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[PaulBizkit]

I had a PSP. It was pretty neat once I figured out how to get my PSX games onto it. Otherwise I played like two or three PSP games.

Vita means life.

I find that kind of weird, my case was like the complete opposite. I got my psp in 2008 and I've only played PSP games on it. Last week I played a psx game for the first time (RE3).

What were the two or three games you played?


The Resident Evil Episode was great, I hope you guys get to make a part 2 someday.

 

[charlequin]

Look, I love the PSP for all its wacky games, the remakes of the PS1-era rpgs and tons more, and I think it was a great system. But yeah, not perfect for sure

It ultimately came a lot closer to being a followup of a certain subset of what the PSX did than it looked like early on, for sure.

I find that kind of weird, my case was like the complete opposite. I got my psp in 2008 and I've only played PSP games on it.

PSP isn't a one-note system but you do kind of have to be interested in one of a reasonably small set of genres (puzzle games, racers, long elaborate RPGs, etc.) to get much mileage out of its native library.

 

[bigkrev]

PSP isn't a one-note system but you do kind of have to be interested in one of a reasonably small set of genres (puzzle games, racers, long elaborate RPGs, etc.) to get much mileage out of its native library.

I'm glad they brought it up on the Podcast, but when I think about PSP, the first thing I think about is watching anime on it. I got mine in the summer of 2005, heading into my senior year of high school, and I have fond memories of downloading episodes of Bleach as they were airing and watching them on my PSP.
I played a ton of games on the thing- it was the first time that sports games on a handheld were actually fun- Fifa and Madden were comparable feature wise to their PS2 counterparts, and it was seeing screenshots of WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2006 that finally pushed me over the edge towards buying one. Sure, the load times were long and the controls severely compromised, but it was incredible that you were getting PS2 games in a portable.

Also want to shout out Sony's NBA franchise, which sucked on PS3, but had a ton of minigames like Pinball http://kotaku.com/5351114/nba-10-the-inside-impressions-it-gets-weirder

 

[Man God]

There was no better portable video player available the year the PSP launched. The real reason I ever got a card bigger than the one that came with the launch bundle. I'd quickly convert an episode or two of whatever I was watching at the time and watch it during my lunch break.

 

[Man God]

I played mainly PS1 games on my PSP...and mainly PS1 and PSP games on my Vita. Maybe I'll finally get along to Vita games when the next handheld comes out...

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

I played mainly PS1 games on my PSP...and mainly PS1 and PSP games on my Vita. Maybe I'll finally get along to Vita games when the next handheld comes out...

There probably won't be a next one...which is why I think the Vita is going to have a really long tail as a cult favourite. There probably won't be anything that fills its niche, with the style of Japanese games it does well.

I still see people playing PSPs on the trains here in Japan. I can only imagine how long I'll be seeing Vitas for.

 

[randomkid]

I really managed to flesh out my PSP library once they decided to sell so many of its games for $3 or less in PSN sales this past year. Collections like Powerstone, Capcom Arcade, Gradius (this was a whopping $5), Dracula X, ports like Disgaea, Knights in the Nightmare, Myst, Athena/Psycho Soldier and Def Jam Fight for NY, and then awesome originals like Z.H.P. and Katamari (which becomes playable on Vita TV with a real controller). All those games combined for less than $30!

You can also get UMDs for mad cheap these days at Book Offs, I got a couple Boku games, Oreshika 1, Devil Summoner, lots of cool stuff.

My favorite original game on the system was probably Patchwork Heroes.

 

[Curufinwe]

Any PSP discussion needs to mention that Rufus is exclusive to that system.

 

[krae_man]

Any PSP discussion needs to mention that Rufus is exclusive to that system.

They did mention Jeanne Darc.

I preferred Cuisses myself.

He was sooo cute with his armor on and a sword in his mouth. Plus he could fuse stones!

I used to use Rufus and La Hare as damage sponges and barriers to take on the larger enemies, but that took forever, especially when you have HP recovery stones in everyone. It's way faster to have your spell casters cast AOE spells. Those things are lethal and faster.

 

[Curufinwe]

I know, but this is a new discussion.

The PSP was SRPG heaven.

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

Any PSP discussion needs to mention that Rufus is exclusive to that system.

Ah, the watermarks of Ye Olde Internette.

"Bigger! Uglier! More garish!"

 

[charlequin]

Ah, the watermarks of Ye Olde Internette.

"Bigger! Uglier! More garish!"

The watermark is so big and the actual image is so little!

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

Our Nick Arcade episode is now live for non-Patreon listeners:

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/retronauts-channel-surfs-into-nick-arcade

 

[PaulBizkit]

I played mainly PS1 games on my PSP...and mainly PS1 and PSP games on my Vita. Maybe I'll finally get along to Vita games when the next handheld comes out...

Twisted question: If you play the same PSP game (let's say ghost of sparta) on a PSP and a VITA... in which system does the battery last longer?

Good question! I wanna say Lumines, Mega Man Powered Up, and... a Final Fantasy game? Mainly I remember playing Wild ARMs, Tactics, Alundra, Crash Bandicoot, SotN, etc. Not much on the system ever really caught my eye.

But what about the PSP equivalents/sequels/remakes to those games like Wild Arms XF, Tactics WotL and Dracula X Chronicles?

And what about MGS Peace Walker, KH Birth By Sleep and FFVII Crisis Core? At their times of release, those were the biggest games around.

PSP isn't a one-note system but you do kind of have to be interested in one of a reasonably small set of genres (puzzle games, racers, long elaborate RPGs, etc.) to get much mileage out of its native library.

Well, that's the thing. My favorite genres are the ones the PSP is stronger at. My portable gaming schedule at the time (2008-2012) was something like:

RPG -> short action game -> Long game -> action game -> SRPG -> shooter

Spoiler

Tactics WotL -> GoW Chains -> Crisis Core -> Force Unleashed -> Dissidia -> Lego Indy -> Peace Walker

And (in between long games) I messed around with many many lesser games like The Simpsons Game, Extreme Force, random racers, one chanbara etc etc etc.

 

[Morfeo]

I always wanted to play Peace Walker, but I really hated Portable Ops, so while I do own Peace Walker, I just never had the motivation to enter it in my PSP. Guess I should get the console-version one day.

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

I always wanted to play Peace Walker, but I really hated Portable Ops, so while I do own Peace Walker, I just never had the motivation to enter it in my PSP. Guess I should get the console-version one day.

Peace Walker is a billion times better, and you should really play the PS3 upgrade.

 

[Morfeo]

Peace Walker is a billion times better, and you should really play the PS3 upgrade.

Yeah, thats what i heard. Will do it eventually!

 

[Imbarkus]

Just pulled down the Resident Evil episode. Pretty good, a couple of omissions if you wanted to mention each version of the first games:

You got the Resident Evil: Deadly Silence on DS, which was actually pretty impressive for including all the pre-rendered backgrounds and 3D data, as well as the original live action cutscenes. I'll have to boot it up again and check out if it added back in Chris smoking. It also added some touch screen puzzles and a "knife-slicing" segment of gameplay, which ended up really playing out like a no-guns version of House of the Dead.

It was one of those titles that made me wonder if Nintendo incentivized using "D.S." initials for game subtitles in some financial way. Back when I was in college, Deadly Silence had a different connotation (I drew this strip back then):

Finally maybe a mention of the N64 Resident Evil 2 might have been in order, since you were mentioning how different versions of the first one included "Arrange Mode." RE2 for N64 was an odd bird which also added an arrange mode, which like Deadly Silence also included (less than full-screen and highly compressed) full-motion video. It included the original PS1 backgrounds, but rendered the characters on top of them in twice that resolution, which looked bad, if you ask me. Still, this seems to be the version that became the Gamecube version in some way, since Gamecube RE2 had Arrange Mode as well.

I'm sure you know all this. Not only were you sick Bob, but Resident Evil podcasts seem to have a curse that they can't ever be complete no matter how restrained the topic scope. You did better against your stated goal than 8-4 did--they still need to make good on a promise for a 2nd podcast to finish up where they left off, like, years ago.

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

No, it's cool. I'm glad you recognize that we intentionally leave stuff out for the sake of editing, instead of assuming we're unqualified dummies. I'm glad this episode ended up turning out okay, what with me being sick and two guests having to cancel.

 

[randomkid]

really cool to hear ray talking about how he couldn't actually remember any magazine reviews from back in the day, "infamous" or not, but could tell you every detail of any given feature layout. this is exactly how I read all my game mags too. I can vividly recall specific astal previews or epic centers or whatever but ask me about what score earthworm jim got and I'll just stare blankly.

although I guess I do remember Gamefan giving FF7 a 100+ haha

 

[bigkrev]

Not sure what my favorite part of the mailbag episode was-my question getting read, or the INSANE story about his High School from Mike

 

[Jarnet87]

Not that the Klonoa minisode is bad, but if you are interested in hearing it give it a listen and then download the far superior Klonoa segment from Retronauts 70 (1up days), It's an excellent segment featuring Jeremy and Mielke.

 

[.JayZii]

I love these rare mailbag episodes. No Jeremy is a bit sad, but it was a great panel regardless.

I also look forward to listening to the hinted at Earthbound episode sometime in the future.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Episode seemed totally fair to me, but I'm not surprised if they got some complaints, since they did mention that the Vita is dead.

Next time include trigger warning plz.

 

[Curufinwe]

The waifu discussion was funny. I'd have to go with Quistis; I always liked that look of disapproval she gave Squall when she finds him in the hospital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laPzuedrMfA

 

[randomkid]

Bob's out of nowhere ISIS joke on the latest one might be the longest I've ever laughed at a videogame podcast.

 

[Dimmle]

The waifu discussion was complete unexpected and frankly incredible. Retronauts continues to blaze a trail in video game podcast history.

 

[BearChair]

Brandon Graham, a comics artist and writer best known for the recently ended Prophet and also the great Island magazine, does a podcast.

He recently had Fil Barlow as a guest. Barlow is the person who designed the chubby, green Megaman from the Captain N series. Graham also posted an earlier interview with Barlow that I didn't seen, and the artist explained why the character looked the way he did.

http://royalboiler.tumblr.com/post/145848227423/garsh-ever-wonder-why-mega-man-looked-the-way

Key takeaways:

…Megaman’s appearance is simply how it looked to me on the TV I had and no one else checked…

"I had one night to play the games and no further contact with the material, including the manuals. I had no idea who was involved in the making of the games, and I didn’t know the name Capcom back then, but I wasn’t in any position of authority to contact the clients at Nintendo. If anything it’s surprising how much I got right, considering."

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

Our new podcast about GamePro TV is now live if you need a break from E3:

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/retronauts-micro-gets-a-50-in-fun-factor-with-our-look-at-gamepro-tv

EDIT: URL works now

 

[pje122]

Authentication Required

Edit: OK, cool.

 

[Curufinwe]

Jaz Rignall is on this week to talk about Pacman.

 

[krae_man]

This Gameboy episode is great.

The first proper handheld game console was the Game Pocket Computer which came out in 1984.

Only 5 games were ever released for it:

Mahjong(The starting of a tradition!)
Block Maze
Store Keepers(Sokoban, another tradition born)
Reversi
Astro Bomber

The first 4 games are single screen games that aren't that complex(although Store Keepers had a level editor).

Astro Bomber is the coolest game. It's a Scramble clone complete with scrolling and bosses.

You can see it in action here. Jump ahead to 5:15 if you want to see the boss.

The game just repeats and gets harder and harder in terms of enemy placement, scrolling, and gas depletion and the boss is the exact same time every time. As far as I know it doesn't have an end game but it's still quite impressive for 1984. Note the Level 1 thing at the beginning is a difficulty setting, not what level you are on which is why it says Level 1 at the start of every level. The game has two difficulty settings.

 

[BearChair]

Is anyone else done hearing about Earthbound? I bought the game on release, but I think I've heard everything possible about it. The discussion about the game borders on hagiography at this point.

The game is great. That's no longer up for debate. I wish retronauts would explore more about gaming's diversity, though. How about an episode about Hot B or Taxan/Naxat, maybe even "For the Frog the Bell Tolls." Sometimes I want to hear about more than mega man, castlevania, final fantasy, etc.

 

[charlequin]

The game is great. That's no longer up for debate. I wish retronauts would explore more about gaming's diversity, though. How about an episode about Hot B or Taxan/Naxat, maybe even "For the Frog the Bell Tolls." Sometimes I want to hear about more than mega man, castlevania, final fantasy, etc.

MM/CV/FF pays the bills, man. Bob's done episodes on Deception, Otocky, Echo Night... Ray did one on My Summer Vacation in season 3... I don't really think covering weird, obscure things is something they've failed to do at all.

 

[Ultima_5]

The gameboy episode is really great. Hope Jeremy considers continuing it in the future. Love gameboy talk. Such a neat little system defined by its limitations.

 

[Beer Monkey]

This Gameboy episode is great.

The first proper handheld game console was the Game Pocket Computer which came out in 1984.

In what way would this qualify more than Microvision (1979)?

 

[krae_man]

In what way would this qualify more than Microvision (1979)?

Microvision had a knob, membrane buttons that were part of the cartridge etc. I would call the Microvision the first handheld console technically, but what everyone thinks of when they think handheld game system: Buttons, D-Pad, Cartridges etc, the Game Pocket Computer was the first one like that.

 

[Fenster Mayhew]

MM/CV/FF pays the bills, man.

I wouldn't say we're that cynical about choosing our subjects. While it's true I've gravitated towards more popular topics lately for the sake of attracting people to the podcast, there's still a lot to say about these games and series, especially since we have more time to sit, think, and do research than we ever did at 1UP. I think we still do a good mix of popular and obscure subjects, and I definitely don't want to get so esoteric to the point where we start pushing people away.

As for the EarthBound thing, it's always an episode I wanted to do since I have a deeply personal connection to the game, so I've been holding off for three years just to make sure I get it right. I think we definitely dug up a lot of interesting info, and looked at the game from angles I really haven't seen before, so I think we made it worthwhile.

 

[Suzzopher]

Loved the Earthbound and GameBoy episodes.

I have finally after all these years just purchased Earthbound for 3DS and really looking forward to playing it finally.

I imported the SNES cart back in 1996 but then got sidetracked by PlayStation so never even opened it (yes I sold it for a lot of money in 2002).

 

[Dimmle]

I had no idea Keiichi Suzuki composed Tokyo Godfathers! This episode goes deeper into the social and cultural themes of Earthbound than previous Earthbound episodes of this podcast or others. It's a good close read.

I loved the musing on Earthbound's bizarre, one-off lines of dialogue. Maybe Mother 4 is actually just Twitter?

 

[charlequin]

I wouldn't say we're that cynical about choosing our subjects. While it's true I've gravitated towards more popular topics lately for the sake of attracting people to the podcast, there's still a lot to say about these games and series, especially since we have more time to sit, think, and do research than we ever did at 1UP.

Yeah, probably the better way to put it would just be that a lot of the audience is obviously gonna want to hear about the most classic retro games.The recent single-game episodes about canonical classics (especially SMW and LTTP) have been some of the best across all four eras, IMO, so I think the topic selection has been pretty fairly balanced between obscure stuff people can learn about and classic games where y'all have stuff to talk about.

 

[RomanticHeroX]

Of any canonical game already discussed in the Retronauts archive, Earthbound was definitely one of the best candidates to revisit. Bob rightfully points out how sour the mood seemed to be, coming immediately after the 1upocalypse, and I remember it being super strange to listen to at the time. It definitely deserved another, more upbeat discussion.

 

[Suzzopher]

Of any canonical game already discussed in the Retronauts archive, Earthbound was definitely one of the best candidates to revisit. Bob rightfully points out how sour the mood seemed to be, coming immediately after the 1upocalypse, and I remember it being super strange to listen to at the time. It definitely deserved another, more upbeat discussion.

Also Ray's mic went weird in the original. This time we get to hear Ray speak.

 

[Teknoman]

I still want a shoot em up / STG episode. If only to hear more stuff like the Konami B side episode.

 

[Dimmle]

If I share this Earthbound episode about illegal music sampling will I be arrested?

If you guys are cops you have to tell us.

 

[GuyKazama]

This podcast could use more Faceball 2000.

 

[ToastyFrog]

I'm going to do more Game Boy stuff, so we'll get to Faceball 2000 in a couple of decades.

 

[randomkid]

I'm going to do more Game Boy stuff, so we'll get to Faceball 2000 in a couple of decades.

I still think someone should do a chronology series that works backwards for once. Start with the weird hidden gems and un-discussed end-of-life obscura first!

I don't know how Faceball 2000 fits into that timeline but I just wanted to say that.

 

[Suzzopher]

I still think someone should do a chronology series that works backwards for once. Start with the weird hidden gems and un-discussed end-of-life obscura first!

I don't know how Faceball 2000 fits into that timeline but I just wanted to say that.

I'm currently working on a podcast for just that.

 

[ToastyFrog]

I still think someone should do a chronology series that works backwards for once. Start with the weird hidden gems and un-discussed end-of-life obscura first!

I don't know how Faceball 2000 fits into that timeline but I just wanted to say that.

Faceball 2000 is in the middle, so [fart sounds]

I actually did consider a backward approach to the NES, but then I saw the prices on the system's end-of-life releases and said naaaaaaah.