CandiBunni

Thanks for the birthday present, Capcom. I look forward to fighting this... eventually.

I know. That was a typo on my part. Apologies. I'll go ahead and fix it.

Has a pretty nice avatar and username, both referencing one of my favourite bands, which got me into music in the first place.

It's a terrible shame when so many wonderful games, whether they be hidden gems or beloved classics, end up lost because of poor preservation. Obviously, however, I don't know exactly to what lengths most developers go to backing up their older titles, and there can certainly be unforeseen, outside factors which make this more difficult. I'm immediately reminded of the story with Killzone HD. Killzone HD was an HD re-release of the original Killzone, a game which released back in 2004 for the PS2. Killzone HD was released on the PS3 both standalone and as part of the Killzone Trilogy collection. It aimed to fix many of the visual, auditory, and technical issues present in the original release, including performance, and it did exactly that. How they ended up getting access to those original files and game code in order to do a remaster in the first place, however, is pretty ridiculous. If I'm not mistaken, they ended up finding them in a shoebox in an employee's garage. That's not okay. Again, I don't know what circumstances led to it being there, but that just doesn't sound right to me. Another, and one that hits me pretty hard, has to do with Jet Set Radio Future. Jet Set Radio Future originally released in 2002, exclusively for the Original Xbox. It was a re-imagining of the original Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast. While the latter has since been re-released on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, the former has still yet to see any such treatment. Why, I'm not exactly sure. I don't know that anyone has ever been given any official reason, but there are rumours about that it's because SEGA has actually lost the original game files. If that's truly the case, it's a crying shame, because JSRF is one of my favourite games of all time, and I've been dying for an HD-release for years and years. If you're not sure what the big deal is regarding preservation, it's pretty simple. Say I wish to play a game from my childhood, or I've discovered one from around that time, and I wish to play it. If I don't have an original copy of that game, and in some cases the original hardware, then what am I to do? If the developer/publisher has re-released it on newer consoles or PC, then sure, I can go and play it there. What if they haven't, though? What if the game isn't available on newer machines? You might say that I could just use an emulator, but emulation isn't perfect by any means. Some emulators are difficult to set up, others are a hassle to work with for other reasons. There are plenty of games that either haven't been made available as ROMs, or ISOs, or tracking them down is extremely difficult. So that just leaves buying an original copy of the game, and/or the console it was on. There are many titles that I love and adore that are greatly overpriced on sites like eBay and Amazon. Here's an example. I have an original copy of Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return. I still have the case, the booklet, and the disc. The disc still works, but it's scratched just enough that the music skips and cuts out regularly. If I wanted to go and buy a copy of it off of Amazon or eBay, I'd have to shell out hundreds of dollars for a copy in good condition. Not new, just working. That is why preservation of a game's original files and code is so important. So that we don't end up with this kind of problem, or at least greatly cut down on it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As far as remasters or remakes that respect or include the original visions, specifically your use of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, as an example, I'd have to disagree with. The reason being that Halo: Combat Evolved on the Original Xbox is both my favourite in the series, and my favourite first person shooter in general. The Anniversary version of it, like the Anniversary version of Halo 2, use the PC versions of those original titles, not the Original Xbox versions. The PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved was, visually, inferior to the OG Xbox version, due to missing many visual elements, and replacing others with inferior versions. A few examples would be: 1. Jackal Shields and Covenant Stationary Energy Shields. In the OG Xbox version, these would smoothly change colours until eventually popping, after taking too much damage. In the PC version (and thus Anniversary version), these shields are static. They no longer possess their colour changing effect. Instead, they simply pop once they've taken too much damage. 2. Covenant Dropship Energy Fields. The energy fields between the prongs on Covenant Dropships (Spirits) was changed from its original visual effect to an inferior, and quite goofy looking, new effect in the PC release. 3. Green Teleporters in multiplayer. In the Original Xbox version, these teleporters possessed not only the green, foggy effect which they still possess in the PC release, but a watery, flowing effect, which was no longer present in the PC release. Even setting those aside, there is the issue of missing sound effects in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, both its original 2011 release, and its inclusion on the Master Chief Collection. Unlike Halo 2 Anniversary, there is no option to use the original game's sound effects. Only its music. The Anniversary sounds are not, as some would believe, simply uncompressed or sharper versions of the original effects. They are entirely new sound effects. For whatever reason, 343 Industries and/or Certain Affinity also replaced the original sound effects with the Anniversary sound effects in the game's (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary) multiplayer as well. A decision that absolutely boggles my mind. My preferred method of re-mastering a game is as follows. 1. Increase resolution to 1080p, with support for higher resolutions if available. 2. Use the least compressed versions of the original visual and audio files. 3. Improve the framerate such that it runs at a locked 60fps, with support for higher framerates, if possible (mainly on PC). 4. Fix any technical issues from the original release. 5. Do not alter any of the original visual or audio effects other than improving resolution and clarity. 6. Do not change or remove aspects of the game that contributed positively towards the game's mood/atmosphere, even if these were mainly done due to technical limitations. An example would be the thick fog in some levels of Halo: Combat Evolved on the original Xbox. The PC, and thus Anniversary, version removed much of the fog, allowing you to see the borders of certain levels, as well as negatively impacting the mood and atmosphere of them. Basically, improve the framerate, fix technical issues (bugs, glitches), use higher quality versions of the original assets, and bump the resolution to 1080p at minimum. That's it. That's all that I want HD re-releases to do. That's my perfect idea of an HD re-release. Too many times, developers try to do more than that, and end up ruining the original experience because of it. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a perfect example of this if you ask me, which is why I bring it up so much.

Regardless of what his Patreon does or doesn't mention, none of them are monetised. I can't even remember the last time, if ever, I saw one playing on any of his videos.

I enjoyed Skyrim, but it's far from the best RPG out there. My personal favourite would be Undertale, followed by Wild Arms 1. I wouldn't even consider Skyrim to be the best Elder Scrolls game. I much prefer Oblivion, and even Morrowind.

He doesn't monetise any of his videos. All of them are ad-free, intentionally, because he gets his support through Patreon.