So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119451739#Comment_119451739

Whatever gives you 60Hz. A long 60 hour RPG like Earthbound will steal 10 hours of your life you'll never get back due to PAL slowdown and it will be a miserable experience as well.

Colonel Panic

Isn’t the RetroN 5 emulation?

Anyway, Klonoa gave me a break and I completed 5-1 so I’ll give 5-2 a proper go this evening. Like the gimmick in the level where it periodically goes dark and you can’t hurt enemies, but extra platforms appear.

Interesting chats on Dark Souls. I remember bouncing off Capra so many times and eventually managing it, but I still die the odd time there. So annoying when people say it’s by design to check your skill when there’s no other scenario like it! People don’t like to admit that the Souls games CAN be unfair.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119451739#Comment_119451739

Snes software emulation has been so well developed at this point, that it makes a Retron look like an AtGames product. Pretty sure the Retron uses Snes9x NEXT for its Snes core, which isn't optimal in this day and age, and implements speeds hacks etc.

Reproduction carts are one way of doing it, but Mother 2/Earthbound has some particularly fiendish copy protection, so if the cart is in any way not perfect, the game will know and mess with you. I made some repro's of it years ago using Mother 2 carts as a base. I think it was @o1s1n's cart he bought off me though that STILL had copy protection kicking in at times? So it's not an exact science, but maybe I used the wrong/unpatched rom back then & that's why it happened? Not sure.

Personally, I'd say an Everdrive on a real Snes is the way to go. Failing that, buy it on the Switch (assuming it's available?). The one and only time I played Earthbound, I bought and played in on the Wii U....incredible game btw.

accensi0n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119447336#Comment_119447336

That's a fantastic game.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119452598#Comment_119452598

Dark Souls is fair though, with the caveat when it's well designed. Capra Demon is the obvious product of From Software being rushed. They had a boss that was pretty easy and with no time to fix it they put him in a time room and added two dogs that changed him from walk in the a park to fist through the screen frustration.

There's always that element of areas being rushed and badly designed in From games and this is where the frustration comes in but usually when it's authored and well play tested it's fair.

CiDeRmAn

The Retron 5 is indeed emulation, and the company faced issues with it as they stole the code from other, open source emulators and denied access to folk to update the system code, aside from their own sporadic updates.

https://www.mcvuk.com/business-news/retail/retro-console-retron-5-accused-of-stealing-open-source-emulator-code/

Edit:

I stand corrected apparently there are a couple of available CFWs for the Retron5, I must give them a whirl and report back, although do I really need another way to play 8/16bit games?

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119452637#Comment_119452637

I forgot about the copy protection. It makes the game totally obnoxious to play.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119452637#Comment_119452637

' If the player manages to make it through this much harder version of the game, during the final boss fight with Giygas, the game will freeze and force the player to reset. When the player does, they will find that their save files have been completely deleted.'

Talk about the ultimate copy protection dick move!

I played through Earthbound to completion with that Mother 2 Tsop mod thingy you made up, so it must have been alright in the end and me just being a pansy thinking some areas 'were too hard' haha

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119453077#Comment_119453077

There's layers to the copy protection if I recall. One element of it is that it makes avoiding encounters much harder by increasing the number of enemies on screen. I could have sworn you mentioned this was happening to you at some point. Its moot now, as you bought my legit Earthbound cart later on didn't you?

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119453435#Comment_119453435

I 100% remember having that conversation alright. There were some areas where I was being flooded with enemies and it seemed really disproportionate to the rest of the game. Think it was snakes, snakes everywhere!

Yep I still have your old Earthbound squirrelled away with loads of other SFC carts I hoovered up from you a while back. Sold a lot of gear over the last couple of years but the Megadrive and Super Nintendo stuff will be with me till I die!

Mr.Saturn

There's the fan translation of the GBA port too, though the full translation largely seems abandoned as of late 2020. Best you'll get there for Earthbound or, at least most consistent, is basic translation (menus, et al rather than full translation) via the Mother 1 + 2 patch. It was done by Mato, the guy that did the Mother 3 translation so what is there is quality but still, probably not ideal.

Colonel Panic

I haven’t played this since the late 90s but just felt like having a mess about

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119473173#Comment_119473173

Still not a patch on the original!

Colonel Panic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119474772#Comment_119474772

Yeah, nowhere close!

o1s1n

Had one of those lovely evenings on Friday where a few friends come over and it turns into an impromptu gaming night. 6 of us playing games across both cabinets and consoles. Even had my Saturn arcade sticks out for some fighters, something they haven't been used for in many years!

Did make me realise how much I miss our A&R nights though!

Retr0gamer

Getting my own place soon and hoping for a few nights like that myself!

Retr0gamer

Got back into guardian legend last night. It gets a lot better as you level up and the shooter sections become more interesting. Really wonderful marriage of Zelda exploration and compile shmup that runs surprisingly well on the NES.

Also I've been playing a bit of groove coaster on my phone. A game from back when mobile gaming seemed like this vibrant new market for games with a control interface that was rife for experimentation. Such a shame it's a cesspit now. Anyway groove coaster is a wonderful little rhythm game.

Colonel Panic

Loving the NES games people are playing here. I'd never heard of Guardian Legend but I need that in my life!

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119475538#Comment_119475538

Thought it would be pretty well known, jeremy parish brings it up a lot. I remembering it being a pretty cheap game to pick up but that's probably changed since I bought it.

o1s1n

I'll have to give Guardian Legend a go too, hadn't heard of it until now, looks really interesting.

Speaking of the NES, I finally gave Micro Mages a go last night. Really really want to try it out multiplayer, I'd say it's an absolute blast!

Retr0gamer

Anyone starting guardian legend it can be confusing to start. But the game map pretty much tells you where to go and of you can't open a 'corridor' there will be a cute round blue chap or computer hidden in the area that will tell you the trick to opening the corridor.

Retr0gamer

Played and finished Trip World there recently. Weird little Sunsoft GB game. It's absolutely gorgeous looking and the soundtrack is great. It plays an awful lot like Gimmick except it's no where near as ball bustingly tough. In fact it's incredibly easy being very short and only a final trio of bosses to give you any trouble. The vast majority of enemies won't attack you. There's a huge variety of creatures in the world and most just go about their own routines or follow you out of curiosity. It's a very weird game as a result, quite experimental even. While the game is very short with a lack of challenge the world feels very alive. It's worth playing to experience it.

o1s1n

Played an hour of Guardian Legend last night, that is one really interesting game which I'm surprised Isn't more well known.

I'm playing it on real hardware without save states and couldn't figure out the password system at all. Could really benefit from a Metroid battery save type system.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509651#Comment_119509651

It you go to the password rooms with the little blue guys you have to go to the weapons menu, equip 'no use' and use the secondary weapon which will bring up the password screen. The passwords are really long and use crazy characters so good luck!

Game gets a lot better as you figure it out and the action ramps up. It's actually quite a simple game but it takes a while to figure that out.

o1s1n

Thanks! That sounds absolutely mental. I see someone has actually created an SRAM saving hack, think I'll give that a go!

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3734/

I was immediately impressed from the get go with that opening vertical shmup level, super fast scrolling with some really lovely graphics. Would play a game entirely like that to be honest, let alone with the genre change to an action adventure/exploration kind of thing.

Retr0gamer

The shooting stages actually get much better and faster. It's insane how many sprites they push in the game with little slowdown and flicker but then it is Compile.

I had trouble at the start trying to figure out how to open the first corridor that lets you progress the game. There are rooms with hints on how to open each corridor but if you are stuck a google will help.

Retr0gamer

Damn Straight I am!

Guardian Legend finished. Absolute gem of a NES game needless to say.

Retr0gamer

Been absolutely blitzing through Gameboy games this weekend.

I started contra the Alien Wars to see what it was like and ended up finishing it. It remember reviewers at the time being very impressed with it. It's basically a port of contra 3 to the Gameboy handled by factor 5. It's very impressive. Plays very like the Gameboy contra. It's quite close to the snes version. Some bosses have some changes, some are cut out and there's a stage missing. It's impressive work by factor 5 and only real downside is the music which is a little poor.

Next was MegaMan Wily's Revenge. Jeremy parish rips into this game all the time for using the NES MegaMan sprites meaning there's very little screen real estate and makes things cramped. While this is true it's not really that bad. It's a decent platformer but seems a little rushed. There's only 4 robotmasters taken from MegaMan 1 to take on. The levels are a mix of MegaMan 1 and 2 enemies and hazards. There's two wily stages with the first ending with a boss rush of MegaMan 2 bosses. It's kind of strange that you get their weapons after each fight as there's only one more stage left after it, obvious a rom size cut resulted in cuts to the game.

The game is quite tricky as enemies hit like a truck but it's not unfair other than some spike filled vertical shafts in places. The music is rather poor except the two wily stages.

Lastly I've started up Gargoyles Quest, the game where you play the red arremer enemy from ghosts n'goblins. It's absolutely incredible for a Gameboy game. Looks and sounds gorgeous, the movement system is unique and its a tough but fair challenge. I can't believe I waited so long to give this a proper go because it's sooooo good.

Retr0gamer

I started and finished Night Trap last night and.... I actually enjoyed it. I mean the game is nonsense but the new version is a little fairer since you can see in the room icons a preview of what is going on so it's much easier to catch the augers. The acting and story is complete cheesy nonsense but it is self aware of how cheesy it is and everyone is in on the joke.

The main issue with the game is because you are looking for augers you don't get to watch any of the story sections so I hadn't a clue what was actually going on in the game.

Mr.Saturn

Giving the orignal Dead Rising a spin, the game walks that line so much I keep half-expecting Francis 'York' Morgan to show up. Also, like all roguelikes, it is incredibly difficult until you find the inevitable exploit that completely breaks the game — in this instance, the underground car-park and a PP-booster. Fun times.