The description of wearing the wrestling shirt making Dogs "feel like a professional wrestler" gives the vibe that it isn't that Dogs absorbed the skill from the shirts or knew the skills beforehand, but just that wearing them has him feel confident enough to use ad libbed moves on monsters in a life or death situation.
you gotta love how the game SEEMS to be setting up the island as an umbrella esque experiment making monsters for reasons only to go, no, the island was totally on the up and up, it was set up to hide how the people in charge were using the area to watch a monster hatching and stop it from growing and destroying the earth, and the monsters are just side effects of the strange alien THING trying to get out.
Thought that only just occurred to me days after watching this. I was wondering why the creature from the egg resembled dinosaurs even though it was supposed to be what wiped them out. Then I realized that the first thing nephilim did was take on a form based on nearby things, which it retains throughout the entire game. And if nephilim and the super Dino are the same species or 2 parts of the same creature then they might function the same. Meaning the beast looks like a Dino because it absorb or copied the genetic information of the things it wiped out when it landed.
Wait. You might be on to something. It might be sort of an alien planetary exploration and data research sort of thing. The giant alien monster is what gathers the genetic information of the planet, while Nephilim is gathering the cultural and conscious information of the planet. The sphere in the start of the game is more akin to a containment system as to not damage the ecosystem outside of the sphere since it seems the information gathering process causes quite a bit of destruction. We might be seeing a botched version of the information being gathered since the impact of the two aliens caused an extinction event and the alien monster is possibly corrupted whether through the absorption of the DNA or being stuck underground for 65 million years.
Fun Fact - According to the game's creator, the voice actors were only paid $100 each. (Interview - Remembering Shinya Nishigaki and his "Crazy Games" Blue Stinger and Illbleed)
man poor SA cast could not catch a break. I play sonic adventure with japanese dub because i find the overall quality to be much higher but i have a lot of respect for the english cast. They're genuinely great voices, if only they could have the proper conditions to flex their muscles. I guess it speaks to their talent that theyre still so memorable despite the shortcomings of the situation beyond their control.
Also Jon St. John, who did some minor voices in the game (including Tim in the intro cutscene) hated the experience so much that he would frequently bring it up at conventions as one of his worst gigs ever. Mainly because they had him do VO for the game's trailer and made him pronounce the title like "Blue Stin-gahhhh" and kept making him redo the take when he didn't.
It's really IS fucked up how game companies don't care about game preservation at all. Piracy is "illegal" and treated as "immoral" when the games haven't been sold for 20+ years and are on a console that also hasn't been sold for 20+ years. Imagine if books were like that.
I’m highly against piracy when it comes to using it to bypass the monetary trade, but if there is no longer a monetary trade then preservation takes priority.
And of course, now that AI generation is the big craze, NOW they're all on-board the "buy it once, own it forever, maintain access after it becomes unavailable" model when it comes to actors.
It has nothing to do with the game companies. It's the government. It's.stil just seen as entertainment and not aomwthing worth investing in like museums
@@maxisenberg9093 You don't solely preserve things in a museum. You can preserve them by just keeping them available. Something that is not done, explicitly and notoriously, by GAME COMPANIES as they either tether the game to online services that are required to operate the game, or just refuse to continue keeping it available on an online storefront to manufacture a sense of scarcity or because they themselves don't see it as worth preserving.
I love how during the Dreamcast’s life, it seems like the cast from the Sonic adventure games and shuffle just gets hired to voice characters for other Dreamcast titles by default.
@videogamecollecto100 Nope, most game developers didn't have the budget for a full voice cast; Usually it was just whoever was working on it. If they were lucky then maybe they had a few decent VA's and a decent voice director, but, for the most part it was just whoever was willing to mic up. This is why like 84% of VA work in early Video games, N64, Dreamcast, and PS2 era's, had pretty bad voice acting.
@@videogamecollecto100Pretty easily disproven considering how inconsistent a lot of the talent in that pool was. Early japanese videogames in particular mostly didn't care about the english voice cast as long as the game had one. If they weren't amateurs or actual dev team members they were obscure and cheap anime/cartoon dubbers looking for a big break, only to deliver their goofiest performance yet due to poor/lacking direction. Games like MGS were groundbreaking in large part because of the quality control on that end.
If you ever replay the game, there actually is something to Dogs’ wrestling shirt that makes it one of the strongest things in the game! He does different moves contextually, based on how close he is to an enemy. Up close you just do the weak punches and far away and you’ll do a running tackle, but if you’re spaced about 5 to 10 feet away from an enemy and attack, you’ll do a running dropkick that does tons of damage and knockback.
This game got me in trouble back as a kid because the intros music was so damn loud that my mom ran in trying to turn down the volume and it was like somehow getting louder lmao
I don't usually comment on stuff but I feel compelled to here: This game is a very well established and super well conceived, overarching, cosmic horror narrative despite the game not being very well put together. The way that this game sets up the ending is utterly brilliant. Admittedly the overall execution is...lacking, to say the least. That said, I can't help but feel this is a uniquely well thought out story. The characters aren't really the protagonists but, rather, merely cogs in the machine that keeps the plot moving forward; our proverbial lens through which we see the narrative unfold. Sure the graphics aren't great: they're outdated and goofy looking. Absolutely the dialogue and writing is, at best, campy and, at worst, borderline painful. Of course the mechanics could have been better designed and executed. But name another game with a 'Color Out of Space' style, cosmic horror narrative that leaves such an implication as this games ending does. The only thing I can really think of is something like Parasite Eve, but even that doesn't end with the characters feeling so contributory but utterly inconsequential. A wonderful narrative wrapped in a poorly put together cheese sandwich. Thank you for covering it: I love the Dreamcast (it's one of my all time favorite consoles) but there are so many games (like this) that I've simply never heard of or encountered. Awesome work James!
A really good arcade racer with wacky racers/track design/etc. It's a great fun little time IMO and I HIGHLY recommend checking it out if you enjoy silly little experiences. It's like a wacky game show/race deal. @@NitroRad
There's this item collecting mechanic for some reason which adds to the variety since you can use those to customize your chosen race character. But it's just a fun time to experience. I had it growing up and it was one of my favorites to go back and replay over and over again. The characters names are silly, the load screens are fantastic vibes too.
Blue Stinger and ILLBLEED being the two girls and the one guy being NitroRad. I see trouble in the near future. Super happy you covered one of my favorite games. It really is a game that you love/hate and I wouldn't want it any other way
As a person who speaks Japanese, it's not the translation. At 23:14 it basically says: "Janine, what a good woman.", at 23:20 it's: "My type. Keep your hands off of her."
I guess this was a case where it could've been better to smooth out the translation rather than going with direct translation. Though for some, it was part of the game's charm so I dunno.
@@PScoopYT Given that the voice acting was the same in the Japanese version, it was probably one of those games where the translation was done in Japan by the only guy they could find who knew any English, and the recording sessions were directly supervised by their own guys who knew even less. That's why the voice acting in the _Resident Evil_ games is so terrible.
@@noone-mo6gy I don't know the year he die but when I was at the video game convention at the Scottish rite center located in Sacramento California they were the ones who told me Ryan Drummond in another guy
Fun Fact About the Voice Acting in this game: John St. Jon (Voice of Duke Nukem) voiced the Title Screen and some other voices and he revealed at ConnectiCon one year at his panel that the voice director was Japanese and kept asking him to pronounce the game name the way he did and that's why it sounds like it's in "Engurishu" sorry, not the best term but it's the easiest way to explain it. That might explain why the dialogue is so awkward and voices so strangely, they were being directed by someone who wasn't a native English speaker.
Never realized that the Hassy from the game 2064: Read Only Memories was a reference to this until now. According to that game, there are over 20 different flavors of the stuff, including Crystal Hassy, Vanilla Hassy, Fire Hassy, Mango Hassy, Winterfresh Hassy…
But wait! There’s more! Lots more! There’s also a British pudding version of Hassy, Hassy Zero, Hassy Infinity (which is the opposite of Hassy Zero, as it has a ton of calories), Hot Hassy Coffee, Hassy Cocktails, Classy Hassy, Crassy Hassy, Hassy-12 (banned in Australia), and even cross-promotional flavors for franchises such as Pac-Man, Klonoa, and… ugh… Bubsy… …For me, all of this only raises further questions about what regular Hassy tastes like.
I was searching to see if someone else had made this comment! Here was me thinking Read Only Memories came up with Hassy. Imagine my wide eyed shock watching this video. I know Hassy is also referenced in VA-11 HALL-A. Now I wonder where else this special beverage can be found.
The fact that this game has one of, if not *the* most thought provoking, potentially horrifying endings in a horror game is absolutely hilarious. And honestly? I actually prefer that it all ends there. No answers, but a simple question that sticks with you. If the rest of the game didn't make it a banger, that ending sure as hell did. I've never had a game shoot up from like a solid 6/10 to a 9/10 by ending alone. This is peak gaming.
James I just want to thank you for all your videos. I recently lost a best friend that I would binge watch your videos with and they sadly never got to see this finished project so I am watching in honor of them. You are one of my favorite reviewers on all of RUclips so thanks!
The thing about the weird hand thing Eliot does with the map of the intro, I think is supposed to call to attention that the ruptured land mass resembles the open maw of a dinosaur, and he's just doing hand puppets in front of it. It's definitely a really dopey introduction to him.
I still wonder what the sequel Red Stinger would've been like. It's really unfortunate that the creator passed before it came to fruition. Absolutely love this game though (specifically the Japanese version). I'd love to see it pop up as a cheaper downloadable title or as a bonus game in a Yakuza title one day. This game deserves a re-release. Edit: Correction. The title during it's planning stages was "Blood Stinger". The company Climax Studios who developed this was unable to finance the project before being absorbed into Cavia (NIER Replicant/Gestalt, Ghost in the Shell: SAC) who subsequently got absorbed in AQ Interactive (present day-still active). The project never got traction as far as we know due the previously mentioned passing of the director and lack of funding. All that exists is the desire and name of the sequel.
"3 holes and a guy?, i see trouble in the near future" has to be one of the most memeable things i have ever heard. Absolutely repeating it every time i can
That ending was incredible, my dad asked me what I was watching and relayed that final message and he just sat stunned until he went “Okay!” And started watching football. Merry Christmas! (I know it’s November, but it’s fitting okay)
More games need that "fuck it, lets make something DIFFERENT" energy. This game looks absolutely crazy and now I really want to play it. (Side note its awesome seeing NitroRad so enthusiastic. Hope he gets to find more games that click the right buttons in his brain)
The healing items for Blue Stinger remind me a lot of the healing items from Dead Rising, where you can heal gunshot wounds, stab wounds, explosions, and zombie bites with some orange juice.
The way you have to stop and eat / drink without being interrupted kind of reminds me of how drinking Potions in Monster Hunter was like pre-World. Maybe it was inspired by this game? XD
… Is that an insinuation that Nephylim was the male equivalent for their species? Huh, oddly enough; that checks out for an Eldridge Horrorterror from outer space. >)X^D
Fun fact in illbleed if you go back and watch the video, In Cashmans level theres pictures of Eliot and Dogs i think in the toy isle. Also one of the bosses you can pick from at the end of the game is called Bullstinger, BlueStinger see what they did there. I really like this it shows that they really loved what they made, That theyre proud of it. Wonder what illbleed, BlueStinger references there could have been if Shinya Nishigaki and Climax Graphics/Crazy Games lived longer.
One of the things I’m most proud of was being able to upload a Blue Stinger video on the actual date it took place (12/24/2018). 😊 I also genuinely want to thank you for taking time to really unpack what this game has to offer, instead of writing it off like so many other people did.
I think at 7:14, the idea is he is doing something similar to the ‘finger squish’ trick people do with something in the distance that looks small. Except instead of ‘squishing’ the object, he’s modeling his hand like a dinosaur ‘chomping’ on the island.
Man... what a game. You have no idea how happy it made me when you gave your final thoughts hah! It's trash but it's top tier trash and it's so much fun. The soundtrack is one of my favourites of the era, if you can find a rip of the official soundtrack CD they rerecorded it in much higher quality than presented in game. As a bonus, hunt down the Blue Stinger image song that they released called 'Sting Me' by the fictional group 'nePhY'. They appear in game on posters and Hassy adds! I'm not sure if you caught on, as I'm aware a lot of people tend to completely miss it, however the final boss you fight is the clone from within the lab. It woke up when Nephy woke up the original Jascony. So both you and Nephy are fighting separate entities.
This seems like one of those games where you're not sure whether you imagined it, dreamed it or it was something else only to discover it years later and realise you weren't going nuts.
Blue Stinger is like Batman & Robin 1997 for the late 90s "gaga era" of games. You either love the goof fest or hate it. I loved every second of Blue Stinger and it felt like a crazy over-the-top buddy cop movie, which was what the developers intended in interviews at the time. It wasn't meant to be a scary game.
This kind of game is peak Sega and peak Dreamcast. It's exactly why that little white box is still one of my favourite consoles. I adore this flavour of b-game jank.
This is probably my favourite video you've ever made. You really radiate enthusiasm for this wonderfully strange game which is so infectious. And that bathtub scene is a masterpiece.
What a unique and strange game... There's definitely some dreamcast era charm in this, I had no idea it got that strange but I'd expect no less from the Illbleed studio. It looks like there's some annoying parts in it but I kind of expected that. It's weird Headhunter (another Dreamcast game) had fictional energy drinks everywhere too, also charming B-movie acting and crazy out of nowhere plot twists. I definitely would like to see a video of that Ring game too.
This game is a prime example of why the Dreamcast is my favorite game console. There are so many other games like Illbleed, silver, headhunter, cannon spike, EGG and so many others that flew under many peoples radars and even today are not properly covered as much as nintendo stuff
Thank you for this, Blue Stinger is my favorite game, and I've gotten into the habit of playing it each Christmas. So thanks for bringing it to more people's attention so more people can enjoy it for the amazing Jank it is~ Couple of notes to help you if you play it again (Or anyone else reading this) 1 - In the Freezer, you can set the temperature to the right level (Or find a disk that does this for you) which defrosts the doors but doesn't melt the ice, meaning you don't have to swim the second part of it nor fight the boss afterward. 2 - In the power plant there's a panel in the control room which tells you which cables needs replacing, in the form of section, room then cable number Also another little thing to help maybe clarify things at the end boss, we fight the clone of the monster thing, not the actual one. Nephilim is still fighting or 'fighting' the much bigger one while you handle the much smaller clone. Thanks again for this! Shame Red Stinger will never be a thing :
You've got good taste. I've yet to play Blue Stinger myself (my Dreamcast is hosed but I own the game) but it seems like one of the most "me" games out there, in spite of the jank lol Fingers crossed for a remaster for this and Illbleed someday lol
1:14:57 And THIS is easily one of my favorite videos ya ever made! Its so entertaining, a good blend of critic and genuine love for the art form and just well made fucking review in general holy shit! An culmination of why i love yar channel in the first place!
Bro I haven't watched Nitro Rad in 2 years. Now coming back seeing he got 100k more subs makes me happy people are finally starting to find his channel. He deserves it!
The fact that Janine had a rifle at the beginning of the game when she took out the water creature on the bridge, but then SENDS YOU TO GET ONE toward the end pissed me off back then and still does now.
I remember playing this at a friend's house when it originally came out and getting completely stone-walled by the first timed part. I've never had a great sense of direction and this game really puts that to the test quite a few times. And that Christmas music, holy moly. Really letting you live the terror of working retail in December.
Dogs says "It's the smell which lures out those monsters" in 58:31 On another note, man... this game brings back memories. I agree, objectively not a good game, but it has enough to be a memorable and enjoyable one. And, if I dare to dream wildly, the perfect choice for a remake in my opinion.
I played and beat this game right when it came out on brand new Dreamcast. It was one of the first new games I experienced and liked it A lot. Still have it too!
This game along with Sonic adventure was the reason I bought a Dreamcast. Don't laugh, it was fresh and new looking and here in the UK the Dreamcast game case looked good with the cover because that is how we used to choose 😂.
I finally found it! I've been trying to find the name of this game for a long time now. About 20 years ago when I was seven years old I played Blue Stinger with my late father, but annoyingly we were never able to beat it. I guess I was a dumb kid and my dad wasn't really into gaming or tech in general and only really played this so we could hang out. Anyways we always died on the part where you start turning into the monster and your partner kills you if you don't find the antidote. Every now and then I would think about this game and the small parts I could remember, but I was never able to find it. I only just found the name today by watching a video that ranks every single Sega Dreamcast game. Finally! I was beginning to think that I dreamt it all up! It was so cool to watch this video and have all the memories come flooding back! Also, I finally got some closure by seeing how it ends, but maybe it's better I didn't see that final scene as a kid 😂 Thank you so much Internet!
Eliot is just the average food service worker. Slamming back endless energy drinks, wasting time doing the same thing over and over for extra money on top of his paycheck, and listening to Christmas music on loop. Only difference is that he gets to kill shit. Livin' my dream.
Thank you so much for talking about this game! I have very fond memories of this one myself. I also have a funny yet true story to go along with it. At the time I had just bought my SEGA Dreamcast all the way back on launch day of Sept. 9th, 1999 (I was 14 at the time). I had my copy of Sonic Adventure ready to play (I'm a huge fan of Sonic The Hedgehog and grew up with the Genesis classics from my early childhood) and I was so eager to play it. Sadly, the console would not read the disc properly (some consoles at launch had this issue with the game). I would have to wait roughly a week before I could go back and exchange the console for a new one. My Dad felt bad that I could not play Sonic Adventure right away, so he went out of his way and rented me Blue Stinger from our local Blockbuster. And I was HOOKED! I LOVED playing it and had so much fun. I loved it so much that I even went out of my way to buy it for myself, along with Evolution: The World of Sacred Device. I never forgot what my Dad did for me. Thanks Dad.
Oh hell yea! Saw this in my feed and needed to watch it. Blue Stinger & ILLBLEED are two games that will never be replicated again, so the more people that get to witness them in all their glory, the better.
This is another one of those games that deserves another chance at being truly great. Give a studio like Nightdive free reign to go in and fix whatever it did wrong and re-release it in HD. Same with Ill Bleed, Space Station Silicon Valley, Starshot, and other games Nitrorad has covered.
Oh, one other thing--an easter egg in Illbleed you might not have noticed beyond just them sharing Hassy--in the Killerman chapter, I'm pretty sure at one point Dogs' Model ('corpse' in context, I guess) gets plopped into a mine cart.
The Sega Dreamcast and its collection of games are so criminally underrated. They might not be Resident Evil or Conker's Bad Fur Day, but they're still good games nonetheless.
Saw a friend playing this waaaayyy back in the Dreamcast era, he is the only guy I knew who owed one, and I knew a lot of people back then, he would grind like madman, respawning enemies to get money, and im talking like...pennies, then buy all the different weapons to test them all, found a cool "laser sword", I can still remember his disapointment when he finally bought it, last I recall, he was stuck on a area with buzzsaw fish, he couldn't get to swim to the other side without being eviscerated by the creatures, he couldn't kill them either to progress, he ended up droping it, said it was too dificult.
A few elements that might give some key to understanding the plot, especially the end, is that "Nephlim" comes from Nephilim, basically violent giants born from dissident angels reproducing with human women as explained in the book of Enoch, a prelude to the big flood and Noah in the bible. The book of Enoch isn't included in the common Canon but it WAS known throughout History and several anime/manga seem to get inspiration from it.
I played through the game myself (on reccomendation of this video!) and had a great time. I streamed it with friends and it was one of the funniest experiences I ever had, but I also have some random notes: - Enemies besides the basic zombies with shirts never respawned for me? That shortcut with the fish in it was totally safe after clearing it out. As a general rule, any monster that didn't drop money aside from those giant four legged monsters will never respawn (except for some of the bugs at the bottom of the lab tunnel for whatever reason?) - Melee combat was way more reliable than expected, specifically the axe. The final hit may be the only one to knock down, but each swing stuns them for a second too. It's too easy to get in their face, swing the axe around and kill them with just those four swings (and hit them on the ground if they're not dead yet). For a one-time $300 purchase in the first area, the axe is absurdly cost efficient for how long you stick around with it. - Because of how good melee is, you can save the ammo for the dangerous non-respawning enemies (bats, birds, tentacles, etc) and melee the zombie dudes to death, meaning the game balance is tipped even _further_ in your direction - I never used it in my playthrough, but with a little testing, Iron Fists seem insane. It's an even better melee weapon and has the same stun locking properties as other melee weapons on each basic punch. - The Laser Sword's first swing does weirdly high damage to bosses due to hitting multiple times. Really great for the theater trash dino thing and the giant slimes in the lab. - You can kill the monster in the Botanical Room in the lab, but it grants absolutely nothing except for the fact that it'll stay gone when you leave and re-enter the room. It's also the same boss as the weird trash thing you fight in the theater but retextured. - You can use the Laser Sword against the two enemies when they're attacking Janine. The first hit knocks them down. It's not as easy as using the Rail Gun, but it doesn't use any ammo and is still relatively simple.
Your pacing with your videos is getting phenomenal, this is exactly what I'd want from a video like this. Something I've felt could always be improved with most game reviews is they're so "jumpy" between shots, that by the end of the review, even if it's reeeally long, you'll get an understanding on how they felt about the game, but not really what it would look like to actually play it. Not to mention that your feelings are so well described and comedy is great
You say it lacks atmosphere but idk an abandoned island that seemingly has stopped dead in its tracks always struck me as something spooky and unsettling. Sure its bright but the sparse people you encounter coupled with the way life seems to have just suddenly stopped still gets me 20+ years later
really good point about digital media at the end spending hundreds on an old game just to play it is ridiculous when there are cheaper, easier options. I collect games cuz I love the history and then I turn around and emulate them anyways cuz the footage is clearer lmao
finally played and beat this a few days ago. well deserved cult classic status. hilarious and memorable dialogue, fun gameplay and really good progression. it's so ridiculous you can't help but love it. dreamcast has the best aesthetic with its titles. blue stinger, head hunter, record of the lodoss war, gundam 0079, etc. all vibrant, ridiculous, and fun as hell.
I like to imagine the healing item one bite thing was like, one of them did it first and it pissed off the other. So now for the rest of the adventure they're just taking a single bite and tossing it just to spite one another lol
I don't wanna be "that person" but Killer7 allows you to change characters in the pause screen, saw you bring it up and figured hey, maybe you genuinely didn't know and were planning to play it in the future. Apologies once again for being the "ackshually" commenter lol
An other Sega fan recommended this to me a good 15 years ago, i came from playing through the fantastic game Headhunter. I felt the clunky controls, plopped away the controller and said "im out". This one's for fun videos decades later, for me. I appreciate your masochism.
Oh man, imagine they made a sequel to this game where you played as a bunch of aliens trying to fend off a bunch of mutant dinosaurs. The aliens would look like humans with extra bits, of course; it's a B-movie in video game form, after all!
To be fair, Shinya Nishigaki's inspiration for his games included movies, especially because his father worked for what eventually became Toho-Towa, one of the most respected film distributors in Japan and a subsidiary of Toho.
This game is such a gem. Great video as always! I laughed my ass off so many times, I wish I could forget it to experience it all over again. Fantastic writing (unlike Blue Stinger HAHA). EDIT : I really can't emphasize enough how good this video is. It lasts an hour and a half yet nothing feels out of place or dragged out. I had an excellent time, and would love if you ever were to work on videos of the same length again. One has to pay rent so obviously that ain't always gonna happen, but just letting you know your audience beyond Patreon supporters is just as invested too! You're an excellent entertainer.
I had this game growing up but didn’t really give it a fair chance. After I watched this video I went out and bought a clean copy on Facebook market place to give it another shot. The video was so entertaining it didn’t even feel like it was an hour and a half long. I love the passion you put into these videos man.
The description of wearing the wrestling shirt making Dogs "feel like a professional wrestler" gives the vibe that it isn't that Dogs absorbed the skill from the shirts or knew the skills beforehand, but just that wearing them has him feel confident enough to use ad libbed moves on monsters in a life or death situation.
you gotta love how the game SEEMS to be setting up the island as an umbrella esque experiment making monsters for reasons only to go, no, the island was totally on the up and up, it was set up to hide how the people in charge were using the area to watch a monster hatching and stop it from growing and destroying the earth, and the monsters are just side effects of the strange alien THING trying to get out.
Any evil corporatocracy shenanigans can be blamed on the shareholders
Thought that only just occurred to me days after watching this. I was wondering why the creature from the egg resembled dinosaurs even though it was supposed to be what wiped them out. Then I realized that the first thing nephilim did was take on a form based on nearby things, which it retains throughout the entire game. And if nephilim and the super Dino are the same species or 2 parts of the same creature then they might function the same. Meaning the beast looks like a Dino because it absorb or copied the genetic information of the things it wiped out when it landed.
that really connects well into the ending. Acquiring the genetic info of the planet before moving on and repeating the cycle anew
Huh thats a wee bit like lavos from chrono trigger... neat
Wait. You might be on to something. It might be sort of an alien planetary exploration and data research sort of thing. The giant alien monster is what gathers the genetic information of the planet, while Nephilim is gathering the cultural and conscious information of the planet. The sphere in the start of the game is more akin to a containment system as to not damage the ecosystem outside of the sphere since it seems the information gathering process causes quite a bit of destruction. We might be seeing a botched version of the information being gathered since the impact of the two aliens caused an extinction event and the alien monster is possibly corrupted whether through the absorption of the DNA or being stuck underground for 65 million years.
“Santa Claus is here to fill your stockings with PAIN” could’ve been a line in Violent Night it’s so good
I just recently watched that movie. So awesome!
Dog should’ve said it himself
Fun Fact - According to the game's creator, the voice actors were only paid $100 each. (Interview - Remembering Shinya Nishigaki and his "Crazy Games" Blue Stinger and Illbleed)
I wouldn't be surprised if the whole audio was an one take...
man poor SA cast could not catch a break. I play sonic adventure with japanese dub because i find the overall quality to be much higher but i have a lot of respect for the english cast. They're genuinely great voices, if only they could have the proper conditions to flex their muscles. I guess it speaks to their talent that theyre still so memorable despite the shortcomings of the situation beyond their control.
Also Jon St. John, who did some minor voices in the game (including Tim in the intro cutscene) hated the experience so much that he would frequently bring it up at conventions as one of his worst gigs ever. Mainly because they had him do VO for the game's trailer and made him pronounce the title like "Blue Stin-gahhhh" and kept making him redo the take when he didn't.
Illbleed was so goood
About jp vs murica versions. Japanese subtitles say +- same unhinged shit as english VO. Ore no taipu = she is my type. MC is just that horny
It's really IS fucked up how game companies don't care about game preservation at all. Piracy is "illegal" and treated as "immoral" when the games haven't been sold for 20+ years and are on a console that also hasn't been sold for 20+ years. Imagine if books were like that.
The difference is that most old books are still owned by the family of the writer. The writer's estate makes all the money
I’m highly against piracy when it comes to using it to bypass the monetary trade, but if there is no longer a monetary trade then preservation takes priority.
And of course, now that AI generation is the big craze, NOW they're all on-board the "buy it once, own it forever, maintain access after it becomes unavailable" model when it comes to actors.
It has nothing to do with the game companies. It's the government. It's.stil just seen as entertainment and not aomwthing worth investing in like museums
@@maxisenberg9093 You don't solely preserve things in a museum. You can preserve them by just keeping them available.
Something that is not done, explicitly and notoriously, by GAME COMPANIES as they either tether the game to online services that are required to operate the game, or just refuse to continue keeping it available on an online storefront to manufacture a sense of scarcity or because they themselves don't see it as worth preserving.
I love how during the Dreamcast’s life, it seems like the cast from the Sonic adventure games and shuffle just gets hired to voice characters for other Dreamcast titles by default.
Rouges voice actor was the one incharge of casting for a lot of these games, I think she just picked out her friends or something like that.
@@Fanatic_Foremem really!? Ya know I always thought that in the early days of video game voice acting actors was casted from a talent pool of sorts.
@videogamecollecto100 Nope, most game developers didn't have the budget for a full voice cast; Usually it was just whoever was working on it. If they were lucky then maybe they had a few decent VA's and a decent voice director, but, for the most part it was just whoever was willing to mic up.
This is why like 84% of VA work in early Video games, N64, Dreamcast, and PS2 era's, had pretty bad voice acting.
@@videogamecollecto100Pretty easily disproven considering how inconsistent a lot of the talent in that pool was.
Early japanese videogames in particular mostly didn't care about the english voice cast as long as the game had one. If they weren't amateurs or actual dev team members they were obscure and cheap anime/cartoon dubbers looking for a big break, only to deliver their goofiest performance yet due to poor/lacking direction.
Games like MGS were groundbreaking in large part because of the quality control on that end.
If you ever replay the game, there actually is something to Dogs’ wrestling shirt that makes it one of the strongest things in the game! He does different moves contextually, based on how close he is to an enemy. Up close you just do the weak punches and far away and you’ll do a running tackle, but if you’re spaced about 5 to 10 feet away from an enemy and attack, you’ll do a running dropkick that does tons of damage and knockback.
This game got me in trouble back as a kid because the intros music was so damn loud that my mom ran in trying to turn down the volume and it was like somehow getting louder lmao
fun fact: Motomu Toriyama said in an interview that the inspiration for the Dressphere system in Final Fantasy X-2 was Dogs' shirts
No fucking way
I don't usually comment on stuff but I feel compelled to here:
This game is a very well established and super well conceived, overarching, cosmic horror narrative despite the game not being very well put together.
The way that this game sets up the ending is utterly brilliant. Admittedly the overall execution is...lacking, to say the least. That said, I can't help but feel this is a uniquely well thought out story. The characters aren't really the protagonists but, rather, merely cogs in the machine that keeps the plot moving forward; our proverbial lens through which we see the narrative unfold.
Sure the graphics aren't great: they're outdated and goofy looking. Absolutely the dialogue and writing is, at best, campy and, at worst, borderline painful. Of course the mechanics could have been better designed and executed.
But name another game with a 'Color Out of Space' style, cosmic horror narrative that leaves such an implication as this games ending does. The only thing I can really think of is something like Parasite Eve, but even that doesn't end with the characters feeling so contributory but utterly inconsequential. A wonderful narrative wrapped in a poorly put together cheese sandwich.
Thank you for covering it: I love the Dreamcast (it's one of my all time favorite consoles) but there are so many games (like this) that I've simply never heard of or encountered. Awesome work James!
Oh god Penn Penn. That was another Dreamcast title. It's a terrifying looking game. I had no idea there as this kind of cross promotion.
WHAT!??? THOSE CHARACTERS ARE FROM ANOTHER GAME!?? I had no idea!
@@NitroRad Yep! Specifically "Pen Pen Trilcelon", and it's
something
the only racing game that accurately shows off how nightmare fuel penguins race@@areoants9453
A really good arcade racer with wacky racers/track design/etc. It's a great fun little time IMO and I HIGHLY recommend checking it out if you enjoy silly little experiences. It's like a wacky game show/race deal. @@NitroRad
There's this item collecting mechanic for some reason which adds to the variety since you can use those to customize your chosen race character. But it's just a fun time to experience. I had it growing up and it was one of my favorites to go back and replay over and over again. The characters names are silly, the load screens are fantastic vibes too.
Blue Stinger and ILLBLEED being the two girls and the one guy being NitroRad. I see trouble in the near future. Super happy you covered one of my favorite games. It really is a game that you love/hate and I wouldn't want it any other way
As a person who speaks Japanese, it's not the translation. At 23:14 it basically says: "Janine, what a good woman.", at 23:20 it's: "My type. Keep your hands off of her."
I guess this was a case where it could've been better to smooth out the translation rather than going with direct translation.
Though for some, it was part of the game's charm so I dunno.
@@PScoopYT Given that the voice acting was the same in the Japanese version, it was probably one of those games where the translation was done in Japan by the only guy they could find who knew any English, and the recording sessions were directly supervised by their own guys who knew even less. That's why the voice acting in the _Resident Evil_ games is so terrible.
Hearing Eggman swear makes this whole game worth it.
What a Bitch! was awesome
Just to let you know Dean Bristol passed away the guy who voiced Dr eggman from Sonic adventure 1 and 2
@@mushra50aww damn, when did it happen.
@@noone-mo6gy I don't know the year he die but when I was at the video game convention at the Scottish rite center located in Sacramento California they were the ones who told me Ryan Drummond in another guy
@@mushra50 man, that's sad.
Fun Fact About the Voice Acting in this game: John St. Jon (Voice of Duke Nukem) voiced the Title Screen and some other voices and he revealed at ConnectiCon one year at his panel that the voice director was Japanese and kept asking him to pronounce the game name the way he did and that's why it sounds like it's in "Engurishu" sorry, not the best term but it's the easiest way to explain it.
That might explain why the dialogue is so awkward and voices so strangely, they were being directed by someone who wasn't a native English speaker.
Never realized that the Hassy from the game 2064: Read Only Memories was a reference to this until now.
According to that game, there are over 20 different flavors of the stuff, including Crystal Hassy, Vanilla Hassy, Fire Hassy, Mango Hassy, Winterfresh Hassy…
But wait! There’s more! Lots more!
There’s also a British pudding version of Hassy, Hassy Zero, Hassy Infinity (which is the opposite of Hassy Zero, as it has a ton of calories), Hot Hassy Coffee, Hassy Cocktails, Classy Hassy, Crassy Hassy, Hassy-12 (banned in Australia), and even cross-promotional flavors for franchises such as Pac-Man, Klonoa, and… ugh… Bubsy…
…For me, all of this only raises further questions about what regular Hassy tastes like.
I was searching to see if someone else had made this comment! Here was me thinking Read Only Memories came up with Hassy. Imagine my wide eyed shock watching this video. I know Hassy is also referenced in VA-11 HALL-A. Now I wonder where else this special beverage can be found.
It's everywhere.
You can't escape it.
Sooner or later...
*HASSY SHALL RULE ALL.*
Nuka Cola: i sleep
Hassy: *REAL SHIT?!*
I've never heard of Hassy, and it keeps reminding me of that Hetap joke from TFS.
The fact that this game has one of, if not *the* most thought provoking, potentially horrifying endings in a horror game is absolutely hilarious. And honestly? I actually prefer that it all ends there. No answers, but a simple question that sticks with you. If the rest of the game didn't make it a banger, that ending sure as hell did. I've never had a game shoot up from like a solid 6/10 to a 9/10 by ending alone. This is peak gaming.
James I just want to thank you for all your videos. I recently lost a best friend that I would binge watch your videos with and they sadly never got to see this finished project so I am watching in honor of them. You are one of my favorite reviewers on all of RUclips so thanks!
I'm so sorry for your loss.
@@LoneWolfZakuro14Thank you
I’m very sorry for your loss. I know how tough something like that can be.
Just mourned a pair of friends earlier this week. Sending lots of love, it's tough to lose someone like that.
I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad he gets to stay with ya in a way like this.
The thing about the weird hand thing Eliot does with the map of the intro, I think is supposed to call to attention that the ruptured land mass resembles the open maw of a dinosaur, and he's just doing hand puppets in front of it. It's definitely a really dopey introduction to him.
Where is your pfp from? It's so familiar but I can't remember
@@StrangeDew Giana Sisters
Specifically an official piece of art that parodies My Neighbor Totoro
I thought he was just trying to grab at his fishing line.
I still wonder what the sequel Red Stinger would've been like. It's really unfortunate that the creator passed before it came to fruition.
Absolutely love this game though (specifically the Japanese version). I'd love to see it pop up as a cheaper downloadable title or as a bonus game in a Yakuza title one day. This game deserves a re-release.
Edit: Correction. The title during it's planning stages was "Blood Stinger". The company Climax Studios who developed this was unable to finance the project before being absorbed into Cavia (NIER Replicant/Gestalt, Ghost in the Shell: SAC) who subsequently got absorbed in AQ Interactive (present day-still active). The project never got traction as far as we know due the previously mentioned passing of the director and lack of funding. All that exists is the desire and name of the sequel.
They were gonna make a sequel!!??? I had no idea about this!
The first two sentences were like a one-two punch, jesus christ.
Props for referencing my favorite RUclipsr. John is the man!@@annoyeduk
I misread that as “Rad Stinger.” I thought it was going to be some fangame that would star James as the protagonist lol
@@NitroRadI mean it said “see you in the next adventure” at the end so
"Dogs" has to be the most badass Dreamcast-era name I've ever seen.
"3 holes and a guy?, i see trouble in the near future" has to be one of the most memeable things i have ever heard.
Absolutely repeating it every time i can
I think he says 3 girls and a guy.
@@JaniHorvat154:02
That ending was incredible, my dad asked me what I was watching and relayed that final message and he just sat stunned until he went “Okay!” And started watching football. Merry Christmas! (I know it’s November, but it’s fitting okay)
More games need that "fuck it, lets make something DIFFERENT" energy. This game looks absolutely crazy and now I really want to play it.
(Side note its awesome seeing NitroRad so enthusiastic. Hope he gets to find more games that click the right buttons in his brain)
The healing items for Blue Stinger remind me a lot of the healing items from Dead Rising, where you can heal gunshot wounds, stab wounds, explosions, and zombie bites with some orange juice.
Frank West: "Mmh!"
Or Coffee-cream . And you mix those healing items then you can spit and killing zombies , get more running speed and more damage and stuff .
More games need this sort of healing system. Its so funny
Tbf, orange juice is fuckin' good.
The way you have to stop and eat / drink without being interrupted kind of reminds me of how drinking Potions in Monster Hunter was like pre-World. Maybe it was inspired by this game? XD
The ending sequence gives the the title ''Blue Stinger'' a whole new meaning. Damn, developers way back then were more unhinged with humor.
I love it.
… Is that an insinuation that Nephylim was the male equivalent for their species? Huh, oddly enough; that checks out for an Eldridge Horrorterror from outer space. >)X^D
@@toryumau6798 Or they're like seahorses and the males get pregnant.
I think Blue Stinger is what makes the Dreamcast great and why people love it and its games. Weird, clunky, crazy, ambitious and awesome
Fun fact in illbleed if you go back and watch the video, In Cashmans level theres pictures of Eliot and Dogs i think in the toy isle. Also one of the bosses you can pick from at the end of the game is called Bullstinger, BlueStinger see what they did there. I really like this it shows that they really loved what they made, That theyre proud of it.
Wonder what illbleed, BlueStinger references there could have been if Shinya Nishigaki and Climax Graphics/Crazy Games lived longer.
One of the things I’m most proud of was being able to upload a Blue Stinger video on the actual date it took place (12/24/2018). 😊 I also genuinely want to thank you for taking time to really unpack what this game has to offer, instead of writing it off like so many other people did.
"I will never do a Christmas special." This apparently fills both. Good job Nitro Rad.
I really like that towards the end, Dogs is the one who can more efficiently protect Janine. Like he finally gets to be her dad there
The mascots in the stamp collecting mission are characters from another Dreamcast game called Penpen TriIcelon, an on-foot racer.
I loved when you mimicked the overused animations, like the sweat wipe and can toss. Every time I'd get surprised by them and laugh.
I think at 7:14, the idea is he is doing something similar to the ‘finger squish’ trick people do with something in the distance that looks small. Except instead of ‘squishing’ the object, he’s modeling his hand like a dinosaur ‘chomping’ on the island.
No it's just that the island is shaped like a claw also
Man... what a game. You have no idea how happy it made me when you gave your final thoughts hah! It's trash but it's top tier trash and it's so much fun.
The soundtrack is one of my favourites of the era, if you can find a rip of the official soundtrack CD they rerecorded it in much higher quality than presented in game. As a bonus, hunt down the Blue Stinger image song that they released called 'Sting Me' by the fictional group 'nePhY'. They appear in game on posters and Hassy adds!
I'm not sure if you caught on, as I'm aware a lot of people tend to completely miss it, however the final boss you fight is the clone from within the lab. It woke up when Nephy woke up the original Jascony. So both you and Nephy are fighting separate entities.
This seems like one of those games where you're not sure whether you imagined it, dreamed it or it was something else only to discover it years later and realise you weren't going nuts.
This is genuinely one of the funniest Nitro Rad videos ever. There were so many moments that had me dying laughing
It was goofy, it was fun, it was jank, and a horror game too. Classic nitrorad!
Don't care!
@@nolancho Just as your mother does not care about your personal achievements. Hmm, it is interesting, is it not?
@@WretchedRedoran heh! Betcha got a tooter ready for a real rooter 😌 get it all moist real nice like! Heh. Bet.
@@WretchedRedoran do you like to kiss?
Rereleasing games on digital platforms is something that we need to see more of, but physical media doesn't get delisted or require a system account.
Blue Stinger is like Batman & Robin 1997 for the late 90s "gaga era" of games. You either love the goof fest or hate it. I loved every second of Blue Stinger and it felt like a crazy over-the-top buddy cop movie, which was what the developers intended in interviews at the time. It wasn't meant to be a scary game.
This kind of game is peak Sega and peak Dreamcast. It's exactly why that little white box is still one of my favourite consoles. I adore this flavour of b-game jank.
Both ILLBLEED and Blue Stinger are so heavily associated in my mind with SuperGreatFriend’s channel, such classic underrated Let’s Plays and streams.
The creators of Blue Stinger looked at Chrono Trigger and seriously went "hold my Hassy".
Great vid!
8:43 This scene is so mind blowing it broke the 4th wall to reach out to Nitro Rad's head
This is probably my favourite video you've ever made. You really radiate enthusiasm for this wonderfully strange game which is so infectious.
And that bathtub scene is a masterpiece.
What a unique and strange game... There's definitely some dreamcast era charm in this, I had no idea it got that strange but I'd expect no less from the Illbleed studio. It looks like there's some annoying parts in it but I kind of expected that.
It's weird Headhunter (another Dreamcast game) had fictional energy drinks everywhere too, also charming B-movie acting and crazy out of nowhere plot twists. I definitely would like to see a video of that Ring game too.
This felt like an AVGN special. What a treat!
This was way better than an AVGN special.
@@Gatorade69 Personally AVGN has a higher filming production, but I love both Nitro and AVGN so I can't compare.
Oh shut up! Treat is cringy. What a stupid thing to say!
But this wasn't plagiarized.
@@timothyparham5064 *Used to have better filming production.
Now all James does is record himself from a static angle on his couch.
This truly is the Die Hard of Christmas video games!
I'm sorry I had to, this vid was great and I loved every second of it!
Blue Stinger & Illbleed are such unique and special experiences - so glad to see NitroRad cover the first of Climax's great titles.
every single part of this game is artistic gold. the explosion jump with the glitched frames, the santa outfit, the bath, the ending. Holy moley.
This game was charming af. Like Illbleed, these games live rent free in my teenage memories.
This game is a prime example of why the Dreamcast is my favorite game console. There are so many other games like Illbleed, silver, headhunter, cannon spike, EGG and so many others that flew under many peoples radars and even today are not properly covered as much as nintendo stuff
Thank you for this, Blue Stinger is my favorite game, and I've gotten into the habit of playing it each Christmas. So thanks for bringing it to more people's attention so more people can enjoy it for the amazing Jank it is~
Couple of notes to help you if you play it again (Or anyone else reading this)
1 - In the Freezer, you can set the temperature to the right level (Or find a disk that does this for you) which defrosts the doors but doesn't melt the ice, meaning you don't have to swim the second part of it nor fight the boss afterward.
2 - In the power plant there's a panel in the control room which tells you which cables needs replacing, in the form of section, room then cable number
Also another little thing to help maybe clarify things at the end boss, we fight the clone of the monster thing, not the actual one. Nephilim is still fighting or 'fighting' the much bigger one while you handle the much smaller clone.
Thanks again for this!
Shame Red Stinger will never be a thing :
You've got good taste. I've yet to play Blue Stinger myself (my Dreamcast is hosed but I own the game) but it seems like one of the most "me" games out there, in spite of the jank lol
Fingers crossed for a remaster for this and Illbleed someday lol
@@themojogamer75 That would be cool, something that would be easier to play them on~
Eliot and Dogs doing some dumb himbo crap:
Nephilim: *I want to BR EED!*
No wonder they were shooting at her XD
1:14:57 And THIS is easily one of my favorite videos ya ever made! Its so entertaining, a good blend of critic and genuine love for the art form and just well made fucking review in general holy shit! An culmination of why i love yar channel in the first place!
The sound effects of the stun baton and ray sword reminded me of Travis Touchdown's weapons in NMH. They even look similar.
Bro I haven't watched Nitro Rad in 2 years. Now coming back seeing he got 100k more subs makes me happy people are finally starting to find his channel. He deserves it!
2 bros chilling in a tub 1 foot apart in a battlefield. A normal regular everyday thing.
Easily one of your best dude, editing, comedy, everything. keep it up as always
The fact that Janine had a rifle at the beginning of the game when she took out the water creature on the bridge, but then SENDS YOU TO GET ONE toward the end pissed me off back then and still does now.
Nitro rad is legitimately the most hidden game finder in the universe
I remember playing this at a friend's house when it originally came out and getting completely stone-walled by the first timed part. I've never had a great sense of direction and this game really puts that to the test quite a few times. And that Christmas music, holy moly. Really letting you live the terror of working retail in December.
Dogs says "It's the smell which lures out those monsters" in 58:31
On another note, man... this game brings back memories. I agree, objectively not a good game, but it has enough to be a memorable and enjoyable one. And, if I dare to dream wildly, the perfect choice for a remake in my opinion.
I played and beat this game right when it came out on brand new Dreamcast. It was one of the first new games I experienced and liked it A lot. Still have it too!
This game along with Sonic adventure was the reason I bought a Dreamcast. Don't laugh, it was fresh and new looking and here in the UK the Dreamcast game case looked good with the cover because that is how we used to choose 😂.
I finally found it! I've been trying to find the name of this game for a long time now. About 20 years ago when I was seven years old I played Blue Stinger with my late father, but annoyingly we were never able to beat it. I guess I was a dumb kid and my dad wasn't really into gaming or tech in general and only really played this so we could hang out. Anyways we always died on the part where you start turning into the monster and your partner kills you if you don't find the antidote.
Every now and then I would think about this game and the small parts I could remember, but I was never able to find it. I only just found the name today by watching a video that ranks every single Sega Dreamcast game. Finally! I was beginning to think that I dreamt it all up!
It was so cool to watch this video and have all the memories come flooding back! Also, I finally got some closure by seeing how it ends, but maybe it's better I didn't see that final scene as a kid 😂
Thank you so much Internet!
6:34 Something about the way he delivered that put a big stupid smile on my face.
This is now one of my favorite game reviews on the internet! I suppose this is what you get from over ten years of experience
Eliot is just the average food service worker. Slamming back endless energy drinks, wasting time doing the same thing over and over for extra money on top of his paycheck, and listening to Christmas music on loop. Only difference is that he gets to kill shit.
Livin' my dream.
Thank you so much for talking about this game! I have very fond memories of this one myself. I also have a funny yet true story to go along with it. At the time I had just bought my SEGA Dreamcast all the way back on launch day of Sept. 9th, 1999 (I was 14 at the time). I had my copy of Sonic Adventure ready to play (I'm a huge fan of Sonic The Hedgehog and grew up with the Genesis classics from my early childhood) and I was so eager to play it. Sadly, the console would not read the disc properly (some consoles at launch had this issue with the game). I would have to wait roughly a week before I could go back and exchange the console for a new one. My Dad felt bad that I could not play Sonic Adventure right away, so he went out of his way and rented me Blue Stinger from our local Blockbuster. And I was HOOKED! I LOVED playing it and had so much fun. I loved it so much that I even went out of my way to buy it for myself, along with Evolution: The World of Sacred Device. I never forgot what my Dad did for me. Thanks Dad.
I've always felt like this was one of the games this channel was made for.
I’ve had a very crappy month, and honestly, your videos have given me that extra boost to make it through the end of the year. Thank you so much!
Oh hell yea! Saw this in my feed and needed to watch it. Blue Stinger & ILLBLEED are two games that will never be replicated again, so the more people that get to witness them in all their glory, the better.
This is another one of those games that deserves another chance at being truly great. Give a studio like Nightdive free reign to go in and fix whatever it did wrong and re-release it in HD. Same with Ill Bleed, Space Station Silicon Valley, Starshot, and other games Nitrorad has covered.
I love how the line "I'm dying, give me a beer" also sounded like a parody of Chill's voice
Finally, a Christmas themed survival Horror by the retro platformers guy.
Oh, one other thing--an easter egg in Illbleed you might not have noticed beyond just them sharing Hassy--in the Killerman chapter, I'm pretty sure at one point Dogs' Model ('corpse' in context, I guess) gets plopped into a mine cart.
I like how, when Climax Graphics rebranded to Crazy Games, they decided to keep the CG initials.
The Sega Dreamcast and its collection of games are so criminally underrated.
They might not be Resident Evil or Conker's Bad Fur Day, but they're still good games nonetheless.
Saw a friend playing this waaaayyy back in the Dreamcast era, he is the only guy I knew who owed one, and I knew a lot of people back then, he would grind like madman, respawning enemies to get money, and im talking like...pennies, then buy all the different weapons to test them all, found a cool "laser sword", I can still remember his disapointment when he finally bought it, last I recall, he was stuck on a area with buzzsaw fish, he couldn't get to swim to the other side without being eviscerated by the creatures, he couldn't kill them either to progress, he ended up droping it, said it was too dificult.
A few elements that might give some key to understanding the plot, especially the end, is that "Nephlim" comes from Nephilim, basically violent giants born from dissident angels reproducing with human women as explained in the book of Enoch, a prelude to the big flood and Noah in the bible. The book of Enoch isn't included in the common Canon but it WAS known throughout History and several anime/manga seem to get inspiration from it.
I played through the game myself (on reccomendation of this video!) and had a great time. I streamed it with friends and it was one of the funniest experiences I ever had, but I also have some random notes:
- Enemies besides the basic zombies with shirts never respawned for me? That shortcut with the fish in it was totally safe after clearing it out. As a general rule, any monster that didn't drop money aside from those giant four legged monsters will never respawn (except for some of the bugs at the bottom of the lab tunnel for whatever reason?)
- Melee combat was way more reliable than expected, specifically the axe. The final hit may be the only one to knock down, but each swing stuns them for a second too. It's too easy to get in their face, swing the axe around and kill them with just those four swings (and hit them on the ground if they're not dead yet). For a one-time $300 purchase in the first area, the axe is absurdly cost efficient for how long you stick around with it.
- Because of how good melee is, you can save the ammo for the dangerous non-respawning enemies (bats, birds, tentacles, etc) and melee the zombie dudes to death, meaning the game balance is tipped even _further_ in your direction
- I never used it in my playthrough, but with a little testing, Iron Fists seem insane. It's an even better melee weapon and has the same stun locking properties as other melee weapons on each basic punch.
- The Laser Sword's first swing does weirdly high damage to bosses due to hitting multiple times. Really great for the theater trash dino thing and the giant slimes in the lab.
- You can kill the monster in the Botanical Room in the lab, but it grants absolutely nothing except for the fact that it'll stay gone when you leave and re-enter the room. It's also the same boss as the weird trash thing you fight in the theater but retextured.
- You can use the Laser Sword against the two enemies when they're attacking Janine. The first hit knocks them down. It's not as easy as using the Rail Gun, but it doesn't use any ammo and is still relatively simple.
Legends say that Eliot pounded so much Hassy (lol), he achieved Fry's coffee superspeed... and then promptly had a heart attack
"This sounds BANANAS!" *immediately after notices the pixel image in the top left*
Your pacing with your videos is getting phenomenal, this is exactly what I'd want from a video like this. Something I've felt could always be improved with most game reviews is they're so "jumpy" between shots, that by the end of the review, even if it's reeeally long, you'll get an understanding on how they felt about the game, but not really what it would look like to actually play it. Not to mention that your feelings are so well described and comedy is great
You say it lacks atmosphere but idk an abandoned island that seemingly has stopped dead in its tracks always struck me as something spooky and unsettling. Sure its bright but the sparse people you encounter coupled with the way life seems to have just suddenly stopped still gets me 20+ years later
Love how much of an emotional roller coaster this game makes you go through XD
really good point about digital media at the end
spending hundreds on an old game just to play it is ridiculous when there are cheaper, easier options.
I collect games cuz I love the history and then I turn around and emulate them anyways cuz the footage is clearer lmao
45:52 ok, that one got a chuckle out of me
finally played and beat this a few days ago. well deserved cult classic status. hilarious and memorable dialogue, fun gameplay and really good progression. it's so ridiculous you can't help but love it. dreamcast has the best aesthetic with its titles. blue stinger, head hunter, record of the lodoss war, gundam 0079, etc. all vibrant, ridiculous, and fun as hell.
23:27 Nah, the original Japanese line is pretty much one-to-one with the English dub lol
I love how Hassy becomes a running gag in this video, slammin' back Hassy for life!
I like to imagine the healing item one bite thing was like, one of them did it first and it pissed off the other. So now for the rest of the adventure they're just taking a single bite and tossing it just to spite one another lol
i just noticed the length of this video is 1:23:45 and thats weirdly satisfying to look at
I don't wanna be "that person" but Killer7 allows you to change characters in the pause screen, saw you bring it up and figured hey, maybe you genuinely didn't know and were planning to play it in the future.
Apologies once again for being the "ackshually" commenter lol
Killer 7 is one of his favourite games so I assume he was just using it as a character swap example.
An other Sega fan recommended this to me a good 15 years ago, i came from playing through the fantastic game Headhunter. I felt the clunky controls, plopped away the controller and said "im out". This one's for fun videos decades later, for me. I appreciate your masochism.
Oh man, imagine they made a sequel to this game where you played as a bunch of aliens trying to fend off a bunch of mutant dinosaurs. The aliens would look like humans with extra bits, of course; it's a B-movie in video game form, after all!
To be fair, Shinya Nishigaki's inspiration for his games included movies, especially because his father worked for what eventually became Toho-Towa, one of the most respected film distributors in Japan and a subsidiary of Toho.
Man I loved this game as a kid but was always too terrified to pass the swimming part so I just ran around aimlessly when I'd get to that part.
This game is such a gem. Great video as always! I laughed my ass off so many times, I wish I could forget it to experience it all over again. Fantastic writing (unlike Blue Stinger HAHA).
EDIT : I really can't emphasize enough how good this video is. It lasts an hour and a half yet nothing feels out of place or dragged out. I had an excellent time, and would love if you ever were to work on videos of the same length again. One has to pay rent so obviously that ain't always gonna happen, but just letting you know your audience beyond Patreon supporters is just as invested too! You're an excellent entertainer.
I had this game growing up but didn’t really give it a fair chance. After I watched this video I went out and bought a clean copy on Facebook market place to give it another shot. The video was so entertaining it didn’t even feel like it was an hour and a half long. I love the passion you put into these videos man.