Solo Playstation Night

Hey Hitman Tommy here! While Tyson was busy accumulating some new toys and games I haven't really picked up anything new. I've ran into a few crazy Xbox 360 deals at a few retailers that were majorly clearing them out. I think I've already outlined some of those on the podcast or on Instagram. However I haven't really found time to hit the pawn shops or even hit the overpriced "Retro" gaming stores.

In recent weeks I started trying to play a few more games. I spent a bit of time on a few Xbox titles and then about a week ago it felt like it was time to have another Playstation 1 night. Usually Playstation 1 night for Tyson and I devolves into "Shitty PS1" night as between the two of us we have a plethora of titles to choose from, many of which are below average. While the PS1 has many of my favourite games of all-time, it's also home to some of the worst titles imaginable. But we still have a great time drinking some beers and every now and then will find a game that is awful that has enough redeeming qualities to make it enjoyable. Of course we also usually stick to multiplayer games so that we can both play at the same time.

Anyways I suggested to Tyson that we have another one of these nights as my wife was out of town with my son but unfortunately our schedules didn't work, instead of wasting my night doing nothing I decided to have my own PS1 night but this time I could play pretty much anything that I wanted. The goal though was to stick to titles that I've never or barely ever played. Not only did this keep me entertained for an evening but I still had the house to myself the next day so I extended it through the next morning and afternoon. Of course in typical TCD fashion the gaming experience was fueled largely by Original 16 beers.

I also started to give mini 3 sentence reviews on each game after I played them but this only lasted for the first few before I stopped. I won't be going through each game one by one but I wanted to share my thoughts on a few of the good, few of the bad and maybe some of the surprises. But before get into that here's the list of what I played:

Sunday
Ape Escape
Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters
Buster Bros Collection
Danger Girl
Dora the Explorer: Barnyard Buddies
Lego Rock Raiders
Pipe Dreams 3D
Sabrina the Teenage Witch: A Twitch in Time
The Smurfs

Monday
Pac-Man World
VIP
Pitfall 3D
The Fifth Element
Planet of the Apes
Spider-Man
Strider 2
Pandemonium!

Worst game of Sunday Night:
Runner Up- Danger Girl
Winner- Dora the Explorer: Barnyard Buddies

Okay this one is probably not even fair. I'm not in the demographic that the Dora game is meant for so of course I didn't enjoy it. From what I recall it controlled relatively okay. However again it is meant for small children so I'm going to spare it the wrath that it would have gotten for being a shitty game. That being said will my son enjoy this game when he's old enough to play.... probably. Danger Girl may be the worse of the two overall but I'm going to talk about it in a different category.

Best game of Sunday Night:
Runner Up- Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters
Winner- The Smurfs

Again this wasn't a hard one to figure out. I've discussed my love of the Smurfs game on many social media platforms however I hadn't played in damn near a decade which is how it even became an option for the evenings game selections. I wasn't sure if a lot of my love for this game was rooted in nostalgia or was it actually a good game. Well this confirmed that not only was it as good as I remembered but will definitely be going back in the pile to be played again real soon.

The Biggest Disappointment of Sunday Night:
Runner-Up- Sabrina the Teenage Witch: A Twitch in Time
Winner- Danger Girl

Sabrina and Danger Girl both had some real potential. Honestly I wasn't expecting much out of Sabrina the big disappointment came from not being able to unlock any Melissa Joan Hart nude photos. I'm joking of course but this leads me into one of my disappointments about Danger Girl which was a lack of unlockables. I love the Danger Girl comic series and I believe the artist J Scott Campbell even did brand new art for the instruction manual and loading screens so how do you not include extras in this game like finding sketches or unlocking additional artwork. This isn't exactly outside the box thinking lets face it this is something that most comic book games of the era were doing but you know what else it worked. Even if the game play wasn't the greatest did I still want to go find that hidden comic cover or unlock concept art. Absolutely. That aside the game play of Danger Girl didn't do it any favours either. The combat was awful, movement not great. Every now and then it would show signs of having real potential but overall it just didn't work. Which is too bad cause I really wanted to like it.

The Biggest Surprise of Sunday Night:
Winner- Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters

This was a title if I hadn't planned on playing other games that night I would have just spent the entire time with this. Bugs and Taz both controlled rather well. There was a good supporting cast of other Looney Tunes characters and lots of items you had to find in each level. Definitely lots to explore in this one and I barely scratched the surface in about the hour I spent with it. One of the levels I did have to ride a dinosaur or dragon in and it controlled like a tank. However that was one small moment and even then once I got used to how it moved it was easy to deal with. I'm really looking forward to playing more of this one real soon.

Worst game of Monday:
Runner-Up- Planet of the Apes
Winner- The Fifth Element

This was tough to decide on simply because in a lot of ways these games felt similar and as such felt equally shitty. I spent a bit more time with Fifth Element just because I like the movie and wanted to give it benefit of the doubt. But the movement in this game was atrocious. The combat was hit and miss but more miss than anything. The highlight was playing as a jagged polygon Milla Jovovich in the little white suit she wore however I died shortly after getting to that point and that was all she wrote for me.

Best game of Monday:
Runner-Up- Spider-Man
Winner- Strider 2

I had a vote on Monday to help determine which game was going to be one of the last I played. It was between Contra: Legacy of War and Strider 2. In the end Strider was the winner and I had the privilege to play about an hour of it. Granted my Strider skills were severely out of shape but I was able to progress a bit further with each play and you can't ask for much more than that. No surprises here the control is awesome and was a real enjoyable gaming experience overall.

The Biggest Disappointment of Monday:
Winner- None

Honestly I hadn't expected much out of a few of the games so when they were bad it wasn't a surprise. Everything else at least had something about it that made the experience worth while.

The Biggest Surprise of Monday:
Runner-Up- Pitfall 3D
Winner- VIP

Not going to lie, the only reason that I owned Pitfall 3D was because Bruce Campbell provided voice acting for the game. Beyond that I had no major interest in it. However I was pleasantly surprised with the game. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it made me say "I'd play this again" obviously it did it's job. The real surprise was VIP. For those of you that may not recall VIP was the TV show that starred Pamela Anderson. Essentially the premise is she was the face of a protection agency but it was the rest of the team that had the talent in protecting the clients. As such I expected the game to be absolutely horrible. Now the gameplay it's self was extremely simplistic. There was combat sequences and areas with nothing but shooting. The shooting was pretty straight forward aim, pull the trigger, repeat. The combat scenes were controlled by preset button presses. For example it would flash up X,O on the screen and if you pressed those buttons in the correct sequence then you'd kick the guy. If you messed up you would take some damage. Pretty straight forward but surprisingly fun. It didn't hurt that every successful strike counted towards your combo until you made a mistake. The graphics seemed about average for the era and the cut scenes were short but long enough to provide a decent amount of story so that people who were unfamiliar with the series could kind of get the jist of what was going on. Of course like any good action game you get points for everything you do and receive a ranking at the end of each level. What good are these points you may ask? Unlockables!!!!! Granted it's very basic trade in your points for being able to rewatch the cut scenes or unlock Pam Anderson promotional photos. But still it was something. I'm going to go back and finish this game.


Anyways I hoped you enjoyed getting a sense of the experience I had over that 24 hour period and maybe you'll even find a title or two that you'll give a chance next time you see it in a clearance bin. I spent way too much time playing games and drinking way to many beers but I can't wait to do it all over again. If you have any of your own comments or experiences with these games feel free to hit me up on twitter @TCDpcast.


Until next time, keep gaming!

Buyer's Remorse #41 - Rustle Brand

Welcome back to Buyer's Remorse! 

The good old blog has been relaunched and rebranded! The previous incarnation was dying of neglect, so we decided to give it a little facelift and a name change to reanimate it. Also, some other dudes were using the "River City Retro" moniker so much that we eventually just had to forfeit and let them use it to avoid confusion. 

Most people know us as the TWO CRUDE DUDES!!  (...and Jimmy)

So that's what the entire empire will be built around. People love our drunk and offensive podcast, so why not celebrate the name and go 100% TCD across all platforms! 

Don't forget to update your favorites with the new location of the blog: 

http://tcdpodcast.blogspot.ca/

The next episode of Two Crude Dudes will be recorded soon and I'm planning to give a lot more attention to the blog too. I still think Instagram is kinda dumb so I'm gonna just spam pics on here. 

We have not discussed our USA Minnesota trip yet, but the weekend South of the border was awesome! Nothing beats ROH in the front row! We also did some game hunting as much as we could too. We'll save the whole story for the next podcast, but here's pics of the great haul I landed.

 

 

Buster's Hidden Treasure turned out to be a rabbit turd...

May was a pretty lean month for collecting, but I have managed to snag a few things over the summer including a Philips CDi gem and a sexy Tekken Kotobukiya statue of Nina Williams! Since the PS3 and Xbox 360 are being euthanized, I've been picking the last of their bones and making sure I didn't miss any 5 dollar hidden gems from last generation too. 

Evil Dead II Collector's Edition! 33900/50000

Still better than WCW Thunder on PS1.

 

 

 

 

 

I got this for 8 bucks!! Fuck yeah!

Crystal Meth is less addicting than this.

 

 

Poor Litil Divil. He has a Litil Dik.

 

I now have 219 Ring of Honor DVDs.

That's about it for this big random picture dump! There are a few interesting and funny stories surrounding these scores, but I'll save them for the podcast so I can rant, rave, and cuss like a sailor! Nobody gets weird and offensive like the Two Crude Dudes! 

Speaking of weird...

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Yeah...wow...

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See ya soon, racoons!

Super Robot Tyson

Hitman Tommy's 2015 Goals 2nd Quarter Update

I can't believe how quick 2015 is flying by. It seems like Tyson and I were just heading down to Hopkins for Ring of Honor but all of sudden two more months have gone by since. But I figured it was time for a quick goal update before we get too far into the 3rd quarter of the year. The last three months weren't really about buying games(granted that happened too) but the big focus was on actually sitting down and playing some different titles and not worrying about when the next good deal was going to be coming. I would talk about the trip and a few other reason items but we should be back on the podcast real soon where I'm sure we'll discuss the last 3 months and more. So here's where my goals are now sitting:

1. Find 25 more NES carts for my collection


Progress: 10/25 = 40%


The NES collection is at a bit of a standstill. Not much is coming up locally and the games that do are ones that I’m not in need of. I’m still not in that place where I’m willing to drop $20+ for games that I need there are still lots that I should be able to knock off for the less than that.


2. Complete 5 X-Box 360 games


Progress: 1/5 = 20%


I have finally gotten away from the filthy whore that is WWE Supercard….. well kind of. Okay not really at all but at least I’m also playing some real games again on top of Supercard. Over the last couple months I had tried a few different 360 games to see if one would be the next that I play through all the way. After a couple sub-par titles I finally settled on Batman Arkham City. I had started it about 3 years ago but only played the first hour or two. I believe I was still playing Borderlands at the time which is why I probably gave up on Arkham City so quickly. It felt good to knock it off the backlog, and while it was a good game I still think that Arkham Asylum was better. I was thinking about jumping right into Arkham City Origins but I think I need to play something a little bit different. As of a week ago I started playing Mass Effect 3. Only about two hours in but it was about time that I finally finished that trilogy off.


3. Beat one game for 10 different consoles/handhelds


Progress: 1/10 = 10%


The only game I’ve beaten is Arkham City so now Xbox 360 is off the table. Nine more systems to go before year end. I’ve been playing a bit of Neo Geo Pocket and 3DS lately so a title for one of those may be next to get knocked off.


4. My 5 biggest wants of 2015


Progress: 1/5 = 20%



Knocked Dragon’s Revenge off the list when we were in Minnesota for Ring of Honor. Aside from that no major leads on any of my other wants.

That's all for now. I really have my work cut out for me during the last half of 2015. Until next time!

Two Crudes Dudes - Episode #14 - Batman Soup

What year is it? The Two Crude Dudes have emerged from a 6 month time loop to cause a paradox of stupidity! After a hiatus where Super Robot Tyson had a baby and Hitman Tommy drank alone for a few months, we have united again to terminate your brains by traveling in our new time machine! Episode 14 is packed with retro game chatter, collecting stories, and enough dick jokes to choke a T-800! Will Tyson form the Murdoch Mysteries fan club? Will we talk too much about pro wrestling? We expose Amiibo lies and consider joining the black market of Transformers collecting. Don't forget to fast forward through our latest update on WWE Supercard too! This episode is the longest and drunkest episode of TCD yet! We actually ran out of our favorite beer on air and had to dig a little deeper in the fridge to keep the tsunami of idiocy crashing into the microphone. The reason for the extended episode and long mastering session was due to our main event topic of "What would Tyson and Tommy do if we had a time machine?" We barely scratched the surface of our quantum leaps through the timestream! Who would we kill? What toys or games would we create or steal? Where would we leave a time capsule filled with only our turds? You have to listen to find out! After this episode you'll need a time machine to go back and convince yourself not to listen to it! 
 
Intro track by NESRomancer - Go support him! http://www.nesromancer.com/

Future episodes will always be available here and at http://twocrudedudes.podbean.com/. 

Follow the links on this page to subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher Radio!

 

Hitman Tommy's 2015 Goals 1st Quarter Update

It’s hard to believe that we’re already nearing the end of April. March just kind of blew by and before I knew it, it was time to provide a quick update on how I’m doing with my gaming goals this year. So let’s get to it

1. Find 25 more NES carts for my collection

Progress: 10/25 = 40%

The first part of 2015 has been pretty steady for NES carts and I’ve been able to add a new cart or two to the collection every couple weeks. In a few of these cases I did have to increase what I’d like to pay for some of these games but at the end of the day the 10 I have picked up were well within the range I was willing to go. This past weekend we had the Wonderland Festival in town(Toy & Comic Show) which I was able to pick a few things up, but also gave me the opportunity to familiarize myself with what vendors have other titles I need for when I get back into chasing around the city more. We talked a little bit about the show on the upcoming episode of the Two Crude Dudes podcast so I’ll leave it at that. Upcoming in the next couple months we aren’t hitting the Calgary Expo this year unfortunately but we will be making a trip to Minnesota next week which will involve hitting up some game stores so fingers crossed for some good finds.

2. Complete 5 X-Box 360 games

Progress: 0/5 = 0%

I’m pitching a big fat goose egg to start the year off in this department. Honestly trying to find the time to get some gaming in has been pretty difficult this year. Aside from getting together with Jimmy for a couple Gamecube nights I really haven’t played much at home. As far as X-Box is concerned I did start Tomb Raider like I said I was going to but have only sunk a handful of hours into that so far. As we get into the summer months I’m hoping to have a bit more time to enjoy some gaming. Since my son joined the family I really relied on devoting the late hours of my day to getting some game time in, however I recently subscribed to the WWE Network and I find that I spend my time after everyone goes to bed watching a lot of that. My wife hates wrestling so I have to try and fit it in when she’s not around.

3. Beat one game for 10 different consoles/handhelds

Progress: 0/10 = 0%

I pretty much covered this one off under goal 2, again I’m hoping that the next couple months will be more lucrative with the game play

4. My 5 biggest wants of 2015

Progress: 0/5 = 0%

No luck picking up any of these. I’ve come across Professor Layton and the Last Specter a couple times but once it was without its case and the second time it was way too expensive. Dragon’s Revenge has been near the top of my radar lately. Lots of them out there on ebay but all the shipping costs are garbage and don’t make it worth it. Not to mention the US Exchange rate is awful right now so I’m trying to avoid purchasing anything online right now.


So that’s where everything sits right now. The only thing that I’ve made any progress on is adding to my NES collection so I’ve got a long way to go the rest of the year. As I mentioned were heading on a road trip next week so hopefully I’ll be back with some photos of some awesome new games that I find while I’m away. Also Tyson and I recorded the next episode of the Two Crude Dudes Podcast last night so you can look forward to our return to the airwaves getting posted sometime in the near future.

Buyer's Remorse #40 - Big Daddy Jamma

Holy Shit!

I'm back from the land of fatherhood to show some love to my other children, my video games! As a lot of you know, on January 3rd my beautiful daughter Teagan was born and I've spent the last few months learning the ropes of being an awesome Dad. Turns out you have to buy less games, play a lot less games, and spend a lot of time with your newborn baby. Parenthood is the greatest game anyone can play and every moment with my daughter is awesome. She's a pretty happy and easy baby so that means I can let a little of my previous life creep back in. That means it's time to show all the shit that I bought that eventually I'll need to sell for her tuition or wedding expenses in 20 years. 

Disclaimer: Not my baby, but still a good idea...

Since it's hard to actually leave the house to go look for games, I started trolling Kijiji again and ran into an incredible deal where I scored the Jamma boards for two awesome and rare arcade games. I landed the arcade exclusive Castlevania title Haunted Castle as well as the classic side scrolling action game The Astyanax! I got them for an amazing deal considering the board for Haunted Castle recently sold on ebay for over a thousand dollars. Wow!

Got a cool Taito PCB box too!

The Astyanax!

Haunted Castle is fucking MINT.

I did manage to do some chasing around the city at thrift stores and a few of our usual pawn shop stops and grabbed a few titles in the last few months. Some of these I mentioned on Two Crude Dudes Episode #13, but I'm finally posting the pictures now. Here's a random mix of pickups:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boxed complete Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness was an awesome trade and I got it by swapping an extra copy of Smash Bros. Melee for it straight up. I think I paid $3.99 for the extra SSBM, so it was a brilliant trade. I'm a Castlevania nut, so anything from the series that I don't have is always on my radar. Dracula X on SNES is gonna be a bitch, though. 

We recently had the "Wonderland Festival" in my city which is just a mini comic convention full of mega nerds and washed up actors who used to play Power Rangers on TV, but I did score some vintage Masters of The Universe Toys and a boxed NES game for very little cash. I also got sucked into the new Combiner Wars Transformers and bought some of those to start my quest to built Superion and Menasor again. This next batch of pics is also peppered with some other recent finds.

 

 

1978 Mattel Hockey actually works!

 

 

 

Picked up a sweet reissue Rodimus Prime too.

 

 

That's a lot of cool stuff! Maybe I really didn't take a lot of time off from collecting when the baby arrived. It's hard to pass up a good deal on toys or games, even when you have to be a fiscally responsible parent. She better not touch my toys! I need a lock on the basement...

Stay tuned for a new episode of the Two Crude Dudes podcast coming soon!

Super Robot Tyson