Hidden Gems of PC Games: GOG Edition

[noiseredux]

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/personal ... og-edition

Edit: added a FPS guide as well
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/personal ... og-edition

[Czernobog]

Awesome read! Really want to check out Realms of the Haunting! I had never even heard of that one, but it looks like something I'll adore. I'll also want to try out Darklands and TerraNova when I get the chance. Props for SFA2 Noise. That gets the most use of all my Saturn games and I hope more people get to check it out with it being on GOG. It's hard to describe exactly why, but it's always felt like the easiest 2D fighter for me just to jump into and play fluidly.

[TSTR]

lol the link shortener made it look like "OG Edition"

[MrPopo]

That list is approved by Og, Gorilla Overlord of Earth.

[TSTR]

OG HATE DRM
DRM MAKE OG ANGRY

[BogusMeatFactory]

Yay! It is finally up! I am so happy to be able to share all these great titles with you guys. Everything on the list I endorse 100% as they are all such a blast to play!

Also, any list with street fighter alpha 2 on it is a worthwhile list. My favorite street fighter game no question!

[Tanooki]

Slick GoG piece and noise--totally with you on Alpha 2. I really need to buy that one of these days as it has been sitting in my wishlist forever. I just hope it goes on sale but never does as I already own it on SNES. Given the PS game was inferior (oddly) to the SNES game (Saturn was best) it's not very motivational nor are the controller problems since I do use a 360 pad on here.

Terranova I'm familiar with but not played, but Red Baron I had the original and I beat that thing to death for a long time but avoided the sequel due to the issues plus at the time the system requirements were insane that few could even do it. By the time it was reasonable I moved along. :\ I should try it sometime too.

[nightrnr]

Given the PS game was inferior (oddly) to the SNES game (Saturn was best) it's not very motivational nor are the controller problems since I do use a 360 pad on here.

How was the PS1 port inferior to the SNES cart (genuinely curious here)?

I mostly play Alpha 2 Gold (Street Fighter Collection) on Saturn, but also have it for PS1, which plays quite well.
And then there's Alpha Anthology for PS2, and CPS2 emulation elsewhere, so it's hard to justify the GOG release for me.

But any way to play the game is good in my book. I'd imagine joy2key and a Saturn to USB adapter would be my choice for controller options on the PC release. Come to think of it, I can use a Saturn controller on all console ports via adapters, except for the SNES cart.

[Tanooki]

I really don't remember everything as it has been probably a decade since I last had it brought up, but I do remember a few things. The SNES like the arcade/saturn has a generated sprite/background opening sequence while the PS1 uses a FMV. The SNES has a consistent frame rate and timing while the PS1 one will not always have one which I think for a hardcore player could be an issue (like dropped frames under 60 in a FPS.) The SNES has only one unlockable character (classic Chun Li) and I believe the PS1 didn't have any while Saturn had them all. The SNES with a game cheat device did have a 2nd fully there, Shin Akuma. The little sparks, shadows, and junk from when fireballs/big hits make contact, Saturn arcade matched, then SNES, and PS1 barely even less which is odd given the hardware/storage. As far as frames of animation goes I think it had the least too.

The big flaw with the SNES game that's glaring, load times, before each fight you get a 4 second wait while it decompresses all the audio/visuals into memory. It's like it loads up the background, then does the Ready ...FIGHT, and as it says fight you wait a moment then it gets going. Weird at first, but then you get used to it. Now what's funny though is that the PS1 had loading times too, elsewhere, and were longer. I used to be huge into Alpha2 back in the 90s and played it heavily, even on a cabinet if I could find one so that stuck with me.

[nightrnr]

I never noticed any drop in frames on the PS1 Street Fighter Collection... I'm assuming they made several improvements for that port.

I do have the SNES version, so I knew about the short pause after "fight".
I'm hoping one day someone decompresses the game for SD2SNES use, thus eliminating the delay (as the theory goes).
SFA2 is quite impressive for the SNES (even with Zangief's 2 frames of idle animation ). But I think Alpha 2 Gold on PS1 still has it beat.