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Post by toei on Mar 18, 2017 18:08:53 GMT -5
Probably the coolest thing about childhood was that it was very easy to have fun; I genuinely liked Surf Ninjas and watched it multiple times, for example, never realizing that Rob Schneider was in it, being Rob Schneider and all.
I also really liked Pit Fighter. My brother and I rented it over quite a few weekends. We thought it rocked. You fought in front of an audience, with "realistic graphics", and the audience would even attack and throw objects at you! I didn't realize it had such a bad reputation until years later. It wasn't being unfairly maligned; it can be dumb fun for a few minutes, but it is pretty much terrible, much like Surf Ninjas.
I bought Battle Arena Toshinden Remix for the Saturn, too, and had fond memories of it. Spoiler: it's a piece of shit. Not because it "aged poorly"; it was always a slow and clumsy SF2 clone with an added side-roll which only sold (and got stellar reviews at first) due to its graphics. I also didn't realize how incredibly awful the voice acting is. Ugh.
Your turn.
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Post by wyrdwad on Mar 18, 2017 18:21:47 GMT -5
Super Pitfall on the NES. I loved that game as a kid, and beat it legit with no help whatsoever -- though I never bothered with the "second quest." Back in the Atari 2600 days, Pitfall II was one of my favorite games, and I liked that Super Pitfall was kind of like a remake of it. I thought some of the stuff they added, like the card suit-themed keys, was kind of neat, and I felt like a badass when I discovered new secrets. The controls were clunky as hell, even back then, but I got used to them and found myself genuinely enjoying the game. And I still have rather fond memories of it! Also, Bubsy on the SNES. Never played its sequels, but the original was great -- I was somewhat competitive with my brother at the time, who owned a Sega Genesis, so I kind of felt like my dear little SNES finally had its own answer to Sonic the Hedgehog. The level designs in the game were really cool, too, I thought, and I actually knew where to find all the secrets as a kid, having beaten the game inside and out multiple times. Honorable mentions go to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and Super Mario Bros. 2, all of which are among my favorite games in their respective series. I say "honorable mentions" because none of these games are terrible, nor were any of them ever actually considered to BE terrible until the modern era. When these games were new, they were beloved classics, popular with pretty much everyone. It's only in our post-AVGN world that people have started to see them as clumsy or poorly designed experiences, forgetting just how cool and unique they were to us back in those days. (For that matter, I feel I should also go on record as stating that Bubsy is NOT a terrible game, by any stretch of the imagination. Though unlike the three sequels listed above, Bubsy *was* kind of maligned even back in its day as a cheap Sonic ripoff, so I feel it still qualifies for a list of "terrible games" I liked as a kid. Now, Super Pitfall... Super Pitfall is legit pretty terrible! But I still have a soft spot in my heart for it.) -Tom
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Post by earthphantomts on Mar 18, 2017 20:15:26 GMT -5
Bubsy 1 and 2 were pretty much my first thoughts on seeing this thread title as well. I was totally into Sonic, but didn't have a Plutia...err, I mean "Sega Genesis"...until MUCH later, so I figured Bubsy was pretty much the closest thing to it. Also I remember renting the second game a long time ago and rather liking it: back then, the fact it had Egypt-themed levels and Nerf guns was enough to get me to enjoy it. Got the first game as a Christmas gift one year, played it to death until I could consistently get to the last level (yes, seriously! Never beat it, though, but I'm now seeing testimonials by people who claim they gave up before beating the first level and I'm like "Does this reflect worse on them, for not trying, or on me, for not realizing that it's a piece of shit?"), occasionally kept renting the second one, but never got it until *after* I finally got the classic Sonic games, and when I played it, I was like "What the fuck is this shit?!". Now I see exactly what happened, but back then, I was kinda stunned.
And now, instead of childishly liking a terrible game, I childishly and sadistically like watching people torture themselves with playing those games (like Smite from Something Awful) just to smack talk them. I guess not much has changed.
Another one would probably be Lagoon on SNES. Don't know how many people have heard of that (well, with AGDQ giving it some screentime in "Awful Games Done Quick", maybe I'm underestimating how well-known it is), but I remember kinda liking it despite the sword hitbox making Zelda II's sword hitbox look generous and the game...well...not being very well programmed. At least the music is good, which is more than I can say for Bubsy II.
Of course, now I could probably point to my fandom of some developer the main site calls "Idea Fuck" as proof of my insanity and that I learned nothing. Oh well! I guess I might as well call myself "Plutie", with how I went from crazy, sleepyhead child to crazy, sadistic not-really-adult. But that's all another story entirely.
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Post by toei on Mar 18, 2017 20:21:48 GMT -5
Bubsy 1 and 2 were pretty much my first thoughts on seeing this thread title as well. I was totally into Sonic, but didn't have a Plutia...err, I mean "Sega Genesis"...until MUCH later, so I figured Bubsy was pretty much the closest thing to it. Also I remember renting the second game a long time ago and rather liking it: back then, the fact it had Egypt-themed levels and Nerf guns was enough to get me to enjoy it. Got the first game as a Christmas gift one year, played it to death until I could consistently get to the last level (yes, seriously! Never beat it, though, but I'm now seeing testimonials by people who claim they gave up before beating the first level and I'm like "Does this reflect worse on them, for not trying, or on me, for not realizing that it's a piece of shit?"), occasionally kept renting the second one, but never got it until *after* I finally got the classic Sonic games, and when I played it, I was like "What the fuck is this shit?!". Now I see exactly what happened, but back then, I was kinda stunned. And now, instead of childishly liking a terrible game, I childishly and sadistically like watching people torture themselves with playing those games (like Smite from Something Awful) just to smack talk them. I guess not much has changed. Another one would probably be Lagoon on SNES. Don't know how many people have heard of that (well, with AGDQ giving it some screentime in "Awful Games Done Quick", maybe I'm underestimating how well-known it is), but I remember kinda liking it despite the sword hitbox making Zelda II's sword hitbox look generous and the game...well...not being very well programmed. At least the music is good, which is more than I can say for Bubsy II. Of course, now I could probably point to my fandom of some developer the main site calls "Idea Fuck" as proof of my insanity and that I learned nothing. Oh well! I guess I might as well call myself "Plutie", with how I went from crazy, sleepyhead child to crazy, sadistic not-really-adult. But that's all another story entirely. Lagoon is a pretty good game, short sword or not. That whole trend of videos making fun of "horrible" games jumped the shark a long time ago, by now they're playing decent games and trying to pretend they're the worst thing ever for lulz and views.
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Post by Resident Tsundere on Mar 19, 2017 2:06:28 GMT -5
I had Barbies as a kid, so you dang well better believe that I had a Barbie game for the Genesis. I never beat the thing. I mainly played it just to play around with her makeup between levels. Battle Arena Toshinden also blew my mind back then. I wanted to be Ellis when I grew up. I have no idea what that means.
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Post by wyrdwad on Mar 19, 2017 4:48:47 GMT -5
Interesting note: not every version of Lagoon featured the "toothpick sword." In fact, it might have only been the SNES version! I know for certain that at least one other version used Ys I & II-style bump combat, which was an improvement in every single way and basically made Lagoon awesome (apparently, anyway, as I've only ever attempted to play it on SNES!). A lot of people consider the "true" version of Lagoon to be a forgotten classic, on par with games like Xak. Also, I actually *did* beat Bubsy 1 as a kid, and I've gotta say, I really love the music in the final stage, and occasionally find myself whistling it at random to this day. In fact, I liked the music in that game in general -- it fit the atmosphere well, and used an interesting soundfont that I've never really heard anyone else use since then. It's not STUPENDOUS or anything, but it's at least competently composed, and fairly catchy stuff. An underrated soundtrack, if nothing else. -Tom
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Post by zerker on Mar 19, 2017 6:51:24 GMT -5
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and Super Mario Bros. 2 I personally enjoyed all three, but I'm only aware of general negative buzz around Zelda II and Castlevania II. I'm not aware of anyone seriously maligning the fine game that is Super Mario Bros 2 aside from just a general aside that "PS: Did you know it wasn't originally a Mario game??". I remember renting and generally enjoying a split-screen platformer called Dream TV, which had co-op puzzle solving elements. However, when I finally tracked down a cart a couple years ago, I couldn't stand it Shadow Caster on DOS I enjoyed due to, at the time, it's similar-to-Ultima Underworld control scheme, which I was into for some reason. I think even then I remember the combat being really clunky. Last replay was a couple years ago and it's probably the last one for me. I'll scour around to see if I can come up with more.Behold: more: I was somewhat fond of 8 Eyes upon renting it. The bird mechanic was rather neat. Too bad the stages were utter crap. I think I only ever made it to a single boss. I also rather enjoyed Astyanax on NES. Primarily because it was mostly easy and I could finish it. Stellar criteria, right? A few other games that met this exacting criteria were Wizards and Warriors, Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout, Demon Sword, Street Fighter 2010 and Gozilla: Monster of Monsters!. The last one had an interesting 'tactical' layer; too bad the side-scrolling gameplay was crap. Of this set, I still own Wizards and Warriors; maybe I'll play it again sometime. Its sequels were true utter rubbish though. I also liked Captain Skyhawk; probably because I was a sucker for isometric graphics. I liked NES Strider too; not sure if we're considering that terrible or not. Finally on the NES pile, I remember liking Werewolf: The Last Warrior. Even with backwards buttons. On the Sega Genesis, I rented a platformer/fighting game mix called Heavy Nova and thought the combination was rather interesting. Now I look at myself and shake my head. I also THOUGHT I liked Toe Jam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron. Really, I liked the first level or two. I recently tried to actually play more of that game and... well.. it's indeed crap. On SNES, I rented and enjoyed Harley's Humongous Adventure. It was a pretty bland and average platformer, but I LOVED the giant Lego levels For DOS, I registered and played quite a bit of Wacky Wheels. Boy that game is a mess. It had so many more tracks than Mario Kart! Too bad the actual driving controls are useless. The only way to get anywhere is to master the mind-numbingly absurd instant 90-degree handbrake turn and hope you weren't overtaken by the impossibly-good rubber banding. Every once and while you could watch the other dots on the map and see them zipping across sections at impossible speeds. Oh, and they always took the exact same route, which helped for setting up traps I also liked Time Commando. I don't know why.
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Post by shelverton on Mar 19, 2017 8:43:05 GMT -5
I've actually grown to like Lagoon a bit more now than I did as a kid. My biggest problem(s) with Lagoon were the size of the dungeons. They would've been more manageable if there were in-game maps. Lagoon is like NES Willow in that regard.
The other problem was that bosses were ridiculously challenging. As I recall you couldn't use magic in boss rooms? You were left with your tooth pick and had to position yourself pretty much ON TOP of bosses to reach them.
Lastly, sometimes you had to escort people and they moved soooooo slowly!
Anyway, back on topic: I loved the first Bubsy! The controls may not have been the best, but I think some of the levels were really fun. And the stage 1 music is pretty iconic. I did play Bubsy 2 years later though, and that game felt broken and weird in ways that the original didn't.
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Post by Weasel on Mar 19, 2017 11:32:05 GMT -5
I can't believe that, not only did my brother and I agree to buy The Incredible Crash Dummies for Sega Genesis, but we also didn't immediately hate it. What the hell is that all about? =P
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Post by toei on Mar 19, 2017 11:51:20 GMT -5
Battle Arena Toshinden also blew my mind back then. I wanted to be Ellis when I grew up. I have no idea what that means. Lol she's like 15, that's not a lot of growing up. gamestavern-I think everybody had a friend with an import copy of the SNES DBZ fighter, or the Japanese volume 42 or whatever (while our local version was at 17 or 18). I tried it again briefly and it seemed weirdly choppy, but you could actually fight while flying, right? I remember that feature in particular used to blow our minds. The series has taken a lot of flack, but pre-Z Dragon Ball is still excellent. Also, this thread makes me want to give Bubsy a real try. My only experience with it literally consisted of running a bit, taking one big jump, and dying upon landing. At the time I still thought instant deaths were an unforgivable sin. Weasel-My friend had Crash Test Dummies for the Game Gear and we thought it was cool, even though we didn't really get how to play it.
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Post by cambertian on Mar 19, 2017 12:09:45 GMT -5
I often have trouble recounting my youth, save for small "embarrassing" moments (blame my self-esteem.) However, here's a small sample of games I do remember: - Bubsy series. The explanation as to why it's bad has been done to death, so I'll spare you. However, just know that I found myself unable to enjoy Bubsy 3D... even back then, I knew.
- Rayman Arena. The racing mode's okay (and I kind of wish there was a sequel that improved upon it,) but the fighting mode is atrocious and I don't remember liking it at all.
- Gex series. Never played the first, however the second is basically a corny, lackluster Mario 64. Like with Duke Nukem, I HATE when the protagonist spouts one-liners.
- Redneck Rampage. Okay, so this one's cheating a little - I played it during my late teens, when I was hungry for more Doom clones. Level design's awful, the weapons don't feel good, even mechanics such as ending a level aren't clear... And the theme/setting/music doesn't feel like something I'd want to play anyway, personally. Usually I'm fine with satire, but Redneck Rampage seems more like an embrace of the culture it's trying to parody, which doesn't sit well with my nerdy persona...
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Post by chronotigger65 on Mar 20, 2017 0:36:14 GMT -5
Bart vs. the Space Mutants NES E.T., Pac man and other lousy Atari 2600 games
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Post by eatersthemanfool on Mar 20, 2017 1:21:44 GMT -5
Yea It's really weird for me nowadays to see people hating on Bubsy.
I loved the first game. Large, detailed sprites. Lots of color and lots of animation frames. The levels weren't super complex but they were gorgeous. And the music was competent if not great. I remember it getting decent reviews in the gaming mags, too.
And I liked (and still like) one liners.
I loved Gex 1 for the same reasons. That was the first PS1 game I bought.
Both had terrible sequels, though. Bubsy 2 toned down on the parts I liked best about the original (Less color, less detail, smaller sprites) and added a bunch of crap I didn't care for.
Gex 2 was some 3D bullshit Mario 64 clone.
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Post by GamerL on Mar 20, 2017 1:53:45 GMT -5
Battle Arena Toshinden also blew my mind back then. I wanted to be Ellis when I grew up. I have no idea what that means. I never played any of the games but I did watch the Battle Arena Toshinden OVA anime not long ago, while it was terrible Ellis was a pretty likable character. Bart vs. the Space Mutants NES I had some fun with the Game Gear version of it on my cousin's Game Gear as a kid.
I loved Gex 1 for the same reasons. That was the first PS1 game I bought.
Both had terrible sequels, though. Bubsy 2 toned down on the parts I liked best about the original (Less color, less detail, smaller sprites) and added a bunch of crap I didn't care for.
Gex 2 was some 3D bullshit Mario 64 clone.
Gex 2 is not great but it's still a nostalgic title for me, however I'll go to bat for the third game being a not bad at all 3D platformer of the era, I've always had a soft spot for that game. Anyway some games that I liked as a kid but can't stand now are the PS1 3DO Army Men games, particularly Sarge's Heroes 1 and 2, what can I say? I thought the idea of a game themed around those little green plastic dudes fighting around a house was cool and the game had some impressive for the time CG cutscenes, but today? Holy cow, the first Sarge's Heroes is so fucking bad I can't believe I played it as a kid, I may have been pretty new to 3D games but still..... However believe it or not I still retain some nostalgia for the series and in 2014 I went and played the last two that I skipped, the first, Army Men RTS, was developed by Pandemic studios instead of 3DO and actually got decent reviews from the critics and it's a perfectly solid little RTS and by far the game that does the idea the most justice, I actually recommend it. Then there's Sarge's War for the Gamecube which is sort of a "Sarge's Heroes 3" but way better, it's certainly not a great game and not even as good as RTS, but playable. Funnily enough GOG not long ago re-released the original 3 PC Army Men titles, which were isometric and had pre-rendered graphics so everything actually does look like plastic, I actually did have the chance to play those on my grandma's computer once and I was happy to revisit them thanks to GOG, don't get me wrong, they're still pretty bad, the first one is mostly worthless in fact, but the second and third are decent fun if you punch in some cheat codes to mainly just see the levels, some of which are still pretty neat looking. The one big missed opportunity for the series at the time was an "Army Men Tactics" for the GBA that played in the vein of the Advance Wars series, but by that time 3DO was dying and anything Army Men that was released on the GBA was just shovelware. I'd actually like to see someone revive the series or at least the idea though, in fact there was a recent indie title called "The Mean Greens" that seemed to do just that, though I haven't played it.
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Post by Resident Tsundere on Mar 20, 2017 2:07:07 GMT -5
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and Super Mario Bros. 2 I personally enjoyed all three, but I'm only aware of general negative buzz around Zelda II and Castlevania II. I'm not aware of anyone seriously maligning the fine game that is Super Mario Bros 2 aside from just a general aside that "PS: Did you know it wasn't originally a Mario game??". I remember renting and generally enjoying a split-screen platformer called Dream TV, which had co-op puzzle solving elements. However, when I finally tracked down a cart a couple years ago, I couldn't stand it Shadow Caster on DOS I enjoyed due to, at the time, it's similar-to-Ultima Underworld control scheme, which I was into for some reason. I think even then I remember the combat being really clunky. Last replay was a couple years ago and it's probably the last one for me. I'll scour around to see if I can come up with more.Behold: more: I was somewhat fond of 8 Eyes upon renting it. The bird mechanic was rather neat. Too bad the stages were utter crap. I think I only ever made it to a single boss. I also rather enjoyed Astyanax on NES. Primarily because it was mostly easy and I could finish it. Stellar criteria, right? A few other games that met this exacting criteria were Wizards and Warriors, Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout, Demon Sword, Street Fighter 2010 and Gozilla: Monster of Monsters!. The last one had an interesting 'tactical' layer; too bad the side-scrolling gameplay was crap. Of this set, I still own Wizards and Warriors; maybe I'll play it again sometime. Its sequels were true utter rubbish though. I also liked Captain Skyhawk; probably because I was a sucker for isometric graphics. I liked NES Strider too; not sure if we're considering that terrible or not. Finally on the NES pile, I remember liking Werewolf: The Last Warrior. Even with backwards buttons. On the Sega Genesis, I rented a platformer/fighting game mix called Heavy Nova and thought the combination was rather interesting. Now I look at myself and shake my head. I also THOUGHT I liked Toe Jam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron. Really, I liked the first level or two. I recently tried to actually play more of that game and... well.. it's indeed crap. On SNES, I rented and enjoyed Harley's Humongous Adventure. It was a pretty bland and average platformer, but I LOVED the giant Lego levels For DOS, I registered and played quite a bit of Wacky Wheels. Boy that game is a mess. It had so many more tracks than Mario Kart! Too bad the actual driving controls are useless. The only way to get anywhere is to master the mind-numbingly absurd instant 90-degree handbrake turn and hope you weren't overtaken by the impossibly-good rubber banding. Every once and while you could watch the other dots on the map and see them zipping across sections at impossible speeds. Oh, and they always took the exact same route, which helped for setting up traps I also liked Time Commando. I don't know why. I have fond memories of Astyanax, probably because it's so weird.
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