Aui wrote on 2026-06-07, 02:46:

A long time ago, I beat the DOS version of both - Aladdin and Lion King. Ever since I wondered which other classic Disney platformers (?) are worth a try.

Well, there's the Jungle Book. It has both DOS and Windows versions, and was also part of that Disney's Classic Games CD. I discovered it late and don't recall whether I have ever completed it, fairly or not, but from what I do remember: it felt simpler, and perhaps easier than either of the two. The graphics and especially the music are not nearly as inspired as in the former two.

Since the greatest sporting event of the globe is only a few days away, I'm revisiting FIFA World Cup 98, my all-time favorite FIFA game based on my all-time favorite World Cup! I've tried the PS1 version as well, but the loading times are excrutiatingly slow and the framerate is poor(-er) compared to the PC version running in 3dfx Glide mode. I've just won the cup with Argentina, Brazil is probably up next! 😁

revolstar wrote on 2026-06-07, 15:07:

I'm revisiting FIFA World Cup 98, my all-time favorite FIFA game based on my all-time favorite World Cup!

Nice! This was the first World Cup I actually followed beginning to end. Back then I wasn't so happy with the outcome, because I supported Brazil against France, but in the end it's just a game, and say what you want about their road to the final, in the deciding game, the French team was clearly superior and won deservedly. 😆

Also, that tournament featured what I consider to be the best goal in the history of world cups. I wonder if you can guess which one it is. 😉

As for the computer games, somehow I never got into playing FIFA soccer games, although I've played some of the NBA Live games, most extensively the last DOS version - NBA Live 97.

dr_st wrote on 2026-06-08, 06:20:

Also, that tournament featured what I consider to be the best goal in the history of world cups. I wonder if you can guess which one it is. 😉

Please don't say it's Bergkamp vs. Argentina... 😮

a bit of Far Cry 2 and i remember why i kinda abandoned the game before - it's very repetitive in a way that Far Cry isnt. The endless driving to from missions means you can just leave it a long time and that can become years.... However its also one of the best environments ever in FPS gaming, in my view, the environment and the background narrative/context of war, mercenaries and a broken country is just amazing and seems to be a fairly bold topic to cover for a game.

revolstar wrote on 2026-06-08, 09:57:

Please don't say it's Bergkamp vs. Argentina... 😮

Alright, I won't. 🤭

gerry wrote on 2026-06-08, 10:15:

a bit of Far Cry 2 and i remember why i kinda abandoned the game before - it's very repetitive in a way that Far Cry isnt. The endless driving to from missions means you can just leave it a long time and that can become years....

Rats, I bought it a few months back, and was looking forward to giving it a try. Like I need another game that will take me 20+ years to complete (GTA San Andreas I'm looking your way). I might be retired by then. Or worse! 🤫

gerry wrote on 2026-06-08, 10:15:

However its also one of the best environments ever in FPS gaming, in my view, the environment and the background narrative/context of war, mercenaries and a broken country is just amazing and seems to be a fairly bold topic to cover for a game.

Isn't that the game where the main enemy the protagonist is facing are the symptoms of malaria? 😆

dr_st wrote on 2026-06-08, 10:33:

gerry wrote on 2026-06-08, 10:15:

However its also one of the best environments ever in FPS gaming, in my view, the environment and the background narrative/context of war, mercenaries and a broken country is just amazing and seems to be a fairly bold topic to cover for a game.

Isn't that the game where the main enemy the protagonist is facing are the symptoms of malaria? 😆

Yes that's the one and in a way you're right - its the dangers of the environment (Malaria, encounters with mercenaries and warring parties, fires etc) that end up being the main "enemy" but also the best feature of the game. it's often criticised for respawning roadblock guards and its relentless backdrop of random violence etc - but its a pretty good simulator of poverty stricken failed nation at war. You have to be ok with being in the environment to appreciate the game. Strangely there are still a few working bus routes and a few functioning areas like bars, town - that's realistic too. It's worth playing, even if you do end up leaving gaps between plays. In some ways it feels like a well thought out niche passion project rather than a AAA game

On a whim, I started playing Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. I played and finished this game on the Amiga back in the day, on 12 (IIRC) floppies. I subsequently played it on the PC but with Sound Blaster audio. I was very underwhelmed by the music, but the graphics were amazing. This is my first time playing on the PC with the MT-32 soundtrack. Best of both worlds I would say. I finished Scabb Island in about an hour. It has been 35 years but I still remember everything about this game. So good..

I've burnt out on RPGs (I'm sure I'll get back into them later this month or so), so I've been playing a bunch of random games:

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Collection
This is interesting because what you're paying for is a fascinating documentary, rather than a bunch of MK games. The games are fine; it's cool that you get the original arcade games and the console conversions, and you can even play them online. However, anyone who really likes these games has been playing them on Final Burn Alpha or whatever.

Is the documentary worth paying for the game? If you're interested in MK, it is. It's cool to hear from the original developers and artists, and then immediately play the game they were just talking about, and also interesting to play the console conversions of that game to compare.

Atari 50
It's basically the same thing as the MK: Legacy Collection, just for Atari. It's much longer, since it covers from the 70s to the 90s, but it's probably a better package overall, since Atari released many classics over the years. I grew up playing Atari VCS games, so it was fun to revisit a lot of my favorites... but it was also great to play, for the first time, some really great Atari 8-bit computer and 5200 games. It was also fun to revisit some of the Jaguar games, as I had a Jaguar console back in the day (it actually has some very decent games in its library).

Mortal Kombat 1
I've been a fan of MK since playing the very first one in the arcade back in day, so I was so happy to finally be able to actually buy this game! It's banned here in Japan, like most of the modern MK games, and there's no PS4 version (there's Switch version, but it's an absolute joke). I've been searching around for a way to play this game without getting a PS5 or whatever, and suddenly I found some legit key seller (actually legit!) who was selling keys that can actually be activated on Steam in Japan. Somehow it works!

Anyway, the game looks great, but after three hours, I don't care for it. Due to the "realistic" lighting and coloring, I have trouble telling the characters from the backgrounds sometimes. Not literally; but when things are moving, nothing stands out. It's a problem with recent games. Games are not movies... when you're playing a game, you have to be able to focus on the things you can interact with and filter out everything else. It's something that was solved years ago, but seems like a lost art now. For a fighting game, you want to focus on the two fighters. If they blend into the background, it eventually causes eye fatigue, no matter how good the animation is.

Jazz Jackrabbit
Another nostalgic favorite. I dunno what to think about this one yet. It looks and sound great (especially with Gravis Ultrasound), but feels too fast to play accurately. It helps to play it on an actual DOS machine, or emulating with a freesync monitor... but much like its inspiration, the Sonic games, you're not meant to just blast through the levels. The big difference is the acceleration. In the Sonic games, it takes a little while to accelerate, so you feel like you have some control. In Jazz, the character immediately moves and jumps at high speed, which makes the game feel you've lost control the minute you've started moving. Once you realize how the game plays, you stop zooming around and start taking your time. It doesn't feel good, because it feels like you're playing the game in a way it wasn't meant to be played, but it kind of works once you figure it out.

Jazz Jackrabbit feels better than Sonic to me as I never felt JJ encourages me to just sprint through the levels the way Sonic is (which isn't well supported by the overall level design in the early games, from what I've played). It just flows really well for me as opposed to 2D Sonic for the most part.

newtmonkey wrote on Today, 14:10:

Anyway, the game looks great, but after three hours, I don't care for it. Due to the "realistic" lighting and coloring, I have trouble telling the characters from the backgrounds sometimes. Not literally; but when things are moving, nothing stands out. It's a problem with recent games. Games are not movies... when you're playing a game, you have to be able to focus on the things you can interact with and filter out everything else. It's something that was solved years ago, but seems like a lost art now. For a fighting game, you want to focus on the two fighters. If they blend into the background, it eventually causes eye fatigue, no matter how good the animation is.

Nice to hear someone else has this issue too, part of me had started to think there's something wrong with my eyesight!

I really enjoy immersive sims of late 90's / early 00's and you can very easily spot items at a glance in them, but in the more modern ones loot tends to blend in so damn well I have to basically fine comb every room to find the stuff, which strains my eyes and makes the gameplay a pain.

And it's not just the items, I still remember how I once walked right past a certain guard in Dishonored 2 without noticing him at all, in bright daylight! I was utterly flabbergasted when that seemingly invisible guard all of a sudden attacked.

newtmonkey wrote on Today, 14:10:

Anyway, the game looks great, but after three hours, I don't care for it. Due to the "realistic" lighting and coloring, I have trouble telling the characters from the backgrounds sometimes. Not literally; but when things are moving, nothing stands out. It's a problem with recent games. Games are not movies... when you're playing a game, you have to be able to focus on the things you can interact with and filter out everything else. It's something that was solved years ago, but seems like a lost art now. For a fighting game, you want to focus on the two fighters. If they blend into the background, it eventually causes eye fatigue, no matter how good the animation is.

This is one of my pet peeves with modern games as well. The gameworld is too busy, with a superfluous amount of detail, and it's often difficult to single out objects that you can actually interact with.

Some games like the Tomb Raider and God of War reboot tried to mitigate this with "yellow paint" which serves as a signpost as to which surfaces you can climb on. Other games like Dishonored 2 have that "focus vision" thing. But none of those solutions are perfect. Sometimes, it does feel like developers need to re-learn the late 90s and early 2000s approach to game design.