Games Beaten:
First 50:
51. Gauntlet IV
Mega Drive52. Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Master System53. Psycho Fox
Master System54. The Ninja
Master System55. R-Type
Master System56. Momotarō Katsugeki
PC Engine57. Overcooked: Special Edition
Switch eShop58. Parasol Stars
PC Engine59. Star Parodier
PC Engine60. Cadash
PC Engine61. Dead or Alive Ultimate
Xbox62. Dead or Alive Ultimate 2
Xbox63. OutRun 2
Xbox64. Pop'n Twinbee
SNES65. Wild Guns Reloaded PS4 *NEW*
66. Journey PS4 *NEW*Replays!:
1. Bare Knuckle III
Mega Drive2. Die Hard Arcade
Saturn3. The World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
Mega Drive4. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
3DS VC 5. Trip World
3DS VC10 more reviews to write up yet...
Wild Guns Remastered
I’ve been making it a mission of mine to try and acquire physical copies of all the games I downloaded on Nintendo’s Virtual Console service. One game which seemed out of reach though, was Wild Guns. Rootin’ tootin’ 6 shootin’ giant steampunk robots in a futuristic wild west setting? What’s not to like!? The answer, of course, is the price tag, as this game is easily a 3 figure cartridge nowadays. So when Natsume announced they would be releasing a remastered version of the game to PS4, I was super happy.
Wild Guns Remastered is a fairly faithful remastering of the original on the surface. The game plays the same way – finish the first stage, then choose which order to do the next 4 before finally taking on the final stage. Each area of each level involves surviving enemies attacks whilst until the time limit ends, and then defeating a midboss, with a final boss at the end of the stage. You can move with the d-pad and jump (and double jump) with X, whilst Square shoots. Whilst shooting you can aim freely but you’re rooted in place, but pressing the jump button whilst shooting lets you jump out of the way of enemy bullets. Alternatively you can shoot them out of the air, which fills up a guage for your Vulcan Cannon – a powerful machine gun attack that makes you invincible for its duration. You can also press triangle for a screen clearing bomb and shoot down weapon power ups to swap your pistol for a more powerful weapon like a machine gun or shotgun, but these have limited ammo. Lastly, tapping shoot quickly lets you charge up a lasso which can stun enemies when thrown at them – useful for getting hits in on bosses.
However, this remaster also offers a lot of new stuff. As well as the original characters, Clint and Annie, who play in the classic style, you can now also play as new characters Doris and Bullet. Doris is a big lady who throws grenades to attack – these are super powerful and can be charged up for more damage with a wider spread, but she can’t grab weapon power ups or rapid fire. She also throws 3 lassos at once and can use a shielding ground punch to defend herself, but her dodge animation doesn’t grant invulnerability so it’s easy to die in a busy stage. Bullet is a Dachshund with a drone following him, and easily the hardest character to use. Bullet is small and speedy so good for dodging, but his drone attacks independently to him. Holding shoot sets an area for the drone to shoot, and it automatically aims at any enemies in it’s range. Meanwhile, Bullet can move freely still, but can’t defend himself. This is very different to how every other character works, so it’s very easy to kill yourself whilst getting used to it.
In addition to new characters, there are some other new features – a pair of new stages (a graveyard and an airship type level) to play, some new weapon power-ups to grab (like a powerful laser beam) and the fact that the whole game is prettier, higher resolution and widescreen too. There’s also now 4 player multiplayer support. It’s a nice package of additions, but unfortunately the implementation is flawed. The new characters and weapons are fantastic regardless, but the new levels only appear on the harder difficulties, and replace old ones. So there’s no ‘hard’ version of the ammo depot and no ‘easy’ version of the graveyard, which is disappointing. In addition, the game balance is also way off – normal mode here is equivalent to hard in the SNES version from what I can see, and that game wasn’t a pushover to begin with. If you play the game on ‘easy’ which is equivalent to the original difficulty, you’ll miss out on the new levels, which sucks.
The multiplayer is disappointingly done too. For a start, there’s no online multiplayer, which is pretty shit because frankly, who has 4 PS4 controllers knocking about? Basically no other PS4 games support local multiplayer so the incentive to stock up isn’t there. Secondly, and more importantly, Multiplayer play for some reason removes continues. As if the game isn’t hard enough, and chaotic as shit with 4 of you bouncing about, now you also have to worry about a single game over ending your run, which happens in no other method of playing this game. This means multiplayer is basically only for you if you have a couple of friends who are already good at the game, so good luck with that.
Wild Guns Remastered is a nice remaster of the game, but some of the changes they’ve made just feel utterly bizarre to me. Increased difficulty, botched multiplayer and locking away of levels behind difficulty walls all seem like terrible ideas, but thankfully the quality of the base game still holds up and the new characters are great too. Pick this game up if you can, but I have to express a preference for the better balanced original, despite this game’s additional content. The PS4 is way way cheaper though at least!
JourneyMy Journey, by Graham N, aged 28 ½ (P.S. Spoilers ahead!)
I started my journey through the desert wastes alone. I wasn’t very capable. I could walk around, I could call out ‘Bwom!’ with a white orb surrounding me. I could also see a mountain bathed in light. I guess that’s where I’m headed then. Off I go.
I found a scarf that lets me jump and glide. It feels freeing. No more trudging up hills, no I could float up them. Of course, I’d then need to find a palce to recharge my scarf, but it still helps. I explored a desert area searching for scarves to buold a bridge. It was very big and empty, but I found some cool secrets. A mural on a wall which appeared when I ‘bwom’ed at it. A glowing rune which extended my scarf and let me float for longer. I built a bridge of scarves and flew to the next area, an open desert. It was still quite empty, but I explored and came across another mural.
“Bwom!” I hear a sound in the distance and turn around to see another wanderer flying over the dune towards me. ‘Bwom!’ I call in response, and begin to meditate by the mural. My compatriot joins me for some time, and then calls out once more. I follow him over the dunes.
My newfound ally seems to know the area. He leads me on a tour, showing me where I can find more runes and more murals. We fly together, calling out to each other as we go. Our calls recharge our scarves, allowing us to fly more. Being with a friend is liberating, and I feel free.
We continue our journey. My friend lets me take the lead, but every so often he calls to me and leads me aside along the dunes, revealing more secrets to me. Our scarves grow long, and we soar along our journey. Eventually we find flowing sand drifts and zoom down them, jump and sliding through the arcs. It’s easy to lose sight of each other here, so we call to each other as we surf the dunes ‘Bwom!’, ‘Bwom!’. When one of us pulls ahead we drift from side to side to allow the other to catch up. It is joyous, and the journey feels good. Travelling with friends makes the miles pass in the blink of an eye.
And then we drop, into the darkness. All is not well here. Giant beasts tour the area searching. My colleague leads me through the side passages to avoid their gaze. We surf the dunes and dodge the enemies. Our scarves are so so long now, they stretch for miles behind us. The enemy is here, but we have our friendship, and so there’s no reason to be scared. We reach the end of the cavern, and pass through a tunnel.
Ahead of us stands a tower of light. It looks like there are puzzles to be solved. I run forward enthusiastically. ‘Bwom!’ I call. But no response arrives. I look around for my partner, only to see the last of their body disappear into sand. My friend has left me, and I am alone. I push on, the world seeming far more quiet now.
I climb the tower, filling the chamber with light as I progress. It feels like a lonely task alone, but I also feel accomplished. Then, below me, I catch a glimpse of red! My friend is back. I fly down to him! ‘Bwom!’.
But it is not him. This is another traveller. They seem confused, lost. They wander around absently. Their scarf is small, their journey has not been so easy as mine. I deem to help them as my friend helped me. I call out to my new compatriot to show them where to find the runes I have discovered in the room. But they do not follow. They do not heed my calls, and they do not follow me when I go. I deem to instead follow them, but they wander around absentmindedly and I am forced to make the decision to abandon my new friend. They are slowing me down, and I have to finish my journey. And so, once more, I push on alone.
At the top of the tower I discover a world of ice. My scarf freezes and I can no longer fly. Winds blow me back. I feel helpless. I wish my friend was here. I crawl from cover to cover dodging the child winds and the floating monsters until I reach a plateau.
Suddenly, a monster swoops down. My scarf is frozen and I cannot escape. The monster rips the scarf in two, the benefit of dozens of runes lost to the world as I am left with rags of my former glory. I push on, alone and weakened, to my final goal. I call out frequently, in case any other lonely souls are nearby and can hear me, but there is no-one to be found. I am truly alone.
Finally, I reach the top of the mountain and step into the light. I’m soaring now, flying through the sky. After the oppressive journey up the mountain, this feels like a reward. You did this alone, and you alone shall get to soar. And that was my journey.
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Journey in all honesty is a simple game without a lot to offer in it’s gameplay systems. But the mood of the game is fantastic, and if the stars align and you get an experience like I did, it feels truly magical. The way you’re limited in communication with your partner makes you feel like you need to pay attention to them, and the benefit of free soaring is so wonderful that it makes you want to work together. I felt a real sense of lost when my first friend vanished. Journey is short and easy and without a friend I can imagine it may feel underwhelming, but I found the experience quite special.
At the end of the game, Journey tells you the PSN IDs of the players you encountered. I decided to send a message to my helpful friend, thanking them for the journey. When I looked them up on PSN, it turned out they were Japanese. By limiting communication, Journey had passed language barriers. I think that’s something to be celebrated.
