What is a random retro gaming fact you weren't told, but discovered for yourself?

[Shadowruls]

Few months back, I stumbled upon the name Jon Burton. The guy programmed Sonic 3D Blast on Genesis after he founded Traveller's Tales. Does that company name sound familiar? Thats because they are the guys that made the LEGO games, from LEGO Star Wars onwards, a whole host of which he directed.

This guy shaped a massive portion of my childhood, and I never even knew his name until recently

 

[Smiley Cat]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Burton started programming with Sonic 3D Blast. Traveller's Tales has existed since the eighties. I remember playing one of their games on the Commodore Amiga (Leander).
Maybe Sonic 3D Blast was his first time programming a Genesis title? Idk, but I'm pretty sure he was programming other games before that.

 

[Shadowruls]

I think you are correct, and I'd forgotten a detail or two.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Not sure if this counts, but I learned that you could fly every plane (even the ones reserved for AI) on Combat Flight Simulator 1 by simply coping over the sound and cockpit files from any of the available planes.

Felt like a hacker lol

 

[DunkeyKong]

Crazy Taxi doesn't make me crazy

 

[Shadowruls]

Not sure if this counts, but I learned that you could fly every plane (even the ones reserved for AI) on Combat Flight Simulator 1 by simply coping over the sound and cockpit files from any of the available planes.

Felt like a hacker lol

so you just straight up downloaded planes, because downloading cars wasn't punk enough for you

 

[It's Thinking 2]

If you hit down on the d-pad in any Sonic game as soon as you hit a sloped hill, you can roll faster and gain a ton of momentum and shoot into the air.

 

[Adrastia]

Gryz from Phantasy Star 4 has a knife attack animation. I discovered this many many years ago while messing around with a hex editor. Normally he can only equip axes. But if you force him to equip a knife via code the animation works perfectly.

I guess either they decided to give him a unique weapon or decided that he didn't need a secondary weapon type because he's only with you a short time and is an optional character for the end boss.

 

[SuperSampleStar]

Zunou Senkan Galg

Everyone writes it off as that shooting game that's on every bootleg cart, but there's more to it than meets the eye.

I only discovered recently that there's an actual goal and kinda-sorta RPG mechanics to it. Basically you have to find 100 parts in 30 areas and beat the boss in order to win the game. If you don't have all the parts by the 30th area, you loop back to the 1st area.

Once i learned that, I got the motivation to pick this thing back up again and actually attempt to finish it

 

[Michael Frank]

I discovered the secret message in Contra by holding select+start after almost a decade and a half, i played the game since i was 8 and i never knew of the secret message.

Post automatically merged: Dec 1, 2024

On another topic, because i felt like doing a little speedrunning in Assault Suit Valken, i ran past every enemy of the first level and just aimed for the boss, little i knew that´s how you unlock the Napalm gun, AKA the most OP weapon in the game.

 

[RetroLaw]

I never knew TMNT 4 on the snes was actually a port until I got access to arcade emulation about 15 years later.

 

[Michael Frank]

I never knew TMNT 4 on the snes was actually a port until I got access to arcade emulation about 15 years later.

Honestly i was really suprised with some arcade titles made by konami, they even made a Aliens game that´s basically contra but without platforming and more difficulty (basically a more elevated enemy count, like a HORDE).

 

[Faerie]

Soft reseting games by pressing and holding certain buttons. Can't remember when excatly, but learned as a kid on accident.

 

[Yousef]

Soft reseting games by pressing and holding certain buttons. Can't remember when excatly, but learned as a kid on accident.

I’ve done it accidentally with tekken 5, and one other game that I can’t remember. Was freaky! But also hella convenient.

 

[Parasite_Steve]

Soft reseting games by pressing and holding certain buttons. Can't remember when excatly, but learned as a kid on accident.

Yeah the good old L1+L2+R1+R2+select+start on the ps1 Final Fantasy games. If you did it too often in 8 it would get stuck before the main menu and you had to hard reset.
Iirc the Namco fighting games were much simpler like plain Start+Select. Much easier to find by accident for better or worse.

I was blown away by the fact you could play many ps1 games as an audio cd on your stereo (Saturn too but I didn't get one until 2009). I always loved game soundtracks but for the longest time I couldn't figure out how to get them on tape so I could listen to them on my walkman at school.