Games Beaten In 2021.

[MantaNZ]

On 7/22/2021 at 4:18 PM, thegoldenband said:

38. The Eye of Typhoon (3DO)

 

Plays like a solid fighter on the Neo Geo, but via late-'90s emulation with frameskip turned on. The lack of options and rough presentation suggest that this Korean-exclusive rarity was rushed out the door to try to make up for the sunk development costs of the long-lost (and yet-to-be-found) Neo Geo version.

 

I have a hard time believing that version had 15fps animations like the 3DO port, so playing this is (I suspect) a case of experiencing a very decent game in a severely compromised form. Still quite playable, though, and quite challenging at times. C.

 

39. Iron Angel of the Apocalypse: The Return (3DO)

 

This sequel upgrades the frame rate but loses the atmosphere, with tedious stage design and dull gameplay. It pains me to pan a game where the designers clearly looked out for the player -- load times are low, save points are copious and saving is quick -- and they tried to throw in variety, albeit in the form of totally perfunctory rail shooter and "FMV dodge-'em" levels. But when you have an area that simultaneously introduces two new weapons, one of which completely obsoletes the other, it symbolizes the lack of cohesion in the game. D+.

 

40. Montana Jones (3DO)

 

Over eight years ago, I played this Japanese exclusive for about 15 minutes, beat a level, saved, forgot about it. Tonight I came back to it and finished it off within 2 hours.

 

I don't know that I should give a grade to a kids' game, let alone one where I don't entirely know what's going on thanks to the language barrier, but this seems closer to CD-i territory than 3DO. With very weak 2D platforming reminiscent of an early Flash game, point 'n click maze navigation sequences that amount to busywork, and utterly repetitive stage design and gameplay, it's hard to imagine the 3DO-owning tyke who was thrilled by this one. And for a game based on an animated property, the FMV capture sure looks lousy.

 

The only technical flair comes in a handful of levels that have the hero running through tunnels, with a nice 3D/sprite-scaling effect on the walls that almost reminds me of Galaxy Force. The game throws in a few curveballs, like a skeet-shooting contest, a game of Whack-A-Mole, and a timed solve of a Tower of Hanoi puzzle, but it's not even clear that there's a point to any of them.

 

Also, dig the freaky sound effects on the save/load screen, culminating in a blood-curdling scream when you authorize a save! What's that about? D-.

Oooh another 3DO nut! I put an ODE in mine. I was playing through Snow Job, which is pretty fun, but I'm gonna have to check out those games for the heck of it ?

[+jgkspsx]

Finished The New Addams Family point and click adventure on Game Boy Color. 
 

 

Two puzzles were hard to figure out due to incomprehensible translations and many puzzles were trivially simple. All in all a very fun diversion, though.

[+jgkspsx]

Finished Scooby Doo Classic Creep Capers on the Game Boy Color. Don’t want to spoil the ending. Fun little point and click adventure, took about two and a half hours to finish.

 

 

All of the individual ingredients of Scooby Doo are better than the Addams Family, and it has fewer flaws, but it felt less substantial to me. More review thoughts in the Game Boy thread.

[digdugnate]

I finished Darius Gaiden (Arcade) tonight.  ?  That last boss is tough!

[digdugnate]

Finished Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) again.  ?

[+atari2600land]

I finished GoSub for the Odyssey 2. Does beating your own game count?

[+thegoldenband]

47. Rat Attack (N64)

 

This rare N64 game really wants to be an old-school, arcade-style romp, but it's so jam-packed with annoyances and problems that it ruins its own fun. Between the hyperactive camera and the drops in frame rate, at times I literally couldn't see what was going on! The deluge of stock sound effects is anything but cute, and I actually turned the music off, something I almost never do.

 

Meanwhile the game is full of nonsensical UI decisions (why must I slowly scroll through all the levels to get the one I want to play?) and maddening inconsistencies (why are "frozen" rats suddenly immune from capture during the last couple seconds of freeze time?). On Expert difficulty you're essentially required to manipulate the game's sprite limit, and some enemy spawn patterns are downright unfair, leaving you with literally no time to do anything before a super-enemy is spawned.

 

Once I beat Expert I went back to Normal difficulty and had no trouble clearing it on 1CC, so some of my complaints are geared toward the over-the-top, writing-checks-your-game-engine-can't-cash qualities of Expert. But this could have been a fun game, and isn't. D-.

 

48. Knockout Kings 2000 (N64)

 

And at the opposite extreme we have a game that acts like it's going to be some highly tactical boxing title, like Ring King mixed with Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing mixed with who knows what (there's even a touch of Final Fight in there). But nope, you just have to spam your combo attack endlessly and sooner or later, your foes will fold like a house of cards.

 

Will you get knocked down yourself, here and there? Sure: but this ain't Punch-Out, you'll be fine. Get knocked down 12 times, if you like, and you can still win. It's sort of fun for a while, but ultimately the game is empty calories. D+.

[+wongojack]

15 hours ago, atari2600land said:

I finished GoSub for the Odyssey 2. Does beating your own game count?

Heyhey - I recently played through all the levels on Intellivision, and I believe you are responsible for that one too.  Nice job and keep it up!

[digdugnate]

I finished Darius II (Sagaia, Double Screen) last night, continuing my playthroughs (backwards) of the Darius arcade games.  Again, these bullet hell shooter games are so tough for me.  

 

I'm working through Darius Twin for the SNES, but it's going to take longer to complete since I don't have unlimited continues, lol.

 

Also, the naming schema is a little confusing for me since there's a few variants for Darius and Darius II, excerpt from the Darius Wikipedia article:

 

Quote

Darius II (1989): Was released in both triple- and double-screen (more common) versions. An international version with various changes was released titled Sagaia; accordingly, this name is commonly associated with Darius II outside Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_(series)

[oyamafamily]

Super Mario Land for Game Boy Classic, Difficulty Default.

[+jgkspsx]

Beyond Oasis - Sega Genesis

 

 

I cheated, though… I just loaded a save right at the final boss.

[Punisher5.0]

After playing on and off for a month I finally finished Quake 2 for N64 on medium difficulty.  This was my second play through (first was on easy) and am considering another run on Hard after a break. It can be very difficult at times but can't say enough good things about this game. A+ 

[+thegoldenband]

49. Revenge of the Toothless Vampire (MC-10)
50. The Night of the Vampire Bunnies (MC-10)
51. Castle Dracula (MC-10)
52. Gost Ship [sic] (MC-10)

 

Beat these four seasonal text adventures with my wife. They're all fairly slight and written in BASIC, and none are remotely in the same league as a game by Infocom, so I'm not inclined to "grade" any of them. But I will say that The Night of the Vampire Bunnies, despite being written by a 10-year-old (apparently), has puzzles that are smarter and more sophisticated than many comparable games written by adults -- including some sold commercially!

 

Revenge of the Toothless Vampire is the kind of game where you find each item and then find the puzzle you use to solve it. It's a bit cut-and-dried, in other words, and if memory serves we were blocked more often by playing "guess the parser's needs" than by puzzles.

 

Castle Dracula draws a bit of inspiration from Colossal Cave Adventure, and is probably the most conventional of the four. "Gost" Ship is rife with misspellings (as you might expect from the title) and a bit simplistic, but has a dash of cleverness, including what appears to be two different ways to solve a puzzle, though we only managed to get one to work. n/a
 

[+jgkspsx]

I beat Merlin (GBC). It was delightful. I beat it on “Practice” mode but I started “Pro” mode immediately and the main difference I notice is that you don’t get passwords every level. EDIT: oh, no checkpoints either. We’ll see if it gets harder later on.

 

[+neogeo1982]

[+neogeo1982]

WT

[+jgkspsx]

5 minutes ago, neogeo1982 said:

Congratulations!!! You might be the first!

 

That is, uh, quite a stinger ?

[+jgkspsx]

Trax - Game Boy

 

Man, that was a short and easy game. I love Combat evolutions, but this one’s charm doesn’t really make up for its twenty minute runtime. Honestly, it’s not super exciting or fun most of the time. For a lot of the game you are just mowing down helpless foes. The last two levels are a solid challenge, but that’s two out of four.

 

 

What does make this a better value proposition is that it has a multiplayer mode that works with link cables AND CPUs. The AI is pretty good and the destructible cover feels like it’s actually justified and not just filler. I bet it would be a lot of fun with the four player link cable.

[newtmonkey]

Ys I/II (PC Engine)

 

 

I finally completed this after 1-2 years of on and off playing.  It probably took around 15-20 hours total, with the majority of that time spent on Ys II.

 

I'll get the negatives out of the way.  Normal enemies are just bags of HPs, without anything to differentiate them from one another other than their sprites; you use the same exact "strategy" to kill the Ys II endgame area enemies, as you do the very first enemies you fight in Ys I.  The areas you explore are just giant mazes that are mostly empty.  You become so powerful halfway through Ys II (thanks to the fireball spell and then the homing item) that the game becomes mostly about solving mazes from that point onward.

 

That's a lot of negatives, but I still enjoyed playing this.  The music is fantastic, the graphics are charming, the atmosphere is great, and the boss fights are amazing.  I was able to defeat the final boss of Ys II on my third attempt at level 60, so I thankfully did not need to artificially grind to the highest level.

 

---

 

I actually completed Ys III back in the day on the SNES, but it's a short enough game that I plan on completing the PCE version next.  Maybe by the end of the year!

Edited November 18, 2021 by newtmonkey

[+jgkspsx]

When it comes to short and easy, the Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird looks at Trax and says, “hold my beer”. I believe I beat the whole game in 18 minutes with plenty of lives to spare. It’s not a bad short and easy Game Boy shooter, and is not as boring as some have said. But it’s a little generic and boring compared to other walking mech shmups like Psycho Chaser.
 

 

It would be a bigger challenge if you didn’t grab the frequent health refills. This might be one game that would benefit from a Game Genie code to make it HARDER.

 

I paid $8.50 for this. I wouldn’t pay more.

[+thegoldenband]

53. Lighthouse Adventure (MC-10)

54. The Lost Dutchman's Gold (MC-10)

 

More text adventures in BASIC, with the expected moments of cleverness and frustration. Both involve shoving things from high places, oddly enough. n/a

 

55. Possible Mission (Atari 7800)

 

Impossible Mission, of course, but "Possible Mission" seems to be the established title for bugfixed versions of the game (since you can't complete the NTSC release otherwise). It took me about three days to beat, though I've played the game briefly in the past in emulation.

 

In some ways this game is remarkably forward-looking. There's no direct penalty for character death (though you lose time), stealth is a factor, and the gameplay is multimodal with strong puzzle elements. The automap feature is great, and at least in the default map, there's a good level of parity between item drops and what you actually need.

 

On the other hand, it's like a compendium of outdated design elements. Like many titles that first shipped on 8-bit computers, it pads the game's length by making it unduly frustrating and hard to control. The platforming and enemy evasion has an unforgiving quality that robs the gameplay of its joy: your hitbox is always a bit too big, and the timing always a bit too tight.

 

Most character deaths come from unintended inputs, lack of granular movement, or inconsistent controls. In several places you're expected to run across the gaps between narrowly separated platforms, but most of the time you'll just fall through at some random point for no apparent reason, thereby wasting an item or sending your hapless spy to his death.

 

In another screen, you have to walk almost offscreen to execute a jump to a required platform -- a jump that ought to be routine. And it's only through sheer luck (I think) that one object that's literally impossible to reach, and another that's almost impossible, don't contain any objects needed to beat the game.

 

The concluding puzzle isn't really much fun, either. The interface is clunky, the color-changing element is pointless busywork, and the inclusion of piece combinations that look plausible but can't work is one of those ideas that makes game designers feel clever, but doesn't translate to player enjoyment. Same goes for the pitch-ordering puzzle -- it's a nice idea that starts out well, but rapidly turns into a chore, and who wants to get yet another Lift Init instead of a Snooze after all that work?

 

(Also: why isn't robot behavior differentiated by appearance, even in a very subtle way? Why isn't the second controller button used at all? And why can't I kill at least one of those damned robots?!)

 

Still, (Im)possible Mission has good bones. But a lot of the game's flesh, so to speak, is either too cut-and-dried or too finicky. I don't mind short and punishing computer games, but this one's more of a medium-length, mostly-easy-but-with-nasty-parts affair. If the RNG didn't come up the same way every time you power on, I might not have stuck with it. C-.

[+jgkspsx]

I beat Star Strike (Atari 2600) in a breeze on the two easiest difficulty settings, was one torpedo away from beating it on the second hardest, and hopeless on the hardest level. It has to be the shortest and most pointless (literally) game on the 2600. It’s Sneak’n’Peek but weaponized.

[newtmonkey]

Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (PC Engine)

 

 

Wow, I had forgotten how short this game is!  I played and completed it on the SNES back in the day, but this was my first time completing the PC Engine version.

 

Compared with the SNES version, it simply plays better.  Hit detection is better, and this means the game can actually be played more like a regular action game based on timing and pattern recognition, rather than just leveling up and steamrolling the bosses.  I found myself almost always at the "right" level for an area as I played through the game without having to really grind much at all.  I did have a couple bosses that were just way too punishing at my current level, but by the time I got to them I was always very close to getting another level, and spending 5 minutes leveling up was always enough to get through without an issue.  I felt that the quality of the boss encounters dropped toward the end.  The last boss is particularly disappointing.

 

I was surprised to find that, outside of the jerky scrolling/parallax, the game looks way better on PCE with much more detailed backgrounds in areas, more vibrant colors (!) and even some better sprites in some areas.  It also seems seems slightly sharper than the SNES version, though I am going on memory there and didn't compare directly.  It looked great even with a stock system using composite cables.

 

Although the soundtrack was generally amazing, I actually preferred the arrangements used for the SNES version in two areas (Ilvern Ruins [underground area] and Eldan Mountains), and was disappointed that the awesome end credits theme from the SNES version wasn't in this version at all.  Having said that, every other song is definitely superior in this version.

 

I think I may have enjoyed this more than Ys I/II.  It's a very short game, but it ends right when the formula begins getting stale.  It's in a sort of weird place.  A pure action game that just takes a few hours to complete is fine, because typically such a game would be difficult and require you to learn the game over several attempts until you can beat it.  The RPG elements of Ys III (increasingly large life bar, restorative items) means that you have plenty of room to make mistakes, so outside of a couple boss battles you aren't ever required to get better at the game.  It's a game anyone can finish in a few hours, regardless of skill imo.

Edited November 21, 2021 by newtmonkey

[newtmonkey]

Final Fantasy V (SFC)

 

 

After a few aborted attempts over the years, I've finally completed this one over a year of two of on-and-off playing.  Total in-game time was just over 30 hours, and my characters had reached levels from 38-40.  I didn't have to stop and grind at all, so the game seems balanced quite well (maybe a bit too easy at times).  The last boss seemed impossible during my first attempt, but I learned from my failure, switched some jobs/abilities around, and managed to beat him on my second try with no deaths.  Very satisfying.

 

I found the story and characters (the overall scenario really) to be dull, so what kept me playing was the combat and job system.

 

Combat was a lot of fun all throughout the game.  Many enemies (even bosses) are susceptible to status spells like Slow, and buffing your own characters with Haste, Shell, Protect is also always a good strategy going into a boss fight.

 

The job system is a ton of fun and it's great how you can mix and match abilities as you master more jobs, and find awesome ability combinations.  I mainly focused on melee jobs for two characters, and magic jobs for the other two, and I didn't have much trouble at all.

 

---

 

Anyway, I'm glad I finally finished this... and with this, I have completed from FF1 through FF7.  Some quick thoughts on the series:

 

FF1 (PSX [hard mode]): I was very surprised at how much fun I had with this.  There are some difficult spots (curiously, NOT the final area however), but I found that careful spell and item use (and running from annoying enemies) was the key to sailing through the game without much trouble.  I had a ton of fun with this one, and I even drew maps of the dungeons as I went through the game.

 

FF2 (PSX [hard mode]): I also really liked this one!  It has a bad reputation on the Internet, but I think part of this is that people follow that one FAQ that tells you to abuse the system by hitting yourself to gain HPs, etc., when it just works fine if you play it normally.  I specialized two characters in melee, and two in casting spells, and had zero problems getting through this.  It's too bad it's so linear and story-focused, especially when the story is not very interesting!

 

FF3 (Fami): This was a lot of fun, but the job system here is not as interesting as in FFV.  You mostly have to use certain jobs at certain times, though the game does open up a bit in the second half.  I recall there being a good amount of optional stuff toward the end, but I'm honestly not sure how much was truly optional or just felt optional as I did it!  Fantastic graphics in this btw, a lot of the tiles from FFIV are taken straight from this game, just with more color.

 

FFIV (SNES, then PSX): I loved this one when I was a kid, and it's still kinda fun to play.  Fantastic soundtrack, charming graphics, and a five-person party are the highlights for me.  The story is pretty lame, but the characters are very likeable.  My biggest issue with this one is how linear it is, as even the characters in your party are dictated by the story.

 

FFV (SFC): Great combat and a fun job system makes up for the boring story and characters, but why the switch to a four-person party?  Seems like a step down.  Graphics and (especially) music also feel like a step down from FFIV.

 

FFVI (SNES, then PSX): I liked this even better the second time around.  It's a great combination of a more story-focused game ala FFIV, with the party customization of FFV.  I found the story and characters to be fantastic, and really enjoyed the combat and bosses.  It looks and sounds amazing for a SNES/SFC game.  I especially enjoyed the second world, where the game switches to a non-linear exploration-focused game with a ton of optional content (and a great twist to the story between the first and second world).  My only gripe here is the four-person party.

 

FFVII (PSX): I was surprised how much I enjoyed this on a replay.  I felt that it was much closer to FFVI than it was to FFVIII, regardless of the pre-rendered backgrounds, etc.  The world feels completely incoherent, with a giant dystopian industrial city next to Japan Town and a wacky amusement park, but that also gives the game a lot of charm.  The biggest problem with this one is the combat, which is extremely easy even if all you do is select Fight and just heal as necessary throughout the entire game.  I think it's a result of going with a three-person party, which leaves little room for party composition and interesting tactics.

Edited November 23, 2021 by newtmonkey

[+neogeo1982]

On Duty. I like the humor in this. I feel like it read my mind as its about time to sleep now.