Gaming's last stands [What happens when games machines die]

[Rs0n1sT]

It's a sad fact of life, but games consoles die. We can still remember people in the playground claiming that their Sinclair Spectrum was still alive when we were playing our Mega Drives and Super Nintendos. They were wrong - every games machine eventually becomes obsolete. But the fact is, developers have usually got the hang of the hardware at the exact moment it loses its shelf viability. The result? Some absolute gems that get released to declining audiences and lost in the excitement around newer, shinier technology.

So we take a look back at the major consoles of the last decade or so and see what last hurrahs were on offer for each platform before it bit the dust. It's not an exhaustive list, just the brightest stars in dying galaxies. Starting with a small blue planet...


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The last stand of: Sega Saturn
Last official UK release: Courier Crisis (November 1998)
Last official US release: Magic Knight Rayearth (Nov 30, 1998)

Contrary to popular belief, Resident Evil rip-off Deep Fear was not the last UK-released Saturn game. That dubious honour went to Courier Crisis - a game about a guy delivering things on a bike through a city that looked like it was made of cardboard. A shame really, as Deep Fear wasn't actually bad and would have been a much more fitting end for Sega's penultimate home console. Magic Knight Rayearth was a spin-off from the anime of the same name, and featured top-down action RPG gameplay. The fully voiced characters were cool though, no doubt the reason for the multi-disc game release, but we don't like the high-pitched nature of some of the voices. Still, a decent game now mostly forgotten.

Final hurrah: Panzer Dragoon Saga (released April 30, 1998)
In its last year as a viable format, the Sega Saturn saw AAA classics like the original Dead or Alive, Sonic Team's Burning Rangers and Treasure's classic shooter Radiant Silvergun - the Japan-only precursor to the much more widely-known Ikaruga. And there was also the small matter of the four-disc RPG Panzer Dragoon Saga.

Above: Panzer Dragoon Saga - released for a dying console, it's now super-rare and collectable

Saga is a beautiful RPG. It takes the art style and basic elements of the Panzer Dragoon shooters and blends them with traditional RPG elements such as turn-based/realtime blended combat and levelling up. But playing it feels much more like an adventure. Piloting your dragon alone through the sunken ruins of Uru in the evening light is magical. And exploring the 3D towns on-foot is exactly the sort of thing we love about RPGS.

With a dragon that morphs shape in real-time as you tinker with its attribute balance, fully-voiced characters (that don't speak in English but can be sped up or slowed down depending how far in you push the 3D pad's triggers) and some seriously massive bosses, Panzer Saga is an astonishing achievement - sadly passed up by thousands of gamers as they flocked away from Saturn to play PSone.


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The last stand of: Sony PlayStation
Last official UK release: FIFA Soccer 2005 (Oct 2004)
Last official US release: FIFA Soccer 2005

Paul Hossack, Lead Producer on PS2's FIFA 08 is proud of FIFA Soccer 2005 for being the last game officially released for the console. Sadly, as with most sports games, it's since been forgotten, especially when its next-gen counterparts are so much more detailed, not to mention more up-to-date in terms of squads. Still, nine years after FIFA first appeared on the machine, it's amazing how long PSone actually lasted.

Final hurrahs: Metal Slug X, WRC Arcade
With PS2 finding mass-market success years before PSone ceased production, there were several titles that slipped completely under the radar for many gamers as they switched generations from old to new. Metal Slug X, although lacking some of the animation frames of the Neo Geo original, is still a great blast on the old machine and we still love seeing how far we can get through the game on one life. The sprites are still massive and there's very little slowdown - technically impressive and timeless in its appeal.

Above: PlayStation kept going for ages, although the release of quality titles slowed dramatically near the end of its lifespan

There was also WRC Arcade - an all-action take on the rallying genre that was becoming dominated by realistic racers. While nowhere near the standards of today's Colin McRae DiRT or the new Sega Rally, it was nonetheless an exhilarating blast. A journalist at the time said that if it had been released a year earlier, it would be on the front cover of their mag. As it was, it disappeared without trace. Pity.


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The last stand of: Nintendo 64
Final official UK release: Mario Party 3 (Nov 16, 2001)
Final official US release: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3: Aug 20, 2002
Mario Party 3 was the last UK N64 game. It's nice in a way that Mario should get the last say on one of Nintendo's most testing consoles, but we expect UK N64 owners would have liked Tony Hawk's 3. US gamers did get to enjoy that, although it wasn't anywhere near as smooth as the Dreamcast version. Still way better than the over-ambitious PSone attempt, though.

Final Hurrah: Conker's Bad Fur Day
Released on March 5, 2001 in the US and April 6, 2001 in the UK, Conker's Bad Fur Day was about as far removed from a kiddy squirrel game as you could get. Packed with references to films and other videogames and full of mature jokes and imagery, the game was a breath of fresh air for those growing tired of the N64's increasing 'child's toy' reputation.

The only problem was that the console was on its last legs and with only hardcore fans keeping the console alive, few other gamers ever got to experience Conker's delights. Fortunately, the game was given an Xbox remake with Conker: Live and Reloaded. But it didn't sell very well. At all. We guess that those who cared had it anyway and no-one else had any idea what the game was.



Above: Conker on N64 and his Xbox remake (inset). He's right - it didn't look too rosy for N64


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The last stand of: Sega Dreamcast
Last official UK release: Heavy Metal Geomatrix (April 12, 2002)
Last official US release: NFL 2K2 (September 19, 2001)

US Dreamcast gamers were given the ace NFL 2K2 as a send-off for their console, while UK players were given a surprise parting shot in the shape of Heavy Metal: Geomatrix, over a year after the console had been declared dead by Sega itself. If you're unfamiliar with Heavy Metal (and you'd be well within your rights to be), it's by Capcom and is a third-person fighting game in the Power Stone vein. It's not a classic, but solid enough and the soundtrack is pretty decent to boot.

In terms of whether it was a fitting conclusion for the console... well, it was better than the Saturn's. And seeing as so many Capcom classics found their home on Dreamcast, we'd say this a Capcom brawler was a good way to finish. Of course, the Japanese Dreamcast market stayed alive for years and still might see the odd release. But that's another story altogether.

Final hurrahs: Shenmue II, Daytona USA 2001, Rez
US gamers had to wait for the Xbox version of Shenmue II and so got a full English dialogue dub. UK, gamers, however, were treated to one of the most fascinating adventures ever. Exploring Hong Kong with Eastern language and only subtitles to decipher the plot gave a feeling that you really were privileged to be playing the title at all. With so much money spent on the game's development (along with its predecessor), releasing it in the cheapest form possible to eek out the last revenue from the franchise on Dreamcast was the only logical conclusion. And we'll never forget the experience. Gorgeous environments, innumerable side-tracking curios and one of the biggest cliffhangers in gaming still has us itching to play a Shenmue III. Lan Di - we haven't forgotten what you did.

Also notable in the console's final year were the initial release of Rez (yup, it was a Dreamcast game first) and finally, finally a decent home version of Sega's 32-bit classic Daytona USA. The US version had full online play, but European gamers had to make do with split-screen. A pity, but it was still great to play it without the glaring pop-up of the Saturn original. And it felt right too. The petition for a PSN/XBLA version starts here.



Above: Shenmue II. A beautiful, astonishing adventure that was years ahead of its time


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The last stand of: Nintendo Gamecube
Last official US release: Madden 08 (Aug 14, 2007)
Last official UK release: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Dec 15, 2006)

What an amazing turnaround. After Gamecube came third in the last-gen console war, Wii's now running away with it, ironically featuring what's basically Gamecube technology underneath all that wand-waving tomfoolery. But Gamecube itself suffered a protracted demise, with a trickle of releases over its last year eventually ending with Madden 08 in the US (although a couple more might yet appear there). In the UK, however, Cube owners got a glorious last hurrah in the shape of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It was definitely worth the wait.

Final hurrah: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Of course, the game should have been released around a year earlier. It was basically finished all that time ago, but Nintendo held onto it to make sure it was perfect - and no doubt to convert it to Wii with the new controls working properly. So Gamecube got perhaps its best game right at the end.

With the two versions mirrored, it was Gamecube that got a traditionally left-handed Link. Gamecube also got the best controls (we love the Wii ones, but the pad just feels so right). And due to the dimished audience, Gamecube got the rarity value. Ever tried hunting down a Gamecube copy of Twilight Princess? They still go for over £30 on eBay, but you probably won't ever find one in the shops (at least in the UK - we see Walmart still says 'in most stores' on its website). Expect the prices to rise over the next couple of years, though.



Above: What a beautiful game. Good job Wii brought it to the mass-market, or we'd have cried


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The last stand of: Xbox
Last official UK release: Open Season (Oct 6, 2006)
Last official US release: Madden 08 (Aug 14, 2007)

EA supported Xbox well, most probably due to the fact its last-gen games always looked better thanks to the processing power Microsoft's black box could offer compared to PS2 and Gamecube. And the last Madden was of a decent quality, if simplified slightly for more mass-market acceptance. Open Season was a forgettable platformer, although it wasn't scheduled to be the last. Pirate-themed Black Buccaneer was slated for an Xbox release, but has since been dropped from the platform, now headed for PS2 and PC only.

Last hurrah: Call of Duty 3
There's a lot to be said for a solid online multiplayer shooter and Call of Duty 3 was just that. Looking sweet, if decidedly low-res compared to its Xbox 360 brother, this was a decent last hurrah for the console before it was unceremoniously dropped by Microsoft. Understandable considering the company lost $4billion selling the system. Just goes to show how much the videogame market is worth - spending that much to get a foothold is more than a modest investment.

There were some other good games in the Xbox's last year. FIFA 07 was a very solid kickabout and Black was good too, offering more shooting action and destructible scenery than anyone knew what to do with. Except shoot some more, obviously.



Above: Xbox Live epitomised by one game. Xbox 360 picked up the baton and ran with it


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The last stand of: Mega Drive/Genesis
Last official UK release: FIFA 98: Road to the World Cup (1997)
Last official US release: Frogger (1998)

There seems to be a theme here - FIFA appearing last on every major platform. It does what it does, only here in isometric 2D. Meh. As for Frogger... well, what can we say? We remember playing that on the Commodore VIC-20 (an old home computer with a grand total of 5kb of RAM) so we kinda have fond memories of the little fella... but his modern incarnations have been somewhat forgettable. Some people still rate him though, so we won't run him over with our car just yet. Worth noting, however, that he was given his Genesis relaunch in 1998 - that's ten years since the console first launched in Japan. That's a surprisingly long lifespan for a console, rivalling even PSone's record. Who'd have thought it?

Above: And to think pseudo-3D floor effects like that used to make us excited. We were so sad

Final hurrah: Toy Story
If ever a console could be used as an example of how the best games are often made at the end of its life, it's Mega Drive. Comparing an early title like Altered Beast to Toy Story, you would never believe they were running on the same machine. Using similar animation quality to Donkey Kong Country and 3D background effects, the game looked superb, using the same character models (albeit digitised) as the film.

It was very difficult to play, however, and gameplay often descended into trial and error. The music is annoying too. Not quite a ringing endorsement, we'll admit, but in terms of showing Mega Drive was still a viable platform in the face of the 32-bit era, Toy Story was indeed a last hurrah. If only the 16-bit era could have looked this good from the start...


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The last stand of: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Last official UK release: Madden NFL '98 (November, 1997)
Last official US release: Frogger (October 6, 1998)

Frogger again was the last to sit on the lily-pad of 16-bit gaming in the US, while UK owners were given Madden NFL '98 in the tail-end of 1997. There was a SNES version of FIFA 97 too, but we're pretty sure Madden was released last. Sadly the mists of time have shrouded the console's last few months, but we can say Frogger definitely didn't make the jump across the pond to the UK. Understandable, though - it is a very big pond.

Final hurrah: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Despite Donkey Kong Country 3 appearing in 1996, we'd have to say its predecessor Donkey Kong Country 2 was the system's last hurrah (coming just two months after Yoshi's Island in the UK) - partly because the third DKC wasn't that great.

In the year everyone was going crazy for the (then) next-gen consoles, it was easy to overlook SNES' charms. But Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is a masterpiece and still looked great alongside its more tech-heavy peers. Indeed, one mag printed early screenshots of the game and suggested they might be the first screens from Nintendo's next machine - the N64.

But it was just SNES showing its class. With a cool pirate theme and many improvements over the original game, DKC2 still feels magical. Swinging through the rigging on the second level while that timeless music plays is so much more than the sum of its parts. And every time we go back to it, it sends a chill down our spines. Long live SNES.

Above: With the few niggles of Donkey Kong Country ironed out, its sequel is a gem

And so, like the consoles we've just looked at, this feature comes to an end. But it needn't be that way. Maybe you disagree with our 'last hurrah' selections, or reckon you know a later Japanese-only title that we didn't mention that you think everyone should play. If so, why not voice your opinions and reply.

[CertifiedG]

Atari was the goat back in the days

[Rs0n1sT]

it was.. r.i.p.

[Rs0n1sT]

bump.

[BonGMaN]

good post..I wonder what the last game for the NES was

[Rs0n1sT]

Wario's Woods
December 1994
Last licensed NES game released



other info:

Release date(s)
NES
JPN February 19, 1994
NA December 10, 1994
AUS 1994
EU 1994

SNES
NA December 10, 1994

Satellaview
JPN 1997

Virtual Console
NA November 19, 2006
AUS December 7, 2006
EU December 8, 2006
JPN December 12, 2006

[BonGMaN]

ahh..cool..I remember that game..thanks for answering my question..gotta spread rep

[Rs0n1sT]

thats crazy.. i didn't know that nes went all the way to 1994.. damn.. it came out 1983.. it ran for 11yrs..

[Rs0n1sT]

weird ass shit

it trasformed..

weird..

ol' skoo

i used to have this

never seen a this bootleg ps1/nes

[kharmon]

Atari jaguar >>>> every system on that list.