So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

Colonel Panic

Played a little Silhouette Mirage this morning. I'm glad is starts with a tutorial, because I've totally forgotten its overcomplicated control system.

I'm still trying to decide if it's fun or not. I think I'll go back to playing Soukyugurentai for a bit.

Retr0gamer

Colonel Panic wrote: »

Played a little Silhouette Mirage this morning. I'm glad is starts with a tutorial, because I've totally forgotten its overcomplicated control system.

I'm still trying to decide if it's fun or not. I think I'll go back to playing Soukyugurentai for a bit.

Saturn or Playstation port? Saturn port is way better, working designs made it way more complicated and forces you to grind for money which is boring.

It's a bit like most treasure games, once the controls click its incredible it just takes a while for the controls to really click. Had the same experience with Bangai-O and Mischief Makers. There is an Ah-Ha! moment when it all gels.

o1s1n

Switched on both my cabs for the first time in an age last night. Always get a little bit nervy when they haven't been on in a while. Usually give the games in the 6 slot jamma switcher a bit of a cycle to make sure they're all still running okay.

Played some Mercs, Raiden 2 and Aero Fighters 2 in the end.

Almost 1cced Aero Fighters but my Mercs and Raiden 2 skills have certainly started getting rusty! Think I'll spend a bit more time with them over the weekend.

Mercs is a handy enough one to 1cc with a bit of practice, never quite 1cced Raiden 2 though, as much as I've tried over the years! I usually get to about half way through level 3 without dying once and then it all starts falling apart.

Colonel Panic

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Saturn or Playstation port? Saturn port is way better, working designs made it way more complicated and forces you to grind for money which is boring.

It's a bit like most treasure games, once the controls click its incredible it just takes a while for the controls to really click. Had the same experience with Bangai-O and Mischief Makers. There is an Ah-Ha! moment when it all gels.

It's the Saturn version. That port sounds annoying as hell!

I get what you mean about Treasure games. Bangai-O drove me nuts until I "got" it. I plan to persevere.

Retr0gamer

Colonel Panic wrote: »

It's the Saturn version. That port sounds annoying as hell!

I get what you mean about Treasure games. Bangai-O drove me nuts until I "got" it. I plan to persevere.

Yeah the PS1 port is pretty much ruined by the changes. Just makes it way more complicated and it's so boring grinding currency. I must give the game a go again. Never beat it and I'm on a Treasure buzz at the moment although that's more focused on trying to beat radiant silvergun.

As for Bangai-O at the start the game just feels like a standard twin stick shooter then it becomes annoying.

And finally you have that "I can see the music!" moment when you realise its not about shooting things but about meter and i-frame management.

Burzum

Working my way through Splatterhouse on PC Engine, Waiting on new laptop to arrive and will be giving the new Resident Evil a go this weekend fingers crossed.

Retr0gamer

Playing Secret of Mana at the moment.

It's a bit of a mess isn't it? I read Ted Woolsey saying that it's very obviously cut to pieces from the CD game and he is right. There's areas you go into that should be dungeons but are just a boss fight and plenty of palette swapped bosses.

The story is hokum as well. It's all over the place and tone shifts wildly. I'm playing a fan translation and the original translation is usually noted for not being Woolsey's best work since he had insane time constraints to get it done (2 weeks I think), but it's actually remarkably close. There's really not a lot of story and it's not well written.

Combat is really janky as well. Not sure I fully understand it and it's quite broken with magic being very OP but also annoying to level up.

Yet I'm really enjoying it despite everything. The original on the gameboy game was very much a zelda type game with RPG elements and zelda type puzzles. Thats all gone now and it's just pure action RPG.

o1s1n

I find it amazing that they had to cut 40-50% of that game and yet it's still quite enjoyable.

Definitely parts where you feel there should be a lot more, but it's still a lot of fun.

Never played through it properly in multiplayer, would be great to sit down and try to slog through as much as possible in three player.

Retr0gamer

Yeah, it's kind of a game that's fun in spite of itself, although I know a few friends from the HG101 crowd that absolutely hate it. I've spoken to them about it and honestly I can't argue with them, all their issues are very valid.

I think how gorgeous it looks and sounds also helps with the enjoyment factor.

Looking forward to giving the Trials of mana rerelease a go as I heard it's incredible.

o1s1n

For the last few months I have been unable to stop playing PUBG on my XBox One S or whatever the feck the console is called.

I don't know wtf it is, I have loads of intentions of getting stuck into a decent RPG or something but in the end spend my time parachuting into an island and murdering everyone.

I think I must be addicted to the adrenaline. Any time I win a game or come close to winning, my hands are literally shaking afterwards.

Just had Pokemon Sword land for the Switch yesterday so maybe I can ween myself off the murder with some family friendly fun.

MrVestek

o1s1n wrote: »

For the last few months I have been unable to stop playing PUBG on my XBox One S or whatever the feck the console is called.

I don't know wtf it is, I have loads of intentions of getting stuck into a decent RPG or something but in the end spend my time parachuting into an island and murdering everyone.

I think I must be addicted to the adrenaline. Any time I win a game or come close to winning, my hands are literally shaking afterwards.

Just had Pokemon Sword land for the Switch yesterday so maybe I can ween myself off the murder with some family friendly fun.

I've been like that with Warzone a fair bit lately. It's just dumb chewing gum fun.

Retr0gamer

I put 140 hours into pubg. Most played pc game. Eventually got out when the playerbase quality races ahead of me but I really enjoyed the tension of it. Much prefer to go hunting people than jump straight into the action like in warzone.

The Nal

The Goldeneye levels on Arcade mode in Far Cry 5 are things of beauty.

Colonel Panic

Saturday morning Saturn shooters for me. I flipped Radiant Silvergun into arcade mode and did some credit feeding to get through and relearn the levels a bit.

I never 1CC'd this, but I think I could get close. Now, not so much. I think being older, tired and too far away from the screen doesn't help!

o1s1n

Radiant Silvergun is a great game, but it's a little too convoluted to be a quick pick up and play.

I've a copy myself and any time I want to give it a good go, it takes a bit of time to remember the mad button combos to get everything running right.

Still far off 1 ccing it myself!

Have you played much Soukyugurentai? I actually prefer it to Silvergun quite a bit.

The level where you start in space and it scales down through the clouds is one of the best levels in vertical scrolling shmups IMO. Even more so in the fact that it's a vertical shmup but playing in hori mode.

Colonel Panic

Yeah it’s impossible to just pick up and play. If forgot how varied it is though in terms of set pieces as you play.

I played a load of Soukyugurentai when I got it. It and Layer Section were two of my faves back in the day. If I’m honest, my TV is too far from the couch to play it properly!!

That decent stage is so cool alright!

Giving Biff the beating of his life in Road Rash 2 (the best of the trilogy).

Retr0gamer

Really enjoying the U can Beat Video Games channel on youtube. I've been trying out a lot of NES games featured on it but really want to take on Turtles with the help there.

The one game I've been really putting a lot of time into (as well as Secret of Mana) is Double Dragon on the NES.

I hear so much bad stuff about this game. No 2 player, only 2 enemies on screen, the levelling system is broken and it's not as good as Double Dragon 2.

But divorce the game from the arcade original and the better NES sequel and it's a really great brawler and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I've gotten through to the end of the third stage but the game does seem very beatable so hopefully I can squeak through through the fourth and final stage soon.

Colonel Panic

Now playing Soukyugurentai a good bit. It really ramps the difficulty by stage 5, where my hopes of a 1CC clear get dashed! Practice makes perfect though!

It's mentioned up thread, the 3rd stage where you descend through the clouds is just deadly!

Other than that, more shooters, in particular stuff that Compile had a hand in on the PC Engine. Super Aleste is easily my favourite SNES shooter (and shooters full stop) and they all seem to share the same DNA.

Retr0gamer

Beat Double Dragon. Really enjoyed it and it's a fun little game to try and get through.

The Nal

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Beat Double Dragon. Really enjoyed it and it's a fun little game to try and get through.

You wouldnt get away with the first scene these days

Dr Bob

I'm most of the way through the first run of Castlevania : Dawn of Sorrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjpS0lENGrc

One handy thing about 'yarr matey' flash cards is that you can apply romhacks for games, and for C:DOS theres one that fixes a load of small bugs in the game (like the fact that despite the luck stat being supposed to help with souls dropping , in the original game it didnt) which makes a huge difference .
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5610/

Retr0gamer

I'm liking but not loving Secret of Mana. It's just so messy. Quite buggy as well.

I think the real issue is that between me seeing how gorgeous it looked in Gamesmater magazine and finally giving it a good go is that I've played the Ys games and they are just so much better as Action RPGs.

Colonel Panic

I don't have much gaming time at the moment, but in addition to playing Soukyugurentai when I can, I've started playing through Metroid Zero Mission on the GBA.

Just killed Kraid last night and it's not a bad little game at all. Maybe not as memorable as Super Metroid, and it really hands everything to you on a plate, but a nice bitesized bit of atmosphere and exploration.

o1s1n

Of the GBA Metroid games, I've only played Fusion myself, kind of forgot Zero Mission exists.

Just checked it out on ebay and it's going for quite a tidy sum, think that'll be one for the flash cart! :pac:

Colonel Panic

What's Fusion like? I've never played that either.

I'm all about the flashcart for GBA. I think I've got maybe three real GBA games (funnily enough including Zero Mission) as I just hated handheld gaming back in the day. It was only with the advent of the Switch that I *got* it.

Even now, I'm playing this on a modded GBA with a Funnyplaying IPS screen, otherwise it'd be a big NOPE from me!

Retr0gamer

Fusion is fantastic. Not as good as Super Metroid but then what is? It has a few issues. It's a little linear at times and only opens up towards the end but it's still a classic.

Zero Mission on the other hand is an absolute gem and one of the best games on the GBA.

o1s1n

Fusion is great, not Super Metroid great, but definitely worth checking out.

Do yourself a favour, get a DS and an R4 card. The DS was far and away my most used console of that generation, such a wide array of amazing games for it. Changed hanhelds for me from something I brought away on holidays to play to something I played at the time at home.

Retr0gamer

I'd argue that the DS is the best console of all time. It's certainly far and away my favourite.

No other console has the sheer variety of excellent titles, most of which are exclusive to the platform. And there's so many games that range from great to greatest of all time contenders.

Colonel Panic

Trying out Mars Matrix on the MiSTer CPS2 core this morning.