New Console Magic (NCM)

[Skull Commander]

There will be no dissing of Zookeeper around these parts. That game is amazing and it still gets regular play from me and my wife. Simple yet brilliant.

[Geoff D]

There will be no dissing of Zookeeper around these parts. That game is amazing and it still gets regular play from me and my wife. Simple yet brilliant.

+1. Except I don't play it with your wife.

[Skull Commander]

So who is that guy who sits on the end of the sofa?

[Sam The Man]

Winning Eleven 5 Sam!! That was awesome! We were in awe of how good that looked and played.

Yeah forgot about that Mart. We had some great matches that all felt like cup finals. Online gaming just isn't as enjoyable as being in the same room playing with mates. But the pal version was really poor in comparison ( Pro Evo) which was what i bought. And pal FFX was even worse. Mabee that's why i didn't enjoy PS2 as much. I remember during the 16/32 bit era if there was a big game coming out i was anticipating i wouldn't be able to sleep the night before release almost like it was when you are a young child going to bed on xmas eve.

[gIzzE]

Super Famicom release was seriously special for me, I was 16 at the time and really couldn't afford it, but had spent months and months looking at screen shots and reading articles in magazines about the new Nintendo machine with 16 bits.
I had gone from reading up on the PC Engine and being desperate for one to reading up about the new Nintendo console, looking at the adverts in the back of every magazine I could get my hands on.

Seriously, I spent hours looking at the adverts showing the machine and the titles that were coming, they looked amazing!!

Then it arrived with Mario, and wow!!

It didn't disappoint.



Then there was the Playstation, I remember the day it launched in Japan I got a call from Ray at.....hmmm, can't remember the name of his mail order company now, but always used to advertise in the back of Edge, anyway, he said that he had 6 units sitting in customs and had just been given clearance for them.
He was collecting them at 7pm, and would be able to send one out next day for delivery the following day. I suggested that I jumped in the car and drove down to Heathrow and met him with some cash. 11pm that night I was home with it plugged into the TV and playing Ridge Racer!!!!
I played that game for about 4 months and you know what, I never got bored of it, I just got better and better. One track, and it lasted months, I enjoyed every minute.


Then the last time I really got excited was the N64.

Bought a Jap unit on launch week with Mario and Pilot Wings and think I paid ?600 for it, was ?800 in store but sort of knew him, and never once felt it was too much to pay for a console.
To this day I think Mario 64 was my favourite gaming experience of all time, the fact it was in Japanese with no chance of translations or walk throughs made it even more special, had to wait a good 6 weeks before any of the mags started to list the names of the stars (which made the game so much easier) and that really did make it all the more special, more like an adventure than a platformer, but an adventure with Mario in it!!

Bought the Jap PS2, US Xbox, Jap DC, Jap PS3, Jap GC and all the handhelds, but none of them ever came close to those consoles mentioned above, not sure if it was the drip feed of info and images that made it more special, the innocents of the games back then or the fact I was younger, maybe it was the combination of all the above, whatever it was, it was pretty special and something that will never be repeated.

Good times.

[dvdx2]

Super Famicom release was seriously special for me, I was 16 at the time and really couldn't afford it, but had spent months and months looking at screen shots and reading articles in magazines about the new Nintendo machine with 16 bits.
I had gone from reading up on the PC Engine and being desperate for one to reading up about the new Nintendo console, looking at the adverts in the back of every magazine I could get my hands on.

Seriously, I spent hours looking at the adverts showing the machine and the titles that were coming, they looked amazing!!

Then it arrived with Mario, and wow!!

It didn't disappoint.



Then there was the Playstation, I remember the day it launched in Japan I got a call from Ray at.....hmmm, can't remember the name of his mail order company now, but always used to advertise in the back of Edge, anyway, he said that he had 6 units sitting in customs and had just been given clearance for them.
He was collecting them at 7pm, and would be able to send one out next day for delivery the following day. I suggested that I jumped in the car and drove down to Heathrow and met him with some cash. 11pm that night I was home with it plugged into the TV and playing Ridge Racer!!!!
I played that game for about 4 months and you know what, I never got bored of it, I just got better and better. One track, and it lasted months, I enjoyed every minute.


Then the last time I really got excited was the N64.

Bought a Jap unit on launch week with Mario and Pilot Wings and think I paid ?600 for it, was ?800 in store but sort of knew him, and never once felt it was too much to pay for a console.
To this day I think Mario 64 was my favourite gaming experience of all time, the fact it was in Japanese with no chance of translations or walk throughs made it even more special, had to wait a good 6 weeks before any of the mags started to list the names of the stars (which made the game so much easier) and that really did make it all the more special, more like an adventure than a platformer, but an adventure with Mario in it!!

Bought the Jap PS2, US Xbox, Jap DC, Jap PS3, Jap GC and all the handhelds, but none of them ever came close to those consoles mentioned above, not sure if it was the drip feed of info and images that made it more special, the innocents of the games back then or the fact I was younger, maybe it was the combination of all the above, whatever it was, it was pretty special and something that will never be repeated.

Good times.

nice article - very nostalgic!