Also check out the Stargate SG-1 podcast I'm on! we're in season 2 and things are starting to pick up deeplistens.libsyn.com/chariots-of-...

Back on the wagon with the blog. My brain got stuck on Nights into Dreams until I eventually brute forced it. fifthgengaming.blog/2025/11/12/a...

This is gonna piss off the biggest losers who had zero intention to play the game

While I'm at it, I've finally been able to get my next blog post out. This time you can watch me go through all the stages of Jaguar cope: fifthgengaming.blog/2025/08/27/a...

I've also gone insane and played Star Ocean: Til the End of Time. Here's a little something to activate traumatic flashbacks for anyone who's played it:

Coming back in from hiatus. One of the things I got up to was starting a Stargate rewatch podcast with some members of the @deeplistenspodcast.bsky.social community! After three installments we're about halfway through season 1 of SG-1. Here's a link to our first episode: tinyurl.com/mrxkppwb

Streamed some more Tokyo Xtreme Racer, and this time I finally beat the Grim Reaper like it's Castlevania or something youtu.be/KF9OJexCzQ8?...

You seemed to like that sales chart, so here's another, guaranteed to set off some arguments... In fall 1996, Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 dominated sales, but no other N64 games cracked the top 25. Ten PS1 games did make the chart though! archive.gamehistory.org/item/1dbda55... (p.78)

Not the most exciting lineup, but I'm glad to have gotten back to covering the Saturn. fifthgengaming.blog/2025/06/25/a...

relooted is being made by a team of developers from numerous african countries, but only its white south african creative director was able to demo it to summer game fest attendees. this was most certainly not always the plan

I had the intrusive thought that I should go insane and play every indie 3D Platformer. I had to remind myself that I'm still in the middle of going insane and playing every Tokyo Xtreme Racer. Does this count as self-control?

Finally got my 1994 Round-Up posted after all these weeks. fifthgengaming.blog/2025/06/05/a...

There is something deeply broken inside of me, the one thing that makes me want a Switch 2 right now instead of later is the Ridge Racer arcade archives release.

That feeling of accidentally dropping your phone such that it perfectly lands corner first onto your barefoot middle toe.

I streamed some Tokyo Xtreme Racer (1999) as part of my Genki obsession. This is where I admit the whole reason for this process was because I wanted to play this game. youtu.be/MIx0VqhHnOg

Playing Wizardry 7, and you hear about old copy protection schemes, but experiencing it first hand really brings home how monumentally lame those could be.

I streamed more Genki racing games, including the Wangan Dead Heat bonus disc, which unlike a lot of Japanese Saturn discs is SFW. I'm sure there were more than a few guys at the time who felt cheated by that fact. youtu.be/TR5E7NILIVE

When looking up Genki's 1996 re-release of Wangan Dead Heat, I noticed that they added a bunch of pictures of models to the back of the box. It didn't really register with me why they were there until I played the thing. Let's just say it comes with a bonus disc.

The creators of Myst series (@cyan.com) saved hundreds of video tapes from the making of their iconic adventure game franchose. We helped preserve them. Here's what we found.

I really tried to put some time into it, but Wangan Dead Heat is a truly uninteresting Daytona USA knock-off with a busted drifting mechanic. There's a drift button that doesn't work 1/4 of the time and the camera shows the side of the car in a drift so that you have no idea where you're going.

Genki was definitely using the Hang-On GP tech for Wangan Dead Heat. You can tell because the road melts at the bottom of the screen.

Also, Wangan Dead Heat is piping hot garbage.

I went ahead and streamed a bunch of early Genki racing games even though I'm using my crummy back-up headset. This is definitely a way to experience these games: youtu.be/1ZcuUO7QXoE

The difficulty curve is also weird in Shutoko Battle 2. There's a Mega Man style level select with 9 tracks where you beat up on jobbers, and then you have to race Keiichi Tsuchiya on each of those courses as boss fights. He's like 10 seconds a lap faster than you when you have a maxed out car

An odd thing about Shutoko Battle 2 is that even though it's supposed to be about street racing, four of the nine tracks are just different configurations of Sebring, like, what are we even doing here. At least in the first game there was a journey you took as a player from street to circuit.

Turns out Shutoko Battle 2 is a better video in almost every way to the first one. Better handling, cleaner graphics, no slowdown, more tracks, and a more involved upgrade system.

Turns out I got hard filtered by the hard filter in Shutoko Battle '94

So, stage 6 in Shutoko Battle '94 is where they put in the hard filter. You gotta have a hot lap time of under 2'05" on the loopway to get the fourth rival to appear, which means getting a near-perfect lap with drifting.

Finally got the Part 037 done for the PS1 series. That took way longer than I would have wanted, but we gotta keep this train moving at any speed. All PS1 Games In Order: Part 037 fifthgengaming.blog/2025/05/15/a...

So, turns out Shutoko Battle '94 starts getting fucky on Stage 6, which is the difficulty Tokyo Highway Battle starts at. Also there's a Super Famicom American as the third rival.

Second rival in Shutoko Battle '94. She's saying she'll give the player a handicap by driving in high heels. After you beat her she gets mad and demands a rematch without heels, which somehow gives her an extra 10 seconds a lap.

Now that I'm thinking about it more closely, you can get through most of the new Tokyo Xtreme Racer reboot without drifting. Maybe optional drifting is a series staple.

While I'm on the subject of Tokyo Highway Battle:

In Tokyo Highway Battle (Shutoko Battle 3?) you can win all the races leading up to the Drift King by playing it like a normal racing game and not drifting. This was the case even in the first game, Shutoko Battle '94, as you can see. I hit the wall after my best lap because rubbing is racing.

giant bomb . com

Therapist: 16-bit Tsuchiya Keiichi isn't real, he can't hurt you 16-bit Tsuchiya Keiichi:

Woke up today and decided I'm going to go insane and become an expert on the Shutokou Battle franchise. If I don't beat the Drift King, who will?

Anyone seeing this should check out Deep Listens. It's a collection of podcasts about video games and sometimes other stuff. I show up in episodes when you least expect it. deeplistens.libsyn.com

The weird thing about the US localization of Persona 1 is that they turned Mark into a Pittsburgh Pirates fan

RIP Giant Bomb