This Month in Retro November 2023
Hello all and welcome to This Month in Retro! Today, I'll be taking you back to November of 2002, which is a fairly normal month in terms of happenings and game releases, but in some ways also quite an impactful one! Probably not so much in terms of acquisitions and closings, as it took me some time to realize what these companies were about. Take-Two Interactive acquired Angel Studios and was renamed to Rockstar San Diego, which were mostly popular for the Midnight Club series. Crawfish Interactive Ltd. closed their doors, who were mostly working on handheld ports of console games such as Cruis'n Exotica and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, while a new company under the name Nude Maker Co. was born. I uh, don't really want to go into detail as to what they make as you can probably assume it by their name, but they were credited on both Infinite Space for the Nintendo DS and Ghostwire: Tokyo so... good for them!
This would also be the month where the third generation of Pokémon was born! ...Albeit only in Japan. Japan-only games this month were also very scarce, hence why this edition of This Month in Retro will only cover the western side. I mean, aside from some random garbage, the only real title of interest this month was Tales of Destiny 2, which would be tough to talk about in the first place because to my knowledge, no finished fan translation exists yet. But as a treat... I will be talking about a Nintendo Gamecube game today. I normally would ignore systems we do not support yet, but a title released this month is a bit too big to just ignore. You'll have to continue reading to find out which title!
Aside from that, you know how it goes! I've searched the internet for all sorts of releases this month, compiled their sales figures and reception (Metacritic for critic review scores), and finally talk about an achievement set if applicable. So without further ado, let's get to it!
This month marked the birth of one of PlayStation's biggest exclusives ever. Having already worked on the Spyro the Dragon series prior, Insomniac used that experience to create...
| Game |
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 Ratchet & Clank (PlayStation 2)
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| Release dates | NA: November 6, 2002 |
| PAL: November 8, 2002 | |
| Sales | 3,714,270 |
| Average score | 88%, 43 critic reviews |
Released this month as a new multimedia franchise is Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac's original IP that would be closely tied to the PlayStation brand. With Spyro the Dragon falling under the rights of Universal, Insomniac wanted something that could truly be called their own. Is has been a concept long in the works, with Ratchet originally starting as a space-traveling reptile, with them eventually landing on a feline-like creature accompanied by a robot. This title also sparkled the interest of fellow PlayStation developer Naughty Dog, where the two would exchange technologies and improvements with each other, resulting in the engine being mostly developed by Insomniac with some important renderers made by Naughty Dog. November 2002 rolls around and we finally get to experience their vision: a space-traveling duo, landing on a bunch of unique planets and collecting a wide assortment of weapons to stop an evil business tycoon. While Ratchet & Clank is certainly a collect-a-thon platformer first and foremost, what makes this series particularly interesting is its emphasis on gun play. When I said that they would be collecting a wide assortment of weapons, I truly meant it; Ratchet has such a massive arsenal in his possession that combat becomes very fun and diverse. Bombs, a vacuum gun, the game's own take on the BFG with the R.Y.N.O., there is a lot to choose from here. The reception for the game was overwhelmingly positive, being praises mostly for its gameplay and graphics while only really receiving a few negative points on the story side. Players are very much in agreement, which isn't too surprising given how massive this franchise has become since then. The series currently has 17 games, including a re-imagining of the very first game with the movie that came out in 2016 for the PlayStation 4. The latest game was released in 2021 with still the same high amounts of positive reception, ensuring this Lombax and robot duo won't be leaving us for a while.
And with it being one of the most-played sets on the PlayStation 2, it's unsurprising to see our community loves the game as well. And fortunately for them, we have an excellent set by developers Fridge, Gollawiz, and zizom. It is everything you would want from a set like this, having your regular progression, collectables, and a wide variety of interesting challenges with each weapon. These achievements have all been made to get as much out of the game as you can while working towards the golden weapons, as the unlimited bolt exploit is banned for good reason.
So then you might be asking yourself... what happened to Spyro? You very likely weren't asking that as we all know what awful fate was in store for our favourite dragon.
| Game |
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 Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly (PlayStation 2)
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| Release dates | NA: November 5, 2002 |
| PAL: November 29, 2002 | |
| Sales | 1,970,000 (+710,000 on Gamecube) |
| Average score | 56%, 20 critic reviews |
While Insomniac would celebrate their release a day after, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly would see anything but success--unless we count the sales numbers since it's still Spyro after all. With two separate studios working on the game, this was intended to be a continuation to the original trilogy of games with it moving away from PlayStation exclusivity. In that sense, the game isn't much different from the original games in terms of structure: go through a variety of levels, collect every gem inside, and rescue a particular species throughout the game, this time being the titular dragonflies. What is new to this game is the inclusion of different elemental breaths, with the Bubble Breath also being a necessity to capture the dragonflies which were scattered by returning villain Ripto. So for us Spyro fans, it all sounds pretty good and what we are used to right? That is true... if it didn't end up being a rushed game. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly is another case of a game being rushed out to meet holiday deadlines, and is one of the worst victims of the era because of it. The game is extremely slow, there are framerate issues, and worst of all: it's riddled with bugs everywhere. One even allows you to beat the game in a minute or two, and is very easy to perform. Not to mention the various control issues and yeah, it's no surprise that this game was nominated for the worst Gamecube game of the year. Not only were both critics- and players extremely negative, but even Insomniac's president Ted Price was astonished by this travesty. In the end though, while many people would like to pretend this game doesn't exist and hope for it to be replaced with a new fourth title like Crash Bandicoot, there are also enough people who consider it just average. Fortunately (or, depending on who you ask, unfortunately) this wouldn't mark the end of the Spyro the Dragon games to come as the franchise would go on for a while longer, with the original trilogy being remastered only a few years back. We are still very desperate for a new game though...
Admittedly... I haven't actually played this game yet! I really should as I love the original trilogy, and fortunately we have a RetroAchievements set to make that decision a bit easier for me. Besides the usual progression, developer Excessiveiser has introduced a ton of challenges to make your playthrough more interesting, like beating levels without gliding or time trials on the speedways. Looking at the game wall for the page, it looks like people don't really mind the game as much as it is made out to be, so maybe I'll be in for a fun experience after all!
| Game |
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 Bushido Blade (PlayStation)
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 Command & Conquer: Red Alert (PlayStation)
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 Donkey Kong Land III (Game Boy)
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 Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (PlayStation)
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 Moto Racer (PlayStation)
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| Game |
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 Hard Boiled (PlayStation)
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 Jet Moto 2: Championship Edition (PlayStation)
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 Note, The (PlayStation)
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 Pandemonium 2 (PlayStation)
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 Shipwreckers! | Overboard! (PlayStation)*
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* Set is claimed
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