So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

Retr0gamer · 24-12-2009 7:02pm

Yep Luigis Mansion is a very good game if a little short. I think people were expecting a groundbreaking game like mario 64 at the GC launch and it got unfairly hammered.

I'm playing a good bit of Gunners Heaven today aka Rapid Reload in Europe. It was a PS1 launch title and it's excellent. It's a massive Gunstar Heroes rip off but it's still an excellent game. Another game that got overlooked because it wasn't 3D. It holds up way better than the rest of the PS1 launch due to some gorgeous 2D visuals. I got it from the japanese PSN.

Gummy Panda · 24-12-2009 7:39pm

Okay, so is there a difference between Streets of Rage 3 and Bare Knuckle 3 (Bare Knuckle is the Japanese version of streets of rage)?

I've heard people going on like there is a difference but they never explained why. Also does EU Streets of Rage 2 suffer the 50hz slowdown like Sonic?

o1s1n · 24-12-2009 11:39pm

All EU megadrive games have 50hz slowdown bar a handful that were PAL optimised.As do ALL snes games. When I say a handful, I mean literally that. probably five or so (Maybe even less). Alien Soldier was one of them.

Streets of Rage 3 is a censored, cut down version of Bare Knuckle. It's a waste of money.

Here's a good list of all the differences -

http://www.streetsofrage.net/bare_knuckle_iii.htm

Retr0gamer · 25-12-2009 2:49am

Don't bother with Streets of Rage 3. The cuts to the game are annoying but even worse is the increase in difficulty that makes the game frustrating rather than fun. Bare Knuckle 3 is way better.

Syferus · 25-12-2009 5:49pm

In reality, none of the Streets of Rage games are technically fantastic - or, of course, original - but few games have had as perfect a soundtrack as the original Streets of Rage.

When I think of the Mega Drive I think of Streets of Rage and it's because of Yuzo Koshiro's distillation of 1980's ambient synth into the perfect soundtrack to an urban journey.

Gummy Panda · 25-12-2009 6:10pm

Syferus wrote: »

In reality, none of the Streets of Rage games are technically fantastic - or, of course, original - but few games have had as perfect a soundtrack as the original Streets of Rage.

When I think of the Mega Drive I think of Streets of Rage and it's because of Yuzo Koshiro's distillation of 1980's ambient synth into the perfect soundtrack to an urban journey.

Tbh, I at the moment i can't think of too many beat'em ups that were as fun on the 16-bit home consoles. I can think of arcade games no problem though.

Syferus · 25-12-2009 6:20pm

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Tbh, I at the moment i can't think of too many beat'em ups that were as fun on the 16-bit home consoles. I can think of arcade games no problem though.

That doesn't negate the point they aren't technically great - everything it did gameplay-wise Final Fight did first and did better. That doesn't mean it was a bad game or that it wasn't fun; that's entirely subjective. The point I made is that what elevates the original Streets of Rage technically (and emotionally for me) is its soundtrack.

o1s1n · 25-12-2009 6:26pm

Streets of rage 2 and 3 are visually fantastic for the Megadrive. The sprites are really big and look great.

The music as you already mentioned is fantastic too. A feat in itself given the limitations of the Megadrive soundchip.

Another obvious great beat em up of the 16 bit era is Super Double Dragon. Really suffers from 50hz slowdown in PAL regions though.

If you're willing to go up to 24 bit, Sengoku 2 and 3 are brilliant on the Neo Geo. Particularly 3.

Syferus · 25-12-2009 8:54pm

o1s1n wrote: »

Streets of rage 2 and 3 are visually fantastic for the Megadrive. The sprites are really big and look great.

The music as you already mentioned is fantastic too. A feat in itself given the limitations of the Megadrive soundchip.

Another obvious great beat em up of the 16 bit era is Super Double Dragon. Really suffers from 50hz slowdown in PAL regions though.

If you're willing to go up to 24 bit, Sengoku 2 and 3 are brilliant on the Neo Geo. Particularly 3.

It was less a feat than a great understanding of what the sound chip did well - most Mega Drive games have an almost metallic sheen of a sound, which meant they had a tendency to be slightly abrasive whereas Sony's S-SMP sound chip in the SNES (developed by none other than Ken Kutaragi!) was, relatively speaking, an all-singing all-dancing brass band of a chip that could fire out MIDI-ized version of multi-piece orchestras without becoming mangled.

Koshiro showed more than a few times that he probably had the best understanding of how to approach the Mega Drive sound chip - with the Jean Michel-Jarre-esque Street of Rage soundtrack nestled beside the pretty lauded Ys I & II soundtracks, both series relying on a similar ambient sound rather than trying to ape full orchestration.

CiDeRmAn · 25-12-2009 11:10pm

Ah yes, Streets of Rage...

Didn't I spend a lot of time slating those games during the year?

I wonder why?
.
..
...
....

Oh yeah, because the side scrolling beat'em up is a crap genre!

Aside from Batman Returns on the Snes, of course!

o1s1n · 25-12-2009 11:40pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Ah yes, Streets of Rage...

Didn't I spend a lot of time slating those games during the year?

I wonder why?
.
..
...
....

Oh yeah, because the side scrolling beat'em up is a crap genre!

Aside from Batman Returns on the Snes, of course!

You have no soul.

On Christmas of all days!

corcaigh07 · 26-12-2009 12:23am

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Ah yes, Streets of Rage...

Didn't I spend a lot of time slating those games during the year?

I wonder why?
.
..
...
....

Oh yeah, because the side scrolling beat'em up is a crap genre!

Aside from Batman Returns on the Snes, of course!

bloody hell Ciderman, get out!

o1s1n · 26-12-2009 12:25am

corcaigh07 wrote: »

bloody hell Ciderman, get out!

To be honest I think he just secretly hates videogames

We all know Halo isn't really a videogame.

Retr0gamer · 26-12-2009 3:40am

LIGHTNING wrote: »

But their was a few cross platforms games that were brilliant out at the time. Assault rigs on the PC was an absolute gem, top notch graphics, brilliant music and a really good control scheme. It was twice the game compared to the PS1 version.

You got me the the wrong way. I meant that every time a game was availableon both platforms it was always better on the PC (FFVII being the only exception).

bildo · 26-12-2009 4:02am

Retr0gamer wrote: »

(FFVII being the only exception).

Did you try VIII? It actually runs better through an emulator than the actual PC release.

o1s1n · 26-12-2009 4:21am

bildo wrote: »

Did you try VIII? It actually runs better through an emulator than the actual PC release.

That's hilarious!

I would imagine the same can be said for VII too.

Retr0gamer · 26-12-2009 12:11pm

The problem I had with VII and VIII is that the music on the PC sounds awful. They're just sloppy ports.

o1s1n · 27-12-2009 5:38am

Unfortunately Sengoku 3 wouldnt work in my cab

Works in my AES fine. I think it's just down to dirty contacts. Wasn't in the humour for cleaning carts on the laziest few days of the year though.

Did get to play a lot of Metal Slug 3. Even found a new alternate path. It's great, I always think I've found them all and then another one pops up. Really need to spend more time with that game. It's much better than I give it credit for.

CiDeRmAn · 27-12-2009 10:59am

I do like videogames, I really do.
And I'm a hardcore videogamer too,

I own a PS2 and have lots of Fifa games and I played Medal Of Honor Frontline so there!

On a brighter note, I have Assault Rigs on my PS1, and not a bad little game it is.
I can see how the neon lit, tron stylie visuals would get even better on a HD display though.

Got a lovely Joystick Junkies hoodie for chrimbo, with the Arcade Asylum Class of 78 logo on front together with the Space Invaders Monster, nice!

97i9y3941 · 29-12-2009 5:30pm

pga 96 on megadrive

CiDeRmAn · 29-12-2009 6:16pm

Fifa road to the world cup, the most un-necessary game ever, and people bought it in their droves, I know, I was there in Gamesworld selling it to them.

(Although secretly I was whispering to them would they now prefer ISS instead?, to which they'd reply Stop Whispering In My EAR, I hardly know you, and then say they don't have a Snes only a Megadrive, at which point I'd withdraw to behind the counter, and wipe away a tear...)

I don't really have too many EA sports titles on any platform, I don't own a Fifa aside from one on the 3DO, I have yet to buy a Tiger Woods game, a Madden game or Ice Hockey, I may have the Road Rash series on Megadrive, MegaCD, 3DO and PS but it's not really a sport, unfortunately!

Atavan-Halen · 29-12-2009 6:19pm

I actually have a surprising amount of sports games for someone who doesn't like sports at all. I think mainly because 1. There's always 1 or 2 in there when buying an old console with games and 2. because I just can't resist buying a game for <€3

o1s1n · 29-12-2009 7:03pm

The only sports games I've ever enjoyed are Tennis for the gameboy/nes, California Games for the Nes, Pete Sampras Tennis for the Megadrive, Virtua Tennis (I like the odd good tennis game!) Super Punch Out! for the Snes, Neo Turf Master for the Neo geo and a couple of bowling games (But that's one of those pretend sports)

And of course Wii sports. But it's fairly impossible not to like those.

I love racing games, but they don't count!

Everything else is only bought if I ever need a replacement case for a game. EA sports games being the biggest pain in the arse as they have those stupid oversized Megadrive cases. So most games won't fit in them. I swear they did that on purpose just to annoy me.

Atavan-Halen · 29-12-2009 7:08pm

I was actually supposed to be buying Virtua Tennis for the dreamcast off adverts because it looks very nice (graphically) But the seller wanted to hang on and see if he could sell the bundle as one.

CiDeRmAn · 29-12-2009 7:20pm

My brother was a total Virtua Tennis nut, he and his mates in college used to play the Dreamcast all day long, often whilst under the influence of herbal substances.
When Virtua Tennis 2 was released it was greeted with much delight before a couple of plays sent them back to the comfortable environs of the first one!
I think it was my DC as well, smelt like a hippys tshirt for some reason!

Retr0gamer · 29-12-2009 8:12pm

I usually hate sports games as well although I always find the ice hockey ones entertaining, think virtua tennis and super tennis are great and love the tiger woods/pga games.

o1s1n · 29-12-2009 8:17pm

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I usually hate sports games as well although I always find the ice hockey ones entertaining, think virtua tennis and super tennis are great and love the tiger woods/pga games.

Ah EA Hockey! How could I forget thee. I had the EA Sport Double header and don't think I played John Madden Football even once.

EA Hockey on the other hand..now there was a game to get competative with on two player. I think the fact that you could have fist fights helped in that regard.

Actually it's also one game that plays on an arcade machine really really well.

Syferus · 29-12-2009 8:52pm

Someone tell them about 3-on-3 NHL Arcade and to get off the Jap-a-mania bus for a short stop-off in midget land. Oh, I did.

CCCP^ · 29-12-2009 8:55pm

Had a Sega CD session last night, played Sol-Feace for a bit, that was a warm up for Silpheed. I like that game, it looks very cool, the explosions and the action, the music is alright but the cutscenes are very good.

o1s1n · 29-12-2009 9:01pm

CCCP^ wrote: »

Had a Sega CD session last night, played Sol-Feace for a bit, that was a warm up for Silpheed. I like that game, it looks very cool, the explosions and the action, the music is alright but the cutscenes are very good.

/Waits for Retr0 to come along and tell you that the only shooters worth playing are Japanese Saturn releases. :pac:

CCCP^ · 29-12-2009 9:10pm

He might be right, but it's like...I dunno reading books or drinking whiskey. Now you can go read yer classics like stuff by Jane Austen and so on or read your Stephen King (who does it for me) or 40-year old Jameson at a hefty price or get the stuff out of Lidl. As long as it does the job, that's all I'm asking.

Retr0gamer · 30-12-2009 12:21am

No it's more like drinking Smirnoff all your life and then tasting real vodka and realising that you'd been drinking **** up until that point and you'll never drink Smirnoff again.

o1s1n · 30-12-2009 12:42am

Retr0gamer wrote: »

No it's more like drinking Smirnoff all your life and then tasting real vodka and realising that you'd been drinking **** up until that point and you'll never drink Smirnoff again.

Shur up n' drink yizzer Smirnoff, ye fancy sheite. Who do ye tink yizzer arre?

>hic<

Atavan-Halen · 30-12-2009 12:44am

I drink tesco value vodka. It's like paint stripper, but more dangerous

corblimey · 30-12-2009 12:49am

I drink Tesco Value Paint Stripper. Come on, who wants some?!

CCCP^ · 30-12-2009 12:54am

Well atleast we can all agree Donkey Kong Country and Goldeneye 64 AND HALO ARE GREAT GAMES.

:pac:

o1s1n · 30-12-2009 1:41am

CCCP^ wrote: »

Well atleast we can all agree Donkey Kong Country and Goldeneye 64 AND HALO ARE GREAT GAMES.

:pac:

Fine vintage wines CCCP, fine vintage wines.

...

OMFG NO, I CAN'T DO IT. GOLDENEYE AND HALO SUCK DONKEY BALLS. DONKEY BALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Retr0gamer · 30-12-2009 2:37am

Speaking of shmups I set up the saturn again today and indulged in some soukyugurentai and salamander 2

CiDeRmAn · 30-12-2009 3:37pm

Of course you did, of course you did....

Your life must be a constant stream of psychedelic bullets and you weaving between the gaps..
Does this persist I wonder when the console is switched off?
When crossing the road do you see yourself as a manga inspired spacecraft enduring car shaped bullet hell?

I guess your love life probably looks like a JPRG dating sim, of course legal age women who persist in wearing school girl uniforms or sailor outfits could be a tall order....

But from recent evidence you're the one Retro who is more likely ot be wearing the school girl uniform!

And Halo, Goldeneye and DKC do not suck balls.
You might not like them, but they are not crap.
Bubsy is crap, Daikatana is crap, Jericho is crap, the list of truely pitiful games is long, but Donkey Kong Country, Halo and Goldeneye are really not amongst them.

And I was reading an old, 2003, issue of Edge, where they were listing the "hardcore" games of the day, incluing old and new titles as games we all really really should own and play if we wish ot be termed "hardcore" and included was Gunstar Heroes, I mean, fancy that! They had nothing but great things to say about it too, so how about it Retro, can you let this tiff, this schism go, this "Retro hates Edge whilst Edge really has no idea who you are" thing go?
Please Retro, think of the kids!

Gummy Panda · 30-12-2009 3:59pm

Halo is crap tbh.

Goldeneye... Meh! I had a PC when it was popular though I can see why people love it.

Donkey Kong Country is fun. I remember seeingit for the first time in toy crazy in the omni. I wanted it but had a mega drive

Retr0gamer · 30-12-2009 3:59pm

Are you trying to get a paper published on my behaviour in psychological review or something?

I've lost a few girlfriends when I told them I only wanted to speak to them in text box form. The school uniform thing can also be a hard sell.

Ok I might be a bit overzealous with DKC and Halo. DKC is a sound but uninspired and bland platformer. Halo again a sound FPS that doesn't advance the genre in anyway and is bland and average in many ways although 4 people online on one machine should be in every game as well as 4 player split screen modes. Goldeneye however while revolutionary in it's time has been totally surpassed and has aged so badly it now is a crap game to play. A bad fall from grace.

I think the big annoyance for me about Edge is their love for Halo. It really isn't a 10/10 game. I think magazines should stop giving games to fanboys to review becasue it leads to crap games like MGS4 getting 9 and 10s. Eurogamer gave Halo 3 a 10 but in the top 50 almost all the contributors said they weren't impressed by the game at all and were surprised by the 10.

Anyway back on topic. I took a break from pink bullet dodging and played some Enemy Zero. Anyone played it before?

CiDeRmAn · 30-12-2009 8:18pm

But that's just it, Halo really did advance the genre, especially on consoles, where the FPS genre was said to never be capable of competeing with the PC.
It had the shield recharge, the enemy AI,
most of the level design (aside from some of the identikit interiors),
the story, the cinematic "feel" of the game,
the balance of the weapons and vehicles,
the design of those weapons and vehicles,
the weapon loadout, only two to carry at a time forcing the player to be clever,
the mapping of the grenades to dedicated buttons instead of asking you to select them as a weapon.

And these are just a few of the fundamental advances made by Halo, and mostly features to be found implemented in every FPS worth it's salt in the years since, certainly the 2 weapon limit is now ubiquitous, the recharging shield is everywhere now too, the control scheme for vehicles avoiding the leap from the normal FPS controls to the vehicle controls is inspired and has been copied again and again.

So, to recap, Halo is not a good game, not a great game, it is one of the best games ever made, and the sooner you luddites fugure it out the better!

I await you foaming at the mouth responses!

o1s1n · 30-12-2009 8:35pm

I don't remember there being anything revolutionary about the weapons in Halo? It's all fairly standard FPS stuff. (Which I grow increasingly bored with)

Retr0gamer · 30-12-2009 11:00pm

Pistol, machine gun, shotgun, rocket launcher and alien weapons that did the same thing except took out shields and had bloom effects. It's practically the same arsenal as doom.

I don't mind Halo 1. It's biggest flaw was repeating the levels and it was a great game for it's time. The rechargeable health was an innovative feature. However it wasn't the first FPS to work on consoles. Quake 2 and Alien Ressurrection were great games on the PS1 that played brilliantly and had halo's 'innovative' control scheme years before it. The level design was half good hald repeating corridors, Gearbox who carried out the PC conversion said that the only thing special about the AI is that it's very good at avoiding scenery. I think my biggest problem with the game was that as a PC gamer before hand I'd played better FPS games with everything in them that was hailed as an innovation in Halo.

My big problem is the praise heaped on Halo 2 and 3. Halo 2 was a bad game plain and simple. after a cracker of an opening the Flood are introduced and the whole game takes a nose dive into a pool af ****. Halo 3 did improve things an awful lot but by then the scene had changed and it was just the same game as in 2002. FPS games had improved leaps and bounds. CoD4 just proved how antiqued it was.

Atavan-Halen · 31-12-2009 2:38am

Got gunstar heroes on the virtual console (I knoe retr0 will probably shoot me for not buying it for the Genesis :P) But I beat the first two bosses and loving it so far.

CiDeRmAn · 31-12-2009 7:12pm

You're just name checking Gunstar Heroes to suck up to the big man!

That said, my birthday is coming up, and if my brother is reading this I really want Flashback and Gunstar Heroes!
Please!

o1s1n · 31-12-2009 9:00pm

I think I've said this before, but Gunstar Heroes is the only game I've played on 60hz lots and lots before playing it on 50hz. I bought an NTSC genesis 3 and GH years ago.

I had a go at 50hz a couple of months ago when I finally figured out it was my 32X that was stopping the Mega Key from working.

Jesus christ is it criminal at 50hz. It's actually verging on unplayable. Maybe that's just me being used to the 60hz..(Must be what it's like for Americans playing all 50hz games) but this one seemed particularly bad.

60hz switches for all!!!

Atavan-Halen · 31-12-2009 9:08pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

You're just name checking Gunstar Heroes to suck up to the big man!

That said, my birthday is coming up, and if my brother is reading this I really want Flashback and Gunstar Heroes!
Please!

He may be a mod of certain categories, but not round these parts so I've no reason to suck up to him :P

CiDeRmAn · 01-01-2010 8:22pm

Picked up Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3 for 14.99 and Resistance 2 for 19.99, so I'm happy enough with those, of course I am winging my way to a bigger PS3 collection and zero chance of seeing more than the first 20 minutes, Batman:AA is still ahrdly played, Dragon Rising is neglected, not good, not good at all...

bennyblanco · 01-01-2010 8:32pm

My nephew gave me superbomberman for the snes for christmas

Now I need to find a multitap.
I recently picked up UN Squadron for it too,it's harder than I remember or
perhaps my skills have just atrophied.
I always played MarioKart since I got my hands on a snes 18months ago.
One of the best games ever made imho

So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

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