Game Hits Gamestore

The Facts

Name: Jess Ragan

OCCUPATION: No countries yet, but I plan to take over Mongolia and Indonesia by the end of the month

SYSTEMS OWNED: Oh, crap, where do I begin? I've got my Playstation, Saturn, Dreamcast, Genesis, Neo-Geo Pocket, Master System, a Pentium 166, and a couple of VIC-20s, Commodore 64s, and Atari 2600s lying around in Michigan. My Turbografx-16, Atari 7800, Super NES, Game Gear, and an Atari XE computer (not the short-lived game system of the same name, but close enough) is still in Arizona. And I used to own a Vectrex, Intellivision, GameBoy (classic) and a Sega CD. I'm proud to say that I've never owned a 32X or game.com, and with any luck I never will.

FIRST VIDEO GAME EXPERIENCE: I dunno... I used to go over to this ice cream shop near Hastings and play Kangaroo a lot. Then there was this time at a steak house where these teenagers got a couple hundred lives on Asteroids and let me play the game for a while, probably because they were tired of it. Fortunately, I've never gotten tired of video games, and I write about them almost as much as I play them.

Favorite games (see below)

(Early 8 bit; before Nintendo and Sega): Ah, that's more like it! I love just about anything Namco made before 1984, including the first three Galaxian games (Galaxian, Galaga, and Gaplus) and of course Pac-Man. There was also this great arcade game called Mr. Do!'s Castle that was a whole lot of fun, even though it had very little to do with the first Mr. Do! release... just about everything but the title character changed. And what else... oh yeah, I used to play Ms. Pac-Man, Crystal Castles, Midnight Magic, and Solaris on the 2600, and still give Crystal Castles the occasional spin on an emulator.

(EIGHT BIT): I really enjoyed most of the popular titles on the NES, like Mega Man, Castlevania, and Super Mario Bros. My only mission in life back in 1990 was to find a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 and play it. However, there were a lot of games for that system that everyone BUT myself seemed to enjoy, like Ninja Gaiden (hopefully, whoever named this stupid Castlevania clone after the terrific arcade game has committed seppuku by now) and the Zelda games, especially Zelda II (uh, aren't sequels supposed to be, you know, like, similar to the first game?).

(16-BIT): (including the TurboGrafx-16, which really isn't 16-bit, but anyway...): I still had my NES two years after the Genesis was released, but when I saw the system play Forgotten Worlds (holy crap! Look at the vibrant color on those coins!) I just knew I had to have one. Ironically, the game that inspired me to buy a Genesis isn't half as good on that system as it was in arcades, but what the heck... at least when you play it on the Genesis you don't have to put up with that stupid dial control you have to push in to fire. Um, er, anyway. Even in 1992, when a flood of crapola was released for the Genesis, I still fiercely supported the system... and next year, Sega more than made up for all those Flying Edge (now Acclaim) games with Gunstar Heroes. I didn't buy a Super NES until late 1997, but when I did, the system more than earned its keep with games like Super Mario Land and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters.

(32-BIT): By the time the Playstation was released, I was very, VERY mad at Sega (who wouldn't be after the 32X?) and was convinced that their next system, the Saturn, was going to suck royally and that Sony would totally steamroll it. Well, one out of two ain't bad. The Playstation did end up stomping all over the Saturn, but the system had great games, especially in Japan. If you can only afford the US titles, I strongly recommend both NightWarriors and Street Fighter Alpha 2, but if you can dig up the extra cash, I'd invest it in copies of Marvel vs. Street Fighter, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and King of Fighters '97. The Playstation isn't my favorite 32-bit system, but it's got some fab games, too... I spent most of yesterday getting reaquainted with N20 after loaning it to a friend for a few months. If you've never played N20 before, it's basically what would happen if 'ol Doc Frankenstein sewed together bits and pieces from Tempest 2000 and WipeOut.

(128-BIT): Like with the Saturn, it took me a while before I really warmed up to the Dreamcast, but it's currently the game system I play most often. I'm a big fan of fighting games and the Dreamcast has the best ones, including Marvel vs. Capcom 2, SNK vs. Capcom, and me vs. Capcom if they don't release Vampire Chronicle in the United States. >:D Oh yeah, and then there's Sega's own Dreamcast games, like Crazy Taxi, Chu Chu Rocket (which is a load of crap if you're playing it alone but loads of fun against other players), and Seaman. Seaman's advanced artificial intelligence is the one and ONLY thing that justifies Sega's "It's thinking..." ad campaign. I'd like to see more Dreamcast games with this feature, like maybe a version of Street Fighter that records your battles and uses the information from them to create an opponent with your skills and weaknesses (if you're thinking the ghost car from Hard Drivin' you're not too far off).

UH... NEVER MIND: I swear I will beat the programming executives at Toon Disney with a sterilized, pre-packaged 2x4 for cancelling Hello Kitty.

FAVORITE GAMES: Fighting games... but not those icky polygonal ones.

LEAST FAVORITE GAMES: Complicated sports games. If they go any further than "position player, hit/catch/pass ball", I'm not biting.

FAVORITE FILM: I'll let Homer Simpson answer this one for me... "When Marge joined the police academy, I thought it would be fun and exciting, like that one film... you know, Spaceballs! But instead it's been painful and disturbing like that other film Police Academy." HOBBIES: Video games, writing, web design, drawing (mostly cute anthopomorphic animals)

GAMING'S FUTURE: I dunno, but I sure as hell hope Pokemon isn't in it.

ODDS AND ENDS: I don't like taking my Neo-Geo Pocket with me everywhere I go, even though it was designed for it. You see, I have a nasty habit of swearing constantly whenever I play against Cap in Card Fighters' Clash, and it wouldn't be much fun to explain this to strangers, or the police officers who'd arrest me for lewd conduct.

Jess's Archives

10/01/01 Mary-Kate and Ashley Get A Clue!

10/01/01 Space Channel 5

09/18/01 Mr. Driller

09/13/01 Rayman (GBA)

09/11/01 Party Favors: The Game Hits Edition Final Volume

09/11/01 Party Favors: The Game Hits Edition Volume II

09/10/01 Party Favors: The Game Hits Edition

09/08/01 Space Invaders Game Boy Color

09/03/01 Rayman 2

09/03/01 Pac-Man Collection

09/03/01 Mortal Kombat Gold