G'Day everyone……. Its your interim host here once again…….. Hope you are all having a good Easter…….. Its a rainy Saturday here right now…….…… Been a rather quiet week the weather has been quite nice and sunny…… Good Friday was quiet……. Just saw my parents for lunch and that was really it……

Thanks to Arcadius-8606 for talking me into it…… I got around to setting up PPSSPP…….. Sounds like im trying to summon a cat when saying that……. So yes…… There will now be PlayStation Portable games on the list of games to play…….. Its always expanding and never gets shorter no matter how many games I play……. Because……. This is the list that doesnt ends....... Yes it goes on and on my friend...... Some people…. Started writing it not knowing what it was…… And theyll continue writing it forever just because this is the list that doesnt ends...…


Taking a nap after exercising…….

As for gaming this week in Emulationville I played…….

Arcade

The Punisher (1993 Capcom) - Beat 'em up


Console

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (2003 Tecmo) - Microsoft Xbox - Sports (Beach Volleyball)
Final Fight (1991 Capcom) - Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Beat 'em up
Gran Turismo 4 (2004 Sony) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
IndyCar Series 2005 (2005 Codemasters) - Microsoft Xbox - Sports (Racing)
IndyCar Series 2005 (2005 Codemasters) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max (2006 Capcom) - Sony PlayStation Portable
Streets of Rage (1991 Sega) - Sega Mega Drive - Beat 'em up


PC

NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 Motorsport Games) - Steam - Sports (Racing)


NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona - Dick Trickle Career: Part 9

Hello and welcome to Left Turn Heaven….. Im Murray Eastlake and today im going to be bringing you all the action from the 2002 Weekly Dirt Racing Series: Round 9 of 10 here at Anoka City Speedway……..

Anoka City Speedway is a its a very tight and technical flat track with only 6 degrees of banking…… The racing groove is barely two lanes wide and deep thick mud awaits anyone who sides off the racing line…... Mark Hunter won here in Round 4 earlier this year…..

With just two races left in the championship…… Josh Ginter is looking for a good result here to cement the championship for himself…… Meanwhile Matthew Kato and Dick Trickle are going to do anything and everything to take the championship fight to the final round……...

Dont touch the sets…… Dont touch the dials…… You wont want to miss a single moment of the 2002 Weekly Dirt Racing Series action…….



Anoka City Speedway


Dick Trickle at the track ready to race…….

During practice Dick was out and running some laps….. The car felt good and solid…… Dick was trying his hardest not to slip out and end up in the mud……. Some more tweaks to the setup later and it was time for qualifying….

During qualifying Dick made a mistake and ran a little wide on the exit of turn 2 and put two wheels in the mud that slowed down his lap time…… But he was still able to qualify in 7th place…….

That will put Dick up into Heat 1 starting in 4th….. Championship contender Matthew Kato still start 2nd in Heat 1 and Championship leader Josh Ginter will start 5th in Heat 1…….

All the contenders are in Heat 1……. This should be a crackerjack heat race…. LET THE FIREWORKS COMMENCE!!!….


Qualifying Results……..

The 5 lap Heat race started as per usual with Dick getting an excellent start……. It was 3 wide into turn 1 and Dick was able to keep it pointed in the right direction……. Mark Hunter who started on pole ended up wide and into the mud ending his chances of a Heat 1 victory……

Matthew Kato was chasing Dick hard……. And he was not disappointed when he caught Dick either as he was able to tease Dick by looking to the outside and then switching back to the inside….. Trickle was not able to defend and Kato took the lead at the end of lap 1……

And that was it….. Dick came 2nd……. With Kato taking the win……

Championship leader Josh Ginter finished 6th and was relegated to the B Main and had to race his way into the A Main……. Which he did but he would start at the back of the pack in the A Main…...


Heat 1 Results…….


Dick Trickle lined up ready to start the A Main…...

It doesnt take much to get Dick excited as the green flag dropped for the 63 lap A Main Final……. Dick was off like a shot…… And had the lead as they exited turn 2…… The pole sitter Matthew Kato lost control of the car and speared down the track ending up with a hard lick against the inside wall….. Damaging his car and putting him well out of contention for the race and he nursed home a badly damaged car to 9th place……. All but ending his championship hopes….

Dick lead for the first few laps until Josh Ginter worked his way through the field and he caught Dick in no time….. Dick knew he couldnt hold on for 50+ laps so he let Ginter past….. Sitting in a very comfortable 2nd place Dick just keep circulating and keeping out of trouble……

That was until Josh Ginter got caught up in lapped traffic…… As John Rafter spun in front of Ginter and with nowhere to go Josh t-boned John…… As Ginter tried to get back on the track Dick couldnt believe his eyes as he passed the #408……

Not only had Ginter lost the lead but he had enough damage to take him out of contention for the win and slipped back down to finish the race in 4th place……

Dick had a comfortable 10 second lead over Ralph Higgins…. But Ralph kept chipping away at that lead lap after lap……. After seeing what happened to Ginter….. Dick was extra curious when going through the lapped traffic…… He would rather lose a few seconds here and there than get caught up in a wreck like Ginter did…...

This meant that with just 10 laps to go the lead was now just under a second…… And it kept closing….. Fast…..

Two laps left and Higgins was was pounding Dick but Dick was not giving an inch…… He saw the white flag to signify its the final lap and he was determined he was going to get to the chequered flag first…….

Ralph rubbed up against the side of Dick exiting the final turn and it came right down to the wire…… But Dick was just a few inches bigger than Ralph…….

The official difference between the two after 63 laps of racing was 0.052 of a second……… The closest finish ever seen in the Weekly Dirt Racing Series……

[Sadly the PlayStation2 cant show full length race replays and the replay cuts out after so many laps I cant get any good screenshots of the finish]

Straight after the race and joyful Dick told me…… “Murray…... I told you last week anything could happen here at Anoka and here I am as the winner with the maximum 110 points towards the championship…… And with that speedy bastard Ginter in 4th place……. This gives me a slim chance at the championship……..”

“As for Matthew Kato……. He was not in the top 4 and I have not been able see the full running order but that should put us 2nd in the championship…… The car was great…… Just a tick down on power but she handled really well on this flat track….. I was really worried this was going to be a disaster of a weekend…… But this under powered and stock shock baby punched well and truly above her weight class today…..”

“Now its onto Baxter and man that is going to be another hard track to win at…… Being a horsepower track will put this car to the test……. “

I asked Dick what was going through his head when he saw Josh Ginter off the track…… “YOU BLOODY BEAUTY!!!…….. Thats what I was thinking Murray…… I couldnt believe what I was seeing…… When I let Josh past me on the track I thought that was it…… I had already mentally finished 2nd in the race……. Then about 20 or so laps later I come around turn 3 and 4 and there he is on the side of the track with John [Rafter]…... And Murray let me tell you……. You couldnt wipe the smile of this Dicks face….. Im gonna need a smoke to celebrate this one…..”

Dick then celebrated the win by leaving everyone around the pit area wet and sticky after spraying them all with champaign…...

The 2002 Weekly Dirt Racing Series now heads back to Baxter Fairgrounds Speedway……. In round 5… Erik Truet got the win at Baxter with Josh Ginter getting 2nd…… Matthew Kato took 3rd and Dick was in 4th……

The final round of the 2002 Weekly Dirt Racing Series is finally upon us…….. 67 points separates Josh Ginter and Dick Trickle…… Dick is still in with a chance…… But even if Dick gets the win……. Josh just needs to finish in 9th place or better in the A Main to secure the championship……

Tune in to Left Turn Heaven next week to make sure you dont miss any of the action of the 10th and final round of the 2002 Weekly Dirt Racing Series…..

This is Murray Eastlake reporting……. And until next week its goodbye from me….


A Main Results……


Winnings……


NASCAR Heat Weekly……


2002 Weekly Dirt Racing Series Championship Standings after round 9 of 10……
Dick Trickle is now 2nd in the standings…..







Dirty Dick A Main Action………


Final Fight vs Streets of Rage: Part 1


Final Fight


Streets of Rage

Final Fight was up first as ive never played the SNES version before…… And if you dont like the arcade version……. You wont like the SNES version either…… This game is really not good…… Its so slow and clunky…… Three enemies on the screen at once but you end up battling the same amount of guys as per the console version…… So theres A LOT of waiting around while more bad guys walk onto the screen……

The Story is the same as the first game…… Mike Haggar is the Mayor of Metro City…… His daughter April O’Neil has been kidnapped and only the Ninja Tur……… wait……. Wrong game…….. *Shuffles papers*……. His daughter Jessica has been kidnapped and only Mike Haggar, Cody and Guy can rescue her……

It follows the arcade rather well…… But there is 1 entire level missing……. And its the elevator level……. A beat ‘em up without an elevator level is like a First Person Shooter without a sewer level……. Its just not cricket…..

The Music is ok but the game play is so boring and slow…… Its a real slog to play through and feels like it takes an age to play…… Even though there is an entire level missing from the game……

Oh and its one player only……. NO multiplayer co-op……… ugh…… Avoid this game…….

Streets of Rage was up next…… I have played this before…… And this is such a better game all round…… The music is nice…… The gameplay is much faster and snappy……. More moves…… The animations are as smooth as Dick Trickles driving…….

The storyline is slightly different……. This time three ex police officers turned vigilantes are going to stop the evil crime syndicate BEFORE they kidnap April O’Neil……

The screen clearing special attack is really annoying though…… Push the button and wait for the camera to pan to the police car and watch the guy fire the rockets…….. Then watch as the camera pans back to the action and then watching some rather lacklustre explosions and then all the guys bar you are dead…….. It takes so long it would be quicker to just die and repsawn……. It really does slow down the gameplay to a crawl…… Sure you dont get many of those special attacks…… But I did everything I could to avoid using them at all…….

Streets of Rage just moves faster than Final Fight…… Has much better and snappier fighting with more moves……… Has much better music…… More enemies on screen at once……. Has two player co-op……. Has an elevator level…….. and more weapons, smoother animation and you are not saving April O’Neil……

This round is a super easy victory for Streets of Rage…… Final Fight just didnt stand a chance with what a lacklustre port that game really is……..

The Scores
Final Fight – 0
Streets of Rage - 1


Final Fight


Streets of Rage

Next week will be rather quiet…… Easter Sunday and Monday I wont be doing anything special…… Besides that I think it will be all the usual shit… And of course training the dog….

As for gaming there will be more hardcore Dick Trickle action in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. Round 2 of the Final Fight vs Streets of Rage mini series……. And since it is Easter I should play a Easter/Rabbit themed game…..

Well thats it from me…… Have a good week everyone……

Now for my bad joke of the week……
If you ever think your job is pointless........ Remember theres a guy in Germany putting indicators on BMWs.......
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*