u/math_calculus1

Game of the Week #33, but I forgot to put it in the post title.

Fire is a 1981 action game released for the Game and Watch line of handhelds. The main gameplay loop consists of moving a pair of firefighters holding a safety net, saving people who jump out of a burning building.

I faced a lot of difficulty playing Fire this week, although the difficulty stemmed not from the game, but in trying to play it. When I first decided on Fire for this week, I already had a copy of the ROM on my SD card, so I went to ES-DE and hit play. However, the game wouldn't load at all. Thinking it might be the emulator, I switched to an alternative RetroArch emulator, Handheld Electronic which also didn't work. After some more fruitless troubleshooting, I attermpted a standalone emulator, Mame4Droid. After downloading the apk and installing the app, I opened the app, only to not find the Game and Watch system in the catalogue at all. At this point, I felt like I had tried everything, until I found a Reddit post showing off a Game and Watch emulator for the 3DS, Yokol, Laying on my bed, I found the Github link, not expecting much, but I found something amazing it was a full-fledged Game and Watch emulator, available on Android! Thinking it was a breakthrough, I installed the app, only to be hit by a pop up that I needed a .ykp file. A what? Back on my PC, I went back to the Githyb, which explained it all. Yokoi ran games off a special .ykp file type, made by running a Python script on a Mame romset, Unwilling to do all that, I searched for a premade one online, which was thankfully available on archive org, Later, I found out that archive file had been uploaded by the creator of the emulator. Having struck gold, I went back to my Odin 3. and downloaded the .ykp and ran it on Yokoi, Finally, I could play Fire.

Now, if you want to play Fire, you really don't have to do all that. If you're going to play Fire on Android, here's the link to the emulator's Github repo:

https://github.com/RetroValou/Yokoi_Game_-_Watch_emulator_3ds, and the archive.org link is easy to find if you just search up the name of the emulator online. If you're on Linux or don't want to download another app, play Game & Watch Gallery (GB) or Game & Watch Gallery 4 (GBA) Both games have Fire, just on their respective systems. I only went this far because I wanted a more authentic experience. I would also note that the Android app for Yokoi, the emulator is designed with dual-screen devices in mind, i.e., the RG DS or AYN Thor. Thus, although the emulator works on single screen devices, it's easier to use on dual-screen devices.

As for the game, it's pretty good, although a touch boring.

My past games I've covered: r/gameoftheweek

Device: AYN Thor

DNA. - Kendrick Lamar

Album: DAMN.

Device: Odin 3

Damn i love this track, the last minute with that "gimme some ganja!" sample is one of my favorite moments on DAMN.

Odin 3 - Powerwash Simulator 2

Album: Late Registration

Song: Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)

Artist: Kanye West

Device: TrimUI Brick

This song is definitely my favorite off LR, followed closely by Hey Mama and Touch The Sky. Kanye's verse about the blood diamond trade is one of his best.

Thank you u/DoomEngine1 for the Brick and the giveaway I got it from!

Shoutout to my carpet for absorbing all those throws

Device: AYN Thor

App: Auxio

Headphones: Koss Porta Pro with Yaxi earpads

Peak platforming on the PSP.

Daxter is a 2006 platforming game for the PSP, developed by Ready at Dawn, who also developed Okami and the God of War series. A spinoff of the Jak and Daxter series, the game focuses on Daxter as he fulfills his role as an exterminator, while searching for Jak.

Daxter is at its best during its expansive levels, when it uses both platforming and combat together. The level designs are varied, although they reuse elements, but I did feel they did stretch on a bit much. Often, levels would stretch on unbearable amounts of time with room after room, without even a boss fight at the end.

I quite liked the zipline-like sections where you hang on a rail and avoid obstacles, and the train sections where you ride on the top of a train and dodge obstacles and hop over lasers as you move through tunnels. In addition, the great freedom of movement afforded by two jumps and jetpack-like use of the bug sprayer let Daxter maneuver through long sections of air well.

At first, I disliked the vehicle sections, but I grew to like them. The vehicles physics are floaty and the vehicles retain a lot of momentum, so tight turns are difficult at full speed. As I played through more sections though, I grew to appreciate the vehicle sections, and now welcome the driving and vehicles.

However, for all its faults, the technical achievements shown in Daxter are impressive. A full 3D platformer on a handheld with PS2 quality graphics was revolutionary for the time, especially comparing to the hardware of the DS, the PSP's foremost competitor. When I played Daxter on my Thor, it looked beautiful upscaled to 1080p.

Device: AYN Thor

The other games I've covered: r/gameoftheweek

One of the greatest fighting games ever made.

Def Jam: Fight for NY, is a 2004 fighting game developed by AKI Corporation, and the direct sequel to Def Jam: Vendetta. Def Jam: Fight for NY is a hip-hop themed 3D fighting game featuring real-life rappers, set in New York City.

Unlike the previous game, Fight for NY has greatly expanded fighter choices, fighting styles, and story.

As well as having rappers such as Snoop Dogg, Slick Rick, Scarface, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Xzibit, Ludacris, Sean Paul, and Busta Rhymes, the game also uses tracks from these artists as background music, which I found some new songs from.

Fight for NY also expands the amount of fighting styles to 5 from its predecessor, now having kickboxing, martial arts, streetfighting, wrestling, and submissions. I personally liked the strike-heavy style of martial arts.

Finally, Fight for NY's story is the best I've ever played in a fighting game, weaving New York hip-hop culture and underground fighting rings into a compelling story. Games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate often sacrifice development time on the story to improve the balance and characters, which leads to a more party style, competitive game. The decision to go the opposite way with voice-acted cutscenes and narrative-focused gameplay, rather than just a series of fights, makes Fight for NY have the best fighting game story. 

As a rap fan, I long have wanted to have a hip-hop themed game in Game of the Week, and Def Jam is both an amazing game and a great representation of hip-hop. Fight for NY encapsulates the bling era style of the early 2000s, along with New York's rich history of being the birthplace of rap

Device: AYN Thor

To see the other GotW's: r/gameoftheweek