Old News Archive 2004

Its not that's I've been busy..
9:38AM, December 14, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

Its just that I don't know what to add to the site, even though there's still so little up here. Oh well, at least shaz got a gamecube, and Star wars kicks a lotta ass. Sifnt hook us up with links of your Ebay scores shaz!

Some small site updates from me: updated the variants, collection, hitlist and genre pages. Find them on the Mega Drive index. That's all for now, but I will be back sometime this week, hopefully with another update (probably an anti EA rant).

Gamecube
Messenjah - 5:20PM, December 14, 2004 by --Shaz--

Continuing with my allegiance to Nintendo I have purchased the gamecube, for a nice small price at the local second hand store. This little machine pumps out some nice lookin polygons, with what seems to be little effort. The major downside of the system is the unfortunate lack of games available, but there are enough to keep me happy for a while. My first game for the Gamecube is Rogue Leader (Rogue Squadron 2),with a few more on the way from Ebay. So Now I have my Hitlist for all Nintendo Consol's in the SNES Arena section.

How ya doin cocoa puffs?
3:40AM, November 18, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

I kinda feel bad about this update. I've been meaning to do this update for 2 months now, but only now i have i finally got it together enough to finish it and upload it. Actually, its only about half finished but its better than nothing.

Speaking of nothing, here's something that isn't: My collection. That's right, I finally reached my goal of 100 games in 2 years, and with 3 weeks to spare!

Just to put it in perspective, that's the roof they're up to, and there was still 6 or so loose carts that didn't fit. And yes, it did all fall on me when i tried to take it down.

Finally, the new Mega Drive section I've been working on has been uploaded, so have a look. Expect more updates soon (promise)!

71 + 2 = 27 more games to go!
6:18PM, September 10, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

I've added Hellfire and Haunting to my Mega Drive collection. I'm getting closer to my goal of 100 Mega Drive games by November 14, but I still have a lot of work to go.

To celebrate heroes a new picture of my arcade set up. That's all for now..

Dazed and confused
9:30PM, August 30, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

What a strange turn of fortune.. Just over a week ago I was bitching about how expensive games are at my local area, and how few decent Mega Drive lots are on ebay. Barely a day after posting I went to said game store and to my amazement some crazy bastard had traded their Mega Drive games in, and I was standing like a chump with my jaw hanging somewhere in the vicinity of my feet. Anyone that has had the experience will know that is what happens when you find a score!, and my score was Daze Before Christmas; one of the rarest games in the PAL Mega Drive library.

All mine for $14.95 AU

Needless to say, i held on to that sucker like a disqualified "female" chinese swimmer does to a gold medal, right up until i left the store. Oh yes, it was sweet.

As if that wasn't cool enough, I managed to score a decent lot of 3 games on ebay. Even if they are 3 of the commonest games for the system, I don't have them. I'd have them sooner if ebay would stop nagging me over fees..

Speaking of ebay.. BUY MY STUFF... Again :p

Site news: Added another variant. When I'm not busting my chops ill add something else to the site.

MacGyver would be proud
2:52PM, July 19, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

WooHoo! Finally got a new TV, complete with requisite Composite inputs to make games oh so sexy. Problem 1. is that I don't have an av cable for my Mega Drive, MD2+32X or Master System, so it was RF for them... Until I found the DIY Genesis av cable guide. I bought the stuff from DSE for $4.84 AU + minor burns to my thumb :|

Its fairly easy to make, and even easier if you have a spare av cable lying around. The picture quality is so much better than RF, and you don't need to tune it in or anything. Even the worst games look better (keyword is look). Nobody on ebay.com.au sells cables for the first Mega Drive, but there's usually a couple for MD2 floating around for about $6 (+ postage).

While your down at Dick Smith Electronics, you might as well pick up one of these. An absolute bargain at $7.98 for my fellow mega drive owners. Anyone with a 32x and a master system will appreciate them for sure. Second only to the official sega powerboard.

In between DIY projects, i added another scan to the historical archive, updated my collection pages and the links page. I've also been chilling to some shoutcast ambient techno style grooves, so ill leave you with some very thought provoking images:

Scene 1: Reiko is HOT!

Scene 2: CENSORED (for the children)

Must.. Stop... Playing games.... Update... Site... Chickens?
2:30AM, July 12, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

Too many games being bought, and not enough new TVs for the Cabinet. Argh.
Good thing shaz doesn't appear to have the same curse, with a thrifty update to cover my apparent addiction to anything that moves :|

Fortunately the Mega Drive games at Game Traders aren't moving, giving me plenty of time to buy the good ones one at a time. This weeks game: Flicky for $10 AU, which brings my game total up to 66. I also snapped up Claw for PC because it was probably the last 2d platformer for PC and a great game to boot. Shaz picked up NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 which we expect will get some game time this week. Likely result: Me and my Aston Martin walking away with every single victory..

Site Updates: Updated MD collection page, added a scan from the 32x manual (page 4 to be exact) and added another variant to the Aus Mega Drive variants page. Fixed the Sega 16 link too.. Sorry bout that one..

Something's Happening...
Messenjah - 6:45PM, July 7, 2004 by --Shaz--

Good news everyone. I have finally done something on this site, after a long break without any input. So, first up we have a hardware review for the snes, yes thats right, a hardware review about a control pad. Nothing to get excited about I know, but in the coming days prepare to see my first game review for the snes. That game shall remain a secret till further notice.

And now for the good news. My humble computer has recievd a much welcomed upgrade to a very nice standard in the last few days. But I won't bore you with the specs:

Its go time!
11:22PM, June 23, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

First off: my apologies for taking my sweet-ass time about the update, but fortunately for the time being I'm free to update the site with lots of cool Sega content. Maybe with a little luck I'll be able to inspire (?) the other two to put some Nintendo content up. Without sounding pessimistic, there's a good chance I'll have bought a nintendo and written a review before that happens though.

We can only hope =)

On the more cheerful Sega front (ahem- classic sega) I will soon be the proud (?) owner of a 32x. One of my best Ebay scores so far- ta da.

I also got some new games- the best of which are Super Smash TV and Lotus Turbo Challenge (both MD). Its hard to put into words exactly how good Smash TV is with 2 the dual arcade sticks of the Battlestation II. Ill have to get some pictures up eventually, coz its that good! You can view a full list of my new acquisitions in the collection pages. Only 36 Mega Drive games till I reach the magic 100!

Its fair to say I've been on something of a Mega Drive high lately, so instead of just playing the games I thought I'd write about them- introducing the Mega Drive Australian cart variations page. Enjoy the sexyness of the silver box and cart. Then enjoy the usual sexyness on the downloads page..

The Reprieve
10:39PM, May 29, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

First off, i have to mention that Wonderboy III: Monsters Lair has had an official pardon by myself, and is no longer on the worst Mega Drive games list mainly because I received an email from a visitor that pointed out that the game does indeed have some positive aspects to it. The main reason it was on the list though is because as a wonderboy game I've always thought it to be disappointing, but that shouldn't be held against what isn't really a bad game. And of course, there are far worse offenders on the Mega Drive. Thanks again james for the email.

Some moderately important news: my Mega Drive collection has made it to the big 60, which isn't bad considering MD games here are more expensive than say Genesis games in America, and also taking into account the fact that I'm an unemployed uni student.

I've still got half a year to get to 100, and there are still plenty of good games I still haven't got: the Strike series, Fatal Fury, the 4 other sonic games, Phantasy Star series, General Chaos, FIFA, Outrun, NBA Jam: TE, Haunting, and loads more games. I also wouldn't mind either a justifier or Menacer by the years end.

Speaking of FIFA, a while ago I made a "best of Mega Drive sports" page, but for some reason forgot to link to it from the Mega Drive index. The page has been updated and you can check it out here. Collection and hitlist pages have also been updated to reflect some recent acquisitions. Both pages can be found on the MD index.

But I said something more...
3:30PM, May 26, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

The bad news in a sentence: iinet games' admin Angel is moving on , Sammy has wholly bought Sega for 1.4billion dollars US and the exhumed (saturn) game i won off Ebay was so badly scratched it wont even boot. Bad news for shaz: His computer will be the slowest spec machine at the next lan.

Good news now: My new mainboard and RAM arrived, and as i expected my 1.4ghz AMD Duron (applebred core) overclocked happily to 2ghz. Hopefully with a little arctic silver it will be able to go to 2100mhz (10.5*200). At 1.4ghz it was a fighting force against Shannons 2.4ghz Celeron, but now there's really no comparison. I wuv you AMD.

Onto the site news I guess: added a new scan in the Historical Archives- A review for Super Afterburner on 32x. Its good reading as it points out one of the reasons why the 32x failed. The hitlist and collection pages have been updated and both can be accessed from the Mega Drive index.

There really isn't much to it...
3:12PM, May 12, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

Using my skillful insider trading skills I've recently become the owner of a Nintendo 64. Lucky me. For AUD $9.00 I now own a new N64 and the game Conkers Bad Fur Day. Sure, I've played N64 games before (shaz has one), but never have I been in the position where I had to pay for N64 games.

Looking at the IGN list of best n64 games , I cant really see much worth buying. Conkers Bad fur day got 9.9 which is a little disturbing (coz its crap!) and mario, zelda, etc bore me to tears.
In fact on the entire list the only games I'm looking forward to trying are: Perfect Dark, Blast Corps, Rogue Squadron and Jet force Gemini. Other games (not on the list) I'll look for are: Ridge Racer and wipeout 64, Shadows of the Empire, Body Harvest, Lylat Wars, and of course Cruisin USA.

Of course I'm not actually going to buy any games till I find a 3rd party controller. I'm thinkin something like this. Believe it or not I did actually try CBFD, and the first thing that hit me was how unbelievably bad the FMV is. Its freakin awful!

Oh well, more N64 ramblings another time. I added a couple new links, got rid of a crap-load of white-space that was making the random title image move slightly higher than it should be and when my new mainboard + RAM arrive ill be able to scan some more Megazone. I ordered an NV400 based mainboard and some corsair value plus RAM. $80-ish each and I'm really looking forward to overlocking my Duron 1.4 =)

Let Mortal Kombat Begin!
1:57PM, April 25, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

The battlestation II is now in its new home waiting to be secured in permanently, though that will require a trip to the local wood and tool emporium. I will be doing a full review of the battlestation II soon, but until then all i have to say is that it just might be the coolest controller ever!

What could possibly be better than a sweet new controller ? New games of course. So went down to my local used games collective (Game Traders) and the local pawn directive (Cash Converters) and picked up: Mortal Kombat 2 and Sonic for Mega Drive, as well as an RF for the Mega Drive.
Having an RF unit is so much better than having to reach around the tv and switch cables, which I suspect was damaging the plug at the back. If your still using a cable to connect your Mega Drive then do yourself a favour and buy and RF unit (most Mega Drives come with one, but all i got was a cable *grumble*).

Site news: Updated collection and hitlist pages to reflect the 2 new games. Finished my second Rocket Knight Adventures wallpaper, and a third wallpaper should be finished by tomorrow.

Ipod Used In Domestic Homicide
2:02AM, March 14, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

2 Updates in quick succesion- what is this some sort of sweatshop!
Seriously though, i just wanted to point out this article that i saw on 8bit joystick:





MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE (HLN) - A Memphis woman was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after she bludgeoned her boyfriend to death with an iPod.

It certainly is an interesting read- my favourite part is the bit at the bottom: "It took him a while to die,” Dr. Klamut said. “She must have stabbed him 40 to 80 times with that iPod. His death was not instantaneous, that’s for sure"

Hey, i just realised there's only 10 days to go till my birthday, and I have always wanted to kill people with an ipod..
 
(okay so its not actually true. still cool none the less)

They call me Sonic.
8:52PM, March 13, 2004 AD by The Great Escape

TCMS is what they call it, and it's almost every GamingFM listeners bane. Except me. In fact you could say I've developed a strange love for the song. Fortunately for the Gaming FM community I have a local copy, so no need for me to request it.
While your at GamingFM though you might as well request- Grandia 2: A Deus, Metal Gear Solid 2: Skateboarding, Streets of Rage 2: Alien power , Rez: Dune Buggy Beeps.

Oh, and by the way- that image is from segacollection, so don't go tellin me about how I set back women's equality. Again. Hey, It could be worse: I could be putting up cosplay stuff...

Site News: More wallpapers, Megazone scans, re-made the mega drive index and the worst games page, but unfortunately no rescue mission review yet.

I am NOT Obsessive-compulsive !
12:19PM, March 5, 2004 AD -The Great Escape

Well, maybe just a little- but that's ok, coz I know lots of cool news i can put up right here. You may have noticed that I'm really looking forward to getting myself a Gamepark GP32, but I've yet to explain all the cool things that make me want one sooo bad. Things like:

- Plays DivX and MP3. Explains itself really. Fortunately I already have an Mp3 player (which is muchos compactos), so I wont be buying a GP32 for that. DivX on the other hand...
- Being able to support a struggling company. I let the Dreamcast die, im not gonna let the GP32 die on me. DONT YOU DIE ON ME!
- Hard working, talented, commited and all around really cool open-source and homebrew community.
- Related to the above, but it should also be noted that there's a wide variety of emulators for the GP32 as well, many of which are quite playable. No GBA, SNES, or Mega Drive emulation (yet), but that's not really the main selling point to me- I'm really "picky" about roms and emulating in general (i.e. I usually don't emulate at all).

Providing I don't have to spend all my money on $90 text books, it's just a matter of time till I'm watching DivX Red vs Blue from where ever the hell I like =)
Site News: Made the Links page bigger, so now theres enough sites to keep a small country entertained. Almost. Almost finished entering my Mega Drive Collection.

An ode to the Knight
10:34PM, February 18, 2004 AD -The Great Escape

If I'd read the weekly star-signs and astrology in the newspaper last week, Im pretty sure mine would have said something along the lines of:

Rejoice, for this will be a week of doing stuff you should have done a long time ago. And don't forget to watch Teen Titans....


Not only did I finally make the Rocket knight Adventures wallpaper I've been putting off for so long, but Shaz and I managed to add something of a header to the cabinet. AND I scanned in some more megazone scans. Ill be scanning the Rocket Knight review soon, so untill then you'll just have to be happy with the wallpaper. Now all I have to do is remember to watch teen titans...

Party like its 1993
11:09, February 06, 2004 AD -The Great Escape

I recently recieved an email with a really, really cool request- more Sega Megazone scans. So far all I had was the copied out megafile, which you can find in the Master System section, but in the new Historical Archive you can find actual scans from actual magazines. Definatley worth checking out. No prizes for pointing out how tacky the name is either..
In between Icewind Dale sessions ive managed to add a couple of new links, including one to gaming FM, which i just happen to be listening to now. They have Grandia II- how cool is that!?!