[quote="SpaceBooger"]Over the last two days, I have played a couple games, I plan on beating one of them and may revisit two others.
Animaniacs - Genesis
I've got that same TV! Or a very similar model at least. It rocks and since it's 27" it kicked the 20" PVM out of the main setup.
I love this new TR format, even if I just saw it yesterday.
This weekend I played through the TMNT and Simpsons arcade games with three buddies at a birthday party. We probably spent the equivalent of $50 in credits getting there though (we played in MAME). Overall I feel like these early beat-em-ups were just far too unbalanced and had some hit detection issues that if I were paying to play, would be beyond frustrating. On the other hand with free play both games together can be chewed through in under 45 minutes, maybe thirty. so guess that balances things out. Overall I came away feeling like the later 16-bit beat-em-ups were better in every way.
I'll probably be moving on to X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse next. I picked up the cart recently and I've been looking for a good excuse to play it. Those 16-bit Disney games look good too, though!
racketboy wrote:What model do you have for the TV? I feel like I'm curating a short list of sets to keep an eye out for
It's a Sony KV-27fs320, from 2004-5 I think. It has really blown me away after using it for a couple months. The KV-XXFV310 line is supposedly the best late-model SD Sony set and it is a step up with some better comb filtering, but this is the same tube as far as I know. I can post some comparison shots with the PVMs over in the CRT buying guide thread if you'd like, it totally holds up to the pro monitors.
Mutant Apocalypse is quite good, but get ready to get rocked. That game gets really tough at spots. Also, make sure you learn the inputs for the mutant powers; they'll bail you out in several spots. (For example, double-tap up + attack with Gambit fires his cards upward, which you'll need against the boss of his stage.)
Sarge wrote:Mutant Apocalypse is quite good, but get ready to get rocked. That game gets really tough at spots. Also, make sure you learn the inputs for the mutant powers; they'll bail you out in several spots. (For example, double-tap up + attack with Gambit fires his cards upward, which you'll need against the boss of his stage.)
I played some last night before bed. I guess this is more on the side of action-platformer, but I hope it counts! I managed to get through all the initial stages (and I have my password!) and you weren't kidding, this one is tough already. I'd say Cyclops and Psylock had the hardest opening stages, but with both learning the special moves makes it way easier. I especially had trouble with...
The falling bridge on the way to the final boss of the Psylock level. This one ended my game twice before I started using the dash kick to get by the enemies quicker.
I am actually a big fan of the Street Fighter style specials for mutant powers. I think it makes for a good system that doesn't place an arbitrary limit on the cool trademark powers but instead drives you to master the controls so you can pull them off whenever you need them. I don't know how much tougher this gets but I'm really digging it so far.
Last night I started up Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures for SNES. This is a game that released within months of Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and almost immediately you can really pick up on some threads of the Super Star Wars DNA in this game (despite having different developers - though they did share a publisher in JVC). The game has some really nice graphics for the time, and some of the best synthesized voice effects I've heard from the SNES. Much like Super Star Wars however the controls feel a bit sluggish and downright wonky in parts … or at least based on how far I made it into the game. For some reason I couldn't alternate weapons, which means I couldn't switch to Indy's trusty whip, which means I couldn't even swing across the pits in level 1 a la Simon in Super Castlevania IV. Some Google work informed me that the select button is used for alternating between weapons, but unfortunately that was to no avail. It just didn't work. I loaded up another game to double check that it wasn't a controller issue, but the select button worked fine there. It's too bad, because I could see glimmer of promise in this game, though certainly not greatness by any means. Boring conversation anyway. If anyone has a pointer for me in this regard, let me know. Next.
After skimming over the backlog a bit, I stumbled upon The Goonies for Famicom, a game that was never released outside of Japan despite being the precursor to The Goonies II which did see worldwide release. And after giving it a go, I have to say that it's too bad this game didn't get a wider release, as it's pretty fantastic (at least so far). From the graphics, to the tight controls, to the general feel of it, this game would have fit in perfectly as an NES black box release (aside from the obvious fact that it wasn't published by Nintendo). What's even more baffling about this is that so far the entire game has been in English, so there wouldn't have even been a translation issue at least in terms of NA release. At any rate, if you've played The Goonies II you know what to expect here, except with bigger sprites and (thankfully) simpler levels (or at least so far). The fact that the levels are simple is a bit deceiving though as the game implements a fairly aggressive time limit. I think this time limit is likely an artifact leftover from its origins as a Nintendo VS./PlayChoice 10 arcade title, but it's a bit unfortunate as I feel like this game would have benefited from a bit more breathing room in terms of the time limit, especially being that just as in Goonies II you must occasionally search for invisible hidden objects here (thankfully these are not randomized, but still). At any rate, I think I'll be seeing this one through, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered after the wonkiness that was Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures.
Last edited by nullPointer on Wed Jan 10, 2018 2:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.
If you end up liking Mutant Apocalypse, be sure to give War of the Gems a try, too. Both are a lot of fun. I find War a bit easier, too, especially if you equip the right gems.
EDIT: Cross-posted from Hardcore Retro Gaming.
So, for those that don't know, Phantom 2040 was based on a short-lived cartoon series. It's also, if you squint really hard, a bit of a Metroid clone. You choose stages on the overworld, but you can backtrack to other areas, and some of them even change a bit depending on your actions. Phantom has the Metroid-style somersault jump as well, and a pretty cool grappling hook that is tough to use, but very useful (and necessary). You'll upgrade the length on it, find items that reduce your weapon energy usage (of which there are many), get powerups like shields and whatnot, pick up the equivalent of Mega Man's E-Tanks and W-Tanks... there's a lot going on here.
On top of that, the game actually has a branching storyline. Your path can lead to quite a few different endings depending on the path you take. I haven't taken all the paths; I followed a walkthrough so I'd only have to go through once.
The real question, though, is how good is it compared to Super Metroid? It's... well, it's good, but doesn't hold a candle to it. The game's areas are labyrinthine and confusing, and there's no map here to help out. Worse, much is hidden behind breakable walls, or progression takes the form of gate puzzles. While Super Metroid also has its gate puzzles, those are gated by interesting abilities. Here, it's just destroy a machine to open a gate.
Enemy variety is a problem, too. You'll take out a few forms of humans, and a lot of mechs. It's nowhere near as diverse as you'd like. And the graphics are serviceable, but not amazing. It reminds me of most other Western-developed games at the time (not sure why, but the Sega CD Terminator comes to mind. Music is hit and miss, but there was one track I liked a lot.
I'd also note that all those E-Tanks the game hands out (along with lives if you poke around as well) are very necessary. You're going to take a lot of hits, with the only way to alleviate it is a limited-use, easily-missable Shield item, or a damage reducer that is very well hidden. Most spots, you can mostly brute-force your way through if you know what you're doing. You can particularly do this if you've upgraded your weapons significantly.
Really, the biggest problem with the game is that it gets close enough to Super Metroid to draw those comparisons, but that lack of polish really doesn't help it compare well. There are a few areas where you really start to get in to the groove, but then you get knocked right back into some less interesting layouts again. I'd recommend it if you're desperate for something else in the Metroid style, but if you haven't for some reason played Super Metroid (or Demon's Crest), then go do that first. With the vague guides out there, expect this to take 8-10 hours if you're trying to be thorough. (The longplay can't be trusted!) I'd give this puppy a 7/10.
racketboy wrote:What model do you have for the TV? I feel like I'm curating a short list of sets to keep an eye out for
It's a Sony KV-27fs320, from 2004-5 I think. It has really blown me away after using it for a couple months. The KV-XXFV310 line is supposedly the best late-model SD Sony set and it is a step up with some better comb filtering, but this is the same tube as far as I know. I can post some comparison shots with the PVMs over in the CRT buying guide thread if you'd like, it totally holds up to the pro monitors.
Thanks -- the additional info is helpful too! My only remaining CRT is an HD Samsung Slimfit. It's a nice display, but I'm on the lookout for slightly more old-school
I'm finally participating in Together Retro! I had my first period for four hours today for their exam, so I had some time to kill. Ended up downloading an NES emulator and playing through Duck Tales. You can find my review of it in the Games Beaten 2018 thread. Needless to say, it's a fantastic game that was a lot of fun to play although it doesn't hold up as well today as it does it my memory. The cane, especially, seemed rather finicky with regards to whether or not it did what I wanted it to. Absolutely fantastic game, all in all, though, and I'm really glad Capcom released that Disney Afternoon Collection so it's more readily available to folks these days.
nullPointer wrote:If anyone has a pointer for me in this regard, let me know.
I played SNES Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures last week myself, I had a bad time. Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine on N64 was better, and that's saying a lot. There are other Indiana Jones platformers to try at least. To name a few:
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (NES) (Game Boy) (Genesis) Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (3D Platforming) (PS2 / Xbox) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (NES) Instruments of Chaos starring Young Indiana Jones (Genesis) The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (NES)
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As for me, I'm currently halfway through three different licensed platformers. I would have finished another one by now, but real life responsiblities have been sapping my play time for almost a week now. BUT hopefully tonight I'll knock another one out.
I would have finished another one by now, but real life responsiblities have been sapping my play time for almost a week now. BUT hopefully tonight I'll knock another one out.