Summer Games Challenge 2017 - Begin when ready!

[alienjesus]

1. Bionic Commando (NES)
2. Blaster Master (NES)
3. Life Force (NES)
4. Final Fantasy III (SNES)
5. Bonk's Revenge (TG16)
6. Mario Golf (N64)
7. Pilotwings 64 (N64)
8. Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped (PS1)
9. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GC)
10. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (GC)
11. Devil May Cry (PS3)

I sat down this weekend and beat my 6th Summer Game - Bonk's Revenge.

I still need to catch up on my reviews of all of these, but I found Bonk to be...OK. The controls always felt a little unresponsive, and I often took hits I shouldn't have because Bonk kept flipping instead of just bonking (turbo switches were off) and also because Bonk didn't always jump when I pressed the button. The game was good enough, but the controls were a bit of a let down.

I decided to start Devil May Cry next. Not sure what I think of it yet - the backtracking and finding of hard-to-see background elements for puzzle solving and progression are really not my thing, and the combat seems both quite simplistic in what you can do and quite difficult in how much punishment you can take so far. The first boss against the fire scorpion was a bit of a pain, due to how hard it was to hit him. I'm on the level directly after that now, and making use of an exploit I found to defeat the Scorpion boss again when he's chasing you, get 500 red gems (used to buy powers ups and health boosts etc), then reset and do it again for another 500. I bought a couple of devil mode power ups and health boosts to make things a little easier on myself moving forwards.

[Xeogred]

Heck yeah DMC! Hope you like it AJ.

Few things:

- The early going is a little more confusing than the rest, in terms of the backtracking and stuff. Maybe it's the remnants of early RE4 concept level design, but yeah I think it gets easier to navigate as it goes.
- That scorpion encounter is legit one of the toughest parts in the game, so if you can get past that keep going!

It's a toughy no matter what though. Most think DMC3 is harder, but I think because DMC1 is a little clunkier and less advanced combat wise, it's a trickier one to me. I love it though and love the darker atmosphere that the later games kind of ditched.

[Sarge]

Depends on which version you play, I reckon. The original US release of DMC3 was pretty ridiculous. The "Special Edition" restores things to its Japanese counterpart's level.

[Xeogred]

Pretty sure the HD version is based off the Special Edition, but I'm not sure.

Let's just say I got the platinum trophy for DMC3 HD, but the thought of even attempting that for DMC1 scares me. Felt like I barely beat it on normal. lol, still freaking loved it though.

[Sarge]

Yeah, it's based on the Special Edition. I still don't own that compilation.

[Xeogred]

Yeah, it's based on the Special Edition. I still don't own that compilation.

It's extremely good! One of the best remaster sets I'd say. Capcom at least does good remasters thesedays.

On a side note, I imported a Japanese physical edition of DMC4 HD Special Edition (?). Pretty cool how it has tons of new playable characters, including Virgil. Should be a fun replay when I get to it.

[laurenhiya21]

Castlevania Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Shadow Hearts (PS2)
YU-NO (PC)
Phantasy Star (SMS)
Yoshi’s Island (SNES)
Prince of Persia (SNES)
Super Metroid (SNES)
DOOM (GOG)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

I recently got back from my vacation, so now I'm working on this again

Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to call it quits on Yoshi's Island. I tried to get back into it, hoping that the time spent away from it would help, but no not really. It's still pretty frustrating for me, especially with the introduction of mandatory bouncing eggs off the water. I don't feel too bad about giving up on it though, since if other people have a lot of trouble with it, then it kind of makes sense that I would too haha.

On a better note, I did start up Chrono Trigger, and I'm having a much better time with that. The story hasn't really picked up too much yet (I'm currently just past Heckran Cave), and I'm still not sure if I like the combat system or not (I think I just prefer a straight up turn-based system), but it's not too grindy and I haven't really hit any frustrating parts yet. Only snags I've hit was when I got stuck climbing up the prison tower (which was just me not understanding how the climbing worked) and when I got stuck on some stairs in the Trann Dome (which was just me not having the emulator controller set up right). So right now I'm looking forward to what's coming next

[Xeogred]

"bouncing eggs off the water" makes me think you reached Monkey/Water island world? I can't remember exactly which area it was, but the difficulty spike somewhere in the middle was pretty brutal.

[laurenhiya21]

"bouncing eggs off the water" makes me think you reached Monkey/Water island world? I can't remember exactly which area it was, but the difficulty spike somewhere in the middle was pretty brutal.

There were definitely a lot of monkeys so that sounds about right. I think I stopped at the end of World 3.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yoshi's Island has unacceptable controls. Would be a better game is the egg "target" system had been replaced by standard 8-directional run and gun firing.

Chrono Trigger is phenomenal and just keeps getting better as the game progresses.