Living the High Life

Video Game Diary:

I just got back from a great trip to Ohio and I didn't forget to pack the most important necessity, portable games! The default device is the DS, everyone that has one would agree i'm sure, and of course I brought it along with Animal Crossing, Castlevania Double Pack, Big Brain Academy, Meteos, Club House Games, Phoenix Wright:Ace Attorney and an underappreciated GBA gem: Yoshi Topsy Turvy. But to spice things up a bit, I also brought the system which, in my opinion, is the greatest handheld pre-Gameboy SP; The Sega Nomad!


The Nomad is a portable system that came out in 1995 for $180. The awesome thing about this system? IT PLAYS THE ENTIRE SEGA GENESIS LIBRARY! Thats right, just plug in any Genesis cart and you're done. The handheld features a backlit screen, a second controller port, decent sound and a RF box port for hooking it to your TV. Wow! It's problems? Well, releasing the same year that the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation arrived, 3D gaming was all the buzz and Sega Genesis games were considered dated by most gamers. The second factor, a weakness shared with other handhelds of the late eighties and nineties, was battery life. Powering a full-color backlit handheld Genesis was a challenge and the Nomad drains 6 AA batteries in about three hours (however, an AC power adapter was and is available -ed.)! Thats quite an obstacle for a portable system to overcome and believe me, it was a factor in it's sales. The system is valued at around $100 by collectors today.

So enough history, what about the games, thats what you really want to know right? Well, I love variety and the Sega library made my choices plentiful. For platforming I chose Chiki Chiki Boys, a Capcom hopper complete with power-up stores and shooter levels. Fighting: Samurai Showdown, this version is the best available on the 16 bit consoles. Dragon's Revenge covered my pinball needs with quick accurate physics on par with the video-pinball greats like Devil's Crush and Alien Crush. For beat 'em up superhero action I selected Captain America and the Avengers (blows away the SNES version). I also took the compilation Genesis 6-Pak, which includes Golden Axe, Sonic, Streets of Rage, Columns, Revenge of Shinobi and Super Hang-On.

Whenever I leave town I always checkout the local Goodwill, Salvation Army and Game stores and I found a few things that amde the extra venture worthwhile. At Goodwill, I found Pro Wrestling for the NES, a classic wrestler with crazy characters and moves thats not too rare, but will make a great gift for a friend. Also, the best find of all, Final Fight One for GBA. This one is a perfect port of the arcade classic with the added bonus of rapid punch options, progress saving and the choice of selecting the Street Fighter Alpha series Cody and Guy. I played it non-stop through to its completion that night-what a blast! All that for $4.99!

With all that gaming greatness, how can I wrap this story up with happy ending? How about this, I came home to a package from Amazon.com. RAW DANGER the sequel to DISASTER REPORT, has arrived! I'll be updating again soon. Life is good!

- Blake Leftwich, gamebot