StanJr

It's a decent starter set for someone looking to get into the hobby. Definitely not garbage. You can easily find someone around here who would be happy to buy it.

Definitely going to have to disagree here. Swordquest is not only a bad video game comic book, it's a bad comic book, it fails at sequential storytelling in the most basic sense. I'm all for trying new things and telling new kinds of stories, but when the kind of story you have decided to tell is one that is boring and is about a loser, you're going to really have to find something to sell me that story with, and Atari-biased revisionist history and 6th grade level art isn't going to cut it. Moycon, you know what I read, you know I'm open to myriad kinds of comics. This one is just a stinker. As for the reviews you linked to, the second review linked starts with "Oh god. A comic book adaptation of an Atari 2600 game. Let me guess, the writers are going to try to flesh out the flimsy backstory for the 8-bit classic, trying to make us care about the little pixelated man walking around, picking up and dropping items?" If the reviewer had any knowledge of the subject matter at hand, he would know that Swordquest has MUCH more than a "flimsy backstory." The review goes on to be impressed by Ghostwriter X's incomprehensible art and the introduction of supporting characters. Standards are pretty low for this reviewer. I would offer that my analysis/review of issue #3 provides sufficient defense of my position and refutes all three of the reviews you linked to. (geez, I'm self promoting so much I feel like Random Terrain over here...)

Oh, I'm so sorry for you. You are going to be beyond disappointed and there's no real way to stop it, because you are so enthusiastic and optimistic. I hope you are able to find something in there you like, but it's going to be a challenge. The comic is absolutely NOTHING like the originals in any way shape or form. I'll give you an EASY OUT button if you want it...

Have you been reading the Poe Dameron comic book? It's wonderful and full of exactly what you are looking for. Strongly recommend. And I'm with you, the more Force users we have and they more they use it the less special it is. That's why the Force was so cool in the first three movies and (one of the endless reasons) why those three fan fiction films were so terrible.

A little bit. I find if I research too much I get caught up in other people's opinions and bias, and if I have download the ROM and play it via emulation then there is less motivation to have the actual cart. So I'll typically skim some reviews and then make a yes or no decision on purchasing. I like to work under "native era" conditions when it comes to buying classic games. I don't mind risking my gaming dollar on homebrew games because I know they were made with some degree of care and love. For modern games, oh Hell yes. I'd prefer to borrow the game from a friend for 20+ hours before I blow $60+ on modern crap. There is so little out there in the modern lot that is worth the price point that there is no way I'd risk my gaming dollar there.

The Centipede one will be worth it. Just got issue #3 today and while not as strong as the last two, it's still Watchmen compared to Swordquest.

I WILL be cactus enough. Gimme that damn patch already!

They are collecting this mess and it's not even done yet? The only thing collecting this series should be the recycling truck. There is no way this sells a single copy, right?

Love the new parts of level 2! So excited about this game's development. Couple of oddities: The third set of ghosts will vanish as soon as they appear if I keep going right. They vanish as soon as I get midway past the tree. My health bar did not refill despite grabbing two hearts in the new area (see photo). A couple of ghosts appear right before the end of the new area, but then instantly vanish before they attack. And the ghosts aren't that hard when you know how to deal with them:

I like the brown. Blue is so-so. Ultimately this is a very minor point. I say just pick a color and go with it. Not worth hanging up the whole process over. RT just wants to make sure the game features lots of flashing. maybe the player sprite could flash?

Not a fan of the red. Liked the green better even on the green background.

In all seriousness, dude we all get where you are coming from. I wrote up a whole thing about it here, you might want to check that out.

It's called Alfred Challenge, right?

I love almost all of the new stuff (that I've seen). The bad guns power-up is a beast. Can definitely tell you nerfed the difficulty, I'm getting to wave 6 without much effort, but after that the challenge is good. The game variations are a very good idea and provide some nice options. This game is polishing up nicely! Very well done! Can't wait to own it on a cart!

There goes my entire evening! Can't wait!

Oh man. This might be one of the few I spring for the box for! LOVE IT.

I got 11 robots! These new additions are adding great depth to the game play. Could the power-up be a different color than the trap panel? I realize they are different sizes, but different colors would also help. Am I meant to collect the little thing that appears when the enemy is vanquished? Really enjoying this more and more!

Yep. I'm an idiot. Checking out the new stuff now. Loving what I see.

Ok! Gave it more time today. I think the difficulty is pretty spot on, although full health restore after each boss might make things a little too easy. Maybe just have the boss drop a mushroom? Is that cave right off the boat on the western shore going to be active in the future? The Dragon boss is much more challenging now that he moves around the room rather than just staying on the right! The Demon boss is still WAY too easy as long as you get in the room with him and stay in the upper left corner (see pic). Since he holds the sword, I would expect a real challenge from him. As it stands he's the easiest of the bosses. The birds are a menace, but that just maintains an eternal truth about video games: the birds/bats are always the most annoying threat in the game. No worries. I like the additional ending FMV! I totally get and appreciate the power of the horn. I try to save it for the birds! I beat the entire game with the bow. Is there a way to incentivize the use of the sword or is it just for personal preference and a means of choosing a difficulty level? I am loving this game and the theme! Keep up the great work!

Have you dramatically increased the difficulty? Birds are killing me almost instantly here lately. They are really hard to hit and once they are on you, it's death. Having a much harder time beating the game due to the birds of death. Not at all upset about the new map layout or screens. Got some weirdness with the health bar. Upon replenishing, it sometimes appears on the right side of the screen and then depletes in an odd fashion. (see picture) Did you shrink the size of the world? Seems like there are fewer overall screens. I miss the drawbridge, but I understand losing it if the mechanism wasn't working properly. Greatly enjoying the game, can't wait to see the End screen!

Got some time to play tonight. Really enjoying the progress. Some notes: TV Guy instant kill is still a fun killer. Almost all of my deaths come from the sudden appearance of the TV guy and it's just instant GAME OVER. The game then becomes how long can you go until you get the instant kill screen. The hit box on the trash pick-ups is too small and finicky. Can you enlarge it. I've been right on top of trash bags and cans and unable to pick up the garbage. A couple of times I've seen two eyeball monsters on the same screen, one yellow one green. The green one seems inactive and disappears when you kill the yellow one. Is this a bug? Fairly often the generated enemy will die immediately upon my entering the screen, without my doing anything. Sometimes when the enemy is killed the trash can sprite appears briefly and then disappears. Are you still planning to allow the player to enter the buildings and search for trash? This would add some depth to the game play. You had hinted at surprises in the buildings, either power-ups, bosses, or high point value trash. I think that would take the game to the next level. Thanks for letting us play!