Big's Fishing Derby, one of the hacks from SHC 2014. Done by the same person(s) responsible for Sonic Classic Heroes (it was supposed to be a minigame), you basically try to catch Froggy in a variety of levels from Sonic 1-3K and CD.
1. Kirby's Epic Yarn Wii
2. To The Moon Christmas Special PC
3. Super Mario 3D World Wii U
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD Wii U
5. Chiki Chiki Boys Mega Drive
6. World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Mega Drive
7. Metal Gear PSVita
8. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake PSVita
9. Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy 3DS
10. Akai Katana 360
11. Metal Gear Solid GBC
12. Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland PSN
13. Tearaway PSN
14. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA ƒ PSN
15. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd PSP
16. Final Fantasy VII PS1
17. Dead or Alive 5 Plus PSVita
18. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 3DS
19. NES Remix 2 Wii U eShop
20. Starfox Assault GC
21. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 3DS
22. Cybernator SNES
23. Gravity Rush PSVita
24. Perfect Dark N64
25. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood PSP
26. Wave Race 64 N64
27. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend PSP
28. Mischief Makers N64
29. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night PSP
30. Snowboard Kids N64
31. Mario Kart 8 Wii U
32. Double Dragon NES
33. Shantae 3DS VC
34. Maestro: Jump in Music DS
35. Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure DS
36. Bangai-O DC
37. Ristar Wii VC
38. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty PSVita
39. Muramasa Rebirth PSN
40. Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom Wii U eShop *NEW*
41. Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara Wii U eShop *NEW*
42. Mega Man Wii U VC *NEW*
43. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together PSP *NEW*
Lots of games to talk about, so click the spoilers for my thoughts:
Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
Right, let's get this out of the way right away - I credit fed through both of these games. I don't feel guilty about it, I don't care if people don't think it counts, and I don't plan on trying to beat these games without credit feeding either.
D&D: Tower of Doom is a relatively fun arcade beat 'em up which I played for Together Retro. There are 4 characters to use although they honestly all feel pretty similar. My first playthrough of this game was in co-op, and it felt a lot more comfortable this way. On later playthroughs in 1 player I actually used more credits despite being more experienced at the game because the difficulty didn't adapt to account for less players.
Being able to use subweapons and spells to augment your abilities was nice, but I feel most of the purchasable weapons are hard to aim and hit with and sometimes slow to use. The spells are better, but limited to rings you find as you travel for most characters and are thus rare. The characters could use a few more moves in general.
I like choosing my pathway through the levels although it often made very little difference overall. The difficulty of the game is pretty tough. 3 hits from many of the enemies is enough to kill you, and later bosses can easily 1 or 2 hit kill you whilst being very hard to dodge too (fuck the beholder boss!) It's definitely a credit muncher.
I'd like to try it in 4 player sometime, I think it'll be more fun and significantly easier with more people on screen.
The game is fun, but to me it just doesn't come close to holding up to my favourites in the genre (Streets of Rage, River City Ransom, Golden Axe, Guardian Heroes).
Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara
I won't go into a lot of detail for this one as it's fairly similar to it's predecessor. It is at one of the same time a more fun game and a more frustrating one. The new characters and vastly expanded movesets make the game more fun to play, the graphics look great and the routes feel like the make a bigger difference this time.
However, the difficulty feels even more cheap than the last game with enemies that are very ahrd to dodge and all manner of cheap and surprising attacks that it's hard to account for. Between me and my girlfriend we must have used way over 30 credits between us on the final boss.
Had the difficulty been less cheap, I could imagine this one being a game I'd really like. As is though, it's one that will get the occasional play, but will never sit with the greats. I rank it about even with it's predecessor, because for all it's improvements, it can be a lot less fun to play with it's overpowered enemy encoutners.
Mega Man
I genuinely think this game gets a bad rap. Often shunned and forgotten about in favour of it's follow ups, MegaMan2 and Mega Man 3, the original game in the franchise holds up surprisingly well for me.
The graphics are not as polished and the art style hasn't found itself yet, but the game is still stunning for a reasonably early NES game. The music selection is great here too. The controls feel a little stiff sometimes, but nothing unworkable.
One complaint I hear about the stage is that the level design is tough - honestly, I didn't have too many issues with it. Gutsman and Elec Man's stages and the Yellow Devil are the ones that come up a lot, but I found both the stages relatively simple (Fire Mans was worse, but still not horribly hard) and Yellow Devil only took a few attempts too (legitimately too, no pause glitch).
The actual hard point of the game for me was the final level boss rush. With no health pick-ups like later games, Fire Man's unavoidable attacks (definitely the cheapest thing in the game) and Guts Man being hard to dodge, it took me quite a few attempts getting though to the final boss. Wily himself was easy though and I took him down without too many tries.
Really, the game is still great fun to play even now, much better than I expected from what people say about it. I'm looking forward to playing the other 5 NES games after this to see how they compare.
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
This is copied from the summer marathon thread. It contains genuine spoilers (albeit from the first quarter of the game), so be warned
Tactics Ogre is a fun enough game, but it has a few problems that can cause it to be frustrating at times and stop it going from a game I like to a game I love.
First the positives. The class system is pretty well done, and I love that you level up classes instead of characters, so if you want to add an extra archer to your team in addition to the one you have, you can throw them right in because their level will match. The ability system is nice, and I liked the use of skills to differentiate the job roles further - these are extra abilities you can use without using your turn in battle - such as stealing with a thief or generating more MP as an enchantress. I also liked the story which managed to do the morality thing in a simple but effective way, with more than a few shades of grey. Hell, the first major choice really mixes up your expectations:
So you go to 'liberate' a town of refugees under orders from your lord, but when you get there it turns out the mission is actually to slaughter all of them, including hundreds of innocents, children, the elderly, the works. This will be blamed on the enemy, inciting an uprising and helping your cause. If you choose to follow this plan, you end up on the lawful path because you followed orders, whereas trying to defend the encampment sets you on the chaotic route of the game. I played the whole game on the chaotic route.
There were a fair few niggles that I feel bought the game down though. First of all, the early game is really tough, until you start getting skills for your team. Choosing which skills are worthwhile is critical early on for two reasons - choosing the wrong ones makes the early game really hard, and certain skills level up - VERY VERY slowly. Skills I chose as my first in the game were often still only just reaching level 3 (of 8!) when I finished the game.
The pacing of the game is very slow too. Units take a long time to move, most maps have at least 20 units on including your own and there's no real way to speed things along. This seems inherent to the PSP version too, as a guide I found said most SNES version maps only had 5 or 6 on each side rather than 10 or 12. I also found that getting new classes was a pain in the ass later on as they would start at level 1 and take lots of grinding to be usable. I didn't use any classes after I unlocked Ninja and Rogue early in chapter 2 because I just couldnt be bothered with all the levelling. Other aspects of the game are slow too - crafting weapons is nice, but making one weapon can often take 20 or more individual crafting sequences later on, and you have to watch it take place EVERY time.
Lastly, the games pacing is all wrong for sidequests too. They nearly all take place in chapter 4, right before the end. This is annoying for several reasons - it slows the game pace right down, when they could've been interspersed throughout. Many sidequests offer unique unit classes which will then need stupid amounts of levelling to catch up with your late game team. It also delays the story right when the climax is coming, making it feel less significant.
This late game pacing issue extends to the final chapter in general too. The chapter is full of dungeons with multiple battles (the last dungeon can have up to 12 and can easily take 5-8 hours alone!) and the final boss is cheap and annoying too. It almost put me off the game entirely.
For all my moaning about pace (because every single problem I have with the game is generally about pace) I did like the game. I think it's exponentially better than FF Tactics: War of the Lions which is full of things I didn't like, but I still prefer the GBA and DS FF Tactics games due to the more diverse jobs and much nippier pacing of the two, despite their less interesting stories.
I visited my parents recently so I between the travelling and lazy afternoons I got a decent amount of portable gaming done.
Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (GB)
Usually beat this once a year. Great game and I finally think I've got Wario's castle down pat. Only took 20 years! Looks great on the GBA SP as well.
Kirby's Dreamland (GB)
Very short and easy (almost insultingly so) but also very sweet. It's just a lot of fun to play and a great companion on a short train journey or boring christening.
Sonic Advance 3 (GBA)
I think this game was made during Sega's "What the fuck is a Sonic!" period. It starts off badly, picks up for a few stages, then throws itself, and any goodwill it had earned, into a dumpster while setting itself on fire and shitting its pants. So, typical 00's Sonic fare really.
You can select from Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, with Amy and Cream(?) unlockable extras, then you choo-choo choose a partner from the same pool and jump into a "hub world". These worlds look like a corrupted mid-nineties Amiga game and are about as much fun to navigate. I cannot stress enough how utterly pointless and ugly these hubs are without literally underlining how utterly pointless and ugly these hub worlds are.
As in Sonic Adventure there seems to be someone inside Sonic Team and Dimps who genuinely thinks that completely breaking the flow of the game by using superfluous and obstructing game design is a good thing. All those late night coke and hooker binges must have finally fried producer Yuji Naka's brain. He's like gaming's Old Yeller now, frothing at the mouth raving about "Chaos Control" and waiting for Chris-Chan to tearfully put two between his eyes out behind the barn.
That said the first few actual levels themselves aren't that bad with the same pacey gameplay as Sonic Advance 1. Then, around act four, it completely shits the bed and becomes an ordeal of instant kill deaths and bottomless pits. I honestly nearly gave up on this one but some masochistic part of me kept going. It's just really un-Sonic like and levels, regardless of theme, seem to hang in midair in some cavernous abyss, waiting to swallow you up. Towards the end one hit is almost guaranteed to send you flying awkwardly into a crevice or onto some spikes and then into a crevice. You game over, you're forced to watch the intro screen for a bit and then you're back in the hub. Maddening.
There's some general gameplay problems as well that were missed by a presumably comatose Q&A team.
Firstly your buddy character will sometimes activate moving platforms or railcarts by jumping on them just before you do which can lead to a certain death for everyone but Tails. It's infuriating to see Sonic go sailing by, tapping his foot impatiently while you fall five thousand feet to your death.
Each character also has a special move and only Tails' is not useless, with Sonic's slide and Knuckles' head butt being less risk/reward and more like suicide buttons. There is also a joint attack done by holding down the R button but I never once found a legitimate use for it. It doesn't even harm enemies, passing harmlessly through them while you stand there helpless like a fat racoon stuck in a cat flap.
I don't know what Amy or Cream do because I didn't unlock them and I could live to be a million years old and still never care for Cream the bastard Rabbit or Le Grande Chat or any of those post Sonic and Knuckles characters. It's not a matter of being old fashioned, it's a matter of dignity.
The only good thing to come out of it are Tails' super cute boxing gloves when he does a flying attack and confirmation that Sonic Pocket Adventure is the best handheld Sonic game.
The weirdest thing is that I was advised to get this over Sonic Advance 2 as Advance 3 was deemed the better game. I have to assume Advance 2 is a Uplay only entry about Sonic and Tails gathering rings to fund a kickstarter project for the Klu Klux Klan if it's considered worse than this dreck.
Justice League Heroes: The Flash (GBA)
On paper this one sounds like an interesting prospect; a underused DC property being made into an old school beat'em up by 2D masters, Wayforward. In reality it's a pretty ordinary and, ironically, plodding game obviously made on the cheap with poor presentation.
You play as the erstwhile Fastest Man Alive of course and traverse five stages across the DC universe with stop overs in Gotham, Themyscira and Metropolis while fighting heavy hitters like Grodd, Brainiac and Zoom. It has the look down and as it isn't directly a tie in with the DCAU show, unlike the other GBA Justice games, it is more in line with the comics. The sprite art is nice although everything is very small due to the camera being pulled way back. An odd decision given the platform.
Combat is a beat' em ups bread and butter and unfortunately Flash doesn't deliver. Aside from being able to summon a fellow leaguer via power up as a "bomb" style move, Flash doesn't really have much weight behind his attacks. He has two useful moves: a super fast dash that instantly lines you up with the nearest opponent and a slow motion mode that recharges over time. It sounds like there should be enough here to create depth but it just amounts to hammering the weaker foes to fill the slow mo gauge to use on the deadlier enemies and it's the same for every bloody level.
The bosses though are fairly inventive, the race against Zoom being a highlight, and there some nice extras like a making of, a boss rush and a nerdtastic argument ending race against Superman.
But between the stale combat, terrible music and awfully drawn cutscenes it just smacks of a game made to fill a quota by DC. Which is a shame because there is a decent game under here given time and we know Wayforward are handy with a licensed game.
Flash Fact: The fans deserve a bit better, Warner Bros.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)
I hadn't actually beat the whole thing in one go since it first came out and had forgotten how unique an entry it is. It's also pretty tough.
It's kind of caught between two worlds all told. The art and music direction are leaning towards the N64 whereas the gameplay leans toward Super Mario Kart, admittedly this is due more to the hardware limitations than anything in the design.
Because of the limitations all the tracks are now flat as pancakes which might be jarring for those not used to Super Mario Kart and its ilk, which is a shame but again, sort of expected.
I couldn't get used to drifting in the game at all and my performance suffered because of it. I guess it's supposed to be like Super Mario Kart but it just feels like you either hop too far out or you can only activate boosts on very long corners or U-bends. This might be me but something felt off.
It also gives the sensation that you aren't actually controlling a kart but rather moving the track around under your avatar like you'd shuffle a board game around on Christmas day. This feeling is exacerbated on the original SNES tracks which feel shrunk down and short as well. They're welcome additions but the GBA's soundboard doesn't do those classic Soyo Oka tunes any favours and neither does the limited screen size.
It is still a lot of fun to play and I think the shorter styled tracks make it perfect for handheld sessions. It runs at a steady rate and the weapons are no way near as overbearing as later Kart entries. I also feel like there is a bit less cheating AI here than usual.
That said it's still one of the weaker Mario Kart entries. It's not really any better than its classic antecedents though in this case that isn't to say it's bad game. It's just I don't see why I'd go back to this, especially if I owned Super Mario Kart or Mario Kart's DS/7.
Castle of Illuison: Starring Mickey Mouse (360)
Another run through of the lovely HD remake, although reimagining is probably more appropriate. And I liked it just as much as I did last year. Really fun, colourful and family friendly game with some really high production values (for a download game) and some nicely rearranged music by Banjo-Kazooie composer Grant Kirkhope.
Probably said exactly the same thing last time but yeah, nice game. Shame Sega had to spoil the party and shut down the team that made it.
alienjesus wrote:For all my moaning about pace (because every single problem I have with the game is generally about pace) I did like the game. I think it's exponentially better than FF Tactics: War of the Lions which is full of things I didn't like, but I still prefer the GBA and DS FF Tactics games due to the more diverse jobs and much nippier pacing of the two, despite their less interesting stories.[/spoiler]
I'm definitely a bigger TO fan than FFT myself. I played the SNES version of LuCT, the PSP remake sounds like a pretty different experience honestly... but maybe not better or worse. I'd like to check it out sometime.
Assassin's Creed IV WiiU
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon PC
Splinter Cell: Blacklist WiiU
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut WiiU
Jazzpunk PC
Pikmin 3 WiiU
Call of Duty: Ghosts WiiU
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze WiiU
Tomb Raider (2013) PC
Danganronpa Vita
Far Cry 2 360
The Witcher 2 360
Catherine 360
Gears of War 360
Forza Horizon 360
Portal PC
Portal 2 PC
The Wolf Among Us PC
Analogue: A Hate Story PC
XCOM: Enemy Unknown PC
Enemy Unknown is a fantastic strategy game, if a bit buggy, and it does sometimes test my patience. I ended up playing through everything but the last mission on Normal - Ironman, but had to crank the difficulty down to easy for that last one. Still, I enjoyed my time with it. Definitely worth a buy and it can easily keep you occupied for at least 30 hours (and up to 150 if you're Noise)
Sload Soap wrote:
I don't know what Amy or Cream do because I didn't unlock them and I could live to be a million years old and still never care for Cream the bastard Rabbit or Le Grande Chat or any of those post Sonic and Knuckles characters. It's not a matter of being old fashioned, it's a matter of dignity.
Whilst I can understand this mentality for the most part, I don't really dislike Cream the Rabbit myself. The same goes for Blaze the Cat. Whilst I could certainly do without their presence in the 3d sonic games as part of the 'story', I really don't mind them in the 2D portable sonic games as they both offer a unique way of playing whilst still fitting within the platformer mold. This is what new sonic characters should be like imo, not adding fishing or shooting stages (E38720837 Gamma Omega Lambda Burst / Big the Cat), not just being a presence in the story (blrugh, Marine the Raccoon and Chip), just nice simple platforming gameplay - but a little bit different to sonic to justify their presence.
Last edited by alienjesus on Tue Aug 19, 2014 7:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sload Soap wrote:Justice League Heroes: The Flash (GBA)
On paper this one sounds like an interesting prospect; a underused DC property being made into an old school beat'em up by 2D masters, Wayforward. In reality it's a pretty ordinary and, ironically, plodding game obviously made on the cheap with poor presentation.
You play as the erstwhile Fastest Man Alive of course and traverse five stages across the DC universe with stop overs in Gotham, Themyscira and Metropolis while fighting heavy hitters like Grodd, Brainiac and Zoom. It has the look down and as it isn't directly a tie in with the DCAU show, unlike the other GBA Justice games, it is more in line with the comics. The sprite art is nice although everything is very small due to the camera being pulled way back. An odd decision given the platform.
Combat is a beat' em ups bread and butter and unfortunately Flash doesn't deliver. Aside from being able to summon a fellow leaguer via power up as a "bomb" style move, Flash doesn't really have much weight behind his attacks. He has two useful moves: a super fast dash that instantly lines you up with the nearest opponent and a slow motion mode that recharges over time. It sounds like there should be enough here to create depth but it just amounts to hammering the weaker foes to fill the slow mo gauge to use on the deadlier enemies and it's the same for every bloody level.
The bosses though are fairly inventive, the race against Zoom being a highlight, and there some nice extras like a making of, a boss rush and a nerdtastic argument ending race against Superman.
But between the stale combat, terrible music and awfully drawn cutscenes it just smacks of a game made to fill a quota by DC. Which is a shame because there is a decent game under here given time and we know Wayforward are handy with a licensed game.
Flash Fact: The fans deserve a bit better, Warner Bros.
I enjoyed this game despite its limitations. It was certainly not game-of-the-year material, but I have played many beat 'em ups that are a lot worse.
I have to assume Advance 2 is a Uplay only entry about Sonic and Tails gathering rings to fund a kickstarter project for the Klu Klux Klan if it's considered worse than this dreck.
