Keep Calm And Discuss Retro Generally!

o1s1n

There are 3 different Megagames 6 'volumes'.

Megagames 6 Vol 3 goes for a nice sum of money if complete.

They're really weird though as they all have similar games on them as each other. Not identical, but you think if they released different volumes then they'd have totally different games as it would be a collection.

CiDeRmAn

Be careful though, there's a couple of well known sh1te games on those collections..... just sayin'.....

deathrider

Hmmm, interesting. I was mooching through my old Megadrive games (I don't have many) and noticed that I had the yellow and red Mega Games 6 carts. Thought there might have been a misprint or something.

Atavan-Halen

You guys might know as I rarely order stuff from the states but I'm looking at a lot of 1,000+ pokemon cards on eBay and trying to get a postage quote from the seller. He says they weigh about 1.5-2 kilos so what would be the going rate for something like that? Was looking on the USPS site and the small international flat rate box is $23.95 which would be ok but the seller thinks that's too small.

Retr0gamer

atavan-halen wrote: »

You guys might know as I rarely order stuff from the states but I'm looking at a lot of 1,000+ pokemon cards on eBay and trying to get a postage quote from the seller. He says they weigh about 1.5-2 kilos so what would be the going rate for something like that? Was looking on the USPS site and the small international flat rate box is $23.95 which would be ok but the seller thinks that's too small.

Tell him to check himself if he doesn't believe you. Even fecking An Post can tell you on their website how much it will cost if you know the weight.

Retr0gamer

Just got to say thank **** this got canned. That up there is meant to be Megaman in a game Capcom cancelled. The bang of Bomberman Act Zero is strong with this one. If that got green lit after cancelling Legends 3 I'd throw myself off a bridge having lost all faith in the world.

o1s1n

But it might have been an FPS and amazing!

The Last Bandit

Could have been a dating sim ...

o1s1n

I can see it now, Retr0 finds his Mega-Man.

johnny_ultimate

Well it was being designed by some of the higher-up veterans of Retro Studios, and from what I heard online today it sounded like a fascinating attempt to do for Megaman what Prime did for Metroid - loyally translating the core gameplay into 3D environments. Also sounded like they had this mad plan for a three game arc. Kinda disappointed it was cancelled, TBH. Sure it seems as if they didn't stick with the vibrant colour palette of the 2D titles, but overall it sounded like a worthy attempt at trying something new with the character and I'm certainly more intrigued by the descriptions of it than I'm disappointed by a single, context-free screenshot.

Retr0gamer

It didn't like too bad a game but the story sounds ridiculous and as a massive fan of the series the art and that story are all wrong. The Legends games did Megaman right, they looked and felt like a Miyazaki film on the PS1 (and ripped off Laputa quite a bit actually).

It might have been a good game but it would be like Lords of Shadows all over again. It just wouldn't be Megaman. I enjoyed Lords of Shadows but it just wasn't Castlevania and unfortunately it looks like the castlevania of old has been replaced by it and we'll possibly never see it again. It would be the same with Megaman.

johnny_ultimate

Since Lords of Shadow was a perfectly good game in its own right, I had no problem with it deviating a bit from the traditions of the series. Indeed, there's no shortage of traditional Megaman or Castlevania games - the classics are not going to simply go away when a new developers comes in and try their hand at them. Just pumping out more NES Engine Megamans is all well and good, but hardly a wildly creative use of resources. Now I don't deny it would be a lot of fun to see the aesthetics of a classic series boldly translated into a HD world. But as long as the legacy isn't shat upon completely, it's possible to create a respectable, enjoyable title that is loyal to its source material while retaining a bit of an identity of its own. It could well fail, but every so often you get a title that makes a franchise feel fresh again. No reason a 'new' Megaman couldn't harmoniously co-exist with the 'old'.

Retr0gamer

Well for me Lords of Shadows didn't fit in with Castlevania at all. It was a Castlevania game in name only. I really don't think it was a good deal that we got a God of War clone in place of the castlevania's that came before. It's so far removed from the series that no matter how much I enjoy it Castlevania may as well be dead.

It would be same with Megaman. Contrary to what you say Megaman isn't just an 8-bit series. There's tonnes of spin-offs and seperate series. There's the X and Zero series, the RPG battle Network games and the frankly amazing Legends games. There's a selection of games in the franchise with wildly diverging game styles and yet none of them seem completely disconnected with the series like that game would have felt if it continued along that path. Does everything have to be dark and gritty even Megaman? Hell Zero, X and Megaman Legends could be quite depressing and series at times but they managed to do so without feeling disconnected from the main series.

o1s1n

There's a huge difference between creating a new vision of a classic where you still keep the original feel and then creating something in name only.

The Metroid Prime series would be an example of the first...when it comes to the second, there are far too many to list. Castlevania LOS and that new 3DS version, Syndicate (shudder), Shadowrun (bigger shudder)...just completely missing the point. I don't know why they don't just create a new game franchise? Maybe the game in itself will be great. But it doesn't matter, when you deviate too far from the game you're basing it on, it just doesn't work.

/Edit - not saying this Megaman game might not have been great, who knows. History does like to repeat itself though.

Retr0gamer

It didn't look half bad and had potential but as you said, why bother calling it Megaman when it's deviated so far from what megaman is?

johnny_ultimate

Again, these are all presumptions based on a single screenshot, when everything else is suggesting that this would have been an extremely loyal attempt at capturing the spirit of the series, from developers who made the definitive big budget update of a classic franchise. We'll never have an answer to how well it would have worked.

As long as gaming is overeliant on existing franchises, though, (and let's be honest it would be wonderful if economics allowed for more completely fresh ideas) we should never rule out the potential for newness. Sure there have been innumerable failures where the source material has been lost in a sea of failed experimentation, but its a spirit of adventure and willingness to break from the mould that gave us many of the best sequels of all time. Metroid Prime. Resident Evil 4. Final Fantasy VII (sorry Retr0). Heck, even Castlevania Symphony of the Night. We're talking in completely theoretical terms when it comes to cancelled untitled Megman, and it had the 'blessing' of the series creator than his full involvement which places it in a different position to many other titles. But there's nothing more exhilarating than a new entry in a franchise that catches you off guard, it's even more rewarding than a perfectly competent sequel that just lightly remixes what came before. As long as adequate respect is paid, of course (and for the record I'd be one of the crazies who thought the under appreciated Lords of Shadow kept enough intact to be worthy of the franchise tag - not so much the 3DS version). Again, harmonious co-existence is key.

Alas, we'll likely never find out what side of the divide this would have fallen on. Maybe a gameplay demo will leak out one of these years.

The developers are apparently working on a portable title to complement to the next Batman game. Perhaps that will give us a hint how they might have fared.

Retr0gamer

Just because it had a few Metroid Prime developers doesn't mean it would have been great. As for the games you mentioned none were a big departure from their source. Metroid Prime was just Super Metroid in 3D but kept the tone, visual style and ability based progress. FFVII, for christ sake, was just a poor reimagining FFVI with CGI instead of pixel art. Symphony of the Night was still castlevania with it's hack and slash gameplay and expanded on ideas already in Simon's Quest and Rondo of Blood. Resident Evil 4 was a big departure in gameplay but it was stil Resident Evil at Heart.

To add another one to your list there's Megaman Legends which made Megaman into a 3D adventure game with Metroid elements in a Laputa inspired world. It still felt like Megaman.

It's not jusy a screenshot I'm basing it on, there was details of the story leaked as well and videos of the gameplay which look like Metroid Prime with awful art. The character is so far removed from Megaman that it's not megaman anymore and the serious tone they were taking with the game didn't suit a game with a character with a silly name like Megaman.

Also I'm sorry but there's absolutely nothing of Castlevania in Lords of Shadow and the fact that the soundtrack was terrible hollywood schlock was a sin in a vania game.

CiDeRmAn

Not to get in between two heavyweights having a debate but, why try and reinvent some franchises at all?
Castlevania works great in 2d with the well received GBA and DS games showing how.
With Rayman Origins an example of some beautiful 2d work why not employ this principle to a new Castlevania title, instead of getting hung up on producing a 3d brawler with a Castlevania veneer?
Metroid Prime seems to be the exception to the rule, a 3d update that works, along with Super Mario 64 and precious few others.
I'll tell you the one I want to see updated, Sonic, but not in any of the ways we've seen so far, no, I want to see the hub section of Sonic Jam made bigger, much bigger, into the Sonic game we deserve, godsdammit!

valleyoftheunos

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Not to get in between two heavyweights having a debate but, why try and reinvent some franchises at all?
Castlevania works great in 2d with the well received GBA and DS games showing how.
With Rayman Origins an example of some beautiful 2d work why not employ this principle to a new Castlevania title, instead of getting hung up on producing a 3d brawler with a Castlevania veneer?
Metroid Prime seems to be the exception to the rule, a 3d update that works, along with Super Mario 64 and precious few others.

I think for the Publishers the answer is two-fold. Firstly Modern gamers, by which I mean those who started with a PS2 or such like, demand deeper more immersive experiences. To them the 2D platformer/shooter experience is limited, clearly they live in darkness on this point.

Secondly Big shiny reboots shift units and crucially they do so at top dollar. the also allow publishers to pander to Modern Gamer's obbsession with shooting things in the face.

Personally I don't think they are so bad, Reboots can be great fun. I haven't played it but Tomb Raider looks great, Metroid Prime is obviously the best example and whilst Lords of Shadow didn't play like Castlevania 3 or SOTN, to me it did "Feel" like a Castlevania game. I really enjoyed it, in fact I must go back and finish it.

CiDeRmAn

A great example of reboots /updating franchises is the experience of Bionic Commando.
The full fledged 3d game, not a bad game by all accounts, sank like a led zeppelin, took the developer Grin along with it.
The 2d Xbla game released at the same time has done much better business, might have had a sequel of its own since too.
Another good example of an update is Kid Icarus on the 3ds, although that might be more of a Space Harrier /Panzer Dragoon clone with the art assets of Kid Icarus updated in 3d and inserted.

johnny_ultimate

Ideally the gaming world would be friendlier towards new ideas. Alas, not so, and franchises are often the only way to get a title greenlit. Under these circumstances, I am not averse to talented developers being granted the opportunity to have their own take on a franchise - MGS: Revengenace for a recent successful example.

I think a franchise can easily stagnate if it just recycles what it has previously done successfully. Metroid Prime 3, for example, was grand but the freshness had certainly worn off, and although it was a very mixed success at best (story wise it was an absolute failure) at least Other M tried something new, oftentimes with encouraging results.

There is always the other extreme - the recent Final Fantasy of being a series of barely connected experimental failures. But positive, creative experimentation is something I'd rarely bemoan.

Yes, the new Megman's 'gritty' direction seemed like it could have been an absolute failure in terms of story and aesthetics (probably not on a Shadow the Hedgehog scale, the optimist in me would hope). But IMO the efforts at translating Megaman gameplay into a 3D realm could have been fascinating.

Oh well, its gone now, for whatever quality or economic or Capcom reason. No point getting consumed by something we'll never play.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Also I'm sorry but there's absolutely nothing of Castlevania in Lords of Shadow and the fact that the soundtrack was terrible hollywood schlock was a sin in a vania game.

Well except for;
The demanding, intense and unforgiving (at least on hard) hack and slash combat.
Puzzle and platforming elements.
A plethora of hidden items and secrets.
A story heavily soaked in Castlevania lore.
A Belmont as the main character, armed with a 'cross whip'.
Welcome remixes of the iconic weapons and magic of the series.
An unsettling, gorgeously drawn world of gothic dread.
Nightmarish character design.
Epic, varied bosses.
Dracula.
And, oh yes, a castle.

It wasn't the best game ever made, and certainly not the best Castlevania, but it was a real pleasant surprise at the same time. I have no doubt the imminent sequel will address many lingering concerns.

valleyoftheunos

I just read about forth coming "Next Gen 8 bit game" Shovel Knight, looks like a fantastic combination of Mega Man (careful now), Castlevania (ah here!) and Ducktails (work away).

I can only presume I am the last person to arrive at this party, what are people's opinions on it?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yachtclubgames/shovel-knight?ref=live

Myrddin

The vast majority of reboots are rubbish, everyone knows that. The new Megaman could have been one of the few good ones...but history & statistics, say it would in all likelihood have been rubbish

DinoRex

Hahaha... Just won the Super Scope from RAGE.

Pyongyang

DinoRex wrote: »

Hahaha... Just won conjunctivitis from RAGE.

FYP. Give it a good clean before you use it! You don't know what kind of kinky sod has had that eyepiece up their bum!*

*present company excepted.

DinoRex

The answer I gave to the competition:

'Loderunner 64'

CiDeRmAn

Pyongyang wrote: »

FYP. Give it a good clean before you use it! You don't know what kind of kinky sod has had that eyepiece up their bum!*

*present company excepted.

It's the Rez trance packs that you really have to be careful of.
Disassemble and autoclave that casing for a start!

Well done on the Super scope though, Nintendo, providing gamers with ways to look like a complete t1t for over 25 years!

CiDeRmAn

EnterNow wrote: »

The vast majority of reboots are rubbish, everyone knows that. The new Megaman could have been one of the few good ones...but history & statistics, say it would in all likelihood have been rubbish

But what about the Bomberman and Boulder Dash remakes..... Which sucked balls... Point taken!

DinoRex

There's a difference between remakes and reboots.

Resident Evil and Metroid Zero Mission would be great examples of remakes.

CiDeRmAn

DinoRex wrote: »

There's a difference between remakes and reboots.

Resident Evil and Metroid Zero Mission would be great examples of remakes.

So that would make the current Tomb Raider a reboot would it?

I'm confused, the English language does not seem adequate for describing the reboot, remake, update goings on!