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Post by dsparil on Dec 3, 2023 18:44:13 GMT -5
Bonk's Adventure (TurboGrafx-16, First Time) I'm not as enamored with Bonk as some people, but it's a decent platformer. Rating: 7 The jumping physics of Bonk always seem so weird to me. They have a weird momentum to them and it takes a lot to get used to. It's the kind of thing I probably wouldn't notice had I played the game as a kid but I didn't play the game until emulated as an adult and I had to double check to make sure my controller didn't have any sort of input lag. Yeah, it's weird that you have to go through the landing animation before being able to jump again. It's a little less annoying in 3 and the SNES games as you'll jump when the animation ends if you press the button during it instead of having the input get eaten.
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Post by alexmate on Dec 5, 2023 8:41:34 GMT -5
Winx Club (Gameboy Advance, 1st time, timer: 1hr 1min) I forgot to add this. A fairly decent top down platformer with puzzle and action elements. A bit like a simplified SNES RPG. Easy difficulty, but still a perfectly acceptable game.
Rating: 6
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Post by JoeQ on Dec 7, 2023 17:12:38 GMT -5
Return of Obra Dinn (PS4) - First playthrough, Time: about 11h total, Rating: 5/5In 1802 the good ship Obra Dinn of the East India Company sailed from it's port in England and was never heard of from again. That is, until the ship mysteriously reappeared five years later, derelict and all hands missing. You play as insurance investigator tasked with investigating what happened to the ship and it's crew, helped by a logbook and a mysterious pocket watch that lets you witness the last moments of the dead. From these snippets you must parse together the fates of all sixty members of the crew and passengers and unravel the mystery of what happened to the ship. An absolute masterpiece of a mystery game, with fantastic aesthetics and atmosphere and immensely rewarding gameplay based on actual detective work and logical deduction. I correctly solved all the fates, then did another quick playthrough of the game to get last few trophies (one of which requires pinning everything on the captain) and the platinum trophy. Alphabet Challenge: ABCD-FG--JK-MNOP-RS---W--Z
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Dec 8, 2023 11:13:38 GMT -5
Quake II: The Reckoning (Switch; First Time)
This is the first expansion pack released for Quake II, developed by Xatrix Entertainment (later named Grey Matter Interactive). I suspect they're mainly known for having made the somewhat notorious Redneck Rampage and later Return to Castle Wolfensteinon which is apparently quite good, though I've not played any of their stuff. The Reckoning came out only five and a half months after the main game, and that goes some way to explaining why it feels basically like more Quake II. You're just doing the same old thing of running and gunning and the occasional exploring, though levels are a good deal more linear in their structure; enough so that it meant that when I'd opened a door or such, I often couldn't remember where it was and had to use the compass to find my way back.
There's a couple new guns and enemies, but most of those are just more powerful versions of regular enemies (the grunt soldiers with deadlier weapons are quite annoying). I sorta like the weird creatures that can chase after you in the water as well as on land, and I appreciate the attempt to include more naturalistic locales like canyons and caves surrounding the usual enemy bases. On a couple occasions, I even found those weird monsters congregating and doing their own thing, like taking part in a mating ceremony or worshipping a bit of equipment you need that they've taken. It's a neat touch to what's otherwise a very dry "business as usual" expansion, which is quite disappointing.
I managed to make my way through, but I wonder if the tougher enemies and circumstances would've overwhelmed me if I wasn't quicksaving after basically every combat encounter. In that sense, it was more annoying than challenging, and I only found myself enjoying combat when I was one-shotting everybody with a railgun. I wonder if you can activate cheats on the Switch version of Quake II (and perhaps the original Quake now that I'm thinking about it), cuz I feel like I'd enjoy brainlessly blasting things more at this stage. I'd ended up playing this much sooner than I meant to due to suffering from a creative block and needing something to blindly focus on, but I'm definitely leaving the other Quake II campaigns for another time. Here's hoping they do more interesting things than this one did.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Dec 9, 2023 14:53:35 GMT -5
Super Mario Bros. NES Replay .5 hours
Contra NES Replay .5 hours
Batman NES Replay .5 hours
Picked up an AVS from retroUSB last month and put it through some paces the last couple days playing various games. These are just the ones I finished. The AVS uses FPGA's much like the more popular Analogue NT Mini but is only $200 rather than $500. You lose a couple features and the AVS 'only' outputs 720p but it is a massive improvement on HD screens over standard NES output. I had my NES running through a Framemeister previously but the poor NES can't output RGB without modding the console. For me the AVS was worth it.
Checked several different games and they all sounded, looked, and played great! Even compared Super Mario Bros. by playing it back to back on the NES and then the AVS. I noticed no game play differences. The only complaint I have with the console is the NES cartridge slot is a little too tight making the games a bit difficult to remove. Hopefully this will loosen with a bit of wear.
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Post by dsparil on Dec 10, 2023 12:31:39 GMT -5
The Entropy Centre (Switch, First Time)
This is the type of game that makes me sad for how much junk there is on the eShop these days drowning out things that are unassuming. What used to be the bottom of the barrel even relatively recently is practically the mid tier. This is a first person puzzle game built around a rewind mechanic like the one in Tears of the Kingdom. The original PC release predates TotK by about six months, so it doesn't seem impossible that it was influenced by previews of it. The more obvious influence is Portal as your rewinding gun has a chatty AI constantly interacting with the player character (who does talk a lot) although in this case the AI is not the villain.
As a game developed by one person minus the music, it's very impressive and I assume there was a lot of premade assets used. On the other hand, it does seem to have been a bit too much for a single person to tackle. The story has a lot of slack and ends somewhat disappointingly, and the puzzles could have been trimmed down to just the best ones.
Subjective criticism aside, the Switch port is objectively a mess. There's really obvious bugs like the music not looping correctly. Certain puzzle elements are also buggy and don't always work correctly. It's mostly a minor annoyance except for the conveyor belts which are a disaster. I dreaded them any time they showed up. Objects don't always move on top of them correctly which can cause problems solving puzzles, and clipping into them and getting stuck is distressingly common.
Overall, I'd still say this is worth playing, but maybe avoid the Switch version. This is reviewed well on other platforms, but it only has a single Switch review which I think underplayed the extent of the technical issues in general.
I finished in about 12.5h.
Rating: 7 but a disappointing 7
Gruta (Switch, First Time)
A short action-platformer with an interesting side scrolling 3D aesthetic. It's the type of thing that 100% would have been freeware twenty years ago, but I'm fine throwing a couple bucks at some micro indie developers. Key word is "couple" because the full price of $5 is outrageous for something like 30 minutes of content especially when the full price on Steam is a single dollar. Aside from griping about the price, it's a nice little game. It's too short to be especially noteworthy, but the story told in still images after every two (sometimes three) level chunks is okay enough.
Rating: 7
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Post by Woody Alien 2 on Dec 11, 2023 11:09:19 GMT -5
ProtoCorgi (Steam, first time, 4.5 hours?)
Bought during Steam sales. Retro 90s-style horizontal cute-em-up starring a flying robot corgi with some special abilities against alien invaders piloting vessels that look like marine creatures, so Parodius if it were based on Darius instead of Gradius. Has a strange concept where it wants you to 1CC it, so every time you complete a stage or parts of it, they can be retried as many times as you want in the training section, also other advantages like more continues and such are unlocked. You still have to complete it from the beginning every time if you want to get the achievements and complete it properly though. There are optional areas that lead you to additional powers that are needed to get to the secret events and get the neutral/good ending, I only got the bad one because nothing is explained really well, and I would have preferred a structure a la (real) Darius with branching paths and optional stages, instead of retreading the same ones every time, as colorful as they are. I would have liked to give it a better score, because the art direction is top notch with really pretty colors and effects, an amazing soundtrack and a funny/goofy "90s/2000s Western imitation of Japanese stuff" style ("MISSIRU BEEMU!!") that is spot-on. But the tutorials are nearly useless, the combo/score multiplier system is not explained almost at all, the doggy treats floating around the corgi to represent its combo meter only add visual clutter, the way to unlock stuff and get to the different endings is convoluted and not really satisfying... I will probably actually try to 1CC it one day, for now I can only get to the beginning of the 5th and final stage. 6.5/10
Loading Story (Steam, first time, 15 minutes)
Another random freebie. Meta-narrative game set inside a game where the protagonist wants to play a game but it fails to load, so she goes around talking to people until she finds someone who can help... but when she finally gathers the missing data, they are corrupted and the game (the one we're playing right now) crashes. Cute colorful artwork and character designs, but it's barely interactive: the dialogues don't really change anything and the only thing we can do are three mini-games (rock-paper-scissors, air hockey and a sort of rhythm game) that are really nothing special. I tried to look into the devs but they don't seem to have done anything of note and this is just a pointless time-waster. 4/10
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Post by Snake on Dec 11, 2023 20:03:28 GMT -5
Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster, Switch (replay, 23 hours 56 minutes)
Still a special game to me. The depth of variety of the job system here is much more welcome and polished than FF III. The soundtrack is beautifully brushed up, and complements what is amongst Nobuo Uematsu's best work. Again, the magic spells and effects are given added visual flair. While the character plots aren't too unique, I still enjoy the overall concept and mythology behind FF V's world. As Pixel Remaster goes, I succumbed to using the boost quality-of-life feature to cut down on Ability Point grinding time. It really made gathering job skills and customization set-ups a breeze.
8.5/10
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Dec 12, 2023 9:19:30 GMT -5
Lara Croft - Tomb Raider Legend: Tokyo (J2ME; First Time)
Yes, a J2ME game. I needed to play and get screenshots for the Java phone port of Sonic Advance, and after asking around, I found that Kahvibreak is a good way of emulating J2ME games. I grabbed it off their website and it's a large download, cuz it throws in a head-spinning number of games to try out. So I thought it might be neat to play a few of them, since the whole downloadable phone game scene of the 00s had completely passed me by due to not owning a phone of any sort until 2014.
This is the first one I ended up giving a proper shot, a short promotional tie-in to Tomb Raider: Legend developed by Finnish studio Fathammer (who made various mobile tie-in games including a more fleshed out Legend game for Symbian phones). It's a side-scrolling cinematic platformer with 3D visuals, which adapts the Tokyo section of the original game across three levels where you do much of the usual Tomb Raider shtick of carefully climbing up ledges, pulling off jumps that take you a certain distance, and mindlessly blasting at goons. There's also elements from the console game thrown in such as your grapple hook, swinging from poles and the occasional chat with your buddies Zip and Alistair to give you tutorials and such, which is kinda neat.
I'd say this is only alright. The level design is very straightforward, where you're only doing one thing at a time, and there aren't any puzzles to test your noggin. Everything works out adequately enough, considering the framerate is the lower side. But for what it's worth, I found it kinda charming as a brief if forgettable time-waster. Sometimes you just want something to play for a few minutes, and this is very much that kind of game. I'm not sure whether I'll try the Symbian game, but since I now have the Symbian/N-Gage emulator as well (also acquired in the pursuit for playing another mobile version of Sonic Advance), perhaps it wouldn't hurt to give it a bash.
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Post by spanky on Dec 12, 2023 9:42:26 GMT -5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge: Dimension Shellshock (Switch DLC, First Time)
Wasn't planning on getting this but my 5 year old has become a major TMNT fan. I showed him one episode of the 1987 series and he immediately became obsessed with it, singing the theme song and whatnot. Anyway, this DLC update to SR is a SoR 4 survival mode with two new characters added. Karai feels like an expert character. A bit difficult to use but very powerful in the hands of a pro. Usagi, with his quick, sweeping sword slashes is a bit more user friendly. The survival mode throws you against gauntlets of enemies while you collect crystals. The main draw I guess is that there are a bunch of new backgrounds added. One section of the game is based on feudal Japan, another takes place in quasi-Mirage esque comic book panels, another is a future stage, there's an 8-bit themed area and the final one is "bad future" themed stages. All of these have tons of cameos, some kind of obscure from across the franchise. After clearing each area you're given a choice of collecting crystals or a buff of some sort. Some of these are pretty great, like the ones that allow you to transform into Shredder, Bebop or Rocksteady temporarily. Just like the main game you can level up your characters. Survival mode is pretty tough but completely doable with a properly upgraded character.
I beat Super Shredder and you're given the option to see the credits or keep going. I chose to see the credits so I'm considering this beaten. Kinda like SR in general, I like this but the whole experience leaves me feeling a bit empty. There's just something off about this title and I'm not sure what it is. 7/10
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Post by excelsior on Dec 12, 2023 10:16:18 GMT -5
Let's try to get up to date on here. I have a bit to catch up with. Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (Switch, First Time, 45 mins appx)As I mentioned before Dragon Spirit: The New Legend is a nice shooter from the NES. It does follow the original game enough to see its DNA in places, but it's different enough in execution to see it as only an interpretation. There's a nice transformation scene at the beginning, but otherwise visuals are really basic, only barely doing enough to tell the environmental themes apart. The gameplay is smoother and faster than the PC Engine counterpart, which more closely follows the arcade. It is very easy for the most part, with no enemies ever giving me any real trouble, and bosses being disappointingly blink and you'll miss them. I did lose some lives due to environmental hazards, some of which are overly tight in my opinion. The major shortcomings in boss battles and visuals don't allow this to be anything great, but good enough to enjoy and a suitable beginners game for the genre. Score - 7/10 Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti (Switch, First Time, 1 Hour appx)Remember way back when developers used to parody their own games? Well, this is one of those and as such is littered with silly pop-culture references, particularly borrowing from those in the horror genre, fittingly for the theme here. The gameplay is solid Splatterhouse, though a bit less exciting perhaps. The shotgun weapon upgrade only shows up a couple of times and there's not a great variety in enemies. Difficulty is a bit all over the place, with bosses usually providing the greatest threat, but not increasing consistently. It's a nice enough play, though perhaps only for genre enthusiasts and as a curiosity piece for Splatterhouse fans. Score - 6/10
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Post by spanky on Dec 13, 2023 20:37:22 GMT -5
Trials of Mana (Switch, Replay)
One of the things about having a big collection of games and a small backlog is that you tend to end up replaying stuff a lot. I generally like this, a good game is worth replaying, but here I am replaying a game that is a remake of something I've beaten multiple times already. Maybe I need to broaden my horizons?
Anyway, this is an excellent remake, even on the second playthrough. It shaves off all the rough edges of the original game and completely redoes the combat and leveling up system. It's also way, way too easy. I played using a team of Kevin, Charlotte and Riesz and I sleptwalked through the game, even on hard mode. I got one game over because I was really careless and only the final boss made me sweat. In towns where you have to talk to certain NPCs to proceed, the game just goes ahead and marks which ones you need to talk to. Still, it's enjoyable. The customizable party is a neat idea but the overall plot is pretty flat and nothing special. It's one of the few remakes out there I can say I enjoy it better than the original without any sort of reservations (OK OK, the graphics in this are nice but nothing compares to late-SNES sprite art, but that's it!)
8/10.
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Post by excelsior on Dec 15, 2023 11:02:53 GMT -5
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64 via Steam Deck, Replay, Time - 72 Hours of course )This was an attempt to go deeper into the side quests of Majora's Mask in order to gain a better impression of what it has to offer. I managed that to a decent degree, though I hardly covered all quests here. What I will say is that delving further into this entry reinforced my already less enthusiastic opinion. The game succeeds in offering a Zelda title for those looking for something different, although I would say only in a very particular way. There's something to be said for the darker themes present here, and if you love side questing then this game puts those in the foreground. As more of a traditional adventurer I found this doesn't focus on the areas I enjoy so much, with the main quest lacking, and even Link's inventory suffering with only a few items offering meaningful interactive upgrades - and those that do suffering in the control department. Controls were a major issue for me, and I do still intend to tackle the remake at some point. That said, I don't expect to warm to this too much because I find it's save and time travel systems don't allow me to play in a way that is relaxing. I must plan ahead and ensure my time is put to good use, or potentially lose progress. That's all fine and good, but I find the mood has to strike me for something so involved. Score - 7/10
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Post by spanky on Dec 16, 2023 17:55:57 GMT -5
Gargoyle's Quest (Game Boy via NSO, First Time)
I've played GQ II and Demon's Crest multiple times but I've never played this one. Gargoyle's Quest is a very fun and ambitious Game Boy game for it's era. I really love the game play, though you never really feel like the swift and terrifying Red Arremer from the GnG games. It's very slow, but strategic, requiring proper management of your flight time and awareness of your space. It looks good with some great boss designs and lots of moody music. Though the RPG elements don't add a ton overall they help break up the game and provide some variety. Everything is very straightforward and you can always find an NPC to tell you what to do next. The random encounters don't really work for a game like this so I'm glad they cut them up in the sequels. The world in the game feels so mysterious and rich with characters, history and lore that the game itself barely touches on. It adds a bit of intrigue I guess. I suppose it is pretty funny the game ends with Firebrand going to the human world where he most assuredly gets killed by a guy running around in his underwear.
Short and sweet, just how I like them. 8/10.
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Post by dsparil on Dec 18, 2023 19:05:52 GMT -5
Ys Book I & II (TurboGrafx-CD, Replay)
Maybe for pure nostalgia I should have dug up my Wii U for the Wii VC version. When I played the Chronicles+ versions in 2019, I said that this version is still the best. Having played them closer together, I'm not so sure any more.
Rating: 8
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