Podcast talking about early 90's game mags...

[Anthony1]

I'm doing this new podcast called "RetroBlast: A 90's gaming RetroSpective".

It's basically a chronological look at my gaming history during the early 90's. Anyways, I just thought that I would mention the podcast here because I end up talking about EGM issues quite a bit. So if anybody is reading EGM issues from 1991 they might enjoy some of these shows.

In my most recent episode, I talk about issue #22 of EGM (May 1991):

The show isn't specifically about gaming magazines, but I mention them a lot, and in a few of the episodes I've talked about magazines quite a bit. The podcast is a solo podcast, basically me reflecting back on my early 90's gaming adventures, but on episode 11 special guest Chris Alaimo (from Classic Gaming Quarterly) joins me on the podcast. At a certain point we talk about a number of topics relating to the May 1991 EGM.

RetroBlast: A 90's gaming RetroSpective

iTunes link

Episode 9 has a pretty long discussion about gaming magazines in it, only thing is, episode 9 is kinda a bad episode to start with, because I'm telling this long personal story that really began back in episode 7. In episode 9 I talk about EGM, GamePro, Game Players and Video Games and Computer Entertainment.

All of these magazines will be talked about in future episodes of RetroBlast. I'm basically covering specific timelines of my gaming life, and i was a hardcore video game magazine nerd at the time, so it's a bit part of my videogaming memories. So, I'll be talking a whole bunch about EGM and GamePro in future episodes. Die Hard GameFan and Next-Generation were my two favorite magazines of all time, so when I eventually get to the time when they were available, I'll be talking about those mags too. Check it out if you get a chance...

[Sean697]

I actually might be interested I this. I'll check it out. Incidentally, I'll be scanning that issue within the next month or two.

[Sean697]

Ok so enjoying this so far. As far as Tommy Lasorda baseball. Its one of my favorite baseball games ever. I love that game. I'll probrably agree that color wise it wouldn't add up to TG-16 color. And music was nothing special. But the gameplay is just so solid. I also felt each player was so disctint in this game. Each player had their own stats as well and was unigue. Playing through the season or with friends you knew which guys where your power hitter. Your pitchers, and you ace relief pitchers. And the stats were pretty accurate to the real teams. For instants Oakland had an insane power hitter that was a replacement for Canseco. They had a Mark McGuire like player, a Rickey Henderson type player. They had maybe the best relief pitcher in the game that was more or less just like Dennis Eckersly. Plus it just played so well without being too complicated. It was the best baseball game to date for sure. There are basically no faults with the gameplay. Pitching was solid. Hitting was solid. Your pitchers wore down and lost their ability control their pitches well as they played more, making pitcher management essential.

Also I am pretty much 100 percent sure this game had NOTHING to do with Power League Baseball. It was programmed and developed by Sega Japan. All the credits list Sega of Japan programmers,or more correctly their psudonyms. BIg Island is Naoto Oshima who invented Sonic the Hedgehog. Also this game was based on Sega's own Super League arcade game. In relation to to Power League, my guess is it is trying to imitate it and is a copycat game. But the developers are not the same.

I posted the ending to Tommy Lasorda on youtube a few years back as part of a forum challenge on Sega-16.com to beat every Genesis game collectively in one year. Notable is the ending credits show digital photgraphs of the programmers, one of if not the first use of digital photography in a game that I know of.

Edited February 3, 2016 by Sean697

[Sean697]

So for anyone else here, this podcast is pretty interesting so far. More of a solo callback to the beggining of the 16 bit age. Very nostalgic and very listenable. Very different than most retro podcasts. It's great listening while I'm editing magazine scans. While the Anthony 1 is older than me, I think I was already a Harcore gamer by the time he started this. I had a paper route and was buying games and mags left and right. I got the Genesis at launch in August. After saving all summer. Can't wait to get to the episode on that. Interesting hearing a firsthand perspective I. The TG-16 stuff I missed. One thing I'll agree on is release dates are horrible on the Internet. I have spent countless hours of searching for correct release dates for game. (In fact one of the reason I go to this site.) Stuff like Wikipedia and Moby games are horribly wrong. Game magazines generally are pretty close from my experience. As well as old store catalogs. There actually were release dates somewhat back in those days to a certain extent. But to most people would have no access to them. Toys R Us had a printout of expected dates they would get certain games.mi would call them ask them all the time and they would pull it out. There also was an independent games store in the mall near my house in Northen California that had a binder on the counter and a chalkboard on the wall. It would list release dates of upcoming games for the NES and SMS and later TG-16 and Genesis. They knew months this in advance when the games were coming in. Unfortunately nobody thought to save these release lists for prosperity. And they were really for the retail stores. Obviously they were not national, but being in CA you generally got games first due to its location to the industry. I've always wondered if in some Toys R Us file cabinet they had old shipping invoices when games came out.

Anyway I'll post thoughts as I work my way through episodes.

[Sean697]

On episode 3. Sega started listecensing sports stars in the SMS days. With games like Walter Payton Football and Refgie Jackson Baseball. So I don't think Katz had much to do with Arnold Palmer and Tommy Lasorda. Notice SOA was in San Francisco and they really got a lot of California sports stars. I wouldn't be surprised if the Joe Montana talks were started before Michael Katz either.

[Sean697]

Also I went back and checked and sure enough on Sega-16.com I remembered the discussion for the release dates for Genesis launch titles, like back 2012 and I'm assuming that was you.

[E-Day]

Is your avatar a picture of Andy McNamara from the 90s? It looks very familiar.

[Sean697]

In regards to Revenge of Shinobi. (Episode 5) 100 percent it was October 1989. I was calling everyday for the game. I got some money for my birthday in early October and went out and bought the game. IT was out before Forgotten Worlds which was like a Nov/Dec release. I think some game publications didn't get their early copys of this. But EGM did play it in their 1990 buyers guide issue that came out before the end of the year. Now it may have went more widespread or been pulled. My Revenge of Shinobi was the Rev 0 or original release version. It has all the Rambo, and Spiderman and Batman Bosses etc. Its possible that it had that Oct release, was maybe pulled and put out again in 1990. But Revenge of Shinobi was one of the first post release games I got for my Genesis that Fall.(After Ghouls and Ghosts, which was early Sept, and I also got Mystic Defender around that timeframe as well.)

Not only did I have the game before Christmas but before the games I got for Christmas. I think it just came out in small numbers prior.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Sean697

[Anthony1]

Is your avatar a picture of Andy McNamara from the 90s? It looks very familiar.

Yeah, it's from an early issue of Game Informer.

No disrespect to Andy McNamara, a cool guy that I've seen on various Bonus Round episodes with Geoff Keighly, but man... that picture is a classic, heh...

Couldn't help myself

[Anthony1]

Also I went back and checked and sure enough on Sega-16.com I remembered the discussion for the release dates for Genesis launch titles, like back 2012 and I'm assuming that was you.

Yeah that was me... For awhile there, I had a crazy obsession with trying to pinpoint the real release dates.

Unfortunately, prior to stuff like Sonic Tuesday and Mortal Monday, legit release dates are an oxymoron. They really don't exist. The best you can do is release windows. But old usenet posts is a great resource.... Old usenet posts and the classified ads of some newspapers, and some advertisements from certain newspapers. You almost have to do detective work to figure out when these games really came out.

The best evidence would be a legit receipt from the actual time period that shows the date.

Hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to a bunch of these episodes... I'd try to stick with it if you really like early 90's gaming magazines, cause I'm definitely going to be talking about them on future episodes. I became a huge magazine nut at a certain point and was buying like 6 or 7 mags per month at one point.

[Sean697]

Yeah that was me... For awhile there, I had a crazy obsession with trying to pinpoint the real release dates.

Unfortunately, prior to stuff like Sonic Tuesday and Mortal Monday, legit release dates are an oxymoron. They really don't exist. The best you can do is release windows. But old usenet posts is a great resource.... Old usenet posts and the classified ads of some newspapers, and some advertisements from certain newspapers. You almost have to do detective work to figure out when these games really came out.

The best evidence would be a legit receipt from the actual time period that shows the date.

Hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to a bunch of these episodes... I'd try to stick with it if you really like early 90's gaming magazines, cause I'm definitely going to be talking about them on future episodes. I became a huge magazine nut at a certain point and was buying like 6 or 7 mags per month at one point.

Listening, your experience really mirrors mine in a lot of ways, except of course I was in High school. In a way it was kind of better because I had even more time to play games in that time period. And I had a part time job but no bills. So I had a lot of games. I'm up to episode 6 so far and enjoying it.

I really appreciate you defense of Altered Beast. I think the real problem was that it was an arcade game. You got you 5-10 hours out of it and that was it, I played the crap out of the arcade game and it was pretty much the same thing. But when it released, there had been absolutely nothing like it on the home console. I'd give it a B. You learned the game, maybe played some multiplayer,mans where done with it.

Also I was a huge sports game back in the day, so I apreciate the talk about them. I particularly enjoyed Pat Riley. Once Lakers Vs. the Celtics came out though, well. I'll say Imoccasioaly went back and played it still with friends. But Lakers vs Celtics was the sports game at that point for basketball. I like you reasoning about sports games how there is a game until another supplants it. Still enjoying the TG-16 talk. I really have to go play Military Madness one of these days.

[Anthony1]

So, for me, while I loved Lakers vs. Celtics in the beginning (blinded by the great graphics for the time), I felt like the game ended up being kinda crappy cause of the horrible collision detection (traffic jams on the court), and the fact that it turned into the, "get into the paint and tap A button to win" game. So, I fell out of love with it once the shiny graphics wore off.

Did you ever get bothered by any of those issues ?

It's weird how you can totally fall in love with a game for a few months, but then you realize that the game has a major issue and you just can't enjoy the thing anymore... At least that's how it was with me and Lakers vs. Celtics.

I still love that parquet floor though!

[Sean697]

So, for me, while I loved Lakers vs. Celtics in the beginning (blinded by the great graphics for the time), I felt like the game ended up being kinda crappy cause of the horrible collision detection (traffic jams on the court), and the fact that it turned into the, "get into the paint and tap A button to win" game. So, I fell out of love with it once the shiny graphics wore off.

Did you ever get bothered by any of those issues ?

It's weird how you can totally fall in love with a game for a few months, but then you realize that the game has a major issue and you just can't enjoy the thing anymore... At least that's how it was with me and Lakers vs. Celtics.

I still love that parquet floor though!

The first game was kind of rough. Once Lakers vs Bulls came out it got all the play time. But NBA license was top notch. And the manual with all the teams and players and stats was amazing. All things considering,mthenliknesses were amazing. If you knew the real players there strengths were fairly well approximated in the real game. I think the more sim aspects of it didn't bother me. As far as the collision detection. You ever see a real NBA game (of course you have)? You couldn't just plow through to the basket, you had to work the ball and find your way out of the logjam. Much like real basketball. I liked that aspect of it. That's why teams with quick point guards were good, you could outrun the defense and get a more favorable shot off, or pass to someone who was open. Edited February 13, 2016 by Sean697

[Sean697]

Just thought I'd bump this. This podcast is fairly enjoyable. Plus what other podcast can you hear in depth discussion of 16 bit games, and secret service raids on your house, and a crystal meth fueled week long sessions of Final Lap Twin? No I'm not joking, these things are in the podcast. And add a very personal touch to it. I'm not judging. Could maybe use a little editing and streamlineing. But lots of new podcasts have that issue. Sometimes when the author is reiterating a point for the third time I just want say get on with it, I get it already.

[jay]

I listened to episode one last night, I thought it was very good. It's a little atypical to listen to a solo gaming podcast, but you did very well and was quite enjoyable.

[Anthony1]

I listened to episode one last night, I thought it was very good. It's a little atypical to listen to a solo gaming podcast, but you did very well and was quite enjoyable.

Thanks man....

Glad it was decent... Yeah a solo podcast isn't the easiest thing to pull off. Only reason I even tried a solo podcast is because I've heard a few other solo podcasts that were actually pretty entertaining, so I knew it was possible to actually have a decent solo podcast. I listen to the Bobby Blackwolf show (modern gaming podcast), and he has done a very good job of doing solo podcasts for many many years, so I knew it was possible to do a decent solo podcast.

On episode 11 I have Chris Alaimo from Classic Gaming Quarterly (YouTube retro show) join me, and he's also on episode 12 which will be posted in a few days. He's not going to be on every show going forward, but I hope to have him on many more episodes in the future, just cause it's a bit easier to have an entertaining podcast when you got another guy you can bounce stuff off of.

[CastleVanity]

WOW! Video Games and Computer Entertainment. I remember buying that Magazine i think i bought that before i settled with Egm. I'm glad someone remembers that magazine. I wish retro mag had these.

[adultdoug]

all right. going to find now. thanks for your dedication to your passion.

[Sean697]

Listening to your newest episode. (The real 12?)

Talking about the review crew blurbs. After downloading the famitsus recent;y posted to the site. That is entirely ripped from them. They have a little cartoon picture of the review with some information about them. Steve Harris has said in the past that Famitsu was a direct influence on EGM and they wanted to make the American version of Famitsu.

Also I really like when you talk about the sports games so count at least one listener. And Battletaods definetly was a big thing at the time. I mean really it is a really good game. It is just really hard. Like a lot of NES games were back then. I think your co host is a little young to remember that. But it was a big deal back then and not a joke of a game. I had a friend who had and loved it.

As far as the demographic survey. It's not really surprising the ONLY 70 percent NES numbers. While I never had a NES (I did get one in 92 secondhand) I imagine most gamers who where into games enough to buy games magazines, probrably did upgrade to the newer 16-bit systems. And likely even sold their NES to do so. While not exactly me, I did have a Sega Master System and sold it to buy a Genesis, largely because of the 1st two issues of EGM and the VG & CE magazines with the Genesis on the cover.

So this history of Sonic in Japan is that it was actually released 3 weeks later than in the United States. They used the extra time to tweek the game a little more. The Japanese version actually has parralax cloud scrolling and other added effects that we didnt get. The best way to check it out is to get the 3DS 3D classics release. It has both versions and is easy to compare.

Another thing I am curious about, I remember you saying how you were a little later to the Genesis. The main game that had me buy a Genesis at launch in August 89, was preview coverage of Ghouls and Ghosts. Did you ever go back and play that on your Genesis. To me that was the showcase launch game. And you talk about going back to try and obtain Revenge of Shinobi. Which of course was fantastic, but never mentioned if you went back and played Ghouls and Ghosts.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Sean697

[Anthony1]

Another thing I am curious about, I remember you saying how you were a little later to the Genesis. The main game that had me buy a Genesis at launch in August 89, was preview coverage of Ghouls and Ghosts. Did you ever go back and play that on your Genesis. To me that was the showcase launch game. And you talk about going back to try and obtain Revenge of Shinobi. Which of course was fantastic, but never mentioned if you went back and played Ghouls and Ghosts.

I've played a bit more Ghouls and Ghosts in the last year, but honestly, I've played very little of that game on Genesis. Back in the days I tried it at this one dudes apartment. This guy Deion bought a Genesis right at launch. He had Lasorda, Ghouls and a few other Genesis games that I checked out at his house. I know he had Rambo 3 at one point. I got my Genesis almost 1 year after launch, and I did go back and get Shinobi, but that was really the only older game that I got. I was mostly going after the newest games hitting the local EB or Software Etc.

But, I barely touched Ghouls and Ghosts on the Genesis. I'm not sure how many episodes in the future it will be, but I'll definitely have a lot more to say about Ghouls and Ghosts in a future episode.

[Sean697]

Just finished the episode. I'm actually editing the Sonic cover EGM as I listen to this.

I could write paragraphs about Sonic the Hedgehog. I'll keep it short. I absolutely agree what you say about revisionist history. There are a lot of Nintendo dominated retro gaming people out there, and younger ones particularly that love to shot on the games and they are frankly idiots. I'll go further and say that I give the edge to Sonic 1 over SMW. But will say I absolutely love SMW as well. I'm not gonna waste my breath listing derailed reasons. But I recently did a game club 2 months ago where the topic was SMW vs Sonic. I played through both in their entirety. And I truly think Sonic is the better game. And I absolutely agree that people who feel Somic is only about speed are wrong. The huge levels where meant for exploration. Yes you can speed run the game, but to play it for completion you need to meticulously explore and find secrets. 16-bit Somic has always been about that and that's is what people miss. And the game really is nothing like SMW. A good Sonic game first and foremost is a physics games. Each level explores different ways you can use the well crafted physics engine to make Sonic do different things. Or how the physics of a level affect gameplay. The 3D games don't really do this and are generally failures because of it.

[Sean697]

Also relevant to this episode:

https://twitter.com/archivealley/status/702308151417155584

[Zeus]

Listening to episode 9 now. You have a good radio voice!

I like to listen to podcasts while playing games that don't have much storyline, and this will definitely make some good background listening for me.

[jdoll]

i will give it a listen as i am a huge fan of the 90s and egm i will try to remember to come back for discussion

[Anthony1]

Episode 13 is now available, and if you skip to the 45 minute mark, I talk about the July 1991 issue of EGM for quite some time:

Check it out if you get a chance....

RetroBlast: A 90's gaming Retrospective - Episode 13

iTunes Link