|
|
Post by dsparil on May 16, 2022 9:10:13 GMT -5
I'd give Gradius III a B. I like all the different weapons and especially the edit mode which has so much more customization than the regular selection although it is missing a few. The big minus is that it goes on for too long despite already being shorter than the arcade game. Some of the more gimmicky levels of the arcade game are gone and what's left can be repetitive. It's a fun game to mess around in, but I generally don't play through all the way.
As to the SA-1 patch, the game is balanced around the slow down. It's clear that in some places it is introduced intentionally. The moai boss is different compared to the arcade game which doesn't have the falling rocks and those are nearly impossible to avoid in the SA-1 version. It's basically a technical prototype not a finished product. It was a whole lot of work to make, but the vast majority of the work is in tweaking every part of the game across every difficulty to rebalance it.
|
|
|
|
Post by ommadawnyawn2 on May 17, 2022 15:17:52 GMT -5
While I haven't played it in years and I'm not really a fan of some of Gradius' mechanics I remember enjoying this one playing it in emulation, and the slowdown didn't bother me too much. It's probably more frustrating without it. While not that creative I find it to be a more varied game with a better length than 1, and better overall difficulty balance than 2 (ARC/PCE ver).
I'd give the game a C and the soundtrack an A.
|
|
|
|
Post by Snake on May 20, 2022 10:43:54 GMT -5
Gradius III!!! Haven't played it in ages. But I one thing I will say is that it was leagues easier than Gradius II. Bigger better everything, and if I were to revisit any of the Gradius games, it would surely be Gradius III. Especially with that glorious SNES era Konami start-up screen and jingle. That jingle has me conditioned to salivate for good times. Being one of the new slew of 16-bit launch games, it felt more colorful, rich, and advanced than any of the shooters on Genesis/Mega Drive and Turbografx-16.
|
|
|
|
Post by excelsior on May 23, 2022 1:51:05 GMT -5
Week #3 - Super Off Road
 
Grab the wheel of your Toyota Super-truck and hit the gas! Super Off Road is one of many conversions of the arcade this time dropping the Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart license and prominently featuring the Toyota name.
Features:
4 Way Racing
Super Off Road allows for one to two players with the competition filled out by the CPU. Races take place on one screen for simplistic yet rewarding gameplay.
Upgrade Your Vehicle
Gain money by finding it on the track and spend it between races to soup up your truck.
Enduring Competitions
Race across variations of 16 tracks on a loop in order to win it all.
|
|
|
|
Post by excelsior on May 23, 2022 1:59:07 GMT -5
This is a bit of a tough one I think. Super Off Road's simplicity worked in its favour but was mostly enjoyable in two player. The game came out before the SNES multitap originally and had it featured 4 player mode or even 3 like the arcade would have been even better. I think then it depends how you played it with single player not being all that interesting. The competition seems a bit endless and becomes aimless as it goes on since it's not made clear how many tracks are to come and they seem to loop endlessly (I believer there's 99 races but let me know if that's incorrect). I think it's best treated as a pick up and play but shorter competitions would have benefitted the replay value. Although I think it's the only racer that has the benefit of the single screen there are a bunch of others that outperform Super Off Road in otherwise similar gameplay.
I do like the Follins soundtrack in this version.
Ranking - C
|
|
|
|
Post by windfisch on May 23, 2022 2:26:00 GMT -5
I vaguely remember playing the Atari ST version a couple of times in the early 90s. It was alright, I think. Never played it on SNES, I'm afraid. However, there is at least one other single screen racer for the SNES that I can think of, namely Hanna Barbera's Turbo Toons. It's nothing too spectacular, though.
I wonder if there are any fun recent single screen racers, indie-developed or otherwise.
|
|
|
|
Post by ommadawnyawn2 on May 23, 2022 5:06:05 GMT -5
I don't think I've ever played this one for more than 15 mins or so, I don't like the single screen style for racing games. But I shall have another look at it. What do you think are the better games in that style, excelsior?
The music on SNES is great!
|
|
|
|
Post by spanky on May 23, 2022 6:16:42 GMT -5
Super Off Road is great! I remember that it was the second game I ever saw in the in-store SNES demo stations at various department stores. All the stores seemed to have it playing at the same time. Maybe at Nintendo's directive? It seems a bit of an odd choice because its hardly a technical masterpiece. The simple fun of it all makes it a pretty good "demo" game though.
Amazing Tim Follin music, and the Toyota sponsorship means you hear bits of their old 90s jingle in the soundtrack.
It's a shame that the multi-tap wasn't out yet because this would be a perfect 4 player game.
Fun fact: The SNES removes the bikini girls at the name entry screen and covers up the models at the podium. Naturally the Genesis version responds by giving even bigger boobs.
There's a spinoff of sorts called Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat. I like that one quite a bit too but it never received a SNES port.
Overall rating: B
|
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on May 23, 2022 7:23:36 GMT -5
I'm not a fan of top down racing games in general, and I don't live in a place where there's any kind of off road racing except maybe a few small BMX and motocross tracks. Super Off Road does capture what I assume is the fantasy of this kind of racing, but it feels like the deck is stacked against you from the start e.g. the AI starting with 40-ish turbos and you get 0 unless you buy them. I do somewhat prefer Indy Heat because it's a type of racing I can appreciate, and it feels like the fairer game.
C
|
|
|
|
Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on May 23, 2022 14:32:25 GMT -5
I haven't played this in a while, but I emulated the SNES version quite a bit years ago, and I do have the PAL NES version. I remember it being very enjoyable (mostly in multiplayer IIRC), though I'm not very good at racing games, and I always have trouble picking upgrades for racing games like these. Top-down racers have kind of a cosy feeling to me, especially since-screen ones. Definitely on my to-buy list when I get an NTSC SNES.
Rating: B
|
|
|
|
Post by excelsior on May 25, 2022 5:29:32 GMT -5
What do you think are the better games in that style, excelsior? Nothing single screen, but Rock N Roll Racing for instance feels like an evolution of games like Super Off Road. It even has similar upgrades. The Micro Machines games are a bit more simplistic than that one but have varied track design which I think puts them ahead of Off Road also. spanky - giving them bigger boobs is pretty funny as a response to the family friendly approach on Nintendo's platform. The fact that winning the tourney only gives the pretty lame podium screen is a bit of a shame in any case. I'm also going to say I come down on the side of really liking top down racers, or isometric ones since those play similarly. You do get the odd top down racer pop up, but very rarely a single screen. I think there was at least one on WiiWare but that's the last tine I heard of one. |
|
|
|
Post by ommadawnyawn2 on May 25, 2022 8:39:31 GMT -5
Right, yeah I do love both of those but they feel pretty different.
|
|
|
|
Post by excelsior on May 30, 2022 1:13:15 GMT -5
Week #4 - Mortal Kombat
 
Prepare Yourself
Mortal Monday May 30 is here! Defeat the half-human dragon Goro and destroy the shape-changing Shang Tsung to become the Supreme Mortal Kombat Warrior.
Features:
Intense Matches
Defeat your opponent in a series of brutal one on one battles
All the Kombat Warriors
Choose from seven selectable characters
Finish Him!
Finish the fight with deadly finishing moves
|
|
|
|
Post by excelsior on May 30, 2022 1:24:18 GMT -5
Street Fighter II drove the trend for one on one fighters in the early 90's with many imitators, but I thought I'd start with it's main rival at the time, Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat did a great deal to differentiate itself using digitized graphics to create a harsher and more realistic look emphasised with blood and gruesome finishers. Of course the game was controversial at the time and the first game omitted the blood for the SNES version. The game plays quite nicely with a memorable cast of classic characters as well as Kano each having a unique set of moves. For ranking the game though there's some drawbacks - one the aforementioned lack of blood. This wouldn't bother me in many games but is such a necessary component of Mortal Kombat's identity that it feels like this isn't quite the true experience. The other great issue is simply that this series outdid this with later entries on the console making the first game a tad redundant.
Ranking - C
|
|
|
|
Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on May 30, 2022 5:32:55 GMT -5
Never played this one I think. I've only played one on 360 I believe. The SNES had an early port of SFII, while the Genesis had an uncensored version of MK. One of the few cases where fans of both sides had something to brag about I guess, and it shows how important fighters were in the early 90's. But yeah, never played it.
Is MK the only succesful western 2D fighter franchise?
|
|
