So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

TotallyEpic

I've been playing some 7th Guest which I recently grabbed on GOG.com. Going through a bit of an FMV kick at the moment.

Ordered a copy of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for Vita that just arrived yesterday, so I'll probably jump into that before bed tonight. Might start with the original MSX games.

Retr0gamer

Speaking of MGS I finished MGS3 last night. It seems an awful lot more rushed than the last time I played it. After a certain point boss battles become very frequent and normal stages aren't few and far between. It's still an absolute classic though and feels no where near as rushed as MGS2. It's also a delight that the game actually lets you enjoy the game without interrupting you unlike MGS2 and 4. Any info bombs aren't overly long and actually interesting. You can really tell that Kojima had 2 other writers working on this one because it's not absolute gash like MGS4.

One complaint is that normal difficulty is too easy!

Retr0gamer

Played a few retrogames at the weekend. Had a good go at Gimmick on the famicom. It's such an amazing game on the system, the coders were really showing off. It's so full of little incidental details that you'd swear the developers just weren't worried about ROM space on the cart. It's really well coded and has a really great physics system for all objects in the fame. It's also bastard hard as well. I keep trying to go for the secret items and losing all my lives.

I played some more Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne. It's one of the best RPGs I've played. It also looks stunning to with Kaneko's art translated really well to the game engine. It's great to finally play a SMT game that has an actual budget.

CiDeRmAn

I just can't get past the controls in MGS3, I've tried to play it on the PS2, the Subsistence version, but find the controls impenetrable, same on the 3DS version.
I should have played it sooner, back on release, perhaps modern games have me spoiled with controls that make sense!

airmax87

Virtua Fighter 3tb has a great soundtrack !

Andrew76

airmax87 wrote: »

Virtua Fighter 3tb has a great soundtrack !

That might be true. But no scanline pic?? 1/10 for that post. :P

airmax87

Andrew76 wrote: »

That might be true. But no scanline pic?? 1/10 for that post. :P

I'm on a jap dreamcast with no scart cables atm, so I'm playing a blurry mess on my HDTV (VGA coming in the post though)

johnny_ultimate

Have played through the first few hours of Mega Man Legends. Not sure what to think yet. On one hand it still plays surprisingly well - a steady frame rate and crude but very colourful aesthetic help. On the other hand it can be pretty frustrating - the lack of analogue stick control and a dodgy camera make it all seem reasonably clunky.

As for the design, again some of it has aged badly while other bits remain interesting. The combat so far has been fairly one-note, and can seem like you're fighting against the controls as much as the enemies. But it also boasts some imaginative boss and mission design, and while the technology is obviously not sufficiently up to the task, it's interesting to see the world is actually damaged by what happens during battles.

The voice acting, meanwhile, is half awful, half surprisingly great.

Will stick with it - I'm sure its impact would have been significantly greater at the time, but for the most part it's still playable and engaging.

Retr0gamer

The controls are a bit clunky alright and the circle strafe is all you really need but once you get it down it's fun. Megaman Legends 2 has dual analogue controls which make things a lot better but I found the setting a lot less engaging. The big part of Megaman Legends that makes me love it is the setting and people in it, it feels very much like Majora's Mask and I love how it changes as you progress through the game and the side quests are engaging and fun. Legends 2 loses that when it goes for a much grander vision.

I really like all the voice acting. It's one of the first games where they actually put some effort into casting decent voice actors and they all have an extensive history in kids animation VA. It can be cheesy but all the main characters I find sound great, particularly the Bonne family. One other thing to note is the mouth movement that accompanies the vocal work. Most PS1 games never bothered with this, even high budget games like Metal Gear Solid. MML goes all out with this, there's mouth textures used for single scenes and they have been corrected as well to look correct from all the crazy camera angles. It's a incredible amount of work that went into something that most games didn't bother with at the time.

I do agree that the tech at the time held it back, especially in the controls but the charm of the adventure and island is what I love about. The legends games for me are the closest any game has gotten to a Miyazaki film and the first really does borrow an awful lot from Laputa. It puts Ni No Kuni to shame in that regard imo.

Duggy747

Got myself a Wii (1st gen for the Gamecube ports) and have been on a buzz with that. Playing Kirby Return To Dreamland at the moment, a nice easy-going game to relax to, and replaying Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Waiting on a Gamecube controller so I can get going with those, too. Like a pleb, when I was carrying over my saves from Dolphin to the memory card data for the Wii I wiped my Wind Waker save...................oh well, good excuse as any to replay it :pac:

CiDeRmAn

Nice, Kirby Return to Dreamland is fantastic, and if you love it it's worth checking out Kirby Triple Trouble on the 3DS as they are very similar in style.
A component cable for the Wii is a must as well, if you TV supports it, as you'll get a great picture quality and lots of games support 480p as well.
Mod it too, if a Kirby fan, so you can play imports, and get the anniversary game for the Wii, link

It's a solid collection of Kirby's platforming adventures so far, if you aren't in a position to collect them singly, which I have

Shapey Fiend

Been playing a bit of NES. I never owned one as a child being a Mega Drive fanboy and I must say there are some particularly incredible platformers. Been mostly playing Sunsoft games. Mr. Gimmick is my current favourite which just looks, controls and feels so lovely I can't be bothered by the difficulty.

CosmicSmash

Finished off Secret of Mana tonight. I have to say, I really enjoyed it. The Sprite character reminded me of Salsa from Eternal Sonata for some reason. I'm going to take a break before playing the sequel, but I hope it's as good as the first. Time for the ps1 to take over.

Retr0gamer

I hope you mean Seiken Densetsu 3 which is great. Any Mana game after that is a load of old arse, although Legend looks gorgeous and has lovely music. The first Secret of Mana game is worth checking out, it's on the gameboy as Final Fantasy Adventure and it's a fantastic little action RPG. Just don't play the remake Sword of Mana on the GBA, they ruined it by adding unneeded dialogue. Really the game is much better without 15 minut philosophising whether the villian called 'Dark Lord' is really evil or not.

CosmicSmash

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I hope you mean Seiken Densetsu 3 which is great. Any Mana game after that is a load of old arse, although Legend looks gorgeous and has lovely music. The first Secret of Mana game is worth checking out, it's on the gameboy as Final Fantasy Adventure and it's a fantastic little action RPG. Just don't play the remake Sword of Mana on the GBA, they ruined it by adding unneeded dialogue. Really the game is much better without 15 minut philosophising whether the villian called 'Dark Lord' is really evil or not.

Yes, that's the one. I have it on SFC but I'll use the translated rom with a clear conscience. I never played either of the other two you mentioned but I'll steer clear of the GBA one.

Tchoin

Finally completed the setup of Emulationstation + Retroarch on my PC (hooked up to the TV), after weeks of being on and off on it for 15 min sessions lol.

Nice and simple emulation front-end, wanted something I could set up quick without much trouble, where I could play some retro goodness as all my consoles are sitting in a dark room an ocean across from here

On the other hand, playing Mario Maker and Skyrim (after having it installed for 4 years without starting it).

CiDeRmAn

I've had an pleasant evening of Nier and Geometry Wars.
Fired up the 360 for the first time in a while and realised that I had yet to try Nier out.
Popped it in and was unpleasantly surprised by a lousy first 40 mins of bland textures and boring combat.
Things hotted up a little after that, gaining the book, and I can see this being a lot of fun.
Felt, at times, like a Shmup during the battles!

Geometry Wars 2 I've put some time into over the years, but the original I had kinda neglected, and as for the original PGR minigame that's embedded in there, I haven't played that in 8 years or more, what a delight though, quite tough too!

Retr0gamer

Stick with Nier, it gets far more interesting as you get further into it and the gameplay starts to change dynamically. Also by the end it's anything but fun, the story is a big downer but well worth sticking with. Also make sure you play New Game plus at least once since it changes everything you thought about the story and it pretty much why people think the game is so good.

One last thing, it's got the best soundtrack of the last decade.

CiDeRmAn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Stick with Nier, it gets far more interesting as you get further into it and the gameplay starts to change dynamically. Also by the end it's anything but fun, the story is a big downer but well worth sticking with. Also make sure you play New Game plus at least once since it changes everything you thought about the story and it pretty much why people think the game is so good.

One last thing, it's got the best soundtrack of the last decade.

I was going to say, the music is quite striking, just when you're expecting the usual kind of pap it's feels live and glorious.
How long is Nier, I remember you saying it's relatively brief.

Retr0gamer

20 hours, or 25 with one new game plus play through which is kind of essential to the experience.

CiDeRmAn

One hour down so!

airmax87

A good 40 hours into grandia now, Surely I'll be on the second disc soon

Retr0gamer

airmax87 wrote: »

A good 40 hours into grandia now, Surely I'll be on the second disc soon

As far as I can remember the second disc starts after the giant wall. Great game but the battle system is so good you end up exploring the massive dungeons a lot and getting into way more fights than you should

blag

Been playing Mushi Futari Black Label and finally got a 1cc. It really is an astoundingly good game, all 5 stages are a blast to play with the final being the highlight for me. The scoring changes in Black Label and the addition of the audible 'ding' to let you know to change shot make it the best version for me too

CosmicSmash

airmax87

Retr0gamer wrote: »

As far as I can remember the second disc starts after the giant wall. Great game but the battle system is so good you end up exploring the massive dungeons a lot and getting into way more fights than you should

Nope, I'm a good few hours past the wall, I must be really close though.

da gamer

For the night thats in it I've been playing resident evil, the ds version though, deadly silence. Was playing crash bandicoot wrath of the cortex earlier on the xbox

Retr0gamer

Beat Super Meat Boy to 106%, meaning all light world, dark world, neagtive world, cotton alley and all bandages... the nightmare is finally over. My hands are throbbing.

Andrew76

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Beat Super Meat Boy to 106%, meaning all light world, dark world, neagtive world, cotton alley and all bandages... the nightmare is finally over. My hands are throbbing.

Speak of tough games - picked up Volgarr The Viking for under 3 euro in a sale a few days ago. Dear lord it's punishing. Reminds me of a cross between Rastan Saga and Magic Sword.

Mr.Saturn

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Beat Super Meat Boy to 106%, meaning all light world, dark world, neagtive world, cotton alley and all bandages... the nightmare is finally over. My hands are throbbing.

How long did it take you to do The Kid warp zone?

Retr0gamer

Mr.Saturn wrote: »

How long did it take you to do The Kid warp zone?

3 ****ing hours I think

The Last Bandit

Playing a bit more Outrun 2 & Burnout 2 on the original Xbox again, both great arcade racers
Also discovered the Outrun 2 also has the original Outrun included as an easter egg

Select the "OutRun Challenge" option, enter the Gallery, and choose the "Enter Code" option to enter "NINETEEN86" as a case-sensitive code to unlock the classic OutRun game.

CiDeRmAn

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Playing a bit more Outrun 2 & Burnout 2 on the original Xbox again, both great arcade racers
Also discovered the Outrun 2 also has the original Outrun included as an easter egg

Select the "OutRun Challenge" option, enter the Gallery, and choose the "Enter Code" option to enter "NINETEEN86" as a case-sensitive code to unlock the classic OutRun game.

The Outrun 2 and 2006 are just too good.
Burnout 2 was the pinnacle of the franchise for me, before it became all about smashing into traffic instead of avoiding it.

Atavan-Halen

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

The Outrun 2 and 2006 are just too good.
Burnout 2 was the pinnacle of the franchise for me, before it became all about smashing into traffic instead of avoiding it.

Crash mode was actually my favourite part of burnout 2

CiDeRmAn

Atavan-Halen wrote: »

Crash mode was actually my favourite part of burnout 2

Yes, I had lord of fun with it too, it was kept in discrete
race modes within the game. But, with the following titles in the series, the game became all about crashing, causing them, taking down your opponent.
Burnout Paradise kind of got back to the original sender of the series, with more pure racing and the need to read oncoming traffic.

Retr0gamer

Played some Mushihimesama on Steam, it's the absolute business. I hope it means more Cave ports to Steam!

johnny_ultimate

Think the company responsible for the port have already said more are on the way. Reckon it'll just be the 360 titles... Death Smiles II is the only major one that wasn't region free IIRC? Still a welcome development: about time given Steam is the perfect place for such niche titles to trive.

Have only had an hour or so to play Mushi so far, had only played the bug princess incarnation before. While I think I prefer Futari, the first is probably the best intro Cave game as the scoring mechanics aren't as esoteric or mental as some of the others. Gravitating towards Arrange mode for now...

Retr0gamer

All the 360 ones would suit me, I think a few other good ones are region locked as well. Having them on the PC suits me better as well since swapping disks on the 360 is a pain in the arse and I've only a few more games left to finish on the 360 before I retire it (do I really have to finish Blue Dragon and Tales of Vespiria? )

Great to hear more are coming.

CiDeRmAn

Retire it?

eddhorse

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Played some Mushihimesama on Steam, it's the absolute business. I hope it means more Cave ports to Steam!

What's the difference in Mushihimesama and Mushihimesama V1.5 ?

Best to buy the whole Matsuri Pack?

Retr0gamer

Not too sure but I think they changed the multiplier bonus system, made it a bit tougher and changed some enemy bullet patterns.

eddhorse

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Not too sure but I think they changed the multiplier bonus system, made it a bit tougher and changed some enemy bullet patterns.

The first one it is so....

Duggy747

Still enjoying my Wii and have recently moved onto Super Mario Galaxy.

Good Lord, this is a fun game :pac:


Had been waiting on a component cable to be delivered for ages and when it finally did come of course it was a feckin' composite cable I was sent instead!

CiDeRmAn

Duggy747 wrote: »

Still enjoying my Wii and have recently moved onto Super Mario Galaxy.

Good Lord, this is a fun game :pac:


Had been waiting on a component cable to be delivered for ages and when it finally did come of course it was a feckin' composite cable I was sent instead!

It's pretty class alright, the second one is just as good, if not better!

Duggy747

Yea, looking forward to playing that after this addictive game, loving the music too.

I've a lubricious amount of Gamecube + Wii games in my backlog to get through like the Metroid and Zelda games (Wind Waker + Skyward Sword).

Buying a Wii on the cheap was a great idea. Amazing how many people I know who have this thing rotting away in a cupboard :pac:

CiDeRmAn

Softmod the Wii, if only so you can play imported titles.
Some nice bits and bobs came out on the Wii and Gamecube in the US and Japan, and Japanese GC packaging is just so amazing, it's worth collecting things you already have just to have a few!

Duggy747

Softmodded since day one for exactly that reason :pac:

Star Lord

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

It's pretty class alright, the second one is just as good, if not better!

Confession:
I could never get into Galaxy 2... I don't know why! I just didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as the first one. Have never finished the second.

o1s1n

I've never finished either!

eddhorse

There seems to be a lot of original Wii's on adverts, possibly parents getting Wii U's for the kids for xmas.