January "Together Retro' 2 - The Retro-ening Again" Poll

[pierrot]

Well, I'm kind of happy to see that Falcom made it into third place, but it does look like KonamixGenesis is a bit of a lock at this point.

Not to berate your decisions or anything, Noise, but it certainly doesn't help that none of those consoles you're rolling with are even retro yet.

I'm not sure if this is just a faulty memory or not, but I feel like I vaguely recall, back when you were into the Saturn and Dreamcast, that you mentioned your wife has a Genesis, and a number of games for it. Is that not a thing anymore? Maybe it was just a SNES or NES. I don't really remember, I just remember you brushing off a lot of those cartridge consoles, but mentioning having some around that you didn't really mess with.

[noiseredux]

Well 3DS plays DS and virtual console games, Xbox One plays Xbox and 360 games and Switch is loaded with ports, old arcade games and compilations of retro games...

My wife got rid of most of her untouched consoles as well. She has a 3DS, Wii and Xbox 360 currently.

[pierrot]

Well, that's a bummer. I hate hearing that you'll be sitting January out, but the Virtual Boy month didn't really work for me, either, so I certainly get it.

Konami wasn't necessarily my first choice, but I'm hopeful that it'll be the most appealing topic for generating participation. I'm planning to use it as an opportunity to finish the last two paths of Contra: Hard Corps that I haven't finished, and probably a John Morris run through Castlevania: Bloodlines. Maybe even a hard mode run with one or both of the characters in Bloodlines. I'd kind of like to beat Buster's Hidden Treasure and Animaniacs, too, if time permits.

I'm also really hoping that anyone who hasn't played Rocket Knight Adventures before does so.

[Markies]

Rocket Knight Adventures or Contra Hard Corps are the ones I'm hoping to play in January.

I own both of them and I have played them, but I have never beaten either of them.

Limited continues and Konami difficulty make both of them very tough.

[alienjesus]

Rocket Knight Adventures or Contra Hard Corps are the ones I'm hoping to play in January.

I own both of them and I have played them, but I have never beaten either of them.

Limited continues and Konami difficulty make both of them very tough.

Rocket Knight Adventures isn't actually all that hard outside of a few small areas, you should be able to handle that one just fine based on other games you've beaten before.

Hard Corps is one of those games that suffers from inflated difficulty in the western version - limited continues and one hit death might make it feel more like old-school Contra, but the design of the game was based around the original version having 3 hits per life and unlimited continues. It's a Dynamite Headdy situation, and call me a wimp but I think the Japanese version sounds way more fun.

I'd kind of like to beat Buster's Hidden Treasure and Animaniacs, too, if time permits.
.

Animaniacs is an odd game - it's not that great but it is interesting. Its quite challenging too.

I'll be playing through Castlevania: The New Generation on Mega Drive and enjoying it I'm sure, despite the censorship (which doesn't bother me at all). I'm tempted to try and acquire something else to play as well (I've already beaten Rocket Knight and Animaniacs) but a lot of these games are really pricy, especially over here. Probotector (the PAL version of Hard Corps) regularly hits £100 on eBay, and Hyperstone Heist is normally about £40-70 too. Sunset Riders is a little (only a little) cheaper but I'm not sure that one appeals much!

[noiseredux]

Well, that's a bummer. I hate hearing that you'll be sitting January out, but the Virtual Boy month didn't really work for me, either, so I certainly get it.

It happens. As always, I make every effort to participate in the months of games I have access to. This theme does bring up an interesting point, though. Looking at the Virtual Console on 3DS for example: there are Konami games from other platforms, but not Genesis. In the case of the Tiny Toon stuff or whatever, I get that licensing is involved. But all of those Konami games you listed seem to be exclusive to Genesis, and never ported or compiled anywhere else. It's weird that stuff like Dracula X have gotten multiple re-released over the lines but Bloodlines never has.

[pierrot]

Limited continues and Konami difficulty make both of them very tough.

I kind of like this about the Genesis Konami games. It feels like the games have to be learned more so than something that can just be brute forced with unlimited continues. Consequently I felt like I had a better appreciation for them.

Hard Corps is one of those games that suffers from inflated difficulty in the western version - limited continues and one hit death might make it feel more like old-school Contra, but the design of the game was based around the original version having 3 hits per life and unlimited continues. It's a Dynamite Headdy situation, and call me a wimp but I think the Japanese version sounds way more fun.

I personally think the US version of Contra Hard Corps is about the most perfect level of difficulty. The Dynamite Headdy comparison isn't quite apt, in my opinion. Dynamite Headdy is a miserable prick about continues. Contra Hard Corps at least gets the player started, even if it doesn't give anything extra. The three hits before a death in The Hard Corp makes it way too easy, I feel. Also, Konami tended to release their Genesis games in the States first, and then in Japan (in very limited quantities). This goes for Hard Corps as well. I'm not sure the revision numbers actually bear this out, but I'm going to bet that The Hard Corp was a later revision that added the three hit points for the Japanese version.

I'll be playing through Castlevania: The New Generation on Mega Drive and enjoying it I'm sure, despite the censorship (which doesn't bother me at all). I'm tempted to try and acquire something else to play as well (I've already beaten Rocket Knight and Animaniacs) but a lot of these games are really pricy, especially over here. Probotector (the PAL version of Hard Corps) regularly hits £100 on eBay, and Hyperstone Heist is normally about £40-70 too. Sunset Riders is a little (only a little) cheaper but I'm not sure that one appeals much!

Hyperstone Heist is probably worth that much. The NA version has gotten a little ridiculous at this point, though. If you liked Rocket Knight Adventures, I would actually recommend Sparkster. It's not nearly as good, but it's still a highly decent game. The NA, and especially the Japanese versions are not cheap, though. I don't know about the EU release.

But all of those Konami games you listed seem to be exclusive to Genesis, and never ported or compiled anywhere else.

I mean, I sort of knew this, but I was actually a little surprised to find that not even the Genesis version of Zombies Ate My Neighbors was ever available on the Wii virtual console. With all of the categories, I was attempting to draw some attention to some potentially under appreciated games. Just about everything these days can emulate the Genesis, though, so--. The trickiest category probably would have been the Falcom one. I imagine it would have just devolved into an Ys-for-all, which would not have been my goal, but I'm sure that's what most would have had immediate access to. (*Note to self: Next time, don't include anything that has any sort of wider appeal.)

[Gunstar Green]

I actually quite like the Genesis Sunset Riders. A lot of people just call it inferior and ignore it. I think it's different but just as good.

[pierrot]

I might give Sunset Riders a shot. I've never really played any version of it, so I won't have much point of comparison going into it. I love the arcade version of Turtles in Time, and also loved that The Hyperstone Heist was pretty close to its own thing, so if it's comparable at all to that, I could see myself enjoying Sunset Riders, regardless.