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Flake
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by Flake Mon Feb 16, 2015 12:47 pm

Erik_Twice wrote:
Something interesting: This game was in development for two years (!) with Gunpei Yokoi as producer. And I think it really shows in the game, it has a lot of stuff going on.


I am all aboard if we create a "Gunpei Yokoi" appreciation thread.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
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Ack
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by Ack Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:26 pm

1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
5. The Tick (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)

The Tick is possibly the longest beat 'em up I have ever beaten. It is 16 episodes long, and each episode has sub-levels which range in length and could occasionally constitute an entire beat 'em up level in and of themselves. Overall, I'd say there are probably about 40-45 levels.

But how is the game? Well, it's not good. There was a definite attempt to adopt The Tick into a video game, so there is a lot of the universe involved: enemies, allies, level designs, etc., are all greatly influenced by the comic and cartoon. At times the game manages to pull from the creativity and offer something truly inspired. Unfortunately those times are few and far between, with the highlight of the game being a fight with Chairface as you race to destroy his laser before he finishes carving his name into the moon.

So what is it like in the meantime? Well...boring. While there are several sets of enemies, they tend to have terrible AI and not be particularly interesting to fight. And the game developers apparently felt that quantity was more important than quality, so there are a lot of enemies. Tons. Hordes. And you will probably beat them over and over again using the same basic combos that you have used the entire game, because there is little reason to change tactics. Even when they change styles, enemies just aren't different enough to warrant a strategic analysis. So you end up with hundreds of bad guys, many of which are palette-swapped, all of which can be defeated relatively easily with a punch or kick combo.

To try and break up this monotony, there are places where the levels becomes interactive(for instance, Sewer Urchin occasionally pops up from under sewer lids, hurting whoever was standing on it), and there are items in the game which will occasionally summon an ally, such as American Maid or Paul the Samurai, enabling you to fight back to back against the hordes. But these become problematic occasionally because they can hinder you just as easily(specifically Die Fledermaus). There is also some variance in level designs as occasionally you will find the odd platforming or high wire level, where flying objects will come at you and knock the Tick out of the air. Again, there are some entertaining ideas(jumping between speed boats, or falling from skyscrapers and having to fight villains who happen to be in the alley below), but they still feel poorly implemented and designed. There are also a couple that suffer from slippery floors where if you fall, you'll respawn and immediately fall again, losing two lives in the process. And there is the occasional glitch, such as enemies getting stuck in the floor at the top or bottom of the level.

This game would have been considerably more successful in my opinion if the devs had instead decided to trim the fat and cut the game down to 1/3 of its length, but then used that to focus on building up its quality. I don't completely hate the game, because when it works out, it's amazing. But more does not always mean better, and this game is a shining example of that problem.
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by Exhuminator Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:38 pm

Ack wrote:This game would have been more successful if the devs had decided to trim the fat and cut the game down to 1/3 of its length, but then used that [extra dev time] to focus on building up its quality [instead].

This is how I feel about soooo many RPGs.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
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Sarge
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by Sarge Mon Feb 16, 2015 1:53 pm

I actually tried The Tick out not long ago, and all the flaws you point out are definitely there. Didn't realize it was so long, though! Glad I didn't stick with it, I'd have been playing a long, long time.
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MrPopo
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by MrPopo Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:02 pm

Does the game include The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight?
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Stark
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by Stark Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:08 pm

MrPopo wrote:Does the game include The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight?

Unfortunately I fear he was too busy making gravy without the lumps.
Let strength be granted, so the world might be mended...so the world might be mended.
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by Flake Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:38 pm

What about Multiple Santa and the Yule Tide?
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
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noiseredux
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by noiseredux Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:41 pm

1. Beavis And Butt-Head In Virtual Stupidity (PC)
2. Renegade Ops (PC)
3. Arena Of Octos (Apple II)
4. Beauty And The Beast (Intellivision)
5. Chivalry (Apple II)
6. Donald Duck's Playground (C64)

So I settled on DD's Playground for my 1984 title because I was surprised to learn it was made by Al Lowe. Also I had (and loved) a Commodore 64 growing up, so I always look for excuses to discover games previously unknown to me. This played out like a sort of adventure game for kids, but also incorporated some edutainment. Basically, you have shops on the left side of the street that will sell you stuff for your playground (slides, swings, etc). On the right side is jobs you can work at to get money to buy this stuff. You can work as many minutes as you want up to 8 at each job shift. So it's basically grinding. I ended up playing a couple hours (basically doing 8 min jobs in between doing other stuff, like shoveling). The job where you have to re-route a train is pretty fun. The one where you have to stock a toy store shelf made no sense to me. The other two were basically catch-stuff/throw-stuff/match-stuff games. They were alright. Anyway, there's no real end to the game, so I just called it beat after I filled up the playground on the hardest difficulty setting:

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It was ok, but I'd feel no need to play it again. That said, at least playing it caused me to find this hilarious comment on Youtube:

I remember this Game. Once with 8 hours working i saved a 100 dollars....and whats happend?
Goofy, Mickey and the third animal pushed up prices fucking very high..
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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by BoneSnapDeez Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:14 pm

You guys who are combining the year and alphabet challenges... How the hell are you going to do Q, X, Z, etc...?

1. Grandia (PlayStation)
2. Jungle Hunt (Xbox - Taito Legends)
3. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)
4. Jungle Hunt (Plug & Play - ColecoVision Flashback)
5. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600)
6. Donkey Kong (Intellivision)
7. Donkey Kong (ColecoVision)
8. Bubble Bobble (NES)
9. Side Arms: Hyper Dyne (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
10. 1941: Counter Attack (PSP - Capcom Classics Collection Remixed)
11. Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (PSP)
12. The Ninja Kids (Xbox - Taito Legends)
13. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
14. Golden Axe Warrior (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
15. Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 (Dreamcast)
16. Growl (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
17. Arabian Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
18. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)


Moar Taito beat 'em ups.

Arabian Magic was released two years after Growl. It lacks the insane plot and dialogue, but is a step up in the graphics and gameplay department.

You're in an Arabian-themed world on a quest to rescue a Sultan who has been transformed into a monkey (flashbacks to Super Mario Bros. 3). I chose to play as the female character (surprise surprise), who can shoot projectiles but has less HP than the other characters.

In addition to the typical attacking and jumping, your character can also use a special attack to summon a genie that attacks all enemies on screen. The interesting twist is that defeated bosses also become genies to be summoned in later levels. It doesn't seem as if the player can choose which one is summoned but they all do essentially the same thing (pwn bad guys).

The stages are pretty sweet. Once you make it through the expected desert locales there's a psychedelic world inside of a genie lamp, a magic carpet ride that concludes with a battle against a giant eagle, and even a street market where your characters are shrunk down to size and must battle amid baskets of fruit and fish.

With no arcade ports the only way to play this is on an actual arcade board, MAME, or Taito Legends 2. If you own TL2 (and you should) give it a whirl.

Aside from the fact that it also contains the word "Magic" and was developed by Taito, I don't believe that Dungeon Magic has any true relation to the previous game.

As a huge RPG fan, I typically love medieval beat 'em ups with light RPG elements. Capcom's two D&D games are among by favorite beat 'em ups of all time and I also adore newer console/handheld entries like Muramasa and Code of Princess.

Dungeon Magic is a mixed bag though. It's a game I wanted to love but ultimately only "liked."

Let's start with the good. The game is beautiful. The character animation is fluid and there's so much detail in the enemy sprites. The levels are jam-packed with things to gaze at and manipulate: chair and tables within taverns, statues, chests, pots, and so on. It's difficult to walk far without finding something to grab or toss or punch and it's fun to simply play around in the game's many areas. Dungeon Magic is not a linear game. Stages are broken into various room and many can be bypassed. However, the more you explore the more experience is netted thus making some rudimentary "grinding" possible.

One thing that sets Dungeon Magic apart is the isometric perspective, reminiscent of Data East's Wizard Fire. It's a refreshing perspective (literally) and moving around is not an issue because characters can still only face left or right.

The game world of Dungeon Master is almost too big. Many areas contain little of interest and aren't worth exploring. Some rooms contain switches that must be flipped correctly to continue. I got stuck in one particularly nasty area and had to look up the switch solution on GameFAQs! To be fair, there was an NPC in the room who likely provided the solution, but the game only allows one to speak with an NPC once before the dialogue disappears into the void. And since the "talk" button is the same as the action button its far to easy to trigger a one-off conversation while fighting through hordes of orcs and demons.

Controls are mostly serviceable. Once again I chose to play as the female character, who can use bows. A tap of the attack button is used for close-range attacks while a hold and release will shoot the bow. You are granted a set number of special attacks per life but, unlike Arabian Magic, there is no set button for these. Instead simultaneous presses of the attack and jump buttons are required, which caused me to use/waste special attacks by accident when I really wanted to just jump and then attack.

I'd say this is worth a single playthrough for the great scenery and swords and sorcery aesthetic, but don't expect anything on the same level of Shadow Over Mystara or even Wizard Fire.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by prfsnl_gmr Mon Feb 16, 2015 3:36 pm

These reviews are excellent. I truly enjoy reading about your experiences with the random games on the (totally awesome) Taito collections.

That said, I am going to dare you to beat Gladiator. You will find it on the original Taito Legends, and you can thank me later. :lol:
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