So, what you playing at the mo? Retro Edition

Retr0gamer

From Software seem to have been a fan of ridiculous difficulty even when it came to their adventure game/horror games like echo night. It's actually an easy enough game except some of the puzzles.

Nearing the end but there's one where you have to transcribe a music box tune on to a church organ so if you are tone defo then it's GameFAQs time. And then there was another when you had to send a Morse code message. Don't know Morse code? Tough **** because the game ain't telling you. Either look it up or off to GameFAQs.

Dublinandy3

I got ant-stream for the Xbox last week. It's not too bad, some of the games didn't seem to port well but there are enough that did.

Time will tell if I get bored of it soon or it stays value for money.

Been playing speedball 2 and treasure Island dizzy most recently on it.

barryribs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121287539#Comment_121287539

Speedball 2 is a cracker of a game, albeit the difficulty is a killer. It was the first that I remember of that bitmap brothers art style that was across almost all of their games

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121289396#Comment_121289396

And the music is amazing.

tonyotonyo

That time of year to face the red arremers!

Odds of getting to last boss, dying 400 times and quitting are high

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeytLzRY_0Y

o1s1n

My games room for the afternoon..!

Three cabinets I immediately made a beeline for.

Batrider, Garegga and Raiden 2 side by side. A holy trinity of original PCBs.

I only realised after an hour that loads of the cabinets have a button to change to a second PCB. So the Raiden 2 Astro was actually holding a Raiden DX surprise in there too.

I think this was the highlight of the place, a gigantic Darius Burst with speakers rumbling under you. Never played it before so it was some treat.

Also had a bit of a blast of a three monitor Darius. Actually found it a little disorientating with the curved CRTs.

Then a some old favs

I think the most amazing thing about Mikado is how well all the monitors are maintained. You can tell whoever owns the place loves everything about it. The Astros have original CRTs and I only saw a couple that had some pincushioning issues and faded colours. The rest were all bright and gorgeous.

After being quite disappointed to see so many game centres in Japan now just being UFO catcher and gashapon vending spots (from what I can see there are basically no arcades as we think of them really left apart from Taito HEY and Mikado) this totally lived up to what I was expecting.

But yeah, I'll be hugging my candy cabinets once I get home as they really do seem to be a dying breed :eek:

I didn't see anything other than Astros, Blasts and Egret 2s. Couple of Dagashi cabinets and old cocktails but that was it. There must be more Capcom Cutes, Aero's, Ponys and SNK cabinets overseas now than left in Japan :eek:

The Last Bandit

That looks awesome, so no sign of an generic woody jamma cabs over there I guess ? Is there a cover charge to get in as well ?

Just finished Greedfall after 45hrs or so, Steam Deck is a god send for me now....

Retr0gamer

Started back into Starfox again. The Hard Route really isn't messing around. The second stage in the asteroid field is a real doozy with some nasty enemies that hide behind asteroids. At least there's an extra life you can pick up each time. The next stage Fortuna is tough as well but there's also a chance of an extra life. The big issue with this stage is they went all out with intricate polygon models and effects and it really tanks the framerate. The boss here is extremely tough. I managed to beat him for the first time last night. Next is sector z, a nightmare of rotating girders and shapes. Didn't even make it to the boss.

tonyotonyo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121308839#Comment_121308839

The darius machines look great. The best fish based shoot em ups. Overall the place looks like a blast. I know someone who went into the Taito Station arcades recently and they said it was a real let down, shame to hear.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121314308#Comment_121314308

Fox McCloud versus Wolf O'Donnell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FTZD-lljaU

tonyotonyo

Just noticed this in the Mikado pictures, what the hell kind of control panel is that on the cocktail? Is it like a mini steering wheel for driving games with a gear shift?

Do you remember what game it was?

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121314176#Comment_121314176

Your big jamma stand up woodies are a US/EU thing really. You get some very small wooden cabinets known as Dagashi cabinets but other than that they don't really exist.

From what I've seen, the Japanese went from Dagashi cabinets and wooden cocktails to the original little metal Sega City cabinet - which kicked off small metal candy cabinets like mine and eventually they graduated to the likes of bigger 29 inch machines in plastic Astros/egrets etc.

No cover charge at all no! Just go in with a sack of 100 yen coins and away you go :)

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121314652#Comment_121314652

Like an eejit I went to the Taito Station in Akihabara thinking it was meant to be Taito HEY and got some shock when I just found UFO catchers. There was a 'retro floor' but it was mostly rhythm games. Only one Egret II I had a bit of a go on.

That was a very old driving game I've never seen before. Didn't actually get a chance to give it a go unfortunately! Was right beside the maintenance counter with a very serious looking Japanese man behind it. Haha

Retr0gamer

Finally beat Starfox. The Hard route is absolutely brutal. The levels are absolute mayhem, the bosses are tough but that carrier you have to take on in Venom's atmosphere is temper tantrum throwingly tough. Thank god the GF is away to London this weekend or I'd be in trouble from all the swearing.

CiDeRmAn

I finished it the first time around on release, back when we only had a couple of games in the collection at a time.

Hard as nails and, as it was Starwing, with that lovely choppy PAL framerate!

Tom Mann Centuria

I'm playing Apotris on the GBA. It's excellent, an extremely customisable Tetris Homebrew.

Colonel Panic

Taking a break from the Mario Wonder special stages.

I only meant to have a quick go of the SNES core after writing a script last night to sync my Mister saves but 30 exits in now!

CiDeRmAn

Damn, that Analogue Pocket looks good.

I see two on Adverts but they are €500/550 which is, as they say, a lot

Retr0gamer

Finished Fatal Frame 2. Fantastic survival horror game. Got a real Japanese horror vibe to it and it's genuinely scary. Unfortunately the ending is a major downer but I did like it. Going to replay in hard mode to get the second ending as it was just so bleak.

o1s1n

Speaking of Japanese horror, I started World of Horror a couple of days ago. Have been a huge Junji Ito fan for years so it was some surprise when I saw it initially announced.

Visually it looks like a point and click adventure game but it plays out as a roguelike RPG. Very interesting setup for a game, really recommend giving it a go.

Colonel Panic

Loving the Japanese horror chat. I've still got to play Sweet Home but looking forward to it after all the posts in here.

I'm playing a bit of The Terminator on MegaCD at the moment. Pretty nice run and gun with a great CD soundtrack.

o1s1n

I'd always assumed The Terminator on the Mega CD was just a rerelease of the Megadrive game with CD quality, this is the first I've actually realised it's a completely different game! Looks far more faced paced and playable.

Retr0gamer

According to Tommy Tallarico it's the game where he made videogame music go from beeps and boops to real music 🤣

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121370677#Comment_121370677

Seeing him on stage playing an electric guitar while someone mimicked Solid Snake in a cardboard box has to be one of the more surreal things I've witnessed 😁

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121370692#Comment_121370692

There's a lot of **** being slung at him and I get the feeling that a lot of it is well deserved but he does seem to have some talent and videogame live was great fun.

Retr0gamer

Having a blast playing Mister Mosquito today. It's a bizarre game but also weirdly enjoyable. It's the kind of game that makes the PS2 library so much fun to explore.

o1s1n

I realised this evening that as much as I've played Strider over the years, Ive never seen it through.

Christ, its basically Dark Souls when it comes to deaths. There's no possible way to know where you're meant to go without dying over and over first.

An absolute slog, even with credit feeding.

Got there in the end though. If I was in an actual arcade, my bank balance would now be zero.

Retr0gamer

The bit in the final stage when you are walled in by two bosses is absolute scuttery bullshit.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121426784#Comment_121426784

Youve to do a boss rush where at one point you've the gorilla boss to beat while a Trex boss keeps coming at you from the other side and respawning. You kill them and then that giant pain in the ass robot Trex appears.

All of that to do with only three health blocks. Absolute masochism!

Quigs Snr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121426819#Comment_121426819

A game that's been on my bucket list for about 30 years. Any recommendations from anyone on what the best console versions of Strider 1 and 2 are ? I was going to go looking for them on the Megadrive, but if there are better versions e.g. I see a PS1 version from time to time.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121427325#Comment_121427325

You can get an arcade perfect version in most Capcom collections for modern consoles. I'd go with the arcade as the game is a visual feast and while the megadrive game is gorgeous for an early game it's still a step down from the arcade.

Ps1 version is emulation so should be quite close but later collections would be better.