S.C.G

£24.99 eh? Image & Form Games eh? SteamWorld eh? Take my money!... ...is what I say just as soon as the game comes out physically. Besides, I've still got SteamWorld Dig 2 to play.

I was more thinking of the Satisfye Pro Gaming Grip... It really does make the world of difference when playing in portable mode. But it's a minor concern in the grand scheme of things I suppose and it is likely that they'll keep the original form factor for the Pro model hopefully. That's even if any of this even happens, but it is seeming likely at this point.

Oh yeah, the technical stuff should still work the same, I was just talking more about the third-party grips that are available for use in handheld mode. If they change the form factor of the Switch with or without the joy-cons attached significantly, those won't be of any use. So I was just hoping that for the pro model, they would keep the form factor so it was exactly the same size and shape but improve the internal components.

What's the first game I played on my Mega SG? Well, I'm glad you asked... Castlevania The New Generation This is a game which I've had in my collection since 2015, it's not complete but I did manage to get it for £50 at the time, looking back now it seems to have kept its value. But I did buy it to play and last night was when I finally got around to trying it out and oh my... it's one of the best Castlevania games I had previously never played. Super Castlevania IV has long been a favourite of mine, but it's best to think of this as the Mega Drive exclusive equivelant to it because it's similar yet different. For a start, you get to choose from two different playable characters who have varied weapons, which lends an interesting twist to the gameplay. You can play as either John Morris (a distant descendant of the Belmont and Morris families) or Eric Lecarde. (whose girlfriend was turned into a vampire) I've only managed to get to the third stage so far but there have already been some interesting mechanics including breakable statues and a stage involving rising water. The bosses and mini-bosses are tough and imaginative, the gameplay is well-balanced plus the difficulty is tough but fair, just as it should be. Some of the music I'm already familiar with as I've heard it from listening to the Castlevania selection CD which came with my copy of SOTN so it was nice to hear them again. All of the visuals are very nice indeed, showcasing the unique capabilities of the Sega Mega Drive, there are some really nice sprites on display. So far I cannot recommend this title enough and I can't wait to play more of it, of course I played a few other titles on my Mega SG but this one was worth highlighting.

The only thing which is concerning me about this latest rumour is this quote... My latest on new Nintendo Switch coming as early as this summer. There would be two models, and people who've seen them said designs of new devices are "different from the original and you'd be surprised." Different probably equates to altered form factor... now for a purely portable Switch I can understand that but for the Pro model, you can say goodbye to a lot of accesories. Maybe it's a minor issue, I'm just now looking at my recently purchased Switch Grip from Satisfye and I'm wondering how much more use I'll get out of it now. Obviously the joy-cons will still be compatible but this might mean that a lot of accesories which relied on the existing form factor of the Switch may become useless. That's why I'm hoping that by some small miracle, Nintendo keep the form factor of the Pro model the same as the existing model. You can still have a slightly bigger, better screen with less bezel this way and can change the ports a little bit if needed but still keep those accesories useable. Just something I thought was worth considering anyway, ultimately Nintendo's going to do whatever Nintendo's going to do.

Well, the Epic Store seems to be doing OK... but at what long-term cost? (if any)

Cool, glad that you got your Mega SG in the end. MIne arrived too but not time to play until later as I'm back to work today. I shall take pictures of the outer box, console etc though, so look out for those later on maybe. I din't know that the firmware had to be updated for the pack-in game to work... guess I'll be doing that later then, time to unbox! p.s - I hope you have fun playing Mega Drive games!

Trying to get stuff done before package arrives, I keep looking out the window every five minutes just in case.

This video just popped up in my YouTube feed, it's on Castle of Illusion mainly but features some of the other Disney games on the Mega Drive. If it hasn't been posted before, I figured at least @Happenstance and @Hero-of-Time might enjoy watching it. It certainly brought back some memories for me and it'll certainly be nice to play some of these classics once again.

Well, I'd say that I'm half-prepared for my Mega SG to arrive tomorrow, in the end I've just opted for clearing my desk, taking out my Super NT for now and just using the leads from it. When I get more properly set up, I will of course connect the unit to my original Sega Mega CD II and I'll take a picture of my Sega Shelf when it's photo-worthy. For now, I just want to be able to play Sega Mega Drive games on it, with some of my original controllers, just playing the odd game inbetween everything else. One thing is for sure though, when I get my room sorted and get rid of a load of stuff, I'll hopefully be playing a lot more Sega games in 2019. It's time to truly appreciate what games I have, while I can and there's surely no better time than the present.

I wonder what our chances are for a physical Crypt of the Necrodancer + Cadence of Hyrule combo release on one cart? I'm kind of thinking of holding out for that if so.

I found watching the above video helpful - still currently watching - obviously spoilers if you haven't played any of Sekiro but if you're playing and you're stuck then it's worth a watch. Just before the one hour mark, I found out how to beat the first mini-boss I'm stuck at, so will give that a go later. I'm curious to see if it goes up to the second point I got stuck at after skipping the first mini-boss... I reckon later on tonight, I'll go on the attack at those points I got stuck at with a fresh perspective and some newfound determination... ... or just give up again and grind some more. Edit - Just finished watching that entire video... well that's going to change how I go about the game completely. Will give it another go later hopefully.

I ended up grinding to get almost all the skills, still couldn't beat the mini-boss, so just skipped past, got to a tougher mini-boss, still not the main boss and then called it a night. I'll get there, it'll just take time.

Oh my... sealed games is one thing, but sealed consoles? Can you imagine? I do have a lot of sealed games though, I must change that. I've unsealed Sekiro today, the day I got it though, so I'm making progress.

I'm just going to leave it as it is and see when it turns up. I could do with the extra day or two to prepare anyway.

So, you can change the delivery date so that it arrives earlier? I read it as, they would deliver it by Monday but it could just arrive earlier. I wonder if they'd just deliver it tomorrow?

I must have accidentally resurrected... pressed the wrong button without realising. There are consequences, got to make things right now, to do that I have to get to the end of the stage I'm grinding on. But to do that, I have to defeat the mini-boss, a load of enemies and then the main boss. That has proven tricky, so I'm grinding again until I've got all the skills I need. Then I can make things right, the damn autosave is as much a curse as it is a blessing.

I'm sorry for your loss @drahkon That can't have been easy as it is, funerals can be pretty tough. At least you went, I'd say that there's no shame in not going to the wake, they make me feel uncomfortable as well. So long as your Godmother understands and surely she does, then that's all that matters isn't it? As you said, you're still going to spend some time with her soon, I think that can often be a better way of remembering the good times. Had you not seen many of the people who were going to the wake recently? I mean I can understand that they probably just wanted to see more of you if they hadn't seen you in a while but ultimately, you've got to do what feels right to you... and it sounds to me like you did just that. TL;DR - I don't think you should feel guilty at all, I guess it's not an easy time for everyone who knew your Godfather but at least you were there.

I would have looked at the reviews but I've been too busy grinding in the game. Taken a break to eat, also turned off the PS4 to let it cool for a bit, will be starting it up again soon though. Might as well check the reviews quickly I suppose... 89 on Metaciritc with just 15 scored reviews, not bad. Feels like a solid 9 to me, but that may change as I play more. Speaking of which... *switches on PS4*

*looks left* *looks right* I'm still grinding for exp... (wondering when the game will get patched to stop me from doing so) *stealthily vanishes from thread* ... Just kidding, still here... *stealth kill* more exp...

And I just died for the first time... the penalty is harsh but fair, serves me right for getting a little too confident. I chose not to resurrect, there are consequences either way but I won't say what those are. Anyway, I'm not discouraged, in fact I'm even more determined now that I know what happens either way.

I'm still on the first proper mission, I've found that due to the way the game works, you can grind in certain areas if you're careful. I haven't really died yet, I can see that if you did then you'd lose a bit of progress maybe but, it's worth the risk. Definitely getting better at the game now and I'm earning some sort of exp but I don't know what it will be used for yet. Will carry on grinding until I get bored most likely... that hasn't happened yet though.

Awesome! Mega SG high five!

Yep, I went with the black Mega SG but with the white buttons, keeping it as close to the UK MegaDrive 1 as possible.

The other thing is, if you have everything digitally, tied to your account and then one day they just decide to deactivate or delete anything then that doesn't really leave you with anything, if you have the discs, you can at least still play the games.