To define what a JRPG is, we need to look at what RPGs were like when video games were starting to take off in the late 70s-early 80s, and the answer starts with the granddaddy of all RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons. While the tabletop game was gaining popularity and notoriety (thanks to the Satanic Panic of the early 80’s) DnD formed the groundwork for RPGs to come, and in 1981, the world saw two of the most influential games for RPGs, Ultima and Wizardry. While these…

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The question has been circling the internet this whole holiday season.  Was getting games as a present better then or now?  The YouTuber Retro Bird made a video about this very topic and makes a good point.  When we were kids we didn’t have the resources (money) necessary to go buy games on our own.  If we wanted a new game we either had to find odd jobs to get the cash, or wait until a birthday or holiday.  Of course what game we got didn’t really matter.  We were just happy to get a brand new video game and play it.  Now that most of us are adults, we don’t have to worry about waiting to get a new game as a present.  However I’d argue that getting a game as a gift now means more than getting one as a kid.

With the world as it is today, and with many suffering with bad financial luck, getting a new game as a gift can mean the world to gamers.  They can come home from work and play the game their friend/spouse/family member got them and unwind.  They can forget about the news for a few precious moments and level up characters, or call up a friend for some multiplayer.  It may not be like it was when you were a kid, but the magic of getting a game for the holidays is still there.  Plus the sheer happiness of getting a game from someone can’t be beat.  Yet some gamers may not WANT games for the holidays.  They may have a large backlog and they want to get through a chunk before they get any more games.  That doesn’t mean you can’t get them something gameing related.  It could be a gaming collectible, art book, or even something they could wear.  This year I received Nintendo socks from my lovely girlfriend and I couldn’t be happier.  Some gamers may just be happy with getting something game related than getting an actual game.  Sometimes they might like the gaming related gift MORE than the game itself.  Point is, is that they’ll be happy, and that’s all we want to be.

Of course we may never experience the magic of getting games as a kid every year, but the year it DOES happen it will be a holiday to remember.  Quick story time.  In 2019 I wanted a SEGA Genesis Mini for my birthday or Christmas.  I kept mentioning it to my girlfriend and dropped hints wherever I could to tell her that’s what I wanted.  My birthday is in November, and it past with no Genesis Mini.  So I thought I would be getting one for Christmas.  Well Christmas morning came and no SEGA, so I resigned to the idea that I would just have to buy one.  I had the money but it just wasn’t the same.  However that night we had plans to visit one of my best friends to celebrate Christmas at his house with his family.  Looking at the presents under the tree I see mine and instantly sized it up.  I held the box at Target quite a few times, tempted to just buy it right then and there, only to have my girlfriend talk me out of it.  It looked like the exact same size as a Genesis Mini box.  Sure enough when it was my turn to open my present, I got my Genesis Mini and was overjoyed.  I yelled the classic SEGA chant and gave my best friend the biggest bear hug to date.  Turns out he got me my SEGA near the day it came out and told my girlfriend not to get it for me other wise she would’ve.

The magic was there, a 29 year old man felt like a kid opening up a SEGA Genesis back in 1992.  It’s still possible to feel that way again.  Granted it may be few and far between but it can happen.  Sure the anticipation may not be there like it was back in the day, but the feeling of being thankful to those who DO give gamers games or game related items for the holidays, or any occasion, can’t be overstated.

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Still, his grey brick would eventually evolve and advance into one of the best handheld gaming systems ever made. When the Game Boy Advance (GBA) was first released in 2001, fans were excited and marveled at the new system. Keeping with Nintendo standards, 2 AA batteries would get the system playing for a good 15 or so hours, and right out the gate, the entire Game Boy….

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REMAKES, REMASTERS, AND RERELEASES ARE NOTHING NEW IN VIDEO GAMES

Nearly every gaming YouTuber, podcaster, and writer has something to say about…

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To be fair most of the Genesis love is coming from North America.  In other parts of the world (Japan being the prime example) SEGA still remembers their other consoles fondly.  When the Saturn launched in Japan in 1994 the system sold out on the first day and even outsold the PlayStation.  Sadly we all know that the launch of the system here in North America was a near wash and it was Sony who walked away on top.  SEGA had a last-ditch effort with the Dreamcast but once the PS2 was launched, that’s all she wrote for SEGA being in the console market.  It’s clear to many that because the other systems weren’t the big hit sellers like the Genesis was, SEGA wants to brush them under the rug.  It’s a practice that Nintendo has done in the past with the commercial flop of the Virtual Boy so it makes sense that SEGA of America wants to distance itself from past failures.  Yet times change, those kids who had to pick between certain consoles are older now, and they have what is referred to as “Adult Money”.  Gamers want to experience the other game sand systems that SEGA had to offer, but pickings are slim to none and it’s time for SEGA to change that practice.

To be fair there are some games from the SEGA Saturn and Dreamcast that you could purchase digitally from platforms like Steam and some Dreamcast titles were available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 digitally.  The Game Gear even got some love on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop but those will be closing soon at the time of this writing.  So what should SEGA do with their older console games?  While going full blast and releasing a ton of content sounds like a good idea, it’s quite the opposite.  We don’t want a repeat of the late 90s with SEGA churning out extras nearly every other week so slow and steady is the pace they should use.  A good start would be to add SEGA Saturn games to something like the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) service.  SEGA could make the Saturn games part of the same tier as the Genesis and N64 games so gamers wouldn’t have to be spending more money to access them.  Along with putting games on the NSO the best way they can get people interested is by releasing a “Greatest Saturn Hits” collection for modern consoles.  You can have classics like Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, and even sweeten the deal by localizing some Japan-only games.  Should sales of that do decent, then start on a Dreamcast collection and go from there.  Before you know it, we could be seeing more collections in the same vein as the Genesis Collections, or even mini consoles.

While all of this may sound like an amazing idea, there is one more thing to consider.  Retro gaming is a very niche part of video games as a whole.  While you may be online and watching tons of content creators yell and scream at SEGA to make their older games more accessible (yours truly included) that still doesn’t change the fact that SEGA is a business.  They have to know that gamers will buy these collections

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Time goes by and finally, the match is set. He’s reached Iron Mike and is ready. He bobs and weaves through a volley of punches but perseveres and lands a blow that sends the heavyweight champion of the world down to the mat. The count reaches ten and the young man has done it. He became the first kid on the block to beat the pixelated form of Mike Tyson, and this young man’s name is Shane Stein.

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Myself, Joon, and Fanney after the show.

I’ve been itching to attend a Distant Worlds show for a good long while and while this wasn’t my first ever trip to a video game symphony, this was one show that I’ve been looking forward to.  Earlier in the year, I did attend A New World: Intimate Music from Final Fantasy in La Jolla California.  An officially sanctioned show with a smaller orchestra and no video screens to showcase the action from the games.  Even though it was smaller, that show was still amazing to attend and a great date night.  After attending that show with my lovely girlfriend, Fanney, she mentioned how she would love to go to the bigger show, mostly so she could see the game footage and have some idea of what was going on during a piece of music.  As luck would have it, Distant Worlds had a show scheduled in Los Angeles on a night we could both attend.  Tickets were immediately bought and we even convinced our friend Joon to join us as well since he is also a huge Final Fantasy fan.

The general vibe at the concert was relaxing and exciting.  While one would think to dress up in your best when attending a symphony, video game fans have a different approach.  There were people in some amazing outfits and dresses, but there were also some cosplayers walking about and fans wearing the special Uniqlo Final Fantasy shirts.  One minute you would see a couple dressed to the nines, and the next you would see a Tifa cosplayer alongside a group of moogles.  It was fantastic to see and nothing felt out of place.  Even with me in my Final Fantasy I t-shirt, I didn’t feel underdressed.  All the attendees were there to enjoy music from one of our favorite video game franchises and just enjoy the night.  If there was one thing I do regret, it’s that I didn’t get to the theater early enough to buy some merchandise.  We arrived at the Microsoft Theater about half an hour before the show was set to start and the merchandise line was incredibly long.  Refreshments were almost as long as the merchandise and a few items I was hoping to get did sell out.  So pro-tip for anyone wanting to attend a Distant Worlds show if you want the merchandise you need to get there EARLY.  Do not underestimate Final Fantasy fans for they will get the goods.  While I was lucky enough to walk away with a shirt and a music box, I missed out on some other items.

Orchestra playing To Zanarkand

The show started with the Prelude playing and immediately I was giddy and had an uncontrollable smile on my face.  The screens showed off the beautiful logo for the show as well as clips from a myriad of games.  Even if you weren’t familiar with all the games the conductor, Arnie Roth, would get on a microphone and tell the audience the songs and which game they were from.  A beautiful logo of the said game would come up on screen and the orchestra would play about 2 or 3 songs from each game.  They started with the original Final Fantasy and mostly worked their way in numerical order, only going out of order in the second half of the show.  For the first half what struck me as a bit odd but made some commercial sense was that the footage being shown for games I-VI was all from the Pixel Remasters.  No original NES footage, no PSP footage, and no DS footage.  I can only assume this is because Square wants to push the Pixel Remasters and this would be the way to do it, even though the graphics and art style of the PSP games are beautifully detailed.  Aside from the footage, what I did appreciate was how they weren’t afraid to throw in a little joke when the moment arose.  While playing songs from Final Fantasy IV, the infamous “Spoony Bard” line came up on the screen.  Not only that but while playing Phantom Train from Final Fantasy VI, a shot of Sabin throwing the Phantom Train got a huge laugh from the audience.

While I highly enjoyed the first half of the show, you could tell the audience was itching for music from the later games.  Not to say the first half was boring, but you could feel the room’s energy rise when the show’s second half began.  the second half started with Final Fantasy VIII‘s Liberi Fatali and went right into Aerith’s Theme where I will freely admit to getting a tad emotional.  As an added treat Yoko Shimomura (the composer for Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy XV) was in the audience and when it was time to play one of her songs, the audience erupted.  The song they played was Apocalypsis Noctis and talk about hype.  There were times in the show when the game footage didn’t sync up with the music, meaning the action on screen felt out of place, but with Apocalypsis Noctis it did 100%.  Not only was Yoko Shimomura in the audience, but for the Final Fantasy X number they brought out Ritsuki Nakano to sing Suteki da ne (Isn’t It Wonderful).  For those wondering, Suteki da ne is the song sung when Tidus and Yuna share their first kiss in the game and Nakano is the original singer.  This was quite possibly the most beautiful moment in the show.  I was constantly watching her sing and looking up at the screen to see scenes of Tidus and Yuna and I could’ve sworn I heard some people around me crying.  A touching moment to be sure and somehow a fitting place to bring in the main theme of Final Fantasy.  While the orchestra was playing this classic song, the credits were rolling on screen and it just felt right.  Even though I knew the show wasn’t over, there was still the encore, but it felt like I was watching the end credits of a game.  I went on a journey through 35 years of Final Fantasy music and this was the end.

An iconic shot at the end of One Winged Angel.

Of course, it wasn’t the end as my girlfriend was next to me wondering when they would play One Winged Angel.  We were treated not only with one encore song but 2, and the first one they played was To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X.  A true fan favorite and one of the songs I was hoping to hear that night.  Like any great performance, they saved the best for last.  After the applause from Zanarkand was over, the chorus immediately stood up and we all knew what was going to play next.  Video recording and photos were allowed during the performance and while my phone stayed in my pocket for 99% of the show, this was the exception.  The opening notes were met with cheers from the audience and then silence as we all basked in the glory that was One Winged Angel, the most famous song from Final Fantasy.  I’ve heard this song plenty of times, but listening to it live was surreal.  This was also when the footage deviated from showing game footage and instead showed footage from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.  I was thinking they would show footage from the remake but it was nice to see Advent Children get some love.

Once the show was over there were 2 things I wanted to do right when I got home.  Play some Final Fantasy games and look up tickets for the next show.  It was such a fantastic night that I’m eagerly awaiting the next show in Los Angeles.  It’s not just the Final Fantasy show I’ll be looking forward to.  Video game concerts and symphonies have become a more common occurrence so that one doesn’t have to wait too long for the next show.  While you may still have to wait for a bit and do some research for a particular game/franchise to have a concert, going to a show like this live is worth it.  It gave me a deeper appreciation for the games and strengthened my desire to play them and experience the music firsthand.  If you’ve never been to a Distant Worlds show then I’d highly recommend that you go and experience it for yourself.

Three extremely happy fans at the end of the show. Myself, Fanney, and Joon.

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For those who don’t know, Limited Run Games (LRG) is a game company that releases limited physical copies of games.  These games range from Indies to retro collections.  Sometimes they even make reproduction carts of certain games like Star Wars Episode 1 Racer or put the Turok games on a physical disc/cart for current consoles.  They are no stranger to nostalgia as some of the games they released come in boxes that resemble Game Boy boxes or N64 boxes (like Shantae and Doom 64).  Their attention to detail is quite commendable, I bought Racer for a friend and it came in a package resembling that of a Star Wars toy from the late 90s.  Just like the name suggests when they say ‘limited’ they mean it.  Games are only in production for a certain amount of time and once they’re gone, they’re gone.  Miss the preorder window or wake up too late for a limited preorder window and you’re plum out of luck.  If you were hoping they would possibly reprint popular titles then I have bad news.  According to LRG’s FAQ page, numbered games won’t get reprinted but they may order more than they need for cons and sell those off later.

So why is buying from LRG a conundrum?  Well for starters you have to ask yourself this question first.  How long are you willing to wait to get your games?  People who have preordered certain games have waited 8 months to nearly a year AFTER they preordered to get their games and Collector’s Editions.  If you were to look up reviews about LRG at TrustPilot they are not kind.  Most reviews talk about how long it took for customers to get their products, and I have first-hand experience with the wait time.  In May of 2021, I preordered DOOM: The Classics Collection Special Edition.  I bought it the first day the preorder window opened and started waiting.  LRG does plainly state that this is a preorder and explains that production will begin once the preorder window is closed.

After the window is closed the estimated time to get our order is 4-5 months.  All of this is clearly explained, but what bothered customers (myself included) was that no clear end date for the preorders was given.  The lack of communication from LRG was also a thorn in many customers’ sides.  Months went by when I finally got an email in November of 2021.  Now, this was amid the pandemic and global shipping was a mess so extra time was needed which was understandable.  The email said they hope to be getting the last piece of my order after Thanksgiving.  I wouldn’t receive another update until December making sure to finalize my address.  Come February 1st I would finally get an email with the tracking information.  I ordered in May and got my game in February, a 10-month wait.

Todd “The Top Loader”s update screen

Supply chain issues can be forgiven, especially in 2021, but it seems that said problems are still the go-to explanation from LRG for long wait times.  If the reviews are to be believed, people are still waiting months, if not a year or two to get their items, and that’s only in the United States.  A friend of mine in Australia (who goes by @The_Top_Loader on Twitter) ordered some games back in August of 2021 and just got them a few days ago.  Waited nearly 8 months for his games and is STILL waiting for his Castlevania game.  The snapshot was taken the day this article was written.  What I didn’t mention in my story earlier was that I also ordered 2 more games from LRG in a flash sale and both of those games came in the next week after I ordered them.  These games were already produced, hence the shorter wait time, but it still bothered me that a product I ordered months ago was still a ways off.

The conundrum continues when it comes to buying games from them.  Especially when it comes to limited preorders which seem to sell out almost instantly.  Just recently another sale was announced with special editions of Shantae and Scott Pilgrim up for grabs.  While these are great games, the true prize was a physical copy of River City Girls.  This game was available in past sales but sold out quickly, and now there was another chance to not only get the game but a special convention cover as well.  LRG sales go live on their website at 10 AM Eastern time, so I had to set an alarm before 7 AM to try and snag a copy.  Well, when 7 AM hit, I clicked the link to add the game to my cart and the website glitched.  The website thought I wanted 3 copies of the game.  It gave me a warning message to lower the quantity down to 1.  The button to reduce the number of copies I wanted wasn’t responsive and I was essentially stuck.  I had the game(s) in my cart but I couldn’t check out due to the quantity limit.  I finally clicked “Fix Amount” and when I got to the checkout page it informed me that the game was sold out.  I was fighting the website for 5 minutes to get the right amount of copies I wanted (which was 1 by the way) and ended up with nothing.  In my sleep-deprived state, I went to Twitter to vent and saw other would-be buyers furious.   According to the Twitter thread, River City Girls sold out in mere seconds once 7 AM hit.  While LRG did say “Limited Quantities” they didn’t say how limited they were.  To me, the fact that this game was sold out in seconds means that either bots were used by scalpers, or they had less than 50 copies of the game to sell.

One more glaring issue that has come up with LRG is their customer service or lack thereof.  Mostly this is dealing with customers who are trying to get updates on their orders and not getting a response.  A friend of mine from Europe has dealt with this first hand.  According to her, she has contacted LRG multiple times to no avail.  So the conundrum lies with this, do we deal with all of that, or just buy them digitally so we can play the games now?  To an outsider looking in the obvious answer is just to buy the game digitally.  That way you wouldn’t have to wait for nearly a year to get your game.  Yet there is one more caveat we have to talk about.  A lot of games are announced with no physical release date in mind.  Meaning some games are out for weeks, sometimes months, before LRG could announce a physical version.  It happened to me with Panzer Paladin and Castlevania Requiem.  While I eventually double dipped with Panzer Paladin, I skipped the Castlevania one out of impatience.  So for some who were dead set on getting a physical copy not only had to wait for their games to come in but wait for an official announcement from LRG as well.

While I’ve been very critical of LRG, I must point out that I do believe they are trying to do something good.  So how can LRG improve?  For starters, they can improve their line of communication with customers.  Make sure buyers know how long exactly they will have to wait once they put in their preorder.  Also, send out regular updates on said orders to customers so they know what’s going on.  It would’ve put my mind at ease if I knew when exactly production was going to start instead of constantly wondering where my order was.  Besides better communication, the website could also use some debugging.  I understand in this day and age we retro collectors have to constantly fight with scalpers and resellers.  So seeing a title that we want get sold out instantly is a tad heartbreaking, especially when we west coasters have to wake up at 7 AM.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to what you, the consumer, are OK with.  If you are OK with a long wait for your item then go for it.  When I finally got my copy of DOOM everything was in the box as promised when I preordered it.  It should also be said that LRG does have deals with other developers and distributes their games.  It was announced through Twitter that they will be the distributor for the upcoming Shredder’s Revenge game.  Even sometimes they’ll have special variant covers of older games for retailers like Best Buy or Amazon.  That’s how I got my copies of Shantae and Shantae: Risky’s Revenge (pictured right).  You will have to either jump through hoops or wait a very long time to get what you want, but I will say the result was mostly worth it.  I want to buy more games from LRG, but if they can improve the issues most people have then we can breathe easy, knowing some of our favorite games will be available physically.

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To get those out of the loop up to speed, Sonic Origins is the current gen ports of the original Sonic the Hedgehog games.  However this collection not only includes the first 2 games, but also Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD.  This is a reason to be excited because 3 & Knuckles have essentially been locked away for years.  While not 100% confirmed it is speculated that the reason being is because Michael Jackson (the former pop star) helped with the music.  He left the project early on due to legal issues of his own but some remnants of his music remained (allegedly).  Ever since the King of Pop’s passing, SEGA decided to not fight with his estate’s legal team and kept 3 & Knuckles on lockdown after 2011 just to be safe.  Sonic CD on the other hand just hasn’t gotten a ton of love.  Fans do have a great port done by Sonic Mania’s Christian Whitehead for iOS and Android, but the last time this game was on a console was the GameCube’s Sonic Gems Collection.  Now all 4 (or 5 if you count Sonic and Knuckles as a separate game) of the Genesis titles will be in 1 package.  So why are fans so mad?

The reason being is because SEGA is starting to nickel and dime fans and it’s quickly biting them in the behind.  While the trailer does look amazing and the animation sequences are gorgeous to look at, SEGA also came out with a chart (see below).  This chart was supposed to tell fans what they would be getting should the preorder certain editions of the game, but all it did was confuse and outrage fans.  SEGA was charging more for DLC that could’ve easily been in the main game with no problems.  SEGA was also adding features that are arbitrary and just there to show off that you paid more money than other fans.  These special “features” include animations in the menu, looking over different islands in the menu, and some music packs.  There are some game modes locked behind a DLC pay wall like Mirror Mode and Hard Missions, but there is no current option to just pay 1 price and unlock everything.  Thankfully the animations that were shown off in the trailer are in the base game and aren’t blocked behind a pay wall.  However the things that are classified as DLC seem like they should be in the base game already.

The confusing chart in question

One more thing that got fans mad was the lack of a physical copy of the game.  It’s no secret that physical games cost quite a bit of money to make in today’s day and age.  Last time SEGA had a digital release first was with Sonic Mania but that game gets a pass.  It wasn’t developed by SEGA and it sold so well that it warranted a physical release with all the DLC included.  Not only that but it also came with an art book and it was still an affordable game.  The worst part is that SEGA knows the fans want a physical edition of the game and so far don’t plan to do anything about it.   It feels like SEGA is testing the waters first to see if fan reception and sales would warrant a physical release.  Looking as to what’s been said on Twitter it seems this strategy has backfired on SEGA.

Fans everywhere (including myself) aren’t really happy with this news.  It’s a shame too because the games look like they have been remastered beautifully.  The new Anniversary mode where players have unlimited lives is such a good addition and the animations that bridge the story throughout all the games is a great idea.  Also being able to play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles throughout ALL the games is a great touch.  It’s all this ‘extra’ stuff that SEGA wants to charge for that makes us mad.  While the lack of a physical release is a bummer, I can live with a digital only version of the game. What I don’t want to live with, is a DLC pack that includes classic songs from past games that I can easily listen to on YouTube or modes that could’ve been unlocked by beating certain games.  I don’t care about character animations in a menu screen and the fact that this ‘feature’ is being touted as DLC is insulting.  Hopefully SEGA will rethink some of their DLC packs but with a June 23rd release date it seems unlikely.  I do want this game, I want to play these games on modern consoles, but I might wait a bit until I finally purchase the game.

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Now what does PlayStation need to do to make more retro gamers hop on and shell out the cash for the Premium tier?  Their line up of classic games has to be outstanding.  At the time of this writing we don’t know what will be offered yet in regards to the older games.  First party titles are to be expected but hopefully we’ll get titles that DON’T have HD remasters.  Say the original line up includes games like Jak and Daxter or Final Fantasy X.  Good games, but each has a PS4 HD equivalent that not only looks better, but also has trophy support.  If gamers, modern and retro, have a choice on playing a game with updated graphics, most will be choosing the remastered one.  Graphics aside, PlayStation also needs to show that they learned from their PlayStation Classic blunder.  Not saying all the games on that system were bad, but the selection was weak compared to the 16-bit consoles SEGA and Nintendo put out.  The game line up should also be diverse, and hopefully include games that are becoming super expensive on the second hand market.  It would be great to play classics like Tomba or Brave Fencer Musashi on this service, but that leads us to the biggest thing PlayStation needs to do.

When this launches, and the game library is good, the emulation quality will be the deciding factor.  We all remember the outcries from Nintendo fans about the spotty emulation when the N64 games came out on Nintendo Switch Online.  While those fires seemed to have died out, there’s no telling what PlayStation will go through should the emulation be bad.  Sadly PlayStation doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to emulation quality.  The Classic was ridiculed for its spotty emulation and there is no way that will fly here.  They already have an uphill battle since the PS3 games are streamable only so that may add some problems, but the games that may be under the microscope more are the PS1, PS2, and PSP titles.  A lot of those games haven’t been available since their original release, and gamers will be going over the quality of the emulation with a fine tooth comb before going on social media with their verdicts.

As of now, the new tiered PlayStation Plus is scheduled to launch this June.  PlayStation said that more news will be revealed closer to launch, and these reveals may make or break this new model.  Originally I was all for the Premium tier.  I was ready to fork over my hard earned cash but the more I thought about it, the more hesitant I became.  I don’t want to spend money on games I already own physically, or can play the HD version on my PS5.  While I remain hopeful, I also remain cautious.  PlayStation burned fans before with the mini, so if they learned their lesson from that, we may see something pretty special.  Only time will tell.

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