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Post by Apollo Chungus on Dec 24, 2023 19:46:23 GMT -5
Mark of the Ninja: Dosan's Tale (Switch; First Time)
Oh.
This is a bit of DLC made for the Special and Remastered editions of Mark of the Ninja, now made available from the start for anyone to try. I normally don't like using "DLC" as term to describe extra single-player content because it suggests something insubstantial and disposable to me (which is why I've constantly referred to DBZ Kakarot's various bits of DLC as expansions because those often feel like valiant and relatively meaty attempts to add to the core game). However, I will use "DLC" as a term here because Dosan's Tale is a single stage where you get to play as a much younger version of Dosan, a character from the main game who applies the various marks to the main character that enable his powers.
What's neat is that Dosan has his own unique take on gameplay, where he only knocks enemies unconscious instead of killing them. If their bodies are discovered, they can be woken up and able to patrol the area once more. This results in a fairly cool level-ending setpiece where you have 16 folks to either kill or knock out, which is easier send than done when they can be found and woken up, or you can use their bodies to terrify a handful of soldiers and then leave with the satisfaction of scaring the pants off them. You can play as Dosan in the main game after completing this mode, offering the option of a (mostly) non-lethal mode if you wanna indulge in the stealthy antics without quite so much bloodshed.
But it's only one extra level, in a game that I already wished had more stages to mess around with. This is definitely the kind of DLC that'll appeal to folks who wanna replay the main game with different character builds, and perhaps I'll be in the mood to do just that one day. But as someone who prefers having an extra set of levels to experience those same rhythms in new scenarios, I can't help but find this a bit disappointing. Oh well.
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Post by personman on Dec 25, 2023 5:30:41 GMT -5
Virtual Boy Wario Land (Virtual Boy, emulated on Steam Deck, first time, 4 hours)
Ah the Virtual Boy. I remember seeing that thing on demo at Toys R Us and just finding it baffling (mostly because the kiosk was so high up I needed a stool to play the damn thing). The first time I heard of Wario was this game via the commercial and I was just kinda confused by it as well. It's definitely a case of the marketing team doing their 'Play it Loud' BS they loved to do but I find it amusing nonetheless:
So being a fan of Wario proper and most of his games (I really wish Warioware never happened) I've always wanted to get around to this. Finally did, yay. It's mostly just a refinement of the first game and is beginning to feel more like its own thing. My memory is fuzzy of the first game but I think it still had a Mario feel to it. Here the different power ups are emphasized and used to great effect which is nice and the levels are somewhat more open with many having a couple paths to bounce between. Curiously while they are all separate from one another you can backtrack to previous stages giving it a tiny bit of an explorative feel. So if you wound up missing one of the the specials treasures in stage 5 and realize they're for the ending well then you'll have to hoof it all the way back. Thankfully this isn't time consuming at all and I didn't mind it, just found it curious.
The game is kinda atmospheric too with much more subdued music than you'd expect from Wario. There's even some screens where all you get is ambience, combined with the red and black visuals (yes I kept them) it has a slightly eerie vibe that again you just wouldn't expect from the series. It looks pretty nice for the system even despite the pallete though in the last stage there is a room or two that is way too busy and can be real tough to tell what is a platform and what isn't since this is one of those ones where you often jump into the back ground. Thankfully I only had issues with it once.
Only really low point I can think of is the last boss who is just way too hard to hit. Otherwise this went down smooth and was good for killing an evening. It of course doesn't really do anything overly notable in its gameplay alone but if you like the Wario series its a bit of an oddball and to me at least its really interesting to see it through at least once.
Rating-7
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Post by spanky on Dec 25, 2023 6:42:49 GMT -5
Donkey Kong Country (SNES via NSO, Replay)
Merry Christmas everyone. I finished up a playthrough of this yesterday. Fitting, as I received DKC for Christmas way back when and it was always one of my favorite gifts. My only real complaint about the game is the fact that it starts to lose steam by the time you hit the 6th world (Chimp Caverns). There's plenty of new level gimmicks but no new level types, enemies or music at this point in the game. Otherwise it's a rock solid platformer and was a legitimately huge game back in the day. The sequels would improve on the formula but there's something very simple and pure I like about this one. 9/10.
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Post by personman on Dec 25, 2023 22:16:36 GMT -5
Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute (Switch, first time, 2 hours)
Merry Christmas folks, hope you had a good one.
I got a Saturn on the cheap back then with hopes to import the Gradius and Salamander ports eventually. Never happened but when I got the system the seller just threw this game in as well at the last minute. I played it a bunch since I was so into shumps back then but could never manage to beat it. You only get 4 continues with as far as I remember no codes or unlockables or anything to help you out. Farthest I ever got was the sixth level I think.
I gave it a good college try but I could only get a tiny bit farther. Its just way too much at the end but thankfully there are some QoL additions with the port like save states, a slow mode toggle and you can give yourself 99 credits that may as well make it freeplay. After like ten attempts I slapped the credits on just so I could get to the end. And god did I need them I think after I finally got through it I was down to 25 of those, much of it thanks to the final boss which just felt borderline impossible to finish legit. I know this is an arcade port but damn maybe water this down a bit for the home release please?
I'd say the two big things that bother me with this is just the sheer size of everything, including you're hitbox. Everything feels really cramped and as the game goes it just felt like I had no where to go half the time. Combine this with a rather big UI that does cover up a good part of the screen lots of stuff can sneak up on you too which isn't cool, however you can toggle it off which is weird but good. The other thing and this is more a me thing is its got the Xevious deal where you have ground targets you have to bomb. I just never like this mechanic when it comes up like dealing with everything in the air is usually bad enough and then having flak thrown at you and the only way to deal with it is finding that tiny window you can approach and lock on to them is just way too stressful for me. Also don't like that your main shot is so weak even at the highest levels and doesn't cover much at all.
That all being said I respect this game still. The bosses are actually pretty cool with you needing to make good use of both of your weapons and they feel very fair, bar the last one which is just so blatantly designed to be all 'Give all quarters now!'. Also it nails the spectacle well with these cool transitions between stages and some nice scaling and effects. It has a classic 2d look but its remarkably well crafted and stands up even today. Some nice chill tunes too, very fond of the first stage theme.
It's a good one, but I have to be honest I just didn't care for it much. I don't like the lock on thing and doesn't substitute having cool weapons and the final parts are just too cruel. Thankfully the features of this port smooth some of that over so I was happy to grab it and beat it but I wouldn't really recommend it unless you're a die hard for this sort of thing.
Rating-7 that's being objective, personally its more a 5 for me.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Dec 26, 2023 18:24:50 GMT -5
Persona 5 Tactica FTP PS5 26 hours
Looks like someone at P Studios played some Mario + Rabbids. And then some Splatoon for the DLC. Those mechanics work really well with the Phantom Thieves. The story is much better than the Rabbids games but the game-play is about even. Some things are different but not much is better. In fact I think Rabbids has more enemy and stage variety. Tactica only has like eight enemy types and three stage goals. The couple areas where they could have differentiated they don't really capitalize. No elemental weaknesses and status effects are lacking. Battles are pretty easy on default difficulty as well. Bunch of healing skills in the game but they feel kind of useless. Why would you get hit? Use cover! I'm not alone on this either as the trophy for having a character knocked out ten times only has a 15% completion rate. I do not have that trophy.
The DLC adds some much needed variety to the game and is it's own separate scenario. This was a bit more challenging and better balanced. Neat to see Kasumi outside of P5 Royal but you gotta pay for it.
Criticism aside I had a blast playing the game and seeing the cast of P5 again. Yeah they've milked it into the ground by now but I still love these guys. And the theming does work great with this style of game. With P3 Reload just a couple months away there wasn't much discussion or hype around Tactica. Still it is worth a shot if you like P5 and tactics games.
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Post by dsparil on Dec 26, 2023 19:43:43 GMT -5
I recently picked up the Atari 50 collection working through chronologically mainly because its presented that way with interspersed images and interview videos. For the documentary aspects, it seems much more like a coffee table book than anything else. I wouldn't expect a definitive exhaustive history on such a wide topic, but it's clear that only certain people were willing to participate and very few people kept any design documents. The next in this series is specifically on Karateka which was actually started first. Jordan Mechner donated all his design documents to the Strong Museum of Play so I'd expect that one to be a real exhaustive history from the narrower scope.
The first section is on Atari arcade history up to 1984 after which the company fractured. In a way, this is really an "Atari" 50 since it seems to just be what Infogrames in the skin of Atari actually owns which doesn't seem to include any of those later games. The stumbling block is that a decent chunk of the library is held by Warner Bros. via Midway and they apparently didn't want to play ball; the irony being that Warner Bros. old parent company Warner Communications owned Atari during the period that the collection does cover.
A lot of those early arcade games haven't aged terribly well and some of the later ones only exemplify the way that they had lost their first mover advantage both technologically and in design. Several people bring up the difficulties under Warner ownership which I completely believe. Those later games include well known classics, but they made a deal with the devil to get a home system out and I think they stagnated as a result.
The vector games though have a real timelessness. Those vector monitors are both ethereal and piercing in a way that's impossible to emulate. It is a shame that the Switch version at least has some minor rendering issues with shaking lines. There also doesn't seem to be any kind of suspend for any of the games. That's less of a problem for the simpler score attack games, but others with real discrete levels become harder to finish. That bums me out the most for I, Robot which keeps track of the highest level reached and lets you start back there from a teleporter in the first level. That progress is reset here every time you go to the menu.
Edit: I missed a very obvious save/load option 🤦
Adventure (Atari 2600 / Switch, First Time)
Anyway, Adventure is the first 2600 games that is actually completable. It is comically simple today mostly being a radical simplification of [Colossal Cave] Adventure down to a small number of screens (mostly mazes) and a single item inventory. It also is very indicative of both the radical asymmetry between consoles and 8-bit computers of the late 70s and early 80s and the rapid pace of advancement. An Apple II could blow a VCS (the original name of the 2600) out of the water considering it was five times the price, but a ZX Spectrum in 1982 had the same retail price in the US as the VCS at launch ($200) and did so much more, and the Atari was still going for $130 at the time.
My recommendation, play through the very short Small variation and noodle around the Full variation which does have some extra elements. Just move on when you get bored.
Rating: 5
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Post by lurker on Dec 27, 2023 1:46:14 GMT -5
So I should probably wait till the 1st to start Super Mario RPG if I want it to count for 2024?
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Post by dsparil on Dec 27, 2023 4:26:21 GMT -5
So I should probably wait till the 1st to start Super Mario RPG if I want it to count for 2024? There's no rule about start date anymore, so you don't have to wait.
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Post by personman on Dec 27, 2023 18:24:49 GMT -5
Beeny (Switch, first time, like 20 minutes?)
Was looking for something quick to blow through just to get my tally up to 50 before the year is over. I am ruled by increments of 5s and 10s.
After how charming I found Macbat I thought I'd look at the rest of the things Siactro has done and noticed this thing was seriously 99cents. Well for that price I figured why not and like Macbat is an homage to Banjo and Kazooie this is one to Donkey Kong Country, specially the third game if you want to put it under a microscope. Like there is even a cozy little cabin to go into and talk to one of the other game's characters just like the shop keep bears from 3. Silly as it sounds that what really won me over on this, I just loved sitting in those screens and soak in the coziness, hell much of the over world maps of DKC 3 had such a lovely feel.
Anyways this thing on the other hand pretty much stops with the similarities there and the actually levels are their own thing. You guide a rotund bee up vertical silos of sorts and avoid a couple simple hazards here and there. Nothing really note worthy game wise though the snow level is real pretty and another level out of the blue tries to be all scary with rotting skeletons in the branches an a jpeg of a skull chasing you. Honestly after the shit they pulled in Macbat I was expecting it and its just funny to me.
What was a surprise is once completing all the levels you get to play a tiny bite sized 3d platformer level with a Kiwi bird thing which serves as a preview for Super Kiwi 64. Decided I'd grab that as well since its only a couple bucks. Otherwise nothing really to judge here as its just a simple little shot of nostalgia that was probably thrown together in a game jam. Does what it needs to, no more no less and it put a smile on my face. Plus its 99 cents.
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Post by dsparil on Dec 28, 2023 6:21:07 GMT -5
Star Raiders (Atari 5200 / Switch, First Time)
First, I'll say that I was totally blind and all the emulated games (there's a handful of fancier new ones like the Neo Breakout Apollo Chungus posted a while ago) have save and load.
Star Raiders from 1983 is the first game in here that I'd say is genuinely "modern" in complexity. As a first person space combat sim, it was a bit too much for its original platform, the Atari 400/800 series computer, in 1980 and the 5200 which used that line as a base. The version here is actually a Sega Ages style release that lets the game actually run at full speed with controls that are well adapted to a controller and a "cockpit" on the sides with important information. The basic gameplay is generally simple with you warping around a map fighting off a set amount of enemy forces before they surround and destroy all your star bases. This general set up has roots all the way back to 1971 with an unlicensed text-based Star Trek game, the collection doesn't mention this, and Accolade's WarpSpeed on SNES and Genesis is nearly the exact same game with better graphics. There's even a 3D sector map which I don't think was cloned again until TIE Fighter.
This is a real standout with the enhancements. Even without them, it's definitely better than anything on the NES/FC in this style although I can only think of Star Luster from Namco and Star Voyager from ASCII. I'd say it's even good enough to have gotten an individual release at an Ages-esque price.
Rating: 8
Double Side Note:
I didn't know this before, but Atari got spooked by the Intellivision and cloned its keypad and disc controller for the 5200 except they used a deliberately non-centering joystick sort of ruining it. This game basically uses all the buttons, and the 2600 port of the game used a keypad peripheral.
Mattel actually made a clone of this game for the Intellivision, Space Spartans, that I used to play; but the timing I'd assume it was from the computer version or previews of the 5200 game unless it was a complete coincidence which I doubt. I don't have any direct experience with Atari consoles, one of my dad's friends had an Intellivision so I have played that some. Whoever owned the rights to the catalog also embraced official emulation in the late 90s as possibly even the first to do so, and Space Spartans was available as a free download with the emulator built in.
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Post by dsparil on Dec 28, 2023 11:28:46 GMT -5
Dark Chambers (Atari 2600 / Switch, First Time) Dark Chambers (Atari 7800 / Switch, First Time)
Dark Chambers seems like a Gauntlet clone, but it's actually a Hydrox/Oreo situation where Gauntlet is actually a clone of DC's computer version Dandy. The weird way Atari 50 seems to go out of its way to not mention non-InfoAtari games unless 100% necessary ends up obscuring this unless a reference to Dandy coming out in 1983 is caught and you already know Gauntlet is a 1985 game. The 7800 version is very clearly proto-Gauntlet with similar gameplay including enemy generators. The differences are that the emphasis is generally on mazes versus action, there's only a single character type, food is mainly just a health restorative although health does drain very slowly, and there's screen clearing bombs. The 2600 version is obviously cut down substantially, but in a way it actually feels slightly more like a dungeon crawler. The levels are split over multiple screens and are more like interconnected rooms than mazes.
Rating: 7 for both
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Post by Digitalnametag on Dec 28, 2023 13:07:29 GMT -5
Super Mario Bros. Wonder NS FTP 10 hours
Gifted this for Christmas. Was fun. Super trippy. Felt like playing a Kirby game honestly.
I didn't unlock the super secret flag pole topping all flower coin level, but did clear everything else. My expectations with new Mario platformers are pretty low but I do think this one is better than the NSMB games. Solid fun that doesn't overstay.
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Post by spanky on Dec 28, 2023 14:51:15 GMT -5
Finished off a few random titles before the end of the year.
Pulseman (Sega Mega Drive via NSO, First Time)
A very cool character-based platformer from the people that made Pokemon. The central gimmick is that you move, your character accumulates static electricity. Once charged you can either toss an electric bolt or turn yourself into one that ricochets off walls. It's very fun and I found o The presentation is excellent too, with lots of cool Treasure-esque special effects throughout the game, and the lots of trippy video effects throughout. The last level has your character zapped into a "classic" arcade game. Pretty funny that even as early as the mid 90s, you had games referencing the glory days of arcades. It's fairly challenging and I was having a tough time until I found out I could generate a charge by double tapping left or right, which initiates a dash. There's some cheap deaths here and there but the game is generous enough to place an easily re-collectible 1UP or orbs (which give you extra lives upon collecting 10) in these areas. The final boss is almost insultingly easy though. 8/10.
Gunforce (SNES, First Time)
A super janky, BITS-developed port of an Irem proto-Metal Slug type game. Get ready for lots of slowdown and questionable hit detection! This is far from a good game...but I sort of enjoyed it. The game tries to throw a lot of vehicles and stationary guns your way but this hardware and the programming aren't really up to the task. There's nto even a 2 player mode. I'll admit I do have a bit of love for the farty sound a lot of early SNES games have. Still, this came out around the same time as Contra III and the games are worlds apart in quality 3/10.
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Post by excelsior on Dec 29, 2023 5:42:48 GMT -5
Final Fantasy VI (First Time, SNES via Steam Deck, 27:01)Last one for the year! This is long overdue, being in my backlog for well over a decade. After being excited to finally sit down with it I became a bit disillusioned, as the early game is a little unfocused and it takes a while for the combat system to come into its own. I was beginning to think this was going to be another Chrono Trigger or Super Mario RPG Squaresoft SNES button masher. Fortunately, once things pick up after 4 or 5 hours, the magic system is introduced. The story really picks up at the same point and never really lets up from there. What follows is perhaps the best JRPGs on SNES, combining fun combat with an excitingly presented cinematic story, and enjoyable character work which far outstrips what came before it. The world setting is bleak and music suitably melancholy, with a soundtrack built around it's moving overworld theme. Oh and I really like the main antagonist here. He's a real prick. It's a shame I didn't care for the first few hours, but otherwised this is simply wonderful. Score - 9/10
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Post by Woody Alien 2 on Dec 29, 2023 9:59:42 GMT -5
Column on the Sea (Steam, first time, time is in the image but it's been about 12 hrs according to Steam timer)
I enjoy metroidvanias and I enjoy buying stuff from random indie developers that made games all by themselves, however this time I kind of regretted doing it. This game is about a couple of treasure hunters who find an isle in the middle of the sea and explore it, especially its titular giant column. I actually played it this summer but stopped right at the final boss, so I decided to try and complete it before the year's end. This game with its four-color graphics and bleep-bloop soundtrack tries to emulate the computer games of old but, simply put, it's a terrible slog to play. Combat is clunky and tedious with bad collision detection, annoying enemy placement, the character that stops for half a second while attacking, bosses are damage sponges with nothing interesting about them (the final boss with its 3 forms is particularly tedious). As a metroidvania, the various spells and powers we get are little more than glorified keys to backtrack and find bonuses that are never that useful, and even with the power-ups for our sword it still feels like ages to bring enemies and bosses down. Areas get repetitive soon, music is grating, and there are a lot of overly long unskippable dialogues that try to be funny and witty but never really are. I'm sorry for this guy who made everything by himself (apparently he is a cartoonist who uploaded his stuff on YouTube, but nobody cared), but this game is just not interesting or fun to play at all. Yet I still managed to finish it, maybe it's the completionist/achievement hunter side of me that took control? 5/10 (wanted to give it a 4 but I felt sorry for the guy)
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