What Games Have You Completed? (2022 EDITION!)
Comments
-
-
-
-
Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
- Deathloop|PC
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomile|PC
- MakaiMura for WonderSwan|WonderSwan
- Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)|Game Gear
- Aconcagua|PS1
- Monkey Island 2 Special Edition|PC
- Baroque|PS1
- Alien vs. Predator (1999)|PC
- Professor Layton and the Lost Future|Android
- Ninja Five-O|GBA
- Little Samson|NES
- Trip World|Gameboy
- The Guardian Legend|NES
- Contra: the Alien Wars|Gameboy
- Megaman: Wily's Revenge|Gameboy
- Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden|PC
- Night Trap|PC
- Gargoyle's Quest|Gameboy
- Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course|PC
- Space Manbow|MSX2
- Blue Reflection|PC
- MegaMan 2 |Gameboy
- Resident Evil 3 (Remake)|PC
- Clock Tower|SNES
- Deep Fear|Saturn
- Detention|PC
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade|GBA
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
I think I made a bit of a mistake starting this series with this game. There were three Fire Emblem games on the GBA but only the second and third released in the West. Binding Blade is the first GBA Fire Emblem and never game to the West but being the first I decided to start with it. I was always annoyed that Nintendo didn't bring this game to the West but I can see why. This game is for veterans of the series and really shouldn't be approached by anyone other than veterans of the series. The following game, a prequel to Binding Blade that released in the West as Fire Emblem, is a much better game for newcomers with a much smoother difficulty curve. It's a far better introduction to the series than Binding Blade. Binding Blade followed Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 on the SNES which is considered the toughest game in the series. Binding Blade was a simplified many of the systems and UI but it's still regarded as the second toughest game in a series known for it's brutality.
Storywise, I didn't find Binding Blade that compelling. It's a pretty standard story of a country gaining power through nefarious means and using that power to conquer other sovereign nations. It keeps the game ticking along but this is hardly FF Tactics or Tactics Ogre.
The gameplay systems will be very familiar to anyone with experience of the series. You take turns with the CPU moving enemies around the map and attacking them before seizing the throne (usually guarded by a pretty tough boss) with your general Roy to end the stage. The beautiful thing about Fire Emblem is that it's rather simple but has a lot of depth. There's a rock paper scissors triangle of Spears>Swords>Axes>Spears with a few niggles to keep you on you toes.
The GBA game introduced a new way of saving. The game saves every move as well as the RPG seed. If your character gets attacked and you don't like the result and you turn the game back on you will end up at the same attack with the same result every time. All you can do it live with it or restart the chapter. This is important because Fire Emblem has two things that can be very annoying, weapon degradation, but also permadeath. Lose a character on the battlefield and they are gone for good. While Fire Emblem works very like another Intelligent System developed game, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem adds RPG stats and RNG. This means you can lose a character through no fault of your own through a bad miss or an enemies critical hit. It can be very frustrating, especially when this happens at the boss after spending over an hour on a stage.
This is the big issue with Binding Blade. Unless you are a veteran of the series you will be restarting chapters a lot in the early stages. Even more frustrating is that the bosses at the end of stages have very high evade so you can spend multiple turns getting destroyed while missing every attack. Binding Blade when you attack shows a 0-100 hit rating that actually isn't a percent. The game rolls twice and averages out to see if you hit. This means hit rates about 50 will hit most of the time but below 50 the hit rate is abysmal.
I won't lie, I resorted to save stating after every round like the SNES games allowed. It was too frustrating for me. Once I started to do that I ended up enjoying it a lot more. I really feel I should have started with the second GBA Fire Emblem. I played it briefly on launch and it had a great extended tutorial and battles were more than manageable. By the end of Binding Blade I was used to the system and was finding the game much easier and I knew what it expected from me and knew how to take out bosses a lot easier (hint, mages are overpowered). I'd recommend a FAQ if you are playing the game. The game is made for multiple playthroughs with a lot of branching paths and secret stages. Getting all the secret stages is a requirement for the best ending and unlocking them isn't obvious.
0 -
Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
- Deathloop|PC
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomile|PC
- MakaiMura for WonderSwan|WonderSwan
- Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)|Game Gear
- Aconcagua|PS1
- Monkey Island 2 Special Edition|PC
- Baroque|PS1
- Alien vs. Predator (1999)|PC
- Professor Layton and the Lost Future|Android
- Ninja Five-O|GBA
- Little Samson|NES
- Trip World|Gameboy
- The Guardian Legend|NES
- Contra: the Alien Wars|Gameboy
- Megaman: Wily's Revenge|Gameboy
- Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden|PC
- Night Trap|PC
- Gargoyle's Quest|Gameboy
- Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course|PC
- Space Manbow|MSX2
- Blue Reflection|PC
- MegaMan 2 |Gameboy
- Resident Evil 3 (Remake)|PC
- Clock Tower|SNES
- Deep Fear|Saturn
- Detention|PC
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade|GBA
- Quake: Dimensions of the Machine|PC
Quake: Dimensions of the Machine
If you haven't picked up the Quake remaster I urge you to do so. It's an embarrassment of excellent content. If you owned the game on steam initially it's also pretty much free. Not only do you get the base game and both expansions but also two brand new episodes made by Machinegames. The first, Dimensions of the Past, was a fantastic collection of excellently designed levels that stayed true to the feel of the levels from the original Quake. Dimensions of the Machine however is a much different beast. In this expansion Machinegames have taken the Quake engine and pushed it well past what the engine was initially capable of. This has allowed their designers to have free reign and what you get is a collection of some of the best levels created for any FPS game. The game has a slightly different structure to every other episode. It's set in a hub world with portals leading a mini 2 level episodes with their own theme, industrial, sci-fi, dark fantasy, etc. The architecture in these levels is insane and I'm not sure how they managed this on the lowly Quake engine.
Dimensions of the Machine is utterly fantastic and worth the price of the Quake remaster on its own (only a tenner I think). It's a masterclass in level design and is as good as if not better than other boomer shooters like Dusk, Ion Fury or Amid Evil.
0 -
Advertisement
-
Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
- Deathloop|PC
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomile|PC
- MakaiMura for WonderSwan|WonderSwan
- Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)|Game Gear
- Aconcagua|PS1
- Monkey Island 2 Special Edition|PC
- Baroque|PS1
- Alien vs. Predator (1999)|PC
- Professor Layton and the Lost Future|Android
- Ninja Five-O|GBA
- Little Samson|NES
- Trip World|Gameboy
- The Guardian Legend|NES
- Contra: the Alien Wars|Gameboy
- Megaman: Wily's Revenge|Gameboy
- Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden|PC
- Night Trap|PC
- Gargoyle's Quest|Gameboy
- Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course|PC
- Space Manbow|MSX2
- Blue Reflection|PC
- MegaMan 2 |Gameboy
- Resident Evil 3 (Remake)|PC
- Clock Tower|SNES
- Deep Fear|Saturn
- Detention|PC
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade|GBA
- Quake: Dimensions of the Machine|PC
- Toki|PC
Toki
I bought and managed to finish this on the same day. Toki is one of those weird games that I'm very familiar with but it seems there's not a whole lot written about it and it's not that well regarded. I get the feeling that it's a lot better known in Europe due to great home computer ports. I can only speak for the Commodore 64 port which was excellent and one of the few cartridge games for the system so you didn't have to waste your youth away waiting for it to load. The version I played is a remaster of the original arcade game and it's a really great one. This version was initially announced for XBox 360 before disappearing for years before showing back up on Switch with an eventual release on PC and more than likely other systems.
Toki is your standard arcade platform action game. Your girlfriend has been captured by an evil wizard and to add insult to injury he has transformed you into an ape. Thankfully you aren't totally defenseless. As as ape you can spit energy balls in multiple directions as well as being able to jump on top of enemies to damage them. You can also collect power ups to increase your firepower, an american football helmet to make your head invincible and cause damage and sneakers to let you jump higher.
I'd classify Toki in the harsh but fair bracket of arcade games along with Ghouls 'n Ghosts. The game is quite difficult but never unfair, every death is on you. The six stages are pretty fun and varied with some good boss fights.
The Remaster replaces all the art with freshly drawn high quality HD art and it's absolutely gorgeous, this really is a great looking game. The backgrounds have been given loads of detail and the sprites are gorgeous. It also plays very faithfully to the arcade original. It's one of the best remasters of a pixel game. Less successful is the remastered soundtrack. It's actually pretty good but doesn't stand out the way the original soundtrack does (which you can select from the menu). One thing I really appreciate is that the first boss of the original game is quite a racist depiction of an African native but has been redesigned to be a lot more tasteful in the remaster, keeping the feel of the original but making them into more of a fantasy orc.
Found this a great trip down memory lane and well worth the two euro I spent on it.
0 -
-
Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
- Deathloop|PC
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomile|PC
- MakaiMura for WonderSwan|WonderSwan
- Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)|Game Gear
- Aconcagua|PS1
- Monkey Island 2 Special Edition|PC
- Baroque|PS1
- Alien vs. Predator (1999)|PC
- Professor Layton and the Lost Future|Android
- Ninja Five-O|GBA
- Little Samson|NES
- Trip World|Gameboy
- The Guardian Legend|NES
- Contra: the Alien Wars|Gameboy
- Megaman: Wily's Revenge|Gameboy
- Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden|PC
- Night Trap|PC
- Gargoyle's Quest|Gameboy
- Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course|PC
- Space Manbow|MSX2
- Blue Reflection|PC
- MegaMan 2 |Gameboy
- Resident Evil 3 (Remake)|PC
- Clock Tower|SNES
- Deep Fear|Saturn
- Detention|PC
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade|GBA
- Quake: Dimensions of the Machine|PC
- Toki|PC
- Hakaiou: King of Crusher|PS1
Hakaiou: King of Crusher
While I think we are spoiled for choice with videogames these days. On the one hand you have the triple A games industry, churning out endless monogames built based off user centered design to appeal to everyone and excite no one. They're your turn your brain off popcorn games and every once in a blue moon something worthwhile emerges out of the triple A swamp. Then there's the indie space where all the imagination and invention comes from. However there's one type of game that has been missing for years. A game that could only come about in the PS1 and PS2 era where the barrier for entry of development was low enough that people with imaginative ideas could make a game without any of the talent of knowing how to make a game, which the indie scene has... some might say, too much of. A game could be produced to sell 10,000 copies in the Japanese market and still be profitable. I like to call this type of game the 'what the actual **** is this **** game'.
What the actual **** is this **** is the only way I can describe king of crusher. There's a message in here about how the pursuit of absolute freedom is folly but it's lost in a sea of badly rendered polygons and some horrendous design decisions. You play as a normal everyday salaryman who while having breakfast before work with his wife and infant son is bitten by a creepy evil insect. The bite fills your character with rage and the creepy insect tells you that freedom can only be attained by destroying everything in a rage induced frenzy.
So like in any normal game you run around your house, smashing everything up while your wife runs away from you carrying your infant son. The rampage spills over into your place of work. As the rampage progresses your character will gradually mutate into bigger and bigger creatures before becoming a fire breathing godzilla-esque monster. As you grow in size what your rampage also escalates, from destroying family homes, a small town to eventually rampaging through new york and destroying well known landmarks (which also awkwardly includes the twin towers) before taking on the worlds most renowned symbol of freedom, the statue of liberty, in an insane boss fight.
There is a game in all this madness. Your character can move around and jump but also has 3 attacks, a punch, kick and headbutt, which can be modified by holding R2. The game's biggest problem is the controls. While the poor framerate is endemic of the PS1 era the awful collision detection and movement are not. Your character controls like a car, making this massive turns that take ages when you want to change direction. It's absolutely baffling that they went for this control scheme. The game structure basically has you destroy as much as possible to fill your rage meter that then lets you exit the stage. You also have another meter that gradually ticks down and can tick down faster when being damaged by enemies. The only way to replenish it is to cause more destruction.
While King of Crusher is by no means a great game there's so much insanity here that it's well worth experiencing. It's such a bafflingly weird experience.
1 -
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
- Deathloop|PC
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomile|PC
- MakaiMura for WonderSwan|WonderSwan
- Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)|Game Gear
- Aconcagua|PS1
- Monkey Island 2 Special Edition|PC
- Baroque|PS1
- Alien vs. Predator (1999)|PC
- Professor Layton and the Lost Future|Android
- Ninja Five-O|GBA
- Little Samson|NES
- Trip World|Gameboy
- The Guardian Legend|NES
- Contra: the Alien Wars|Gameboy
- Megaman: Wily's Revenge|Gameboy
- Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden|PC
- Night Trap|PC
- Gargoyle's Quest|Gameboy
- Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course|PC
- Space Manbow|MSX2
- Blue Reflection|PC
- MegaMan 2 |Gameboy
- Resident Evil 3 (Remake)|PC
- Clock Tower|SNES
- Deep Fear|Saturn
- Detention|PC
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade|GBA
- Quake: Dimensions of the Machine|PC
- Toki|PC
- Hakaiou: King of Crusher|PS1
- Marathon|Mac
Marathon
Marathon is like the Alex Kidd of the personal PC. Master System owners would tell you constantly how much better Alex Kids was to Mario like some form of stockholm syndrome. In the same way Mac owners will tell you that Marathon is a far better game than Doom. While I definitely don't agree with them, Marathon is still a damn fine first person shooter.
In some ways Marathon is better than Doom. It supports room over room geometry, mouse look well before Quake and supports a rudimentary physics simulation. I was also impressed with the storyline and writing, it's far better than Bungie's next game, Halo. While the engine might support more complex geometry it also has severe limitations. Levels feel boxy and claustraphobic compared to doom which has more open and impressive levels to battle in. The combat, while fun, is no where near the insanity Doom offers.
The story of marathon revolves around an alien force taking over a gigantic spacestation Marathon. The attempts to hack the three AI's of Marathon causes one of them to go 'Rampant'. The story plays out with the player trying to survive the assault by the alien forces all the while the AI's wage their separate war against each other.
While I listed this game as a Macintosh game I actually played it on PC. The three game sin the trilogy have been made freely available by bungie as well as an emulator for the games called Aleph One. I'd definitely recommend this game to Halo fans or old school FPS fans. It does feel very old but its worth sticking with. I'm looking forward to moving on the the sequel Marathon: Durandal which is meant to be much better and features extensive engine improvements.
1 -
-
-
Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
- Deathloop|PC
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomile|PC
- MakaiMura for WonderSwan|WonderSwan
- Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)|Game Gear
- Aconcagua|PS1
- Monkey Island 2 Special Edition|PC
- Baroque|PS1
- Alien vs. Predator (1999)|PC
- Professor Layton and the Lost Future|Android
- Ninja Five-O|GBA
- Little Samson|NES
- Trip World|Gameboy
- The Guardian Legend|NES
- Contra: the Alien Wars|Gameboy
- Megaman: Wily's Revenge|Gameboy
- Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden|PC
- Night Trap|PC
- Gargoyle's Quest|Gameboy
- Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course|PC
- Space Manbow|MSX2
- Blue Reflection|PC
- MegaMan 2 |Gameboy
- Resident Evil 3 (Remake)|PC
- Clock Tower|SNES
- Deep Fear|Saturn
- Detention|PC
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade|GBA
- Quake: Dimensions of the Machine|PC
- Toki|PC
- Hakaiou: King of Crusher|PS1
- Marathon|Mac
- Megaman 4|Gameboy
Megaman 4
After the disappointment of the first Megaman on Gameboy and the near travesty that was the second megaman gameboy game, the series found its feet with Megaman 3 on handhelds. Megaman 4 feel very similar to Megaman 3 and I'd be pretty sure it's using the same engine.
Megaman 4 like the previous games is a remix of two NES megaman games, this time Megaman 4 and 5. You first fight 4 robotmasters from Megaman 4 before moving to 4 robotmasters from Megaman 5. The level design is a real high point and rivals the NES game and the music is gameboy renditions of the NES games and sounds fantastic. It's just a great megaman game and one of the best action games on the Gameboy. One improvement over the NES games is that Napalm man's stage is no longer set in what looks like the vietnam jungle.
I'm glad the series found its feet on the handheld after 2 poor efforts. Megaman 5 is the last on the gameboy and is apparently the best of the bunch. It has all new levels and robotmasters rather than the NES remixes of the previous games.
0 -
-
Join Date:Posts: 50597
I wouldn't call Crash Bandicoot excellent. Everyone I knew used to call it 'crappy sonic' when it was released. It's not that bad but it's a fairly mediocre platformer. The sequels are a massive improvement but the series just feels a little off and doesn't reach the heights of better platformers.
0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
- Deathloop|PC
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomile|PC
- MakaiMura for WonderSwan|WonderSwan
- Ninja Gaiden (Game Gear)|Game Gear
- Aconcagua|PS1
- Monkey Island 2 Special Edition|PC
- Baroque|PS1
- Alien vs. Predator (1999)|PC
- Professor Layton and the Lost Future|Android
- Ninja Five-O|GBA
- Little Samson|NES
- Trip World|Gameboy
- The Guardian Legend|NES
- Contra: the Alien Wars|Gameboy
- Megaman: Wily's Revenge|Gameboy
- Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden|PC
- Night Trap|PC
- Gargoyle's Quest|Gameboy
- Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course|PC
- Space Manbow|MSX2
- Blue Reflection|PC
- MegaMan 2 |Gameboy
- Resident Evil 3 (Remake)|PC
- Clock Tower|SNES
- Deep Fear|Saturn
- Detention|PC
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade|GBA
- Quake: Dimensions of the Machine|PC
- Toki|PC
- Hakaiou: King of Crusher|PS1
- Marathon|Mac
- Megaman 4|Gameboy
- Crankin Presents Time Travel Adventure|Playdate
Crankin Presents Time Travel Adventure
I'm not through the Playdate season 1 yet but this is the standout game so far. Created by Keita Takahashi (Katamari Damacy, Noby Noby Boy) with help from other indie developers, Crankin is probably his most typical videogame, although that's by his standards, it's still insane and wonderfully inventive compared to its peers.
In Crankin, you play as a clockwork man that keeps waking up late for a date with his girlfriend and must hurry to meet up with her. The gimmick here is that the protagonist is controlled totally by the Playdate's crank. Spinning it clockwise moves him forwards while spinning it backwards will reverse his directions. However the world around the protagonist moves forward as normal. The protagonist will interact with various objects he encounters and you must use these to avoid hazards that are out to ruin his date. One touch of these and it's back to the start.
For such a simple game there's so much packed into it. The game is constantly adding new obstacles and the levels surprise right to the end. Later levels will reuse situations and obstacles but in unique ways that keep you on your toes. Some I even found hilarious. While the one hit kills can be frustrating, levels are never longer than a minute (most are way shorter) and restarting is near instant. It's a very hard game to put down as you always want one more go.
For me this is the killer app of the playdate and the game that makes the best use of its unique features.
0 -
-
Join Date:Posts: 50597
There's a lot of nostalgia for the first Crash game from the generation that grew up with the PS1 but my generation that had the 8 and 16-bit consoles really thought it wasn't very good. Not bad, just very mundane and uninteresting. You can see it in the review scores at the time, no one really rated it that high, IGN gave it a 7.5, Gamespot gave it 6.8. To put it in context the last great platform games before it were the likes of Yoshi's Island, Sonic and Knuckles and Donkey Kong Country 3. In terms of how they played and the ideas they bring to the table, Crash felt very boring. It also released after Mario 64 which was an absolute game changer. Crash's adherence to what was effectively 2D gameplay felt very old and dated, especially when the level design and gameplay were so uninteresting.
Crash 2 was basically taking the gameplay of Crash 1 and focusing on more interesting level design. It's a much better game as a result and reflected in the review scores (I think it was 8.5 in IGN and Gamespot). It still wasn't up there with the best 8 or 16 bit platformers but I'd place it alongside the original Donkey Kong Country. It was also a well timed release as by October 1997 there still wasn't really a decent platformer on the system in the West. That would change in December with the releae of Klonoa and Tomba, two exceptional platformers that were way better than Crash 2.
It's kind of my issue with Crash. It and Crash Team Racing are presented as these pinnacles of the platforming and racing genres when its purely driven by nostalgia. There's far better platformers on the PS1 like the aforementioned Tomba and Klonoa and I'd throw Ape Escape and even Spyro in there as well but they just aren't as widely celebrated or known. I still think Crash 2 and 3 are well worth playing and Crash Team Racing is almost Mario Kart quality.
0 -
-
Join Date:Posts: 50597
Have to say that crash 2 is a massive inprovement on crash 1. Some of the levels in crash 1... I wouldn't even call it level design. The bridge levels in particular spring to mind. They are just utterly horrendous.
It was also nice to get that cut level in the recent remake but after playing through it.... I'm glad they cut it from the original release. It's awful!
0 -
-
Advertisement
-
