1. Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys (PCE-CD)
2. Mega Bomberman (GEN)
3. Lost in Shadow (Wii)
4. Kirby's Dream Land (via Wii Dream Collection) (GB)
5. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (via Wii Dream Collection) (GB)
6. Kirby's Dream Land 3 (via Wii Dream Collection) (SNES)
7. Saturn Bomberman (SAT)
8. Rent a Hero (GEN)
9. Tricolore Crise (DC)
10. Super Mario: Yoshi Island (SFC)
11. Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchou no Daibouken (Joukan) (SAT)
12. Mickey to Donald: Magical Adventure 3 (SFC)
13. Kishin Douji Zenki: Battle Raiden (SFC)
14. Super Donkey Kong (SFC)
15. Super Donkey Kong 2: Dixie & Diddy (SFC)
16. Anearth Fantasy Stories: First Volume (SAT)
17. Panzer Dragoon (SAT)
18. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (SAT)
19. Panzer Dragoon Orta (XBOX)
I wasn't really intending to write much, but after jotting down the list, I feel a little like I have to.
Spoiler-ed 'cause there's lots of squiggles:
Mega Bomberman was the game I played the most for the Genesis, as a kid, after Sonic 2, and maybe Madden. I was hopelessly stuck on the crab boss in world 3, and remember my dad trying to help me at some point, saying that I should go back through the levels in world 3 to get the power ups. When I first saw that it had two phases, I was totally dejected.
I probably hadn't played the game since '97 or so. I didn't have much trouble with that crab boss, but wow did it get punishing by the end. I'm pretty surprised I actually finished it, considering how ridiculous the final area, and final bosses were. If kid-me had been sitting around watching adult-me play through this game, I'm sure he would have been pretty impressed with how much more "colorful" the obscenities that got thrown around were, and astonished by what some good, ol' fashioned, obstinance can accomplish.
Saturn Bomberman was waved around in my face, by an advertisement on the back of the manual, every time I would open up Sonic Jam. Even though I hated the crab boss in Mega Bomberman so--dadgum--much, I still really liked the game, which made that advertisement pretty effective in making me want Saturn Bomberman. I never did get it, growing up, but I've had the Japanese version for a few years now. It's pretty good. I like the way the dino mounts grow, and power up over time. The bosses and stages are bit more interesting, in comparison to Mega Bomberman, as well. It's also a very graphically appealing game.
--
Lost in Shadow is sort of a bummer, in that it seems like it should be a really nice marriage between Limbo and Ico, but is not nearly as good as either of those games. It plays well enough, but it's way too long. The latter 4/5ths of the game really does very little different from the first 1/5th. The big shtick that does come into play is introduced way too late for it to not feel like a, "fuck you, you're going to go back through the levels now, and liking it," from the developers. There are also these "shadow corridors" that are pretty much a waste of time. They affect completion percentage, but are just a snooze. Also, the story is completely ridiculous; Even more so by the end of the game than at the beginning.
--
Kirby games are always good. Dream Land is pretty short, but enjoyable. I 100%-ed 2, which was a bit of a chore, but I do like the animal buddies. Well, Coo, anyway. The secret final boss is a little ridiculous, though. I got the "good" ending in 3, which only gives 97% completion. Getting the other three percent involves some really dumb mini games in the options menu. I missed one of them by a single question. It's dumb. Moving on--.
--
Rent a Hero was pretty cool. It's a little spartan in its presentation, but it plays pretty well. The one major complaint would be the hit detection in the fight scenes, but I'm pretty sure that's intentional, because the controls are pretty much perfect. It's a fairly tough game because of it, though. Combat aside, Rent a Hero is sort of like what would happen if Earthbound were actually playable, and had good humor, or an interesting story. I quite enjoyed Rent a Hero, but I can still understand why it would have been panned on release, and available for under 100 yen after a couple weeks. I can also understand how it rose from the ashes as a cult classic that commanded 10,000+ yen, a number of years later.
--
Tricolore Crise is for people who really like crafting, grinding, and pumping stat boosters into 'customizable' familiars. It's an interesting game, but it's really, really, really, really, really slooooooooowwwwwww. The story is ostensibly about a test to determine the team-of-three most fit to woman some towers meant to control the Ivalice (ie. monster) hoards. It's a bit droll in practice, really. Although there is a rebellion at one point, the main intrigue comes in the form of interacting with the other teams, but it's done so rather specifically, and a lot of it can be easily missed. It's not a bad game, I'd just struggle to call it a great one. It was okay for what it was.
--
Yoshi's Island was one of just a couple games I ever had for the SNES, growing up. I always enjoyed it, but never really got any farther than maybe into the second world. (There's a pattern here. I was not good at video games as a kid, nor was I especially patient.) In my mind, Yoshi's Island was always the one 2D Mario (aside from Mario Bros, I guess) that I could say I enjoyed. It's not really as good as I remember, but it is still good. I like the bosses, but there's still not much that really differentiates the stages, for me. This is kind of the issue I have with a lot of Nintendo platformers: It feels like they lack cohesion.
For that matter, DKC was one of the other SNES games I had as a kid, and I had probably only made it as far as world 3. I really don't care much for this game, even though I didn't mind too much as a kid. It's kind of fun to run around as Diddy, but every other level is in a cave, or set to some equally dark, uninteresting backdrop. Also, DK seriously sucks.
DKC 2 might be worse, though. I like both of the characters, but I just really hate a lot of the levels. Particularly where there are really annoying gimmicks, like the brambles. Most of worlds one and four are all right, and I like a couple of the early levels in world 5, but the rest is a hot mess--world 2.
For the record, I liked DKC 3 a lot, and completed it 100%.
--
Clockwork Knight was WAY better than I thought it would be. It was actually--dare I say--really good. The controls might take a little bit of getting used to, though, as Tongara tends to slide a little. Overall, I thought there was some pretty crafty stage design, and I really liked the final boss.
--
Magical Adventure 3 is a letdown, and I kind of forgot all about it even though I played it just over a week ago. Not nearly as good as the first two. There's just something really off about the way it plays.
--
Zenki was pretty good--looks amazing--but the controls are a bit stiff. Zenki has a bunch of different attacks, and maneuvers, which are all pretty cool, but he doesn't really feel as mobile as I feel he should. I enjoyed the game, though. The level design isn't especially great, or anything, but it's fairly fun, and the bosses are tough, but fair. It's a pretty short game, though.
--
Anearth is a weird one. It has an FFII-like growth system, but no random battles. Every battle is completely scripted, and aside from a couple exceptions, once those enemies are defeated, they're gone; They ain't never comin' back. A lot of Japanese websites say that a walkthrough for the game is mandatory, but I didn't really see why. There are a lot of tricky flags, I guess. I actually did get stuck in the royal capitol because I was going to where the fortune teller told me to, but I needed to actually stay at the inn before the person I was supposed to find there would actually show up. I was avoiding staying at the inn, because the old woman in my party had tried to molest my main character the last time I had stayed there. She succeeded in molesting the little mage girl who later joined my party, and did get the main character after using a potion of youth--. Olga is a beast of a swordswoman, but she's legitimately a pedophile, and it's pretty disconcerting how casual the game is about her penchant for sexual assault of kids, when the final screen in the game just says "God Bless You." Before the final boss she also has a nice line where she tells the main character to stop crying, and that if he wants to make something wet, it should be between her legs.
About that final boss, though: It's absurd, and I had to mix herbs for stat boosting items until I was nearly at max stats before it was beatable. Also, certain characters have lines that they say before every attack, and they get so annoying toward the end of the game (particularly the second to last boss). The ending is so indescribably terrible, I could barely stand it. It was so ridiculously dumb that it just had me in stitches laughing at its absurdity. This is a game that people seem to either call a masterpiece, or garbage. I liked it a fair amount until the end of the game, for what it's worth.
--
Sometime in the early aughts, I was upset about the discontinuation of the Dreamcast, and watching X-Play talk about Panzer Dragoon Saga. Obviously this lead me to Ebay, where I saw that PDS was way out of my price range. I settled for a listing of PD I and II for about $25. I never really played all that much of them, mostly because they just seemed to be way too difficult. I've actually beaten PDS and PD Mini, but let the first two games languish for such a long time.
I decided to put in Panzer Dragoon the other day, though, and while I'd always struggled to get past the Episode 4 boss, I had very little trouble passing that, and beating the game (Although Episode 6 was tricky). I guess it just clicked at that point. So, that's a fun game with a really good soundtrack, but a pretty rough framerate, and pretty tricky gameplay, because of it. Zwei, though, is damn near perfect. Where the original is a bit tough, for the wrong reasons, Zwei has probably the perfect difficulty, with some really nice gameplay improvements: camera control, branching paths, dragon evolutions, etc. While it doesn't have the orchestral soundtrack of the first, I think Zwei's OST is better, and it perfectly fits with the stages. Zwei also runs really well, has some gorgeous set-pieces, and overall, very nice graphics for the time. I love Zwei. Uh-muh-guh, and that soundtrack!
Orta is kind of-- I really don't know. It seems like it should be way better than Zwei, but I don't like it more. The stages just don't feel as exciting, or fun; I don't like the music quite as much; Switching dragon forms is kind of a chore. This is actually the first XBOX game I've ever beaten, and honestly, the sterile, plastic, feeling to the XBOX's graphics feels like it doesn't suit the Panzer Dragoon series at all. It's kind of a shame, because I like Orta, and a lot of the other character, but there just seems to be something missing from the package that was there in Zwei. Also, who the hell decided that extra convex face-buttons were a good idea? I do have to say that the ending theme for Orta is magnificent, though--Takahashi Yumiko, ftw.
I probably hadn't played the game since '97 or so. I didn't have much trouble with that crab boss, but wow did it get punishing by the end. I'm pretty surprised I actually finished it, considering how ridiculous the final area, and final bosses were. If kid-me had been sitting around watching adult-me play through this game, I'm sure he would have been pretty impressed with how much more "colorful" the obscenities that got thrown around were, and astonished by what some good, ol' fashioned, obstinance can accomplish.
Saturn Bomberman was waved around in my face, by an advertisement on the back of the manual, every time I would open up Sonic Jam. Even though I hated the crab boss in Mega Bomberman so--dadgum--much, I still really liked the game, which made that advertisement pretty effective in making me want Saturn Bomberman. I never did get it, growing up, but I've had the Japanese version for a few years now. It's pretty good. I like the way the dino mounts grow, and power up over time. The bosses and stages are bit more interesting, in comparison to Mega Bomberman, as well. It's also a very graphically appealing game.
--
Lost in Shadow is sort of a bummer, in that it seems like it should be a really nice marriage between Limbo and Ico, but is not nearly as good as either of those games. It plays well enough, but it's way too long. The latter 4/5ths of the game really does very little different from the first 1/5th. The big shtick that does come into play is introduced way too late for it to not feel like a, "fuck you, you're going to go back through the levels now, and liking it," from the developers. There are also these "shadow corridors" that are pretty much a waste of time. They affect completion percentage, but are just a snooze. Also, the story is completely ridiculous; Even more so by the end of the game than at the beginning.
--
Kirby games are always good. Dream Land is pretty short, but enjoyable. I 100%-ed 2, which was a bit of a chore, but I do like the animal buddies. Well, Coo, anyway. The secret final boss is a little ridiculous, though. I got the "good" ending in 3, which only gives 97% completion. Getting the other three percent involves some really dumb mini games in the options menu. I missed one of them by a single question. It's dumb. Moving on--.
--
Rent a Hero was pretty cool. It's a little spartan in its presentation, but it plays pretty well. The one major complaint would be the hit detection in the fight scenes, but I'm pretty sure that's intentional, because the controls are pretty much perfect. It's a fairly tough game because of it, though. Combat aside, Rent a Hero is sort of like what would happen if Earthbound were actually playable, and had good humor, or an interesting story. I quite enjoyed Rent a Hero, but I can still understand why it would have been panned on release, and available for under 100 yen after a couple weeks. I can also understand how it rose from the ashes as a cult classic that commanded 10,000+ yen, a number of years later.
--
Tricolore Crise is for people who really like crafting, grinding, and pumping stat boosters into 'customizable' familiars. It's an interesting game, but it's really, really, really, really, really slooooooooowwwwwww. The story is ostensibly about a test to determine the team-of-three most fit to woman some towers meant to control the Ivalice (ie. monster) hoards. It's a bit droll in practice, really. Although there is a rebellion at one point, the main intrigue comes in the form of interacting with the other teams, but it's done so rather specifically, and a lot of it can be easily missed. It's not a bad game, I'd just struggle to call it a great one. It was okay for what it was.
--
Yoshi's Island was one of just a couple games I ever had for the SNES, growing up. I always enjoyed it, but never really got any farther than maybe into the second world. (There's a pattern here. I was not good at video games as a kid, nor was I especially patient.) In my mind, Yoshi's Island was always the one 2D Mario (aside from Mario Bros, I guess) that I could say I enjoyed. It's not really as good as I remember, but it is still good. I like the bosses, but there's still not much that really differentiates the stages, for me. This is kind of the issue I have with a lot of Nintendo platformers: It feels like they lack cohesion.
For that matter, DKC was one of the other SNES games I had as a kid, and I had probably only made it as far as world 3. I really don't care much for this game, even though I didn't mind too much as a kid. It's kind of fun to run around as Diddy, but every other level is in a cave, or set to some equally dark, uninteresting backdrop. Also, DK seriously sucks.
DKC 2 might be worse, though. I like both of the characters, but I just really hate a lot of the levels. Particularly where there are really annoying gimmicks, like the brambles. Most of worlds one and four are all right, and I like a couple of the early levels in world 5, but the rest is a hot mess--world 2.
For the record, I liked DKC 3 a lot, and completed it 100%.
--
Clockwork Knight was WAY better than I thought it would be. It was actually--dare I say--really good. The controls might take a little bit of getting used to, though, as Tongara tends to slide a little. Overall, I thought there was some pretty crafty stage design, and I really liked the final boss.
--
Magical Adventure 3 is a letdown, and I kind of forgot all about it even though I played it just over a week ago. Not nearly as good as the first two. There's just something really off about the way it plays.
--
Zenki was pretty good--looks amazing--but the controls are a bit stiff. Zenki has a bunch of different attacks, and maneuvers, which are all pretty cool, but he doesn't really feel as mobile as I feel he should. I enjoyed the game, though. The level design isn't especially great, or anything, but it's fairly fun, and the bosses are tough, but fair. It's a pretty short game, though.
--
Anearth is a weird one. It has an FFII-like growth system, but no random battles. Every battle is completely scripted, and aside from a couple exceptions, once those enemies are defeated, they're gone; They ain't never comin' back. A lot of Japanese websites say that a walkthrough for the game is mandatory, but I didn't really see why. There are a lot of tricky flags, I guess. I actually did get stuck in the royal capitol because I was going to where the fortune teller told me to, but I needed to actually stay at the inn before the person I was supposed to find there would actually show up. I was avoiding staying at the inn, because the old woman in my party had tried to molest my main character the last time I had stayed there. She succeeded in molesting the little mage girl who later joined my party, and did get the main character after using a potion of youth--. Olga is a beast of a swordswoman, but she's legitimately a pedophile, and it's pretty disconcerting how casual the game is about her penchant for sexual assault of kids, when the final screen in the game just says "God Bless You." Before the final boss she also has a nice line where she tells the main character to stop crying, and that if he wants to make something wet, it should be between her legs.
About that final boss, though: It's absurd, and I had to mix herbs for stat boosting items until I was nearly at max stats before it was beatable. Also, certain characters have lines that they say before every attack, and they get so annoying toward the end of the game (particularly the second to last boss). The ending is so indescribably terrible, I could barely stand it. It was so ridiculously dumb that it just had me in stitches laughing at its absurdity. This is a game that people seem to either call a masterpiece, or garbage. I liked it a fair amount until the end of the game, for what it's worth.
--
Sometime in the early aughts, I was upset about the discontinuation of the Dreamcast, and watching X-Play talk about Panzer Dragoon Saga. Obviously this lead me to Ebay, where I saw that PDS was way out of my price range. I settled for a listing of PD I and II for about $25. I never really played all that much of them, mostly because they just seemed to be way too difficult. I've actually beaten PDS and PD Mini, but let the first two games languish for such a long time.
I decided to put in Panzer Dragoon the other day, though, and while I'd always struggled to get past the Episode 4 boss, I had very little trouble passing that, and beating the game (Although Episode 6 was tricky). I guess it just clicked at that point. So, that's a fun game with a really good soundtrack, but a pretty rough framerate, and pretty tricky gameplay, because of it. Zwei, though, is damn near perfect. Where the original is a bit tough, for the wrong reasons, Zwei has probably the perfect difficulty, with some really nice gameplay improvements: camera control, branching paths, dragon evolutions, etc. While it doesn't have the orchestral soundtrack of the first, I think Zwei's OST is better, and it perfectly fits with the stages. Zwei also runs really well, has some gorgeous set-pieces, and overall, very nice graphics for the time. I love Zwei. Uh-muh-guh, and that soundtrack!
Orta is kind of-- I really don't know. It seems like it should be way better than Zwei, but I don't like it more. The stages just don't feel as exciting, or fun; I don't like the music quite as much; Switching dragon forms is kind of a chore. This is actually the first XBOX game I've ever beaten, and honestly, the sterile, plastic, feeling to the XBOX's graphics feels like it doesn't suit the Panzer Dragoon series at all. It's kind of a shame, because I like Orta, and a lot of the other character, but there just seems to be something missing from the package that was there in Zwei. Also, who the hell decided that extra convex face-buttons were a good idea? I do have to say that the ending theme for Orta is magnificent, though--Takahashi Yumiko, ftw.
Mario tax?
