What are you playing?

Couple things here:

1. SA2 is an incredibly well-made videogame, with only the Knux/Rouge levels being a bit, "meh."
2. Sonic 3's special stages (the orbs) are the best, "extra," of any of the 2D games; significantly more-fun than the damn racetrack of 2 and there aren't cheap ways to make you lose: everything must be well thought-out and planned and reactions are more useful/less wasteful than the racetrack of 2.
3. I held a Switch in my hands for the first time, on Wednesday; portable? Really? The thing is over 1 foot long and feels INCREDIBLY flimsy; HTF did Sega and Atari get raked over the coals for their bricks, when this thing is EVEN BIGGER, while we are in an age where everything is getting smaller?
 
I'm really bad at the special stages; that's why I hate them! I always get like 2 or 3 orbs away, then make some ridiculous mistake and want to throw my controller. IMO, Sonic Mania is one of the most attractive 2D games I've ever played. It's lush.

I didn't like SA2 much. The Sonic/Shadow levels are good, but the rest of the stuff was disappointing. I particularly disliked the Knuckles stages. I remember horrible raps and searching far and wide for one last emerald, as the rap loops for the 37th time. I've got Sonic Forces and it's reallllllllllllllly not good, though I'm thinking of just giving it a spin for a Platinum once I wrap up Mania. I'm sure there's a 3D Sonic I've missed that might be decent (Colors, the one with the werewolf?), but I don't think Sega's quite gotten 3D Sonic close to the high standard it deserves...
 
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mjqjazzbar said:
Finished Okami. Absolutely loved it.

Been messing around with Sonic Mania. Not in the mood for a long experience right now. Goddamn I hate the bonus levels with the orbs so much, especially since I can't stand not collecting every single thing in a platform game, but otherwise the game is pure perfection and Nintendo should be ashamed of themselves for not making a 2D Mario of the same caliber (and Sega should be ashamed of themselves for not even approaching the greatness of 3D Mario in 20+ years).

We bought a Switch a few months ago, but it's pretty much an Animal Crossing-only machine cuz of my wife. Breath of the Wild and Tropical Freeze are begging me to play them. :( If she doesn't stop, I'm gonna have to start up Yakuza 3 and there goes another 2-3 months of my life...
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Just buy a Switch lite :p
 
Been powering through a ton of Genesis and Sega CD games the past month or so through my MegaSD. Sorry for the wall of text, but I miss talking video games, y'all!
  • Night Trap: Obviously you're obligated to play this if you have access to Sega CD games. I unironically enjoyed playing this game, despite the cheesiness and super grainy FMV. I had a notebook where I wrote down as many timestamps as possible to trap the enemies. I didn't 100% this, but did enough to beat the game.
  • Rise of the Dragon: A cyberpunk point and click adventure that's pretty interesting to play. There's a time of day feature and you need to beat the game within a few "game days" before game over. The frustrating thing is it's easy to get on a path where you'll lose without knowing right away. But the game is short enough where you can keep doing better in subsequent playthroughs.
  • Beyond Oasis: Action (light) RPG game that had a really great action combat system and a few interesting mechanics. A frustrating thing is there's so much hidden content in the game (including moves and combos!), but you're put on a linear path where you'd have to majorly backtrack to access it. I didn't want to look through an FAQ on my first time through the game, so maybe I'll try to use a guide to get through all the content in another playthrough.
  • Sonic 2, Sonic 3&K: Was due for a playthrough of these games because it's been too long.
  • Streets of Rage 2: Just going through some of the Genesis essentials again.
  • Bare Knuckle 3: I can't remember if I've played SOR 3 before, but I heard you really want to play the Japanese version (Bare Knuckle) because the balancing in pretty borked otherwise. It plays faster with a few extra moves over SOR 2, and while it's great, I think 2 is better because it has a better cadence to the combat and the enemies and levels are more interesting.
  • Contra: Hard Corp: This game is awesome, but I stopped playing because I didn't feel like continuously losing over and over to advance little by little. I'll return to this soon!
  • Landstalker: This always comes up as an Adventure/RPG must play for Genesis. I tried it for a few hours and can see its merits, but I didn't want to deal with the isometric camera so I stopped playing. Another one I'll return to playing once I'm in the right mindset.
  • Ristar: I just started this today, and it's awesome. I kind of wish the life of the Genesis was extended a bit, or at least more 2D design carried over to the Saturn. The games where so polished by the end of the consoles life, and the next generation kind of did a reset to go through the awkward puberty phase of early 3D games.

No shame in playing all this, 'cause quarantine, yo!
 
mjqjazzbar said:
I'm really bad at the special stages; that's why I hate them! I always get like 2 or 3 orbs away, then make some ridiculous mistake and want to throw my controller. IMO, Sonic Mania is one of the most attractive 2D games I've ever played. It's lush.

I didn't like SA2 much. The Sonic/Shadow levels are good, but the rest of the stuff was disappointing. I particularly disliked the Knuckles stages. I remember horrible raps and searching far and wide for one last emerald, as the rap loops for the 37th time. I've got Sonic Forces and it's reallllllllllllllly not good, though I'm thinking of just giving it a spin for a Platinum once I wrap up Mania. I'm sure there's a 3D Sonic I've missed that might be decent (Colors, the one with the werewolf?), but I don't think Sega's quite gotten 3D Sonic close to the high standard it deserves...
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lmao! Couldn't stop laughing at, "the rap loops for the 37th time." :ROFLMAO:. You wouldn't like Shellshock on the Saturn then!

I do agree with your overall consensus and, funnily-enough, I like SA much more than SA2. But SA2 is a great game, IMO the best Sonic 3D outing.

I hear you on the orbs! I went my first 2-3 years of playing Sonic 3, never completing the last 2 to get Super Sonic and to get Hyper Sonic while locked on with S&K... good luck.

I then got Sonic 1, plopped in the cartridge to S&K and practiced a ton. Now, while I RARELY miss out, it is still super challenging (I don't get perfects all the time, but I always strive for it).

The main thing to keep in mind (and seeing many play it online, they do it wrong) is to always run around a perimeter of orbs; that's the golden rule (people online do it in rows, which is hella wrong) and it makes things a lot easier.

Where it gets tricky is if you have to do a line that snakes and you're running super fast; reflexes have to be in peak form!
 
Tomato Convenience Store said:
Been powering through a ton of Genesis and Sega CD games the past month or so through my MegaSD. Sorry for the wall of text, but I miss talking video games, y'all!
  • Night Trap: Obviously you're obligated to play this if you have access to Sega CD games. I unironically enjoyed playing this game, despite the cheesiness and super grainy FMV. I had a notebook where I wrote down as many timestamps as possible to trap the enemies. I didn't 100% this, but did enough to beat the game.
  • Rise of the Dragon: A cyberpunk point and click adventure that's pretty interesting to play. There's a time of day feature and you need to beat the game within a few "game days" before game over. The frustrating thing is it's easy to get on a path where you'll lose without knowing right away. But the game is short enough where you can keep doing better in subsequent playthroughs.
  • Beyond Oasis: Action (light) RPG game that had a really great action combat system and a few interesting mechanics. A frustrating thing is there's so much hidden content in the game (including moves and combos!), but you're put on a linear path where you'd have to majorly backtrack to access it. I didn't want to look through an FAQ on my first time through the game, so maybe I'll try to use a guide to get through all the content in another playthrough.
  • Sonic 2, Sonic 3&K: Was due for a playthrough of these games because it's been too long.
  • Streets of Rage 2: Just going through some of the Genesis essentials again.
  • Bare Knuckle 3: I can't remember if I've played SOR 3 before, but I heard you really want to play the Japanese version (Bare Knuckle) because the balancing in pretty borked otherwise. It plays faster with a few extra moves over SOR 2, and while it's great, I think 2 is better because it has a better cadence to the combat and the enemies and levels are more interesting.
  • Contra: Hard Corp: This game is awesome, but I stopped playing because I didn't feel like continuously losing over and over to advance little by little. I'll return to this soon!
  • Landstalker: This always comes up as an Adventure/RPG must play for Genesis. I tried it for a few hours and can see its merits, but I didn't want to deal with the isometric camera so I stopped playing. Another one I'll return to playing once I'm in the right mindset.
  • Ristar: I just started this today, and it's awesome. I kind of wish the life of the Genesis was extended a bit, or at least more 2D design carried over to the Saturn. The games where so polished by the end of the consoles life, and the next generation kind of did a reset to go through the awkward puberty phase of early 3D games.

No shame in playing all this, 'cause quarantine, yo!
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ROtD is Snatcher-Lite (I called it as such on my Gfaqs review); you can basically expect that type of game (albeit P&C as opposed to Visual Novel) and setting.

It is great! The shooting sections don't look too hot, but fun and challenging. Great story too.

Landstalker and Light Crusader are waiting around to be played, so I may finally knock those off my backlog soon, but we'll see...

Ristar is Sonic Team's best game ever IMO, after S3&K. Such a wonderful title and I always bring up the mechanic of the sound level, carrying the metronome and the dynamic music... just incredible.
 
Still tryna rinse through my 360 back catalogue and 100% them. Well, in terms of achievements at least (I know they're not for everyone, but it's a much better alternative for my video game OCD to collecting everything, seeing everything, maxing out all stats, being top of leaderboards, etc)

Saints Row, Far Cry Classic, Sonic Adventure 2 (ugh), Trials Evolution, and Sensible World of Soccer are my current lot (though I imagine Trials Evolution will stay on it for years to come considering how difficult some things are)

It's getting to a point now where I'm not really enjoying games like I used to, but at the same time I can't turn to the TV for home-based entertainment coz it's far too passive. I feel like I need to be actively engaged with summat, and only really watch South Park when I'm eating.

Anyone else experiencing owt like this? I just know I would've come out of the lockdown with a fuse or two blown and completely rewired circuits if I had to isolate the entire time.
 
Warcraft adventures.(A cancelled warcraft game that was leaked with a fan fix)

Really, Blizzard was crazy for cancelling this game.
 
Deadly Premonition 2 was initially intriguing and while there were some changes I wasn’t sure about, it’s growing on me quite a bit. Just conflicted about some of the changes, some features from the first game I kind of took for granted, but I don’t think it would be as interesting if it were exactly the same game again. It’s kind of like the difference between No More Heroes 2(while still good in its own right) being a bit too derivative and Travis Strikes Again being kind of out there. Hopefully NMH3 can strike a good balance of old and new.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
ROtD is Snatcher-Lite (I called it as such on my Gfaqs review); you can basically expect that type of game (albeit P&C as opposed to Visual Novel) and setting.

It is great! The shooting sections don't look too hot, but fun and challenging. Great story too.

Landstalker and Light Crusader are waiting around to be played, so I may finally knock those off my backlog soon, but we'll see...

Ristar is Sonic Team's best game ever IMO, after S3&K. Such a wonderful title and I always bring up the mechanic of the sound level, carrying the metronome and the dynamic music... just incredible.
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Yeah, ROtD was a fun game to play on Sega CD and I wish there were more games like it on the platform. In retrospect more adventure/visual novels and RPGs would have been a nice compliment to the Genesis library (I know there are a few there like the Lunar Series and Shining Force CD). But yeah, I totally forgot about the shooting sections in ROtD. They were awful but at least there were only 3 of them.

Nathanial Essex said:
What the hell happened to the music in Streets of Rage 3? Just jumped on it after completing the first 2 games and everything about the music just screams crack cocaine. @Truck_1_0_1_ , any idea?
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Haha, well the music went crazy in that game but overall I liked it. I think it's a case of the music being technically impressive on it's own merits, but unfortunately doesn't work in service of the game very well. There are a few tracks that I really dig though. I'm sure it was influenced by some sort of crazy electronic music scene that was going on at the time. I read there were a few procedurally generated bits thrown in there as well.
 
Tomato Convenience Store said:
  • Beyond Oasis
  • Sonic 3&K
  • Contra: Hard Corp
  • Ristar
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Four of my favorite games on the console! Nice going.


Truck_1_0_1_ said:
Landstalker and Light Crusader are waiting around to be played, so I may finally knock those off my backlog soon, but we'll see...
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Landstalker was a game I had to really work to push through. The isometric mechanics are always a problem, and it's quite a drawn out game, I feel. I didn't enjoy it a whole lot, but Light Crusader is another one of my absolute favorites on the console. Much more interesting puzzles, the 8-way movement makes the isometric view much easier to work with, and it just has great (sometimes even silly) atmosphere. I love the soundtrack to the game, as well.

Truck_1_0_1_ said:
Ristar is Sonic Team's best game ever IMO, after S3&K. Such a wonderful title and I always bring up the mechanic of the sound level, carrying the metronome and the dynamic music... just incredible.
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I really like all the little character details, especially waiting around in the snow levels, and having Ristar start making snowballs.


Tomato Convenience Store said:
Yeah, ROtD was a fun game to play on Sega CD and I wish there were more games like it on the platform. In retrospect more adventure/visual novels and RPGs would have been a nice compliment to the Genesis library (I know there are a few there like the Lunar Series and Shining Force CD).
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There's Shadowrun on the Mega CD, which isn't purely an adventure/visual novel game, but is still pretty great. There's actually quite a lot of RPGs on the console that weren't released in the West. My favorites (of the ones I've played) are Illusion City, and Shin Megami Tensei.

Some, like After Armageddon Gaiden, are pretty much trash, though. Yet others, like Arcus 1-2-3 are just kind of average Wizardry style dungeon crawlers. I'm hoping Burai, Aisle Lord, Southern Eyes, and Fhey Area are at least decent.
 
Rydeen said:
There's Shadowrun on the Mega CD, which isn't purely an adventure/visual novel game, but is still pretty great. There's actually quite a lot of RPGs on the console that weren't released in the West. My favorites (of the ones I've played) are Illusion City, and Shin Megami Tensei.

Some, like After Armageddon Gaiden, are pretty much trash, though. Yet others, like Arcus 1-2-3 are just kind of average Wizardry style dungeon crawlers. I'm hoping Burai, Aisle Lord, Southern Eyes, and Fhey Area are at least decent.
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In my quarantine boredom I watched this entire video with the entire Sega CD gaming list open on gamefaqs, trying to look up anything that looked interesting, haha.
And yeah, it looks like there were a ton of games that looked great that seemed to be Japanese exclusives. I looked on romhacking to see if there were any fan translations, but I'm guessing those games are the niche of the niche, so it's not likely.

Truck_1_0_1_ said:
I then got Sonic 1, plopped in the cartridge to S&K and practiced a ton. Now, while I RARELY miss out, it is still super challenging (I don't get perfects all the time, but I always strive for it).
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I'm not sure if I'm stating the obvious or if it's common knowledge, but there are hidden S&K special stages with any cartridge you attach, it doesn't have to even be Sonic 1. I remember reading about the "secret" Sonic 1 special stage in Gamepro as a kid and thought I'd try the "A+B+C+Start" trick with another cartridge, and it worked! I went through a bunch of cartridges to see all the different special stages. There has to be some lunatic out there who's made ROMs of every cartridge + S&K.

I think there are a few games that don't work, and it comes down to the total size of the game on the cartridge being too big. I thought I saw that info in a youtube video once but I can't remember.
 
1594590190220.png

Just when I was kicking myself for not buying this in the Steam Summer Sale it appeared on Humble Bundle.

I'm only a couple of hours in and while it's a struggle for me (I'm not huge on horror games) I'm a fan of the films (especially the first) and the story intrigued me enough that I feel compelled to push on outside of my comfort zone.

The game itself has been excellent so far, the aesthetic is spot on and I like the "less is more" approach with the Xenomorph's presence, I also appreciate how ineffectual in combat the player character is, you get a proper sense of vulnerability.

1594590105826.png
 
Finished Sonic Mania for the first time last night. What. A. Game. A masterpiece, IMO. I want to keep playing it and playing it. It's definitely the greatest 2D Sonic ever. The last couple levels kicked my ass the first few times--I was actually running out of time during Act 1 for a while. Now I've got both levels down to about 3-4 minutes. What a feeling.

Def. used some of Truck's tips to get through the Sonic 3 bonus levels. I'm getting there, but I still get too anxious at the end and inevitably fuck up...

I bought the Crash Collection because Sonic Mania really put me in the mood for a quality AAA platformer.... Some story-based downer isn't gonna do it for me right now.
 
Nathanial Essex said:
What the hell happened to the music in Streets of Rage 3? Just jumped on it after completing the first 2 games and everything about the music just screams crack cocaine. @Truck_1_0_1_ , any idea?
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lol it's one of the many complaints of the game; as TCS mentioned, it was more a sign of the times, rather than deliberately trying to make ****** up music lol

I will say; Koshiro released Vatlva on the Saturn 2 years later and that game is full out craziness in the music department (well, craziness in a lot of things! :D), so I think it was just more of him experimenting than anything else.

I still prefer FF's music to SOR ;)

Rydeen said:
Landstalker was a game I had to really work to push through. The isometric mechanics are always a problem, and it's quite a drawn out game, I feel. I didn't enjoy it a whole lot, but Light Crusader is another one of my absolute favorites on the console. Much more interesting puzzles, the 8-way movement makes the isometric view much easier to work with, and it just has great (sometimes even silly) atmosphere. I love the soundtrack to the game, as well.


I really like all the little character details, especially waiting around in the snow levels, and having Ristar start making snowballs.
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Thanks for that! I'm hoping that they aren't long games (like 30+ hours), as I like my under 32-Bit RPGs to be not as long as the others (which usually means a ton of grinding). Being an action-RPG however, I doubt grinding will make much of a difference.

And thanks about the tidbit of Light Crusader; being a Treasure game, it can't be bad :D

Freon may be my favourite platformer level-set ever; the look, the characters, the gameplay variation, the wonderful music... just awesome.

Tomato Convenience Store said:
I'm not sure if I'm stating the obvious or if it's common knowledge, but there are hidden S&K special stages with any cartridge you attach, it doesn't have to even be Sonic 1. I remember reading about the "secret" Sonic 1 special stage in Gamepro as a kid and thought I'd try the "A+B+C+Start" trick with another cartridge, and it worked! I went through a bunch of cartridges to see all the different special stages. There has to be some lunatic out there who's made ROMs of every cartridge + S&K.

I think there are a few games that don't work, and it comes down to the total size of the game on the cartridge being too big. I thought I saw that info in a youtube video once but I can't remember.
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Correct, but the criteria is as follows:

1. No EA/Accolade titles
2. The games cannot be made past 1994 or so (so basically, few to no, "red label," games).
3. There are other niggling traits, but these are basically one-offs.

Sonic 1 though, has EVERY level that all of the other cartridges have just one of, hence why I used it to practice :)

mjqjazzbar said:
Def. used some of Truck's tips to get through the Sonic 3 bonus levels. I'm getting there, but I still get too anxious at the end and inevitably fuck up...
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Not that anyone may care, but writing what you did, especially since I cracked out me Elgato and will be doing some gameplay, I think the first vid I'll do will be the blue orb levels and upload it to YT.

Anxious to get some capturing done.
 
I started playing the LA Noire remaster on PS4 again. Man, this hasn’t aged well. Outside of the interrogation mechanics, the gameplay is clunky as hell. The city is so dead that it’s creepy, and the separation between the character faces and bodies stick out even more than they did when the game first came out.
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
Sonic 1 though, has EVERY level that all of the other cartridges have just one of, hence why I used it to practice :)
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Wow, I legitimately did not know this! I thought it only had 1 level like the rest of the cartridges, but maybe I'm misremembering because it was such a long time ago. Are the levels random, or is there a way to choose which level you want to play?
 
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