Currently playing...

[Qazimod]

Hopping in and out of Quake via the modern update. I'm up to E4M3, the Elder God Shrine. Wiki says that episode 4 is one of the last ones in the base game, so I kind of feel an obligation to see the rest of it. Quake was one of those games I missed out on at the time (I was playing PS1 games in 1996 and by the time I got into PC gaming I was looking at Unreal Tournament, Half-Life and Quake III Arena)... but given that each of the maps are relatively short, it's the kind of thing that someone can chip away at and always feel like they're making progress. That being said, there's still plenty of time for old-fashioned nonsense to get in the way of my fun, but right now it's not too bad.

 

E: aaaand done! Well, the base game at least. It got a bit carried away with "tracking" projectiles and explosions, but it was do-able with enough quicksaving.

[Colonel Panic]

Nearing the end of this year's play through. This time on my SuperNT and SD2SNES. I'll try to put a 96 exit file on every Mario World cart and flash cart I've got then do them all again.

 

Things are slowing in work and the stuff I'm doing has a LONG feedback loop so this is perfect.

 

[David Kenny]

On 06/12/2022 at 13:38, Goemon said:

Another question…I know it’s considered this by a lot of people but is FFVII the best FF game?

 

I don't know about the best (I really loved VI and XII) but it is genuinely superb. It has a brilliant bonkers plot, looks incredible, and has the best music of any game ever. It also has a lot of completely optional content that's worth playing through, including some epic boss battles.

[megamixer]

FFVIII is my personal favourite game of all-time. I actually like it for the unique and different Junction system, which is completely broken and abusable, but at least it was new and not the same battle system all over again. The GF summon animations are so good as well (especially Bahamut which is so OTT and looks like he's dropped a damn nuke on the enemies) and the Uematsu soundtrack is typically excellent. I just also really like the characters too, even if I did think that Squall was a massive knob when I replayed the game via its "Remastered" edition on PS4 (never really noticed so much when I first played VIII as a teen), and that the story disappears up its own daft time-travel/loop arse on the latter discs.

 

Triple Triad and its accompanying music is ace too (although some of the advanced rules and how they spread about like a disease can fuck right off).

 

VII is indeed mighty though. Is it THE best? I just think it's too subjective to state that a specific entry is the best when all of the games (barring stuff like FF X-2 and the XIII series) have completely different characters, worlds, and battle systems.

[yakumo]

 Currently playing Ishar 2, I had this when I was a teenager but never managed to complete it due to getting lost and gamefaqs not being a thing. Fast forward to today and I'm still stuck in the same level. While the graphics are impressive and the gameplay good, issue is everything looks the same so it's so easy to get lost. 

 

 

[Yasawas]

Just finished Earthworm Jim 2 (Mega Drive) and felt compelled to write some waffle. I've moaned about the EJ games before in that they're not very much fun these days, if they ever were beyond the graphics. The humour is legitimately bad (not good bad), the movement is rather floaty and disjointed in the service of the animation, and the second at least tries to mix things up by giving almost every level some kind of gimmick which isn't necessarily a bad idea - but only if you have fun gimmicks, and not the likes of Puppy Love or The Flying' King levels. So it's really average at best then but! That final level - woof! Loved it. It's a Meat Boy-feeling chase level with Psy-Crow where you keep getting a wee bit further each time and then falling down an obvious hole/being hit by a massive cannonball.

 

And they saved the one funny moment in the series for the ending - LOVED it. 

 

Now I'm on to Ranger-X (Mega Drive) which I know has fans here. After 15 minutes I'm still fumbling the controls but excited by what I've seen already. Nice soundtrack too.

[Qazimod]

One particularly impressive part of Earthworm Jim 2 was "Lorenzo's Soil" and its "destructible" level. Admittedly it was still pretty linear and adhered to certain rules, but I feel like at the time it would have blown a few minds. But yes, the games aren't that great to come back to.

 

Ranger-X gets pretty nuts, but the soundtrack makes it worthwhile. The boss theme sounds like 16-bit prog rock noodling.  

[Yasawas]

1 hour ago, Qazimod said:

One particularly impressive part of Earthworm Jim 2 was "Lorenzo's Soil" and its "destructible" level. Admittedly it was still pretty linear and adhered to certain rules, but I feel like at the time it would have blown a few minds.

I’ll definitely give them that one. I still found it pretty impressive today, especially when I realised I could also use the falling debris to block the flames from the ground. That title is one of the better puns too.

 

The controls in Ranger-X are like my early attempts at Atomic Runner all over again  Shambles. I might just approach it as a three-button game. I was thinking about Alien Soldier recently and my recollection is that the controls in that are crying out for a six-button pad and yet it doesn’t support it whereas the Ranger-X team went the other way entirely. Mo’ buttons, mo’ problems.

[SeanR]

Had my first game of Archon on the Atari XE today.

 

it’s pretty good, as it goes. Dodgy presentation, as you’d expect from a game from 1983, but gameplay is put as fuck!

[JamesC]

On 30/12/2022 at 10:32, Yasawas said:

I’ll definitely give them that one. I still found it pretty impressive today, especially when I realised I could also use the falling debris to block the flames from the ground. That title is one of the better puns too.

 

The controls in Ranger-X are like my early attempts at Atomic Runner all over again  Shambles. I might just approach it as a three-button game. I was thinking about Alien Soldier recently and my recollection is that the controls in that are crying out for a six-button pad and yet it doesn’t support it whereas the Ranger-X team went the other way entirely. Mo’ buttons, mo’ problems.

You really don't need to use the 6 button configuration in Ranger X at all. I'd certainly stick with the three button mode to start off with. Once you're used to it, you can move to the 6 button method and control the X-Up as a nice bonus.
It's definitely worth having a look at the manual for this one. You need to make sure you understand the solar-charging and the charge docks and also the method of swicthing you secondary weapon (you need to be docked with the X-Up vehicle for this).
The game isn't that complicated, but there are systems you just won't know about unless you've looked at the manual or read an FAQ. 

[Qazimod]

Messing with Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow on my RS97 as I had a save at the start. I've never got very far with this - I seem to hit a wall with Death every time. He was my stopping point when I first made a proper attempt at playing on PC, and I'm here again. There is some easy grinding nearby for experience and cash, so buying a ton of recovery items is always an option... 🤔

 

E: got him. The items do take the edge off things, but you can survive a lot once you're able to read his attacks and know when to go in.

 

E2: I also beat Legion! This was always another wall if I ever managed to get past Death, but there's a "trick" to the battle that you can use to your advantage...

 

Spoiler

The idea is that its core is covered by four quadrants, and you break away the quadrants to get to the core. However, as you destroy quadrants it gains these really annoying tentacles that shoot lasers. I think those were the things that always killed me before, but this time I just kited it back and forth and tried to do as much damage to the lower quadrants only. This still triggered one tentacle to emerge, but it was a lot more manageable.

 

Think I also need to find the shop again as I haven't revisited since beating Death...

 

E3: and - after a shop visit - I beat Balore, who was way easier than Death and Legion. Once it came to his eye-blast you could just jump, wait a bit with the float if necessary, and swing.

[Yasawas]

On 03/01/2023 at 10:59, JamesC said:

The game isn't that complicated, but there are systems you just won't know about unless you've looked at the manual or read an FAQ. 

 

Wise words - ta! Someone (possibly yourself) did mention this to me before once I’d initially dabbled with it and now I’ve had more time with it I see how right you are. 

 

I’m not sure I’ll take to this fully but I set up a Bluetooth mouse in Retropie earlier so finally tried Mario & Wario (SFC). It’s fun, has a lovely, bright, late-period SNES look with a slightly bootleg Mario sprite, but I’ve seen the GCCX episode and know how hard it can get. Interestiing though. And Picross works with the mouse too apparently!

[Qazimod]

Completed Aria of Sorrow. Well, the main initial game mode at least. Lv41, 8:23:13, 88.6%. The true final area was a bit nuts (presumably because everything was built for your endgame stats again, unlike the majority of the original map), but equipping my "regen from an attack" soul got me through most of it. The final final encounter got a bit dicey because I hadn't gone back to stock up on recovery items, but the gimmick where you

 

Spoiler

drop its defence by destroying the parts

 

helped a bit, and I still had one or two of those bigger HP recovery and MP recovery items. In hindsight I could have made things better for myself by stockpiling recovery items, but I didn't know I was at the end.

 

I think this is probably the second Metroidvania-style Castlevania I've finished after Symphony. I don't know if I liked the characters as much, but I did find it much more challenging in comparison to SotN's difficulty dropping as soon as you get the Alucard Shield. Maybe that's due to me not being as familiar with this game's secrets. (Although I did have the Claimh Solais and some busted souls such as Succubus and Curly.) Even then, though, there were only a few major hurdles - Death, Legion, and J***** come to mind - but each of those put me in my place and actually required careful item use and learning attack patterns, so it was pretty satisfying. And I always heard that this was one of the better Metroidvanias, so I'm glad that I've taken a proper look at it.

 

I feel like I ran around a lot of optional areas and there's probably a "critical path" of sorts (to optimise your route through various souls) that one can look up for their future runs, but exploration was fun as well.

[Colonel Panic]

Blast Corps at the moment. It gets pretty damned hard very quickly. 

[Junker]

Dodonpachi on my Miyoo mini. Not a good fit as the vertical screen of the game means it’s tiny on the little screen. 
Dying is good.

[spanky debrest]

Checked out Taito's Qix Neo on the PSX expecting a typically weirded out 32-bit remake of a classic coin-op, but found the ultimate version of a personal all time favourite, Volfied, instead. 

 

I'm not really a Qix enthusiast, but my love for Volfied has run pretty deep since discovering it on one of those Taito Legends PS2 compilations back in the day. Between the hidden depths & secrets, open play style, randomised power ups and creative enemy designs, it got me hooked.

 

This PSX version seems to have perfectly transplanted the arcade board whilst also redesigning the levels for horizontal screen layout - which itself wasn't unusual (the MD and PCE ports also did this) - but here they've also used what seem to be original source assets but subtly improved / enhanced them in places.

 

It's done with such class and taste that it feels period correct AND correct correct - as if this was always the way it was meant to be.

 

There's added sprite scaling and rotation effects and pseudo surround sound audio trickery which is really cool. Gone are the non-existent / limited continues, which is also really cool. It plays so goddamned smoothly.

 

And there's a separate Arrange Mode too, which seems to offer modified levels with smoothed / digitised reworks of sprite / background assets and all new redone music / sfx - some of which I'm not particularly fussed about -  BUT the most divisive aspect of the original game - an undulating high frequency drone that's used as main background atmospherics - has been reworked to something a lot rounder and more palatable.

 

So, I lost two hours to Qix Neo tonight. What an utter gem.

[Goemon]

Just finished Thunderforce 4 on the Megadrive.

 

I bought this back in the day and somehow managed to finish it the same weekend, so instantly returned it and got something else. This makes my mind super hazy on the game.

 

Playing it now I’m not sure how I managed to do it in a weekend TBH, I must have been really lucky!

 

It’s a great game, with some lovely bits. I particularly like the end of stage 5 where a later boss turns up and wipes out your team, and then a new special weapon becomes accessible. There is some RnG bits in there though, which can turn things on its head really fast and can feel a bit harsh. It also has dynamic difficulty, which I’m never a fan of. These are offset by the game chucking lives at you pretty regularly.

 

The game has some crazy slow down too. In fact I feel like the game is constantly running in slow motion (at least while you have claw and you’re shooting) as it can change dramatically when you lose this.

 

There’s a lot of levels too, 10 in total The first 4 can be chosen in any order, the 5th you get your new weapon and the rest play out in order, it’s all really nicely done.

 

Until now I think I would have said that 3 was better than 4 but having played it, I think 4 is the better game. It just has more going on to make it a bit more interesting.

 

 

[merman]

Lester (C64) - excellent new Metroidvania style game, managed to complete it

[Goemon]

I’ve just started playing Chelnov (Atomic Runner) on the MD.

 

I remember reading the MMS review who loved it but I never really liked the look of the aesthetic myself so have never played it.

 

Wow, what a great game!

 

I ditched the default controls pretty quickly and moved to buttons shooting directions over having a shoot button and a change direction button and it’s all instantly fallen into place.

 

I assumed that it was positivity across the board for this game but it seems to not be the case. Magazine scores on Sega Retro range from 40% to 91%! Literally opposite comments! Sound is great/sound is poor, gameplay is fresh/seen it all before etc. Bizarre.

 

From what I’ve played so far (got to stage 4) I’m really enjoying it and can’t wait for my next session.

 

 

[JamesC]

One of my absolute favourites on the system. Super fun and very different to other shooters. 

Whoever said the sound is poor must need their ears checked. There are some cracking tunes in that game! 

[Goemon]

Megadrive Advanced Gaming Magazine said it.

Like the way they thank the company that supplied them their review copy that they just shit all over.

 

 

[JamesC]

'Ridiculous control method' 

 

I'm not a huge fan of the default method but there are about twenty different methods to choose from. There's almost certainly a method which feels intuitive to everyone. 

Makes you wonder if they even bothered to try them. 

[Goemon]

Finished Chelnov (Atomic Runner)

 

Have to say I’m super impressed by the game. I feel like if you wrote everything about this game on a bit of paper the person reading would be like WTF, this will never work (you’re telling me you can’t walk backwards!?) but put it all together and the game is a triumph of originality.

 

One thing I love about the game is that it’s levels are fixed, which allows you to learn what’s coming, when and structure how you’ll tackle things.

 

I used multiple save states to practice sections and where I needed to be. This helped me fast track the completion but man, you would have had weeks and weeks of learning from this game back in the day. 
 

The only bit I wasn’t sure about was the last boss as after a lot of practice the only way I could get him even remotely consistently had very strict manipulation of his positioning otherwise it makes him nigh on impossible or you have to be really lucky. (At least with my attempts)

 

As @JamesC mentions the tunes are great too, where that magazine comment came from I have no idea. The best I can figure is that they literally played the game for 10 mins and then gave up. Playability - 2/10! WTF!

 

It also takes a while to notice how nice it is graphically too (mainly because you’re focusing on staying alive!) but some sections have like 5 layers of parallax, which make it look gorgeous! It also lovely touches like the fact the stage 2 boss is standing atop of a pyramid in the stage 1 background as you run by  

 

I definitely feel this is a game that not a lot of people know about, which is criminal really. It’s up there in the mix with the top shooters on the system and deserves a place in everyone MD collection.

 

 

[acidbearboy]

I bought ACA NeoGeo Burning Fight on PS4 in the sale. Hard to be disappointed with a £2.89 purchase, but apart from some nice background art, the game itself was a very average arcade brawler. Slightly clunky character animations. Small roster of enemy designs. Cheap gameplay flaws - you can loose all your energy to multiple unblockable attacks. I can’t see myself returning to this one in a hurry.

[Colonel Panic]

Paper Mario on N64 - This game has been quite difficult early on due to making small mistakes and getting punished hard in terms of health. 
 

Each chapter seems to unlock new gameplay elements and badges can help, so as I go to Dry Dry Desert, I live in hope. 
 

It’s quite a nice game so far. 
 

Axelay - Not as good as Super Aleste, but very little is! 😃 This is a nice one because its stages are quite short and it has a great weapon system and banging music. Fell out of love with this after I bought my own copy, but feeling it again.

[MattyP]

Just picked up Outrun 2 for the Xbox today. Works on 360 BC which is great.

 

Forgotten how good this is. Visuals and sound still hold up today and gameplay sublime as ever. Nice to have the Ferraris in there too.. which is why we'll never see this working in a Xbox One I guess due to licensing etc.

 

IIRC the arcade game was based on Xbox hardware so explains why its such a good "conversion". What with this and playing some HiFi Rush feels like I've gone back to playing Dreamcast era games. Its great and what I've been missing from most of the new games released these days.

[JamesC]

On 29/01/2023 at 17:21, MattyP said:

Just picked up Outrun 2 for the Xbox today. Works on 360 BC which is great.

 

Forgotten how good this is. Visuals and sound still hold up today and gameplay sublime as ever. Nice to have the Ferraris in there too.. which is why we'll never see this working in a Xbox One I guess due to licensing etc.

 

IIRC the arcade game was based on Xbox hardware so explains why its such a good "conversion". What with this and playing some HiFi Rush feels like I've gone back to playing Dreamcast era games. Its great and what I've been missing from most of the new games released these days.

Weirdly, I picked this up on Saturday and was also playing it on Sunday. It really is lovely and it even has the original arcade Outrun included as an unlockable.
 

[Yasawas]

On 18/01/2023 at 16:40, Goemon said:

Finished Chelnov (Atomic Runner)

 

I definitely feel this is a game that not a lot of people know about, which is criminal really. It’s up there in the mix with the top shooters on the system and deserves a place in everyone MD collection.

 

 

You are me from a couple of months back, it’s a wonderful game. Mean Machines Sega was my only touchstone before playing it too, even!

 

I’ve started Phantom Hourglass (DS) finally and was enjoying it once I’d got over my stylus reluctance only to have them force some microphone blowing on me. Hmm. I’ll give it another half hour but if it wasn’t a Zelda game it’d be shelved already I must admit.

 

Also Dark Souls (Switch) which I don’t count as eligible for this forum but was in the mood for a replay earlier when the title screen brought home that by the 10-year rule of some this now easily qualifies. Fucking hell. For all the time I put into this, all the pointless achievements and trophies gleaned, I have never finished a SL1 run so that’s my one to relax with for the next few weeks. Surprised how much I’d forgotten though.

[Shimmyhill]

Ive been playing Sega Rally on Saturn of late and its sublime, we all know this but its one of those games that feels special and after a while I’d forgotten how old it was and the less than optimal picture on a modern tv but mostly….. how on earth does it plays so well on a d-pad? 

 

I have to admit that back in the day I was more of a fan of Ridge Racer than Daytona and while Sega Rally in the arcade was incredible I was far more interested to play Ridge Racer on the Playstation than Sega Rally on the Saturn… having been playing them back to back of late im far more ‘into’ Sega Rally - did I mention I can not get over how good it feels on a pad, as a total wheel snob on modern consoles I was expecting this to play badly but somehow you can chuck it in and the clever use of inertia to allow multiple inputs on the pad to make the car dance around is beyond good, ive never played the special edition that allows the analogue pad but I wonder if thats even better

 

 

[Qazimod]

I started Super Mario RPG on my RS97 yesterday evening. It was one of those games I always played the start of and then got distracted and forgot about, so I'm trying to be more committed. So far I quite like the World Map structure, as it really cements your progress and you can look back and see the "do-able" areas and your current progress blockers. It makes a change from me playing Final Fantasy with a Notepad file to hand so that I can remind myself where I was supposed to be going next!

 

The main thing that I know is going to be a problem is me attempting new areas and running out of resources partway through and dying. I'm thinking that it will be good practice to grind the hell out of opening rooms until I can breeze through encounters without too much item use. So... RPG stuff.

 

Also I'm really bad at timed attacks and blocks.  

 

EDIT 1: cleared the Forest Maze boss first time. The boss wasn't too bad as I had plenty of support items. The maze bit was a bit rubbish though. Also Geno's on the team! Moved on to Moleville and the Coal Mines later on - and cleared the coal mines first time as well! The boss got a bit annoying with the constant adds, but I got there. Grinding the hell out of the zone continues to pay off. Honestly, I think that the mine cart minigame was more frustrating…  

 

Booster Tower and Marrymore were a little bit gimmicky, with the hiding minigame in Booster Tower (running behind different curtains to not get caught) overstaying its welcome a bit, and the barrel hopping minigame being kind of forgettable. The cake boss was a little dicey but nothing too bad. Moved on to Star Hill which was more of an intermission than anything, and now I'm at the seaside place.