PATRONE: bit.ly/3JmQu43 ill be bringing back so ive been playing soon! i talk about it more here: twitter.com/ThorHighHeels/status/1492227585199202305 it will have a different format, but im v excited to start workin on it : )
Shin Megami Tensei Nine isn't actually an MMO. It was going to be, but that didn't pan out and they used the MMO game assets to scrap together a jrpg that also has a real time strategy hacking mini game shoved into it. There's also 9 endings corresponding to the 9 different alignments, hence the name, and all in all it really is a testament to the creator's ambitions at the time, even if it didn't come together well.
@@k2a2l2 Yea I also learned about all of this from Marsh's video!!! I would love to play it (especially since it is one of the few games in the series that have a choice between male or female protag, but also bc I love the entire SMT franchise)
@@lightmitian Worry not, brother. For us to share alliance in interest, one which is named Marsh. Such is our based bandana-wearing Akira Miyamoto fan, Marsh.
Rent a Hero sounds like the best video game I never heard about before. It mind-blogs my mind how many obscure, yet great games are out here without me knowing about them.
It does sound pretty nifty, though in my case I was at least tangentially aware of it because Rent-a-Hero is one of many odd characters in SEGA's _Fighters Megamix._
kinda funny, I learned about it because I got myself a copy of the Starcraft Ghost beta, and my 360 thinks that it's Rent-a-Hero It's pretty okay! It really does exude "Shenmue, but not boring as shit" energy
16:06 I don't know why i was expecting to hear snake eater but backwards. Good video my man, nice to know the og xbox when from that console that was presented by the rock to actually having janky japanese games (something i only believed was a ps2 thing).
Why would you believe that? You know sega and Microsoft made a deal when the dreamcast died turning the xbox into the dreamcast 2 for a while and Microsoft trying hard to get a foot in the eastern markets. Jet set radio future was an exclusive title for xbox. What sucks is that it was backwards compatible but something happened with licensing so now you can't even purchase it anymore.
Innocent Tears is one of the most 2000s VN anime wallpaper lookin things and I like it. And Rent-A-Hero sounds amazing. I love Yakuza's side storys and enjoyed Gravity Rush 2's side stories, so the fact that the charming 'side' stories are the focus appeals to me greatly. I wonder if Yakuza 7's Part time hero quests are a reference to that?
The smt nine online aspect never actually came out. They canceled the multiplayer and released only the single player part, so you didn't miss out on much
Didnt the online part release on a Japanese mobile line? I swear i read into that cause japan doesnt beleive in preservation and that game was vastly in demand from the digital preservation group living in tokyo
@merlyn florez that could be. It's the first time I heard that but I wouldn't be surprised. If you find any sources on this, can you please link them here? I'd love to know more about the game
always found the duke underrated, there's lots of weird and interesting games that lived and died there, not all great, but things like murakumo rengeade mech pursuit, gunvalkyrie, commandos strike force, jsrf, mecha assault, strangers wrath (for a long time anyway), and I'm surr a ton more I'm forgetting. looking forward to watching this when I can
I love the OG XBox for many reasons you just listed. But also those sexy multi-plats. Usually they’d always look best on Xbox or have some unique exclusive feature.
my favorites are the just like, weird little trash games that came out at the beginning of the console's lifespan that would have only been greenlit under the conditions of a gaudy little console that had no real direction other than "Halo I guess". There's nothing as delightfully busted and weird like Azurik.
@@VergilHiltsLT the PS2 is far weaker than any other console of the generation, most but not all games look far worse on PS2, besides the fact that many of them simply run worse. It's not a hard and fast rule but there's some very obvious examples like Metal Arms that are near unplayable on the PS2 because of its relatively low power.
@@connorhobson6293 That has nothing to do with raw power though, it's simply the optimisation. You can't even compare Xbox because of the hardware differences, PS2 is running a completely alien architecture with multiple processors capable of 128-bit operations and a CPU with two threads. Xbox didn't have two threads, it is simply a PC (CPU, GPU and RAM). Games like Black (2006) or Shadow of the Colossus look much better than your example, because they're better optimized. PS2 has 1.2 GB/s pixel fillrate, while Xbox has 900 MB/s. PS2 also has eDRAM, a much faster RAM type allowing for super fast memory bandwidth. Xbox has more VRAM, but much slower than PS2's. So in these regards, PS2 is the strongest 6th gen console, while Xbox had higher resolution (480p) due to higher VRAM, but worse in other aspects. LOTR: Return of the King looks much better on PS2, same goes for Scarface, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Silent Hill 2 and 4 (2 has significantly downgraded fog), The Matrix: Path of Neo which is missing Normal mapping on Xbox and has inferior lighting and VFX, PoP trilogy, Tomb Raider: Legend with worse water reflections and bloom on Xbox, MGS2 with frame drops in Tanker level on Xbox due to overwhelming rain particles, etc. I've compared them all extensively side-by-side.
Thor I want you to know that your videos have ascended to the highest tier of UA-cam videos for me, where I’ll save watching them until I get home so I can watch it on my big TV. There’s only like 2 other channels on the platform that make me do that lol
17:31 is the hardest I’ve laughed at anything in weeks. Thank you Thor, your content is a masterclass in humor, (re)discovery and aesthetic. Please never stop and sell merch so I can wear a cool t-shirt or drink tea out of a mug with your art on it
I love how you treat every vid you make like an actual piece of art. Those interludes and transitions fucking rule. You're like my favourite UA-cam guy rn, and your takes on aesthetics are always really sweet, keep that shit up my dude.
It was truly an admirable effort by Microsoft to try and gain ground on the japanese market with their first console. 360 had pretty good support too with a bunch of exclusive JRPGs and lots of shmups. I guess they just gave up after that. Some of my best gaming memories growing up was playing japanese exclusives like Jet Set Radio Future, Otogi, Ninja Gaiden Black and Panzer Dragoon Orta. Also got the best versions of most multi-platform games, sometimes with extra content added, like Genma Onimusha, Tenchu: Return from Darkness, Shadow of Memories, Fatal Frame II: Director's Cut etc.
That's pretty demoralizing that it can be so difficult to get OG Xbox games to even work on the native hardware, but thank God Xemu works pretty good for the most part and is still making progress.
Not true. I just think he got bad ROM dumps because all of the games he mentions here all work fine on my Xbox's hard drive. Either that or the console mods in his Xbox are conflicting with some of the hardware thus creating compatibility problems. There are only 3 games you cannot run from the hard drive due to long file names (fatx hdd format has character limits per file) though, by burning a disc they will work. The other 994 games all work on the HDD as long as your ROMs aren't corrupt.
@@Manic_Panic Usually if a game is crashing like Muzzle Flash was, it's because of in game reset being enabled (especially on softmodded systems and earlier modchips) or TSR being set to debug. The memory patches required for those settings work fine in 99% of games, but caused crashing and gameplay issues in a few. Debug TSR especially, I used to make trainers and mods so I had it on a lot of the time, and it caused a bunch of minor issues on my softmodded 1.1. Turning those settings off was always the first step in working out what was wrong with a game. Early modchips DID have a issues with crashes, especially specific early EvoX BIOS versions, but most chips and BIOSes are fine these days (these days being post-2007 or so) and it was never anything to do with hardware conflicts. Also, just to be a pedantic bitch, there were more than 3 games that had filename issues, at least 5 to my knowledge. All my homies hate FATX (and the entire OG Xbox HDD system, always back up your hddkey.bin and eeprom.bin) Xemu and cxbx-reloaded suddenly showing up and making big progress really does rule regardless. JSRF on PC babey, the dream is finally real. Literally works better than running it on my 360 (lmao Fusion good work Microsoft)
@@HotClown My system is TSOP flashed and has in-game reset enabled. Though, what's Debug TSR? I use an Xecuter 2 5035 BIOS and from what I could tell, that option you mention is from EvoX. I will say, I don't know some of these details since I bought my system already pre modded, only had to do some tweaks and install the games. As for the problematic games with fatx, I know there are a couple of more with that problem such as the Tony Hawk games but DVD2Xbox's automatic patches fixed them, they launch and work fine through my Xbox's HDD. Only ones that don't work at all because of fatx are HP: Prisioner of Azkaban, Monster Garage and Frankie Dettori Racing. Xemu is indeed amazing and I can't wait until it reaches the sweet spot of +90 in playable state.
@@Manic_Panic TSR is what allows you to use trainers through EvoX, it has different names in other places. In debug mode it lets you do debugging over the network, which was the coolest shit when I was like 16. Super useful for making trainers and I think marginally useful for debugging homebrew (though I never got into homebrew dev). It's kinda similar to having a debug BIOS, but just... shittier in every way lol For the most part it's not a problem if you're using a flashed BIOS or a mod chip, but if you're just softmodded/using very early chips it does some weird stuff to memory before the game loads to allow trainers to work, and in the process breaks a handful of games. IGR is kinda the same deal, works fine for the most part with a chip or a flashed BIOS, but causes issues on softmods and old chips. If you're TSOP flashed then yeah, IGR/trainers are likely never going to cause issues, or if they do, SUPER rarely. I think TOCA 2 is also messed up thanks to FATX character set limitations, but it might have been one of the long filename ones? You can make those games work though. I can't remember exactly how, it's been a while, but there's a method to run games straight from XISOs that circumvents it. Not particularly worth it to play Prisoner of Azkaban, but hey, good on whoever made that work. Guess it could be worth looking into if you just really, really want an Xbox that has every single game on it.
I was looking into these Japan exclusive games recently, it’s great to see this channel covering them. You constantly show the under-appreciated sides of gaming in an engaging way. Keep up the great work!
I don't know why but the part where you said ''Spenser!'' and talked with that wonderful Dendy-voice that you have so gracefully mastered, made me laugh uncontrollably hard... Thank you for your hard work! You make the hard days a bit lighter and your content is always interesting!
That Rent-a-Hero game looks sooooo cozy! I really need to play some of these Chulip-style games sometimes, I always love em in your videos. I wish that they had ports or be backwards compat on modern consoles, but I guess they just didn't sell enough to justify the publishers to do so :/
i was hoping it would be mentioned in this vid (and on this channel no less) but sadly it wasn't! i'm talking about Drihoo, an odd Japan only xbox game where you control a dwarf and you dig with a big drill and fight off enemies with a big hammer dungeon crawler style. it's always been an ace up my sleeve whenever discussion comes to rare and forgotten titles since it's never really been talked about. would have been a perfect fit for this video! keep up the great work THH : )
Yessss watching your videos is like eating a warm, hearty soup during a thunderstorm while your dog rests by your side. I've been needing me some Thor style SKUNG
This video literally reminded me about DroneZ that I had obtained a copy for PC so long ago. The title screen for that was done by a band called Meridiano Zero, and it was even on the CD as a selling point at that. That song's been stuck in my head for SO LONG and I could NEVER find it because all I could recall about the game was "It's like Tron's Disk combat...but not quite and has this si-fi/bug biotech future angle". Like oh my god I am so happy after at least 15 years I've been able to find this and get that one song back. So thank you for being that kind of person to find just the obscure and digging -moods- as being reunited with this is a MOOD I cannot phrase.
cause of this video i decided to try out rent a hero, and holy shit this game rules so hard. you didnt even mention the sick ass tokusatsu style tv show opening. thank you so much for sharing this with the world lol
I really dig the OG Xbox games' look. It's pretty much PS2 models and enviroments but with gloss effects and complex lighting. It even makes trashier games like Shrek or Fight club look like nothing I've ever seen.
Hmm, not really. PS2 games have better character/environment lighting, as seen in Shadow of the Colossus or DMC3, but we're not here for that. PS2 just had a bigger, better game library, while Xbox had some hidden gems like Breakdown.
@@VergilHiltsLT sorry, but I don't see it at all. Lighting might be the weakest aspect in PS2 graphics. Don't get me wrong, shadow Of The Colossus is beautiful, but it really chugged on PS2 hardware and I wouldn't say that lighting is what made it such an eye candy. And yes, the PS2 arguably had more quality games, but it doesn't mean that the Xbox library should be underestimated.
@@Nov-5062 Lighting is the strongest aspect on PS2, as evidenced by games like Devil May Cry 1 and 3, Metal Gear Solid 3, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Silent Hill games. Silent Hill 4 has worse lighting on Xbox, including shadow depth. The brightest whites are diminished on Xbox, same goes for darkest shadows which are grey-like on Xbox. This applies to most Xbox games. Xbox also doesn't have self-shadowing in Silent Hill 2 and 4. Shadow of the Colossus has HDR-like rendering, which was impossible to achieve on Xbox. The developers themselves have documented this and were adamant about the lighting quality in particular, not just the fur rendering (huge monsters with fur all across their bodies) or the incredible poly counts. There is no Xbox game that has such huge amounts of fur applied, not to mention the particle effects like huge blood splashes or complex interwoven lightning effects. It also has high quality motion blur effect and camera shake, and high quality underwater filters, water splashes and ripples. Again, thanks to its higher pixel fill rate (1.2 GB/s vs Xbox 900 MB/s). The numbers don't lie. It chugged on PS2 at times, but still ran at 15-25 FPS because it's a huge, open-ended game running on a console from 2000 that was pushing its limits, but who knows how it would've run with extra optimisation time. The truth is, programming on PS2 was super flexible and the massive bandwidth made it comfortable for developers to work on. As evidenced by Matrix: Path of Neo's normal mapping, which wasn't possible on Xbox (the Xbox port doesn't have it), almost anything could be programmed on it. That's not to say Xbox didn't have good-looking games, but most multiplats were downgraded. I suggest you install emulators and compare them yourself, or use real hardware if you have it, provided you own HD component cables and OSSC/Retrotink.
@@pistachiodisguisey911 Unfair comparison. Splinter Cell was done for Xbox first, PS2 port wasn't even developed by the same team (Ubisoft Milan). So smaller team and less time/resources spent on PS2 version. You clearly don't know what you're talking about.
What's the name of the song that starts at 32:01? And your videos are of the highest tier quality making each break in the videos to play some awesome music and giving me chills, it's like no other content on here.
At some point in the future I would love to see you do a video on the og Xbox game “Phantom Dust” or just briefly cover it in a video. It’s one of my favorite games and I’m pretty sure it’s a game that would peak your interest due to it’s aesthetic, it’s unique gameplay, cool U.I., punk design, and Japanese origin.
Damn, made me sweat on that ladder scene. Was like "he's gonna do the thing...right? You know, the MGS3 thing, RIGHT!? HE'S GONNA DO IT, RIGH-" "what a thrill" OH THANK GAWD he did the thing.
Shin megami tensei NINE isn't actually an online game. it was supposed to be online but it was scrapped and repurposed into a single player game, which explains why so many areas look so empty.
21:03 😂 The plot continues. 21:48 It's because of these unexpected funny edits and all the obscure and interesting games being unearthed that I love & enjoy this channel so much. 😄 Dinosaur hunting looks very interesting, unfortunate that it was canceled at the last minute. 32:00 also the cool transitions are nice. 34:18 Probably the only viewer that hasn't heard of Magatama. (I don't know a lot about Japanese only Xbox games, but do find it interesting to see what Japanese games get released on the Xbox nowadays.) Rent a hero, is truly a interesting ge and definitely a product of it's time. Woah, that's a very fleshed out town.
I remember N.U.D.E showed up in a the futurism/gaming channel NOW that was eventually replaced by G4TV/Jack TV when I was a kid. I'm glad people talked about this game again!
Thortastic video. I love the hugebox and have tons of memories with goofy japanese games like Phantom Crash, So seeing a sample of what didnt reach us was fun.
Next to my ps2, which ive been collecting for 20+ years, now ive started to hunt down xbox360 exclusive titles (or console (ps3/xbox360 era) that seem interesting to me as of now im going through destroy all humans path of the furion. That game scored so bad overall and it genuinely blows my mind why. Its pure entertainment, from the moment you start its mayhem -powerfantasy bliss. A B-game through and through, I love it (and for the longest time ive been praising ninety nine nights (1). That game is horrible at the start and one of the best (true) hack n slash games (no dmc or batonetta isnt hack n slash) towards the end (when you're leveled and geared etc)). Awesome to see some obscure stuff for the xbox that i never had.
Rent-A-Hero #1 is a remake of the Sega Genesis game which was also JPN only but got a fan translation patch. A fan translation patch is in the works for the Dreamcast version. The combat engine for this game was pulled from the Spikeout Arcade 3D beat em up game but not done as well. Spikeout: Final Edition was created by Nagoshi who then went on to make the Yakuza series.
I’ll use any opportunity I get to say how much I loved Dino Crisis 3. I was 13 when it came out and had to have my grandma buy it for me, since it was rated M and my mom was a little too into the idea of sheltering me from “adult media.” I think I was at the perfect, angsty, age to enjoy the futuristic sci-fi atmosphere and silly cyber dinos. I felt like it was really ahead of it’s time with the zero gravity sections and its overall presentation. Every now and again I’ll boot it up just for nostalgias sake, and although it doesn’t hold up as well as I remember, I still have a great time playing it.
SoreThighSteals is one of my favorite youtubers. I always put him on in the background while cleaning the exhaust pipes on my running motorcycle. And i always make sure to close my garage door first so i can hear him better.
I hope that you can finally make a video about Otogi. You talked about wanting to play it years ago, and now you have this sweet Xbox. Looking forward to it 🙂
That Dronez game's mad history of an Italian-made tech demo turned Dreamcast game turned Japan-only Xbox game turned Russia-only PC game is sort of bonkers development history we don't get anymore, and thats a total shame.
"Sea man" followed by the greatest pun of the century - "seamen demon" ,ladies and gentlemen. Seeing John Cena after he mutters "You can't see me" is the only thing that's as iconic as that.....
Awesome video! Didn't know about a lot of these, Rent-a-Hero looks especially fun Also yoo I didn't know you were from the Netherlands! Post NL sadly do be like that sometimes
I finally figured out what’s up with your content. Every vid you make is full-on liminal aesthetic, from the subject matter to the cards to your voice delivery. You might honestly be the most naturally-unique UA-camr alive
Man i really love your channel you talk about things other people dont do it , and you use a very interesting presentation , really i am glad you share this , i always want to heard opinions about these little things , weird games , rare gems , and very curius era games , my favorite video of ps3/360 era game or asthetic i love because i think the same (english is not my native language)
i think this is your best video ever!! as a big og xbox fan im greatfull for dinosaur hunter and magatama as i never heard about them before. Maybe not japanese only but i feel Phantom Dust and Otogui games deserved a part on this video. My recommendations for maybe a part 2 of Xbox obscure games. Im having a blast from your channel lately so i leave you my sub and my best wishes for you and your channel. Cheers from a TRUE GAMER not an "acid pit gamer" from Argentina lol.
btw rent a hero looks like a complete remake from the sega genesis one. You can find the rom translated nowadays and it has the exact same beginning with the house party, the bimbows and dad jokes, the same dad godzilla suit and you get the costume thge same way. Only on the sega genesis version you have a sega genesis in your room hehe
That guy from muzzle flash that said this is just the beginning sounds just like the voice actor for Marvin in the original Resident Evil 2. Dear God it might be him!
PATRONE: bit.ly/3JmQu43
ill be bringing back so ive been playing soon! i talk about it more here: twitter.com/ThorHighHeels/status/1492227585199202305
it will have a different format, but im v excited to start workin on it : )
Can't wait to have more videos! Even if they aren't as cohesive it's still great to hear you ramble on about some skung.
Heck yeah! Excited for it :)
Hell yah dude you've got over 100k subs you could probably do whatever you want with your format lol. Just don't get burnt out is all.
Magatana never launched Japan, taiwanese exclusive
@@tiagopereirasantossilva556 really? A Chinese exclusive? Wow.
THOR HIGH HEELS
Its him
hazel
thor really do be having high heels tho
Pakistan
@@thorhighheels THE KINGS BACKK
Shin Megami Tensei Nine isn't actually an MMO. It was going to be, but that didn't pan out and they used the MMO game assets to scrap together a jrpg that also has a real time strategy hacking mini game shoved into it. There's also 9 endings corresponding to the 9 different alignments, hence the name, and all in all it really is a testament to the creator's ambitions at the time, even if it didn't come together well.
really hope we get an english translation someday, would love to play it. marsh’s video on it is great though
@@k2a2l2 Yea I also learned about all of this from Marsh's video!!! I would love to play it (especially since it is one of the few games in the series that have a choice between male or female protag, but also bc I love the entire SMT franchise)
Clearly, a Marsh fan
@@frds_skce Immediately everybody knew I was a Marsh fan. I can't hide anything from anyone.
@@lightmitian Worry not, brother. For us to share alliance in interest, one which is named Marsh.
Such is our based bandana-wearing Akira Miyamoto fan, Marsh.
Rent a Hero sounds like the best video game I never heard about before. It mind-blogs my mind how many obscure, yet great games are out here without me knowing about them.
It does sound pretty nifty, though in my case I was at least tangentially aware of it because Rent-a-Hero is one of many odd characters in SEGA's _Fighters Megamix._
yeah i really want to play it after seeing it, just looks genuinely fun
I remember cinematech from g4 has a clip from rent a hero and i was so sad we never got it
Rent a hero reminds me of no more heroes at least the set up. I played the translation on mega drive yrs ago.
kinda funny, I learned about it because I got myself a copy of the Starcraft Ghost beta, and my 360 thinks that it's Rent-a-Hero
It's pretty okay! It really does exude "Shenmue, but not boring as shit" energy
Fun fact: although Microsoft itself allegedly did not enforce it, every single japanese title I tried was region locked
"I know a few things about japan" - Bill Gates probably
"I'm something of a weeb myself"
"advertised Msx than got bored to do a GUI not sure what to call it yet"
🤓💻 maybe
16:06 I don't know why i was expecting to hear snake eater but backwards. Good video my man, nice to know the og xbox when from that console that was presented by the rock to actually having janky japanese games (something i only believed was a ps2 thing).
Me too
>snake eater but backwards
Big missed opportunity imho.
Why would you believe that? You know sega and Microsoft made a deal when the dreamcast died turning the xbox into the dreamcast 2 for a while and Microsoft trying hard to get a foot in the eastern markets. Jet set radio future was an exclusive title for xbox. What sucks is that it was backwards compatible but something happened with licensing so now you can't even purchase it anymore.
Innocent Tears is one of the most 2000s VN anime wallpaper lookin things and I like it.
And Rent-A-Hero sounds amazing. I love Yakuza's side storys and enjoyed Gravity Rush 2's side stories, so the fact that the charming 'side' stories are the focus appeals to me greatly. I wonder if Yakuza 7's Part time hero quests are a reference to that?
The smt nine online aspect never actually came out. They canceled the multiplayer and released only the single player part, so you didn't miss out on much
The multiplayer part became SMT Imagine.
Didnt the online part release on a Japanese mobile line? I swear i read into that cause japan doesnt beleive in preservation and that game was vastly in demand from the digital preservation group living in tokyo
@merlyn florez that could be. It's the first time I heard that but I wouldn't be surprised. If you find any sources on this, can you please link them here? I'd love to know more about the game
always found the duke underrated, there's lots of weird and interesting games that lived and died there, not all great, but things like murakumo rengeade mech pursuit, gunvalkyrie, commandos strike force, jsrf, mecha assault, strangers wrath (for a long time anyway), and I'm surr a ton more I'm forgetting. looking forward to watching this when I can
I love the OG XBox for many reasons you just listed. But also those sexy multi-plats. Usually they’d always look best on Xbox or have some unique exclusive feature.
@@minimalchill That's actually wrong. Most multiplats look better on PS2, I've done extensive testing and side-by-side comparisons.
my favorites are the just like, weird little trash games that came out at the beginning of the console's lifespan that would have only been greenlit under the conditions of a gaudy little console that had no real direction other than "Halo I guess". There's nothing as delightfully busted and weird like Azurik.
@@VergilHiltsLT the PS2 is far weaker than any other console of the generation, most but not all games look far worse on PS2, besides the fact that many of them simply run worse. It's not a hard and fast rule but there's some very obvious examples like Metal Arms that are near unplayable on the PS2 because of its relatively low power.
@@connorhobson6293 That has nothing to do with raw power though, it's simply the optimisation. You can't even compare Xbox because of the hardware differences, PS2 is running a completely alien architecture with multiple processors capable of 128-bit operations and a CPU with two threads. Xbox didn't have two threads, it is simply a PC (CPU, GPU and RAM). Games like Black (2006) or Shadow of the Colossus look much better than your example, because they're better optimized. PS2 has 1.2 GB/s pixel fillrate, while Xbox has 900 MB/s. PS2 also has eDRAM, a much faster RAM type allowing for super fast memory bandwidth. Xbox has more VRAM, but much slower than PS2's. So in these regards, PS2 is the strongest 6th gen console, while Xbox had higher resolution (480p) due to higher VRAM, but worse in other aspects.
LOTR: Return of the King looks much better on PS2, same goes for Scarface, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Silent Hill 2 and 4 (2 has significantly downgraded fog), The Matrix: Path of Neo which is missing Normal mapping on Xbox and has inferior lighting and VFX, PoP trilogy, Tomb Raider: Legend with worse water reflections and bloom on Xbox, MGS2 with frame drops in Tanker level on Xbox due to overwhelming rain particles, etc. I've compared them all extensively side-by-side.
Thor I want you to know that your videos have ascended to the highest tier of UA-cam videos for me, where I’ll save watching them until I get home so I can watch it on my big TV. There’s only like 2 other channels on the platform that make me do that lol
I agree, he really has matured, i love him.
What are the other channels?
Same
Same for me! Love this!
Always defo get stupid excited when Thor heels give me those happy feels.
You have one of my favorite narration styles on the entire platform, Thor.
It's all over the place in a very positive way. Don't ever change that.
17:31 is the hardest I’ve laughed at anything in weeks. Thank you Thor, your content is a masterclass in humor, (re)discovery and aesthetic. Please never stop and sell merch so I can wear a cool t-shirt or drink tea out of a mug with your art on it
I love how you treat every vid you make like an actual piece of art. Those interludes and transitions fucking rule. You're like my favourite UA-cam guy rn, and your takes on aesthetics are always really sweet, keep that shit up my dude.
It was truly an admirable effort by Microsoft to try and gain ground on the japanese market with their first console. 360 had pretty good support too with a bunch of exclusive JRPGs and lots of shmups. I guess they just gave up after that. Some of my best gaming memories growing up was playing japanese exclusives like Jet Set Radio Future, Otogi, Ninja Gaiden Black and Panzer Dragoon Orta. Also got the best versions of most multi-platform games, sometimes with extra content added, like Genma Onimusha, Tenchu: Return from Darkness, Shadow of Memories, Fatal Frame II: Director's Cut etc.
That's pretty demoralizing that it can be so difficult to get OG Xbox games to even work on the native hardware, but thank God Xemu works pretty good for the most part and is still making progress.
Not true. I just think he got bad ROM dumps because all of the games he mentions here all work fine on my Xbox's hard drive. Either that or the console mods in his Xbox are conflicting with some of the hardware thus creating compatibility problems.
There are only 3 games you cannot run from the hard drive due to long file names (fatx hdd format has character limits per file) though, by burning a disc they will work. The other 994 games all work on the HDD as long as your ROMs aren't corrupt.
@@Manic_Panic Usually if a game is crashing like Muzzle Flash was, it's because of in game reset being enabled (especially on softmodded systems and earlier modchips) or TSR being set to debug. The memory patches required for those settings work fine in 99% of games, but caused crashing and gameplay issues in a few. Debug TSR especially, I used to make trainers and mods so I had it on a lot of the time, and it caused a bunch of minor issues on my softmodded 1.1. Turning those settings off was always the first step in working out what was wrong with a game.
Early modchips DID have a issues with crashes, especially specific early EvoX BIOS versions, but most chips and BIOSes are fine these days (these days being post-2007 or so) and it was never anything to do with hardware conflicts. Also, just to be a pedantic bitch, there were more than 3 games that had filename issues, at least 5 to my knowledge. All my homies hate FATX (and the entire OG Xbox HDD system, always back up your hddkey.bin and eeprom.bin)
Xemu and cxbx-reloaded suddenly showing up and making big progress really does rule regardless. JSRF on PC babey, the dream is finally real. Literally works better than running it on my 360 (lmao Fusion good work Microsoft)
@@HotClown My system is TSOP flashed and has in-game reset enabled. Though, what's Debug TSR? I use an Xecuter 2 5035 BIOS and from what I could tell, that option you mention is from EvoX. I will say, I don't know some of these details since I bought my system already pre modded, only had to do some tweaks and install the games.
As for the problematic games with fatx, I know there are a couple of more with that problem such as the Tony Hawk games but DVD2Xbox's automatic patches fixed them, they launch and work fine through my Xbox's HDD.
Only ones that don't work at all because of fatx are HP: Prisioner of Azkaban, Monster Garage and Frankie Dettori Racing.
Xemu is indeed amazing and I can't wait until it reaches the sweet spot of +90 in playable state.
@@Manic_Panic TSR is what allows you to use trainers through EvoX, it has different names in other places. In debug mode it lets you do debugging over the network, which was the coolest shit when I was like 16. Super useful for making trainers and I think marginally useful for debugging homebrew (though I never got into homebrew dev). It's kinda similar to having a debug BIOS, but just... shittier in every way lol
For the most part it's not a problem if you're using a flashed BIOS or a mod chip, but if you're just softmodded/using very early chips it does some weird stuff to memory before the game loads to allow trainers to work, and in the process breaks a handful of games. IGR is kinda the same deal, works fine for the most part with a chip or a flashed BIOS, but causes issues on softmods and old chips. If you're TSOP flashed then yeah, IGR/trainers are likely never going to cause issues, or if they do, SUPER rarely.
I think TOCA 2 is also messed up thanks to FATX character set limitations, but it might have been one of the long filename ones? You can make those games work though. I can't remember exactly how, it's been a while, but there's a method to run games straight from XISOs that circumvents it. Not particularly worth it to play Prisoner of Azkaban, but hey, good on whoever made that work. Guess it could be worth looking into if you just really, really want an Xbox that has every single game on it.
man this whole thread is so informative ( even if i understand jackshit haha)
I was looking into these Japan exclusive games recently, it’s great to see this channel covering them. You constantly show the under-appreciated sides of gaming in an engaging way. Keep up the great work!
I don't know why but the part where you said ''Spenser!'' and talked with that wonderful Dendy-voice that you have so gracefully mastered, made me laugh uncontrollably hard...
Thank you for your hard work!
You make the hard days a bit lighter and your content is always interesting!
That Rent-a-Hero game looks sooooo cozy! I really need to play some of these Chulip-style games sometimes, I always love em in your videos. I wish that they had ports or be backwards compat on modern consoles, but I guess they just didn't sell enough to justify the publishers to do so :/
Emulators and ROM sites ✌️
All you need is a modded X360 and the rom
i was hoping it would be mentioned in this vid (and on this channel no less) but sadly it wasn't! i'm talking about Drihoo, an odd Japan only xbox game where you control a dwarf and you dig with a big drill and fight off enemies with a big hammer dungeon crawler style. it's always been an ace up my sleeve whenever discussion comes to rare and forgotten titles since it's never really been talked about. would have been a perfect fit for this video! keep up the great work THH : )
Yessss watching your videos is like eating a warm, hearty soup during a thunderstorm while your dog rests by your side. I've been needing me some Thor style SKUNG
16:40 I was waiting for the mandatory snake eater insert lol
This video literally reminded me about DroneZ that I had obtained a copy for PC so long ago. The title screen for that was done by a band called Meridiano Zero, and it was even on the CD as a selling point at that. That song's been stuck in my head for SO LONG and I could NEVER find it because all I could recall about the game was "It's like Tron's Disk combat...but not quite and has this si-fi/bug biotech future angle". Like oh my god I am so happy after at least 15 years I've been able to find this and get that one song back. So thank you for being that kind of person to find just the obscure and digging -moods- as being reunited with this is a MOOD I cannot phrase.
cause of this video i decided to try out rent a hero, and holy shit this game rules so hard. you didnt even mention the sick ass tokusatsu style tv show opening. thank you so much for sharing this with the world lol
We need more of those weird Dreamcast like games, those were my favorites back then.
I really dig the OG Xbox games' look. It's pretty much PS2 models and enviroments but with gloss effects and complex lighting. It even makes trashier games like Shrek or Fight club look like nothing I've ever seen.
Hmm, not really. PS2 games have better character/environment lighting, as seen in Shadow of the Colossus or DMC3, but we're not here for that. PS2 just had a bigger, better game library, while Xbox had some hidden gems like Breakdown.
@@VergilHiltsLT sorry, but I don't see it at all. Lighting might be the weakest aspect in PS2 graphics. Don't get me wrong, shadow Of The Colossus is beautiful, but it really chugged on PS2 hardware and I wouldn't say that lighting is what made it such an eye candy.
And yes, the PS2 arguably had more quality games, but it doesn't mean that the Xbox library should be underestimated.
@@Nov-5062 Lighting is the strongest aspect on PS2, as evidenced by games like Devil May Cry 1 and 3, Metal Gear Solid 3, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Silent Hill games. Silent Hill 4 has worse lighting on Xbox, including shadow depth. The brightest whites are diminished on Xbox, same goes for darkest shadows which are grey-like on Xbox. This applies to most Xbox games. Xbox also doesn't have self-shadowing in Silent Hill 2 and 4.
Shadow of the Colossus has HDR-like rendering, which was impossible to achieve on Xbox. The developers themselves have documented this and were adamant about the lighting quality in particular, not just the fur rendering (huge monsters with fur all across their bodies) or the incredible poly counts. There is no Xbox game that has such huge amounts of fur applied, not to mention the particle effects like huge blood splashes or complex interwoven lightning effects. It also has high quality motion blur effect and camera shake, and high quality underwater filters, water splashes and ripples. Again, thanks to its higher pixel fill rate (1.2 GB/s vs Xbox 900 MB/s). The numbers don't lie.
It chugged on PS2 at times, but still ran at 15-25 FPS because it's a huge, open-ended game running on a console from 2000 that was pushing its limits, but who knows how it would've run with extra optimisation time. The truth is, programming on PS2 was super flexible and the massive bandwidth made it comfortable for developers to work on. As evidenced by Matrix: Path of Neo's normal mapping, which wasn't possible on Xbox (the Xbox port doesn't have it), almost anything could be programmed on it.
That's not to say Xbox didn't have good-looking games, but most multiplats were downgraded. I suggest you install emulators and compare them yourself, or use real hardware if you have it, provided you own HD component cables and OSSC/Retrotink.
@@VergilHiltsLT compare splinter cell chaos theory on ps2 to Xbox then and tell me ps2 is better
@@pistachiodisguisey911 Unfair comparison. Splinter Cell was done for Xbox first, PS2 port wasn't even developed by the same team (Ubisoft Milan). So smaller team and less time/resources spent on PS2 version.
You clearly don't know what you're talking about.
Your patreon segues/sections are amazing. Top tier.
What's the name of the song that starts at 32:01? And your videos are of the highest tier quality making each break in the videos to play some awesome music and giving me chills, it's like no other content on here.
"Guy Savage Mini Game from MGS3."
That's something i haven't heard in a fuck long time.
The fact that you played these games and then made a video bout them. You know. It’s amazing man.
At some point in the future I would love to see you do a video on the og Xbox game “Phantom Dust” or just briefly cover it in a video. It’s one of my favorite games and I’m pretty sure it’s a game that would peak your interest due to it’s aesthetic, it’s unique gameplay, cool U.I., punk design, and Japanese origin.
oh man just from the thumbnails Phantom Dust looks dope :0
Damn, made me sweat on that ladder scene.
Was like "he's gonna do the thing...right? You know, the MGS3 thing, RIGHT!? HE'S GONNA DO IT, RIGH-"
"what a thrill"
OH THANK GAWD he did the thing.
That shelf is on the verge of collapse.
I appreciate leading with the earnest five-minute review of a game that, while not the main topic of this video, leads into it well.
Shin megami tensei NINE isn't actually an online game. it was supposed to be online but it was scrapped and repurposed into a single player game, which explains why so many areas look so empty.
I love watching this channel grow. Kudos to you man.
Super interesting video! I love all your [as] reminiscent bumps between segments of the video - great vibes
This is my favourite video format of yours, allows you to just talk about things which is nice. Love the unique Patrone shout outs too peace
I highly recommend LGR video about Tapwave Zodiac. That was a really obscure gaming PDA, and the story behind it is super entertaining.
Thanks for the vid. TBH this was a pretty magical adventure you sent me on with these games that I've straight up never even heard before.
21:03 😂 The plot continues.
21:48 It's because of these unexpected funny edits and all the obscure and interesting games being unearthed that I love & enjoy this channel so much. 😄
Dinosaur hunting looks very interesting, unfortunate that it was canceled at the last minute.
32:00 also the cool transitions are nice.
34:18 Probably the only viewer that hasn't heard of Magatama.
(I don't know a lot about Japanese only Xbox games, but do find it interesting to see what Japanese games get released on the Xbox nowadays.)
Rent a hero, is truly a interesting ge and definitely a product of it's time.
Woah, that's a very fleshed out town.
Your channel is seriously awesome, I get so excited when you upload! 😃
You sold me so hard on Rent A Hero man.
16:15 lmao i was really waiting to see if you were gonna make that joke, and i screamed at my phone when you did. great job as always sir 😁
I remember N.U.D.E showed up in a the futurism/gaming channel NOW that was eventually replaced by G4TV/Jack TV when I was a kid. I'm glad people talked about this game again!
I'm obsessed with your videos! Your voiceover, your critique, your insight! So witty. So unique!
Please dont forget ドリホー(Doriho) for Part 2 .
A japanese exclusive where you dig tunnels and sh*t .
one of my fav bits about ur vids is that you show / make cool art so when i watch the video im like "nice i got some cool art to look at"
16:06: "What a thrill. With darkness and silence through the night. What a thrill."
36:41 shoutout to the demo disc music.
Ahhhh Sea Breeze, what a relaxing gem. I remember typing in random CODEC codes and suddenly I'm listening to tantalizing jazz.
16:06 - 100 BPM.
Holly Heck, Dude.
that SPENSER Joel V. Vinesauce moment was a real treat my man, thank you kindly
Thortastic video. I love the hugebox and have tons of memories with goofy japanese games like Phantom Crash, So seeing a sample of what didnt reach us was fun.
Next to my ps2, which ive been collecting for 20+ years, now ive started to hunt down xbox360 exclusive titles (or console (ps3/xbox360 era) that seem interesting to me as of now im going through destroy all humans path of the furion. That game scored so bad overall and it genuinely blows my mind why. Its pure entertainment, from the moment you start its mayhem -powerfantasy bliss. A B-game through and through, I love it (and for the longest time ive been praising ninety nine nights (1). That game is horrible at the start and one of the best (true) hack n slash games (no dmc or batonetta isnt hack n slash) towards the end (when you're leveled and geared etc)). Awesome to see some obscure stuff for the xbox that i never had.
Thank you for letting me know that Rent a Hero was a thing I needed in my life!
Rent-A-Hero #1 is a remake of the Sega Genesis game which was also JPN only but got a fan translation patch. A fan translation patch is in the works for the Dreamcast version.
The combat engine for this game was pulled from the Spikeout Arcade 3D beat em up game but not done as well. Spikeout: Final Edition was created by Nagoshi who then went on to make the Yakuza series.
I’ll use any opportunity I get to say how much I loved Dino Crisis 3. I was 13 when it came out and had to have my grandma buy it for me, since it was rated M and my mom was a little too into the idea of sheltering me from “adult media.” I think I was at the perfect, angsty, age to enjoy the futuristic sci-fi atmosphere and silly cyber dinos. I felt like it was really ahead of it’s time with the zero gravity sections and its overall presentation. Every now and again I’ll boot it up just for nostalgias sake, and although it doesn’t hold up as well as I remember, I still have a great time playing it.
SoreThighSteals is one of my favorite youtubers. I always put him on in the background while cleaning the exhaust pipes on my running motorcycle. And i always make sure to close my garage door first so i can hear him better.
I hope that you can finally make a video about Otogi. You talked about wanting to play it years ago, and now you have this sweet Xbox. Looking forward to it 🙂
Thanks Thor, for another video game deep dive!
Hope your doing well, keep on and see you again soon
I really want to know the deal with the catgirls crawling around in SMT NINE
That Dronez game's mad history of an Italian-made tech demo turned Dreamcast game turned Japan-only Xbox game turned Russia-only PC game is sort of bonkers development history we don't get anymore, and thats a total shame.
45:01 whats the name of this spooky song?
Really appreciate the Dirge of Cerberus track. People have many ranging opinions of that game, but the OST was really good.
What's the fire ass jungle beat at 32:05? Thank you
"Sea man" followed by the greatest pun of the century - "seamen demon" ,ladies and gentlemen.
Seeing John Cena after he mutters "You can't see me" is the only thing that's as iconic as that.....
Ooooooh!!! I was literally just thinking about the Mysterious PS3 Games video today and wondering when we'd get another video!! 😀😀😀
Wow! A new video from ThorHighHeels? It's a good day.
~Nightcore Jones
You are a true connoisseur. I really appreciate your videos!
Awesome video! Didn't know about a lot of these, Rent-a-Hero looks especially fun
Also yoo I didn't know you were from the Netherlands! Post NL sadly do be like that sometimes
I love Japanese games. Lovely colorfully awesome gfx. Dinosaur game looks insane good
Man, your videos make my day better !!! :D
23:00
Monster hunter with guns?
Dino Crisis 4 with a dog?
Prehistoric dragon dogma?
XD
I finally figured out what’s up with your content. Every vid you make is full-on liminal aesthetic, from the subject matter to the cards to your voice delivery.
You might honestly be the most naturally-unique UA-camr alive
Man i really love your channel you talk about things other people dont do it , and you use a very interesting presentation , really i am glad you share this , i always want to heard opinions about these little things , weird games , rare gems , and very curius era games , my favorite video of ps3/360 era game or asthetic i love because i think the same (english is not my native language)
The thought that xbox would embrace more titles like bmx xxx is what sold me on it.
i think this is your best video ever!! as a big og xbox fan im greatfull for dinosaur hunter and magatama as i never heard about them before. Maybe not japanese only but i feel Phantom Dust and Otogui games deserved a part on this video. My recommendations for maybe a part 2 of Xbox obscure games. Im having a blast from your channel lately so i leave you my sub and my best wishes for you and your channel. Cheers from a TRUE GAMER not an "acid pit gamer" from Argentina lol.
btw rent a hero looks like a complete remake from the sega genesis one. You can find the rom translated nowadays and it has the exact same beginning with the house party, the bimbows and dad jokes, the same dad godzilla suit and you get the costume thge same way. Only on the sega genesis version you have a sega genesis in your room hehe
Watching the ladder scene I'm sitting here, 'do it.... DO IT.... JUST DO IT ALREADY PLAY THE DAMN SONG!!'. Well played, ThorHighHeels!
17:39 loved the Joel cameo
coming through with another banger. thanks!
You using ffXII music makes me extrrmemly happy for the rpg segment
5:26 Sophistifuture
Another great video. Always love the work you do.
“Post-Dreamcast Dreamcast games” is the perfect word for a type of game I’ve mentally taken note of but never even thought of put words to
I live for these videos, thanks dude.
That guy from muzzle flash that said this is just the beginning sounds just like the voice actor for Marvin in the original Resident Evil 2. Dear God it might be him!
15:20 breakdown was a weird game to get used to. still fun
29:00 The BGM here is on the tip of my tongue but I can't for the life of me remember
Gotta love how the guys hands desync with the rungs in that muzzle flash ladder climb
i love it when u upload thanks for another banger king
Damn i love that 90s angular anime aesthetic
Loving the Coma store and the DDT vending machines in these games
Absolutely loved this video! The america shenmue game is just an absolute gem, didn't even know I existed so I'm glad it got put on my radar 🙌
I didn't expect that off-hand comment about Gotcha Force. That game was my childhood.
What is the name of the track at 32:08 and is that a track included in your albums ?
Was that Avalanche Reviews you dropped in the acid bath?
Innocent tears sounds a lot like Black Matrix. I like it.
0:37
Loving the shelves that are about to break in half