Every week the hosts of TalkRadar present and answer a new "Question of the Week" - a personal inquiry which unearths some of our deepest, and sometimes most sinister, gaming memories. Everyone is encouraged to answer each week's question, so go ahead, tell us your most glorious, nostalgic, or shameful story!

Last week's question:

What dead company or franchise do you miss the most?

Thanks for the epic participation on our last question! Below are a few of the answers that tickled our collective fancies, but since we can't feature them all here, check out last week's article and forum thread for more...

KREATIVEassassin wrote...
"Working Designs, though I guess Atlus and NIS have kind of filled the void. Back in the day, getting a Working Designs game was a special event. The foil box art and the full color manuals with glossy pages were fantastic and unique. Any time I look at my copy of Popful Mail for Sega CD it gives me the greatest feeling. Like it has a magical hold over me."

Egregious wrote...
"Shenmue and Shenmue II were so full of awkward moments. I'm sure people would hate it today because in a broad sense, all you did was walk around talking to people, buy capsule toys of Sega characters, get into the occasional fight, and play a game or two of Space Harrier. It's also the game, I think, that unfortunately helped to "pioneer" the evil quick-timer event. But among that, I always felt like Shenmue had one of the best stories ever penned for a medium like video games. We just want to know how it ends!"

Aeshir wrote...
"I miss Ecco the Dolphin."

HE WAS MY BEST FRIEND."

RareHero wrote...
"Sega, obviously. Mikel pretty much hit it on the head, but I'll rant anyway.

Take the Saturn. It was underpowered, difficult to develop for, and (in terms of sales) was a distant third. But Sega never stopped trying. Just the first party titles alone made it the best system of that generation (and in my opinion, one of the best of all time). When they went third party, for about two years they were still putting out AAA titles such as JSRF and Panzer Dragoon Orta. And in the arcades they were unrivaled. Then came the Sammy takeover, and Sega became a shadow of its former self. Unless you live in Japan, they hardly develop anything anymore, and what they do develop always seems to turn out mediocre to terrible.

I'll also take this opportunity to say that Sonic R was great! Once you get past the control issues and the bizarre doll version of Tails it's a good game. "

JackieChantista wrote...
"I cry every morning when I realize my dreams of a new Kid Icarus will never come true."

AntistaLoveBot0069 wrote...
"Id be the happiest little bastard in the world if they made Super N.B.A. Jam Tournament Editon Turbo HD Remix and put it on live. I would never leave my house again. RIP NBA Jam and everyone who put their initials as ASS!"

Ravenbom wrote...
"Factor 5. OK, Lair was awful, but until that point, they had a great track record and Rogue Squadron 2, a launch title for the Gamecube still looks better than 95% of the games on Wii, even some first party titles. And it plays great. Super Turrican was fantastic. Plus they were rumored to be working on Pilotwings and the Kid Icarus Wii that the interwebs has been crying about (myself included) for so long."

Jul 08, 2009

To see the rest of the stories, check out our previous QOTW articles, and for more podcast related discussion, introduce yourself in the TalkRadar forums.

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