What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[vol.2]

I could totally see that being possible. The original Prince of Persia was definitely incredibly popular around here, and lots of people my age or older have a lot of nostalgia for it.
But I assumed it's more of a "non arcade player" thing, in spite of my brain being very much wired to arcade action. PoP does a ton of things that would normally be considered a big no-go in most skill-based, Japanese arcade style action games this side of Fantasy Zone.

The OG Prince of Persia was a smash hit in the US, and Sands of Time was a very fun game, but the combat is atrocious; it would have been a stronger game if there was no combat and the threat came only from timed platforming areas and environmental hazards. If they wanted to include combat, a good solution would have been an occasional sword fight that felt like it meant something, like a boss or guardian. The constant running around fighting monsters just felt like an awful chore to me and was the worst part of the game.

I haven't played the two sequels or the reboot, and I think that has more to do with my age than it does with how good they are; the over-the-top edge lord stylings of the two sequels came across as embarrassing and cringe to me as an adult and I just couldn't bring myself to get too close. That stuff is for millennials (some of them anyway). I was also led to understand based on contemporary reviews that they pulled further away from puzzle platforming and leaned more heavily into combat, which I wasn't particularly into in SOT.

The reboot game also really didn't visually appeal to me; everyone is dressed in awful boho lace clothing and the set dressing looks like awful stock photos from a late 2000s Etsy store.

But idk, maybe they play okay.

[Air Master Burst]

The original Prince of Persia was definitely incredibly popular around here, and lots of people my age or older have a lot of nostalgia for it.

PoP never caught on in america the same way Oddworld did, mostly because when PoP originally came out the average american PC gamer wasn't looking twice at a platformer. The only decent console release was the SNES version, and your average kid with a SNES in 1993 didn't have the patience for PoP.

The american market just wasn't ready until a few years later when Oddworld hit. Oddworld was better at most things anyway, and if you don't love Abe you clearly have no soul.

ETA:

The OG Prince of Persia was a smash hit in the US

Citation needed! I never knew anyone who had or even liked PoP as a kid, and the only us sales info I can find say it bombed.

[vol.2]

Citation needed! I never knew anyone who had or even liked PoP as a kid, and the only us sales info I can find say it bombed.

So it did. Looks like it took a few years after the worldwide release to find a wider audience in the US through ports. My circle of friends who were playing home computer games in the 80s all had and were playing POP, so it was ubiquitous to me. I suppose it was a smash hit to us, but not in the US at large, and that is sometimes how things get remembered.

[Air Master Burst]

My circle of friends who were playing home computer games in the 80s all had and were playing POP, so it was ubiquitous to me. I suppose it was a smash hit to us, but not in the US at large, and that is sometimes how things get remembered.

I was legit shocked when I found out the SNES outsold the Genesis sometime in the late 90s. I knew like 3 people with a SNES but pretty much everybody had a Genesis.

[vol.2]

My circle of friends who were playing home computer games in the 80s all had and were playing POP, so it was ubiquitous to me. I suppose it was a smash hit to us, but not in the US at large, and that is sometimes how things get remembered.

I was legit shocked when I found out the SNES outsold the Genesis sometime in the late 90s. I knew like 3 people with a SNES but pretty much everybody had a Genesis.

I had a Genesis the fall of 89 when it was hot. Took SNES awhile to catch on even after it's release in 91. I didn't have one until at least the after I graduated from HS. I remember playing Pilot Wings and smoking blunts with my friend Machean in late 1995, and that was definitely my SNES because I remember bringing over to his moms.

[it290]

The american market just wasn't ready until a few years later when Oddworld hit. Oddworld was better at most things anyway, and if you don't love Abe you clearly have no soul.

IDK about that. Flashback was a hit that was ubiquitous in stores, magazines, and advertising. If anything, I think Oddworld probably built its success on the backs of PoP and Flashback. All great games, though.

As for PoP in the US, one has to consider that the original target platform was the Apple II and the ubiquitousness of those machines in education back then and how rampant piracy was. Both my elementary and middle schools had computer labs full of Apple II machines — I think this was pretty standard in most classrooms in the country at the time — and each of those had boxes of pirated games for kids to play during downtime or after they'd finished their assignment. That was how I first got exposed to Karateka and PoP along with many other Apple II games before later encountering the Amiga, Mac, and SNES ports. The OG version might have only sold 7000 copies domestically, but I can assure you there were many, many more pirated copies floating around.

[XoPachi]

Got into the Mecha Break playtest. Ever so slightly spotty but, this one is real fun. It's got live service-y stuff, of course. It's PvP (mainly). But it has this early 2010's vibe. There's an idea that FTP games are all trash and always have been. That's mostly true, but between 2010 and 2013 that was not the case if you ask me. And Mecha Break's gameplay is kind of reminding me of a lot of the free stuff I was heavily enjoying in those days on my new PC. I'm having a great time, at least in this moment. I hope the final release is this quality. Nice to have a flashy online mecha game like this.

Spoiler

Also, holy Father God... Bless these developers for the amount of meaty ASS in this game. I've been following this game for like 6 months and I didn't even know this had a character editor let alone allowing all of that. Good Lord.

[vol.2]

As for PoP in the US, one has to consider that the original target platform was the Apple II and the ubiquitousness of those machines in education back then and how rampant piracy was. Both my elementary and middle schools had computer labs full of Apple II machines — I think this was pretty standard in most classrooms in the country at the time — and each of those had boxes of pirated games for kids to play during downtime or after they'd finished their assignment. That was how I first got exposed to Karateka and PoP along with many other Apple II games before later encountering the Amiga, Mac, and SNES ports. The OG version might have only sold 7000 copies domestically, but I can assure you there were many, many more pirated copies floating around.

I totally had the same thought, but there's no easy way to quantify it. It's not impossible that all of my friends only had a single copy of that game. It had a really easy copy protection where you just had to make a few xeroxes of the manual down at our local video store. Very different from something like Monkey Island where you had to convince someone to mutilate their Dial-a-Pirate.

[Arino]

The original Prince of Persia was definitely incredibly popular around here, and lots of people my age or older have a lot of nostalgia for it.

The OG Prince of Persia was a smash hit in the US

Citation needed! I never knew anyone who had or even liked PoP as a kid, and the only us sales info I can find say it bombed.

Me neither, but I was one of the ones who hated it (Prince of Persia). I had it on Game Gear and never got anywhere. No matter what I did, that fucker just always fell into the spikes or died somehow, not long after putting the game in. I also had Ecco the Dolphin. I will never forget these two games and how much I hated them. If you only have a few games and two of them are this bad, it just sucks. I think my best/favorite games (on GG) at the time were Aladdin and Sonic.

[To Far Away Times]

I've decided I will try to tackle all the remaining Zelda games I haven't finished yet.

A few of these I got pretty far years ago and ended up dropping it.

The list would be:

Skyward Sword
Wind Waker
Majora's Mask
Phantom Hourglass
Spirit Tracks
Minish Cap
Oracle of Ages
Oracle of Seasons
Zelda 2
Zelda (NES)

[XoPachi]

I've decided I will try to tackle all the remaining Zelda games I haven't finished yet.

A few of these I got pretty far years ago and ended up dropping it.

The list would be:

Skyward Sword
Wind Waker
Majora's Mask
Phantom Hourglass
Spirit Tracks
Minish Cap
Oracle of Ages
Oracle of Seasons
Zelda 2
Zelda (NES)

I went through Skyward Sword HD a few months ago and while it's still a lame game, the Switch port is doing a TON of heavy lifting. The only Switch-centric problem is the sword swings have an unnatural amount of delay even by Switch standards. But it's only sword swings. Everything else is fine which tells me the attack delays are wholly intentional.

And it's sad because the other changes massively lift Skyward Sword up to being a far more tolerable game.

[To Far Away Times]

Yeah, that's the one I'm working on right now. I just got through the first three dungeons.

It's pretty good, though not a game I can play in long sessions.

[XoPachi]

Yeah, that's the one I'm working on right now. I just got through the first three dungeons.

It's pretty good, though not a game I can play in long sessions.

Skyward Sword is very interesting for two reasons that have always stumped me.
If you look at a map of some of the temples, they would suggest a very short duration. But they can take upwards to two hours long, much to my own delight.

And despite only being able to equip a single item, going backwards waaay back to Link to the Past in that regard, Skyward Sword manages the best inventory management of at least the 3D games. I don't know how they pulled that off because it still feels like a full item driven experience. For all it's shortcomings, it feels the smoothest to use menus in.

I think replaying the game, the temples aren't quite as good as I used to think. They're still some of my favorites of the 3D games though. Lanayru Mining Facility is a series highlight for me.

[Sumez]

Citation needed! I never knew anyone who had or even liked PoP as a kid, and the only us sales info I can find say it bombed.

So it did. Looks like it took a few years after the worldwide release to find a wider audience in the US through ports. My circle of friends who were playing home computer games in the 80s all had and were playing POP, so it was ubiquitous to me. I suppose it was a smash hit to us, but not in the US at large, and that is sometimes how things get remembered.

Honestly, for as prevalent as Prince of Persia was on people's home PCs and Amigas in the early 90s, I don't think I've ever once seen an original copy of those.
No wonder the sales bombed when everyone was just pirating the game.

Me neither, but I was one of the ones who hated it (Prince of Persia). I had it on Game Gear and never got anywhere. No matter what I did, that fucker just always fell into the spikes or died somehow, not long after putting the game in.

Tbh, almost every single port of POP is trash outside of PC, Amiga, and SNES

[NYN]

If they wanted to include combat, a good solution would have been an occasional sword fight that felt like it meant something, like a boss or guardian. The constant running around fighting monsters just felt like an awful chore to me and was the worst part of the game.

That demand reminds me of the 2008 Drifter of Persia. Much less battle, more "Versus Fighting" against single foes. Yet the way it is executed is, to my mind, inferior. Lacking fluidity. Felt like a back-to-basic approach to the original, the step-back-and-forth dynamic of it.
Honestly, next to this I prefer the Sands combat. And yes, by the point of The Two Thrones, I too was tired (for which I fault Warrior Within), so I played every map for the newly implanted stealth kills. The Sand Prince combat is mandatory though, and far more aggressive because of constant life drain. That doesn't ruin the game, yet I can see why some wouldn't touch that.

You all gave your own memories, and over it made discoveries, so that I think a own topic would have been useful. There is a Sands reboot coming, after all. In...2026! Oof!

[vol.2]

The Sand Prince combat is mandatory though, and far more aggressive because of constant life drain. That doesn't ruin the game, yet I can see why some wouldn't touch that.

I guess what I was trying to say is that it felt repetitive to me rather than engaging. I love a good fighting game if I can get into a groove and it feels zen. SOT felt more to me like a puzzle platformer with combat shoehorned in. And the whole "dagger of time" thing felt more like a "dagger of waste of time."

You all gave your own memories, and over it made discoveries, so that I think a own topic would have been useful. There is a Sands reboot coming, after all. In...2026! Oof!

Did you play the new game? Seems like it's getting good reviews, but the artwork is horrible, and they gave the Prince an embarrassing haircut.

[To Far Away Times]

Prince of Persia Sands of Time is a great game. I don't replay games very often, but I've played through that one twice. The combat is time wasting filler though, and I wish the whole game was just platforming. I loved how the platforming obstacles felt like a natural part of the environment, and the movement is so smooth.

I had zero interest in the edgy, combat heavy sequels.

POP2008 was a step forward in some ways, and a step backwards in others. I will say that without the DLC it does have one of my favorite endings to a video game.

[Lander]

I don't know that I'd call the new PoP artwork horrible, though it does have a certain Ubisoft 'putting our own stamp on anime' tack about it. And embarrassing is definitely the word for that 'do.

Seems fairly interesting as a gaiden game - the whole metroidvania world is effectively suffering from Dark Souls' "time and space are indistinct and stuff", so the story has nonlinear elements that prompt a bit more thought than usual.

[Sumez]

I'm extremely confused by the chat bouncing between OG Prince of Persia and the Sands of Time trilogy.
I don't think the two have terribly much in common, but do I like some of the modern ones too.

[NYN]

Just to be clear for the fellas who never went there: 'The Sand Prince' or 'Dark Prince' in TTT is an alter ego of the Prince, sort of trying to shed the (forced) Warrior Within persona. At certain points the Prince changes to the Sand Prince, switching up play style, as I said with life drain. It's more kill-kill-kill and run-run-run. There's dialogue between the two, I found it overall appealing.

Did you play the new game? Seems like it's getting good reviews, but the artwork is horrible, and they gave the Prince an embarrassing haircut.

I tried the free demo. There's talk about it in this topic, with Sumez and Ghegs, at the beginning of this year. It's interesting. To mix the Metroid genre with the PoP 2D roots.
However, I feel that I am pretty much fed up with all Metroids. The games, not the genre. They bore me. So, maybe The Lost Crown is just the thing for me?

[XoPachi]

I should get back to Lost Crown. I completely forgot I had that. The combat was ok. You can slide and jump cancel most things which is kind of sick.

[Sumez]

I already forgot about that new PoP game. I played the demo and while it doesn't feel bad, it also feels as cookie cutter as modern metroidvanias possibly can. If you're a fan and just want to go through the motions it's probably good. But it's hard to imagine that it manages to do anything memorable

Now it would have been interesting if it actually did try to blend it with some of the gameplay or concepts of the original classic POP games, but it doesn't seem like it does.

[XoPachi]

The few hours I gave it aren't over the top impressive. The fighting was just somewhat more involved than some of the higher profile ones recently. Although Tevi seems to spank it in that regard.
It's more surprising that Ubisoft even let a game like this be made today.

[vol.2]

It's more surprising that Ubisoft even let a game like this be made today.

They are apparently also going to publish a Pop rogue like sometimes soonish, which seems even weirder.

[Arino]

I am playing a cool new WAD for DOOM II. Ignore the screenshots, they are random and don't do it justice. It's fun.

Edit: This is so good, you're missing out if you're not playing it right now.

[Daytime Waitress]

I am playing a cool new WAD for DOOM II. Ignore the screenshots, they are random and don't do it justice. It's fun.

Edit: This is so good, you're missing out if you're not playing it right now.

Valkiriforce's "vanilla, but the detailing and exploration elements are ramped up" style is not nearly common enough.
I mean, Doom's a pretty broad church: it ain't hard to find the first-person platformer of your dreams; or a single map with a bodycount that outnumbers both World Wars combined; or an artistic expression of the concept of longing; or a shitpost where every sound effect is replaced by Tim Allen's voice.
30 years of community creativity has every single possible desire and vice catered for.
What I should say is that Valk's style resonates with what I want out of Dooming for the most part.
And I'd be more than five maps deep with it if I weren't tootling around with my own deathmatch level in the editor...

[vol.2]

I am playing a cool new WAD for DOOM II. Ignore the screenshots, they are random and don't do it justice. It's fun.

Edit: This is so good, you're missing out if you're not playing it right now.

You will need an advanced port to run this

what do you use? Can I play this with MBF ~1999 in DOS?

[Arino]

I am playing a cool new WAD for DOOM II. Ignore the screenshots, they are random and don't do it justice. It's fun.

Edit: This is so good, you're missing out if you're not playing it right now.

You will need an advanced port to run this

what do you use? Can I play this with MBF ~1999 in DOS?

I don't know if you can, I just use GZDoom. That's all you need. On top of that I use ZDL as a launcher to launch individual maps on the desired difficulty for pistol start. But that's optional.

[Daytime Waitress]

I am playing a cool new WAD for DOOM II. Ignore the screenshots, they are random and don't do it justice. It's fun.

Edit: This is so good, you're missing out if you're not playing it right now.

You will need an advanced port to run this

what do you use? Can I play this with MBF ~1999 in DOS?

Not too sure what issues that would cough up, if any, but DSDA is what's being used in the screenshots, and that's my go to for pretty much anything that doesn't rely on GZDoom trickery.

[null1024]

looking into the WAD page, -complevel 21 means this extension to what's supported by MBF
and lower down there is the list of supported ports

of those listed, I'd probably use DSDA-Doom or GZDoom if I gave it a go