PixlBit

When I was a kid I remember seeing a TG-16 display at the mall. It had Bonk set up on it and I played it a bit. I didn't know anybody who owned one. One of my favorite publishers back then, Working Designs, got its start localizing TG CD games. I've played a few TG16 games on Virtual Console, including Ys 1 & 2. The PC Engine games that grabbed my attention the most were the Tengai Makyo (Far East of Eden) games that were never localized.

My cousin had a Genesis connected to his stereo back in the day. He mostly played Mortal Kombat on it, which had a unique soundtrack on the Genesis. That thing would really make the speakers thump. 

I was a SNES boy myself, and I loved the soundtracks for Zelda, Metroid, and Final Fantasy. I had my SNES hooked up to a stereo as well. Even third party games like Zombies Ate My Neighbors did really good on the Sony sound chip for the SNES. It sounded better than the PC Soundblaster cards did.

John Jay Smith sure was all in on the Genesis. There are apparently licensing issues with his estate over Sonic 3 because of his involvement in composing its soundtrack. I guess he either liked Sonic the Hedgehog or the Genny's sound chip. 

Star Fox 64 was the first of those games I played. It was one of my favorite N64 games. The SNES games just seem too slow by comparison, but it was cool that they were pushing the SNES. Sega did it better with Virtua Racing on the Genesis with its own built in SVP chip. 

Astral Chain is great. I just wish they'd say something about Bayonetta 3.

I remember Hexen. My dad and.I played it to completion on PC.

There is apparently a fan-game in the early 90s called Where the Hell is Carmen Sandiego? You had to track Carmen in hell, using knowledge of Dante's Inferno.

And the only state they used for a state-specific Carmen Sandiego was North Dakota, of all places. The only places I can think of off the top my head in ND are Bismarck, Fargo, Minot, and Williston.

Donkey Kong 3 is an interesting game. It seems to be Nintendo's take on Galaga, and the main character looks like an illustrated version of Mr. Game & Watch. And he's spraying Donkey Kong's balls with bug spray. I guess that's why Donkey Kong Junior never had any brothers or sisters.

Stage Select:

1. Octoroks, Leevers, Peahats, Moblins, and Lynels from the Zelda series. Zelda has an awful lot of memorable mooks, actually. The first four have remained mainstays that give Hyrule its unique look, and Nintendo figured out how to make Lynels as brutal in 2017 as they were in 1987. 

2. Slimes. Can't really say much more about those. I even have a Slime plushie I got as a pre-order bonus for the DS release of Dragon Quest VI. 

3. Malboros, the giant plant monsters with big gaping mouths that stick you with multiple status effects in Final Fantasy games.  My first FF game was VI, and when I played VII, they were the first recurring monster in the series I remember seeing. I hate those a-holes. 

Cage Match:

Gals Panic: Breath of the Wild wins here, so much for someone assuming I was talking about Zelda.

Just kidding. That said, Zelda: BotW does win. I've pontificated on it enough that everybody knows where I stand on it by now, so I will actually talk more about The Witcher 3. That game is loaded with detail in terms of the characters and the world, and it's definitely one of the titans of the RPG genre. Geralt is definitely one of the more interesting video game heroes out there. I've been familiar with the series since the first game. CD Projekt's success with Witcher 3 was well-earned. Breath of the Wild is my favorite game of this generation, and The Witcher 3 is my fourth-favorite game of the generation, so this was a monster matchup, unlike my Cage Match pitting that poor bastard Quest 64 against Final Fantasy VII. I will say that Witcher 3 is stronger in narrative while Breath of the Wild has much better game mechanics.

Congrats on the Switch. It is my favorite system of all time, so many wonderful games. You need to treat yourself once in awhile. I PMed you my code.

Love, love, love Dragon Quest XI. The only game I enjoyed more this decade was Breath of the Wild.

Well, you just had to have been... No, wiggling the joystick back and forth sucked even then. That Trak-Ball sure helped me blow through the events though in both the Activision and Konami games.