April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Join in on our classic gaming club!
User avatar
nightrnr
Next-Gen
Posts: 1824
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:56 pm

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by nightrnr »

BoneSnapDeez wrote:Still rollin' through Vermilion, though I've slowed down a bit. This game reuses tilesets to the point of insanity.

I suppose that's a casualty of trying to be 3 different games in a low memory cart (by later standards). Doesn't make it any less disappointing, but I wasn't surprised on that end.
...just another lost soul...
User avatar
BoneSnapDeez
Next-Gen
Posts: 20118
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 1:08 pm
Location: Maine

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by BoneSnapDeez »

Well, I finished the game. The last few hours really sucked. I hit the level cap early on and just found myself running from battle after battle as a result. The lack of inventory space becomes a major issue late-game, especially since you need a cluster of specialized keys to navigate the final dungeon -- that's like half the inventory right there!

The game starts to straight-up troll near the end too. Items hidden in obscure places. A lack of maps. Even finishing the game is a mystery..... after defeating the final boss you have to head to a specific town and "use" the mystical stones on a king's throne? Where else in the game does one "use" an item on an object? I understand this game came with a hint book... good thing, as the final stretch would be nigh impossible without it.

Kind of a lackluster experience overall. Repetitive, cryptic, but with mash-A battles that get very easy very quickly, making the whole thing feel like a "mindless" slog. Phantasy Star II is probably just as tedious, but that game had much cooler aesthetics.
User avatar
nightrnr
Next-Gen
Posts: 1824
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:56 pm

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by nightrnr »

I may have used a walkthrough in a couple parts on my playthrough.
I was also overleveled (not sure if I reached the cap) mostly because I failed to realize that I had a warp spell; so I walked back and forth literally everywhere searching for things (and fought most battles).

I do remember being glad to be done with it. Even so, I liked it for the most part. I won't fight any criticisms though, the game is the definition of archaic design.

A note about Phantasy Star II: I would not have survived that game without the guide it came with. One dungeon in particular is deviously tedious. And I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have found or known about the visiphone on my own.
...just another lost soul...
pook99
128-bit
Posts: 788
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 11:27 pm

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by pook99 »

tried to play last battle, it was meh, but there is a way to do a super jump which is required to get over some pits, but it doesnt seem to work consistently and the game is just not engaging enough to bother. I probably wont play through any games for this since I want to tie up some loose ends before I start the summer challenge.
alienjesus
Next-Gen
Posts: 8776
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:10 pm
Location: London, UK.

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by alienjesus »

BoneSnapDeez wrote:Well, I finished the game. The last few hours really sucked. I hit the level cap early on and just found myself running from battle after battle as a result. The lack of inventory space becomes a major issue late-game, especially since you need a cluster of specialized keys to navigate the final dungeon -- that's like half the inventory right there!

The game starts to straight-up troll near the end too. Items hidden in obscure places. A lack of maps. Even finishing the game is a mystery..... after defeating the final boss you have to head to a specific town and "use" the mystical stones on a king's throne? Where else in the game does one "use" an item on an object? I understand this game came with a hint book... good thing, as the final stretch would be nigh impossible without it.

Kind of a lackluster experience overall. Repetitive, cryptic, but with mash-A battles that get very easy very quickly, making the whole thing feel like a "mindless" slog. Phantasy Star II is probably just as tedious, but that game had much cooler aesthetics.


Yeah. your thoughts are pretty similar to mine overall. It's not good.
Image
User avatar
BoneSnapDeez
Next-Gen
Posts: 20118
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 1:08 pm
Location: Maine

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by BoneSnapDeez »

My favorite part of the game is actually..... the towns. So, yeah.............
User avatar
Note
Next-Gen
Posts: 1263
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 4:39 pm
Location: NYC

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by Note »

I've been on a shmup binge the past two weeks, so figured I'd play a few sessions of Truxton to participate a bit more.

I'm not good at the game yet, but played for about two hours on the easy difficulty. I like the power-up system in the game, and the graphics are pretty colorful which I appreciate. My only issue with the colorful backgrounds is sometimes I have difficulty seeing the orange bullets over certain backgrounds. Also, another problem for me is all the enemies that come from behind -- in certain sections this killed me a lot. With more playthroughs, I'll hopefully have a better idea of where I need to be to avoid those specific enemies. Also, I find the music to be relaxing, it's a good contrast with all the action on screen, IMO.

I was able to get up to the large blue boss (?) in Stage 2, Round 1, but he kept kicking my ass. I just couldn't execute the pattern I needed to, to get past this section. I'll most likely play it a bit more throughout the week, and hopefully can get a bit further.
dsheinem
Next-Gen
Posts: 23183
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:56 pm
Contact:

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by dsheinem »

Truxton might be my favorite Genesis shmup. Some of Toaplan's best work. I've debated giving it another run through this month...

What I did play through was Space Harrier II. I now think it is much better than I once used to...

It also seemed really appropriate for the COVD-19 times, so I made a cartoon
Attachments
COVID SH.jpg
COVID SH.jpg (105.38 KiB) Viewed 8524 times
User avatar
BoneSnapDeez
Next-Gen
Posts: 20118
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 1:08 pm
Location: Maine

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by BoneSnapDeez »

lol

I dig it.
User avatar
prfsnl_gmr
Next-Gen
Posts: 12202
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:26 pm
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina

Re: April Together Retro: 1980s Genesis

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

Agree. That’s awesome, DSH. I should give Space Harrier II another shot, I guess.
Post Reply