What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[it290]

Ever since the PS1 generation, Nintendo have been pretty much the only major studio who would even dare making a big budget 3D platformer. It's been delegated to weird off-shoots and indie games ever since.

I'd argue for the Ratchet and Clank and Sonic games being pretty high budget and mainstream.

Also, Returnal is secretly a really fun 3D Platformer, but few people seem willing to define it as one. If Mirror's Edge qualifies, Returnal absolutely does.

Hmm, I guess. I mean platforming is certainly part of the traversal, but I'm not sure how much of Returnal's gameplay is focused on platforming as a challenge unto itself vs. using the environments as part of the combat challenge. I suppose there are some sections where the grappling gun thing is the main focus.

[XoPachi]

Just finished the Mega Man X 8 Demake.
It's insane how much fat this cuts off. Hated X 8 honestly. It was better than 7, but somehow worse than 5 and 6.
I really don't like the X series but if they were more like this consistently, I wouldn't have as much an issue. Some stuff was still spotty. There's some dumb leaps of faith for example.
Unfortunately the other 5 characters were cut, but it's a fan game so these things are expected.

There's apparently secret bosses that I'm assuming are in Optic SunFlower's base. They must be well hidden.

[To Far Away Times]

Galaxy is the least fetch'y of the 3D Marios which is one of the primary things I like about it. Abstract level design and pure gameplay focus are the best stages. The few actually open ended stages are rare enough that they feel like a nice breather when they do show up.

Yeah, Galaxy is rad. That’s a pure gameplay focused game.

[hazys]

Genuinely don't get the acclaim to this day.

Me neither tbh. I think the camera in Galaxy's a minor miracle but I didn't like the railroaded Star missions at all. The "playground/diorama" stage design was gone. Also it's not too important but I bounced off of the more Disney art direction/music hard. For all its faults Mario 64 was uniquely dreamlike and New Age.

[Sumez]

I'd argue for the Ratchet and Clank and Sonic games being pretty high budget and mainstream.

Good point on Ratchet, from the PS3 generation on they really felt like an anomaly.
Sonic is kind of in a weird place. They obviously lack the kind of polish and production value you'd expect from a AAA game by always being incredibly janky if not downright bogged down by glitches. So it's hard to put them in the same category. They also feel almost like their own genre.

Hmm, I guess. I mean platforming is certainly part of the traversal, but I'm not sure how much of Returnal's gameplay is focused on platforming as a challenge unto itself vs. using the environments as part of the combat challenge. I suppose there are some sections where the grappling gun thing is the main focus.

Well I'll flip this one back at you - if Ratchet & Clank is a 3D platformer, then Returnal is definitely one as well! They both place their focus pretty much identically.
But true, Returnal is a platformer in the same way Contra is one.

[Air Master Burst]

As much as I love Sonic Adventure, my vote still probably goes to Rayman 2 for best 3D platformer.

Unless we're counting Mirror's Edge, which is of course amazing, but also makes me question if platformer is even a useful term at this point. I assume precision jumping is the primary determining factor here? A decent case could be made for Half-Life.

Ever since the PS1 generation, Nintendo have been pretty much the only major studio who would even dare making a big budget 3D platformer. It's been delegated to weird off-shoots and indie games ever since.

I'd argue for the Ratchet and Clank and Sonic games being pretty high budget and mainstream.

There were a shitload of them in the 6th generation. Prince of Persia, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, Ape Escape, Spyro, and Crash Bandicoot all had multiple titles; big-budget games from major studios that weren't Nintendo. Ty the Tasmanian Tiger got a whole fucking trilogy with spinoffs! Even Blinx the Time Sweeper somehow got a sequel.

3D platformers didn't really dry up until the 360 rolled around, although they were noticably fading toward the end of the 6th.

ETA: actually PS3 got a decent number too, Skylanders and Epic Mickey were both a pretty big deal.

ETA2: Can't believe I forgot all the fucking Lego games!

[To Far Away Times]

Mirror’s Edge is a very special game. The less said about the sequel, the better. But the first one is world class.

—

Been playing Marvel Vs. Capcom 1 on the new MvC collection. Super cool to have an active player base for this game. Always my favorite of the series. I like MvC2 as well (some nice gameplay improvements in this one) but MvC1 has such good production values. One of my favorite looking and sounding games ever. The music is so hype, the sprites are awesome, it has the coolest Gambit ever, it’s awesome. MvC2 pulling a bunch of sprites of various quality and different resolutions looks like a low budget MUGEN game in comparison.

I think I’ll stick with MvC1 until the player base dies down then I’ll move on to MvC2, since I’m sure that one will always be active.

[Lander]

Ninty still haven't topped Mario 64, for my money. The Italian Ninja stuff you can pull off in that game (and quality TC hacks like Star Road) is unparalleled.
Odyssey went some way to bringing it back following the lengthy post-Sunshine acrobatics drought, but still felt safer and simplified.
And Sunshine itself was mostly interested in the jetpack; I always thought those challenge areas felt out-of-place with the rest of the game being so breezy.

Good point on Ratchet, from the PS3 generation on they really felt like an anomaly.

Yeah, 4 hit a sweet spot where it felt something like a playable Pixar movie. Totally unexpected next to MGS4 and other gritty showpieces of the time.
Though I thought 6's tech changes broke the illusion a bit - ran nice and looked good, but the push for fidelity hurt the soft-edged aesthetic more than it helped.

And the less said about Into The Nexus, the better!

my vote still probably goes to Rayman 2 for best 3D platformer.

Ah, but which version of Rayman 2? Pruning away the legions upon legions of identical ports, of course. The PS2 one was kinda neat for adding an explorable 3D overworld, but I liked the straightforwardness of the classic SMB3 node map.

Tough to forgive the changes to combat, though. The projectile is snappy, but a huge step down from the iconic wockawockawocka wind-up punch. Lucky it's got such a nice dark fairytale vibe to make up the difference!

[Sima Tuna]

My favorite 3d platformers are:

Mario 64 (of course)
Banjo Kazooie (if you like collectathons, this is a fun one imo)
Sly Cooper 2
Jak and Daxter (very close to the spirit of mario 64)
Spyro 2 and 3
Ratchet Deadlocked (barely a platformer, but one of the best 3PS)

As you can see from my list, there haven't been substantial additions to the 3d platformer hall of fame (for me) since the ps2 era. The last 3d platformer I remember enjoying was Sly 4. Granted, I haven't played all the indie 3d platformers.

Outside of Nintendo, 3d platformers are barely even a genre anymore. Much like stealth games, people just don't make them.

[Air Master Burst]

Ah, but which version of Rayman 2? Pruning away the legions upon legions of identical ports, of course. The PS2 one was kinda neat for adding an explorable 3D overworld, but I liked the straightforwardness of the classic SMB3 node map.

Tough to forgive the changes to combat, though. The projectile is snappy, but a huge step down from the iconic wockawockawocka wind-up punch. Lucky it's got such a nice dark fairytale vibe to make up the difference!

Always Dreamcast! Minor enemy placement debates aside, it runs smoothest and has the hidden Globox village. Even if you prefer the 3D overworld, Revolution caps at 30 fps and occasionally dips below that. Dreamcast version runs at 60fps in 480p with widescreen support.

[Steven]

I've heard Michel Ancel says the Dreamcast version of Rayman 2 is the best version. It's kind of typical for some reason that if a game releases on Dreamcast and also anything that isn't Dreamcast, the Dreamcast version is the best one. Don't know why that is, but it happens quite frequently.

[To Far Away Times]

I've heard Michel Ancel says the Dreamcast version of Rayman 2 is the best version. It's kind of typical for some reason that if a game releases on Dreamcast and also anything that isn't Dreamcast, the Dreamcast version is the best one. Don't know why that is, but it happens quite frequently.

The Dreamcast was magical. A candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long.

[Air Master Burst]

I've heard Michel Ancel says the Dreamcast version of Rayman 2 is the best version. It's kind of typical for some reason that if a game releases on Dreamcast and also anything that isn't Dreamcast, the Dreamcast version is the best one. Don't know why that is, but it happens quite frequently.

I think it's because the Dreamcast was the best and everyone loved it.

[To Far Away Times]

I used to play fighting games all the time. Like, I was so into it I went to the first US arcade to have a beta version of Blazblue. Top 10 ranked Arakune in Blazblue on Xbox. Beat the best Tager player in Blazblue outside of Japan a few times. I've gotten out of it since I moved away from my friends, got married, etc, but I used to be really into the fighting game community.

Playing MvC reminds me of why I sunk countless hours into these games. I'm still kind of in the "educated mashing" phase but I can land some target combos. And god, my execution is terrible now.

[Sima Tuna]

Arakune is an absolute dick to fight.

[To Far Away Times]

Arakune is an absolute dick to fight.

In the first Blazblue he was so damn fun. I could do the shark loops which was like a 9K damage combo (or 6K damage off an overhead) when most characters have around 10K health.

My buddy played Rachel at a very high level, and to be honest, I think her rush down and mix ups were even more busted with the wind mechanic. Midscreen overhead/low/crossup on rushdown. *Shudder* Truly a guess and pray or eat 8K damage situation.

Both characters got nerfed to shit in the sequel.

[Sima Tuna]

Arakune is an absolute dick to fight.

In the first Blazblue he was so damn fun. I could do the shark loops which was like a 9K damage combo (or 6K damage off an overhead) when most characters have around 10K health.

My buddy played Rachel at a very high level, and to be honest, I think her rush down and mix ups were even more busted with the wind mechanic. Midscreen overhead/low/crossup on rushdown. *Shudder* Truly a guess and pray or eat 8K damage situation.

Both characters got nerfed to shit in the sequel.

Rachel and Arakune are both high skill characters. I dunno, I still feel like they can win in the newer games. Don't know about the crossover games, but in Central Fiction. Trying to close with a good Arakune is a nightmare and Rachel has so many games she can run from all over the screen.

I'm a pretty scrubby player with bad execution, so I typically play the easy execution characters in BB like Susano'o, Terumi, Celica and Litchi.

[To Far Away Times]

My execution has never been great. I typically have to take simpler combo routes but if I can get relatively close to optimal damage then that’s usually more than good enough.

[Lemnear]

Arakune is an absolute dick to fight.

In the first Blazblue he was so damn fun. I could do the shark loops which was like a 9K damage combo (or 6K damage off an overhead) when most characters have around 10K health.

My buddy played Rachel at a very high level, and to be honest, I think her rush down and mix ups were even more busted with the wind mechanic. Midscreen overhead/low/crossup on rushdown. *Shudder* Truly a guess and pray or eat 8K damage situation.

Both characters got nerfed to shit in the sequel.

Rachel and Arakune are both high skill characters. I dunno, I still feel like they can win in the newer games. Don't know about the crossover games, but in Central Fiction. Trying to close with a good Arakune is a nightmare and Rachel has so many games she can run from all over the screen.

I'm a pretty scrubby player with bad execution, so I typically play the easy execution characters in BB like Susano'o, Terumi, Celica and Litchi.

I thought no one would care about those fighting games, at the time i used Noel, Λ-11-/Nu-13, μ-12-, i was fine with Hazama and Litchi...i always wanted to learn Hakumen.
Ratchel in the hands of someone who knows how to use it is terrifying.

On BBCTB i'm using Yumi+Chie, Weiss+Orie, Noel, Heart and i'm learning Gordeau+Ruby. The learning curve in general is very low.
Strange that i haven't taken any of my mains back in P4AU (Aigis, Akihiko)...and my AH3 mains are all missing (Saki, Scharlachrot, Lilica, Akane).

I've always liked these slightly unusual fighting games, while for example the more it goes on the more i hate Tekken, which seems more and more like a senseless jumble and becomes more and more (needlessly) complicated. I've never liked the gigantic move-sets.
Also i've never been on the Street Fighter bandwagon much, the roster seems a bit of a joke (like Tekken) compared to DOA/KOF/Virtua Fighter, which i much prefer. They seem much more "consistent" with themselves in terms of character design.
Honorable mention for Soul Calibur 1.

[Daytime Waitress]

Been playing Marvel Vs. Capcom 1 on the new MvC collection. Super cool to have an active player base for this game. Always my favorite of the series. I like MvC2 as well (some nice gameplay improvements in this one) but MvC1 has such good production values. One of my favorite looking and sounding games ever. The music is so hype, the sprites are awesome, it has the coolest Gambit ever, it’s awesome. MvC2 pulling a bunch of sprites of various quality and different resolutions looks like a low budget MUGEN game in comparison.

I think I’ll stick with MvC1 until the player base dies down then I’ll move on to MvC2, since I’m sure that one will always be active.

How's the online experience been?

I've been thinking about picking it up on Switch because the tacked on DRM on top of Steam is eww.
But when I checked into it - apparently the game dropped this week, but physical copies aren't coming out 'til... November?
Not from some limited printing boutique company - from an actual massive AAA publisher.
Man, I'm so out of the loop with whatever the flying fuck modern gaming is - is this kind of "lead time" normal now?

[To Far Away Times]

On BBCTB i'm using Yumi+Chie, Weiss+Orie, Noel, Heart and i'm learning Gordeau+Ruby. The learning curve in general is very low.
Strange that i haven't taken any of my mains back in P4AU (Aigis, Akihiko)...and my AH3 mains are all missing (Saki, Scharlachrot, Lilica, Akane).

Since my boy Arakune isn't in it, in BBxTag I play Ruby and Tager. I really like the wrestler type characters, and Tager's got some pretty neat tools. Making a wrestler character work in an anime air dashing fighting game is interesting since it feels like the games' system mechanics, easy movement, and speed work against you. But you can do all sorts of shenanigans with a wrestler character when you can call in an assist. Ruby's got a pretty solid midscreen game, and I figured out some tag combos with the two of them that are pretty easy to pull off.

How's the online experience been?

For MvC 1 on the Steam version there was a pretty healthy player base during the day, and I only matched up with the same person once. Later at night, I was matching up with the same people over and over again.
Online play is very smooth. Feels like offline play, combos feel the same, etc. It's roll back netcode, it defaults to 2 frames, and I never saw any visual irregularities from the roll back.
I would jump into training mode with online play enabled, and I usually couldn't even pick my characters fast enough in the training mode before it found me the next match.

MvC 2 is the real reason like 90% of the audience bought this, and that game has about 100 concurrent users on Fightcade every night. I imagine this version will far exceed that.

[Sima Tuna]

On BBCTB i'm using Yumi+Chie, Weiss+Orie, Noel, Heart and i'm learning Gordeau+Ruby. The learning curve in general is very low.
Strange that i haven't taken any of my mains back in P4AU (Aigis, Akihiko)...and my AH3 mains are all missing (Saki, Scharlachrot, Lilica, Akane).

Since my boy Arakune isn't in it, in BBxTag I play Ruby and Tager. I really like the wrestler type characters, and Tager's got some pretty neat tools. Making a wrestler character work in an anime air dashing fighting game is interesting since it feels like the games' system mechanics, easy movement, and speed work against you. But you can do all sorts of shenanigans with a wrestler character when you can call in an assist. Ruby's got a pretty solid midscreen game, and I figured out some tag combos with the two of them that are pretty easy to pull off.

I never picked up the crossover game, so I'm still on Central Fiction. I don't play as often as I would like, and I'm pretty ass at the game. But BB has always catered to my kind of fighting game player, which is someone who likes to explore all the single-player modes and mess around in cpu versus.

Tager is one of those characters I swap to sometimes for the memes. I think he's a really well-designed grappler. His magnent gimmick gives him something unique, that no other grappler has, which is extremely synergistic to his game plan. Zangief or Hugo would kill for a magnet like Tager has. My favorite grapplers are the fast grapplers though. I won't say BB doesn't have any, but none that really stood out to me. My favorite fast grappler is probably R. Mika from Alpha 3. The closest BB equivalent might be... I dunno, Bullet? In practice, Bullet feels more like a grappler to me than a striker or rushdown character. Bang is a fun character to play with and he has some interesting grapple setups too.

Rumble Fish 2 was on sale recently, so I picked that up. It feels really weird though. There's an odd slowness to the way characters move that I don't really like.

[Lemnear]

I never picked up the crossover game, so I'm still on Central Fiction. I don't play as often as I would like, and I'm pretty ass at the game. But BB has always catered to my kind of fighting game player, which is someone who likes to explore all the single-player modes and mess around in cpu versus.

Tager is one of those characters I swap to sometimes for the memes. I think he's a really well-designed grappler. His magnent gimmick gives him something unique, that no other grappler has, which is extremely synergistic to his game plan. Zangief or Hugo would kill for a magnet like Tager has. My favorite grapplers are the fast grapplers though. I won't say BB doesn't have any, but none that really stood out to me. My favorite fast grappler is probably R. Mika from Alpha 3. The closest BB equivalent might be... I dunno, Bullet? In practice, Bullet feels more like a grappler to me than a striker or rushdown character. Bang is a fun character to play with and he has some interesting grapple setups too.

Rumble Fish 2 was on sale recently, so I picked that up. It feels really weird though. There's an odd slowness to the way characters move that I don't really like.

The type of character you are looking for is called "Half-Grappler" they differ from normal Grapplers because:
1) They have a normal size and HP.
2) They have normal or Rushdown damage.
3) They have less grabs than a Grappler, but more than other characters.
4) They have much more mobility than a normal Grappler.

For example Beowulf (Skullgirls), R.Mika (SF) and also has Okizeme potential, Blue Mari (KoF), Bullet (BB), Mika (BBCTG), and so on.

I also noticed that Rumble Fish 2 is strangely slow (but from the gameplay it seemed much less), but i saw that:
1) it was by Dimps
2) that it was a game for Atomiswave!
I have a hard time resisting these things, especially when they are even more lost than normal.

On BBCTB i'm using Yumi+Chie, Weiss+Orie, Noel, Heart and i'm learning Gordeau+Ruby. The learning curve in general is very low.
Strange that i haven't taken any of my mains back in P4AU (Aigis, Akihiko)...and my AH3 mains are all missing (Saki, Scharlachrot, Lilica, Akane).

Since my boy Arakune isn't in it, in BBxTag I play Ruby and Tager. I really like the wrestler type characters, and Tager's got some pretty neat tools. Making a wrestler character work in an anime air dashing fighting game is interesting since it feels like the games' system mechanics, easy movement, and speed work against you. But you can do all sorts of shenanigans with a wrestler character when you can call in an assist. Ruby's got a pretty solid midscreen game, and I figured out some tag combos with the two of them that are pretty easy to pull off.

Ruby is psychedelic to play i love her, very aggressive, but there are characters that cover much more screen, like Gordeau or Yu (without moving much).
Tager's magnetism is acceptable for a Grappler, it's a smart tool.
For example on Nitroplus Blasterz by Examu, formerly known as Yuki Enterprice (Samurai Shodown V and Special, now called Arcana Team, since Arcana Heart is theirs) and there is a character called Muramasa Sansei (from who knows what pseudo-eroge visual novel..), who has a long-range low grab!!! That is, it dismantles everything that a Grappler should be by taking away the only malus that the category has, that of having to stay close to the opponent to perform their best moves.
But they are no strangers to breaking certain fighting game taboos, and i like this experimentation a bit.

However, i've always sucked with Grapplers, and i excel with Zoner and Rushdown which have annoying mixups. Sometimes also with Zoner Trappers, but less. The important thing is that they have high mobility. Shoto, i don't know, i always feel like there's something missing that makes them shine.

[Sima Tuna]

Beowulf is my favorite Skullgirls character by far, so there's no surprise there.

[To Far Away Times]

I do love the half grappler archetype as well.

Alex in 3S. Adding in some charge moves and above average pokes is pretty solid. The only thing is that his anti air grab is kinda worthless because of the angle he leaves the ground and also the hitbox.

Sasuki in Melty Blood is a lot of fun. She's got way more mobility than your average grappler plus ground and air command grabs. But it works since lots of characters have really oppressive rushdown and nasty block strings in Melty Blood.

As long as I have one "oh shit" command grab I'm happy.

[Steven]

Astro Bot 100% complete. Total time was ~17 hours.

Not really sure what to say about this game. This might be one of those games that you play once and call it good, so I probably won't replay it any time soon, but it was good for that one playthrough. There's not much else to say.

Went to the Tsutaya by my house to pick up the PS4 copy of Gravity Daze that's been sitting in there for a few years. I have the US version on Vita, but I never finished it due to work + moving to the other side of the planet. I've been curious about the PS4 version for some time, so I finally bought it. I haven't played this game for like 12 years and I forgot basically everything about it.

[Lander]

Astro Bot seems really pleasant; very polished, full of fun, plenty of (perhaps slightly bittersweet) reverence for the house that built it.

The one complaint I have is the quality being covered in a light film of what I can only describe as 'pizza party gack' - that everything is unconditionally rad when you're part of a team vibe. I know it's for kids, but comes off as a bit manufactured relative to the earnest tone of all the youngins-of-yesteryear stuff it references.

Went to the Tsutaya by my house to pick up the PS4 copy of Gravity Daze that's been sitting in there for a few years. I have the US version on Vita, but I never finished it due to work + moving to the other side of the planet. I've been curious about the PS4 version for some time, so I finally bought it. I haven't played this game for like 12 years and I forgot basically everything about it.

Do you have a copy of 2? The first game is good, but might be the most barefaced case of blue balls I've ever seen in an ending. New plot threads opening left and right, ranted at my Vita for the full duration of credit roll at sheer lack of closure, or apparent intent to supply it. Bloody miracle that they got the chance to continue with a full-blown console sequel!

[Steven]

Do you have a copy of 2? The first game is good, but might be the most barefaced case of blue balls I've ever seen in an ending. New plot threads opening left and right, ranted at my Vita for the full duration of credit roll at sheer lack of closure, or apparent intent to supply it. Bloody miracle that they got the chance to continue with a full-blown console sequel!

That was the plan since they used to have a copy, but someone must have bought it recently.

[Steven]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Astro Bot has some music lifted directly from Thunder Force V, even if it's kind of hard to hear over the sound effects. That was interesting. It's also the only music from the game (I mean from Astro Bot, not Thunder Force V) that I actually remember. I always said Thunder Force V has by far the best music in that entire series and I'm still right!

Anyway, yeah, I liked Astro Bot. It's probably worth saying that you definitely need it if you have a PS5, but perhaps it's because it essentially has no competition due to the dire lack of PS5 exclusives.

Restarted Super Mario Galaxy on Switch last night. Finished a handful of levels before going to sleep, will continue later. I never really thought about it before, but the controls in this game feel kind of stiff, especially going into it immediately after the super smooth controls of Astro Bot. I also wish that there was more control over the camera. Other than that, game's fine so far.

[Sima Tuna]

I dislike motion controls in all games, including Galaxy.

Completely unrelated, I have arthritis.