PixlBit

I wouldn't mind having.a mug like that myself. The only thing I've gotten lately in the drinking department is a set of silver goblets, boring. I want my Zelda mug!

Stage Select:

I'm going to take a slightly different tactic here. If I were to change video game history, I would have had Sega sabotage Madden 92 for the Genesis at CES. That kind of public humiliation would likely have knocked EA out of the console market for years, if not forever, and probably led to their losing their partnership with the NFL. EA gets away with a lot of its horrible business practices in large part because they have a guaranteed stream of Madden dollars and FIFA euros every year. It would have profoundly changed the face of gaming. EA would have been curtailed somewhat in buying and gutting studios, as well as a lot of its other predatory practices. Madden 92 itself existed because of said predatory practices, where EA basically strong-armed Sega by threatening to release Madden as an unlicensed game. The industry would hopefully have been less homogenized than it is now because EA would be much weaker than it is. Sega could have handled American football while Konami could have handled soccer. Ultimately, it's hard to say, kind of like what happened when Jake prevented JFK's assassination in 11/22/63.  Maybe the video game industry would have tanked. Maybe the PS1 would have fared worse. Who knows?

According to Bing Gordon, who was the chief creative officer of EA at the time, Sega really did have the ability to destroy Madden 92 at CES through some sort of kill switch.  EA's executives were apparently waiting with bated breath at CES for Sega to drop the hammer on them, but they never did. 

Video Game Cage Match:

I'm going with Streets of Rage on this one. Final Fight always seemed to be very clunky to me, and I wasn't a fan of the character designs on it. I liked SoR's fighting and design much better, and I liked Axel, Skate, and particularly Blaze better than I did Guy, Cody, or Haggar. There was also the fact that I didn't get into Final Fight in the arcades because I gravitated more towards Konami beat 'em ups like TMNT and The Simpsons.

FF7 is the one game that would really sell me on this device, if I didn't already have FF7 on pretty much every Sony console under the sun, plus I now got it for the Switch. It's a bit mind blowing playing it on a Nintendo system. I remember the ads Sony ran that made fun of Nintendo for losing out on FF7 on the N64 because Nintendo decided to use cartridges instead of CD-ROMs.

I'd replace most of the Western titles on this thing with the rest of Square's PS1 library, plus games like Lunar and Dragon Warrior VII. I always felt that the PS1 was the closest thing Square ever had to having its own console. 

Now Nintendo has cartridges that can hold all these huge games, plus games like Mortal Kombat 11, Doom, and Wolfenstein, with the help of onboard system storage.

I skipped the PS1 Classic. I guess it's dirt cheap now and probably wouldnt hurt me to get it. But there's only one game on the PS Classic that I consider to be an indispensable classic, and I'm actually playing it on Switch right now, 20 years after Sony bragged that it would cost $2000 for a cartridge big enough to hold it. Tekken 3 and Resident Evil are the only two other games on there that I'm even remotely interested in. Other than RE (primarily RE2) and Tekken, the RPGs are what made the PS1 for me, and I'd have been more inclined to get it if it had had a few more RPGs. I suppose the Lunars, Alundra, Dragon Warrior VII, and Tales of Destiny/Destiny II were never considered, but they could have at least given us Parasite Eve, SaGa Frontier, Xenogears, or FF Tactics. The Japanese PS Classic had SaGa Frontier and Parasite Eve on it, and I'd have definitely dropped Cool Boarders and Jet Moto for those two games. 

I played the Atari 8-bit/5200 version of this game, which didn't play any different but did get a slight graphical face and sound lift.

A lot of Activision games were prettied up for the Atari 8-bit line. The 8-bit version of Pitfall II, however, had a whole second cavern with tougher enemies and new treasures to find.  

Stage Select:

I would put Hiroyuki Ito and Akihiko Yoshida in charge (the Tactics/XII team), with either Uematsu or Sakimoto doing the music. I'd do high fantasy but with semi-realistic characters. Lots of moogles. I'd also try a turn-based system again. It would be a complete game from launch. Expansions might be made later, but they would be strictly side bonuses. I'd probably do.a job system along the lines of Tactics or V. The setting would be somewhat inspired by American Protestant Christianity or Mormonism, to kind of get away from the stereotypical Catholic imagery video games rely. on.

My vote goes to P5, followed by MKX and Yakuza 6. Never really liked God of War or Kratos. Bayonetta is my go-to for that style of gameplay.

Yeah, I was really hoping for P5R on the Switch after Joker showed up in Smash. The Switch is already becoming an RPG beast with Dragon Quest XI S coming this year on top of the Final Fantasy games and other titles it does have, having P5R and Ni no Kuni 2 would have made it that much more complete.

In 2000, you could get FFIX new for $40, or MM new for $60. I paid $50 for Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete brand new on PS1 with all the extra goodies that came with it. Still cheaper than a high level N64 game.

Even now, Nintendo games really hold their value, like Apple products, though Nintendo games aren't priced at a premium at launch over other companies' games. At this point, ironically, I have a greater appreciation for Switch cartridges versus PS4 or Xbox One discs.

It's incorporated into the track that plays at the Onett video arcade where you fight the first boss.