SNES Game of the Week 118 - Clock Tower

[Snake]

Jul 26, 2024 12:23:40 GMT -5 personman said:

 Maybe it was just my luck that I was around a bunch of crazies online and off for this thing but it has been raised up to such a ridiculous rapturous pedestal that I find so stupid I can't stand looking at the thing for more than a minute. Plus people pressured me to play it so much I just refuse to out of spite, the generations of game just seem to be getting worse and worse and I hate crap like Fortnite and all that as much as the next 30-something person but you know what? At least I don't hear about this game nearly as much anymore.

Anyways, ranking uh... I dunno, A. Now get it out of my sight.



(I am of course being half way hyperbolic for fun. Halfway )

Ha! Now there's a new thread topic! Games that you were pressured into playing that may or may have not lived up to the hype.   = )

[Digitalnametag]

Some interesting takes on Chrono Trigger. CT definitely benefits from being one of the few JRPG's to get a proper release outside of Japan. When you look at total RPG's on the SNES released overseas there is something like 25 or so and some of those are action based like Secret of Mana. Then you have a couple like the first Lufia and The 7th Saga that are not much fun. Simply by comparison Chrono Trigger stands out as one of the best on the console. There is not much competition there. For me Final Fantasy VI is the only other US released SNES RPG on the same level.

And so I still rank CT as one of the greats. The soundtrack is a masterpiece, the time travel interesting, and the battle system is just fun. Sure it's a bit easy but the game moves at an excellent pace and keeps you entertained. It also benefits from having an excellent localization for it's time. Look at the translation mess that is Breathe of Fire II. To this day you could hand Chrono Trigger to someone as an entry level game to the genre and they would probably have fun. You cannot do that with say Earthbound. There is a reason indie developers constantly list CT as an inspiration for their games. Which itself is a bit of an annoying meme at this point. I can understand people being frustrated with how much the game is hyped but I don't think you can in clear conscious ever call Chrono Trigger a bad game unless you just hate the genre. But to be fair us fanatics tend to be biased.

Chrono Trigger is an 'S' for me.

[excelsior]

That had to be intentionally ironic.

[Digitalnametag]

Yeah that was the joke. Was also a reference to my title on the forum, ‘JRPG Fanatic’.

Now it just makes me sad that someone could interpret that as anything but irony…

[excelsior]

To be fair, a genuine lack of self awareness isn't that uncommon a trait to find on the internet, so you can never be completely sure. On the other side of the fence from the perspective of a neurodivergent type, reading peoples meaning through their facial expressions is tough, without facial expressions is a whole other story. But, hey! I got it right! Good for me.

[excelsior]

• Publisher - Zamuse
• Developer - Winkysoft
• Genre - Shoot-em-up
• Initial Release - 29 October 1993

  

  

[dsparil]

I probably came across this when I went through the PCE's Macross shooter, but I don't think I played this then. So far, I've only played the first level with each of the characters to get a feel for them, and it seems pretty good. Better than the PCE shooter anyway.

[spanky]

First of all: "Winkysoft" lol, lmao. Second of all: Despite being a very well loved series, I know next to nothing about Macross (or Robotech). It's a mech show where the bad guys are aliens who are bewitched by a human pop singer? I was curious so I looked up a clip of one of the movies and it was a space battle set to a syrupy pop ballad where the aforementioned pop singer is superimposed over the battle and as she gestures with her hands, the ships unleash a gigantic barrage of missles and as ships blow up you get horrific scenes of the crew being mutilated falling debris. I struggle of think of something more "anime" than this.

Anyway, uh the game! It's a pretty good shooter on a system that needed more than them. Lots of stuff on the screen, multi layer parallax background scrolling, some dynamic setpiece design here and there and the ability to switch forms (affects your weapon and speed). I'm not enough of a SHMUP afficianado to properly critique it but hey, I had fun. B.

[excelsior]

I'm trying to play through it. Finding the lack of checkpoints a bit harsh so far. I guess the life bar was the trade off here. The game seems really good otherwise. Runs well. Nice amount of onscreen sprites. I like the ship transformations having individual power ups, that also downgrade when you take a hit. I didn't like being powered down this way in Axelay, but it works here because you're given so many chances to obtain power ups. Some more health up bonuses would be nice, mind you. I'm going to keep at it. Enjoying it so far.

Jul 29, 2024 20:15:19 GMT -5 spanky said:

First of all: "Winkysoft" lol, lmao. 

This is some juvenile humour, dude (so of course I laughed).

[dsparil]

I think a B is right here maybe even a C, but that feels a little harsh. I'd say it's competent but mostly unremarkable. The game front loads all the best stuff into the first stage with the rest of the game not really doing anything new. The graphics are better than the PCE's Macross 2036 which isn't surprising, but 2036 has a lot of CD cutscenes which gives you a little something to look forward to even if the gameplay is a bit worse.

[Snake]

Macross Scrambled Valkyrie

Loved this game upon release, especially as a Macross fanboy.  Though it's really more of a side story plot, the opening cut scene bgm and the Stage transition screens get their tunes from the original 1980's anime, as are some of the enemy fodder sprites.  

What I really like about this game was being able to scramble and capture enemy ships, if you use the electric aura that pops up when you take a break from shooting anything. Cool feature to experiment and see which enemy mecha you could have fight with you, as it fires away with its own unique attack weapon/pattern, like an option from Gradius or Salamander.  

The actual stages are pretty straight forward, but I do enjoy some of the stage design, like fighting in Macross city while Minmei is singing on screen with My Boyfriend is a Pilot playing as the BGM, or the asteroid stage with Jupiter in the backdrop.  

The fetal final boss that turns into some primordial Mewtoo, is kinda of odd choice.  I give the game overall some bonus points for being a decent take on the Macross franchise.

B+

[ommadawnyawn2]

Didn't expect this one, nice. It's one of the better shoot 'em ups on the SNES even without the license which I am a fan of, I'll give it a B+. I'd give it an A but found the checkpoint system unforgiving, and that the manipulation system had some implementation issues. This game has some great music by the way. 

Now, this is a little late but does anyone know how to jump/throw yourself consistently in Super Tennis or if it triggers automatically on occasion? That game is pretty tough. 

[excelsior]

Jul 30, 2024 14:09:19 GMT -5 ommadawnyawn2 said:

Now, this is a little late but does anyone know how to jump/throw yourself consistently in Super Tennis or if it triggers automatically on occasion? That game is pretty tough. 

I don't think there's a button for it (?), it's more a move that's pulled off to reach out of length balls, the length being based on the footwork skill of the character.

[ommadawnyawn2]

It seems to happen automatically at a set length but it's hard to judge reliably if it will happen when the game gets so fast. I've looked into it and each player has a max length that they can dive. There's a detailed description on this page but honestly I don't really understand it:
www.facebook.com/notes/super-tennis-online-snesot/player-attributes-standard-rom/1850432881684595/?_rdr

There's actually quite a bit more depth to the game than I expected - 6 different swings, 11 stats, spinning the ball with L/R and even hidden serve combos.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BqzlxRQxSo

[excelsior]

Finished it, with the help of save states. The soundtrack is fantastic, so that's a big plus for me. Lots of tension in there. Visually, whilst the foreground is unambitious, the parallax scrolling is some of the best I've seen on SNES and is used to pull off some really atmospheric stages, complimenting the audio. The game does have some creative elements to the abilities here, which allow for interesting gameplay. Stagewise, I actually found there were a couple of stages in the middle which I didn't care for too much, but otherwise it's solid stuff. I'm still down on the lack of checkpointing, especially since it doesn't create an opportunity to learn the stages and the tougher boss battles well. Still, probably one of the better shmups on the SNES.

Ranking - B