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Post by VectorX on Apr 14, 2014 8:25:03 GMT -5
I was actually quite surprised to hear that the villain Gol was voiced by Dee Snider of Twisted Sister! Oh wow! |
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Post by akator on Apr 14, 2014 11:15:13 GMT -5
This spring I've been exploring the Atari 8-bit computers with an Atari 800XL and MyIDE-II Compact Flash cart. It has taken me a while to get up to speed with the hardware, and while I'm still very much a beginner I've got most of it sorted out enough to start enjoying the system more and play games reliably. It has been an interesting experience. A lot of games are very good, while others are straightforward translations from the Atari 2600 that don't take advantage of the better graphics and audio on the computers. Of course, there's also some excellent homebrew available. So far I'm having fun with the A8, and the better programmed games make it comparable to the ColecoVision. Of course, there are also many computer games available (like text adventures) that never made it to a console like the CV. I would still rank the Vectrex higher. Out of all the systems I've played (almost all), in my opinion the Vectrex is the "cream of the crop" of classic systems.  |
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Post by gliptitude on Apr 15, 2014 23:28:00 GMT -5
Looks like Steel Empire is coming to 3DS soon. I'll have to check it out. They did a pretty good job converting a couple Sega arcades to 3D, but I haven't found a reason to try any of the Genesis ones yet.
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Post by wyldephang on Apr 18, 2014 21:39:22 GMT -5
I recently finished a playthrough of Eternal Darkness on the GameCube. It's an action/puzzle game with horror elements, and it was developed by Silicon Knights, the same people who remade Metal Gear Solid for the GameCube. Eternal Darkness follows the Roivas family line as they attempt to defeat an ancient evil from extinguishing humanity and taking over the world. Throughout the game, you follow the stories of everyone who has come in contact with the Book of Eternal Darkness, which is comparable to the Necronomicon or some other kind of grimoire. Since I've already mentioned the game at length in another post, I won't go into detail here, but the game was fun and very playable all the way through. Thanks to the "sanity effects," there were some seriously startling and suspenseful moments. Lately I've been trying to brush up on my Super Smash Bros. Melee skills. I always considered myself a fairly competent Link main, but after watching some of the top players in tournament play, I suppose I'd never aspire to be the best in the world. I still like watching the matches because I can learn from the players--how they move and how they react to certain set-ups. The interesting thing about Super Smash Bros. in general is that the games were never designed to be viable for competitive play, but the fans were able to discover how to manipulate the physics engine and make it a compelling fighting game. The goal of Super Smash Bros. is to knock your opponent off the stage and prevent the same from happening to you. This introduces an interesting concept mostly unseen in other fighting games: "edge guarding," the means by which you prevent an opponent from returning to the stage. Some of the best players are noted for their ability to chase an opponent off the edge of the platform, knock them beyond the point of return, and make a daring escape back to the edge with barely an inch to spare. It takes a lot of practice, and knowing the limits of your character, as some have an easier time returning to the stage than others.  The other two Smash games--Smash 64 and Brawl--are fairly well represented in tournament play, but Melee is the star attraction because it's the fastest and most technical game of the bunch. I personally like to play Smash 64 the most, but like I said, I'm trying to refine my skills in Melee. Some of the set-ups and moves take a lot of finger speed and coordination to master, not to mention impeccable timing. |
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Post by gliptitude on May 4, 2014 12:40:36 GMT -5
I just got a new batch of Game Boy games, including a few pretty interesting ones i'd never heard of until recently. .. These two have me on an isometric adventure kick:
Monster Max
Altered Space
I had targeted Monster Max after seeing pictures of the C64 game Head Over Heels, which is a similar game by the same designers and really interesting looking. Monster Max, Altered Space, (and Head Over Heels) are all isometric view games that involve moving a character around, solving puzzles and exploring lots of "rooms".
Monster Max I think generally gets good reviews, while Altered Space does NOT, but I am actually really intrigued by Altered Space. The style of the graphics and music is quite awesome, and helps make up for the roughness and "unfairness" of the game. .. I'd be curious of anyone's opinions of Altered Space if they've played it.
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Post by wyldephang on May 4, 2014 19:00:54 GMT -5
I just got a new batch of Game Boy games, including a few pretty interesting ones i'd never heard of until recently. .. These two have me on an isometric adventure kick: Monster Max Altered Space I had targeted Monster Max after seeing pictures of the C64 game Head Over Heels, which is a similar game by the same designers and really interesting looking. Monster Max, Altered Space, (and Head Over Heels) are all isometric view games that involve moving a character around, solving puzzles and exploring lots of "rooms". Monster Max I think generally gets good reviews, while Altered Space does NOT, but I am actually really intrigued by Altered Space. The style of the graphics and music is quite awesome, and helps make up for the roughness and "unfairness" of the game. .. I'd be curious of anyone's opinions of Altered Space if they've played it. I briefly mentioned Altered Space in another post, but now that I reread it, there's barely enough there worth mentioning. What you can probably glean from that post, though, is that Altered Space belongs to a series of isometric platformers published by Sony in the early '90s. The other two games in this series are Solstice (NES) and its sequel Equinox (SNES). Altered Space features nearly identical gameplay, but the plot is not related to the other games, so it's essentially a one-off for the Game Boy. Most people criticize these types of games for the high learning curve. Isometric platforming is one of the odd design decisions of that generation, as consumers were pushing for "3D gaming," but the hardware simply didn't support it at the time. Developers cooked up these strange control schemes and camera angles to simulate 3D, but in my opinion, it just made the platforming segments more difficult. In saying that, I do enjoy games like Solstice and I generally find I can adapt to the controls after a few deaths; it's about learning the physics and the hitboxes. I think you'll have fun with Altered Space, but if it's anything like Solstice, you might need to consult a strategy guide to figure out some of the sequences. |
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Post by gliptitude on May 5, 2014 13:31:48 GMT -5
Yes the isometric-ness is a large part of the challenge with the two games that I mention. But Altered Space really does seem to have some significant flaws beyond that. It IS almost unplayable, but I really don't relate that to the isometric-ness. .. Monster Max is also difficult but I think it has great level design and the gameplay is pretty solid. Also it has a password system to allow you to resume a game which is a huge help.
Still Altered Space is a very stylish game and i am impressed enough by the look and sound of it that i would recommend anybody at least check it out. .. The space theme is waaay more palattable to me than the wizard stuff. This game has a LOT of character in my opinion.
While there is not a great variety of music, (that I have heard so far), the main theme is really distinctive and satisfying to me, reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange. .. The music resets to silence every time you enter a room and silence remains for a significant amount of time, until it begins again VERY QUIETLY, gradually getting louder. .. I can't recall any Game Boy music that has such a wide range of VOLUME in the musical composition, and it is used very effectively here.
... Of course Mable Madness is an isometric-view game that succeeds wildly on every level. Also Zaxxon is classic. I don't think it's doomed to fail on the older consoles, but maybe it doesnt mix so well with the character driven platforming that was so wide spread in the NES era.
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Post by wyldephang on May 5, 2014 14:10:17 GMT -5
I was going to mention that, too. I think isometric camera angles work for Marble Madness and Zaxxon because there's no pixel-perfect jumps involved. I'm not sure about Altered Space, but in Solstice and Equinox it was always a hassle to line up a jump perfectly and then execute it, especially if diagonal inputs were involved. People have the same issue with Landstalker on the Genesis. The music and setting of Altered Space is striking, but I think the difficulty lies in the fact that everything is so small on the screen. Platforms are only a few pixels wide, so your movement needs to be so precise. If they had opened up the screen a bit and made platforms larger, the gameplay would be a lot easier.
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Post by gliptitude on May 7, 2014 14:54:30 GMT -5
Yeah it sounds like we mostly agree. .. I just think the isometric games are one of the more novel experiments in game design from the past, so I'm having fun observing some of the highlites. .. I guess Q*bert would be another early one, and an example of a game where the isometric view itself is almost the complete justification for the game to exist.
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Post by TrekMD on May 25, 2014 19:58:02 GMT -5
OK, so I decided to make this a Atari day. Here is what I played today: Atari 2600- Ixion
- Blinky Goes Up
- Space Rocks
- Chetiry
- Lead
- Fast Food
- Pengo
- Elevator Amiss
- Killer Satellites
- Suicide Mission
- Escape from the Mindmaster
- The Official Frogger
- Fireball
- Communist Mutants From Space
- Red Sea Crossing
Atari 7800- Frenzy
- Scramble
- Super Cobra
- Armor Attack II
- Meteor Shower
- Crazy Brix
- Donkey Kong XM (without sound, just to give it a spin)
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Post by wyldephang on May 25, 2014 21:54:34 GMT -5
Quite an assortment of games there, Trek. Have you had a chance to play Blackthorne 32X?
I've been wanting to start up another playthrough of Final Fantasy VII, but I got side-tracked today with Resident Evil 2. Now, I own three versions of the game: PS1, N64, and Dreamcast. I've beaten the Dreamcast version several times, but I haven't completed the other editions. I started the PS1 version, the original, because I wanted to see how it compared with later ports, and so far, it seems like there are some pretty significant differences in item and enemy placement. (Only a Resident Evil enthusiast like me would find this interesting.) I might try to complete a playthrough of Resident Evil 2--it shouldn't take over three hours if I can remember all the puzzles--then I'll think about picking up one of the Final Fantasy games again.
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Post by TrekMD on May 25, 2014 22:10:51 GMT -5
No yet, wyldephang. I do plan to connect the Genesis tomorrow, so I will likely give it a spin. |
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Post by VectorX on May 25, 2014 22:12:12 GMT -5
Red Sea Crossing Meteor Shower What're these two? Nice to see several Starpath games on there too |
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Post by TrekMD on May 25, 2014 22:17:45 GMT -5
Red Sea Crossing is a reproduction cart for a game of the same name that was discovered recently. It is a Bible-based game where the player controls Moses during the crossing of the Red Sea. You can see some information about the game here: Red Sea Crossing. Meteor Shower is a clone of Astro Blast for the 7800. Here is a video of the game...
I have a full collection of Starpath games. Had to use the Stella Has a New Brain CD to play the games, though. My tape player appears to be having issues, so I'm getting a new one. |
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Post by VectorX on May 25, 2014 23:14:47 GMT -5
I'll bet quite a few things were done with M. Shower with the power of the 7800 My tape player appears to be having issues, so I'm getting a new one. Something you don't hear people say nowadays! |
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The other two Smash games--Smash 64 and Brawl--are fairly well represented in tournament play, but Melee is the star attraction because it's the fastest and most technical game of the bunch. I personally like to play Smash 64 the most, but like I said, I'm trying to refine my skills in Melee. Some of the set-ups and moves take a lot of finger speed and coordination to master, not to mention impeccable timing.
