USA 1997

the two space rabbits

It’s the year of the rabbit, so I drew Jazz Jackrabbit doing some

R A P I D  F I R E

Dr. Who Episode One: Time Oracle Part I & II (DOS, Brian Stock, 2000)

You can play it in your browser here or preferably here. Press W on the title screen to switch between parts.

#GiveEvaAGun 🔫🔫🔫

I CAME HERE TO KICK SHELL AND CHEW CARROTS, AND I'M ALL OUT OF CARROTS

I am not exaggerating when I say Unreal is one of the best FPS franchises out there and I will never forgive Epic for delisting the entirety of it from digital storefronts for reasons that make zero sense when you think about how much money the company has, or the fact their other legacy games like Jill of the Jungle and the Jazz Jackrabbit games are still on Good Old Games.

The Unreal games, especially Unreal Tournament, are the reason Epic and the Unreal Engine became so huge in the first place, and they are taking their own history for granted, on top of doing themselves a disservice by making them undiscoverable to future generations who might be curious.

But most especially Unreal from 1998 (or Unreal Gold as it originally was on Steam and GOG) which is basically what Half-Life did, but IMO so much better. 

From it’s massive, explorative levels, legendary tracker music by Alexander Brandon & Michiel van den Bos, ABSOLUTELY OUT-THERE ATMOSPHERE, to combat with some of the toughest enemies that operate on AI that’s nearly on the same level as a deathmatch player, Unreal makes for a Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

If ever there was a game lost to the tides of time, and unfairly so, it’s One Must Fall 2097 . . . fighting game of the future.  Pilot consciousness was transferred to a 90 ft tall (27.4 m) combat machine, anywhere from light and fast Jaguar, to the titanic Nova (11 machines in total).  All mechs/bots (called Human-Assisted Robots, HARs) have their own sequence of special moves and the like (a la Street Fighter Style), but the added twist of Scrap and Destruction finishing moves (queue Mortal Kombat “FINISH HIM/HER” announcement).  The mechs movements were fluid, and the sounds for the mid-90s was superb (Power Plant being the best).  Oh, and lets not forget the added twist of the arena hazards, anywhere from being thrown against spiked walls, shot up by planes, or thrown into an electric fence.  The game also contained a kind of “campaign” for it’s World Tour, where you basically apply an RPG aspect to the game, turning yourself into a high speed, hard hitting bot pilot.  If ever there was a game ready for an update/upgrade/remake (unlike it’s shitty one from a few years ago), it’s OMF2097

USA 1997

Anyone here a jazz jackrabbit fan or am i alone

Pyros from One Must Fall 2097

Robert Allen, Haze "Technoir" (Darkstalkers-style Mix) Jazz Jackrabbit (1994, unknown year) Epic MegaGames

The Gravis PC Gamepad

From an era when PCs were eager to step forward and declare proudly that yes they to could play games like consoles.

My of my childhood friends has this exact gamepad for his 386 computer. I don't remember using it much, but the iconic design stuck in my memory.

For some reason I recently starting thinking about this device and decided it was time to add on to my collection.

I was lucky to discover one on eBay for a good price, but sadly didn't include the little screw in joystick. Not really that much of an issue as I can't imagine I'd ever use such a thing!

But what game to play with it?

Jazz Jackrabbit of course, it's fast platform gameplay is ideal for controlling via the responsive buttons on the pad.

Plus the game actually features little Gravis Gamepads you can collect for points!

Thanks Epic

UNREAL IS 25!

Happy 25th birthday to Unreal, the other (and first) shooter from 1998 that dared to do something wildly different from what anyone had seen before! It's a beautiful game that managed to capture the same sort of atmosphere and tone we'd all later see in things like Metroid Prime - a massive frontrunner in immersive worldbuilding and environmental storytelling. It's a world dripping with detail and tangible history, with some of the best and most reactive AI enemies still ever seen in gaming, an arsenal of weapons that stood out among the standard that id had seemingly carved into stone, and a soundtrack that perfectly matches the alien world you spend the game exploring.

I'd tell you all to go buy it on GOG or Steam or even the Epic Game Store, given they're the guys who made it, but you can't! Epic delisted it from every digital storefront and refuses to acknowledge its existence!

I also wrote a somewhat rambly essay about it 5 years ago.

Maybe go listen to one of my favorite tracks from the OST

Or check out the insane amount of work that Krull0r is putting into a fan-made redux mod

And just remember, Epic doesn’t want your money! They don’t want you to pay for this game! They don’t give you an option to pay for this game! But you should still play it! Even if you don’t have it! You could still have it anyway! Epic doesn’t care!

Unreal Tournament (Sega Dreamcast version)