Search the Community

It's nice to have an "All things video games" thread, but recently it seems to be about "video game news" than anything else, so I propose starting a discussion on the stuff we all grew up with and get nostalgic pangs for every so often now. I'll start by explaining that I had hardly played any video games for probably over a decade until I bought a PSP when Macross Ace Frontier came out. MAF was fun and everything, but it was the old school emulators that got me hooked again. Back in the day I had a Super NES and Gameboy, and I believed they were the greatest things on the planet. Going to school in the UK I bought CVG (Computer & Video Games) magazine every month (with awesome airbrushed artwork on the cover every issue), and later switched to the new NMS (Nintendo Magazine System -- yeah, what a name). The free gifts were incredible at the time. A "Time Boy" clock/keyring in the shape of a gameboy, the entire Street Fighter 2 arcade soundtrack on CD (with all the speech and everything)... Anyway, needless to say most of my favourite games were on Nintendo machines. Here are some which I enjoy even to this day. Axelay: There was a wholesale store called Makro which always had an excellent selection of hardcore shooters like this. I distinctly remember Cybernator and Super Aleste being on the same shelf, but I went and got this one. It was the European mainland edition because it came with two instruction booklets, one in English and one in Portuguese. Holy crap were these graphics gobsmackingly-insane. It moved like 3D, but it was all cool sprite-scaling and Mode 7 wizardry. And the music was amazing. It was around this time that I realized that the Konami logo was really just a seal of quality, and a guarantee of fun. Starfox/Starwing All the UK mags made a big deal about this one not least for the fact that it was the first real, full speed 3D shooter on a console (unless you count Faceball 2000?) but also for the involvement of British developer Argonaut Software. That meant lots of interviews with the staff. Ironically due to copyright reasons the name had to be changed since there already was some Starfox game on the Spectrum or C64 or some Amstrad thing, who knows. The game itself was incredibly fun, and I remember playing it with my friends on my 12th birthday party. "BOGEY ON MY SIX!" Yoshi's Island: As this one was released really late in the life of the console, I don't really have as "nostalgic" feelings for it as the others, yet have plenty of memories trying to solve all the puzzles and whatnot. The control system was like no other game before it and extremely daunting at first, as the whole structure of the game was based on the concept of getting Yoshi to aim and throw his eggs at enemies, obstacles, power-ups; and the whole thing gets even more complex when you incorporate the calculations you have to make to get the eggs to rebound at the perfect angle to hit the switch that activates the thing to transform Yoshi into a car (with comedy vertically-extending axles) or helicopter and whatnot. Yeah, weird but really fun. And I never managed to unlock all the levels, as there are still some flowers and coins and stuff that I never found. Street Fighter 2: The big one. My cousin and I played the hell out of this game. "SHORYUUKEN!!" Mario Paint: OK, so, not really a game. But it was certainly something I spent a lot of time on, since I loved drawing and making animations. The sound composer was great too, and the fly-squatting game was the most fun I've ever had with a mouse-click type of game. Simple but sweet. Super Game Boy: Again, not a game. BUT.... since I had LOADS of Gameboy games, I thought it was a godsend. To be able to play GB games on TV, in colour?? Also, being able to mess with the screen borders and stuff as player 2 when your mate is trying to concentrate on staying alive is really fun. You can even graffiti over the screen, blocking his view if you're feeling douchey-like. Donkey Kong GB: I bought this at the same time as the Super GB, I think on the day of release. I remember they both came out at the same time. This is not the Gameboy version of Donkey Kong Country, which came out later, this is the "extended" version of the classic DK game. 100 levels of puzzle-solving, barrel-jumping, switch-flicking, deep-sea diving, monkey-tail-climbing, key-finding, trash-can-throwing, back-flipping, power-line-swinging action! Looking back now it seems really easy, but back in the day I remember being stuck on figuring out some of the more complex levels. The perfect portable game. Zelda: Link's Awakening: A great adventure. I don't know what else to say. I also got the other GB Zelda games that Capcom developed, and they were good, too, but they seemed much more systematic than the organic, natural feel of the flow of the original's story. I don't know why I never got the SNES one. Those were some of the ones which I remember the most. I often play retro games now, too, in particular shooting games. It's just a simple form of grammar that I can pick up and enjoy for a few minutes when I have free time, and that's what gaming is to me -- I'm not into hardcore RPGs for that reason. I'll write about those games too at a later date: Gunhed, Soldier Blade, Aleste, Zanac, etc. Oh, and I forgot SCRAMBLED VALKYRIE, hehe.

Back in the pre-Hasegawa days, this was the best kit you're going to find of a 1/72 VF-1 Valkyrie. And now, thanks to Hasegawa, you can find these for a steal. Seriously, if you're paying more than ￥3500 for this now, you're getting ripped off. Only decals are the kites, skulls, and other miscellaneous markings. Everything else painted.

This kit didn't go together very smoothly - despite starting to lay down paint still on the sprue! For starters, the kit is molded in dark blue, and any light colours on top of that required multiple coats. I ended up losing some of the finer details due to that. The upper arms are extremely fiddly. I ended up having to permanently glue the upper arms, as the pieces kept popping apart when the elbow joint was rotated! Some of the other joints are stiff, but that might be due to the aforementioned paint problem. I ended up using super glue to affix the thrusters on the back of the legs and backpack, and the gun and its support. Only the backpack thruster went on smoothly. And once everything was finished painting and so on, I realized that there aren't decals for the stripes on the forearms! So, another round of masking, painting, and cleaning up. >.< At least the panel lining went smoothly (though most of it didn't remain in the grooves in the feet). What are your thoughts on the Christmas colours? The green was much brighter than I expected (though, it should be perfect for the Sound Force VF-17 I'm working on). I'm still working on the Zentraadi figure that comes with it (the kit's gimmick is that you can either make it either stand alone, or only the upper half of the figure inside the torso of the Nujaderu Gaa. Here he is reenacting one of the famous scenes in SDFM. Not quite a good match for the Bandai 1/100 Battle Pod... But a good match for the Bandai 1/144 VF-11C, and HG Gundam!

So, how does this look as a possibility? Anyone interested in a custom head based on this, cast in resin? This is just a very basic dryfit on a Bandai reissue DYRL 1/55 VF-1A. The head actually comes from this plastic SD-series kit: Thoughts, anyone? While it's SD, I think it has the style of interpretation seen in the other superchunk 1/55 heads. It would look right at home on those big square shoulders...