Games Beaten 2019

[pook99]

For anyone who wants to play castlevania 2, the best way to do it is with the rom hack called simons quest redaction. The rom hack makes the following changes:

1) text box is sped up considerably so day/night transitions are much smoother
2) Hearts are worth double so you dont have to spend as much time farming
3) villagers make sense and give actual hints
4) floors you can fall through are now invisible meaning you dont have to walk around spamming holy water

It makes the game infinitely more playable, and while it is still the weakest in the series, if you want to play through it, this is the way.


Games Beaten:

8. Vosaria: lair of the forgotten
9. Vintage Hero
10. God of War (ps4)
11. Legendary Wings (nes)
12. Tiny Toobs Busters hidden treasure (genesis)
13. Johnny Rocket
14. Spider-man (ps4)

Its too late to write a full review, but the bottom line is that Spider-man is the best superhero game ever made and quite possibly my favorite new game of this generation. I had a medical thing last week and was forced to stay home from work and play videogames all week...what a shame.

I played this non-stop and just loved every single thing about it, the story was great, the characters were all extremely well written, the combat was insanely fun, just swinging around the city was a blast, and I even enjoyed the side missions which I normally don't do. If you have even the slightest interest in spider-man you absolutely need to play this game.

[nullPointer]

The List So Far:

1. Super Mario World [SNES]

2. Rocket Knight Adventures [GEN] [Together Retro: Konami Loves Genesis - 01/2019]


Despite the fact that Rocket Knight Adventures is a Konami title, I can't help but draw mental comparisons to some of the better known Treasure games released for Sega systems. And because Treasure was actually formed by ex-Konami employees, I can't help but wonder whether that connection actually has some merit in reality. OTOH that might be fanciful thinking on my part – Treasure was formed in 1992, and released its first game Gunstar Heroes a month after Rocket Knight Adventures released in August of 1993. Some of the similarities are striking though.



In point of fact Gunstar Heroes might even be the closest point of comparison I can make to this game. Although Rocket Knight Adventures is not as 'shooty' as Gunstar Heroes, it maintains a similar atmosphere of arcade style bombast and spectacle. There's a steadfast focus on non-stop action with particular attention given to frequent multi-stage boss fights. The moveset is easy to grasp, yet takes practice to master. These are some hallmarks typical of Treasure games, and Rocket Knight Adventures follows a similar philosophy to an almost uncanny degree. It also needs to be said that this is a difficult game, probably even moreso than Gunstar Heroes, IMO. And that my friends is how we know we're still in Konami territory. The difficulty in Rocket Knight Adventures rarely feels cheap, but it's also very unforgiving. This is a game you learn by dying … a lot … which of course is all part of that good ol' magic Konami touch.



I don't mean to indicate that Rocket Knight Adventures is in any way derivative though. There are a number of areas in which it excels beyond even the mighty Treasure Sega library. One of those areas is in characterization. Treasure (IMO) never particularly exceled at developing memorable characters. Konami was a bit more savvy in this regard, and if ever there were a mascot-type character in need of something to actually mascot for, it could very well be the titular Rocket Knight (née Sparkster). This game exudes the type of charm and style characteristic in so many 'flaghip mascot' lines. In point of fact I have to wonder whether the game's difficulty is the very aspect that prevented it from catching on in a greater capacity. Although this looks like a kid oriented, family fun type of game, it certainly doesn't play like one.



While ostensibly a shooter/platformer, that description is probably a bit overly reductive. For one thing your jumps are extremely limited. So in order to make bigger 'leaps', you're often required to charge up your rockets which are capable of launching you in 8 directions. This means of mobility is also instrumental in launching airborne attacks, and some bosses are only vulnerable to rocket based attacks. The game is also interspersed with a few side-scrolling shmup style levels which you tackle jet pack style. Variation in playstyle is always welcome in games like this, but unfortunately I feel that the shmup levels are a weak point in Rocket Knight Adventures. They're not bad per se, but they just don't feel quite as 'dialed in' as the rest of the game … which is a bit odd coming from the 'House of Gradius', but here we are. (There are actually a couple of great callouts to Gradius in the shmups levels which admittedly is a really nice touch)

Rocket Knight Adventures sits in this weird nether realm between 'hidden gem' and 'well regarded classic'. It deserves to be remembered though, because this is one of the best Genesis games I've played in a long while (that wasn't a replay). Highly recommended for action game fans, particularly so if you enjoy Treasure's output on Sega systems.

[pook99]

1. Kung fu z (android)
2. Celeste
3. Dead Dungeon
4. Defender Faith
5. The Messenger
6. Eroico
7. Awesome Pea
8. Vosaria: lair of the forgotten
9. Vintage Hero
10. God of War (ps4)
11. Legendary Wings (nes)
12. Tiny Toobs Busters hidden treasure (genesis)
13. Johnny Rocket
14. Spider-man (ps4)
15. Ori and the blind forest

15. Ori and the blind forest

This is a game that I have been meaning to play FOREVER. I have heard nothing but amazing things about this game and generally really enjoy hardcore platformers. I tend to enjoy linear ones over metroidvanias, which is probably why it took me so long to play this game, but this game is so smooth and well done that the metroidvania aspects never get in the way of your enjoyment of the high quality platforming, but I will get to that later.

The story is simple enough and told in a very minimal way. I am the type of person who tends to get annoyed by stories in platformers as they often are fairly bad and just get in the way of the platforming. Ori handles this aspect remarkably well, outside of the intro, the story segments are so short that they never feel intrusive, and much of the story unfolds through gameplay. While the story telling is minimal, the game also does a very good job of telling a pretty heartwarming tale and I surprisingly found myself attached to all the silent characters and got misty eyed at several points throughout the game.

The graphics have a very nice and unique look, all the environments are varied, but I do feel the game can be a bit on the dark side at several points. I found myself dying several times due to being unable to see an environmental hazard, but once I turned up the brightness to its maximum setting this happened far less often and I enjoyed the game a lot more. I would recommend anyone who wants to play this to crank the brightness up to the max before you play, it will save you a lot of early game headaches that almost initially turned me off from this gem.

The gameplay in this game is silky smooth, at the start of the game you have nothing more than a jump, and like any good metroidvania, you gradually unlock new abilities that help you fight and traverse the environments. The progression in this game is perfect, the upgrades are given to you at just the right frequency, that always gives you time to get used to your new abilities, but never leave you for too long without unlocking a new ability, this keeps the game fresh as you are always getting new abilities and using your old abilities for new things.

A big issue I have with metroidvanias is the abundance of backtracking that frequently takes place in them, and how easy it is to lose your way and then be left wandering aimlessly wondering where you need to go next. This is literally never a problem in Ori, every objective is highlighted on your map in a big way and the environments are laid out in a way that backtracking is rare, and even when you do need to pass through an old area you are doing it with a new ability, and the speed of your character means you will get through these areas very quickly. There is no fast travel in this game, and the only time I missed this option was on the trek to the very last level, on the way to the last level you need to trek through a very large portion of map. A fast travel would have been nice, but honestly, I still found myself taking the scenic route because I wanted to explore darkened portions of the map for hidden upgrades.

Aside from the large overworld there are also 3 dungeons that you have to enter, each of these are unique in their own way and a lot of fun to play, the last level in particular was one of the best dungeons I have ever played and was both very creative in its design and a blast to play.

Ori has a reputation for being very difficult. Personally, I did not think it was as hard as people make it out to be, in fact I would say the difficulty of this game was perfect. You will die, but you will learn from your deaths, and you will get better, and quickly progress. The game has instant respawns so you jump right back in to the action, and the game has the best save system of any game I have ever played in my entire life. By holding the B button Ori creates a soul link that acts as a checkpoint. It does consume some energy to use, but I don't think I was ever in a position where I did not have energy. This system allows you to save just about anywhere, there are a handful of spots where you cannot save, but for the most part you can save anytime you want. This system keeps the frustration level extremely low, because even if there is a tough spot you can create enough checkpoints to get through it without having to play long sections of it over and over.

Overall, Ori and the blind forest is an absolute must play, and easily one of the best metroidvanias of all time.

[Sarge]

Mega Man 11 successfully brings back the Blue Bomber, although it falls short of the best of the series. My biggest issue was that it was too easy to buy lots of lives and energy tanks and cheese through the stages.

Still, a fun four hours overall. I'd recommend to hardcore Mega Man fans, but it won't convert anyone that already dislikes the series.

[Ack]

Legit question: do any of us actually not like the original Mega Man series?

[marurun]

It is very possible, and in fact reasonable, to have mixed feelings about a given classic Mega Man game, but I am not sure I have met anyone who was truly put out by the classic series as a whole.

[laurenhiya21]

Legit question: do any of us actually not like the original Mega Man series?

I haven't played any of the original ones, but I have tried out a few in the X series and I really didn't like those. I didn't really think they were bad or anything but I'm not really a big fan of platformers (especially 2D ones) and the X games I tried were just too difficult for me. I know the original series is different from the X series but they don't really look like games that I would enjoy playing.

[MrPopo]

If you thought the X games platforming was too hard you would not like the classic games.

[pook99]

Legit question: do any of us actually not like the original Mega Man series?

I haven't played any of the original ones, but I have tried out a few in the X series and I really didn't like those. I didn't really think they were bad or anything but I'm not really a big fan of platformers (especially 2D ones) and the X games I tried were just too difficult for me. I know the original series is different from the X series but they don't really look like games that I would enjoy playing.

Classic Mega Man is one of my all time favorite series of video games but I do not enjoy the X games, so it is possible to like one and not the other. The original Mega Man series is challenging, but for different reasons than the x series, and in later entries when you can farm for screws and e-tanks they become much more user friendly.

If you wanted to ever play some classic mega man the best place to start would be mega man 11, they have a lot of difficulty options which make the game far more accessible to a much wider range of players, then if you find you enjoy it you can always try branching off to some of the easier mega mans, like 5 and 7.

Just don't start with the original, it is a great game, but it is one of the more difficult in the series and it is the only game without a save/password feature.

[Arenegeth]

Legit question: do any of us actually not like the original Mega Man series?

I don't know about 'don't like' but I never actually played any of the original series (or X for that matter).

Well that's not entirely true, I did play Rockman 1-3 on a friends bootleg Famicom, back when I was like 10-11, but I'm not sure if that counts since I probably didn't even spend more than 15 minutes on all of them combined.

Then some years later, I rented The Wily Wars for the Mega Drive, and found it frustratingly difficult, but I was a stupid kid back then, so what did I know?

I think the only Mega Man game I've played from start to finish to this day was Megaman Legend 2.

Well, I'm open to giving the series a shot one day, but I'm a little turned off on side scrollers in general these days, played too many of them throughout the years.

But who knows, one day...