Every article tag can be clicked to get a list of all articles in that category. Every article tag also has an RSS feed! You can customize an RSS feed too!
Weekend Players' Club 3/17/23
StoneColdSpider Mar 18, 2023
G'Day everyone……. Its your interim host here once again…….. Its a sunny Saturday here right now…….…… The weather has been better too….. I did not get rained on this week during a walk…… This week has been busy…… I picked up my new puppy during the week….. a Border Collie named Natasha……. So ive been busy puppy proofing the backyard…… Which meant making some new temporary gates and fence sections……


Natasha……..


As for gaming this week in Emulationville I played…….

Arcade

Atomic Robo Kid (1988 UPL) - Shoot 'em up - Horizontal
Caveman Ninja (1991 Data East) - Platformer


Console

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (1990 Sega) - Sega Mega Drive - Platformer
Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (2003 Tecmo) - Microsoft Xbox - Sports (Beach Volleyball)
Duck Hunt (1984 Nintnedo) - Nintendo Entertainment System - Shooting gallery (Light Gun)
Forza Motorsport (2005 Microsoft) - Microsoft Xbox - Sports (Racing)
Gran Turismo 4 (2004 Sony) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
Kirby & the Amazing Mirror (2004 Nintendo) - Nintendo Game Boy Advance - Platformer
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NCAA Football 11 (2010 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Football)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus (2004 Konami) - Nintendo Game Boy Advance - Platformer


PC

NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 Motorsport Games) - Steam - Sports (Racing)


NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona Dick Trickle Career: Part 6

Dick was deep inside the rear end this week……. As was installing his newly purchased exhaust system for the car…… Dick spent $6,350 on the best exhaust that will add more horsepower, a higher redline and weight reduction…….. Dick was hoping it would make a big enough difference to finally get him inside the top 5 on pace alone…….

And what better time to buy it…… At the power track known as Eagan Speedbowl and with the largest prize pool of the season set at $10,000…… So Dick is hoping that exhaust is his ticket to a big payday……. As a new engine is really what he needs to fight for wins on a consistent basis…...



Dicks new exhaust…..



2002 Dirt Series: Round 6 of 10 at Eagan Speedbowl……...


Dick Trickle at the track ready to race…….

After a nice practise session for Dick to run in the new exhaust….. The car was faster thats for sure….. But was it fast enough…….. And after qualifying the answer was…… No……. Dick Trickle only managed to get 6th in qualifying….. One spot better than last week and two spots better the week before…….

The wide open full throttle nature of Eagan Speedbowl is showing how down on power Dick is even with the new exhaust….. He could also do with a suspension and aero upgrades too…..

So Tricky Dicky will start in 3rd position in Heat 2……...


Qualifying Results……..


Dick Trickle lined up ready to start Heat 2…...

Dick got off to hard start in the 5 lap Heat 2 race and was in 2nd place for a brief moment as they entered turn 1…….. But that did not last long as Erik Truet and Alan Andersen easily drove away from the hard charging Dick down the back straight……. Trickle just had no answers as he watched the two just simply drive away from him……..

Dick ended up finishing in 3rd……. Meaning he will be starting in 6th place in the A Main…….


Heat 2 Results…….

The 50 lap A Main race Started with Dick penetrating the middle and making it 3 wide into turn 1…… But Dicks hard stream soon turned into a Trickle as just like in the heat race the cars in front started to drive away from him down the back straight……

As the race went on Mark Hunter starting to get slower as his setup was not working well in the longer runs….. Trickle managed to pass Hunter at the half way mark of the race to take 5th place……. Next up was Matthew Kato but it was a stale mate as Kato kept a steady 2.1 second lead over Dick Trickle for the next 24 laps……

Sam Peterson was chasing Dick hard in the final few laps but was not able to catch Dick and was left disappointed…..

And with no mechanical failures Trickle was not gifted any free spots this week….. He was stuck in 5th place……

Championship leader Josh Ginter took his first win of the season to extend his points lead…… Dick Trickle maintained 3rd place in the standings but is slipping further and further behind……

A sombre Dick was overall disappointed with 5th place…... Thinking his new exhaust would get him 4th or 3rd……. Telling reporters “Im sombre……. Overall im disappointed with 5th place…… I thought the new exhaust would get me 4th or 3rd…..”

Dick now has to regroup from the disappointment at Eagan Speedbowl and head to Hastings Motorsports Park…. A small technical high banked bullring style track……. That will show a cars suspension deficiencies very well…..

Will Dick harden up and push his way into a win or will he Trickle to the wayside on such a technical track????…… Will we have our first 2 time winner this season????……. Or will we have a 7th different winner in 7 races???…. Find out next week at Hastings Motorsports Park for round 7 of the 2002 Dirt Series Championship…..


A Main Results……


Winnings……


NASCAR Heat Weekly……


2002 Dirt Series Championship Standings after round 6 of 10……
Dick Trickle is still 3rd in the standings…..

The next race is at Hastings Motorsports Park…….






Dirty Dick A Main Action……...


NCAA Football 11 Steve Austin Road to Glory


This week the undefeated Boise State Broncos (11-0) are at home against the (5-6) Utah State Aggies…...


WAC Conference Standings…..


Steve Austins rushing stats for the season…….

As per usual Austin spent one night studying and four nights training and all his new attribute points were put into break tackle……


Lee Corso picking the Boise State Broncos to beat the Utah State Aggies…..

Well this is it….. The final game of the regular season for the Broncos……. The coach has been hard on them all week long……. They need to win to keep a chance of making it to the National Championship playoffs……..

Utah won the toss and elected to receive the ball first……. Utah did not do well on their opening drive being forced to punt the ball after a quick 3 and out……. Boise State replied by handing the ball off to Steve Austin who demolished Utahs defensive line and sprinted away to get the easy tuddy…….

Utah got the ball back but the Boise State defence forced a fumble and recovered it……. QB #11 threw a nice pass to Austin who got around the outside of the defender and got another touchdown…… Giving Boise State an early 14-0 lead…….

This time when Utah got the ball they did something as they scored a touchdown to half the lead and bring the score back to 14-7…….

Austin scored another bulldozing rushing touchdown and then the Broncos defence made a big play as they got an interception……. Which resulted in another Steve Austin touchdown……

Broncos had a comfortable lead as the score was 42-7 at half time…….

Second half started as Boise State started right where they left off as they scored another touchdown to Steve Austin…..

The Broncos didnt not let off the gas in the 2nd half as they continued to pile on the points and make sure the Aggies did not stand a chance of mounting any kind of comeback…..

The Broncos defence did let in a late touchdown but it was far to late for Utah to pose any threat…… And the Boise State Broncos ran out easy winners 97-14…….

And that is the end of the regular season for the Broncos… As they finished with a perfect record of 12-0………


Steve Austins rushing stats against the Aggies


NCAA Offensive and Defensive Players Of The Week…….


The Broncos earned themselves a Bowl Game…….. The #4 ranked (12-0) Boise State Broncos will face the #7 ranked (10-2) University of Texas Longhorns in the Super Bowl

This concludes the regular season…….. There is quite a big gap between the game against Utah and the Sugar Bowl game……. And there is nothing to do besides the Awards Ceremony so I skipped it to that point…….. So that means Its now time for the Awards Ceremony as see who wins what prestigious NCAA Football Award……

Steve Austin won 3 Awards…..


2010 Doak Walker Running Back Award – Nations Best Running Back


2010 Maxwell Award – College Player of the Year


2010 Heisman Memorial Trophy – Most Outstanding College Football Player


Steve Austin being presented the 2010 Heisman Memorial Trophy…...

Boise State also got an award that night……


2010 WAC Championship Trophy – Best Conference Record in the Western Athletic Conference

I then skipped forward to the Sugar Bowl game as there was nothing more to do……. Only team training no skills training…….







Campus Gazette issue 15,16,17,18,19 and 20…...

Next game is the Sugar Bowl against the University of Texas Longhorns…….

Im not to familiar with the NCAA Football playoff system back in 2010…… But it seems that only the top 2 ranked teams play for the National Champion…… And with Boise State ranked #4 they miss out on a National Championship game…….

The current playoff system has the top 4 ranked play in a National Championship Playoff…… #1 plays #4 and #2 plays #3….. And the winner of those 2 games goes to the National Championship…… They even want to extend that to 8 or 12 teams in the futures…….

But back in 2010 it seems as though only the top 2 ranked teams go straight to the National Championship….. Theres also no Conference Championship game either…….

So it looks like the Sugar Bowl is the final game of the season for the Boise State Broncos……..


Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse



This game was recommended to me by Pengling….. Who twisted my arm enough to make me play it…… Even though I have been avoiding the game for many years……. Due to my hatred of all things Disney……. She said if I didnt play it she would blow up my house……… She plays a lot of Bomberman…….. She knows how to do it!!!!!!……….

And this game is really really good…… The graphics are excellent with wonderful sprit work and animations……

The storyline is a little lacking…….. As per usual….. April O’Neil has been kidnapped and its up to the Ninja Turtles to sav…….. Wait…… Sorry been playing to many TMNT games…….. Ok in Castle of Illusion…….. Minnie Mouse has been kidnapped and its up to Mickey Mouse to sav……. Wait….. Wait….. No thats correct….. Its the typical bog standard video game storyline…….. Move along nothing to see here…...

The opening cutscene shows Minnie getting kidnapped by a witch…… While Mickey is standing right beside her……… So why didnt he save her then???….. Cause the script says so????…….. So even though Mickey has already failed once…... Its up to him and only him to save Minnie…… And he does so by collecting gems/crystals……. That…….. Help Mickey some how???…… Im sure its explained in the opening cutscene text that Pengling would have read…… But since I hate Disney I skipped it…….

So Mickey enters the titular Castle of Illusion….. Behind every door in the castle is a new illusion also known as a platforming level……. And each level has a different theme…… Finish the level and get a gem/crystal…. Its simple gameplay…… But it works very well…...

The levels looks really good….. This truly is a fantastic looking game……. Its a really nice and brightly colourful game at times….. Something that the Mega Drive is not that well known for……. As I said above the Sprite work is wonderful and the animations are top notch….. There was a lot of work put into make this game look the best it could on the Mega Drive……

The controls are good too….. One button to jump….. press that same button while in the air to perform an arse attack……. And another button for throwing objects as a weapon…… These weapons are usually a kind of food….. Like apples or cherrys or oranges etc……… You only have a limited number of throwable object so you have to think before you throw……

Another nice touch that shows how much time and effort was put into this game is that Mickey controls very well movement wise….. While he has a lot of frames in his animations they dont hinder his movement or actions….. He still feels very responsive and agile…… That is not an easy thing to do but they managed to pull it off……

Overall the game is excellent…… While the gameplay is a simple platforming affair……. It is polished to a high sheen making it very enjoyable……. With the awesome sprite work and fantastic animations……. It also doesnt overstay its welcome….. The game can be finished in about an hour……. With all this combined you have a very solid and very enjoyable gaming experience…….



Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse

This Week

This week will probably be semi busy…….. Natasha starts puppy school……. I have some more stuff to do around the house as per usual…… And there is also work and all the other general crap that life brings…….. I will also keep going on my walks…...

As for gaming there will be more hardcore Dick Trickle action in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. Steve Austin will be taking part in the Sugar Bowl on NCAA Football 11….. Finally the ending of the TMNT marathon……. Just 1 game left…….. And most probably yet another Kirby game…… Also coming to an end soon with 2 games left to play…….

Well thats it from me…… Have a good week everyone……

Now for my bad joke of the week……
Q: How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh???
A: TEN-tickles…….
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*
Pengling Mar 18, 2023

This week I've reached the penultimate game in my Super Bomberman mini-marathon. That means that we're up to 1997's Super Bomberman 5 (SNES), with only Super Bomberman R left to go after this one. This was the second of the two Japan-only installments, and it (supposedly) acts as a bit of a series "best of" by re-using past locations and enemies, though I think that this idea is let down a bit both by the newly-added progression system (which is there to encourage multiple playthroughs in an effort to get a "200%" save-file) and by the new sprites for Bomberman and his siblings, which I feel look a bit weird!

This time around, a time-travelling arsehole by the name of Terrorin has broken a bunch of criminals out of Bomber Prison (reputedly the most secure prison in the entire universe - take that, The Kyln, and presumably seeks to conquer the universe by messing with the timeline. He's also decided that he's an emperor while he's at it.

Progression through the levels is unfortunately non-linear in the name of multiple "unique" playthroughs, and you're forced to go through the game by picking the correct exits in order to keep moving forward, and even then it's never made clear whether (or how) you'll be able to get the good ending or not without trial-and-error spread across multiple runs through the game. This is a product of its time, and isn't fun (I much prefer the linear setup of the four Super Bomberman titles before this one, and the one after it) - thankfully, however, it's unique to this title alone.

Super Bomberman 5 is my least-favourite of the Super Bomberman games, as a result of its playtime-padding progression-system. I doubt that knowing this going in will make any difference to my opinion of it for this revisit. I don't recommend this one at all.

Thankfully, Super Bomberman 5 wasn't the end of the Super Bomberman sub-series - 20 years later, in March of 2017, Super Bomberman R was released as a timed exclusive launch-title for the Nintendo Switch, and one year later it made its way to all of the other systems on the market at the time. This mini-marathon will conclude with that game next week.


I'm also currently replaying the original Crash Bandicoot, which is proving to be plenty of fun.

I'm not playing the PAL version that I played as a youngster, however, but the North American NTSC version instead - as was frequent back then, this game was made unreasonably difficult for the PAL markets, and wasn't released with the difficulty-curve that the developers actually intended for it to have (other games similarly afflicted include the Donkey Kong Country series, which, ironically enough, were part of what inspired Crash to begin with). This was an olden-days games-industry falsehood that is now thankfully long-dead (and as far as I know, the HD remakes of the original trilogy did not replicate this).

Crash Bandicoot still plays as great as ever, and is on my favoured side of the 3D platformer lineages, of which there are basically two types - those that carry forth the progression-style and action-heavy approach of series like Donkey Kong Country and simply move that into a 3D space, and those that opt for the approach of Super Mario 64 and take a slower-paced and more exploratory route that isn't typical of the 2D mascot-platformers that inspired them. I favour the DKC descendants, myself (and ironically, the 3D Donkey Kong title, Donkey Kong 64, is not in the DKC descendants group!), and the few 3D platformers that I've ever enjoyed are generally on that side of things.

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderThis game was recommended to me by Pengling….. Who twisted my arm enough to make me play it…… Even though I have been avoiding the game for many years……. Due to my hatred of all things Disney……. She said if I didnt play it she would blow up my house……… She plays a lot of Bomberman…….. She knows how to do it!!!!!!……….
Hahahahahahaha! Really, though, it's a great game and so is the Game Gear version, which you absolutely need to play next.

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderThe storyline is a little lacking…….. As per usual….. April O’Neil has been kidnapped and its up to the Ninja Turtles to sav…….. Wait…… Sorry been playing to many TMNT games…….. Ok in Castle of Illusion…….. Minnie Mouse has been kidnapped and its up to Mickey Mouse to sav……. Wait….. Wait….. No thats correct….. Its the typical bog standard video game storyline…….. Move along nothing to see here…...
Heheheheheh!

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderSo even though Mickey has already failed once…... Its up to him and only him to save Minnie…… And he does so by collecting gems/crystals……. That…….. Help Mickey some how???…… Im sure its explained in the opening cutscene text that Pengling would have read…… But since I hate Disney I skipped it…….
Duuuuude, it's only a couple of sentences! Mickey has to collect the Seven Gems of the Rainbow because they're the only thing that can grant him the power to stop the witch, Mizrabel, from swapping her old-hag looks for Minnie's prettiness.

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderNow for my bad joke of the week……
Q: How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh???
A: TEN-tickles…….
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*
Oh man, that joke!
StoneColdSpider Mar 20, 2023
Quoting: Pengling
I'm also currently replaying the original Crash Bandicoot, which is proving to be plenty of fun.
I didnt know there was a Crash Bandicoot Bomberman game......

Quoting: Pengling
Quoting: StoneColdSpiderThis game was recommended to me by Pengling….. Who twisted my arm enough to make me play it…… Even though I have been avoiding the game for many years……. Due to my hatred of all things Disney……. She said if I didnt play it she would blow up my house……… She plays a lot of Bomberman…….. She knows how to do it!!!!!!……….
Hahahahahahaha! Really, though, it's a great game and so is the Game Gear version, which you absolutely need to play next.
That sounds like a threat.....

Again no stupid pinball quest????...
your getting very slack Pengling........
Pengling Mar 21, 2023
Quoting: StoneColdSpiderI didnt know there was a Crash Bandicoot Bomberman game......
Haha. I'm not all Bomberman all the time - just a lot of the time!

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderThat sounds like a threat.....
Hahahaha!

Really, though, the Game Gear version is good too - and it's a rare case of the Sega 8-bit version being made by almost the same team as the original 16-bit title, which casts its unique ideas and mechanics in a different light.

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderAgain no stupid pinball quest????...
your getting very slack Pengling........

Better? Current score is 274,857,800 out of 999,999,990.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
Login / Register


Or login with...
Sign in with Steam Sign in with Google
Social logins require cookies to stay logged in.