Thougoht it might be fun to talk about my pickups over the last few
weeks. Years ago (2008) as a poor lad with a large collection, I sold
most of it off when I moved to Kentucky. Over the years, as I've been gainfully employed, I've purchased some (but not all) of the games I
sold years ago. I have also started helping run convention game rooms,
so I've bought quite a bit of stuff on the pretense that "it's for the
con" to help myself feel better.

So here's what I've picked up over the past few weeks. (Just physical
games this time, maybe going forward I'll include digital releases too)

---GENESIS DOES---
Toaplan Shooters Volume (Genesis) - Retro-bit licensed Genesis
re-releases of Grind Stormer and Slap Fight. Given the known issues
with the Tengen carts of Grind Stormer, I'm glad to have this, even if I
had to pay full retail price for it. (Still beats the price of CIB
copies of the original!)

Undeadline (Genesis) - another Retro-bit re-release of a game that
regularly hit the 4 digit threshold on price. Pre-ordered and got at
retail, and scalpers can, and I quote, suck it.


---TOUCHING IS GOOD---
Dragon Dance (Nintendo DS) - this is a weird combination of Mahjong and Puzzloop (the game Zuma and Luxor ripped off). Japan only release, as
far as I know.


---SWITCH ON!---
TriggerHeart Exelica (Switch) - I already have this digitally for Xbox (backwards compatible 360 download, I believe), but my Xbox Series X
hasn't seen much use lately. I figured I might get some more time out of
it on the portable.

Fantasian Neo Dimension (Switch) - This was originally an Apple Arcade
game, I think, and since iphone/ipad gaming is for suckers, I didn't
partake back then. Now that it's on switch and was on a heavy sale
around Christmas, I picked this one up for my wife.

Super Alloy Ranger (Switch) - don't really know anything other than 2d
shooty. And it was very cheap so I thought I would give it a shot.

Castlevania Dominus Collection (Switch) - the one thing I really hated
about Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow was the forced touchscreen drawing of
"runes" to beat bosses. This apparently eliminates that. I already
have Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia on DS, so maybe I can sell
those off and just play them again here. They're the new style of exploraction Castlevanias instead of the better straightforward ones
like Bloodlines, but they're not bad overall.

Batsugun: Saturn Tribute Boosted (Switch) - since I'm unlikely to buy
the Saturn version at the prices people want for it, this is a nice consolation prize. Seeing decent Saturn emulation on the Switch is
pretty neat.


And for the lesser systems:

---UPSIDE-DOWN GRAY BOX---
Dragon Valor (PS1) - a classic Namco action RPG that I never got a
chance to play previously. Should be fun.

Dead in the Water (PS1) - the cover art has always stuck out to me, and
I got a good deal on it, so hopefully the gameplay is good.


---ROBOT BUTTCRACK---
Visions of Mana (PS5) - was planning on picking this up shortly after it
when it came out, until the news story broke about Square Enix
shuttering the studio before the game even had a chance to sell. So I
waited, and got it for less than half price a year later, and Square
gets nothing.


--
~ bestylus

(NO-SPAM is obviously not my email domain. You might try the Roman
version of Hera if you really need to email me.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

New games added to the library:

GENESIS DOES
Today, I received Twin Cobra for the Sega Genesis in the mail. When
Retro-bit announced they had to drop it from the Toaplan Collection 2
Genesis reprints, I wasn't too sad, because of the three games (Slap
Fight MD, Grind Stormer, and Twin Cobra), Twin Cobra was by far the
cheapest to pick up outside of the collection anyway. So I snagged an
ex rental copy for $20, which is probably about as good as anyone can
do, even if it has a little label damage.


WHAT NINTENDON'T
Yesterday's mail was Kaiju Boom Ball, a brand new NES game! It's a breakout/arkanoid style game where you are trying to defeat giant
monsters! It looked like a lot of fun, and the developer is on BlueSky
and is pretty cool, so I backed the kickstarter. Didn't take very long
to get either (I'm used to board games with ridiculous production times).

I purchased roms of some of the developer's other games on his itch.io
page, and liked them well enough to give this one a go too!


--
~~ bestylus ~~
Yes, this is the same benstylus who posted here from the late 90s to mid
00's.
NO-SPAM is obviously not my email domain. You might try the Roman
version of Hera if you really need to email me.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)