So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

Retr0gamer

And that's Turtles finished. It's a real mess of a game. The final corridor of death would have been infuriating if I was younger and didn't know how to complete it. Thankfully shredder is a push over with the scroll sub weapon so didn't take a single hit.

ketchupmessi63

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120056054#Comment_120056054

I just got the expansion pack, so really looking forward to beating Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask for the first time ever (PS fan boy here lol). Once I'm done with them (and SM 64, Golden Eye and I few others I suppose), I'll get to purchasing BotW and Odyssey. As for A Link to the Past, it's pure genius at work, nothing more to add!

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120177748#Comment_120177748

Link between worlds and a link to the past are different and excellent games.

The Nal

Only took 33 years but finally finished Prince of Persia

Retr0gamer

Nice. Always meant to go back to that game. I'll probably play the expanded SNES version.

Colonel Panic

Funnily enough, I’ve been playing SNES PoP a bit but struggling on a loooong jump a few stages in.

Also have Paper Mario on N64 on the go. Surprising how hard it is early on if you’re unprepared with health items especially.

o1s1n

I haven't played Prince of Persia since myself and my cousin rented the Snes version out in the early 90s and we were absolutely disgusted at how difficult it was.

Many accusations of the game 'cheating' were thrown about 😁

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120181658#Comment_120181658

Its incredibly difficult yeah. Id love to know how many people chucked it in before level 3

Retr0gamer

The considered controls of the game just really appealed to me. It's probably why I love the first Tomb Raider as its essentially PoP in 3D.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120182274#Comment_120182274

Certainly battling the controls more than any enemies. Theres only about 10 sword fights in the whole thing. The rest is just making sure you press up in time on the jumps.

komodosp

Ghosts n Goblins. I've just been told my weapon has not effect and been kicked back 2 levels!

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120182529#Comment_120182529

2 levels? It's back to the start of the game for the rest of the series!

Retr0gamer

Played a good bit of Crash Bandicoot 2 last night. It's the one game in the series I've the least amount of familiarity with. I've heard it held aloft by the Sony faithful as a nintendo-esque masterpiece and one of the best platformers of all time.

From my time playing Crash 2 I can conclude one thing, the people that praise this game need to play more platform games, especially nintendo ones because this game is very mediocre.

Now it is a big improvement over Crash 1 but that game is not good.

I like the hub design, it means you aren't stuck on a stage. The level design so far, while not exactly spectacular, at least has variety and there so far hasn't been the god awfulness of some of those Crash 1 levels. There's a new slide move which adds a bit more complex movement to the game but kind of only complicates things.

Now for the bad. Going for secrets is a lesson in awful game design. They aren't well communicated to the player and many are hidden off camera. It's just really unfair. The first boss was also complete gash. There's also still issues with Crashes design, with levels asking you to walk into the camera if you are going for secrets. At least the game doesn't completely negate you progress getting all crates when you die once like Crash 1 does.

So far it's perfectly cromulent.

o1s1n

A friend of mine sold me a copy of Crash Bandicoot 2 for twenty pounds not long after it was released. Was disc only in a blank black plastic case. Absolutely great deal for me, snapped it out of his hands.

I never really questioned the black plastic case. Turns out he'd nicked it from the countertop in Advanced Vision Bray! Bastard didn't tell me until years later.

Same dude ended up doing a stint in Mountjoy for stealing cars about ten years later.

Can probably trace it back to that stolen Crash Bandicoot 2 :eek:

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186071#Comment_120186071

And they say crime doesn't pay and yet we have the Tories making millions in the UK and pantry boy paying for a pantry through the proceeds of Crash Bandicoot 2 theft.

CiDeRmAn

I really enjoyed Prince of Persia: Sands of Time on the PS2/Xbox back in 2003 (twenty fecking years ago!).

It had a great use of 3D space, compared to most other 3D platformers of the era.

Swinging back to Tomb Raider, its Cistern level achieved a similar feat.

ketchupmessi63

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120178820#Comment_120178820

Haha, so true.. It only goes to show how much of a Zelda n00b I am... Alas, that's about to change

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120197052#Comment_120197052

Have started a link to the past, but never got back to it. My bad !

A link between worlds is one of my favourite games, and I've only played it in 2D. On a New 3DS with proper head tracking, supposed to be even better.

BOTW and OOT also some of my favourite games.

Really struggled with Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask ... Have done all of these to various levels of main game completion, but never finished time.

Skyward Sword took me 6 years to finish the main game..🤣

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120197403#Comment_120197403

Twilight Princess is good, but it never hit the highs of Ocarina for me anyway. I've (shamefully) yet to actually invest time into Wind Waker. Finished Majora's Mask a few years back, it was good, but not for me really....much preferred Ocarina again.

Mr.Saturn

Have bounced off Twilight Princess repeatedly despite my best efforts, feels a bit too of its time compared to other entries. That’s not to mention the entire thing feels like a bit of a self-conscious over-correction to the backlash Wind Waker faced. Which is hilarious in hindsight, considering Wind Waker holds up better than Twilight.

Still shocked Majora was the follow-up to Ocarina. It’s crazy one of the greatest and most popular fantasy epics in gaming is followed up with what is essentially an existential nightmare. You rarely see that kind of craic in any medium.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120197597#Comment_120197597

Yep MM is disturbing. I doubt Nintendo would ever do that again ... queue Tears of the Kingdom 😂

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120197597#Comment_120197597

Agreed there on all counts. Twilight Princess feels like an attempt to go back to the Ocarina format, but it lacks a lot of the charm, and isn't nearly as tight/focused. I still enjoyed it for what it was, but I don't imagine I'll ever revisit it.

Colonel Panic

I enjoyed it in the Wii but found the gated structure a bit frustrating. It’s something that was Flanderised in Skyward Sword. Get three things to open a thing and collect some stuff then dungeon.

I got it on the Wii U but stuff got in the way, but I’d still like to replay it and Wind Waker.

Yesterday, I tried out the reverse engineered Zelda 3 on my laptop. Some cool features like widescreen mode and some quality of life mods there.

Apparently there’s versions for Switch now.

o1s1n

Twilight Princess is one of the few Zelda games I've never been able to get through. Couldn't get into it on release at all.

I've been tempted to go back and give it another go via the HD remaster as I only just played Skyward Sword HD last year for the first time and had an absolute blast with it.

Retr0gamer

I think twilight princess came at the perfect time for me. Got it day one of the Wii and for the longest time there wasn't a whole lot on the Wii so I had plenty of reason to sink the ridiculous... 40 hours I think?... Into it. When the wiiu remake came out I didn't get it because I knew I wouldn't be willing to put that time into it.

When I think back to it there's not a whole lot that stands out about it. Wind waker or ocarina made more of an impression and I did remember thinking it felt like a ocarina remake.

o1s1n

I remember reading a lot about it in games magazines back in the day and it was definitely being billed as the true successor to Ocarina.

It's so ridiculous to look back on now, but people really did give out a lot about Windwaker when it came out. It was released at a time where a lot of franchises were starting to 'mature up' their games on the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube - so it really was a bit left field for Nintendo to release the next big Zelda game in a cartoon like cel shaded style.

I would have been playing Vice City and Hitman 2 that year on the PS2, so had absolutely zero interest playing a game like that.

Jokes was on me though, Windwaker is bloody brilliant and a far better game than a lot of what I would have been playing back then.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120210556#Comment_120210556

One of the better Zelda games yep. The sailing did get annoying though. But there isnt one Zelda game that doesn't have something that annoys me.

Retr0gamer

I honestly could not understand the backlash I thought the game looked gorgeous. But the dumb dumbs just wanted a lord of the rings blood and guts take on Zelda.

o1s1n

I was rather bloodthirsty back in those days myself so would have been one of those dumb dumbs, I think my main criteria for buying a game was whether there was a big 18 on the front of it or not. I think half the time I cleared levels in Hitman 2 just by going in with an M60. 🤣

Didn't actually play things like SOTC/ICO/Psychonauts till about ten years after they came out and I'd actually developed taste.

Actually speaking of PS2 era games, I managed to get 5 hours of Persona 4 in yesterday. Such a great game. It's gas, it's the third time I've started it so know the first 10 hours word for word at this stage. Not sure why I didn't stick with it past that in previous play throughs, certainly going to this time.

Not sure how I feel about the remastered HD visuals though, it feels a bit like someone loaded up a PS2 game on a PC emulator and just whacked up the resolution without really upgrading anything else.

Mr.Saturn

Twilight Princess and Gen 6 generally were gaming’s awkward adolescent phase where edginess and darkness got conflated with maturity and we ended with a spate of IPs that have aged like yak milk.

Twilight Princess is good for useless trivia though. It’s where we get a non-CDi talking Link with Hero’s Shade, a fact that has launched 1000 lore YouTube channels.