Category: retroachievements

Tokyo Xtreme Racer Franchise – Fixing a 20 year old game, and the future of the series

KinglinkLeave a comment

I’m Kinglink and it’s been around a year since I did something. Maybe I should finally talk about it. But before we go into that, I want to take you back. Not a year, not 5 years, not even 15 years, but over 20 years and a touch before the most important part of this story. 

In 2001 I picked up a game, simply put it was really good. That game was known as Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero. This was already a large franchise before this point, which was relatively popular. It had two major releases on the Dreamcast. Technically, this was the thirteenth title in the series, so I was a bit late, and yet it was the first that I and many other people found because it was the first on the PlayStation 2

Now, I love driving, but since I’ve been living in Southern California for the last decade, driving is a lot less like the game, and a lot more like this. It doesn’t matter, middle of the night, and of course there’s traffic. The good news is that this is the type of escapism that Tokyo Xtreme Racer is designed for.

Read More »

Sega Saturn Games Retro Review – Elevator Action, Virtua Cop, and More

KinglinkLeave a comment

I’m Kinglink and last month I joined Retroachievements as an official developer, which means I can make achievement sets for pretty much whatever I want and there’s minimal oversight.  It’s a great freedom for the developer and makes me feel like I’m part of a larger team or group, and that means I can try to develop interesting achievement sets. 

But that’s not the end, it opens up a lot of doors, and one of those doors is the ability to participate in what’s known as DevJams. DevJams are a way to focus on a single system, especially systems that never had an official launch on the site, and try to work together to develop as many achievement sets for those games. 

As this video comes out it’s the Sega Saturn’s turn, and honestly… I don’t have much to say about the Saturn, well I can say one thing, I think I’ve only ever seen one or two Sega Saturns if that and I’m definitely sure I’ve never seen one actually set up or running.   That’s not super surprising, the console never sold well, like two million units in America.  And the fifth generation was dominated by the PlayStation and even after that the N64 was everywhere, so I’m not surprised. 

But I don’t want this to be a discussion of the Sega Saturn, a console I’ve really never seen, this is more a discussion of the games, and I have two amazing titles to talk about, there are technically three games in this video though.  

Read More »

Dynasty Warriors 3 Retro Review – Rediscovering the classic

KinglinkLeave a comment

I’m Kinglink and… ugh… Dynasty Warriors 9 is so … meh. 

There’s something I’ve been struggling with for the last half of 2023, and while it’s older than that time period, I think Dynasty Warriors 9 is an example of it.  It feels like games have been made to be more disposable.  More designed to give you dopamine hits for enjoying it but also able to shake you off and make you go play the next thing the company produces before long or designed more with microtransaction than quality in mind.  Nothing radically improves, and especially with sequels, there’s this feeling of average games being treated as great milestones because the fans want them.

But also not in Dynasty Warriors 9’s case.  Oh boy no, Dynasty Warriors 9 is a perfect example of something much more problematic.  It’s a sequel that simply isn’t as good. A sequel that tried something different, and has not found more than a couple of fans. And because of that… it just made me want to go back to where I first fell in love with the series. 

Read More »

Dolphin (1983) a classic Activision title being given new life with achievements

KinglinkLeave a comment

Hey all, Kinglink here,  I know it’s not the beginning of the month but I’m actually here to talk about one of my favorite games.  And right here is where I first remember playing it.  

And… ummm… I can just.. Pop it in… Nope… Ummm How about.. Ok. So maybe if I … 

Ok maybe it’s the box, just put it on top.. So… This might be a problem …. And not just because I don’t remember where I put the actual Activision Anthology disc. Not like this would work on a PC but… the good news is we can go back to a video I did a couple of years ago, about our old friend Emulation.  And before anyone asks, no this week’s game isn’t on Steam in any form I know of.  Sadly… However thanks to PCSX2 we can look at this game and … oh boy. 

Read More »