Play It Again, Samus

Metroid: Samus Returns releases this week for the Nintendo 3DS along with a couple amiibo figures. Developed in collaboration with MercurySteam, Nintendo calls Samus Returns a re-imagining of the original Game Boy's Metroid II: Return of Samus so I scoured my magazines for all of the coverage I could find on Metroid II which resulted in a single review. I'm surprised I couldn't find more too but the coverage for a few magazines could be in issues I'm missing.

The one article I have is a review from GamePro that appeared in the February 1992 issue despite the game releasing in November 1991. GamePro certainly liked it as they scored it near perfect with only sound falling short of a top score. Based on the few GamePro reviews I've posted this year, it appears GamePro is most critical of sound as when a game is close to perfect but not quite it is the sound holding it back. The review also lists the price under the ratings and I'm having a hard time believing it only cost $19.95; most Game Boy games were in the $29.99 to $39.99 range to start so that's likely a misprint.

GamePro - February 1992

Although I own very few Nintendo games and haven't played many Metroid games, I do actually own Metroid II. It's one of the better Game Boy games I've got which is certainly no surprise as Nintendo tends to make some of the best games that are available on its own platforms. At over 30 pages long the instruction manual is quite nice as well, perhaps one of the best Game Boy game manuals there is. I've scanned a few pages of the manual involving the story, the planet, and Samus' suit. The story is likely similar if not the same as Samus Returns and since today's games rarely have manuals, Metroid II's manual might be the best place to read the story set-up.

Two-Minute Drill

Today is the first Sunday of the 2017 NFL season that kicked off last Thursday night. There were numerous football video games released in the '80s and '90s but I didn't have time to do a large project and this is very last minute. I've posted a YouTube video today of the Sega Master System's Walter Payton Football as well and was able to find a review of that game from GamePro that I've included here. While I hope to put together something more complete for the Madden series in the future, this time around I was only able to scan a couple reviews of John Madden Football '92 for the Sega Genesis along with its main competitor that year, Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football. Lastly is a review from Video Games & Computer Entertainment (VG&CE) for John Elway's Quarterback on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

GamePro - February 1990

Game Informer - Jan/Feb 1992

Game Informer - Jan/Feb 1992

VG&CE - August 1989

Electronic Gaming Monthly #30

September Update

I put this image together a long time ago; just updated the
date. I selected games published by Sega and games that
 are a good representation of the unique offerings that can
be found on the console. 

It's time for another monthly update and boy have I been busy so I should probably keep this brief. As I mentioned on social media earlier today it's the 18th anniversary of the Dreamcast, Sega's final console. I originally wanted to do an unboxing of that console for today even though I'm certain there are plenty of videos out there and I'm sure most people know all about the console. I got hung up on the Sega CD and 32X video though as my Sega CD won't power on. The blog post and photos are all set for those platforms but I'd like to at least be able to power it on during a video even if I don't play it then. My plan is to repair the Sega CD, as well as the Game Gear and Game Boy. I got a soldering iron a couple weeks ago but finding the time to attempt that has been a problem (I've never soldered so I need to learn too). Making videos really takes a huge chunk of some weekends even though I haven't posted many. What happens is I often have to film them multiple times until I get one that I'm at least somewhat satisfied enough with. Last weekend's Hot Wheels video had some problems but I stuck together two of the parts and called it a day after filming both parts at least three or four times each over multiple days.

After taking yesterday off from work I've spent many hours Friday and today trying to get a recording of a Sega Master System game finalized. After four complete videos I still don't have the audio fixed. Audio always seems to be the problem as I struggled with it a lot when trying to get a microphone to work with my camera during my very first video. Then I wasn't pleased with the PlayStation 4 (PS4) lapel mic when making gameplay videos. The last PS4 video was made with the Sony Platinum Wireless Stereo Headset that works well enough with the PS4, though it does pick up the gamepad button noises. Now I've been trying to use the headset with recording software on the PC and while my voice comes across perfectly fine, there are clicking noises that I can't nail down (might actually be the buttons on the headset rattling). They occur even when I'm not hitting buttons so it's not the game controller. I did try a couple wired PC headsets but they cause a constant background hiss similar to what I dealt with on my first video.

Used skilled jumping to reach a high vantage point for
some advertising of the blog in Everybody's Golf.

I hit the cart button which makes the screenshot look a
bit more silly. 

It goes without saying I'm very frustrated and losing my mind as every weekend flies by while I spend many, many hours trying to get everything just right. I'll keep trying though and the retro game videos are coming soon. It's getting late today and I still haven't had a chance to look up football game reviews so I don't know if I can make that happen for the first Sunday of the NFL season tomorrow. I know that's not hugely important but I thought it would go nice with the gameplay video I'm also trying to get done for tomorrow. Since my last update I've played some Everybody's Golf as you may have noticed if you follow the YouTube channel. I also played through Uncharted: The Lost Legacy twice and the Longshot mode of the latest Madden so I've got some gaming in. Here are a few images from Uncharted's photo mode:

Next week I'll have a short post about Metroid II for Game Boy as Nintendo readies a re-imagining of that game for release on September 15th. Next month I hope to make at least one or two toy videos with my nephew who will be in town. He's six now and I've not seen him in more than two years; he lives far away and I have not traveled in a long time. He likes making his own videos with my sister's phone so I think he'd be thrilled to be in one of my videos. Of course, when family is in town my time will be limited even more. This post wasn't exactly brief but I did type it fairly fast and shall now start flipping through magazines for a quick football game reviews article. Thanks again for reading the blog and subscribing on YouTube!

-Jonathan

Gaming Ads: Discovery Software, Disney, and Doc's

Discovery Software was a Maryland-based computer game publisher that released a few games in the late '80s. Not a lot of information out there on this company but the Amiga games website Hall of Light says that Discovery Software was founded in 1985 and published five games so I'll go with that.

Best known for amusement parks and movies, Disney is one of the most famous companies in the world. The earliest games based on Disney properties were published by Sierra On-Line beginning in 1984. Making sense of all of the Disney brands isn't easy but I think it first published its own games in 1988 under the Walt Disney Computer Software name. I've chosen to group what few ads I have together but Disney has published and developed games under numerous names: Walt Disney Computer Software, Disney Software, Disney Interactive, Disney Interactive Studios, Disney Imagineering, Disney Mobile Studios, Buena Vista Software, Buena Vista Interactive, and Buena Vista Home Entertainment. It also took over ABC Interactive in 1996 and LucasArts in 2012. It's possible I missed a few but I think you get the point, it changed its names often and have had numerous divisions operating at the same time.

Over the past five years Disney has been licensing out most of its properties. Surprisingly, it didn't even make a home release based on Frozen, instead allowing GameMill Entertainment to publish a Nintendo DS and 3DS Frozen game. GameMill is small and isn't known for high quality games but it also is the only company to publish a retail game based on Disney's Big Hero 6. Disney did try its hand at a series of games with interactive toys beginning in 2013 with the release of Disney Infinity. What seemed like a match made in heaven somehow failed as Disney canceled the series in 2017 and that appears to have marked the end of Disney publishing its own retail game products. Disney does still publish mobile games and has even used the LucasArts/Lucasfilm brand as a publishing label despite closing the game company in 2013. Outside of mobile games the Star Wars brand is being handled by Electronic Arts which has big budget Star Wars games in development at D.I.C.E., Visceral Games, and Respawn Entertainment.

Doc's, also known as Doc's Hi-Tech, is an accessory maker that released many products for the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles. It made game controllers up until at least the N64 but is best known for its cleaning kits, hence the name Doc's (a game doctor that can fix your minor system problems). The company may actually still be in business as it's owned by New York-based Arista Interactive, though I haven't seen any of its products in quite some time.

Discovery Software albums: Facebook - Google Photos

Disney albums: Facebook - Google Photos

Doc's albums: Facebook - Google Photos

[YouTube] Hot Wheels Service Center Foldaway Garage

                                                      https://youtu.be/xkwzFnBg-Fk

Included Hot Bird vehicle.

The Hot Wheels Service Center Foldaway Garage is one of a few variations on this style of play set. Mattel also made similar sets with construction and military themes, another that added some buildings to the service center layout, and yet another that looks identical to the Foldaway Garage but is called Service Center Sto & Go Set. Aside from the name, one other difference between the Foldaway Garage and Sto & Go Set is that the Sto & Go Set does not include a vehicle whereas the Foldaway Garage includes the Hot Bird (Pontiac Firebird). They both list 1979 as the copyright and I'm unable to determine if they did indeed both release that year. It's most likely that Mattel simply re-packaged the set under a new name and either removed or added the Hot Bird car but left 1979 on the box as that's the year the actual set was produced.

The box front; I did some editing in Photoshop to clean it up
so it does look slightly different than what is seen in the video.

The box back which has a big piece of tape on it.

Side of the box.

There are two locking mechanisms at the top of the case, a carrying handle, and two legs that support the top level when the set is opened up. As seen in the video, the set includes two garage doors that can be opened and closed, car wash foam rollers, a manually operated elevator, a "Dynamometer" that rotates vehicle tires, and a service bell near the gas pumps. Some of the pictures were taken on different days and in different lighting conditions as I needed to re-shoot a few.

August 12, 2022 Update: Nearly five years after I posted this I actually found the instruction sheet. It was stuffed in the Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash box which will be what my next blog post is about.

Gaming Ads: Digital Image Design, Digital Pictures, and DigiTek

Digital Image Design (DID) was founded in 1989 by Martin Kenwright and Phillip Allsopp, and was originally named Piercingautomatic Limited. Based in the UK, the majority of its games were flight simulators and the company even developed simulation software for the British military. In 1996 DID's publisher Ocean Software was taken over by Infogrames and that led to Infogrames' eventual acquisition of DID. Following the acquisition the founders and other key employees left the company to form Evolution Studios which went on to make a number of racing titles for Sony and is now owned by Codemasters.

Digital Pictures was an American company founded in 1991 and is best known for its numerous full-motion video games. Full-motion games are those that resemble movies in that they are video productions with actors and typically offer players limited control. Most of Digital Pictures' games were released for the Sega CD, and some also appeared on the 3DO, Sega Saturn, and home computers. While not its best game, Night Trap is Digital Pictures' first release and best known game as it was often mentioned alongside Mortal Kombat during political hearings that led to the eventual creation of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, or ESRB. Although Digital Pictures closed in 1996, Night Trap recently received a 25th anniversary edition digitally from developer Screaming Villains and a physical release from publisher Limited Run Games.

DigiTek was a Florida-based publisher that released computer games between 1988 and 1992. That's all I can find about this DigiTek. There is an Ohio-based company called Digitek Software that was founded in 1994 and is still in business but appears to be completely unrelated. Since it took the name in 1994 I can only assume the game publisher was already defunct.

Digital Pictures albums: Facebook - Google Photos

DigiTek albums: Facebook - Google Photos

After leaving Flickr I opted to group publishers with a single ad in the same album so Digital Image Design no longer has its own album but its one ad does appear on this page.