News:: The 'Stranger Things' in my game collection

There are some seriously weird games out there – this is what you quickly learn when you start collecting them, even with a focus on specific consoles. There's always at least one or two developers, big or small, that like to take serious risks with their releases, sprinkling vast amounts of What The Fuckery wherever they tread.

But games can be weird because of more than just their context. The context of when I bought some of the games in my collection is truly bizarre, and while some of the titles don't quite fit the rank of "hidden gems", some were never released in some regions for various reasons. I thought at first that my PS1-PS3 collection (the main consoles I collect for) was as bland as butter, but on closer inspection, it has its fair share of "What the hell is that?!" moments, too. 

So, in honour of the recent release of Season 2 of Stranger Things on Netflix, here are five games pulled from my shelves (and one from my Steam library) that, whether they're good or bad, are thoroughly "strange". Note that my list doesn't cover some of the genuine PlayStation oddballs like Mr Moskeeto, No One Can Stop Mr. Domino! and LSD: Dream Emulator, simply because I haven't gotten my mitts on them yet.

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News:: Review: Creeping Terror

When Paranormal Activity became an international blockbuster it ushered in a highly profitable era of B horror films. Since then cineplexes have been inundated with cheaply produced, easily marketable and quickly forgotten horror films. Blumhouse Productions is at the forefront of the industry, producing such hits as Insidious, Sinister and the far better than it had any right to be Oculus.

With budgets as low as $100,000, seemingly anybody can make a mint with a quick and easy horror film. If Creeping Terror were a movie I could easily see it joining the ranks of such films as It Follows, Goodnight Mommy or The Babadook. As a 3DS game? Eh, it’s a toss-away title.

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News:: X-Men Legends is still the greatest Marvel video game

Growing up, watching X-Men was a must for me. As the little porker I was, shunning daylight and exercise for the warm glow of my television set, I never missed an episode. I watched every damn adventure. All 76 of them, even the shitty ones. For the longest time, the X-Men were my favorite superheroes until Bryan Singer got his hands on the franchise and slowly started to make me fall out of love with them.

The movies may be of mixed quality, but that cartoon was frickin' excellent. Though, in retrospect, it was also cheap as fuck. Really, one of the cheapest looking cartoon series from my youth and I used to watch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

Gaming has almost always been pretty nice to my favorite Marvel team. Sure, their NES game was garbage coated garbage marinated in garbage-sauce, but that X-Men arcade beat'em up kicked balls and ass. When X-Men vs. Street Fighter first appeared at my local arcade, I pumped a fist full of quarters into that bitch. It was great, but nothing could compare to my absolute favorite X-Men game and overall favorite Marvel title: X-Men Legends.

Developed by Raven Software, Legends was the first X-Men game that really made me feel like I was part of a superhero team. Every other game I was just controlling one character, but here I was in charge of a group of four. Even if the story was built around the forgettable Magma, I absolutely ate up watching my chosen heroes team up and beat down hoards of identical enemies, Sentinels and ultimately, Magneto. It and its sequel Rise of Apocalypse are still, in my opinion, the only games to absolutely nail the X-Men. And though the formula blew up with the Ultimate Alliance duo of titles, I preferred the smaller, more focused cast of characters found in the Legends titles.

It's a great frickin' action RPG and I wouldn't mind seeing Activision talk Marvel into letting them make another one and not just one featuring figures from the MCU. It would certainly take the terrible taste of X-Men: Destiny out of the mouths of X-Men fans.

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News:: Discovering the mystery behind the Phalanx cover art

The infamous cover for the North American release of Phalanx on the Super Nintendo is constantly featured on lists of the “worst” video game covers of all time. Obviously, these people are, objectively, extremely wrong. This is something to be cherished. It’s one of the only instances where a game’s artwork is talked about more than the actual game itself. For good reason too. It’s genuinely fucking hilarious. 

This work of genius has become something of a local legend around the Destructoid community. This is largely due to, Destructoid user, ZombZ’s almost fetishistic obsession with the old, banjo-wielding man on the cover. He photoshops him into everything. Around these parts, that man is affectionately known as The Phalanx Pheller, and that’s how I’ll be referring to him from here on out. 

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News:: Overwatch could have had this flying cat hero, but life is unfair

During a game's production, hundreds of ideas are bounced around and a ton of interesting and strange mechanics and characters will get tossed before final release. Concept art often paints a picture of a completely different game. Most times this is for the best, but sometimes those early images leave you lamenting what might have been.

At BlizzCon yesterday Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan and lead character concept artist Arnold Tsang showed attendees some of Overwatch's earliest concepts, but none was more beautiful than the lost hero known as "Jetpack Cat."

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News:: Pre-holiday Xbox One S deals start at $199, bundles with free COD: WWII

We're three weeks away from the "big" sales day (aka Black Friday) - and that means both retailers and manufacturers are pre-empting with deep savings to maximum profit. Like years past, Microsoft is offering aggressive early November pre-holiday promotion to push the Xbox One S. If it's anything like year's past, you'll essentially be able to pick up pretty decent bundle deals without having to deal with server hang-ups or queuing long lines at physical stores.

In general, these offers are a good preview of sorts to what you should expect come Black Friday. For example, as of writing, you can pick up an Xbox One S Battlefield 1 bundle for as low as $199. Suffice to say come Black Friday you should expect a system to go as low as $199. Conversely, you can also pick up select Xbox One S bundles for $249 with a free game of your choice - with selections from latest releases such as Call of Duty: WWII and an additional free extra controller. Some selection even includes upcoming release such as Star Wars: Battlefront II. That's over $100 in value for free.

Both of these offers mentioned are via Walmart and Microsoft Store - while most other major retailers are participating in the free game of choice promotion, we think the best deals reside at the two aforementioned retailers. Below, you'll find all the noteworthy Xbox One S deals as of early November.

Walmart

• Xbox One S Battlefield 1 Storm Grey Bundle — $199.96  (list price $280)
• Xbox One S 500GB Ultimate Halo Bundle + Free Game + Free Controller — $249  (list price $360)

Free game of choice from Walmart: 5 titles.

Microsoft Store

• Xbox One S 500GB Starter Bundle + 2 Free Games — $249  (list price $279)
• Xbox One S 500GB Minecraft Adventure Bundle + 2 Free Games — $249  (list price $279)
• Xbox One S 500GB Battlefield 1 Bundle + 2 Free Games — $249  (list price $279)
• Xbox One S 1TB Shadow of War Bundle + 2 Free Games — $349
• Xbox One S 1TB Assassin's Creed Origins Bundle + 2 Free Games — $349$279)
• Xbox One S 1TB Halo Wars 2 Bundle + Two Free Games — $349

Free game of choice from Microsoft: 17 titles for 1st choice, 5 titles for the 2nd choice.

The free game of choice promotion is running through November 18, 2017. Walmart's bundle offer has no clear expiration date, but we think it'll run through a similar timeframe or while supplies last. At our current count, there is going to be a ton of Xbox One S bundles available come this holiday season. From the four newly introduced bundle to bundles with Triple-As (Assassin's Creed Origins and Shadow of War), Microsoft is continuing with their strategy of casting a wide net in bundle offerings.

If you spot any other decent Xbox One S bundle deals for the week, let us know and we'll add to the list above. Prefer to wait until Black Friday? From our years of deals experience, we peg holiday offerings with a value of about $20-$40 better than what you see above. So, expect a gift card or another free game thrown into the mix come Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Game deals from Dealzon. Sales help support Destructoid.

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