So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

Mr.Saturn

You're some warrior if you're running through DKCR in a couple of sittings. Punch Out Wii was probably the best game I played in 2019, they really nailed the timing on letting you puzzle out the patterns - especially some of the more elaborate ones like Mr. Sandman. Super twitchy but never once felt unfair. Shame the franchise went off the radar again.

Retr0gamer

The Wii gets a bad rap because of all the shovelware but a system should be celebrated for all the good games on it and the bad ignored. If you rate the Wii that way it's a fantastic machine with a library of exclusives and oddities that puts to shame consoles like the N64 or PS4.

If we judged systems on shovelware the PS2 would be the worst console ever.

barryribs

I find it a little easier than tropical freeze, not sure if I'll finish it tonight though! I hated the pre-rendered style of the series on the snes, but Retro absolutely nailed it for this. Its just a shame they forced the motion controls into it(but that could be said of a litany of wii titles to be fair though).

barryribs

Retr0gamer wrote: »

If we judged systems on shovelware the PS2 would be the worst console ever.

Combine the PS2 and DS librarys and it doesnt begin to scratch the surface of the wii in my opinion, primarily because of the amount of people who actually bought them.

o1s1n

It's an interesting one, If you had two skips, one full of random Wii games and one full of random PS2 games (no duplicates though) and you did a lucky dip with your eyes closed, which one would pull out a quality title first?

Apparently there were over 3,800 games released on the PS2 and 1,598 on the Wii.

So over twice the amount of games on the PS2, but I'd imagine the PS2 has over twice the amount of quality titles - the ratio of good titles to shovelware might not be too far off between both consoles actually.

On a side point, I know there were a lot of PS2 games, but 3,800? holy jaysus :eek:

barryribs

o1s1n wrote: »

It's an interesting one, If you had two skips, one full of random Wii games and one full of random PS2 games (no duplicates though) and you did a lucky dip with your eyes closed, which one would pull out a quality title first?

Apparently there were over 3,800 games released on the PS2 and 1,598 on the Wii.

So over twice the amount of games on the PS2, but I'd imagine the PS2 has over twice the amount of quality titles - the ratio of good titles to shovelware might not be too far off between both consoles actually.

On a side point, I know there were a lot of PS2 games, but 3,800? holy jaysus :eek:

I'd take my chances with the PS2 for the sole reason that even if the controls are rubbish, it can never be as bad as some of the motion control games on wii! It's probably a pretty even split given those numbers though!

I have an extreme love/hate relationship with the wii, missed it at launch despite being preordered in xtravision and I got it in the second batch in Jan 07 when twilight princess was as rare as hens teeth. I ended up getting wario ware on it and was underwhelmed when I eventually did get to play twilight princess. I probably spent more time playing gamecube games and guitar hero on it than anything for the first 4 years I had it. Since then I've gotten almost all the first party titles and I maintain that the two galaxy games are probably in my favourites.

Retr0gamer

I don't think people realise how much and how bad Ps2 shovelware got. Particularly in Europe and near the end of it's life. There's is unreal amounts of utter stinkers.

johnny_ultimate

Approximately 75% of the PS1 and PS2 games are Simple 2000 or Mahjong games.

Retr0gamer

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Approximately 75% of the PS1 and PS2 games are Simple 2000 or Mahjong games.

They did give us Earth Defence Force and..... The Sniper 2.

o1s1n

Anyone see that new Dreamcast game Xenocider yet? It's a Space Harrier clone.

I can't get over the name. I know they were going for a 'Xeno' version of the word 'Genocide' but it just came out sounding like a brand of cider made by aliens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A3vG50m7sQ

CiDeRmAn

Xeno Cider Man...
Nope, don't like it...

DaveyDave

Played a bit of Silent Scope on the Dreamcast last night. It was a lot easier when I found out left trigger aimed without the scope for quick movements across the screen! Going to give it a few more goes to see if I can beat it.

Retr0gamer

Beat Broken Sword. Been playing it on and off the last few weeks. It's a great game but doesn't quite live up to the lucas arts classics. The directors cut adds some new puzzles and sections involving Nico but they don't add a whole lot to the story.

As for Mischief Makers. I was just ride missiles through a maze, using a magic bag to mix up different combinations of items and now in an area with the NPCs giving out to a hotel manager for their bad accommodation and now it's turned into a track and field clone. This game just has inventiveness and fun coming out of its pores.

The Last Bandit

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Beat Broken Sword. Been playing it on and off the last few weeks. It's a great game but doesn't quite live up to the lucas arts classics. The directors cut adds some new puzzles and sections involving Nico but they don't add a whole lot to the story.

Ya recently played thru 1 & 2 on the iPad, very enjoyable. Must get stuck into 5 now as well.


Also played thru the CoD World War 2 single player campaign on the PS4 (PS+ freebie), ya typical modern fps stuff. Dozen or so 30 minutes set pieces, enjoyed it but definitely not something I'd be paying for.

o1s1n

Started playing Rent a Hero yesterday on the Megadrive. Always wanted to give it a go, didn't realise there was a fan translation - actually had it sitting on my Everdrive the whole time!

It's really refreshing to see a game with so much humour in it, especially in a modern setting (kind of reminds me of Earthbound in that regard).

o1s1n

Well that was hilarious, I let out a loud groan at the idea of having to do Carnival Night Zone again now in Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

Finished act 2 in three minutes 'Wtf????!'

Apparently when you play the level as Knuckles it goes from being the longest level in the game to one of the shortest

Retr0gamer

The bosses in Mischief Makers are giving me a lot of trouble. They aren't so bad as the game gives you loads of health to play with but if you are going for a yellow gem run you have to beat them with an A - Rank time and also beat them again without taking a hit to get a yellow gem. They really come into their own when doing this. However there is a snag for me. The Tribute 64 pad is fine but the tiny d-pad just isn't up to the fine movement required for this game. Had a bitch of a fight with Cerberus alpha (apparently the hardest yellow gem in the game, although a later boss is supposedly almost as bad) and I've lost numerous runs because Marina ended up looking the wrong way when grabbing a missile or grabbing upwards instead of forwards during a crucial throwing oppurtunity.

Dr Bob

So I made a Retropie box (and printed a odd looking case for it ) and my current thing is playing Castlevania - Circle of the Moon on a Commodore monitor.
I love the GBA vainias (as well as the DS ones) , and blown up on a monitor it looks pretty good , somewhere between a SNES game and SOTN.
In theory if I got a GBA player I could hook up a Gamecube and do it , but that means getting hold of one , and more importantly the disk.

Inviere

Dr Bob wrote: »

So I made a Retropie box (and printed a odd looking case for it ) and my current thing is playing Castlevania - Circle of the Moon on a Commodore monitor.
I love the GBA vainias (as well as the DS ones) , and blown up on a monitor it looks pretty good , somewhere between a SNES game and SOTN.
In theory if I got a GBA player I could hook up a Gamecube and do it , but that means getting hold of one , and more importantly the disk.

How did you find getting a 15Khz signal from the pie, for the Commodore monitor? Similarly, was there any software trickery involved with Retroarch to output to a crt?

Dr Bob

Inviere wrote: »

How did you find getting a 15Khz signal from the pie, for the Commodore monitor? Similarly, was there any software trickery involved with Retroarch to output to a crt?

Ok slight caveat , its a Philips 8833 monitor that has port for the C64/amiga , but also takes scart/composite in, so basically I'm operating it in CRT TV mode .
At the moment I'm using a P3b with the TRRS cable (the 3.5mm jack to composite), but if I can work out a way to work it with RGB I will.

Basically you need to open up the Pi's Config.txt (either by quitting emulationstation or ssh'ing in and entering sudo nano /boot/config.txt
Then uncomment the 'SDTV' option for pal (I think its SDTV==2) to get your colours right
Also uncomment 'disable overscan' , (which gives you a full screen)
and add in a line
audio_pwn_mode=0
to fix an audio bug where everything sounds slowed down.

Retr0gamer

Started Monkey Island 2, the remake. Have to say it's quite nice looking and while the music isn't quite iMuse they make a decent stab at it. I played this back in the day but never finished it. It's a lot tougher than Broken Sword but also a lot better written.

MrVestek

Dr Bob wrote: »

Ok slight caveat , its a Philips 8833 monitor that has port for the C64/amiga , but also takes scart/composite in, so basically I'm operating it in CRT TV mode .
At the moment I'm using a P3b with the TRRS cable (the 3.5mm jack to composite), but if I can work out a way to work it with RGB I will.

Basically you need to open up the Pi's Config.txt (either by quitting emulationstation or ssh'ing in and entering sudo nano /boot/config.txt
Then uncomment the 'SDTV' option for pal (I think its SDTV==2) to get your colours right
Also uncomment 'disable overscan' , (which gives you a full screen)
and add in a line
audio_pwn_mode=0
to fix an audio bug where everything sounds slowed down.

Could something like this be adapted for the monitor?

https://www.rgb-pi.com/#scart

I have one of these and the image you can grab for it comes with pixel perfect emulation.

I'm sure there'd be a way to configure it to output 15khz.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Started Monkey Island 2, the remake. Have to say it's quite nice looking and while the music isn't quite iMuse they make a decent stab at it. I played this back in the day but never finished it. It's a lot tougher than Broken Sword but also a lot better written.

Playing those games BITD was a nightmare when you got stuck.

I remember playing sam&max with my cousin and wed literately go to every screen and move the mouse pixel by pixel till the pointer switched to something interactive!

I think we were stuck at the "tunnel of love" scene for years!

Jack burton

4 times the fun

Inviere

Needs a NSFC tag (not suitable for Ciderman)

Inviere

Sonic & Knuckles beaten with Sonic (no continues). Mercifully the clock stops for the third and final phase of Robotnik during the final level. 39 seconds to spare!

So, what's left to do in the classic Sonic games for me...

Sonic 1 - done
Sonic 2 - done
Sonic CD - still to do
Sonic 3 - done (with Sonic)
Sonic & Knuckles - done (with Sonic)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles - still to do

In terms of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, I think I'll play through that as Knuckles, as I've done 3 & Knuckles seperately with Sonic. Then I'll tackle Sonic CD. I'm all Sonic'd out at the moment though, it took me this long to get through Knuckles because I kept saving after each zone....I need a break (save states, using them in the absence of an actual save system!).

GamesMaster Retr0, what's the story with Sonic CD. I know nothing about it, apart from there's a time travel system in it. Every time I've played it it's all just felt so random to me, not having any idea of what I'm doing or supposed to do...can you enlighten me?

Retr0gamer

Regarding Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic and Knuckles can have very different routes through levels. Even Sonic 3 has areas that are in the original game but blocked off until you combine the carts. Also have very different end areas and end sequences. It's worth beating S&K with Sonic and with Knuckles. Sonic in particular has are really great last battle if you beat the game with all chaos emeralds and super chaos emeralds.

I forget how the game changes with Tails

Sonic CD is a game I just don't get. If feels like an amiga game developed in Germany rather than a Sonic game. You have 'explosion in the asset factory' level design (I'll be using this instead of airplane hanger design from now on).

Apparently you don't play it like a normal sonic game, it's more about exploring the levels... according to DF retro and people that like it. You are meant to explore the level, go back in time, destroy the evil machine thing then travel into the future which will now be the good future.

It has some interesting ideas, there's four versions of each level effectively and it's the closest to Sonic 1 as it uses that games engine rather than Sonic 2. And the music is really good no matter what version you play. I like the JP and US soundtracks and it's a great mix of redbook audio and chiptunes, the Mega CD had an awesome soundchip that we didn't hear enough of as a chiptune chip. I want to go back and try it myself sometime with a different approach to the game.

Inviere

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Regarding Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic and Knuckles can have very different routes through levels. Even Sonic 3 has areas that are in the original game but blocked off until you combine the carts. Also have very different end areas and end sequences. It's worth beating S&K with Sonic and with Knuckles. Sonic in particular has are really great last battle if you beat the game with all chaos emeralds and super chaos emeralds.

Groan Maybe I'll be a bit more enthusiastic after a few weeks break from Sonic. One thing's for sure, I won't be beating it with the chaos emeralds. I detest the bonus stages in all Sonic games bar the first one (Sonic 2 I can bear, but those red/blue sphere levels can go and jump.)

Sonic CD is a game I just don't get. If feels like an amiga game developed in Germany rather than a Sonic game. You have 'explosion in the asset factory' level design (I'll be using this instead of airplane hanger design from now on).

Apparently you don't play it like a normal sonic game, it's more about exploring the levels... according to DF retro and people that like it. You are meant to explore the level, go back in time, destroy the evil machine thing then travel into the future which will now be the good future.

It has some interesting ideas, there's four versions of each level effectively and it's the closest to Sonic 1 as it uses that games engine rather than Sonic 2. And the music is really good no matter what version you play. I like the JP and US soundtracks and it's a great mix of redbook audio and chiptunes, the Mega CD had an awesome soundchip that we didn't hear enough of as a chiptune chip. I want to go back and try it myself sometime with a different approach to the game.

Interesting. So is there a 'bad' future and a 'good' future, depending on what you do or don't do in the past? How is the time travel handled, ie, do you have to trigger it, or find it?

Retr0gamer

I ended up liking the Sonic 3/S&K chaos emerald stages, but then I was a sicko that played loads of them when you locked on the Sonic 1 cart!

It's not too bad and you can cheese it with the save system. In S&K it's actually possible to get them all in the first Stage. The last Sonic level is pretty neat.

As for Sonic CD, there's past, present and future stages with a good future if you destroy the machine in the past. The levels have sign posts labelled with the time/era that you activate by running past and you change era by gaining enough speed and holding that speed for a few seconds.

Apparently getting all the chaos emeralds is an alternative way to get the best ending as it turns all futures to the good future.

Dr Bob

MrVestek wrote: »

Could something like this be adapted for the monitor?

https://www.rgb-pi.com/#scart

I have one of these and the image you can grab for it comes with pixel perfect emulation.

I'm sure there'd be a way to configure it to output 15khz.

yeah , the only problem I have is that I'm pulling from the GPIO for the fan and power/sleep button . good idea though.