G'Day everyone……. Its your interim host here once again…….. Its a sunny Saturday here right now…….…… This week has been rather smooth…… The weather has been great all week…… Finished off the yard work and went on walks…… Took Natasha out again to get use to the cars and trucks and sounds and people which was cool…… Also did more puppy school….. There are two funny puppy related stories this week…….

1. The woman doing the puppy school was talking about socialising your dogs with kids....... And she said you dont have kids do you..... "OHHH HELLLLLL NOOOO" I said...... And she said well you should try going to a school and play the playground to get Natasha use to kids........ "How long do you think I could stand outside of a school or near a kids playgrounds looking the way I do and holding a 14 week old puppy before im arrested???"...... actually thats a good point she replied.... you probably shouldnt try that.....…

2. I took Natasha out for an outing and I was carrying her around town getting use to all the noises and sights and other people…... (she hasnt had all her shots so she cant walk around town yet…..) And a young woman came up and started patting her…… And she said “awwww how cute I want to take her home with me……” I replied “we are a package deal….. If you take her home you have to take me as well…..” She screwed up her face and said “Ewwwww no…….” and walked away…… Good to know ive still got it

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

Arcade

Eco Fighters (1993 Capcom) - Shoot 'em up - Horizontal
Metal Slug - Super Vehicle-001 (1996 SNK) - Run and gun


Console

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (2003 Tecmo) - Microsoft Xbox - Sports (Beach Volleyball)
Gran Turismo 4 (2004 Sony) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)


PC

NASCAR '15 Victory Edition (2015 Eutechnyx) - Steam - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 Motorsport Games) - Steam - Sports (Racing)
Postal 2 (2003 Running With Scissors) – Steam – First Person Shooter


The Dick Trickle Racing Career: Part 12
NASCAR Dirt to Daytona: Part 12
Weekly Dirt Racing Series Season 2: Race 1

Intro music…... Hello and welcome to Left Turn Heaven..... Im Murray Eastlake and today im going to be bringing you all the action from the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series: Round 1 of 10 here at Dundas County Fairgrounds.......

Dundas County Fairgrounds is a 0.375 mile oval with 13 degrees of banking….. Being quite narrow the walls almost feel as though they reach out and grab you…… The narrow nature of the track also makes overtaking harder…… Turning this into a real bull ring as drivers run short of patience and tempers start to flair….. Sparks are sure to fly here today…..

As the defending Weekly Dirt Racing Series Champion…... Josh Ginter has a massive target on his back….. All eyes will be on him this this weekend…… Can he prove it wasnt a fluke and defend the championship???……

Then we have Dick Trickle who won the last two races last season and put the entire grid on notice during his exclusive sit down interview here on Left Turn Heaven last week about dominating the championship like we have never seen before…… Can he back up his strong words???……

Can Matthew Kato or one of the other very skilled drivers sneak under the raider to be a top contender???….. These and many more questions will be answered during the upcoming weeks…….

The stadium section is packed…… You can feel the electricity in the air….. If you miss this you better be dead or in jail…... And if you are in jail…… Break out!!!…...

Dont touch the sets...... Dont touch the dials...... You wont want to miss a single moment of the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series action....… Practice and qualifying are coming up right now…...



Dundas County Fairgrounds…...


Dick Trickle at the track ready to race.… Showing off that new Infograms sponsorship…..

Practice was a tricky time for Dick Trickle…… With all 20 cars on this small track at the same time finding space to get a decent run was much harder for Dick than last year when he was so slow…… This made setting up the car tricky as he was not able to put together enough clear laps to check the engine temperatures for the gearing he was using……

Qualifying rolled around….. And Dick Trickle showed us what he was capable off in clean air as he set a time of 18.526 to put himself in third place for Heat 1….. Worryingly for Dick….. He was almost .8 of a second off the pole time set by Erik Truet…..


Qualifying Results........

As the green flag dropped for the 5 lap heat race……. Dick jumped to a good lead heading into the first turn….. He held the lead through the turn and after the exit of turn two he was gone…… No one was able to catch him……. Pole sitter Erik Truet dropped to third….. And the defending champion Josh Ginter recovered from yet another poor qualifying performance moving up the field from seventh to finish second…… Showing he has great race pace as per last year…….


Heat 1 Results.......


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

Dick Trickle started on pole for the 50 lap A Main Final……. As the green flag dropped he got off to a good start…. Dick stuffed himself up the inside to secure first place exiting turn two….. But Mark Hunter was not going to give up and tried to stuff it up the inside of Dick entering turn three….. “Oh no you dont” says Dick as he slams the door shut….. THEY TOUCH THEY TOUCH AND HUNTER GETS ALL KINDS OF SIDEWAYS…… he saves it but loses three or four car lengths as Dick squirts off into the distance……... What a great start to the race…...

Dick had a trouble free first 10 or so laps but Ted Finger was slowly catching…… Every lap that gap would decrease until Dick could feel Finger rub up against him entering turn 3…… This was just enough to push Dick out of the slot and allow Finger to slide through for the lead…… That lasted for one lap….. As Dick was able to skilfully use the lapped traffic to trap Finger and get the lead back……

This time Dick Trickle was never headed again…… He was not the fastest man on track…. But Dick was hard enough and wide enough that he was not able to be passed….. Giving Dick his first win of the season in the opening round…….

Joe Fazioli was the only man to really challenge Dick…… But he came unstuck as he was trailing by less than half a second when Sam Petersons car was stopped in turn four…… Dick managed to avoid the stricken Peterson but Fazioli was not so lucky…… He swerved to try and miss Sam but he clipped the stationary car and spun himself out of contention…….

The defending champion Josh Ginter had a day to forget….. Finishing tenth in the A Main….. Three laps down…… And was never in contention for the win……

Matthew Kato had a very uneventful race to finish second without really doing anything…… All the excitement was happening in front of him and he was just picking off the places from the fallen cars…… Good consistent drivng by Kato but not much to write about…...

After the race I congratulated Dick and asked for his thoughts on the race “Thanks Murray…… The race was harder for ol Dick than the final results would show…… I had a good battle Ted [Finger] until I was able to get him trapped behind lapped traffic…… And then Joe [Fazioli] was pushing me real hard…… But then he hit that parked car and I was just fast enough to keep the gap steady between myself and Matthew [Kato] for the remainder of the race……. A suspension upgrade would do this car the world of good *pats the bonnet*…...”

“I hear Josh [Ginter] had a terrible day so that helps us for sure with the championship…… Any time a top contender has a bad day is a good day for me……. Off to Kenyon Valley Speedway now and I hope to get the win there too…..”

I asked Dick about his secondary sponsors now that the contracts have expired….. “I can now tell you that the new TV Panel sponsor is Togo Building Supply” and the new Quarter Panel sponsor is Greenwitch Haulers…. Thank you to both for sponsoring my car….. As for the Rear Quarter Panel….. Im happy to say that even though my contract with Senor Taco has expired by they have agreed to stay on until I find a replacement sponsor…… You know what they say Murray….. Dicks love tacos…….”

Dick Trickle celebrated his win the only way he knows how…… Making everyone wet and sticky……. By getting that champagne spraying…..

Next week the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series heads to Kenyon Valley Speedway…… Can Dick Trickle start the year with two wins???…… Can Matthew Kato keep the pressure on???….. Can Josh Ginter bounce back from a terrible race and return to form???…… Find out next week…. Only on Left Turn Heaven…..

This is Murray Eastlake reporting for Left Turn Heaven..... And until next time its goodbye from me....


A Main Results.....


Winnings....


NASCAR Heat Weekly....


2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series Championship Standings after round 1....






First lap A Main action....


Eco Fighters



For Earth Day I played Eco Fighters…….. And I learnt that I would rather watch the world burn…..

The gameplay is ok…… The gimmick is that the weapon is on a pole that can be rotated around the ship…… So in theory you can fly in a different direction to where you are shooting…… Its a somewhat interesting gimmick…….. In theory…... But as per usual the bosses are designed to exploit this and they have a tiny area that can be damaged and you need to be in a very particular spot and have the pole aimed just right to do any damage…… So in reality you dont have have much freedom at all…..

Controls are again very simple……. 1 button rotates the pole clockwise……. 1 button rotates the pole counter clockwise……. And 1 button shoots…….. And thats really it…….. The controls do feel very good and responsive……. Rotating the pole does take some getting use too……..

The graphics are nice for a shoot ‘em up…… Very bright and colourful…… Which is very typical of a Capcom game….. The bosses are total quarter munchers and take forever to kill….. But they do look nice and as per any half decent shoot ‘em up talking up more than half of a the screen at time…...

The plot is very simple……. April O’Neil has been sold and its up to you to sav…….. I mean…… Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries…… The nameless planet of April O’Neil has been sold and is being sucked dry of all its natural resources and minerals by Goyolk K.K……. And its up YOU….. With the help of April O’Neils famous scientist Dr. Moly to save April O’Neil before she becomes a “Dead Sphere”……. And perhaps you can solve the mystery of what does K.K. stand for and is there another missing K out there……. Somewhere????

The sounds are serviceable at best….. There is NOTHING memorable at all about the music…… And the sound effects are….. There……. Again is nothing bad…… Just totally generic and forgettable…… In fact they are so forgettable I forgot to even mentioned to sounds in this review when I was first typing it up in Libre Office…….

This game is flat out “Meh”….. There is no heart or soul in the game….. Its as empty as Top Hunter: Roddy And Cathy…….

I will say it is more fun than gluing your hand to a road……. But it is less fun than throwing orange powder on a billiard table…..

Nothing about the game is terrible or even really that bad…… Its just a by the numbers shoot ‘em up and it is just as soulless as a paint by numbers painting…...


Eco Fighters


Metal Slug - Super Vehicle-001



For ANZAC Day I played Metal Slug - Super Vehicle-001…….. A fantastic run and gun game……

The game play is super simple…… Run to the right and shoot everything that moves…… Its really that simple on the surface but it is so well done that it really doesnt need any stupid gimmicks…... Like rotating poles…… From time to time you will be able to jump into a tank that is the titular Metal Slug……. And blast your way through the rebel scum like your Kevin Nash blasting through the New Blood….

The graphics are great…… Very colourful and detailed as you would expect from the Neo-Geo…… It has a lot of charm and the animations are also very well done…..

The controls are again really simple but really damn good…… A button shoots, B button jumps and C button throws a grenade……. The D button is not used in this game……. The controls are very tight and responsive…… Its a very satisfying game to play……

The storyline is…… Yet again….. Simple…. No…. April O’Neil has not been kidnapped……. Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries…… The Rebel Army led by Donald Morden plans to bring in the New World Order And its up to Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving from the Peregrine Falcon Strike Force to stop them…… And perhaps you can solve a mystery of where Donald Morden is hiding and how he managed to sign Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to lead his New World Order……

The sound and music are top notch…… This is one area that SNK really excelled at…… And its the same here…… The music is very memorable……. Has a big orchestra feel about it……. With every level having a really nice theme song……. The sound effects are really good too….. The guns sound nice and meaty…… The screams of pain sound…. Well…… Painful…….. And it really does help to complete the package…..

Metal Slug is not only one of the best Neo Geo games ever…… Its one of the best arcade games….. Period…… This is a must play for anyone interested in the Neo Geo or run and guns….. Any way that you can…..


Metal Slug - Super Vehicle-001


Next week should be another rather smooth week….. I have nothing planned and I doubt I will do much…… It all really depends when the next “Voluntary Mandatory Racial Sensitivity Training Seminar” for work is…… Might be this up coming week or it might be next week…… It should allow me to catch up on some sleep I guess…...

As for gaming there will be more hardcore Dick Trickle racing action in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. I will actually play a Final Fight game this week……. 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: 22 of 30
Xfinity: 22 of 30
Truck: 23 of 31
Dirt: 9 of 9

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

Now for my bad joke of the week……
Q: What do you call a boomerang that won't come back???
A: A stick.....
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*