racketboy.com

Pier Solar I'll agree on. I would have loved a visual guide for that one as I don't have time to play dumb guessing games with RPGs anymore so I stopped on it not too deep into the game. I can't justify the insane price of that guide and knowing how the seedy types are it amazes me no one had revenge scanned it last I looked.

Wonderboy that just popped up is fine as another choice, but before that look up Dragon's Curse: Dragon's Trap which is a direct remake in windows of the old SMS game but expands on it a bit too. It's hard to locate, it's freeway, just google that and a sms-power web forum discussion should pop up. A ways down the page you'll find a 64bit updated exe and fix patch along with the original files. Trust me you won't be disappointed if you love the original.

Axiom Verge seems to fall into the realm of this stuff and it seems to be truly fantastic from the little on a kiosk I played and much more I read into it so I set myself up with a switch version when it arrives this month in maybe a week or less.

There are so many good obvious ones you can throw around from Retro City Rampage to Steamworld Dig.

Sarge wrote:
EDIT: Oh, right, the Shantae games! Both Pirate's Curse and 1/2 Genie Hero are great, but PC is easily the best of the series.

I loved 1/2GH so much I played Pirate's Curse and Risky's Revenge shortly after. It may be because I played it first, but I feel HGH is a lot more fun. Pirate's Curse has that great pixel art and has some really charming moments (moreso than 1/2GH), but I guess it just feels more like a handheld title in a way--it's hard for me to pin down, but it feels more tedious. PC brings the difficulty up to a good level though, I really think the best way to play the series is backwards as you work toward harder games. Risky's Revenge feels like a prototype PC, which isn't a bad thing.

Edit: Owlboy. Just look at it.



It's pretty fun, I only played about halfway through it and got lured away by various other distractions, but it's one of the best looking pixel art games I've ever played.

Oh, yeah, I raved about the Owlboy artwork a while back. It's really pretty. I wish it were bolted onto a slightly better game; it rarely rises above "okay" most of the time. Some remarkable world-building, though, and I feel like this team could knock something out of the park if they built on this a bit more.

Sarge wrote:Oh, yeah, I raved about the Owlboy artwork a while back. It's really pretty. I wish it were bolted onto a slightly better game; it rarely rises above "okay" most of the time. Some remarkable world-building, though, and I feel like this team could knock something out of the park if they built on this a bit more.

I agree with that point for point. It was a fine game, but it never "rose above" that into being great. I did see the rumblings of some good Square-in-the-90s style feels with the worldbuilding, but it didn't quite make it there at any point.

Have any of you guys played Slain: Back From Hell? it's certainly a beautiful looking game that effectively evokes shades of SotN era Castlevania, but I've not heard great things about the gameplay itself. Still you guys are who I turn to for a more unvarnished approach to these things, so I figured I'd ask here.

I may have to break down and finally buy Shovel Knight after reading all this...

Bought the physical version on Wii U last year I think. The game just didn't do anything for me outside the great OST. Maybe should give it another go sometime. I can see the appeal. It is Mega Man without shooting why I wanted it. Mega Man is awesome.

marlowe221 wrote:I may have to break down and finally buy Shovel Knight after reading all this...

If you like NES games, and have any fondness for Mega Man, DuckTales, or Zelda II, then you should love it. It was absolutely my game of the year when it came out.

Sarge wrote:If you like NES games, and have any fondness for Mega Man, DuckTales, or Zelda II, then you should love it. It was absolutely my game of the year when it came out.

I skipped the NES as a kid - went straight from 2600 to SNES. But I do like that kind of game play.

Is there a "best" version of the game out there? Or are they all pretty much the same?

I think, other than some oddball cameos on some systems (Battletoads on XB1, for example), they're all pretty much the same. There is also a wealth of content at this point; you get the primary campaign, Plague of Shadows which adds a few little changes to the existing stages and a very differently controlling protagonist, Specter of Torment which arranges things differently and a more Ninja Gaiden-ish moveset, and the upcoming King of Cards, which I believe also has all-new stage layouts. I know I'm looking forward to that bit of DLC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shovel_Knight