Turtles bits, not bacon bits, of random remarks and thoughts

[Ubiqtysync]

Shredder's real name is Oruko (I think) Saki. Isn't saki some Japanese beverage? Ha, Shred-Head's named after an ancient Japanese secret Energy Boost soft drink.

In my opinion, there's no funnier sight than the Rat King on a sewer jet-ski in the Sega Genesis's TMNT V: The Hyperstone game, which was an amazingly easy game. Along with the often neutral Rat King, there's a hovering pod boss at one point containing a human Baxter Stockman (though having already been transformed into the Fly by this point and after the events in NES's TMNT II: The Arcade Game, he shouldn't be human again) and a hatch-door faucet of Mousers.

I'm pleased to see the turtles' popularity reinvigorated. I thought they completely succumbed to and were left asunder by the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers' reign of terror and Pokemon's dangerously OCD-inclined menace (gotta collect 'em all!). Too bad the fourth TMNT movie couldn't be live-action, now that John Woo's at the helm. Hey, how's 'bout throwing in John Travolta and Nicolas Cage--"Shut the shell up! Hey, watch your shellin' mouth!" I can just picture it now, Broken Shell, Shell/Off, ShellTalkers, even The Replacement Teenage Ninjas or The Big Pizza Slice. I'm being facetious, People.

There were turtle toys matching the comic book characters, like Ace Duck (however much thinner and dressed up like a pilot as opposed to a wrestler), Man Ray, Slash, Merdude, Triceraton, that android, Tattoo, Wingnut and Screwloose, Wyrm, Mondo Gecko, Usagi Yojimbo, Panda "something," the Warrior Dragon, that cockroach mutant, Leatherhead, and Casey Jones. They didn't have Jagwar (heh, heh, named after a brand of cars) and Dreadmon, but they had Dirtbag and Groundchuck, as well as that Punk Frogs quad.

The character of Kid Terra in the TMNT Adventures Archie comic book series was the closest we had to a Casey Jones in this bifurcated universe. Meanwhile, didn't Armaggon become the Archie series's version of the cartoon series's Baxter "The Fly" Stockman? I mean, Armaggon kept getting lost in time and space.

One thing exasperating about the Archie comic book series is how each "flavor of the month" alien is ousting one after another after another for the latest spotlight. Rather than recycling the same alien and perhaps constructing a solid continuity, whenever the writers ran out of ideas, they elected to introduce a NEW alien. The same triteness was incurred by the cartoon series. Instead of three-foot turtles, whatever became of the Neutrinos and Krang's Stone Warriors?

What is always the major setback to having time-travel scenarios and future versions of present characters, such as in the TMNT Adventures Archie comic book series, is the loss of suspense. Though entertaining, think about it, we know for certain the past (or relative to us, the present) turtles will never come to any harm because they're still around in the future (they must). Of course, these type of franchises regularly find a way out of this and conveniently and arbitrarily change their temporal mechanics dogma.

[HorseTechie]

Shredder's real name is Oruko (I think) Saki. Isn't saki some Japanese beverage? Ha, Shred-Head's named after an ancient Japanese secret Energy Boost soft drink.

Ie..ie... you are wrongu. Nngh...

Shredder name is Oroku Saki. Rice wine is sake. 'ki' sounds like key, and 'ke' sounds like kay. Big difference. :evilgrin:

*Tatsu nods, then vanishes back into shadows*

[Tokka-B]

Yuck, bacon bits

**laughs at how horsetechie thinks he is tatsu**

[heretic888]

within the ninja tradition, 'saki' (which is usually spelled 'sakki') means, literally 'force of the killer' or 'killing intent'. it is the 'vibes' living beings put off when they have the intention of harming another. sakkijutsu is the ninja art of being able to 'sense' the sakki and avoid unseen attacks (kinda like the turtles did in a recent mirage issue while fighting blinded).

very appropriate name for the Shredder, i think. like i said previously, Eastman and Laird have done their homework.

[MzTheInsomniac]

either they researchd a bit or they watched some bruce lee movies :D :lol:

[Ubiqtysync]

I stumbled across a garbage bag-sized sack in my closet today. It contains all the TMNT toys I scurried to get when I was younger. I really need to sell these things. However, I realized that they also made a Rat King action figure and that this character appears in both the Mirage and Archie comic book series.

I have the four original Playmates TMNT figurines. I wonder if these'll be worth anything someday. I also have these minuscule plastic, baby turtle-sized electroluminescent toys that, to the best of my recollection, came from those trash-can Playdo cup-like green ooze packages they sold for a while. I think I'll keep these, considering I enjoy all things holographic or electroluminescent.

I also have this 5th Anniversary TMNT "Leonardo" Limited Edition silver-ish statue. It's nothing more than a cheaply made trophy of a shimmering silver-plated Leonardo. However, I wouldn't mind finding some way of dislodging his swords from his hands to give to the original Leo figurine. I never understood why they always equipped the turtles with weapons colored light brown, especially for Raph and Leo.

One last thing: what is up with this sui generis "bimbo" April O'Neil figurine? It has black puffy hair and is armed with cosmetic weapons, like--I kid you not--lipstick nunchucks and a compact-mirror ninja star. This had to be some inside joke, but it surprises me that Playmates actually released this thing to young kids.

[Reznorite420]

In my opinion, there's no funnier sight than the Rat King on a sewer jet-ski in the Sega Genesis's TMNT V: The Hyperstone game, which was an amazingly easy game.You got the games mixed up; what you mentioned is in TMNT 4: Turtles In Time. The Rat King never appeared in The Hyperstone Heist.Along with the often neutral Rat King, there's a hovering pod boss at one point containing a human Baxter Stockman (though having already been transformed into the Fly by this point and after the events in NES's TMNT II: The Arcade Game, he shouldn't be human again) and a hatch-door faucet of Mousers.You have to understand computer programming a bit to know why that was. The Sega Genesis (or Megadrive if you're from outside the US) wasn't nearly as advanced as the SNES, so there were limitations to what could be put into a game. Also think of the setting; I don't think the Fly Baxter would've been very fit in a cave setting.

[Tokka-B]

Hey, wait...Sega had the same power as SNES both 16 bit, and SNES probly had better graphics but I think Sega had a better sound-chip for the MOST part...

Anyway, I think both systems are great and I would rate them equally. :wink:

[Reznorite420]

but I think Sega had a better sound-chip for the MOST part...I'm not your enemy anymore Tokka, but I'm afraid I'll have to give you the facts:

Though I can't give you any of the technical aspects (because to be honest I don't really know), I will say this much; the SNES by far had a better sound system. It's pretty damn obvious even to the untrained ear that the Genesis' MIDI (music) synthesis quite frankly tails in comparison with the SNES. The number of synthesized instruments I could detect at most when hearing the music on all my Genesis games was about 6 or 7. This of course leaves out the fact that the Genesis/Megadrive uses only an advanced form of FM synthesis, thus the results are quite cheap and even staticy at times. In other words, anybody can tell that the music is synthesized cheaply (at least by today's standards). The way I described it in my paper for English was that it sounded similar to a child's keyboard synthesizer. I not only noticed that in The Hyperstone Heist but in the Genesis versions of the Mortal Kombat games as well. Listen to the music on the Bridge kombat zone in the MK3 Genesis version, then listen to the SNES equivelent, and you'll see (or rather, hear) what I mean.

On the other hand, the SNES gives true MIDI synthesis. When playing TMNT 4 for the first time, I was amazed at how much closer to real instrumentation the music sounded! I heard at least 2 percussion instuments being played in every track, a very nice electric guitar synthesis for its time, and it overall sounded like actual MUSIC! That's the best I can explain it, and I don't mean to be card stacking :roll:

Let's not forget the sound FX (I'll be very brief on this one, since it needs little explanation); in general, since the Sega's SFX were made with the exact same synthesizer as the music, they ended up being just as unrealistic and staticy as the music tracks. For TMNT, a prime example is Shredder's sinister laugh. The Hyperstone Heist's sound byte sounds so scratchy and irritating that it makes listening to fingers scraping a chalkboard seem appealing! But not TMNT 4! Shredder's laugh actually sounds like a REAL laugh! In fact, I wouldn't be suprised if I found out that the SNES' sound board supports actual sound waves, because it damn sure sounds like it does! The goes again for each MK3 version; the Fatality scream on the Sega version sounds reminiscent to artfully done TV static, while the SNES one sounds like an actual agonizing scream.

Oy...I hate it when I do that! Not that I think you a moron or anything, Tokka, but that's one thing I do have a good ear in and just had to clear that up a bit...it won't go beyond this, trust me.

[Tokka-B]

I don't care, I think the Sega one sounds better, for most games, you don't need all the synthesized instrument crap to make it good, just as it doesn't need to be in 3-d to be good. Although I love the music for Megaman games and Yoshi's Island as well as others.

I wouldn't compare MK games if I were you...The first MK proved to be a disaster for the SNES, while the sega had the blood and gore that was supposed to be in the game, SNES replaced it with guess what?!? Sweat Drops!! :lol: :lol: :lol: SNES actually learned from this mistake and wasn't stomped as bad in the other games... Man, I just got MK for GC and that game is a gem!

Another flaw with the SNES was that the Sega games were packed in boxes that opened and closed and you could actually hold your games in them...SNES had the cardboard ones you had to tear up to get open, I am surprised they didn't learn to have reusable boxes...

Another thing Razor, just because we are not at "war" with each other and have been acting friendly, doesn't mean we have to agree all the time, so disagree as you wish... :)

[Reznorite420]

Now you're talking about the BOXES? That argument's about as relevent as saying that one CD is better than another just because it comes in its own little unique box (like many NIN CDs do) rather than a standard jewel case :lol: :lol: :lol:

And besides, what I posed were the facts. Whether or not they matched your own personal taste is a completely different matter, and I won't tell you what you should think, and that's fair.

All of the above stuff was coming from a semi-audiophile's point-of-view, so I wouldn't be surprised if it went in one ear and out the other...I was pretty much talking to myself :roll:

*sigh*...I guess I do have too much time on my hands (life sucks, don't it?)

[Tokka-B]

Yes, life does suck, but what can you do?

Anyway, I know the boxes aren't the important thing, I just felt like saying that lol...

And what you say may be fact, it probly has a better sound chip, but some of the games sound better with a few flaws, don't ask :lol:

[raphael90]

I'm a Sega fan too, but I know someone who is an avid Nintendo buff so I can understand being passionate about that system.

The thing with the boxes is....yeah Segas started out with those sturdy (but still somewhat worthless) plastic black boxes for the games. Trouble is Sega started releasing them in cardboard ones too so they didn't actually make up for anything in that area.

As for sound, I haven't played much SNES but what I remember it had decent sound. I wanted one growing up, but ended up getting a Genesis instead. Now I'm a Sega geek. :lol:

Which console had more of the violent or action packed games? Maybe SNES did, but Sega seems to have alot of the cool ones i.e. Streets Of Rage. But I don't know...I always paw through the Sega games not the SNES ones.

Also, I read on a Genesis site that the console sold far more than SNES did. Is that a fact or fiction?

However, if I'm wrong please educate me :D

[ChibiKasai]

Sega Vs Nintendo? Will the war never end?

I had the SNES growing up, and wanted the Genesis. Just so I could play the kickin' Sonic games.

Now I have a Genesis, and really, really wish I still had my SNES. Because I seriously miss my Mario games. And Aero the Acrobat. And that one with the the 7-Up spot. (Actually, there probably are Sega versions of those last 2...but Mario's still Nintendo exclusive. And Yoshi's Island ruled. )

So, I guess I vote SNES.

Peace! :)

[Krang]

Though I can't give you any of the technical aspects (because to be honest I don't really know), I will say this much; the SNES by far had a better sound system.Yes, the SNES did have a better sound chip than the Genesis (SNES had a 12-bit Sony SPC700 with wavetable synthesis, while the Genesis used an 8-bit Yamaha YM2612 with FM synthesis to cut costs), but the main reasons for that were that the SNES was released 2 years after the Genesis, and that the SNES had a much slower CPU, so it needed good sound and graphics processors to help out the main CPU (SNES had a 3.78MHz 65836, which was slow and old even at the time the SNES was released, and the Genesis had a 8MHz 68000, which was faster, newer, and could access more RAM at a time). The slower CPU was the reason that the SNES couldn't handle fast-moving games like the Sonic series.It's pretty damn obvious even to the untrained ear that the Genesis' MIDI (music) synthesis quite frankly tails in comparison with the SNES. The number of synthesized instruments I could detect at most when hearing the music on all my Genesis games was about 6 or 7.Actually, the Genesis could use up to 9 voices (instruments) at a time, with a 10th reserved for sampled sound.This of course leaves out the fact that the Genesis/Megadrive uses only an advanced form of FM synthesis, thus the results are quite cheap and even staticy at times. In other words, anybody can tell that the music is synthesized cheaply (at least by today's standards). The way I described it in my paper for English was that it sounded similar to a child's keyboard synthesizer.The Genesis wasn't completely limited to FM synthesis, since it could use PCM samples (sound effects) in its music. Sonic 3 is a good example of this. And I don't think the music was synthesized cheaply at all... I think most developers did the best they could with the limitations of the sound chip. Also, it's not fair to compare 13 year old technology with today's standards. The SNES was able to produce realistic music because the custom Sony sound processor it used was the first console chip ever to use wavetable synthesis.Also, I read on a Genesis site that the console sold far more than SNES did. Is that a fact or fiction?It's true, the Genesis did outsell the SNES.

[Reznorite420]

Like I said, Krang, I honestly had no idea what I was talking about :( :( :(

If I'm not mistaken, it was the original NES that had plain FM synthesis though, correct?

All of this is making me want to take a sound engineering course or something in college...

[Tokka-B]

raphael, sega had much more violent games that SNES, the MK was my examples. I also think Streets of Rage was better than Final Fight but just by a bit, the sound was probably the final factor, I just loved the urban pumping music of SOR. But I just loved the SNES exclusive games, Yoshi's Island was just amazing, even though it was '95 which was pretty well into SNES life span, but the DK games were great as well as mega mans and mario games. Sonic games were a great exclusive to genesis, and i can't wait to play them on the cube. The one sonic game I couldn't understand was Sonic 3-d Blast...what on earth were they thinking?!? The stupid game was not even 3-d, sheesh, and the gameplay was a disgrace to sonic...

Chibi, actually the reason you probly didn't like genesis is because you started playing it so recently, you had to play it in its time to really appreciate it...

I think Genesis was probably their best system, but Sega CD would have been the best if there was more interest in making games for it, I think most companies were a bit hesitant in making games for the first cd console...Although Sonic CD was easily the best sonic ever made, I just wish they would have brought that one back in the collection....

Seems our admin is an obvious Sega fan..... :lol:

[ChibiKasai]

Chibi, actually the reason you probly didn't like genesis is because you started playing it so recently, you had to play it in its time to really appreciate it...

Actually, I *did* play Genesis "back in the day". While I was in Ohio (1992-93), my teenage cousin had it, and so did my mom's friend. When I got back to Florida, I could play my uncle's. I just didn't get my *own* console until 1995.

Hey, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't early Sega games not have a "save" feature?

*Off to play the Dreamcast.*

[Krang]

Like I said, Krang, I honestly had no idea what I was talking about :( :( :( No problem, I just had to defend one of my favorite systems. :)If I'm not mistaken, it was the original NES that had plain FM synthesis though, correct?Yes, the NES had 5-channel FM synthesis.Seems our admin is an obvious Sega fan..... :lol:Yep. :DHey, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't early Sega games not have a "save" feature?That's right, the only Genesis games with a save feature were the ones with battery-backed SRAM (Sonic 3, Virtual Pinball, etc.). The earlier games had to rely on passwords to save the game's progress.

[Karpo_007]

A piece of useless trivia, but I read in an Interview, that SNES had even better sound chip than N64.

[Tokka-B]

Makes sense, because N64 was more focused on graphics than sound...I really didn't care for that system...SNES was just so much better...

[Karpo_007]

I think so too. Even if if Snes is and old console, it still has the best Mario and Zelda game to date. Super Mario World II: Yoshi's Island and The legend of Zelda: a Link to the past.

[Tokka-B]

Yea, why don't they make more games like that?!?! Don't they know it is perfectly ok to add on to the Mario Series?? I don't even know where mario 64 or Mario Sunshine come from! :cry:

[Karpo_007]

Well Maroi 64 was a good game, and I have heard that Sunshine is not bad either. Still somehow I like the Snes mario games better.

[Jephael]

My aunt has a Super NES and she's got the All Stars game. I thought that was a cool concept to take the first three original Mario games and place them into the 16-bit console like that.

[Karpo_007]

Yeah the allstart conversions are pretty nice, but don't beat the original Nes ones.

[Tokka-B]

Yea, why don't they make a Mario mega Collection?!? Marios 1,2, and 3...as well as the mario worlds and mario lands and all that crazy stuff right there.... :)

[Nickokapo]

Yah i think the mario games have been redone a bunch of times actually.
First for snes, then gb, then gba.
The games are good but they've been done to death :P

[raphael90]

Tokka: Yeah! Streets of Rage is the best!!! All three games are sweet. :D

[Reznorite420]

Tokka: Yeah! Streets of Rage is the best!!! All three games are sweet. :DIMO, each game just got better and better. In other words, first one was kinda bleh, but the third one was best of all!

[raphael90]

I like the first one best, probably because of the music...i like those Freddy Krueger slasher dudes. The second game is pretty darn fun too, much better graphics. The third has a few problems and its soooo hard. I haven't been able to beat it yet. Still it is fun. Plus the third is so rare, I had to pay close to $30 to get it...yikes :o

[Tokka-B]

I know, i am still looking fo the 3rd one...that series was off the hook... But what I liked was that it was so long and so god damn hard...I mean I really don't think you can beat the game without cheats...at least on hard or hardest...but it had so much replay value and it was so fun since there were so many moves that you could do without getting hurt yourself...There are a bunch of extra endings also...

Heh, I just got Final Fight like a week or so ago...and that game is pretty hard too, I am talking about the first one...but it is so short, although i haven't beaten it yet....The problem is, once they land like one punch on you, you are pretty much stuck until you die, lol..I am still stuck on the 3rd stage but will beat it soon...I am good at beat em ups when I my adrenaline starts kicking in, lol. I am going to try and get Final Fight 3, cause I heard that they have like a 2 player mode that you can play with an allied comp, I want to see what that is like...heh

One thing i'd like to point out...Streets of Rage series is an exact copy of Final Fight series, LOL....I was just looking at the 2 and realized how similar they are...it is as if they made SoR purely for an improved version of Final Fight...and it worked...Also, it really didn't matter, cause after all, Final Fight did copy off of Double Dragon anyways, lol..Those games are great :)

[raphael90]

Yeah, Streets Of Rage I heard runs on the same game engine Sega's 'Golden Axe' did.

I'm just beginning to appreciate the action in SOR 3, Blaze is the only one I can play well enough. She kicks some mean moves out. But those levels are so long and some of the bosses a pain. But some are cool. Where else can you fight a boxing Kangaroo? :lol:

The second game is everyone's favorite it seems, the music is swell and you can't beat the action.

No one seems to like the first one, I like some of the characters in it (i.e. slasher dudes). The music is probably why I like it. The game has the same vibe to me that the Turtle movies had.

[Reznorite420]

About SOR 3: I could barely beat it on easy, and of course beating it that way didn't really end the game, just kinda left you hanging. You had to go at least to medium in order to advance to the end of the game...it's a killer at medium!

[raphael90]

Exactly! :)

And I thought I was alone! I cheat and get like 27 lives and it's still very hard to beat it. I haven't even gotten a good ending...the one time I beat it on cheats I still didn't save the city from the bombs. Ack...

The second level on SOR 3 is pretty sweet though...but those judo girls at the end sooooo annoying.

Come to think of it all the bosses on that game are pains to beat.