So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

mehico

Been trying to play through Thimbleweed Park recently, not a retro game as such as only released a few years ago but it is set in the 80's and was developed by the creators of Maniac Mansion.

Apart from Maniac Mansion, I don't remember playing very many other point and click games but enjoying this one.

Colonel Panic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117785726#Comment_117785726

It feels a little juddery for me while docked on Switch! Plus the default sensitivity, as usual, is not my tempo! Still great to zoom around though. No chance I'll be able to hide away at my computer at the moment, but some handheld Switch? Sure!

Retr0gamer

Started the first Asterix on the master system. It's a very good platformer. Some niggles in the level design at times but it's a pretty high tier 8bit platformer.

Its also absolutely gorgeous. It's up there with the best looking 8bit games.

I find it odd that so much effort was put into a European exclusive by Sega.

CiDeRmAn

Well, I'd say the French probably bought a lot of copies, didn't they really like the format?

Plus, Asterix is a national treasure, second only to Tintin.

Dr Bob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117779496#Comment_117779496

I love those games , plus the fact that the PC version is a completely different game , whereas the PSX and Saturn are similar to each other but still have different maps (and yes the Saturn version is the best).

DaveyDave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117807816#Comment_117807816

Sure they have a theme park and everything!

CiDeRmAn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117808223#Comment_117808223

Bon!

Retr0gamer

Finished up the Asterix last night. I played as Asterix for the whole games so going back through with Obelix. You can choose what character to play each level as which actually means you are playing a whole new level or the level route has been changed significantly due to the characters abilities.

Some real bullshit in the penultimate level. It's got by far the toughest platforming of the entire game and at the end you have a choice of 3 doors. 2 of those doors put you back to the start of the level.

Retr0gamer

Beat McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure. Always meant to beat it but it seemed a bit.... ****.

Well the secret to beating it is to set the difficulty to easy. It makes the game far more fun and waaaaaay less frustrating.

It's a decent enough game. I always thought this was Treasure's second game but it's actually the first, it just got released in Europe after Gunstar.

It's very obviously made by the Dynamite Headdy team, the humour and graphics are quite similar and the engine feels like a proto Dymanite Headdy. The music is obviously the same composer. Pretty sure the same team did Mischief makers as there's a enemy right at the end of the game that is a tree filled with fruit with the same faces as everything has in Mischief Makers.

It's a decent enough game, there's a good bit of Treasure's signature technical flair. There's a a lot of inventiveness in the levels but towards the end they become very ordinary and annoying.

It was a good test run for Dynamite Headdy.

CiDeRmAn

5/10?

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117826398#Comment_117826398

It's as good as overrated guff like Halo so it gets an Edge score of 10/10. It isn't that innovative so doesn't deserve a 6/10 like GTA 3.

CiDeRmAn

4/10 it is :pac:

Retr0gamer

So I've been playing Fuga: Melodies of Steel and absolutely loving it while the rest of the world ignores it. I've been enjoying it so much that it made me realise I haven't played the other two games in the Little Tail Bronx series. So I started up Tail Concerto for PS1 as it's apparently only a short 6 hours according to HLTB. Solatorobo will have to wait as my handheld stuff is mostly in my parents.

A quick 20 minutes of Tail Concerto have really impressed me. It's very like Megaman Legends, from the visuals to the controls. The Black Cat gang are pretty much the Bonnes from MML and their cat henchmen are pretty amusing and similar to that game's servbots. It looks gorgeous and controls quite fluidly, it's pretty high budget for a PS1 games with a lot of love poured into it. Just like MML this game is obviously heavily influenced by Ghibli movies and feels more like a Ghibli videogame than my eternal punching bag of shittiness Ni No Kuni.

Worztron

The 1988 scrolling fighter, Vigilante, on MAME. :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigilante_(video_game)

Colonel Panic

My son is between sleep regressions so I have time to game again. For now...

So back to Souky and Exhumed on the Saturn as they're both easy to play in small chunks. Currently trying to 1CC various stages in Souky's practice/score mode with a view to 1CCing it again.

I'm also playing Quake on and off.

Had to put Returnal on ice for a while. Playing 1 to 2 hour runs just isn't a goer right now. Shame, I really miss it!

o1s1n

Just tried an online coop run through of Quake with a mate on the Switch - ran absolutely brilliantly! There's no way to save progress but I think you can choose your starting point each time. Will definitely be going back to that and picking up where we left off.

o1s1n

Finished up Skyward Sword yesterday afternoon - thoroughly enjoyable overall, if not a bit too easy. Surprising amount of storytelling going on compared to usual Zelda games. Dare I say it, I enjoyed it more than BOTW. I think if it had originally been released using the same controls at the HD switch version (and not motion) opinion of it would differ somewhat.

It's really interesting though, absolutely everything I thought was lacking in BOTW is in this. But everything lacking in this is in BOTW...if you could somehow combine both games, with the dungeons from Skywards Sword and the open world of BOTW you'd have some game.

Retr0gamer

Lots of retrospectives saying the issue with skyward sword was the motion controls. The controls in the original were fantastic... Other than the sky goose thing. I know some people unfortunately got dodgy Wiimote pluses that ruined it for them but the issues were with the pacing and how rote it felt.

Glad you enjoyed it. As I said its a great game but I did find it a struggle to beat near the end.

o1s1n

You can really feel how well the controls are put together alright, even when you replace the motion controls with the right analog stick. I think a lot of folks just hit a wall of frustration when it comes to motion controls, especially in something like a Zelda game where you can potentially be playing it for hours in one sitting. I tried them for a while but my old arms just got knackared!

But yes, there were some fantastically inventive ways of controlling your new weapons/abilities. I especially enjoyed that last dungeon where each cube section was a mini version of one of the previous areas, definitely left me scratching my head a few times until I had a bit of a lightbulb moment and remembered what one of my inventory items could do.

I may go back and play BOTW again, haven't gone near it since the Wii U and it'll be really interesting to give it a go now that I know where the stamina wheel/destructible items evolved from.

Retr0gamer

Honestly never had an issue with getting tired with motion controls. And skyward sword was the game that finally showed how motion controls should work and how they enhance the game. I remember reading it was the game that finally justified Nintendo's focus on motion controls. I really don't get the revised history about how the controls in skyward sword let the game down because at the time of release there was nothing but praise. I kind of get the feeling the people writing this never played the game. Like the recent article about the NES console from the 1960s...

Inviere

I've always hated motion controls, even when they're supposedly done well.

o1s1n

My main gripe with them really is when developers attempt to shoe horn them into existing game franchises.

A game like Wii Sports which was made with them in mind is one thing, but taking something already existing and trying to get it to work with motion controls doesn't do it for me usually.

The one huge exception being Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii, probably the finest use of motion controls IMO. Although I almost don't consider that motion controls. It's more Nintendo turning the Wiimote and nunchuck into a keyboard and mouse.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117854130#Comment_117854130

What about VR? Half-Life Alyx is a masterpiece of motion control - really feels like a step forward in immersive controls and game worlds.

Retr0gamer

The original Wiimote was just way too imprecise. The motion plus was really what the wiimote should have been. The one to one movement in Skyward Sword was great. That tech would transfer over to VR where it's handled even better.

Still standard wiimote wasn't all that bad when used properly. Boom Blox was a heap of fun. Pulling of wrestling moves in NMH was satisfying even if it was a gimmick. And the pointer was extremely accurate and was great when sued well. But again, it really should have been motionplus levels. And the shoehorning was a thing, DKC Returns is the worst example of this with motion controls that should have been mapped to a button press.

Dr Bob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117854349#Comment_117854349

VR is usually leagues ahead of regular motion controls though , as its pretty much a 1:1 translation ...i.e. you move your controller , and the hand ingame moves exactly the same way . Versus say super monkey ball , where you move a small controller and a large monkey/ball zorb thing rolls in that direction theres no comparison.

Dr Bob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117787733#Comment_117787733

Can I recommend darkside detective games , as its in the same vein but made by and Irish company (who are very very sound people).

I also may have been a play tester on the first game so I am slightly biased.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117854349#Comment_117854349

I would say proper VR games like Alyx are in a whole other category, and should never be lumped in with wii motes and kinect type garbage.

mehico

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117854830#Comment_117854830

I have played through about half of the first Darkside Detective so far and it is excellent. (I think it was a recommendation on Steam). Great to see that it was made by an Irish company.

CiDeRmAn

The only motion control game I enjoyed was Metroid Prime 3, that was it

And, even now, I'd rather play it with GC proper controls

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117857997#Comment_117857997

I would have thought as a big Metroid Prime fan you'd love the Wiimote controls! I tried playing with the Gamecube control layout before and it didn't seem quite as fluid as the Wiimote.

Really interested in seeing the main controller setup they go for with the Switch port, whenever it might come out...