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Post by Ryu the Grappler on Jan 18, 2010 11:05:24 GMT -5
I've recently played Contra Rebirth for the first time. Okay game, but they could've done better than a watered-down Contra III. Anyone else noticed the skateboard girl from TMNT2: The Arcade Game makes an appearance at the beginning of Area 2?
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Post by Shellshock on Jan 18, 2010 16:53:23 GMT -5
I've recently played Contra Rebirth for the first time. Okay game, but they could've done better than a watered-down Contra III. Anyone else noticed the skateboard girl from TMNT2: The Arcade Game makes an appearance at the beginning of Area 2? She was in the first TMNT arcade first! Yes. Not only did I notice, but I immediately thought it was something you would notice!
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Post by Ryu the Grappler on Jan 18, 2010 19:30:14 GMT -5
I've recently played Contra Rebirth for the first time. Okay game, but they could've done better than a watered-down Contra III. Anyone else noticed the skateboard girl from TMNT2: The Arcade Game makes an appearance at the beginning of Area 2? She was in the first TMNT arcade first! Yes. Not only did I notice, but I immediately thought it was something you would notice! I' aware of that. I merely wrote "TMNT2" there just so people would know I'm not talking about the first NES game or something. Anyway, I love the game's FM-like soundtrack and how it features at least one tune from practically every Contra game from the 8/16-bit era. Also, the Galactic President as Che Guevara was a nice touch. Too bad Chief Salamander's Hitler-liked design was changed in the American version. It's almost felt like a crossover between Contra, Guerrilla Wars, and Bionic Commando. The game itself is rather average for a Contra game though. If they had added better weapons and more stages, it probably would've been a decent throwback to the original arcade games. But I don't see any reason to get this when you can get Super C and Contra III for less on the Virtual Console other than the fact that Contra ReBirth is a newer title. Also, why hasn't Konami released any of their Genesis games on the Virtual Console yet? Contra: Hard Corps deserves to be there along with the NES Contra. Going back on-topic, is anyone willing to cover the entire TMNT video game series (at least the original pre-2k3 titles)? I think the Tournament Fighters deserve some kind of coverage at least.
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Post by Shellshock on Jan 19, 2010 12:00:30 GMT -5
Going back on-topic, is anyone willing to cover the entire TMNT video game series (at least the original pre-2k3 titles)? I think the Tournament Fighters deserve some kind of coverage at least. Yeah, SNES Tournament Fighters is surprisingly decent considering Konami had no idea how to make a good fighting game. I have been thinking of writing about the 3 games for my site, actually.
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Post by Bobinator on Jan 19, 2010 13:48:46 GMT -5
On the other hand, the Genesis version is probably one of the most broken fighting games I've ever seen, and it feels like even less of a Turtles game than the SNES one did. At least that one had Shredder. There was a video going to detail about that on Youtube, but it doesn't seem to be there anymore.
Also, wasn't the NES version the only non-pirate fighting game for the system, if we don't count things like Karate Champ and Double Dragon's VS mode?
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Post by Ryu the Grappler on Jan 19, 2010 14:00:16 GMT -5
On the other hand, the Genesis version is probably one of the most broken fighting games I've ever seen, and it feels like even less of a Turtles game than the SNES one did. At least that one had Shredder. There was a video going to detail about that on Youtube, but it doesn't seem to be there anymore. Also, wasn't the NES version the only non-pirate fighting game for the system, if we don't count things like Karate Champ and Double Dragon's VS mode? Joy Mecha Fight says hello. www.nindb.net/joy-mech-fight.htmlWas it just me or did Aska from the Super NES version of Tournament Fighters looked a lot like Rachael from Martial Champions? They were both Konami games and they even had the same fighting stance if I recall correctly.
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Post by Shellshock on Jan 19, 2010 19:23:15 GMT -5
Was it just me or did Aska from the Super NES version of Tournament Fighters looked a lot like Rachael from Martial Champions? I'm proud to say I have no idea. Let Martial Champions be forgotten in peace.
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Post by Shellshock on Jan 21, 2010 16:02:58 GMT -5
Alright, here are my impressions of TMNT Arcade Attack for DS. I'm happy to delete the ROM off my flash cart. As mentioned before, these are notes I took while playing the game till completion but without some unlockables. I did polish it a bit to make it more fluid, but feel free to use or cut off whatever you want from it (did not run a spellchecker on it because there's no point right now) . I think it's pretty complete, because it's one of those games whose list of issues is bigger than whatever else you might want to mention about it. Any questions let me know.
TMNT: Arcade Attack impressions (a.k.a. list of issues )
Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Ubisoft?
Ubisoft wants to make sure everyone who enjoyed the TMNT arcade titles is on board, piggy-backing on Konami's past arcade success right from the start: the subtitle, the original logo, and the dark NY alley with iconic sewer lid. There's no question who the target audience is.
[Here goes game's plot, which I didn't research. You might also want to find out about how much involvement the original TMNT writers had on this game's cutscenes.]
The presentation is very clean and crisp, with great 2D art and stylish menus that evoke the best of the 16-bit days. Yet the design inconsistencies start to pop up right from the opening cutscene. These are Flash animations of the old, B/W, dark and gritty TMNT comic art played on the DS through those horribly grainy video codecs every developer seems to exploit at one point or another. This new art style is a welcomed, refreshing, and often funny alternative to typical cutscenes even if the clash with the rest of the game's design is so marked: turtles in the character-select screen are depicted in a more modern style based also on the comic, but in full color; in-game sprites, on the other hand, are 3D renditions of the 2003 TMNT series; and then we have the aforementioned title screen which is an obvious homage to Konami's first TMNT arcade. Still, this medley of designs (or intentional lack of style consistency, whichever you want to call it), is neither a problem or a distraction, but an excusable curiosity.
4 turtles to choose from with different stats: strenght, speed, defense, and range. Pick one and play co-op with a friend, otherwise choose a turtle for the CPU A.I. to keep you company (the A.I. seems to be decent and has infinite health, but must be helped off the ground by pressing A every now and then. I have no idea what triggers this.).
[There are other play modes too, like Survival and Stage Attack, and different difficulties levels. Sorry but didn't have the patience to unlock them.]
Thankfully, each turtle has a wide arsenal of commands: block, jump, kick, and weapon button, plus a few advanced combinations. You can combo by hitting kick or weapon buttons repeatedly, or mixing them up for different combos. Pressing Y + B grabs opponents for different throws and kick attacks, or picks up objects to be thrown. You can also try and use Y + B to grab your ally turtle (if the A.I. stops moving for a second and lets you) for 2 team attacks (always the same 2 no matter what turtle pair combination you have, a spinning attack that hits around the turtles, and a dive bomb that is slow and hard to connect), which means there are just 2 special attacks for 4 turtles. NES TMNT III had at least 4 total! The game progresses in a very sterile, by-the-book way. You run right until the game freezes and a ! sign warns you of incoming enemies, you defeat them, the last one dies in slow motion, and you run right again until the next ! sign. This is so in all 8 stages (maybe more upon unlocking?), some of which don't even have bosses at the end (5 bosses total according to TMNT-pedia, don't remember myself). There's also a severe lack of enemy variety. Stage 1, for example, not only has no boss, but there's a total of 3 different enemies. Add this to uneventful, uninteresting, and strictly left-to-right stages and you have the perfect recipe for your tipical an incredibly repetitive beat'em-up. Some enemies have the tedious tendency of blocking a lot, which would be a welcomed challenge instead of frustrating if the turtles weren't knocked back every time their attacks are blocked. This, added to how almost all hits delivered by enemies in later stages of the game knock you across the screen and into the ground, completely breaks the flow of the fight because one gets tired of getting up and walking over to the enemy over and over again.
I cannot understand what the problem is with the ridiculously low count of character's polygons and animation frames . How can a 3D game have worse animation than the 20-year-old 2D version it's based on?. One can hardly see what the turtle's attacks are because they move so choppy, and it's very easy to confuse your turtle with your ally's. Specially when they are both flashing during recovery.
The soundtrack seems to be just plain good (it sounds like it belongs to the 2003 series, but I'm not sure) but definitely reproduced in low quality audio (I don't have a good ear for music in games, but it sounds like very low MP3 quality. Maybe somebody can check this?). But the main problems are the SFXs, which are too loud by default and get annoying due to their lack of variety, and also the COMPLETE lack of sampled voices. Nothing. No grunts, yells, or any kind of turtle dialog. The complete silence became so accentuated throughout the game it felt awkward and unfinished. When was the last time a TMNT game did not have a sampled "Cowabunga!"?
I found myself losing track of what button does what mid-fight unless I really focused, which I found inexplicably odd because I have no problem playing 6-button fighting games. In spite of having a more than decent command variety for a beat'em-up, Arcade Attack is mindless enough to just button-mash through it with only Weapon and Jump buttons. There are a few other advanced button combinations (like block + directional pad to dodge), but you'll probably find yourself trying them out just to break the monotony. By the way, items are picked up by pressing A instead of Y + B, just to make it more confusing. Another problem is that vertical movement is slower than horizontal, which will deter players from moving up and down too much. In fact, the game is easy enough that you can play most of it in a single plane with no problems, and you most likely will. The slight 3/4 camera view also causes confusion when trying to horizontally level with enemies to land hits, mostly because pressing left or right moves you in a slight diagonal instead of strict left and right. You can use sprite's shadows as a guide, but you'll still be hitting air in more than one occasion because it still feels a little bit off. It is also never clear how much vertical room for movement there really is, as an invisible wall often prevents you from stepping into a small section of the bottom of the screen even though it looks clear of obstacles.
Arcade Attack's boring levels and repetitiveness will inevitably lead to button-mashing through it sooner or later if you are a hardcore turtle fan and care enough to get through it to see what little there is to see (namely the novelty cutscenes, the only redeeming value for you here). Well, if you can put up with the technical issues, that is. If not a true TMNT fan and just like beat'em-ups, look elsewhere. I get the impression that Arcade Attack was either rushed to retail to meet a deadline; or the low audio quality, lack of voices and bosses, and terrible 3D is the result of Ubisoft compromising to not go over a preset amount of ROM space.
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Post by brianc on Jan 26, 2010 2:41:46 GMT -5
ugh. Arcade attack sounds terrible! I also noticed an odd lack of reviews for the game.
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Post by Sac (a.k.a Icaras) on Jan 26, 2010 17:39:25 GMT -5
Hmmm...sounds like the game is what I expected. A shame, it would have been nice to see a good quality old school TMNT beat 'em up, but I'm glad I passed the game.
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Post by Shellshock on Jan 26, 2010 23:47:39 GMT -5
You guys should give that GBA game a try, if you haven't already and are looking for a typical TMNT beat'em-up. It's decent.
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Ethrin
Junior Member
Loves shooters, but sux at em.
Posts: 99
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Post by Ethrin on Jun 24, 2010 20:51:26 GMT -5
You guys should give that GBA game a try, if you haven't already and are looking for a typical TMNT beat'em-up. It's decent. Wow, you liked the GBA game? I thought the game was pretty crappy. Not a total turd like the latest DS offering, but it is devoid of any magic. First off, the goddamn boss fights. Most of them are 'hard' because they rarely give you a chance to hit the boss. That just drags the battles out and makes them feel more like a chore than a climactic ending. Enemies are pretty boring and most have timer-based super simplistic AI. There are what, 3 types of enemies or so and the rest are just reskins. I suppose that could pass in the Final Fight and Streets of Rage days, but Turtles in Time seemed to do a good job of mixing things up nicely. Did you EVER unlock that super 4-turtle attack? I never did and I beat most of the stages with all 4 turtles except for the stages where I was forced to use a specific Turtle. This game is an excellent case study in how NOT to design unlockables. I did not feel like the upgrades I bought were much of an improvement. The 4th combo hit was nice, but it could have been more effective/badass. No multiplayer in a TMNT game is always a downer, but understandable given the platform. The controls are simple and the move variety is decent. The 2 types of moves have very distinct roles to play. There are directional kicks for massive knockback and weapons to deal damage. The stage design is the same lackluster linear jaunt but there are enough hazards and breakable items to keep things from getting too dry. The GBA game was the best TMNT offering between Turtles in Time and Turtles in Time Re-Shelled. But that really doesn't say much...
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Post by Shellshock on Jun 25, 2010 16:35:02 GMT -5
No, I didn't like it actually. But my taste aside, I just think it's an OK game. The technical part (collision detection, controls, etc.) works, that's why I think it's decent. But it's boring.
I just beat it once just to say I did, and don't remember unlocking much. I just hate how the turtles seem to beat up hip hop toughs nowadays...
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Post by jorpho on Jun 25, 2010 21:16:10 GMT -5
First off, the goddamn boss fights. Most of them are 'hard' because they rarely give you a chance to hit the boss. That just drags the battles out and makes them feel more like a chore than a climactic ending. I would say they're more "puzzles" than they are fights. It's not a bad way of doing things, I'd say. Better than wailing on them repeatedly. Did you EVER unlock that super 4-turtle attack? I never did and I beat most of the stages with all 4 turtles except for the stages where I was forced to use a specific Turtle. That is entirely new to me. What evidence do you have that it exists?
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Post by Shellshock on Jun 25, 2010 21:20:03 GMT -5
She is talking about the GBA game, right?
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