GAB PS1 #224 - Blast Lacrosse, Bust-A-Move 99, Jet Moto 3

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Aztec: The Curse in the Heart of the City of Gold - GGG - 100% (3)
Miracle Jim no Bassing Beat - BB - 0% (2)
Rally de Europe - GGA - 83% (3)
Oujisama Lv1 - AA - 50% (2)
Pong: The Next Level - ABAB - 25% (4)
Warpath: Jurassic Park - BGAAB - 40% {5}

Even after 200 topics, things you never expect can still occur, like Cryo Interactive having the highest scoring game in a topic. I was also kinda surprised that Rally de Europe placed higher than the original.

Games for this topic:

Blast Lacrosse
Bust-A-Move 99
Gun Shooting 2, The
Jet Moto 3
Kid Klown in Crazy Chase 2
Seikoku 1092: Souheiden

"The Gun Shooting" is easily one of the best titles of all time. It's even more hilarious that there's a sequel! Speaking of games that I'm surprised got a sequel, we also have Kid Klown. This should be a fun topic.

GAB PS1 #223 - Rally de Europe, Pong The Next Level, Warpath

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

10101: Will the Starship - GA - 75% (2)
Crash Team Racing - GGGGGGGGGGGGG - 100% (13) (2 SR)
MLB 2005 - BAA - 33% (3)
Reloaded - ABBAABB - 21% (7)
Tobal 2 - GGGGG - 100% (5)
TRL: The Rail Loaders - AA - 50% (2)

I'm happy to see CTR pull in the big ratings even after this many years of PS1 GAB. While not the highest number of votes (which remains 17 for Spyro 1), it's still a pretty respectable number.

Games for this topic:

Aztec: The Curse in the Heart of the City of Gold
Miracle Jim no Bassing Beat
Rally de Europe
Oujisama Lv1
Pong: The Next Level
Warpath: Jurassic Park

Rally de Africa was one of my favourite early finds from GAB, so I'm happy to finally cover the sequel. I also initially thought we had already covered Pong The Next Level, but that was instead Breakout, so I'm curious to see what they did with Pong.

GAB PS1 #222 - Crash Team Racing, Reloaded, Tobal 2

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Beat Planet Music - AGG - 83% (3)
Capcom Generations - AGGG - 88% (4)
Galaxy Fight - BB - 0% (2)
King of Bowling 3 - BA - 25% (2)
Langrisser 4 - GG - 100% (2)
Shellshock - AGGAG - 80% (5)

A pretty highly rated topic, I feel like we haven't had 4 games in the high range in one topic for a while. Despite that, I was surprised so few people played Langrisser 4, given the series' popularity. The fan translation seems to be of pretty good quality, try this out!

Games for this topic:

10101: Will the Starship
Crash Team Racing
MLB 2005
Reloaded
Tobal 2
TRL: The Rail Loaders

Nintendo released a report on your overall playtime with Nintendo Switch recently, and I was quite surprised to see that apparently my most played game was the Crash Team Racing remake, even over absurdly long games like Monster Hunter and the Xenoblade games. I actually never played the original all that much so I'm interested to see how they compare. Beyond this, I also think Will the Starship seems like an interesting game.

GAB PS1 #221 - Beat Planet Music, Capcom Generations, Langrisser 4

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Croc 2 - AGAAAA - 58% (6)
GP Challenge - ABA - 33% (3)
Hunter X Hunter: Maboroshi no Greed Island - GG - 100% (2)
Logic Pro Adventure - GG - 100% (2)
Soukyuu Gurentai: Oubushutsugeki - GA - 75% (2)
Street Sk8er 2 - AAA - 50% (3)

A pretty highly rated topic this time. Maybe I should watch some of Hunter X Hunter at some point, it's a series I have almost no familiarity with.

Games for this topic:

Beat Planet Music
Capcom Generations
Galaxy Fight
King of Bowling 3
Langrisser 4
Shellshock

Quite a few games here that we've already covered on Saturn, but as always they may have differences from the Saturn version (and Langrisser 4 in particular has some very significant differences). There's also a fan translation available for Langrisser 4.

GAB PS1 #220 - Croc 2, Hunter X Hunter Greed Island, Street Sk8er 2

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Dukes of Hazzard 2, The: Daisy Dukes It Out - BAAAB - 30% (5)
Gundam 0079: The War For Earth - BA - 25% (2)
Liberogrande International - AA - 50% (2)
Mizuki Shigeru no Yokai Butouden - GG - 100% (2)
Pachi Pachi Saga - GA - 75% (2)
South Park: Chef's Luv Shack - BBBGBA - 25% (6)

Wow, this topic was a smackdown for games based on old TV shows. The results of this topic were pretty much the exact opposite of what I predicted.

Games for this topic:

Croc 2
GP Challenge
Hunter X Hunter: Maboroshi no Greed Island
Logic Pro Adventure
Soukyuu Gurentai: Oubushutsugeki
Street Sk8er 2

A few sequels to games we covered very early in the PS1 GAB in this topic, which means I'm going to have to go back to the originals to refresh my memory on them.

GAB PS1 #219 - Chef's Luv Shack, Dukes of Hazzard 2, Liberogrande 2

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Hot Wheels Extreme Racing - AA - 50% (2)
Incredible Hulk, The: The Pantheon Saga - BABBB - 10% (5)
Las Vegas Dream 2 - GG - 100% (2)
NCAA GameBreaker 2001 - AAGB - 50% {4}
Slayers Royal - ABB - 17% (3)
Wing Over 2 - GAA - 67% (3)

Well, I'm glad to see we didn't miss out on too much by not rating Slayers Royal on Saturn. Actually, there's a couple more games on the PS1 list that we didn't rate on Saturn, mostly because I went back and did another pass on Japanese-only RPGs about 6 months ago and added more games that I omitted when the list was first created, so those games will get their day in the sun eventually.

Games for this topic:

Dukes of Hazzard 2, The: Daisy Dukes It Out
Gundam 0079: The War For Earth
Liberogrande International
Mizuki Shigeru no Yokai Butouden
Pachi Pachi Saga
South Park: Chef's Luv Shack

This looks like an interesting set. I remember the original Liberogrande being a pretty unique game.

GAB PS1 #218 - Hot Wheels Extreme Racing, Las Vegas Dream 2, Wing Over 2

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Davis Cup Complete Tennis - GA - 75% (2)
Dragon Quest 4 - GGABG - 70% {5}
Game of Life, The - BAB - 17% (3)
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - AGABB - 40% {5}
Puzzle Action: Ganba no Bouken - GA - 75% (2)
Tenchu 2 - GGGGGBBA - 69% (8) (1 SR)

A rare occurrence of the 70% squiggle bracket (the highest possible squiggle bracket). I feel like squiggle games are almost always closer to the low range (as is the case with Rugrats here), though Tenchu 2 almost fell into that category as well (it just would have needed 1 more A vote, since the rule is at least 20% of the total rating must come from each grade).

Games for this topic:

Hot Wheels Extreme Racing
Incredible Hulk, The: The Pantheon Saga
Las Vegas Dream 2
NCAA GameBreaker 2001
Slayers Royal
Wing Over 2

You might not recognize the name, but Las Vegas Dream 2 is the sequel to SNES cult hit Vegas Stakes. This was one of my favourite games as a kid, so I've been anticipating trying out the PS1 sequel for some time. The main reason I learned to read some Japanese in the first place was to play Japanese-only sequels to some of my favourite games, but I actually didn't know this game even existed until we started GAB.

GAB PS1 #217 - Dragon Quest 4, Rugrats in Paris, Tenchu 2

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Big Ol Bass 2 - GGG - 100% (3)
Ridegear Guybrave 2 - AA - 50% (2)
Sexy Parodius - GGGG - 100% (4)
Starwinder - BG - 50% (2)
Super Hero Sakusen - AA - 50% (2)
Thrill Kill - AAGG - 75% (4)

Actually an extremely well-reviewed topic, especially compared to the much more divisive GBC topic. The fact that the two Ridegear Guybrave games got the exact same score despite being drastically different games is also kind of hilarious.

Games for this topic:

Davis Cup Complete Tennis
Dragon Quest 4
Game of Life, The
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
Puzzle Action: Ganba no Bouken
Tenchu 2

I feel like it's been a long time since we've covered a Dragon Quest game. In any case, though there's no translation for this version, it's very similar to the localized DS version, so guides for that version should suffice just fine.

GAB PS1 #216 - Big Ol Bass 2, Sexy Parodius, Thrill Kill

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Ball Breakers - AA - 50% (2)
Burger Burger 2 - GG - 100% (2)
Hyper Securities 2 - AA - 50% (2)
NASCAR Rumble - GGGG - 100% (4)
Puchi Carat - GG - 100% (2)
Super Shot Soccer - BB - 0% (2)

A pretty quiet topic, but actually a fairly highly-rated one. It's always my hope that some people will end up checking out some of these games later on, even if they don't have time when the topic is actually up.

Games for this topic:

Big Ol Bass 2
Ridegear Guybrave 2
Sexy Parodius
Starwinder
Super Hero Sakusen
Thrill Kill

I remember Thrill Kill being a big deal back in the day, so much so that I had actually played it at the time, even though it was never officially released. That's actually kind of crazy to think about with how much less discourse there was around games back then. Of course, I don't actually remember anything about it, so it'll be interesting to see if it was really such a big deal with the benefit of hindsight.

GAB PS1 #215 - Ball Breakers, NASCAR Rumble, Puchi Carat

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Alnam no Kiba - BB - 0% (2)
Bike Race: Kamen Rider - BB - 0% (2)
Eagle One: Harrier Attack - GAA - 67% (3)
Excalibur 2555 AD - GGAGA - 80% (5)
Pool Academy - BB - 0% (2)
Tokimeki Memorial - AG - 75% (2)

A pretty quiet topic, I was hoping to see a couple more ratings for Tokimeki Memorial, because I do feel that this is one of the more accessible games of its type out there. Maybe when the sequel comes along.

Games for this topic:

Ball Breakers
Burger Burger 2
Hyper Securities 2
NASCAR Rumble
Puchi Carat
Super Shot Soccer

For some reason, Puchi Carat always feels very familiar when I see the name, but I'm pretty sure I've never played it. We also have a couple sequels to Japanese strategy games here. Having played Tokimeki Memorial I can now see that the original Hyper Securities definitely borrowed a few things from its formula.

GAB PS1 #214 - Eagle One, Excalibur 2555 AD, Tokimeki Memorial

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Dragon Knight 4 - GG - 100% (2)
Heart of Darkness - GGAGGAA - 79% (7) (1 SR)
K-1 Oujya ni Narou - GG - 100% (2) (1 SR)
Sled Storm - GGGGG - 100% (5)
Tsuukai: Slot Shooting - AB - 25% (2)
Weakest Link, The - AAB - 33% (3)

A pretty high-rated topic for having a fair number of games that weren't especially well-known. I feel like Sled Storm in particular kind of came out of nowhere.

Games for this topic:

Alnam no Kiba
Bike Race: Kamen Rider
Eagle One: Harrier Attack
Excalibur 2555 AD
Pool Academy
Tokimeki Memorial

To be honest, it was never my intention to cover Tokimeki Memorial. When it comes to Visual Novels and Dating Sims, it's generally my belief that although current translation tools make them somewhat playable, it's hard to evaluate them accurately for two reasons. First, the quality of the writing is critical to the quality of games like these and you simply can't gauge this accurately using translation software. Secondly, the sheer volume of text to translate also butchers their pacing and makes them feel overly slow even if this wouldn't have been the experience for a native speaker. As such, the game I was originally planning to cover for this topic was instead Mitsumete Knight, though while looking into it I found out that it is basically a spinoff of Tokimeki Memorial and shares almost the same gameplay. I also quickly found that I recognized a lot of its mechanics from various other games, both ones we've covered here and more recent games like Accel World Phoenix Festa, so I figured we probably needed to evaluate it after all. There's actually a fair number of english guides that can explain how to play the game, as well as a fan translation for the slightly downgraded but still largely similar SNES version, so it shouldn't be inordinately difficult to play for english speakers.

GAB PS1 #213 - Heart of Darkness, K-1 Oujya ni Narou, Sled Storm

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

A2 Racer 3 - BAA - 33% (3)
Descent Maximum - AAGGG - 80% (5)
Dragonseeds - BABBB - 10% (5)
Kururin Pa - ABBB - 13% (4)
Makeruna Makendou 2 - GAA - 67% (3)
Sitting Ducks - BABA - 25% (4)

Kind of a weak topic this time. I guess not every topic can have an End Sector to carry it.

Games for this topic:

Dragon Knight 4
Heart of Darkness
K-1 Oujya ni Narou
Sled Storm
Tsuukai: Slot Shooting
Weakest Link, The

We finally get the chronologically next game in the K-1 series after a mere 6 and a half years since we originally covered K-1 Grand Prix (which I mistook for the first game in the series even though it was actually the third). As K-1 Grand Prix was one of my favourite early finds for GAB I'm curious to see how this one turns out. Don't worry, I haven't made the same mistake with Dragon Knight, this is the only game in the series that's on PS1 (there's also a pretty detailed guide for it). I'm also kind of curious to play The Weakest Link, which I remember being a big deal for a few months back in the day but I remember absolutely nothing about it.

GAB PS1 #212 - Descent Maximum, Dragonseeds, Makeruna Makendou 2

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

End Sector - GG - 100% (2) (1 SR)
Killing Zone - BBBB - 0% (4)
Magical Drop 3 - GAGA - 75% (4)
Porsche Challenge - AAAAA - 50% (5)
Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001 - GG - 100% (2)
Slamscape - BBBBB - 0% (5)

I really wish more people had the ability to try End Sector. If I can ever get some free time maybe I'll end up writing a guide for it. Also, we were very in sync in this topic, only Magical Drop 3 didn't get the same rating across the board.

Games for this topic:

A2 Racer 3
Descent Maximum
Dragonseeds
Kururin Pa
Makeruna Makendou 2
Sitting Ducks

I remember a very long time ago, someone asked if we were going to cover the sequel to Descent. And we are, only 7 years after the original! I wonder if whomever posted that is still here, because I couldn't find the original post. Speaking of sequels, we also have Makeruna Makendou 2, which you probably don't recognize because the original game was called Kendo Rage in the US. I also think Dragonseeds looks like an interesting game.

GAB PS1 #211 - End Sector, Magical Drop 3, Porsche Challenge

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Air Race Championship - GGAB - 63% {4}
Lucky Luke: Western Fever - BGAGB - 50% {5}
Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter - GGAGAGG - 86% (7)
Neorude 2 - BB - 0% (2)
Wolf Fang: Kuhga 2001 - GGG - 100% (3)
Yetisports World Tour - BAB - 17% (3)

Two squiggle bracket games last week. I feel like these are becoming more common. Maybe it's because we're getting slightly more overall votes? I hope so.

Games for this topic:

End Sector
Killing Zone
Magical Drop 3
Porsche Challenge
Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001
Slamscape

I recently played through Magical Drop 6, so I'm well warmed up for Magical Drop 3. Also, just in case you're confused, this Porsche game is not the similarly named game in the NFS series (NFS: Porsche Unleashed), it's a totally separate title. End Sector seems like a pretty complex game, but someone has put up a pretty detailed guide to it on its message board.

GAB PS1 #210 - Air Race Championship, MSH vs Street Fighter, Neorude 2

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 - AAABG - 50% {5}
F1 World Grand Prix - BAG - 50 {3}
Game no Tetsujin: The Shanghai - AB - 25% (2)
Nagano Winter Olympics 98 - BB - 0% (2)
Ningyo no Rakuin - AAA - 50% (3)
Strider 2 - GGGGAGGG - 94% (8) (1 SR)

I meant to mention this last topic, but I accidentally closed it first, but I really enjoyed CyanRouge's detailed writeup on Ningyo no Rakuin. I sort of wish it had been for a slightly better game, but one of my goals with the PS1 GAB was to explore the mysteries of PS1's Japanese library, which has been very interesting even if the need for translation tools makes it take somewhat longer.

Games for this topic:

Air Race Championship
Lucky Luke: Western Fever
Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter
Neorude 2
Wolf Fang: Kuhga 2001
Yetisports World Tour

I feel like this is an unusually eclectic mix of games even by GAB standards. Cowboys, mechs, superheroes, yetis, fantasy heroes, and biplanes, all in one topic. Playstation is such an absurdly diverse console.

GAB PS1 #209 - Army Men Sarge's Heroes 2, Strider 2, Winter Olympics 98

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Brian Lara Cricket - AGA - 67% (3)
Choro Q Marine - GG - 100% (2)
Momotarou Dentetsu 7 - AA - 50% (2)
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus - AAGGGGAAGGG - 81% (11) (2 SR)
Starborders - BB - 0% (2)
Visiteurs, Les: La Relique de Sainte Rolande - BBB - 0% (3)

I was quite impressed with Oddworld pulling down 11 ratings. I never think of the Oddworld franchise as one of the most recognizable on PS1, but I guess it actually is.

Games for this topic:

Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2
F1 World Grand Prix
Game no Tetsujin: The Shanghai
Nagano Winter Olympics 98
Ningyo no Rakuin
Strider 2

Ha ha! For once we have a very timely game to be rated here. If we didn't do Winter Olympics 98 now we probably would have had to wait another 4 years, so I'm glad we didn't miss it. Speaking of not missing things, I recently went through the list of PS1 RPGs and added a few more that weren't originally part of the list but I think are now feasible due to improvements in translation technology, Ningyo no Rakuin is one of them. And of course, we finally have Strider 2, which we are rating alone, as Strider 1 was rated a long time ago.

GAB PS1 #208 - Brian Lara Cricket, Choro Q Marine, Oddworld Exoddus

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Grind Session - AAG - 67% (3)
Kowloon Jou - GG - 100% (2)
Persona 2: Innocent Sin - GGGGAG - 92% (6)
Power Move Pro Wrestling - AGBG - 63% (4)
Pro Pinball: Timeshock - BB - 0% (2)
Votoms: Woodo Kummen - BB - 0% (2)

I was surprised there weren't more votes for Grind Session. Even though I'd never heard of it previously, it seemed like something that probably would have been more well-known.

Games for this topic:

Brian Lara Cricket
Choro Q Marine
Momotarou Dentetsu 7
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
Starborders
Visiteurs, Les: La Relique de Sainte Rolande

An interesting topic here. First of all, we have Choro Q Marine, which I wrote a guide for a long time ago but haven't played since, so I'm curious to revisit that one. We have one of the Momotarou Dentetsu games, which we didn't cover in previous GABs but one of them was recently localized on Switch and I spent some time playing it so I now generally know how it plays (if you want to learn how to play it, look up the Switch game, they explain the rules on the website). I'm also kind of intrigued by Les Visiteurs, this is the first French-exclusive game we've ever covered. I'm curious to see if what little french I remember will be enough to play this game without using a translation app (it probably won't be). Oh, and there's also Oddworld. It's been almost 7 years since we covered the first one!

GAB PS1 #207 - Grind Session, Persona 2 IS, Power Move Pro Wrestling

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

3Xtreme - AAAGAB - 50% (6)
Critical Depth - BGAAG - 60% {5}
Dance Dance Revolution Konamix - GA - 75% (2)
ISS Pro Evolution 2 - GBB - 33% (2)
Saber Marionette J: Battle Sabers - BB - 0% (2)
San Goku Shi: Eiketsuden - BB - 0% (2)

A fairly low-rated topic, but I guess good for 3Xtreme being the only game in the series to escape the low range?

Games for this topic:

Grind Session
Kowloon Jou
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Power Move Pro Wrestling
Pro Pinball: Timeshock
Votoms: Woodo Kummen

There's a game called Kowloon's Gate that I've been looking forward to playing for a long time. This isn't it, though I frequently get the two mixed up. Also, we have the first part of Persona 2 here. This wasn't localized until PSP, but there's a fan translation for the PS1 version. I'm curious to see how the two versions compare as the PSP version of Persona 1 had a lot of changes.

GAB PS1 #206 - 3Xtreme, Critical Depth, Dance Dance Revolution

This topic is now closed

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Last Topic's Ratings:

Galerians - AGGA - 75% (4)
Grinch, The - AABGAA - 50% (6)
International Moto X - AA - 50% (2)
Pikinya Excellent - GA - 75% (2)
Pu-Li-Ru-La - GBA - 50% {3}
Trick'N Snowboarder - BGB - 33% (3)

It warms my heart that the Grinch game isn't awful. Though I guess it would have been a great Grinchy trick if it was a complete dud.

Games for this topic:

3Xtreme
Critical Depth
Dance Dance Revolution Konamix
ISS Pro Evolution 2
Saber Marionette J: Battle Sabers
San Goku Shi: Eiketsuden

I'm actually kind of curious about San Goku Shi: Eiketsuden, which seems to be a very different take on RotK from the previous games.

GAB PS1 #205 - Galerians, The Grinch, Pikinya Excellent

This topic is now closed

Gamefaqs Link

Last Topic's Ratings:

BattleSport - GA - 75% (2)
Megatudo 2096 - BB - 0% (2)
Noon - BB - 0% (2)
ParanoiaScape - AAAA - 50% (4)
Running Wild - AGGGA - 80% (5)
TearRing Saga - GAG - 83% (3)

It's always nice to have one of those topics where the game I'm looking forward to playing doesn't turn out to be awful.

Games for this topic:

Galerians
Grinch, The
International Moto X
Pikinya Excellent
Pu-Li-Ru-La
Trick'N Snowboarder

It's the most holiday-themed topic of all time! Not only do we have everyone's favourite Christmas-hating grouch, we also have cute penguins and a snowboarding game. Heck, even Pu-Li-Ru-La is kind of Christmas-adjacent... I think. It's kind of hard to tell. I'm actually kind of looking forward to playing The Grinch, I've always been a huge fan of the original animated version. Happy Holidays to all from GAB About Games.