Together Retro 2017 Calendar - FINAL

[Edge Master]

I've just loaded up Sega Rally 2 on the Dreamcast for the first time. Hooked up to my 32 inch HDTV using VGA it looks absolutely stunning.

[Jagosaurus]

I have access to what looks like 10 or 11 of the 12 this year. My time is pretty strapped, and I have kiddo #2 on the way. I think focusing on one game per month & discussing with you guys might help me out "finding time" actually.

I tossed the idea around last year, but feel like I need to jump on board in 2017 .

Okay, still need to put MAME on the oXbox mod so will be sticking to console port discussions here regarding what I have access to:

Jan: Disgaea
> Own on the PS2, but even as a SRPG fan this one scares the crap out of me.

Feb: Sega Rally Championship
> Own on the Saturn. I'm not very good at this one, but really appreciate it. Wouldn't mind really digging in.

Mar: Gauntlet
> Can throw the Genesis port on my EverDrive flashcart - or emu in NeoGenesis on oXbox.

If I wanted to get really crazy, the Atari ST port is out on the Atari Jaguar now via a homebrew coder. Could try to emu in oXbox Virtual Jaguar.

Apr: Legend of the Mystical Ninja
> Can throw on SD2SNES flashcart - or emu in zSNEXBox on oXbox.

May: Tomb Raider
> Own on PS1 & Saturn. Could throw the Anniversary edition .iso on PS2 HDD also if anyone will be playing that one.

Jun: Pacmania
> Which version is best/which will you be playing?

Can throw on NES N8 or EverDrive flashcart(s) - or emu in mednafenNES or NeoGenesis on oXbox.

Jul: Virtua Tennis
> Own on DC.

Aug: Fantasy Zone
> Which version is best/which will you be playing?

Can throw on the EverDrive (SMS) or NES N8 flashcart(s) - or emu in DegaBox (SMS, GG), mednafenNES, or mednafenPCE on oXbox.

Sep: King's Quest V
> NES version is censored, right?

No access to original unless I try DOSbox. Not too high on my list honestly.

Oct: Bioshock
> No access.

Nov: Breath of Fire 2
> Can throw on SD2SNES flashcart - or emu in zSNEXBox on oXbox.

Dec: Weaponlord
> Which version is best/which will you be playing?

Can throw on SD2SNES or EverDrive flashcart(s) - or emu in zSNEXBox or NeoGenesis on oXbox.

[Flake]

2. Any advantage or disadvantage to playing the PSP port of Disgaea?

I highly recommend the PSP port over the PS2. It has more content but most importantly, you can suspend play mid battle. Item world is a lot less scary when you don't have to finish a run in one sitting.

When item world is safer to attempt, the game goes by MUCH faster since you are able to power level with ease.

[alienjesus]

Luckily, that's the one I got!

[hydraulix]

Really cool line up!

I just recently discovered Together Retro and I'm looking forward to these games. I'm actually starting with Disgaea today (I know I'm late to the party this month), as I have it on the original PS2, but have never really played it.

I will admit I've always made it a point to avoid isometric grid based games, but I need to give them a solid go, and with only a few days left in the month, I'm starting now and will give it my all.

I know there are quite a few highly rated ones out there, and I feel like it's a genre I've always put off, but there's probably something I am missing.

I'm super stoked for Gauntlet, Fantasy Zone, and Breath of Fire II, but I'm especially excited to try a lot of the games on the list that I've avoided or passed by previously. I love this whole concept, and when I was younger, we gamed with what we had. A typical game was 30-60 bucks, and if you got it, you finished it. We didn't have the luxury of emulation and internet. Today, we have an "unlimited pallet" with emulators, and it's quite intimidating to find something to play without leaving it after 3 minutes for something else.

With all media,... our attention spans have diminished to nothing...

Thank you for this idea, I look forward to putting some time into these classics and possibly discovering a love for games and genres I never had in the past. I hate that I've been a racketboy member for some time now and have never paid attention to Together Retro. Really looking forward to it, and thanks again!

[hydraulix]

2. Any advantage or disadvantage to playing the PSP port of Disgaea?

I highly recommend the PSP port over the PS2. It has more content but most importantly, you can suspend play mid battle. Item world is a lot less scary when you don't have to finish a run in one sitting.

When item world is safer to attempt, the game goes by MUCH faster since you are able to power level with ease.

Great to know, thanks for this! I'll grab a copy for PSP instead of PS2.

[nullPointer]

Looks like BoF2 may be getting the cold shoulder this month! To be fair, I'm not sure I'd be jumping into it either this month (just haven't been in the RPG mood), but it would definitely be interesting to hear others experiences with it. Believe it or not, there was a time when I considered BoF to be my favorite JRPG series! (Admittedly those were slightly misguided times, and I was specifically looking for 'off-the-beaten-path' JRPG series that I could call my own.

[noiseredux]

I'm not sure it's BOF as much as it's interest in TR all together.

Here's how many posts each thread got this year...

Jan: Disgaea - 56
Feb: Sega Rally Championship - 11
Mar: Gauntlet - 53
Apr: Legend of the Mystical Ninja - 19
May: Tomb Raider - 40
Jun: Pacmania - 8
Jul: Virtua Tennis - 4
Aug: Fantasy Zone - 14
Sep: King's Quest V - 6
Oct: Bioshock - 37

...Not exactly overwhelming.

Something tells me that community-wide interest in TR has just sort of evaporated, and I'm not really sure how or if it'd really get back to the way it used to be. Just my thoughts.

[nullPointer]

Something tells me that community-wide interest in TR has just sort of evaporated, and I'm not really sure how or if it'd really get back to the way it used to be. Just my thoughts.

Yeah that's what I was afraid of as well. It's a bit of a shame really, because on the surface of it I think it's a smashing idea, and it's long been one of my favorite features of Racketboy (even as someone who mostly just passively just follows along with the threads). I think where it falters a bit is that it often just doesn't coincide with what I feel like playing at a given time. Typically I have at least a passing interest and/or history with the games chosen, but when my game time is already limited, I generally opt to go with what interests me at the moment and in many cases this translates as a disconnect with Together Retro. Not sure how to remedy that.

[Xeogred]

I didn't participate much this year myself, but yeah that is a bummer. Maybe it should be reconsidered that we can pick choices that were already played from years ago or something? The userbase has probably changed up a lot, maybe some people missed out on those years, etc. Even if it's popular classics or something, playing through some good stuff with folks here would be fun. Not sure. Maybe the roster of choices this year just wasn't too interesting for most people, I admittedly didn't see much interest in them either.

2017 was a really big year for modern gaming too, I know some don't want to hear that, but there were tons of good releases this year and that probably took some attention away too.