Gamer_lafan
@gamer_lafan • 15,330 subscribers
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Back in the ‘90s, there was one arcade game you were almost guaranteed to find: Irem’s Ninja Baseball Bat Man. It was incredibly fun, and with support for up to four players, it was one of the best games to enjoy with friends. But did you know this? While the game was a huge hit in South Korea, it received a fairly lukewarm response in Japan and was released in very limited numbers in North America, making it virtually unknown there. Pretty strange, isn’t it? One of the reasons I loved this game was that, unlike most Irem titles, it wasn’t brutally difficult. You could have a great time with just a single credit. Most Irem games were known for their gritty atmosphere, incredibly detailed pixel art, and punishing difficulty. This one, however, stood out with its bright colors and cute, round character designs, giving it a completely different feel. If you’ve never played it before, do yourself a favor and try it on an emulator.
Gamer_lafan31,198 görüntüleme • 6 gün önce
If I had to pick Capcom’s greatest 2D beat ’em up, my choices would easily be Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara and Alien vs. Predator. Capcom’s original beat ‘em ups are fantastic, but there’s something even more exciting about seeing the company work with iconic licensed franchises. The idea of humans and Predators joining forces to fight the Aliens is simply too good to fail. Everything about this game is top-notch—the graphics, sound, controls, and even its faithful recreation of the atmosphere from the films. It’s a true masterpiece of the genre. Sadly, because of licensing issues, it was never released on home consoles, making it one of Capcom’s most disappointing “what could have been” titles.
Gamer_lafan26,775 görüntüleme • 7 gün önce
I lived in the US for a year back in 2003. Matrix Reloaded came out in May, and the hype around it was seriously insane, beyond imagination. In the movie, the main characters are using this super cool phone, and then in a close-up shot, I spotted the 'Samsung' logo right there on it. It felt absolutely mind-blowing and magical. I came back to Korea full of hope that this thing would actually go on sale worldwide. But later I found out it was only released in the US as a super limited edition of just 5,000 units (or so I heard back then). I was hugely disappointed… but eventually, I tracked one down and bought it from a collector. Even now, looking at it, the design is still so damn cool. I took it to a carrier to try using it for real, but they told me it’s a 2G phone and can’t be used anymore. That was another big letdown, I remember it clearly. Do you guys like the Matrix movies too? I’m a total huge fan!
Gamer_lafan564,567 görüntüleme • 5 ay önce
While cleaning my arcade cabinet for the first time in a while, I also replaced the New Net stickers I had bought a long time ago for future use. If you search on Google, you can find places that make and sell arcade cabinet parts and stickers, and the quality is really impressive. They’re so good that they can even feel better than the originals 😆 Playing games is fun, but I also really enjoy the process of maintaining and customizing them.
Gamer_lafan110,857 görüntüleme • 1 ay önce
When Gran Turismo first came out, I remember thinking, “Do we really need to drive real cars even in a game?” I was more into arcade racing games like Ridge Racer or Daytona USA because they were just more fun. But Gran Turismo completely changed my mind. (1/2)
Gamer_lafan434,823 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
I think the hidden command culture for selecting secret characters in arcades probably started with Akuma in Super Street Fighter II X. Not long after the game was released, rumors started spreading around arcades that some people had actually managed to pick Akuma. Then one day, at the arcade I used to visit all the time, I saw someone actually playing as him. I was so shocked that after the match ended, I asked him how to select Akuma. He told me he’d teach me… for 500 won. In the end, I paid the money with tears in my eyes and learned the legendary command. 🤣 Ryu → T. Hawk → Guile → Cammy → Ryu, staying on each character for one second, then hold the Start button and press all punch buttons at the same time.
Gamer_lafan93,085 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
If you played Capcom arcade games in the ’90s, you probably remember seeing the Q Sound logo during the opening screens. Back then, I was really curious about what it actually meant, but there was no easy way to find out. I finally understood it years later after buying a Capcom Q GrandAm 25 cabinet. Most standard arcade cabinets simply output the mono sound signal from JAMMA directly without a dedicated amplifier. But this cabinet came with a separate amp designed specifically for stereo input. Because of that, when you connect the stereo outputs from CPS1.5, CPS2, or CPS3 boards to the amp, the sound becomes much richer and more immersive. What impressed me the most was that this cabinet lets you switch between Q Sound and regular mono audio, so I could compare them directly. The stereo sound definitely feels more spacious and cleaner. But the biggest difference comes from the speaker box mounted at the top. It’s made of wood and has a much larger internal space, so the audio quality is on a completely different level compared to the cheap speakers used in ordinary arcade cabinets.
Gamer_lafan92,138 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
This might not be a story anyone really wants to hear, but I’ll talk a little about myself. I’ve been a fan of Final Fantasy since I was a kid. Back in 2000, when I joined an online gaming community, I tried to use the nickname “Final Fantasy,” but someone was already using it. So I decided to go with something a little different and started using the nickname “Last Fantasy.” After using that nickname for more than 10 years, people probably felt it was too long, so many of them started calling me “LAFAN” for short. I ended up liking it too, so when I started using social media, I began using the shortened nickname instead. Some people even asked me if it meant I was a fan of the city of LA. 😆 I’m still a huge fan of Final Fantasy games even now. Do you also have a game you’ve loved for a long time?
Gamer_lafan91,549 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
In Korea, there weren’t any dedicated Neo Geo arcade cabinets, so I didn’t realize until much later that you could actually select from multiple games like this. It feels like this system was designed less for large arcade centers and more for smaller venues that only had one or two machines but wanted to offer a variety of games. Come to think of it, it might actually be a great choice to have at home even today.
Gamer_lafan49,000 görüntüleme • 1 ay önce
One of the unique features of the Neo Geo was its memory card support. Most games used it mainly for saving high scores, but some titles could even store stage progress. In Fatal Fury Special, after defeating Ryo Sakazaki at the end and saving to the memory card, you could reload the data and select Ryo Sakazaki in VS mode. Since the MVS and AES shared almost the same hardware architecture, the same memory card could be used on both systems. That was a really interesting feature. However, unless you had an MVS cabinet equipped with a memory card slot, you couldn’t use it, and because the Neo Geo AES itself was extremely expensive, most gamers didn’t even know this feature existed. The original memory cards used battery-backed saves, but the upcoming AES+ memory card uses ROM storage, so I’m really looking forward to it👌
Gamer_lafan72,588 görüntüleme • 1 ay önce
Did you know that arcade cabinets with CRT monitors actually had three different resolutions? Most classic 2D arcade games used a 15kHz (320×240) resolution. This was the same resolution commonly used by CRT TVs and many 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit home consoles. Then Sega introduced higher-resolution arcade games with Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing, which used 24kHz (496×384). Sega Model 1, 2, and 3 arcade boards are famous for using this resolution. One of the reasons the Sega Saturn versions of Virtua Fighter 2 and Daytona USA looked so different from the arcade versions was because of this resolution gap. Later 3D arcade games moved to 31kHz (640×480) resolution. Sega NAOMI games are one of the best-known examples. That’s why you need to be careful when buying an arcade cabinet. Early cabinets only supported 15kHz, while the commonly seen Astro City supported both 15kHz and 24kHz. Later cabinets like Blast City, Net City, and New Net City were known as “3-mode” cabinets because they supported all three resolutions. The tricky part is that both the game board and the arcade cabinet itself can have resolution settings. If the settings are wrong, you can end up running a high-resolution game in low resolution. So if you’re buying an arcade cabinet, make sure you carefully check which resolutions it supports.
Gamer_lafan73,847 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
There were two systems that let you play arcade games at home: SNK’s Neo Geo and Capcom’s CPS Changer. Their concepts were a bit different. The Neo Geo was basically an arcade machine turned into a home console, so you could see it as a regular game system. (1/2)
Gamer_lafan197,117 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
The X68000 was one of the best home computers for enjoying classic Konami and Capcom arcade games. Its hardware was so powerful that, aside from the Neo Geo, it was virtually the only system capable of delivering near-perfect arcade conversions at the time. Unfortunately, it was extremely expensive and sold exclusively in Japan, so very few people ever had the chance to experience it. Even today, decades after its release, the quality of its games is still incredibly impressive. Ghouls ’n Ghosts is a perfect example. Compared to the Mega Drive and PC Engine versions, the X68000 port is on an entirely different level in terms of accuracy and overall quality. It’s still amazing to think that a game this good could fit on just two floppy disks.
Gamer_lafan20,263 görüntüleme • 17 gün önce
Among all the PlayStation consoles ever released, the PS one was the simplest and cutest. It was a late, budget version of the original PlayStation, and there was even a combo model with an attached LCD monitor. A car adapter was also released, allowing you to play it on the go.
Gamer_lafan217,401 görüntüleme • 8 ay önce
Among all the games released on the PlayStation, I think Final Fantasy VII was truly the greatest. There had been cinematic games before, but the visual quality of this game was on a completely different level compared to anything that had come before it. Maybe this was also the moment when game developers first fell into the AAA trap, struggling with blockbuster-level development costs. Personally, Final Fantasy VII was the most visually shocking console game I had ever experienced.
Gamer_lafan69,904 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
Back in the late 1980s, a friend gave me a single floppy disk as a birthday present. He told me it was something you could put games on and actually play, and I remember staring at it all day, wondering if something that magical could really be possible. I followed him to a computer academy, and that was the first time I had ever seen a computer in my life. As a reward for bringing me in, he even got a whole box of floppy disks. That was the moment I first stepped into a completely new world. And when I saw, just like in the video, games being copied onto a disk, inserted into a computer, and actually running… the shock I felt easily ranks in my top five moments of my life.
Gamer_lafan84,180 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
After SNK went bankrupt in 2001, many of its developers moved to Sega Sammy-related companies. One of the games created by that talent on the Atomiswave platform was Dolphin Blue. One of the biggest differences from Metal Slug is its combination of 2D characters and 3D backgrounds, which blend together surprisingly well without feeling out of place. As for the soundtrack, this might just be my impression, but it feels like it borrowed a lot of the spirit of Metal Slug. Unlike Metal Slug, Dolphin Blue has a much brighter and more cheerful atmosphere, and the music fits the game perfectly. The gameplay is fast-paced and fun, but after a short while the difficulty spikes dramatically, and there are quite a few sections where the game slows down, which can hurt the overall experience. Unfortunately, it wasn’t commonly seen in arcades and was never ported to home consoles, so most people have probably never heard of it. It’s a solid game with a lot of charm, which makes it all the more disappointing that it never got the recognition it deserved.
Gamer_lafan32,429 görüntüleme • 1 ay önce