Need for Speed Games Part 2: Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, Need for Speed: Road Challenge (aka High Stakes)

This week on Super Adventures I'm still playing through the first ten years of the Need for Speed series and today I've reached the third and fourth games, Hot Pursuit and Road Challenge (known in the US as High Stakes). If you want to read about the first two games you can find part one here.

I hope you like screenshots of cars and roads, because that's all I've got for you today. They're pretty good cars though. There's a Chevrolet Corvette, a Ferrari F355, a Lamborghini Diablo, another Corvette... all kinds of cars.

(If I don't mention what system a screenshot came from, then it's from the PC version. Unless the game doesn't have a PC version.)

Hybrid Heaven (N64)

Developer:

Konami Osaka

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Release Date:

1999

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Systems:

Nintendo 64

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Super Adventures is back again! It's only going to be around for eight weeks before going back into hibernation over the winter, but I'm going to be writing about so many games. Like, maybe even eight of them.

First I'm playing an N64 game called Hybrid Heaven. It's one of those games that I've been meaning to check out for years, but it's finally completed the arduous climb to the top of my 'to play' list. It made it just in time as well, as it's the game's 20th anniversary this year, though that's true of a lot of N64 titles. In fact my half-assed research on Wikipedia tells me that about a third of the system's games came out during 1999. Then after 2000 the console dropped like a rock for some reason (PlayStation 2).

Hybrid Heaven wasn't exactly the N64's biggest hit, but I don't feel like it can be that obscure, at least not to people who owned the system. I think it's probably one of those games that lots of people have heard of but not necessarily played themselves. It's one of the few carts my family had for the console back in the day and I even I haven't played it, though my brother did spoil the twist for me.

The game was nice enough to give me two title screens to pick from for my screenshot up there, but I decided to go with the one with menu options on it instead of the one with the Twin Towers filling the screen... because it gives me an excuse to talk about the resolution!

A few N64 games offer a 'high resolution' option if you've got the Expansion Pak installed, which doubles the resolution to 640x480. Or at least that's what you'd expect it to do, but it was apparently more like 480x360 for most games (or even less in widescreen). Hybrid Heaven seems to be one of the few N64 games that actually does something close to proper 640x480... but I've heard that the frame rate's terrible in that mode so I'm going to leave it on standard definition.

Half-Life: Uplink (Demo) (PC)

That's a nice effect, but if you stare at the 'H A L F - L I F E' text bouncing from left and right in the background long enough it starts looking kinda dopey. It's so weird seeing the original, un-Steamed title screen again though after all these years.

Hello and welcome to Super Adventures in Gaming, the site that just can't stop putting up articles about Half-Life. My friend mecha-neko wrote up his opinions on the authentic original version of Half-Life a couple of years back, and then I took a look at the fan made remake Black Mesa a few months later, but there's Half-Life content that neither of us have looked at yet... like Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Decay...

But there's also Half-Life: Uplink, a demo released in early 1999 featuring a modified version of levels cut from the actual game, which happens to be the first Half-Life content I ever played. It's also the first Valve developed content I ever played, which is fitting because today is the 10th anniversary of my Steam account!

Don't bother looking for Uplink on Steam though, it isn't there (though you can apparently download it as a mod for Half-Life).

(Click the screenshots to expand them into dimensions unimagined by gamers in 1998... except not really, as 1280x960 was already in the resolution list for me to choose from.)

Oh by the way, did you know that Half-Life was PC Gamer's Game of the Year 1998? Well okay you probably have an idea seeing as there's a badge right there on the title screen, but did you know that it was literally figuratively every other magazine's Game of the Year too?

Pokémon: Red Version (GB)

Today's 'P' game is POKéMON: Red Version! Okay there's no way I'm writing it out like that for the rest of this. I'll let it keep the acute accented é but that's where I draw the line.

I was surprised to find (because I know astoundingly little about the series) that the game is not called Pokémon in its native country. I mean I get that it's a portmanteau, but I assumed the name originated in Japan, like with 'Tamagotchi'. In fact the original Japanese title for this is basically just pronounced as 'Pocket Monsters'; so someone took a sensible English title and then mangled it up for the English release. It's a perfectly likeable mangled up name though, so I ain't complaining.

Outcast (PC) - Guest Post

And now, Super Adventures proudly presents another guest post by a bloke called mecha-neko.

Hey Ya!

I'm playing an early 3D action-adventure game for the PC called Outcast!

I never played this back when it was released in 1999 because it needed a far beefier computer than I could dream of. Outcast was made in the crazy days where 3D acceleration was a scary and new invention, so all the graphics were done on the CPU alone. Hell, 3D games were a scary and new invention at the time, and nobody had any idea how they should work. So Franck Sauer, Yves Grolet and Yann Robert, three truly invincible professionals (and names you may recognise from Agony), decided to show the world exactly how it should be done.

Click the images to view them as lossless PNGs.

The Nomad Soul (PC) - Part 2

Click to jump back to Omikron: The Nomad Soul part one.

The Nomad Soul (PC) - Part 1

And the final 'N' game I'll be playing this year is late 90s possess 'em up The Nomad Soul. Or maybe this is actually the first 'O' game, seeing as it's labelled Omikron: The Nomad Soul outside of Europe (plus Omicron is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, represented by an 'O' and I'll shut up now).

Whatever you call it, this is Quantic Dream's debut game, released long before creator David Cage's obsession with QTEs and PlayStation 3s. It apparently was originally intended to make an appearance on one or both of the earlier PlayStations, but in the end only the PC and Dreamcast were graced with its presence.

Like always my plan is to play it for an hour or two, or however long I need to get a good idea of what kind of game it is, and show a whole lot of screenshots along the way.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (PC)

The final 'L' game on my site this year is action-adventure sequel Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver!

Today Crystal Dynamics are best known as being the guardians of the Tomb Raider series (seeing as they've made nothing else since 2006), but a decade ago they were more famous for another 'borrowed' franchise they'd decided to make their own. And a decade before that they were making 3DO games and Gex sequels, but hey everyone's got to start somewhere.

The Legacy of Kain series started in 1996 with 2D action RPG Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain by Silicon Knights, with Crystal Dynamics as the publisher, but the two companies had a bit of a falling out and Crystal Dynamics was the one that walked away with the IP in the end. They also walked away from publishing, deciding to develop the next game in the franchise themselves by merging their original concept for a game called Shifter with the Legacy of Kain mythos, while Silicon Knights were left to make Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for Nintendo instead.

Sorry I thought all that was interesting for some reason. I guess I've been overly fond of Soul Reaver ever since I got my hands on the Dreamcast version and found myself helplessly playing it through right to the end. The sequels bored me, but this first game was really something special. Or maybe I just grew out of the entire series when the gameplay became dated. I suppose I'd have to replay this to find out for sure. So I'll go do that then.

Evil Zone (PSX)

Hi, I'm Ray Hardgrit, and I'm currently making it my mission in life to play games beginning with the letter E for an hour or two each to figure out what they are and if they're any good.

Today I'm playing late 90s Japanese PlayStation game Eretzvaju, known in English as Evil Z♀ne (who knew there was an italic version of the Venus symbol?) It's just plain Evil Zone in the US though, and as far as I can tell the only reason it's been given a female gender symbol for the European title is because the main villain is a woman.

The game is by Japanese developer Yuke's Media Creations, known for games like Power Move Pro Wrestling, WWF SmackDown!, WWF Royal Rumble, WWE WrestleMania, WWE Day of Reckoning, Rumble Roses, Wrestle Kingdom, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, and Finding Nemo, so you probably won't be too shocked when I reveal that this is... a fighting game.

An ANIME fighting game!

Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator (PC)

Here's another requested game for you. This time I'm taking a quick look at PC RPG Septerra Core, released in late '99. It came out between Final Fantasy VIII and Planescape: Torment to give it some context, though I don't know yet which it'll be closer to in gameplay. It could be a Diablo clone for all I know.

Planescape: Torment (PC)

Okay, today I'm playing critically acclaimed universally adored D&D PC RPG Planescape Torment! Actually it's set in the Planescape universe, so I suppose the title should be read as Planescape: Torment (or even just Torment). Crap, I've looked at the word too many times in a row and now I'm reading it as 'Plan escape'.

This was the second game use the Infinity Engine after Baldur's Gate (or should that be Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate), so I'm expecting the same sort of gameplay from it. Well, to be honest I already know exactly what kind of gameplay it has as I've played it before, though I didn't get very far. All I really remember about the game is getting locked inside a tomb and nibbled to death by an army of super intelligent rats over and over again until I turned it off in despair.

Silent Hill (PSX)

It occurs to me I've been getting a bit too comfortable with my genres lately. I'm trying to explore the whole weird and wonderful world of video games here, but I've ended up with a site full of first person shooters, RPGs and platformers instead.

So today I'm finally getting around to another requested game: the original Silent Hill on the original PlayStation, one of the original survival horror games. Honestly I'm not expecting to like this much as survival horror isn't really my thing, but I will try to give it a fair shot. You can all laugh at me as I get hopelessly lost and fail to solve basic puzzles.

I suppose I should "start" the "game" then.

Pepsiman (PSX)

Hey it's an advertising mascot game, I don't think I've played one of these since Cool Spot last May. I doubt this one's going to be a platformer though.

Pepsiman was the star of a series of Japanese Pepsi commercials (youtube link) aired back in the latter half of the 90s. He's basically some kind of CGI Pepsi can avatar superhero who races across the world to save people suffering from cola withdrawal... by breathing cans of Pepsi into their hands. Or something. Poor Pepsiman never made an appearance outside of Japan though, and neither did this game.

Somehow I get the feeling this post is going to be wall to wall product placement, so enter with caution. If you find yourself getting a sudden urge to empty out your fridge and fill it with Pepsi cans, you should probably take a ten minute break. The screenshots will still be here when you come back.

Shenmue (Dreamcast) - Guest Post

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 6:

Ray wants to see 'the most well known and highly rated video games ever made, games that people may actually give a shit about.'

It's time to dust off the Dreamcast and hit the 'mue.

This is quite a long post with lots of pictures. It's Shenmue, for heaven's sake!

007 Games Part 8: Tomorrow Never Dies, 007 Racing

Super AiG's Guide to Every (old) James Bond Game Ever, Volume 8

Two more Bond games today, each released only for the Sony PlayStation, which probably annoyed a lot of N64 owning GoldenEye 007 fans. Poor Nintendo was left out this time for whatever reason. Though they did end up getting GoldenEye's spiritual sequel, Perfect Dark, so I guess they had the last laugh.

Game 18 - Tomorrow Never Dies (1999)
Formats: PlayStation.

So much black.

Despite being made to tie-in with the 1997 film, this game actually came out two years later. Around time that the next movie, The World is Not Enough, hit cinemas in fact.

Silver (PC)

Today I'm playing Silver, one of the ultimate RPGs of the last millennium. Uh, I mean it was released in late 1999, I don't know if it's actually any good. Logo's nice though. Very shiny.

I'm playing the PC version, though it was also released the next year on Dreamcast and Mac.

SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash (NGPC)

At last (by popular demand), a totally new game genre for the site. Actually I don't think I've ever even played a trading card game at all, so this is all going to be totally new to me.

Like the Pokémon games, this came in two flavours: Capcom and SNK (though both versions are actually made by SNK). I'm gonna have to go with the Capcom version though, as there's way more chance I'll actually recognise some of their characters.

Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999 (NGPC)

Today I'm looking at Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999 on the Neo Geo Pocket Color. It's apparently a spin-off of an arcade rail shooter called Beast Busters, and it came out in 1999, so that's why it has the weird title.

The Adventure of Little Ralph (PSX)

A.k.a. Chippoke Ralph no Daibouken. I checked, and The Adventure of Little Ralph is a translation, not a subtitle.

It doesn't seem to have gotten a release outside of Japan, presumably because it belongs to one of the PlayStation's most forbidden genres... it's a 2d platformer with pixel art sprites.

Aliens Versus Predator (PC) - Guest Post

He comes from another world to hunt humans for sport.

And now he's stuck on Earth and plays first person shooters to earn his cab money home.

Click the pictures for PNG if you find JPG offensive!