Together Retro 2017 Calendar - FINAL

[noiseredux]

maybe there's a compromise there? Something along the lines of combining the ideas of TR with Summer Gaming into seasons? Like, maybe one season would be "Final Fantasy," and everyone can just pick whichever FF game they want to play and share progress/discuss; one season we have a list of 5 or 6 or so arcade games - say all Sega one season or all from 1991 or some other theme; another season could be um... a trilogy of adventure games?; another season could be a short-list of these "modern retro" games that have been discussed in another thread, and so on.

We could even just do seasons based on classic systems... one season could be to explore the list of games that defined the 2600, the next the Genesis, and so on. In that sense the lists already exist so it'd just be a matter of picking four systems to explore.

So like, we break it down into short-lists of themed classics, or single-game or series or whatever for longer/RPG games, but we have more time to play rather than one a month. I don't know, brainstorming...

[Ack]

So long as you folks are all still ok with me doing the write up for the December game, because I want to have fun, and I can blame all of you not playing it on cowardice.

WeaponLord is coming.

WEAPONLORD

How many of you have made your way through the blood-soaked arena that is WeaponLord? How many of you have felt the fear that comes as you fall to your knees, your hands clutching the bloody remains of your own guts as the light fades from your eyes? How many have drowned in their own blood before your opponent severs your head and juggles it like a beach ball?

You don't deserve WeaponLord; it is better than you. But now I am offering it up as the December Together Retro title, you spineless worms. I'm writing it up. Quake with fear, gutless peasants. Here is an opportunity to play a man's game. A game that knows no pity. A game that will crush your body and dismember your soul. You have been challenged. Do you have the balls to face your death in the pit of vile combat?

[Exhuminator]

I think picking 'classics' would be less limiting than picking games that remind me of Autumn. / I'm not opposed to a theme idea, but I think a seasonal theme is really tough to work with.

With fall, you could find stuff that fits the weather itself, or Halloween or Thanksgiving, or whatever holidays fall in anyone's particular country. I went with Halloween-themed games, and beat almost thirty of them. It wasn't hard to find games in that theme, I still had plenty left to play. If someone instead went with the idea of the weather aspect, who knows what retro games they could find that would fit that. Part of the fun is digging through the retro archives to find stuff that fits the season. I realize this idea sounds wacky, I get it. But once you start doing it, it turns out to actually be fun. At least for me it is. I will be doing this going forward for a while. I'm about to try picking out some "winter" themed retro games to beat between December, January, and February.

Anyway, sorry to derail things a tad. Please do continue discussing Together Retro ideas gentlemen.

[racketboy]

So long as you folks are all still ok with me doing the write up for the December game, because I want to have fun, and I can blame all of you not playing it on cowardice.

WeaponLord is coming.

WEAPONLORD

How many of you have made your way through the blood-soaked arena that is WeaponLord? How many of you have felt the fear that comes as you fall to your knees, your hands clutching the bloody remains of your own guts as the light fades from your eyes? How many have drowned in their own blood before your opponent severs your head and juggles it like a beach ball?

You don't deserve WeaponLord; it is better than you. But now I am offering it up as the December Together Retro title, you spineless worms. I'm writing it up. Quake with fear, gutless peasants. Here is an opportunity to play a man's game. A game that knows no pity. A game that will crush your body and dismember your soul. You have been challenged. Do you have the balls to face your death in the pit of vile combat?

Haha! I'm totally up for it! I might even finally start shopping for the cart now Is the Genesis version decent? I can't remember...

[Ack]

The Genesis version went into development later than the SNES one. I'm not sure of differences between the two, as I haven't researched that yet, but if you are going to do it, use a six button controller. SNES is what I prefer out of habit.

[Ack]

Ok, I did some research into the differences, and a lot of it is going to come down to a matter of taste.

The SNES and Genesis releases have the same size and color sprites, the same number of combatants, the same bloody and gruesome levels of violence, the same amount of music tracks and voice samples. Both use the same resolution for the screen, but since the Genesis has a higher base resolution, this means there is a black bar behind the health info.

The SNES has better backgrounds with higher numbers of frames of animation and more colors utilized. The first stage is much bigger on the SNES version.

The Genesis version has higher quality sound and more frames of animation for the characters, so they flow through their attacks better.

The controls are different, so the SNES release of WeaponLord is like SNES Street Fighter 2, while the Genesis is like the arcade controls for SF2 on a six-button controller. The AI in the SNES version is consistently harder, while the Genesis AI steadily builds to that level of difficulty. You can execute opponents in both versions, but in the SNES release you don't ever have to refight the folks you killed, while in the Genesis version, you apparently do.

There you have it; pick according to your taste. Both have trade offs, making neither really seem superior in my opinion. If you played one version, it is likely best to stick to that version. If you have experience with SF2 on either SNES or Genesis, go with whichever you preferred it on.

[nullPointer]

Part of the fun is digging through the retro archives to find stuff that fits the season. I realize this idea sounds wacky, I get it. But once you start doing it, it turns out to actually be fun. At least for me it is. I will be doing this going forward for a while. I'm about to try picking out some "winter" themed retro games to beat between December, January, and February.

For what it's worth, I'm totally with you on this. My internal gaming calendar is sort of based around seasonal gaming anyway. Sometimes it's based around games that fit thematically with the season, although sometimes it just boils down to 'games/genres that I personally associate with certain times of year'. It also provides a great excuse to break out some sports games befitting of the season, since sports games rarely hover near the top of my backlog. You also just reminded me that I haven't played Snow Bros. in years! At any rate, I agree that it's tons of fun. Even if it was run as a separate informal 'community event thread' I think it would be a worthwhile endeavor.

WEAPONLORD

Oh man I totally forgot that this is coming up. I'll at least be giving this a fair shake.

[isiolia]

I'm not opposed to a theme idea, but I think a seasonal theme is really tough to work with.

I think having a more open theme would be more inviting, but I also think keeping it somewhat focused is important. Similar to what noise mentioned, maybe something like highlighting a particular console or genre each month. That'd allow for highlighting some of the best examples as suggestions, but leave room for people to find games they haven't played or happen to feel like playing too.

[Exhuminator]

maybe something like highlighting a particular console or genre each month

I like this idea.

I really don't think the "here's an arbitrary retro game you may or may not care about, now everybody play solely it this month" is the best way to achieve community participation. As evidenced by the decline in TR.

[noiseredux]

maybe something like highlighting a particular console or genre each month

I like this idea.

me too.