What platformer are you playing now?

[pierrot]

I was playing Pulseman on the Mega Drive earlier today, and I have to say that it betrayed my expectations a little. It's exceptionally pleasing to look at, but the game play has a couple, slightly unforgivable, hiccups for me.
-For one, the increase in speed as you continue to run, thing, is cool in theory, but in practice it can really screw up some of the more delicate platforming areas.
-There is no excuse for the second water level when the second half of said level essentially turns the main character into a paperweight with flippers.
-The seventh level is B-S-. I got to it with all of my continues (5) and eight lives, and I lost ALL of them in the same 30 second span of the first part of the stage. The difficulty spike here just can't be expressed with words.

It's a very solid platformer, overall, though. The rival boss battle (along with most of the boss battles) are really good, and did I mention that it's extremely pretty? Honestly though, I would think that some parts of this game could easily best Porigon in a seizure inducing contest.

I really want to get back at this game, but the thought of having to work back to Stage 7, to potentially suffer the same fate, is daunting to say the least.

[alienjesus]

I agree with a lot of what you said. I found it a bit flawed myself. That water level also has the godawful drop through mines you cant see which I also hated.

[pierrot]

I agree with a lot of what you said. I found it a bit flawed myself. That water level also has the godawful drop through mines you cant see which I also hated.

Yeah, that's the section I was thinking of when I was mentioning that. I don't mind a little memorization here and there, but the control is so touchy, you're bound to hit at least one of those things on the way down.
Also, I can deal with the waterfalls, and orb enemies that take away your powers (even the rising/lowering water section) but only being able to swim or slap things for a large portion of the stage isn't cool with me. It makes the boss fight a little intriguing, but that's where they should have left it.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Played a couple of Valis titles today, specifically:

Valis: The Fantasm Soldier (PC Engine)
Valis III (Genesis)

I got much farther in Valis III, but both games boned me with their slippery ice levels. I HATE ice levels. Seems like only Mario games have ice levels that aren't a complete wreck.

[Gamerforlife]

I've played a bit of Trine and Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams, both on PC through GOG. Awesome games! Trine's graphics are amazing and the voice acting and Lost Vikings style gameplay are great.

Giana has this cool mechanic where you switch between characters and the environment and music change as well. The music in Giana was just as amazing as Trine's graphics are. I definitely need to play Giana on a controller though, way too hard to do all that tricky platforming. Trine seems to play just fine on mouse and keyboard though, since there's more focus on puzzle solving than platforming

[BoneSnapDeez]

Ever try the original Commodore 64 Giana Sisters? I've played it on an emulator as it seems impossible to find in real life. Not a bad Mario clone - I think I played a cracked/hacked version where I had infinite lives, I imagine it would be hard as hell on an actual C64 (especially with dat joystick).

There's a Giana Sisters DS game too... but I think it's PAL only? Either way I'll probably pick it up someday.

[TheSegaSaturnGuy]

Judge if you like but i'm trying to beat Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout in one sitting right now haha.

[casterofdreams]

I'm plowing through Sound Shapes. Also goin through Rayman Origins on the Vita. Rayman is such an amazing work of art. That stuff always draws me in.

[o.pwuaioc]

Adventure Island! Gah! It's so hard!

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one too! And I agree, its wicked fricken hard. Master Higgins really needs to jump better that little bastard.

been playing every night. Still can't beat 2-1. Which is kind of ridiculous.

Ok, that is a bit ridiculous. It definitely gets harder from there, too. I don't remember what level I could get up to, but it's not very high. :/

[MC Rex Rexler]

Bomberman Hero! I haven't played it since I was a kid... it's one of those games I would rent frequently from the Country Video. It's even better than I remember, it has a style different from the collect-a-thons of the era. It's pretty simple so far, but I like that; no complicated story, involving characters or vast worlds. Just running, jumping and chucking bombs.