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Post by excelsior on Jan 9, 2024 9:38:31 GMT -5
Cuphead + The Delicious Last Course DLC (Switch, First Time)Finally off the starting line! Sorry it's taken me a bit of time to join in this year. I do expect to be a bit slower with a bit of a JRPG focus once more. For my first game, you wanna talk a game that's surprising hasn't been claimed here? At least, I can't find a single post for it across challenges. Cuphead has made a decent cultural mark with a TV show and merchandising being strong going beyond the hit game, whilst of course being featured across all major platforms. Of course, it's a challenging game, with Cuphead certainly living up to it's reputation, though nothing unsurmountable for users here. I will say that my experience did not mesh with popular opinions as to which fights were the toughest, with me finding the three major bosses to be towards the bottom of the pack. Whether this was due to gaining experience within the game itself, or them more lending themselves to my skillset is hard to say for certain. It's probably a mix of the two. Evasive platforming boss encounters are the name of the game here, with bosses mixing it up with a number of obstacles, usually having you face two at a time, with some random number generation at work, also with multiple stages to each fight. Still, although a random element can be a difference maker within your chance at success, there's no doubt that beating this boss rush comes down to learning each segment through experience. Controls are pretty simple (although I did need to make a change from the given setup, fortunately you are free to make any changes you would like within the game itself), with a jump, a shoot and a dash being the main focus, with the occasional parry and super move being thrown in. The setup feels a little lacking at first, but gaining access to alternate weapons unlocks much of the fun in experimentation in finding the optimal abilities for each boss. The DLC adds a newly playable character in Ms Chalice, though I'd consider her an easy mode with an additional jump and more easily executed parry maneuver. The bosses themselves are nicely pieced together, with a few seeming unbeatable initially, before further observation allows you to evade them comfortably. Each lasts a few minutes, and is brought to life wonderfully by it's retro styled animation. Visually, it's little short of perfection, with the DLC no doubt reaping the benefit of the original packages success and allowing even more ambition within the artwork. Each boss has its own theme which always couples a joyous amount of energy with unbridled creativity. If that wasn't enough the jazz-infused soundtrack really captures the essence of it's cartoon inspirations, lending itself to such a feeling of authenticity that despite Cuphead's challenge, it's to escape the charms and find the fun within its content. The DLC outshines the original game a little in terms of production, and a few random elements may hinder your progress here and there, but it's difficult to fault Cuphead. As a start to my gaming year I couldn't ask for much more. Apollo Chungus - Congrats on your graduation! Well done!
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Post by dsparil on Jan 10, 2024 11:43:13 GMT -5
Pitfall II ~The Lost Caverns~ (Arcade, First Time) Pitfall II ~The Lost Caverns~ (SG-1000, First Time)
If you can believe it, there's actually four different versions of Pitfall II. These two are Sega's from 1985. The arcade game is divided into four levels with the first being a sort of homage to the original game using the same challenge per screen concept but spread over 32 distinct screens with new types of obstacles. The other three levels are more in line with the actual Pitfall II with the second level clearly being based on it while the other two are new wholly new. Obviously the game looks the best out of any of these, and the controls are much improved. I'm a little more ambivalent about the addition of a three minute timer. Collecting optional treasure adds 30 seconds to it and dying resets it entirely, but it feels like a cash grab.
The SG-1000 version takes the four levels and redesigns them into a single area that's maybe half the total size of the arcade game. It also thankfully drops the timer given the increased complexity of navigation. The graphics are obviously a huge downgrade, but they're still notable better than the other home games and plays much better. For the game itself, it's unquestionably superior to the 2600 game and less grueling than the second part of the 5200 version. Whether the last part is a plus or not comes down to personal preference. Until someone manages to hack in an automap into the 5200 game, I'll take this one over it.
Rating: 8 for both
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 10, 2024 19:27:49 GMT -5
excelsior Thank you for the congrats, that's really sweet of you to say! : ) Stuart Little 2 (PlayStation; Replay)This is a bit of an odd duck to go for, I admit. It's a 3D collectathon platformer tie-in, and one that I used to rent a good few times way back in 2003 or thereabouts. I'm fairly sure this game's the sole reason I had even the slightest interest in the Stuart Little films when those were a thing (jeez, I even remember catching an episode of the short-lived cartoon they made one very early summer morning around 2006 while on holiday). But I've not played it since then, and I had the thought for a couple weeks that it might be fun to revisit it and see how it'd fare. Well, and I did and... It's fine. That's pretty much it in a nutshell. It's a very functional 3D platformer where you explore levels, find stuff, and occasionally do minigames as you try to find six pieces of jewellery in each stage and unlock more levels with enough jewels. Level design's open-ended enough that you've plenty of directions to go, and there's some fun to be had in that "Toy Story 2" way where mundane places like bedrooms and backyards become enormous when you're a very tiny lad. I'm sorta surprised how much of the game I've forgotten, that I straight up didn't recognize even when in the thick of a level I must have played through a fair few times as a kid. But I'm also not that surprised cuz I can see how little of an impression it made on me. The main thing I noticed was seeing and hearing a bunch of similarities to the Treasure Planet game, also made for the PlayStation by the same developers (Liverpool-based Magenta Software). The way the music stops to let fully voiced character dialogue talk at you for a bit, some of the pickup noises, and especially the specific instruments used to arrange the music gave me flashbacks to Treasure Planet, though the music's a lot more abrasive and frantic. It eventually got annoying enough that I turned it (and the voices) off and started playing music from Neo Turf Masters instead while exploring stages. I didn't 100% the thing, but I suspect it's easy enough to do through sheer attrition if you're into fully completing games. Kinda a shame that I didn't have anything positive to really take from this, whether it was reaffirming a love that was always there or giving me new things to appreciate. Ah well, it be what it be.
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Post by spanky on Jan 11, 2024 10:24:59 GMT -5
Beyond Oasis (Sega Genesis via NSO, First Time)
The bug that both my kids had over the holidays finally caught up to me so I'm taking a sick day and vegging out on the couch playing video games. The dream...
Anyway, this is one of the countless Genesis games available on many collections that I've started but never finished. Which is a shame because it's pretty good. It's a Zelda-like but less slightly less heavy on puzzles and exploration and more heavy on combat. As many have pointed out, it plays more like a top-down beat-em-up. The Legend of Rage, or Streets of Zelda I guess...I did like the combat quite a bit and they did put a lot of thought into it. Some of the other controls, especially the jumping controls can be a bit finnicky. Instead of using a bunch of items, most of the puzzles in the game involve you summoning various spirits from the environment and using them to put out fires or light torches and whatnot. The game is fairly short (my in-game clock had me at 1:47 though it took me a lot longer than that in real time) but challenging. The game is nice enough to use map markers to tell you where to go next but it also fond of throwing you way off the path if you choose to pursue other items or take the wrong turn somewhere. Fortunately the game world is small enough that you can get back to where you need to be quickly. By the end of the game I had a pretty good stockpile of weapons and items and the final boss was a breeze.
There's no crazy special effects but the sprites are all huge and well animated. The only real weak spot is the music. It goes for an orchestral theme but it's very environmental and subtle. It kind of feels like it would sound better coming out of the SNES. As it is, I personally would consider it's one of Yuzo's weaker scores but I wonder what other people think about it. Anyone ever play the sequel? 8/10.
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 12, 2024 6:48:00 GMT -5
Project Warlock (PS4) - First playthrough, Time: N/A, Rating: 4/5A boomer shooter that plays something something like mix between Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, while also paying homage to most other well known FPS games of the mid nineties. You play as the unnamed Warlock fighting the forces of Hell through five different episodes. The game starts a bit underwhelming, but soon starts to improve as your arsenal grows, levels become more complex and challenge ramps up. Nice enemy variety, strong visual style (despite the obvious influences) and good, punchy weapons too. On the minus side the life system is kinda poorly implemented and the spells you can unlock are mostly useless. They could've been axed entirely and nothing of value would've been lost. I beat the game on both Normal and Hardcore difficulties and unlocked the platinum trophy. Alphabet Challenge: FP
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 12, 2024 13:14:49 GMT -5
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel - Special Edition (PSP; First Time)
This is one I've been wanting to try out for years. It's one of the earlier games based on Neon Genesis Evangelion, which happens to be one of my favourite shows and something that changed my life during my teens. Most Evangelion games tend to be dialogue-heavy or on systems I wasn't able to emulate during those first few years of my fandom, so I never checked out anything past the technically impressive N64 game that sought to recreate a lot of the show's famous fights. That's rather atypical for Eva games though, since they prefer to tell side-stories more focused on the characters and in ways that the series wasn't into, such as romantic comedies and the like.
And if there's ever a romantic comedy, it's Girlfriend of Steel. Taking place roughly halfway through the show, a new student named Mana Kirishima enters the lives of the cast and disrupts things with her lively attitude, her attraction to Shinji Ikari, and a possible connection to some weird robot that's been found stomping about the area. I've often heard people describing this as a visual novel, but I figured that was always somewhat exaggerated or at least misunderstood as I've often seen visual novels and Japanese adventure games conflated that way. But no, they were pretty much on the money: apart from very brief segments where you can explore places like the school and NERV HQ, you're spending the whole thing watching sets of cutscenes that run to about 10-15 minutes.
This was originally produced back in 1997, so it's able to utilize the original voice cast and much of the artwork is done by the show's original artists and animators. The colour palette manages to align closely with how the show looked despite it being digitally coloured, and more recent versions utilize Shiro Sagisu's background music instead of MIDI recreations. It all comes together to make for something that feels very authentic to the aesthetics of Evangelion, and I imagine that makes the adventures of Girlfriend of Steel even better if you're into it. If nothing else, it's a nice little bonus on top of everything that's already there.
However, I'm just not into it. I think that authenticity might be partially to do with it, because it's close enough to the series that I wish it went the whole way and wrote characters or stories like how they'd play out in the series. And occasionally, it does manage that with more quiet scenes like Gendo's introduction after Shinji screws up an experiment. The sound design and pacing manages to feel perfectly at home with what you'd be hearing in the main show, and everyone delivers their lines convincingly. But the main focus is on comedy antics and romantic scenes, albeit played in a more conventional manner than the exaggerated antics that made up episodes 7-12 or the infamous After The End drama. I wish it were sillier, or in a way that felt more true to how I see the characters.
Though that's not really fair on the game, which just wants to have goofy fun with the characters in the ways it's interested in. A lot of Evangelion spin-offs have that kind of energy, whether it's the litany of adventure games or the various spin-off mangas, that play around with Eva characters and iconography to their own amusement. Perhaps it's worth trying to dive into those, because I've really grown to respect and appreciate that kind of self-expression over the last few years, and it'd be fun to see what folks do with Evangelion that might appeal to me more than this has.
If you're in the mood for some light-hearted Eva shenanigans or a very straightforward game where you sit back and enjoy conversations and vibes, I'd say this is a pretty decent way of indulging that. I specifically played a fan translated version of the PSP Special Edition, which includes a few new scenes (I think I only stumbled across one, simply because the illustrations suddenly had a very different look from the rest of the game).
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Post by dsparil on Jan 12, 2024 13:51:38 GMT -5
Super Pitfall (NES, First Time) And here's Micronic's infamous Super Pitfall which is actually a fifth version of Pitfall II. I actually thought this was pretty good overall. It's a nice reinterpretation of Pitfall II with a cavern that's more complex but not labyrinthian with some extra side areas. The goal is the same; collect the Raj diamond, rescue Harry's lion Quick Claw and rescue his niece Rhonda; but you also need to find special items to rescue Quick Claw and Rhonda. This is also the only one that pretty much plays like a regular platformer and some of the weirdness in gameplay is taken from the original People do have a litany of complaints some totally silly e.g. Harry looks too much like Mario, but one I do find genuinely true is that it's weird how most of the items are hidden until you hit an invisible trigger. This is hypothetically the most annoying for keys of which there are four types patterned after card suits. However, there are way more keys than you actually need to finish the game, and some of them are just out in the environment. I thought it wasn't too much of a hassle overall, and this site has a link to scans of a map from Family Computer Magazine. Rating: 7 I'm sort of curious about what the Japanese perspective on the game is, but I couldn't really find any reviews. Family Computer Magazine had multiple issues with tips. According to the Japanese Wikipedia article, a reader survey from 1991 in that magazine gave it a 17/30 based on 6 categories i.e. 2.8 average for each which is basically what each category actually got. So not amazing, but also nowhere near as reviled. A few years ago, someone actually made a 30th Anniversary patch to supposedly fix up the game, but I think it actually makes it worse. It does look nicer and items aren't hidden anymore, but it isn't just a graphics and bug fix hack. It also makes gameplay changes that make it harder unnecessarily like taking out the crouch. I'll take the jankiness if it means better balanced gameplay. Edit: I rewrote this so many time that this bit slipped out. This is a Micronics game so there is some bugginess mainly graphical corruption on the sides of the screen (moreso than usual for NES) and some frequent slight slowdown. The "vines", they look more like chains in this game, aren't animated as smoothly, but the increased air control makes them easier to use overall.
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Post by spanky on Jan 12, 2024 20:34:33 GMT -5
Socket (Genesis, First Time)
Who doesn't love a completely underwhelming Sonic clone? On the spectrum of these games, it's not quite a Rocket Knight but WAY above Awesome Possum. In this one you play as some sort of...time traveling police bird that dresses like a 9 year old. The American box art seems to think he's a duck but his beak it a little too pointed for that. This is seriously one of the worst designs I've ever seen for a video game character. The villains are also pretty uninspired looking with the Dr. Robotnik equivalent being a goofy wolf wearing a top hat and a monocle.
Anyway, each level has him plugging in his tail (which has a socket at the end of it of course) into a charger. Your charge functions as a timer and health bar, and you can replenish it by picking up lightning bolts. You can run, jump and do a kick to attack enemies. Socket, is pretty easy to control but lacks his inspiration's speed and his physics aren't quite as intuitive - trying to make it up hills can be kind of a pain.The energy bar could have been made a bit more interesting if you could sacrifice some of it for say, a speed boost.
Each area has 3 zones and they start with a Speed zone, where the emphasis is well, speed. These are simple and pretty fun. The other two zones are an Athletic world (more platforming) and Labrinyth (more mazelike). The overall look and feel of all this is like well...a Sonic ripoff. Also like Sonic there are some irritating bonus rounds but you don't really get any great bonuses or alternate endings or paths from them and a few are required to proceed (the one at the end of the game where you have to fun up a burning tower gave me fits).
I'm making this sound really bad but if you give it some time, it's actually kinda fun and has some good music. 5/10.
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Post by excelsior on Jan 12, 2024 23:17:16 GMT -5
spanky - The villain is called Time Dominator (also the name of the game in Asia)
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Post by spanky on Jan 13, 2024 7:10:08 GMT -5
excelsior OH that being the villain's name makes more sense now. I didn't do a ton of research into the game but I did know the Japanese version was called Time Dominator and all I could think is that was a REALLY goofy name for this stupid looking cartoon bird!
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jan 13, 2024 12:06:13 GMT -5
Quake II 64 (Nintendo Switch; First Time)
A brief trip back to the Quake II mines, as I wanted something to play while downloading the demo for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (having forgotten that QII, for whatever reason, uses up enough internet that things don't actually download). This is a recreation of the Nintendo 64 version, which isn't a straight port but instead an entirely unique game using the same mechanics and enemies. I think I gave it a shot some years ago but couldn't get more than a couple levels in, but I had a much easier time on this go around - likely cuz I was playing on Easy as I usually do these days, though I've heard that the Nightdive recreation might've changed the balancing of weapons and damage a fair bit.
What's interesting about QII 64 is that its level design ditches the sets of interconnected locales seen in the main game and its expansions, instead going for self-contained compact stages where it'll only take a few minutes to clear each one. It makes for a much brisker affair, which I reckon makes it quite good for handheld play since you can easily beat a level or two in brief spurts. Even the secrets are generally a lot easier to find when you only have so many rooms to deal with. Only in the second-last stage did I feel the need to use the compass to figure out where to go, and that's only because that level was a bit oblique to me on my first go.
My only major criticism is that the soundtrack by Aubrey Hodges, going for the dark ambient style he's previously done in Quake 64, DOOM 64 and the PS1 ports of the DOOM games, is basically inaudible. I've not idea if this is due to the Nightdive port specifically where maybe the sound mixing isn't what it's supposed to be, or if the music just doesn't have the space amidst all the movement and action to make itself heard like in those other games. But I never heard anything apart from the little "objective complete" beat that would play when it was time to move onto the next level, and that's a shame given how good Hodges' music is for these kinds of games.
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Post by personman on Jan 14, 2024 17:51:08 GMT -5
Rock n' Roll Racing (SNES, emulated on 3DS, first time)
Decided to stick with this and see it to the end. I wasn't really enthused with it but it was really good for work breaks.
So like I said in the SNES thread I don't care for this one much. I see the appeal I guess but I found it extremely repetitive and when it wasn't down right frustrating it was just something to go on auto pilot with more than anything. The biggest thing that stuck in my craw is the beginning of this game is just torture unless you're on the lowest difficulty. The two choices of car suck, the opponents get a leg up on you with weapons so keeping ahead of them is dicey and for the first two planets there will be so much damn oil slicks laid everywhere it barely feels like you can freaking race. Like I said before you just have to constantly keep losing in races and picking up what cash you can from the track till you can finally get the ball rolling and it's just awful. However once you get the Airblade and start abusing nitro boosts you'll quickly find them to be the key to the whole game and things get much, much better. Especially when you move onto the Battletrax which I decided to stick with for the rest of the game and just max it out, I didn't find the Havac worth it. You don't really need that extra speed when you have a fully armed Battletrax to just blow up anyone who get near you.
Even still though the tracks themselves are either boring or annoying. I'll admit its probably more of a me thing but I can't stand the perspective they used. Yes I know they're aping RC Pro AM and I bet I'd hate it in that game too. I just had the hardest time judging where I needed to be to hit a boost, pick up items and I swear sometimes a jump will just send you off into space whether you were straightened out or not which can often devastate you. Just for that fact alone I had to repeat the final two seasons a couple times and when they do tracks that criss cross I found it confusing now and then. Again its probably more my problem than anything but still I just plain don't like this set up and will take the more typical set up any day.
That all being said I don't think it's bad, while I got real annoyed with it sometimes I never wanted to abandon it. I also just have a soft spot for old, OLD school Blizzard too particularly Samwise's art. If I were asked I'd still say there are rose tinted glasses for this and I just find it strictly average. I warmed up to it a bit but I'm happy its over.
Rating-5
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Post by spanky on Jan 15, 2024 15:57:42 GMT -5
Mega Man X (SNES, Replay)
We are right around the 30th anniversary* of this so I figured it was worth another play. This is one of the high points of the entire Mega Man series and 16-bit gaming as a whole. It's still Mega Man at it's core but Capcom loads it up with new ideas, and here's the thing - they all work. Everything from the collectible upgrades to X's reluctant soldier schtick all feel very fresh here. Throw in some extremely responsive and intuitive controls as well as an amazing soundtrack and you have one of those Capcom titles that feels like a damn near perfect video game. I don't think any of the sequels are as good as X1, and the series starts to veer into self-parody later on. An easy 10/10.
*1994 is probably my favorite year for gaming in general so I feel like I'm going to make it a point to play a lot of games from that time during the next 12 months
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Post by dsparil on Jan 16, 2024 8:07:34 GMT -5
Chase HQ (TurboGrafx-16, First Time)
A pretty good quasi-OutRun clone from Taito. The arcade game is obviously better, but this captures the feel well enough.
I finished in 00:31:31.
Rating: 7
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 16, 2024 13:33:20 GMT -5
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I (X360) - First playthrough, Time: N/A, Rating: 2/5Hoo boy. This game is infamous and for a reason. It's functional, but everything just oozes cheapness and laziness. Graphics are ugly as hell, music is mostly bad and worst of all the physics feel super off with no sense of momentum. The one good thing you can say for it is that the level design was decent. Pretty baffling all in all, especially since this was supposedly developed by Dimps who the Sonic Advance and DS games. Those have their own issues, but they're vastly better and more competent games. I can only imagine Sega gave them basically no budget for Sonic 4. I beat the game, got all Chaos Emeralds and unlocked all achievements. Alphabet Challenge: FPS
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