What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[spadgy]

I'm just polishing off Yoshi's Island for the first time. Why have I never played it before? It's bloody great!

[mrsmiley381]

I decided to pick up Record of Lodoss War on the Dreamcast again. Managed to clear the Cold Caves and the challenge under the Goblin Fortress last night. All that's left now is a few scattered ancient words of power, some grinding, a few pieces of equipment, and the final two dragons. Hopefully I won't stay up an hour and a half past my usually bed time again.

[Ruldra]

Yesterday I beat the original Castlevania for NES. Great game.

Decided to check the original Metroid too. I've only played it for a few minutes and I can already tell the world is MASSIVE.

[professor ganson]

Playing a bit of Fire Emblem for Wii lately. I love how nearly every time I take a calculated risk, I get GAME OVER. So far the game is really defense oriented.

[Moniker]

Yesterday I beat the original Castlevania for NES. Great game.

Yeah I think Castlevania 1 is my favorite of the "classic" Castlevanias. The others tried to go too far with level design without adequately updating the mechanics along with it. In the first one, I never really minded the stairs, but in 3 they're freaking torture.

[shmuppyLove]

I'm just polishing off Yoshi's Island for the first time. Why have I never played it before? It's bloody great!

Wait till you play the sequel!

[SunJammer]

I'm just polishing off Yoshi's Island for the first time. Why have I never played it before? It's bloody great!

be sure to unlock the special levels - clearing level 5-special with 100% was one of the finest moments of my young gaming life.

[NZA]

Playing a bit of Fire Emblem for Wii lately. I love how nearly every time I take a calculated risk, I get GAME OVER. So far the game is really defense oriented.

I made the mistake of assuming this game would be similar to the Gamecube game. You are right, it just punishes the hell out of you until you learn the exact tactics it wants you to use. I thought the DS game was hard, it has nothing on the Wii version.

[professor ganson]

Playing a bit of Fire Emblem for Wii lately. I love how nearly every time I take a calculated risk, I get GAME OVER. So far the game is really defense oriented.

I made the mistake of assuming this game would be similar to the Gamecube game. You are right, it just punishes the hell out of you until you learn the exact tactics it wants you to use. I thought the DS game was hard, it has nothing on the Wii version.

I was bummed at first that the Hard mode has to be unlocked, but it's actually good to get some practice before taking on the Hard mode, which I expect will be a nice challenge.

With the Gamecube one, I recently imported the JP version, which has an extra difficulty level (in the hard direction). It will be interesting getting used to the menus in Japanese.

[Ruldra]

Just beat Shatterhand and its japanese version Solbrain (for NES). Nice little game that plays a lot like Megaman. Very much worth playing.

It's kinda weird that a 20yr old game can be so much fun to play yet there are so many modern AAA titles out there that are simply a bore.

Anyway, I'm kinda realizing now that I missed playing quite a lot of NES titles. If you can recommend some good ones I'd be thankful.

[BIL]

Try Ninja Gaiden I-III if you haven't already. They play somewhat like Castlevania with twitchier, less methodical action (I love both series on the NES). The second is probably the easiest but also the best-designed of the trilogy... feels awesome tearing through the perilous stages with two clone shadows. NGIII is much harder in US than JP format, due to harsher damage scaling.

Castlevania III is definitely worth checking out since you enjoyed CV1. Pretty much more of the same methodical action-platforming as the first, but with vastly bigger and more devious levels, some interesting new characters and alternate paths. As with NGIII the US version is quite a bit tougher than the JP one, due to different damage scaling among other things, but not unreasonably so.

Kabuki Quantum Fighter and Batman are two more of the system's excellent sidescrolling action games. Ducktales (Capcom) is definitely solid as well, more of a hop and bop platformer.

Also, give Jackal a look. Konami overhead drive-and-gun with some brilliant level designs - it really feels huge in scale even today, with enemy vehicles, boats and aircraft attacking from all directions, hostage extractions under fire via chopper, and a huge variety of terrain across the game.

[Ruldra]

Will check them out, thanks

[Ebbo]

If you're looking for more obscure titles, you should try Gargoyle's Quest II, an action-platformer made by Capcom. Gargoyle's Quest is sort of a spin-off series of Ghost'n Goblins, starring Firebrand, that annoying flying demon from GnG games. If you're wondering about the first Gargoyle's Quest, that one was released for the original Game Boy.

Sunsoft made lots of great NES games, such as the Batman games, Blaster Master, Journey to Silius, Ufouria and Mr. Gimmick (although Ufouria was never released in NA until Virtual Console release and Mr. Gimmick was released outside of Japan only in Scandinavia).

[apatheticTurd]

Kick Master and Vice: Project Doom are awesome. Power Blade and its sequel are also very palatable.

[Moniker]

Awesome hidden NES gems. Especially dig Mr. Gimmick and Power Blade. All I can add are Darkwing Duck (megaman clone) and Star Tropics 1&2 (zelda1 clones). Faxanadu was mentioned in another thread - a Zelda2 type game.

[Aquas]

I finished Dragon Warrior 4 finaaally other than that I came back to Ys Oath in Felghana on the PSP. Got all 4 statues.

[njiska]

Sonic Generations sucked
Spent the weekend beating Mega Man (NES), which was cheap, but overall satisfying.

Currently working on:
- Mega Man Series
- Mega Man X Collection (when it arrives in the mail)
- Blocks That Matter

[linko9]

Just finished 3D land today. Amazing game. In the process of playing Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Sweet game.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Anyway, I'm kinda realizing now that I missed playing quite a lot of NES titles. If you can recommend some good ones I'd be thankful.

Bucky O'Hare, Duck Tales, Crystalis, Battle Formula and Super Turrican (yes, the NES one). I assume you know about The Guardian Legend.

[iconoclast]

Metal Storm (a shooter/platformer with a gravity gimmick by Irem) is one of my favorite NES games. Definitely check that out.

[Marc]

Got stuck into Bulletstorm tonight. It's dumb as a rock, but knowingly, and it does big guns and OTT very very well. Sort of game I feel guilty for liking, but it's too much fun not to give in.

[professor ganson]

In the process of playing Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Sweet game.

Cool, me too. I only have about an hour a week to play this-- at most-- but I'm enjoying it all the same.

[Moniker]

Radiant Dawn was my first and last Fire Emblem experience. I think I tried one of the earlier ones but it didn't really click. Might have to give one another shot.

Been playing the psp version of Final Fantasy Tactics. Good nostalgia trip, but I'm sorta disappointed the spell effects are still so slow to display, and I'm pretty sure the script has been touched up to be overly formal fantasy english, but it's been awhile. I think they also rebalanced the jobs and so far I really like it. I remember abandoning squires and chemists almost immediately when I played it on psx, but now I'm making sure everyone's well rounded from the getgo. Trying to keep from grinding as much as possible.

Also just found out that there's a version of Contra III for the GBA that replaces the top-down levels with levels from Hard Corps. Yes, please!

[null1024]

Tatsunoko vs Capcom and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, loving both, except now in UMvC3, Tron is now very useless.
Been playing as Mega Man + Roll in TvC against some friends, and getting absolutely slaughtered no matter what in UMvC3.

They make me remember why I hate Gamecube and 360 d-pads... -_-

[scrilla4rella]

Oh man, Metal Storm looks sooo good. I'll be keeping an eye out for that one. I just got myself an AV Famicom and am buying up complete famicom games off of Yahoo auctions like crazy. Just got a complete copy of Crisis Force (which is a shmup) but atm I'm playing Just Breed, Mighty Final Fight and Duck Tales 2. Keep the NES/Famicom suggestions coming please

[linko9]

Radiant Dawn was my first and last Fire Emblem experience. I think I tried one of the earlier ones but it didn't really click. Might have to give one another shot.

If you do, make it FE4 on SNES (there's a fan translation). It's head and shoulders above every other FE game I've played, and I really like the series as a whole. Probably one of my top 5 games of all time.

[Kiken]

Just got Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 today. I haven't played the prior game and have virtually no idea what I'm doing. COME AT ME BROS!!

[Aguraki]

I'm starting GTA4 and I just got the gun after first few missions and I'm bored to death.
Does this game sucks or what?
I loved GTA3 and vice city the best;san andrea was great too but I prefered flashy vice city.

I think I would prefer saints row 3 to this now.
It's not a fun game

[Moniker]

I liked GTA4 to begin with, but by the end, yeah it gets a little stale. It all depends on how immersed you can get into the gameworld. Eventually you realize that none of the GTA games really have very good gameplay. GTA4 has some pretty great stories & characters, though - since you have it at least play until you meet Brucie. I have warm memories of Vice City, but they're mostly listening to Toto and Flock of Seagulls while driving... Don't think I'll ruin it by replaying.

Radiant Dawn was my first and last Fire Emblem experience. I think I tried one of the earlier ones but it didn't really click. Might have to give one another shot.

If you do, make it FE4 on SNES (there's a fan translation). It's head and shoulders above every other FE game I've played, and I really like the series as a whole. Probably one of my top 5 games of all time.

My bad.. I played Sacred Stones on the gba. Just patched up a copy of FE4 and it looks pretty promising. Thanks for the tip!

[null1024]

Guilty Gear X2. Yay OGG soundtrack that I can just listen to whenever the hell I want!

Also, yay for keyboard input, playing all those fighting games in MAME made me too used to it, loads easier to do half and quarter circle motions [seems counter-intuitive, and then after asstons of practice, you get it].

Playing Accent Core on the Wii is a pain in the ass with a GC controller, damn tiny dpad and the fact that I usually play all my games on a PC...