t so realistic. Sega was also paying more attention to the packaging of their games since Master Systems games were catching critic on that issue.

So who won the battle? You can definitely say that both consoles and companies were doing great. Sega was successful and so was Nintendo. Later, Sega made some bad decisions and started to be in trouble. The last console that was released was Dreamcast. Nintendo instead has been bringing gaming consoles up to this day as Switch is their latest console. Dreamcast was released in the end of 90’s and Switch was released 2017.

 

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