newtmonkey

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES) It's a charming little game. It's got a really interesting world and some great characters, and I would have loved to see them release a CG animated short or feature based on this game; I have a soft spot for this early CG stuff. I must admit, I was pretty disappointed with the graphics in this game. Donkey Kong Country still looks great to this day, and I was expecting something on that level. The sprites and battle backgrounds all look great, but most of the areas you explore are tiny and built from just a handful of very simple tiles. Some of the outside areas look particularly bad. The soundtrack does help make up for this a bit. There's some great music in here, and it all sounds great. I'd rank it up there with the best from Square on the SNES. As an RPG, it's a bit too simple for my tastes. It's got a snappy combat engine, but the timed hits don't really add anything to the game and once you learn the timing (which is very generous) it just seems like extra work. I hardly used any special abilities, other than Geno Boost and Toadstool's healing spells. I seemed to plenty of damage just with regular attacks. I do like each character really has his/her own unique abilities, and I could see how your strategy would be quite different based on which characters are in the party... for example, I completely ignored Mallow so relied mostly on physical attacks, as he's really the only character with element-based spells. The platforming wasn't so bad for most of the game, but became somewhat infuriating toward the end. You had better be using a controller with an excellent dpad with accurate diagonals, or you'll be in for a world of hurt with all the isometric jumping you need to do in the final area. Luckily, there wasn't too much of this in the game. I liked how each "dungeon" has its own gimmick. You'll never simply be solving a maze in this game, as there's always some fun little twist involved. Enemies mostly don't respawn unless you leave the area, and it's nice not to get constantly interrupted while exploring. --- I'm glad to finally complete this one. It's a bit of a "lost" game for me as this was the only major SNES RPG I never got into back in the day, even though I was a huge fan of RPGs (specifically those from Square) and Mario. I remember renting it once shortly after it was released, but I felt like it was a step back from both Final Fantasy III (VI) and Chrono Trigger. I was also losing interest in the SNES at that point, with the PSX already released and the N64 hype growing.

I ordered this a short while ago and it arrived much quicker than expected! I've got it working fine on my Lynx, thanks for a great product! I have most of the retail releases on the system (cart only mostly), but it's so nice not to have to fish around in my box O' lynx carts for whatever game I want to play.

I've got an ESS AudioDrive, not sure which model exactly, but they are really awesome cards... better than a genuine SB in some ways (no MIDI hanging bug, no audio popping). The FM audio is very close to a genuine OPL card though pleasantly different, and MUCH better than the CQM synth used by many of the AWE32 cards. You've got a nice card in there Also recommended (if you don't have an MT32) is the MP32L: https://www.serdashop.com/MP32L It's a Raspberry Pi Hat that emulates an MT32, you can even load it full of different MT32 firmware, and select between new/old MT32 and the CM500 (for the extra sound effects, used by games such as Ultima Underworld). It runs on bare metal Pi, so it takes only a few seconds to start up, just like a real MT32.

Super Mario RPG I got the sixth star and beat the giant sword. I was certain he was going to be the final boss, until he went down very easilt and then I got dropped into what I guess is the final area. I'll hopefully be completing this one sometime this week. The six doors section in Bowser's Castle was pretty annoying. At least you only have to complete four of six, so you can skip both of the annoying platforming challenges. That leaves you with two combat "challenges" (so easy they are just a waste of time, really), and two riddle challenges... suddenly, I felt like I was playing The 7th Guest. Glad to get that over with!

It's actually pretty entertaining, if you like 80s supernatural horror movies with some gory effects.

I personally think the translated dialog in C:SOTN is absolutely perfect, and brings to mind the dialog in some of the Hammer Dracula movies. --- On topic: I can't stand when characters that have to grunt or yell every time they jump, swing a sword, punch, etc. That's a good way to tire yourself out!

Glad to see someone else likes this one! I remember borrowing my older brother's SMS back in the day, and this was in his small collection of games. It was probably shortly after the game was released, so I was just a kid, and the game seemed ridiculously complicated/difficult. However, over many weekends, I slowly figured out what the game was all about, and ended up having a blast. I remember putting the giant paper map up on my wall and sticking push-pins into it to mark discoveries (not good for the map, not good for my wall). I was actually able to get to the final dungeon but can't remember if I completed it or not. I actually have a boxed copy of the JPN version, and it's the only SMS game I own. I'd love to go through it again, to make sure I finish it. Maybe after Phantasy Star II.

@bjonte Well done to you as well! I hadn't heard of that game so I looked it up. Recommended?

Feel free to post your accomplishments finishing games on classic computing platforms, in 2022! I'll start: --- Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress (Apple II) I've already completed Ultima I, III, IV, and VII, so it always bothered me that I'd never completed this one. I have made attempts over the years using various ports, but never got very far. I decided, then, to sit down and finally get this one over with, and what better version to play than the original* Apple II version? (*People in the know will be able to tell from the screenshot that I played the "Ultima Trilogy I II III" release, which is sort of a "remaster" of the game). I'm not gonna lie: I followed a walkthrough for this one. I can't even imagine how many hours upon hours of grinding you'd need to do to save up enough gold to replenish your constantly dwindling HP and food as you explore these massive maps to slowly figure out what you need to do. Even knowing exactly what to do, I had to grind like crazy to get the point where my character could survive and then finish the game. The game took less than 10 hours to complete, but 9 hours of that was grinding gold. It's too bad, because there is a good game somewhere under all this grind. Although the quest seems completely bizarre and random, there are hints and clues all over the place, and it all fits together pretty well. I really enjoyed figuring out the time gates, for instance. Anyway, I'm glad to have completed this one. Next up is Ultima V, so I have something excellent to look forward to!

@lymontyme Great story! I love the Wizardry games, and I only played through them the first time a few years ago. They've really aged well, and it's especially surprising how good Wizardry I still is considering when it was released!

@roots.genoa No offense meant to @electricmastro, but it's maybe not a good idea to be making purchases based on forum posts containing lists of titles and/or screenshots without any commentary whatsoever! Personally, I would definitely be trying these games out in emulation first before spending $$$ on a game you might end up hating...

@ColecoGamer So glad to see your Apple IIc up and running! I never had an Apple II growing up, but managed to score a working A2c 10 years or so ago on Ebay with the official mono monitor with stand included, shipped to Japan (!) for just under $100USD. It was the deal of a lifetime haha. I quickly grew very fond of the humble Apple II! My favorite genre is RPGs, and the quick floppy drive makes playing these a real pleasure (especially compared to the C64 I grew up playing). I recently completed Phantasie I and Shard of Spring on my Apple IIc, and had a blast playing both of them. Right now, I'm working on (finally) completing Ultima II. I started out with ADTPro and writing disk images to actual disks, and while that works great for cracked disk images, it's getting hard to find working floppies these days. I then switched to using the BMOW Floppy Emu, and it's really a great piece of hardware. It's made things a lot more convenient!

Super Mario RPG I was only able to play for an hour or so this weekend, but cleared Nimbus Land. I was hoping I'd get my sixth star here, but I guess I won't get that until the following area. I'm enjoying the game, but it's not really hooking me. I find myself losing interest in playing further whenever I reach a new save point. I think part of it is that the game really hasn't changed anything up in what seems like the last 5+ hours. Enemies are still all pretty harmless and only rarely use special attacks. You get tons of money even if you avoid many of the enemies, so you can always afford the best equipment as you progress through the game. It leaves nothing really to look forward to; one thing I really like in Dragon Warrior 2/3 and Phantasy Star 1/2 is that (without grinding) you rarely have enough money on hand to purchase everything, so it's always fun to come back from a tough dungeon loaded with money and able to afford that new sword or armor or whatever. Anyway, it's still fun even if I am just playing it an hour or two a week whenever I'm in the mood for it. Super Game Boy I have an actual Super Game Boy 2, but it's a bit flaky (has trouble reading carts, and even sometimes freezes/crashes during gameplay). Luckily, there's a good alternative in that the SD2SNES/FXPAK has an "unofficial" firmware that adds Super Game Boy support with no additional hardware: https://github.com/redacted173/sd2snes/releases/tag/sgb01 This means you can drop your GB roms on the same SD card as your SNES/SFC roms, and play them just like you have a SGB2 attached, including borders, custom pallettes, SGB enchancements, etc. Even better, it works with the in-game trigger, which means you can easily reset to the SD2SNES menu and select a different game without having to physically reset the console. So far it works great (even better than my flaky actual SGB2). I spent an enjoyable hour putting some time into two of my GB favs: The Castlevania Adventure (good music), and Operation C (amazing game).

Maybe the RetroPad32? It's a converter to allow you use original controllers on any supported console, and both the NES and Genesis are supported. Not sure if the exact combination of "Genesis controller and NES console" is supported, but it might be worth looking into. http://www.brunofreitas.com/node/84

@Austin Which mid-boss are you stuck on? I remember getting Actraiser 2 back in the day and being very disappointed with the lack of world simulation gameplay, but as a pure action game it's really excellent. Lots of techniques to master and great level design, too!

Great shooter, but very tough. I feel that shooters on the NES tend to be clunky, but Konami got it right for both Gradius and Life Force (probably also Gradius II, but I haven't put much time into that one).

Super Mario Bros. 3 (Super Mario All-Stars) I was in the mood for some platforming, and Super Mario RPG put me specifically in the mood for some Super Mario platforming. I had completed this back in the day on the NES, so I thought it would be fun to see how this version looks/plays. I was surprised, however, to find I had the game saved at World 6, as I don't remember putting much time into this version of the game. It must have been quite a long time ago. Anyway, I managed to get through World 6 in one go (and slightly inebriated) with only 3-4 deaths, so I'm glad to see my skills have held up somewhat. I remember back in the day preferring Super Mario World, but over the years I've gained more of an appreciation for the NES games, specifically Super Mario Bros. 3. The level design in this game is really fantastic, and it's got an intereting world/atmosphere with plenty of wacky stuff (especially all the great suits you can find). Anyway, I had a blast playing through World 6. Looking forward to playing more next weekend.

Played a bit more Super Mario RPG. I switched Bowser out for Geno on a lark, and was surprised to see that Geno seems to be just overall stronger than Bowser. He's able to take out most regular enemies with a single attack, and also has better special abilities as far as I can tell. I do like how unique the "dungeons" are in this game. There's always some quirk or gimmick, so you aren't simply just walking around and fighting. I'm surprised by how long this game is so far; I expected it to be a <10 hour game for some reason, but it seems to go on and on.

@Frozone212 There's no reason to play games if they just stress you out. Where specifically are you being bullied, etc.? What kinds of games are playing? If you're playing competitive games (online shooters, etc.), people will by nature be competitive, and there's nothing you can do about it. If you're playing single player games, I don't see how this is an issue, what with FAQs, walkthroughs, and YouTube playthroughs out there for every game imaginable. AtariAge is a very chill forum, and with just a few exceptions, the people here are very friendly and helpful. Why not ask for help here? As for math teachers, they are being paid to help their students, and I don't think it would go over well if they refused to do so lol. You really cannot compare them to some random stranger on the Internet. If you want that kind of service, maybe hire someone to teach you how to play a game?

I adjusted the scanline settings for the SFC profile on my OSSC to give it a sort of aperture grille look... looks pretty good and I'm pleased with it for now. To test, I briefly played a couple games: Contra Spirits Gotta play this game every time I turn my SFC on. I was horrified to find the screen glitching out during Stage 2. I tried switching out my HDMI cable, tried resetting my OSSC settings, even tried switching to a spare OSSC I have in storage, but no good. I was worried that some firmware update on my TV was causing problems! Well, it turns out that this game is not 100% compatible with the "in-game trigger" setting of the SD2SNES/FX Pak. Luckily, you can disable this in-game (by pressing L+R+Y+Start), and then the glitch goes away. What a relief! Super Mario RPG Even though I'm a massive RPG fan, I'm not in love with this one. I like the overall look (it reminds me of early fanciful CG animation) and the soundtrack is pretty great. I even like the whimsical story. My biggest issues with this is the combat. The "timed hits" thing seems tedious; you just have to hit a button one extra time when you attack or get hit. I really don't think it adds anything to an RPG. Some of the backgrounds also feel sort of unfinished; specifically, grassy areas typically are either a single shade of green (!) or consist of just a single repeated tile. It looks really simple compared with FF6 or Chrono Trigger. On the other hand, the battle scenes look REALLY good. I've got five stars so far, so I'm guessing I'm more than halfway through the game.

@jeremiahjt Good point! That would have been horrible, and it seems just like the kind of thing this brutal game would do

@jeremiahjt It just tells you, "this looks like the right tree, but it isn't" lol So, a total waste of time.

I finally cleared this dungeon! It actually was not as long/complicated as I was fearing, and although I kept putting it off, I ultimately got through most of it in a single long session last night. I don't know if this is how the game plans it, but the final tree I found ended up being the actual one I needed! It ended up being not too difficult to map, thanks to the sensible layout (note how the mountain fits neatly into vertical levels). The only part I had to redraw was the portion left of the waterfall through one of the doors, as I didn't realize at first that both mountains connect in the middle. I was able to earn enough exploring to get everyone equipped with their best stuff from Piata, and my main character reached level 15. So far, I really like this game but it feels quite slow making progress and mapping it is not trivial. I might take a break from this one for a short while and play something simpler like Super Mario RPG.

My favorite game during my adolescence was probably Ultima VII, which was the first game I ever bought after getting my first PC (IBM PS/2 386-16). I bought the game (along with Quest for Glory III and The Legend of Kyrandia... all good purchases) from Sears of all places, which had a small section with a few shelves of PC games. I didn't even realize Ultima VII was a thing until I saw it on the shelf, and I vividly remember being shocked to see it. As a huge fan of Ultima III and VI, I knew I had to have it! It barely ran on my PC (below even the minimum requirements), but I spent hours and hours playing U7. I strongly associate that game with late summer nights; I'm pretty certain my summer vacation one year was devoted completely to playing whiffle ball at the park until sundown, then Ultima VII all night with one of those noisy box fans running in the window.

Phantasy Star II Wow, big difficulty spike in Uzo! I hate grinding in RPGs (defined as, walking around in circles to earn money, etc.), so I've just been buying stuff as I can afford it naturally through exploration... I might be a bit underequipped, or I might need to load up on healing items since I blow through TPs so quickly. Pretty annoying place to map, also!