I had first played DISTANCE many years ago through my Cousin's Steam library, back when the game was still in early access. I mostly have my fun messing around with the Steam Workshop levels and the Transmogrify mode, which allowed seeds of levels to be generated in a way similar to MINECRAFT.

Recently I actually went through the effort of uh, actually playing through the campaign of DISTANCE. It was awesome! I had never quite played a Car Game like DISTANCE before, and I wanted more. I learn that NITRONIC RUSH is the spiritual predecessor of DISTANCE, made as a student project in the early 2010s.

I did not expect to like NITRONIC RUSH more! But why is this? The student project vs The Kickstarter project would make you think the latter would be more enjoyable. Make no mistake: both games are masterpieces, and I don't think the Kickstarter is why I like DISTANCE less. DISTANCE is still more polished, more customizable, more moddable. Yet I find it less fun. I feel like NITRONIC RUSH was made to maximize enjoyment and experimentation in a small Container of Game. Going through NITRONIC RUSH takes a fraction of the time it takes in DISTANCE, but this means that you learn concepts quicker, less is more in this case as the level design pushes these concepts farther than DISTANCE does.

There's also some things that are just better and leave me baffled that they removed these things in DISTANCE. NITRONIC RUSH has a more intuitive control scheme, and the drift option being on the right analog stick makes going through corners so much more fun. Drifting isn't really a thing in DISTANCE, at least not nearly as prominently. That's a major movement option here. I also find that steering here is less realistic, which helps because you yourself are in a vehicle that goes much faster. There is this exhileration to NITRONIC RUSH that doesn't exist in DISTANCE, at least not in story mode. Everything from the level design, UI, even just things like how quickly you can get back to the game after dying: It's all swift and gets you to the point immediately and that makes a big difference! NITRONIC RUSH captures me in a way that DISTANCE didn't.

It also has some really intense rumble! I love intense rumble man, make my hands and body quake and you already got a lot of my heart! Still, play both please

Basically, NITRONIC RUSH resembles OUTRUN more than DISTANCE... so of course I like it more

There's many sorts of D-Pads out there but generally speaking, you can categorize them into two: Nintendo D-Pads and SEGA D-Pads. Nintendo reflects the home and SEGA reflects the arcade, and this can be see right down to the controllers. Nintendo's D-Pads are more about precise tapping and holding, while SEGAs D-Pads are more about frenetic rolling. Mario is amazing on a Nintendo D-Pad, but Street Fighter and Ikaruga aren't. Kirby is... Fine on a SEGA D-Pad, but certainly not as good as with a Super Nintendo D-Pad.

Mushihimesama, a shmup, is a game that I have elected to play with an Xbox Series S/X controller, and upon beating this game several times I can say confidently that the Xbox Series controller has the best D-Pad ever made, the first hybrid Nintendo-SEGA D-Pad. Precise enough for the 2D platformer, but frenetic enough for the shmup. It's perfect. It is the definitive controller for playing: Platformers, fighting games, puzzle games, and shmups! Pretty darn good!

Mushihimesama is a real good game, and has an even better soundtrack(s)

"Limitation breeds innovation". It's the oldest cliche in the book when talking about video-games of the Retro Variety. It's true, and I believe it. If all the solutions, the late-night, sweat-filled hack-job work-arounds that make the impossible possible are good enough, it's those limitations that can be part of the artistry too. Not just the dream.

What happens when those limitations are taken away? Should they be? Is it messing not just with art, but history to do so? These are important questions, students of art have to grapple with them especially in mediums only as new as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration.

The story of the Sonic games on Game Gear and Master System (at least, until Triple Trouble) is not just one of that limitation, but it is also one of avoiding imitation. Imitation was only another limitation in a world where they sure as hell didn't need another. Instead, another path was forged, forgoing even the chalk and numbers that was the last vestige tying the knot of the SEGA ecosystem. Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble was and always will be a Game Gear game. It couldn't have been a Genesis game.

Noah Copeland dares dream of a world where it was anyway. It's been said that the best way to predict the future is to create it. Mr. Copeland predicts a past by also creating it, but with the respect and finesse to not forget Triple Trouble's roots. It doesn't come out of nowhere, it is rooted in something. Yes, it is clearly a Sonic game that is taking after Sonic 3 & Knuckles, turning Triple Trouble into a sequel of that. But if you're going to imagine a past, you better make it believable. Mr. Copeland and his team understood this, it wasn't enough to just be the Sonic game that all Sonic fans would want to play. It convinced me. For the first time that I had played a Sonic fan-game, and I have played many, I had felt that this really could have existed. Sonic 3 & Knuckles, one of the best games ever made, maybe could have been followed up this way. Had it existed, it maybe would have been considered one of the best Sonic games. Had it existed, maybe I would think it's the best Sonic game ever made. Noah Copeland and his team turned the dream into reality; it is my favorite Sonic game ever made.

This is not just a prettier version of that old Game Gear game. Perhaps that would have been enough or preferable for many, but to me that would not have been faithful to the spirit of Triple Trouble, the blazing spirit to make the impossible possible. It's that same spirit more than anything else that Triple Trouble 16-bit handles with grace.

In 1994, a dream came true. In 2022, a dream came true.

Idk if somebody has made a video essay using Alien Hominid as a demonstration of the true value of Metal Slug's spritework, but if not somebody should!

It just ain't very readable, man. Metal Slug controls very similarly but feels a lot better just because of the visual clarity

It's a charming little game though, and it’s historically significant. The minigames are frankly the part I enjoy more, so them being included is real good fun. It does remind me that I'm not as good as mashing as I thought I was though...