2021 Episodes
PlayStation 5 - Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX
*I decided to get this game at the last moment since it was easily available physically for the PS5. I felt it made a good candidate for a review.
*Made entirely in two days.
NES - Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest
Master System - Ghouls 'n Ghosts
TurboGrafx-16 - Bloody Wolf
Genesis - Herzog Zwei, Streets of Rage 3
Nintendo 64 - Cruis'n USA
*I originally recorded Cruis'n USA to be included in a different episode, but I ended up liking it a lot more than I remembered. So that spawned the idea for this one.
*I wanted to do a video of me fixing the Neo Geo stick and I had this ending idea in my head for a while, it was just a matter of doing it.
The following devices are discussed:
Sony DVMC-DA1, Sony DSR-25, Blackmagic Intensity Pro, Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt, Startech PexHDCap, Elgato HD60, Avermedia Live Gamer 4K, Avermedia Live Gamer Portable 2, Cloner Alliance Box Pro, Elgato 4K60S+, Magewell Pro Capture HDMI 4K Plus, and the Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen 2
*Coury (from My Life in Gaming) and I had long since planned on collaborating on a video capture device video. I was originally gonna combine this with the upscaler video but that one grew to be too long. Coury and Try each edited their respective segments here.
*The Sega CD end skit was a last minute idea. I wanted to incorporate at least one of the guys from My Life in Gaming into the end skit. I had to wait for Coury to record his takes to I could react appropriately because I didn't know exactly how he'd play it.
Arcade - Double Dragon
NES - Double Dribble, Bad Dudes, The Adventures of Bayou Billy
Master System - Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Genesis - Sonic the Hedgehog
Sega CD - Robo Aleste
PlayStation - Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot
Dreamcast - Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2
*Thanks to Yoshi Vu for providing the HAL 9000 voice for the end skit.
The upscalers reviewed are the Generic HDMI Upscaler thingy, the Framemeister, the OSSC, The GBS-C AIO, and the RetroTink 5X.
*This episode was originally going to cover not only upscalers, but capture devices as well. It was split so they could be their own episodes as they are different beasts altogether and this episode was already long enough to stand on its own. Combined, this episode would've been over an hour. The capture device episode is #315, scroll up.
Genesis - Altered Beast, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Last Battle, Space Harrier 2, Super Thunder Blade, Thunder Force 2, Tommy Lasorda Baseball
SNES - Super Mario World, Pilotwings, F-Zero, Gradius III, Sim City
Sega Master System - Hang-On, Astro Warrior, Safari Hunt, Snail Maze, Choplifter, Fantasy Zone, Ghost House, My Hero, Teddy Boy
PlayStation - Total Eclipse Turbo, Air Combat, Battle Arena Toshinden, ESPN Extreme Games, Kileak The DNA Imperative, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, Power Serve 3D Tennis, The Raiden Project, Rayman, Ridge Racer, Street Fighter The Movie
Nintendo 64 - Super Mario 64, Pilotwings 64
Neo Geo - Magician Lord, NAM-1975, Baseball Stars Professional, Cyber-Lip, Top Player's Golf
*First episode using the new (at the time) Retrotink 5X upscaler for all video captures, except for the PlayStation games which were PS1 Digital, Super Mario 64 and the Neo Geo AES games which were scaled by the Framemeister.
NES - Gauntlet, Galaga
Master System - Space Harrier, Golden Axe, California Games
Genesis - Jurassic Park Rampage Edition, The Lost World Jurassic Park, Cyber-Cop, Zero Tolerance, Bloodshot/Battle Frenzy, Duke Nukem 3D, Doom (Mega Doom), Puggsy, Mickey Mania, Sonic 3D Blast, Show do Milhao, Show do Milhao 2
Game Boy - The Flintstones
SNES - Mickey Mania, Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues, Star Ocean, Clay Fighter, Tales of Phantasia, Down the World Mervil's Ambition
Game Boy Advance - Quad Desert Fury
*Being in a coma for 5 years and somehow immediately knowing that when awakening from said coma is a reference to a very early video I made with my friends.
PlayStation 4 - Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
*Johnny Millennium (Happy Console Gamer) returns. Long time viewers will remember that he appeared in the other Ys episode from years and years ago.
*Presented in 4K 60 HDR mainly because the gameplay was captured that way since I was playing on a PS5. I figured it would be a good chance to test out the hDR workflow. It is NOT fun. NOt only do you have to worry about the HDR, you have to worry about how Youtube tonemaps it for non-HDR displays which isn't always very good. You can improve this by using the command-line-only Youtube metadata tool and giving it a LUT but it doesn't work very well either. It'll probably be a while before I do a long-form HDR video again on Youtube.
Game Boy - Death Track
32X - Virtua Hamster
Saturn - Bedlam, Crime Patrol, Colliderz
PlayStation - Superman
Nintendo 64 - Dinosaur Planet, Freak Boy, Viewpoint 2064
*I've been wanting to do an end skit like this for about 6 or 7 years now, but always keep forgetting about it because I am lazy.
Master System - F-16 Fighting Falcon
Neo Geo - Legend of Success Joe, Riding Hero, Burning Fight
3DO - Doom, Shadow: War of Succession
Saturn - Doom, Hard Core 4x4
PlayStation - Hooters Road Trip
Nintendo 64 - Mike Piazza's Strike Zone
Dreamcast - Ducati World, Nightmare Creatures II
*Originally the F-16 Fighting Falcon segment was written, recorded, and edited as a regular game review, just like all of the other games in the episode. I had remembered my Virtual Hydlide segment in the original episode of Games That Make the Console Look Weak, so I re-wrote and re-recorded the F-16 Fighting Falcon part. The only thing that remained was the shot of me with two controllers, which is why I don't look ExTreEe33mE in that shot.
*I had so much fun with the F-16 Fighting Falcon segment that I based the ending skit on a very similar premise.
*First episode shot in the renovated game room.
NES - Somari, Master Fighter II, The Super Shinobi, Golden Axe III, Aladdin, Aladdin II, Aladdin 4, War in the Gulf, Metal Force, World Heroes Pro 2, Desert Storm, Contra Spirits
Sega Master System - Jang Pung 2, Jang Pung 3
Genesis - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Legend Returns. Soul Egde vs Samurai, Final Samurai, Top Fighter 2000 MK VIII, Divine Sealing
SNES - The King of Fighters 2000, Street Fighter EX plus Alpha
Game Boy Advance - Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles II
*Thanks to Audi Sorlie for the topic idea and writing a large chunk of the episode.
*John Linneman (from DF Foundry) as well as Audi Sorlie appear in the "Bootleg Sack" end skit called Game Sack 7: 30 Character Special.
NES - Nix: The Paradox Relic, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Super Russian Roulette
Genesis - Xeno Crisis, Ultracore, Darius
Lynx - Centipede, Fat Bobby, Championship Rally, Quadro Mania Redux, Hyperdrome, Raiden
Dreamcast - Xeno Crisis, Xenocider
PS Vita - Xeno Crisis
*I took advantage of the renovations in my basement that were going on at the time to make an extra stupid end skit.
Various Saturn games shown for illustrative purposes.
*Thanks to Carter Dotson for loaning me his Satiator.
*Part of the end skit was shot in a different room as my retro game room is still currently undergoing renovations.
Switch - Sonic the Hedgehog, Lightening Force / Thunder Force 4, Phantasy Star, Out Run, Gain Ground, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Puyo Puyo, Virtua Racing, Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Space Harrier, Columns 2, Puzzle & Action: Ichidant-R, Shinobi, Fantasy Zone, Puyo Puyo 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, G-LOG Air Battle, Thunder Force AC, Herzog Zwei
*Thanks to Coury Carlson from My Life in Gaming for capturing gameplay for Sonic 1 and 2 simply because I'm tired of buying and playing Sonic.
PlayStation - Bugs Bunny Lost in Time
Nintendo 64 - Duck Dodgers starring Daffy Duck
Xbox - Dr. Muto, Metal Arms Glitch in the System
Gamecube - Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, Scaler
*I'm glad I finally appreciate Billy Hatcher for what it is.
*Nice.
PC Engine - Genji Tsuushin Agedama
Mega Drive - Magical Taruruuto-kun
Super Famicom - UFO Kamen Yakisoban, Psycho Dream
Saturn - Nekketsu Oyaku, Goiken Muyou Anarchy in the Nippon
PlayStation - Panzer Bandit
Dreamcast - Zusar Vasar
*The end skit involves a typical GameStop joke. I shot this long before the Game Stop stock thing went crazy, and this episode is releasing in the midst of it all. As a result I fear it may lose some of its intended humor as people will expect the joke to be about the stock thing. This end skit will get better with age when the stock thing is no longer at the front of people's minds.
Sega Master System - Tower of Sorrow (Alex Kidd hack)
Genesis - Super Hang-On Recolor, Sonic The Next Level, Streets of Rage 2 with Final Fight, Streets of Rage 2 with TMNT characters
SNES - Super Street Fighter 2 MSU, Super Mario World SA-1 speed hack, Gradius 3 SA-1 speed hack, Contra 3 SA-1 speed hack, Super Castlevania IV HiROM conversion, Super Ghouls and Ghosts speed improvement, Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes, New Super Mario Land
Saturn - Sonic Z-Treme, Project Z-Treme, Saturn 4MB RAM conversions,
*More SA-1 Speed enhancements please!
Genesis - Paprium
*First episode of 2021.
*I didn't plan on this being the 300th episode, it just happened that way.