What are you playing?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Awesome post. The original StarFox is still my favorite, and I also think it still looks great. I wish more modern games would adopt the “this is what we though computer graphics in the future would look like in the late 1980s” aesthetic.

[marurun]

The definitive SNES games that I hold encased in nostalgia are either Nintendo-made or are early titles released within the first year of the system. I only played the SNES at friends' houses, and I spent most of my time playing during that first year. So I remember Actraiser, Super CV IV, Super R-Type, Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Gradius III, Super EDF, and Joe & Mac fondly, but not so much later 3rd party titles.

[noiseredux]

So I've been trying to game on the cheap lately. Y'know what's cheap? Old sports games are cheap! But it is fun to check out these random series from various sports and see how they progressed over the years. And here's an interesting example: Ken Griffey Jr Presents Major League Baseball is a 1997 Game Boy port of a 1994 SNES game. It took three years for them to bring the game over to GB. I mean, were fans of the SNES game really clamoring for a GB port in all that time? I don't know. I really don't remember anything about this game. I'm not even sure I was aware of it at the time.

But y'know what? It's not bad. I mean it's not great. But it's better than I expected. The sprites are rather large, and though kind of goofy looking are still pretty impressive on the hardware. Pitching is... alright. Batting feels good. Fielding can be a little cumbersome, but it's manageable. I've definitely played far worse baseball games. This one at least feels solid enough for the time.

What's really cool is how in depth the options are in this thing. You can play an exhibition game, an all-star game, playoffs, a full season (or half, or short). There's also all kinds of sim stuff in there like editing rosters that I didn't bother with myself, but I appreciate the inclusion.

I THINK that a big fan of baseball (and Game Boy) would probably find a fair amount to keep them busy in this one. For me, I'll just say that it's a decent baseball game. And one I'll actually hang on to. I mean, a single exhibition game is enough to keep me content for a night. But yeah. It's not bad.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Awesome post. (I didn’t realize that game existed until just now!)

[noiseredux]

Here's a game I probably wouldn't have played had it not been 'free' on Switch Online. Stunt Race FX was somewhat hyped back in the day because of the FX chip a la Star Fox. And I mean, from a technical standpoint - yeah it's impressive. You've got a polygonal racer on SNES! And it's at least playable. But comparing the two games - Star Fox is absolutely amazing and Stunt Race FX is... merely playable.

For one thing, it seems like part of the way that pulled off this feat is by making the screen much smaller and throwing black borders around it. You remember that old trick they'd use for early CD-ROM games that had video clips, right? But for a SNES game it just looks weird.

The other thing is that the frame rate absolutely chugs. This is a racing game, and the sense of speed just isn't there. Likewise, the controls feel janky and I'm constantly either over-turning or under-turning. Compare this to another SNES racer like Mario Kart that had impeccable controls and it's easy to be disappointed.

It also feels like a rather slight game. There's only three cars to choose from at the start. Apparently you can unlock a fourth, but I'm not going to bother. Oh, and there's a big rig bonus mode that's pure torture.

I appreciate what Stunt Race FX pulled off in 1994. And as a piece of gaming history, I'm glad to have given a try. But I can't see myself coming back to this one anytime soon.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Started the Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story remake today after finishing the remake of Superstar Saga the other day (review pending :b).

First thing I notice, right off the bat, is that while this game really looks very very similar to the Superstar Saga remake, it runs noticeably worse. The framerate especially during battles (even in the tutorial one just jumping on Bowser) is definitely lower than Superstar Saga's remake. The other odd thing is that the Bros have far floatier jumps. They feel like they hang in the air wayyy longer than they did in Superstar Saga.

[isiolia]

The other thing is that the frame rate absolutely chugs. This is a racing game, and the sense of speed just isn't there. Likewise, the controls feel janky and I'm constantly either over-turning or under-turning. Compare this to another SNES racer like Mario Kart that had impeccable controls and it's easy to be disappointed.

That's the authentic Stunt Race FX experience all right.

[noiseredux]

It's hard to articulate just how big NBA Jam was back in the day. It was one of those 90's games that was an arcade staple. And EVERYONE had some version of it at home. The big thing was finding all of the hidden players in both the original and TE versions of the game. Even crazier was that this was a SPORTS game. And even non-sports fans seemed to enjoy it thanks to its crazy over-the-top arcade style gameplay.

Back then SNES was my preferred way to play NBA Jam. But I also had it in portable form. Truth be told, there were several games like this (Mortal Kombat II comes to mind) where I actually had it for SNES, but also Game Boy because I liked the ability of taking some version of the game with me between my mom and dad's houses.

These ports were serviceable at the time. But man, trying to play the GB port of NBA Jam is rough. I will say that it looks good for what it is. It's a pretty close approximation of the console game. But that being said, there's one thing that completely destroys this version: the controls.

Let me remind you that NBA Jam is a three-button game. You have shoot, pass, and turbo. But what's that? The Game Boy only has two face buttons? True. Which means the third function is set to the Start button. Uh oh. By default, this is turbo, and it's awful. There's no physically comfortable way to make this game work.

I tried for a while to play using my index finger on Start and my middle finger on the face buttons but this was super uncomfortable and honestly confusing. Eventually, I resorted to just not using turbo at all. Which completely ruins the game by the way. I mean turbo is pretty much how you "jam," right?

There might be a way to reassign the buttons. I think there is. I guess I could change passing to Start and just try to dominate the game without my teammate's help as much as I can. But I don't know. It definitely strips something from the flow of the game. It's too bad. This could be a solid portable title. And I guess it sufficed when I was a kid. But I just can't squeeze the same enjoyment out of it this way now.

[opa]

^Maybe an emulator would work out better? You could map to a three button controller. But if you're going through the trouble of that you might as well play a better version.

[noiseredux]

^Maybe an emulator would work out better? You could map to a three button controller. But if you're going through the trouble of that you might as well play a better version.

right. Part of my interest in playing these kinds of ports is to experience their limitations. I mean, I guess in theory I could pop this into my Retron 5 and remap the buttons that way. So it's not completely unplayable. But the above was my experience playing the legit cart on a legit Game Boy (Advance SP).