JB0

32x was a joke. It only existed because Sega Japan was trying to embarrass Sega America. Seriously. The fighting between Sega America and Sega Japan at that time was so embarassingly bad... They were basically mad that the Genesis was a success in America and not Japan and that Sega America pulled it off by directly and agressively attacking Nintendo, which Sega Japan thought was too risky. They wanted to see Sega America fall more than they wanted to make money. So, among other things, they told Sega America to design a 32-bit expansion for the Genesis console, since this would be an appealing angle for the american market(with the upgrade hypothetically being cheaper than a new system, and 100% backwards-compatible with existing software). Yes, it would be their only next-gen hardware, and they'd support it fully. Then Sega Japan started developing a new system in secret, so Sega America didn't know about it. And the day after Sega America unveils the 32x, Sega Japan goes "Oh, by the way everyone... here's the Saturn. It's our REAL next-gen hardware, we don't know WHAT those silly Americans were talking about. May as well not even bother writing 32x games." And the Virtual Boy is one of those massively under-appreciated systems. I think the fact that it died before the second wave of software hit is one of the great losses of modern gaming. It's biggest weakness, though, wasn't that it was monochrome. It was that the display had a 50Hz refresh and no phosphor persistence to mitigate it. So it had a barely perceptible flicker, which was especially pronounced at higher brightness levels and tended to cause headaches if you didn't turn the brightness down. That and there was no 3D media to advertise in.

Oh wow, who didn't see THAT coming... Maybe next time we'll see a link to something worth watching? Ah well, at least it's more than just the standard retard cursing about games. We've got DIVERSITY here!

Robo Aleste's there too. And Sonic CD kicked ass. Shining Force CD would be cooler if it didn't take basically every last byte of SRAM space. You'll have to delete every save file you have to play it, unless you have a save cartridge(or use an emulator, which wasn't available when I borrowed the game). Alas poor SegaCD... we knew not what ye were capable of 'fore ye were buried neck deep in FMV crap.

The whole Aleste series is pretty cool(J name was MUSHA Aleste). ... Aww, hell... almost everything Compile made that had a gun was pretty cool. Reminds me... The Guardian Legend. Equal parts vertical shooter and "Crystalis with a laser gun."

I just realized something... With the last 2 Alternators being Rumble and Ravage, we now have 3 cassette robot Alternators(2 different Ravages + Rumble). But they never did Soundwave. Does anyone else find that just a tad ironic?

Gaiares is awesome. I suck at it, but it's still awesome. There's an NES platform shooter called Metal Storm worth looking at, too(c'mon, you all knew I was gonna drag this out of the 16/32-bit eventually). Damn fun game. 2 really notable things: 1. You have the ability to reverse gravity, which is actually integrated nicely into the game instead of just being a gimmick. 2. It's visually impressive, especially from a technical standpoint. Well-animated sprites(the death explosion is a thing of beauty), and more importantly, has 3 independently scrolling background layers. As I understand it, the only other game to implement multiple backgrounds on the NES was Ninja Gaiden 3, and that was only in 2 stages. It puts several SNES/Genesis releases to shame, graphically speaking.

I just realized something... I watched Thundercats a LOT. But I never had a single one of their toys, and can't recall wanting them very badly. Unlike, say, Silverhawks, which I wanted but never got(Don't ask why. We've already established kids have bad taste.).

A bonus they are actively pursuing through the resurrection of a franchise that's been dead for 2 decades. Yup. Transformers, Voltron, Captain N(Oh dear god, Captain N...), SilverHawks(Captain N squared)... I've avoided HeMan, Thundercats, and GI Joe. For now. At least it was FUNNY crap, though. I can watch it and laugh instead of just wincing at how bad it was. Why do they keep selling 100$ models of Wing, X, SEED, etc? Because they want the older audience too. Creating a new fan base for a dead franchise doesn't make sense from a business perspective unless you want to resurrect the old fan base too. Which requires you treat the original concept with respect lest you alienate the old fan base. And creating a new fan base for a dead franchise doesn't make sense from a "this idea is too neat to die, kids today deserve to see the same bad-ass-itude we had" homage perspective unless you actually pay homage to the original instead of turning Thundercats into "Lion-O and the Pussycats"(or is that "Snarf and the Pussycats?" Honestly, SNARF?).

In part, it is. I never said it was targeted SOLELY at adults, but the use of an old license is intended to make it a multi-generation product.

The use of the Thundercats name says otherwise. That's a name that has no value to anyone born in the last decade. No they aren't. They're bringing Josie and the Pussycats to a new audience. Only with swords.

Actually, I think they did a good job APPEARING to conform to US law without actually doing it. Law requires a permanent modification with glue or paint. I also think it's a stupid law, so... Generations of kids managed to grow up without getting themselves killed or maimed with realistic toy guns and tiny spring-loaded projectiles. I think today's kids are a lot better at surviving than people give them credit for. Good to know they found a solution that works for all concerned parties.

Classics line was just to kill time between the end of Cybertron and the beginning of the movie toys. With the movie coming soon, Classics has served it's purpose and is ending. It's all very tragic.

I hope it's wrong. If they're gonna rob me* of my nonsensical Thrust, they can at least rob me of a Ramjet repaint instead of the real thing. *Maybe. As was pointed out, it didn't have good release odds anyways.

Wait... Thrust has the VTOL wings too? Or just something different than what Starscream/Skywarp and Ramjet have? Remember, "Magnus' head" is part of the armor. Strip that away, and he's just Albino Prime. So hypothetically, if you give him his trailer armor, he gets his head by default. Sorta like Classics Jetfire.

Yeah, I thought it was a thread bump for a second. At least this drivel STILL hasn't hit the airwaves. It may yet be cancelled.

Ya know, I was debating just turning everything off for a week to let all this crap die down, but now... I can't decide if that's inspired genius or nauseating stupidity. Especially the reworked forums.

I love it! The 1-Up over the chalkboard is a great touch.

@!#?@! Freakin' exclusives! I'm not even a huge fan of the mold, but I wanted another jet or 2. Guess I should be glad I got Skywarp. He's one of my favorite paintjobs. ... But I wanted Thrust. No, I don't have a good reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQHxPj3Tpi0 Relevance to anime and sci-fi added.

IT'S A GOBOT! RUN! It's funnier that people act like it was a huge deal when almost no one saw the movie due to inept marketing. Yes, I know I brought it up. I'm as guilty as anyone else. They left Snarl out. That is unforgivable. RESPECT THE STEGOSAURUS!

I think Millia would kill me if I stole her paint scheme. Better come up with something original... Dark green, with rust-colored trim, I guess. Black anything is far too cliche. If we go DYRL-style and have individual trim colors on white planes, I'm flying white with green. And that makes me Kakizaki, so... I'm thinking no. If I were setting up a squadron... Hmm... So many choices... ... I'll get back to you on that one...

I know WHY it was done. It was still a monumentally stupid move.

Well, the LAST time a Transformers movie killed a major character, we got stuck with Rodimus Prime. At least they won't be repeating ONE screwup the franchise has made.

We do, in a way. Paint colors for planes that are actually on-duty are chosen to match the sky. Sure it's a lot lower-tech, but it's pretty effective. Actually, we have some gravity wave detectors in operation right now. Admittedly they're VERY large detectors(several kilometers long), and we're using them to try and prove gravity waves EXIST, but... Y're no fun. Radar is called out by name in multiple shows. Admittedly it's possible the term has been genericized and refers to ANY radiation-based detection mechanism. But I can't really see a good reason that reflections will behave differently for different wavelengths(aside from resolution issues). Obviously radar-absorbant materials won't do squat for light, but if it bounces off at the wrong angle to be seen, it shouldn't matter what wavelength it is. It may not be as pronounced an effect, but every little bit helps, especially at the ultra-long ranges seen in space.

Flock of birds could just as easily be a busted asteroid. Anyways, who says that radar-abosrbant material hasn't kept up with radar? That makes it a rational approach. Best argument is either at the time of it's design, they had to apply passive stealth tech to save the power the active device would draw(if I recall, the VF-17 has a rather large assortment of energy weapons for the time it was designed), or that it's a supplement to the active stealth in an attempt to drive the ship's signature down even closer to zero. The geometry, of course, is anachronistic. The F117 was only faceted because the computers at the time couldn't do the reflections for curves. And the facets are dangerous in space, since they reflect REALLY well, and there's no really good way to ensure your enemy's radar is in a specific orientation to you. The only real excuse there is an out-of-continuity acknowledgment that the mass market recognize facets as a sign of stealth. It's a constant race. As detection hardware gets better, you start looking for more things to add to your countermeasures. Doesn't mean the old features weren't a good idea, just that they aren't enough by themselves anymore. Internal weapons still reduce your signature, even if they aren't enough to render you invisible anymore. Gotta have SOMEWHERE to stick those reaction missiles!