G'Day everyone……. Its your interim host here once again…….. Its a raining Saturday here right now…….…… Hope you all had a good Easter…… Did not do much as the weather has again been crap…… 4 walks this week have been rained out and ive become a hermit living inside 24/7……. So ive been exercising on the treadmill…… And keep trying to entertain the dog inside as best I can…..


Its not sleeping….. Its recharging…….

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

Arcade

Rabbit Punch (1987 V-System) - Shoot 'em up - Horizontal
Rabio Lepus (1987 V-System) - Shoot 'em up - Horizontal - Japanese version of Rabbit Punch


Console

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (2003 Tecmo) - Microsoft Xbox - Sports (Beach Volleyball)
Final Fight 2 (1993 Capcom) - Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Beat 'em up
Gran Turismo 4 (2004 Sony) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
Jumping Flash! (1995 Sony) - Sony PlayStation - Platformer
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC (1999 Midway) - Sega Dreamcast - Sports (Basketball)
Streets of Rage 2 (1992 Sega) - Sega Mega Drive - Beat 'em up


PC

NASCAR '15 Victory Edition (2015 Eutechnyx) - Steam - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 Motorsport Games) - Steam - Sports (Racing)
Doom (1993 id Software) - GZDoom - First Person Shooter


NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona - Dick Trickle Career: Part 10

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 10 of 10 here at Baxter Fairgrounds Speedway……..

Baxter Fairgrounds Speedway is one of the biggest tracks in the Weekly Dirt Racing Series measuring at half a mile long…… This track has fairly low banking at 8 degrees and requires a lot of horsepower…… It is also a very wide track with lots of room to work with……

Josh Ginter comes to Baxter with a commanding 67 point championship lead over Dick Trickle….. But Dick wont give this championship up without a fight……. He won last week at Anoka and he could very well do it again here…...

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



Baxter Fairgrounds Speedway


Dick Trickle at the track ready to race…….

I caught up with Dick Trickle as he was unloading his car from the trailer….. I asked him about the rumours going around the pit lane that he was seen with an engine supplier during the week....…

“Well the rumours are true Murray…… I did indeed see an engine supplier and I bought myself a new engine…… If I am to have any chance of winning this championship I needed to buy a new engine for this race…… I need to win the race and then hope that Josh [Ginter] has a few problems and finishes 10th or worse…… Very unlikely….. But anything can happen in motorsport as you know Murray”



New Engine

So there you have it straight from the Dicks mouth……. Hes going all in for a chance of winning this championship……. This is going to be a crackerjack of a final round……… Stay tuned….. Practice and qualifying are just around the corner…….

Practice was a good time for Dick…. He ran in the new engine and spent a lot of time working on the gear ratios to get the optimal performance from the new beast…….

Qualifying was also a good time to be Dick…… He set a great time…… 21.658….. To put himself 3rd in qualifying……. That will have him start 2nd in Heat 1……. with championship rival Josh Ginter right beside him who qualified in 1st…….


Qualifying Results……..

The green flag dropped for the 5 lap Heat 1 race…… Josh Ginter got a terrible start as he seemed to miss a gear…… The pack behind him had to part ways to avoid the slow starting Ginter……. Dick Trickle squirted off into the distance and was never headed as he won the Heat race to claim his first ever pole position for the A Main race……

Josh Ginter managed to recover some of the lost ground from the bad start and crossed the line in 3rd place…...


Heat 1 Results…….


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

Dick Trickle lead the field to the green flag for the first time…… The 75 lap A Main Final started and Dick got the jump on the pack…..

Heading into the first corner Dick was leading when chaos broke out behind him as the #424 of Joe Fazioli ran into the back of #434 Erik Truet…… Lots of cars got caught up in the wreck….. Including championship leader #408 Josh Ginter….. Who ran into Fazioli before being spun by the #425 of Matthew Kato and was then t-boned by the #456 of David Brandt……

Josh Ginter had a badly damaged car but was not going to give up and soldiered on desperate to win the championship……

Dick Trickle on the other hand had a good lead over #428 Alan Andersen……. Until he hit lapped traffic who were being very hard on Dick…… This allowed Andersen to catch up and take the lead briefly for 1 lap before Trickle was able to manoeuvrer around the lapped traffic and pin Anderson behind another slow car……

From that point on it was plain sailing for Dick as he was never headed….. But Andersen was keeping him honest….. The gap was never more than 2.5 seconds…..

As the race progressed the cars damaged in the first corner wreck started to suffer mechanical failures were forced to retire….. 5 drivers Including Erik Truet had to retire….. Alan Anderson also suffered a blown engine 8 laps from the end…… Handing Trickle the easy win who had lapped everyone else at that point…..

Josh Ginter benefited greatly from the carnage and picked up many free spots from the DNFs…… And was able to nurse the car to the chequered in 2nd place…… With Matthew Kato in 3rd…..

Dick Trickle did everything he could…… Bought a new engine…… Started on pole…. Led the most laps……. But he was not able to stop Josh Ginter from becoming the 2002 Weekly Dirt Series Champion……. As Josh wrapped up the championship with a 47 point lead over Dick Trickle…….. And Matthew Kato a further 67 points behind Dick rounding out the top 3…..

After the race I caught up with a very dejected Dick…... “Its like getting kicked in the balls….. I did everything I could Murray……. I thought I might have been in with half a chance after the first lap wreck……. But Josh [Ginter] was able to keep going……. Even with the damage he suffered he was still able to bring that car home in 2nd……. Congratulations to Josh…… But he better enjoy that trophy while he can….. Because im coming back next year to take it off him……”

I asked Dick what he was going to do during the off season…. “Well after I clean up the mess I made….. I will regroup and make a plan of attack to bring the championship trophy to Dick Trickle Motorsports…… Ive already had a few primary sponsorship offers for next season…. So you better believe I will be back and better than ever……”

Dick still celebrated his race victory…... The only way he knows how……. By spraying everyone in the pit area and getting them all wet and sticky……. With champagne…..

Left Turn Heaven is not done either…… As we have a series of special off-season shows to keep you up to date on all the latest off-season news from the Weekly Dirt Racing Series…….

This is Murray Eastlake reporting for Left Turn Heaven……. Josh Ginter is your 2002 Weekly Dirt Racing Series Champion…… And until next time its goodbye from me….


A Main Results……


Winnings……


NASCAR Heat Weekly……


2002 Weekly Dirt Racing Series Championship Standings after round 10…...








First lap A Main wreck………


Final Fight vs Streets of Rage: Part 2


Final Fight 2


Streets of Rage 2

Final Fight 2 Its a much better game all round….. The graphics are really nice…… The gameplay has been sped up nicely……. And is now TWO FREAKING PLAYER compatible…. Yes….. Multiplayer co-op is in Final Fight 2……..

The storyline is again…… Very simple…… April O’Neil has been kidnapped and its up to the Ninja Turt……. *sigh* wrong game…… *shuffles papers*…….. Guys fiancee Rena and her father have been kidnapped and its kidnapped and its up to Mike Haggar, Carlos and Maki to rescue them…..

The move set has been expanded slightly…… But its not a big enough change……. There are still only 3 enemies on screen at any one time…… So that problem still exists……. The controls are still very simple and the game feels nice to play……

The music is OK at best……. But the sound effects and voices are very nice……

This game takes place all over the world as Mike, Carlos and Maki track down the Mad Gear Gang…… The levels looks nice…… Could have been better though…...Lots of brown……. This must have inspired the likes of Call of Duty and BattleField…….

There are iconic landmarks in the levels so you know what country you are in but really…… They are very interchangeable……

Still they do look nice and are a marked improvement over the Metro City levels of the previous game…… AND THERES AN ELEVATOR LEVEL!!!!!!!

The character sprites are very nice and detailed….. The animations are improved but are still a bit choppy…..

Overall this is an improvement in nearly way over the first game……. But can it beat Streets of Rage 2??????

Streets of Rage Short answer is no…… It cant………. The long answer is…… Streets of Rage 2 is one of the best Beat ‘em ups…… Period……..

The graphics are improved with larger more detailed sprites and improved animations that are now even smoother than Dick Trickles driving…….

The gameplay is great sold beat ‘em up action with 2 new special moves per character….. And the controls are still very tight like the in the previous game…… The game feels great to play…..

The storyline is quite lacklustre and is a typical beat ‘em up affair……. April O’Neil has been kidnapped and its up to the Ninja Turt……. *sigh* Dammit…… *shuffles papers…… AGAIN*……. Adam has been kidnapped and its up to Axel, Blaze, Max and Eddie to rescue him...…

I swear its just the same god damn story with the names changed to protect the innocent…… Its like an episode of Unsolved Mysteries……. Just without Robert Stacks awesome voice…..

The levels are really nice….. And looks fantastic……. Unlike the Call of Duty Gunfight at the Sewerage Corral brown in Final Fight 2…… They have gone for a bright and colourful neon 80’s look…. With the big hair….. Bright clothes and neon lights…….

The music is awesome…… And it shows just how good the Mega Drive sound chip can be when the right people work with it…… The music plays straight to the strengths of the MD sound chip and its a pleasure to listen too……

And that is the long answer……..

Overall Streets of Rage again beats the crap out of Final Fight and its not even close…… While FF2 is an improvement in every way over the first game…… SoR2 is one of the best Beat ‘em ups period….. And also improved on the first game in every way…...

The Scores
Final Fight – 0
Streets of Rage - 2


Final Fight 2


Streets of Rage 2


Rabio Lepus

I dont have anything to say…… I just wanted to show off these screenshots…… Which are ONLY in the Japanese version…… So I highly recommed the Japanese version of the game….




Rabio Lepus

Next week I will be doing whatever the weather allows me to do…… It looks like another craptacular week ahead…….

As for gaming there will be more hardcore Dick Trickle action in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. The final round of the Final Fight vs Streets of Rage mini series……. And I will continue my stupid quest of making a setup for every car at every track in NASCAR Heat 5……

Current setup checklist…...
Cup: 18 of 30
Xfinity: 18 of 30
Truck: 19 of 31
Dirt: 9 of 9

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

Now for my bad joke of the week……
Stop thinking that your ugly...... Yeah your ugly....... But stop thinking about it......
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*