What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Moniker]

I'm also thinking of getting Sonic Transformed. Its predecessor is hands down my favorite kart racer. Haven't played enough of it to go in for the sequel yet, though. By the way, can you turn off items in the career mode? That was a feature I dearly wanted in the original.

Right now, I'm playing Sleeping Dogs. It's quite good, and the brawling is solid. Hasn't really wowed me yet, though.

[Necronopticous]

Ah, farther than me now. Shoot, gotta get back to it.

How's it going? We made a lot of progress tonight. Finished a huge fetch quest line landing us the Sword of Gaia, and got two more orbs for a total of four now. Our characters are right about to hit level 30.

[njiska]

I'm also thinking of getting Sonic Transformed. Its predecessor is hands down my favorite kart racer. Haven't played enough of it to go in for the sequel yet, though. By the way, can you turn off items in the career mode? That was a feature I dearly wanted in the original.

If you get it let me know how it is. I'm quite curious myself.

[Daigohji]

I'm also thinking of getting Sonic Transformed. Its predecessor is hands down my favorite kart racer. Haven't played enough of it to go in for the sequel yet, though. By the way, can you turn off items in the career mode? That was a feature I dearly wanted in the original.

You can't turn items off in career mode, but some specific races exclude item use, and there are plenty of other event types besides standard races.

[hermit crab]

Managed to beat Mission: Impossible on the NES. It was a pretty challenging game. Took me four days to beat (over 20 hours total). You end up having to really master the levels before you pass them, not unlike clearing a shmup in that way... I think many people here would probably really enjoy this game. There's even a couple of (short) autoscrolling sections. No scoring though.

[null1024]

Hang-On [SMS].

Damnit, if I'm doing fine, I'll do brilliantly. Once I crash, I end up doing it over and over while trying to get back into my rhythm. Blaaaaaaah.
Stupid exploding Pinto bike.

[KAI]

Daemon Bride

Stupid mechanics and easy combos, the best kind of game to play with friends.
Now I understand why this game never saw a console port.

[null1024]

Speed Power Gunbike [PS1].

Great fun. The actual gun you have seems a bit worthless [takes a while to pull out and aiming is a bit crap, often easier to get some room and ram the fuck out of your opponent], but being able to transform into a robot and ram the shit out of everything feels great. There's a very useful directional indicator that turns orange when you're going the wrong way at all [for example, a wrong turn].

My biggest problem so far is that the cutscenes are unskippable, which is silly. Not too long, sure, but there's no good reason for them to be unskippable in a game like this.

The controls are a bit odd too, read the HG101 article about the game for those. Most of the basic stuff, I picked up on my own, but there are attacks that use 2+ buttons at the same time. No valid reason for it, the PS1 pad has more than enough buttons without needing to resort to pressing more than one at once, but it's a thing.

The game has that neat flat-shaded + textured look that I mentally associate with Sega Model 2 games, so I had to at least see what this game was about.

Reading around, lots of people seem to complain about actually moving the mech -- it's a bit odd, but the easiest thing to do in cramped spaces is to change into the robot mode and use short burst dashes to move around. If you're doing the tutorial, on the section after it teaches you how to change modes [down=rally, square=robot], do the burst dashes around each corner, because if you try to keep going into bike mode, you will hit the walls constantly and run out of time. The tutorial really tries to get you to be able to handle the game, which is nice. I finished that segment with one second on the clock.

As for acceleration, start off in robot mode and switch to bike for best results.


All in all, good fun. Try it.

[Necronopticous]

I've been playing a little Umihara Kawase in between long stretches of grinding in Dragon Warrior III. What a game.

[null1024]

Panzer Bandit [PS1].
It's pretty much a Guardian Heroes ripoff, but it's pretty well done, and it seems to take quite a bit more from Gunstar Heroes. No levelups or anything, just a pretty solid beat-em-up with lots of enemy juggling. Very satisfying and quite pretty.

[hermit crab]

Beat Mega Man 3. Another in the series of games that seemed impossible as a kid but only took a couple of hours now as an adult. I really don't get it when people say they were better players when they were children.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Went to bed with my GBA SP last night and the Bomberman Tournament cart kept us company.
The Battle mode vs CPU felt pretty pointless (you wanna play single player Bomberman on a handheld - the vintage GB port is still arguably the best). Quest mode, however, I am liking. It doesn't try to be Zelda or Ys and seems all the better for it. Feels like an 8-bit game made for 32-bit hardware. Compared to Zelda: Oracle of Ages (same year, much weaker platform), the engine seems like a step back in most respects. Well, the music doesn't sound as woefully as in your average GBA game, although it's oddly monophonic. The explosions sound too soft for my liking, but I'm being petty now.
By "8-bit" I mean that the game doesn't fuck about. Reportedly it's a bit like Neutopia, but I wouldn't know. It does have a distinct PC Engine flavour, as if the makers didn't play console games since the days of PCE CD... and not all is bad about it. Better action adventure take on Bomberman than the Game A of Dynablaster if you ask me.

Long story short:

a) gives me the feeling of playing a PCE game on the GBA,

b) I'm actually wondering what's next (most likely another quest, another dungeon, another boss, but I'm curious nonetheless),

c) NOT as wordy as The Legend of Zelda games can get out of a sudden for no good enough reason (you know I know you know what I mean).

Good times. One thing that doesn't feel quite right is that during the overworld exploration, 8-directional movement and all, the explosions remain cross-shaped, which makes very little sense there.

I really don't get it when people say they were better players when they were children.

My skills are probably better these days and I'm certainly more patient, but what I lack is persistence. Endurance is still with me, but the attitude wanes faster.
Used to play the hell out of Spectre Supreme and those were some LONG runs. Seemingly a couple of hours each. Can't imagine that game getting me so hooked on it nowadays.
8-bit arcade-style games are more of my thing at the moment, but these can be fully experienced in much shorter sessions.

[Hagane]

Started playing Risen 2. Rather unplayable without the update patch (seriously, no evasive dash / roll? What the hell were they thinking?), but with it it's enjoyable, even though so far the exploration (hands down the best thing about Piranha's Bytes' games) seems to be scaled down. At least there's more enemy variety than in the first Risen. Character models don't look like total dogshit this time around, too (though they are still badly animated).

[Obiwanshinobi]

Funnily enough, Xenoblade Chronicles reminded me of Gothic in terms of exploration. Exploiting the jumps etc.

[null1024]

Beat Mega Man 3. Another in the series of games that seemed impossible as a kid but only took a couple of hours now as an adult. I really don't get it when people say they were better players when they were children.

I bet most people saying that are referring more to their mid-late teens when they say that. As a little kid, I was terrible at games.
I was the kid that got stuck on Act 2 of Chemical Plant with that rising water bit [which was way too hard for the second level [compared to many things before and after it], sure, but still not that hard], and only managed to get past that in my mid-teens. The crushing wall in Hydrocity Act 2 always got me too. Marble Zone, I remember getting stuck on some bit in Act 1, was years before I even saw any zone past that.

yes, I played lots of Sonic as a kid


Currently playing Jumping Flash [PS1]. Rather fun, especially for a pre-SM64 3D platformer, but distressingly easy. On world 4-1 right now, just stopped playing.

[Hagane]

Funnily enough, Xenoblade Chronicles reminded me of Gothic in terms of exploration. Exploiting the jumps etc.

Hm, really? I guess I have to give that one a try then. I love games with that kind of exploration, but they aren't precisely abundant.

[CIT]

Just cleared Final Fight 2 on normal settings on one credit. I pretty much suck at beat em ups and I found this game rather tough and some of the bosses are fucking unfair, so I'm actually a bit proud of this one.

My score just before I killed the final boss (who nets another 100000 points):

[Ruldra]

Yo CIT, good job! Used to play this a lot when I was a kid, you just made me give the game another go:



1cc on default settings, barely made it. The hidden 1UP at the start of stage 4 ultimately saved me here.

The game doesn't look too hard at first, but some enemies hit for massive damage and there are barely any healing items around. Plus some of the bosses are insanely cheap - lost 3 lives on that clown boss alone. You need to be really careful here.

[Moniker]

I really don't get it when people say they were better players when they were children.

My skills are probably better these days and I'm certainly more patient, but what I lack is persistence. Endurance is still with me, but the attitude wanes faster.

Ditto that. I was a beast at Sonic 1 back in the day. Now, I rage quit pretty soon after I get started. Most likely it's a matter of evolving taste. I can run through any of the S/NES Mario games as quickly as I please, and finish most Mega Man games with few continues, if any. I can't get anywhere with Sonic or Crash Bandicoot due to righteous rage, though.

[Mero]

Beat Mega Man 3. Another in the series of games that seemed impossible as a kid but only took a couple of hours now as an adult. I really don't get it when people say they were better players when they were children.

I bet most people saying that are referring more to their mid-late teens when they say that. As a little kid, I was terrible at games.
I was the kid that got stuck on Act 2 of Chemical Plant with that rising water bit [which was way too hard for the second level [compared to many things before and after it], sure, but still not that hard], and only managed to get past that in my mid-teens. The crushing wall in Hydrocity Act 2 always got me too. Marble Zone, I remember getting stuck on some bit in Act 1, was years before I even saw any zone past that.

Yeah I used to be terrible at games back in the day too. I could clear most of my games on my Megadrive but I'd have to use continues

Thankfully I'm a lot better now, though still not that great

[CIT]

Yo CIT, good job! Used to play this a lot when I was a kid, you just made me give the game another go:



1cc on default settings, barely made it. The hidden 1UP at the start of stage 4 ultimately saved me here.

The game doesn't look too hard at first, but some enemies hit for massive damage and there are barely any healing items around. Plus some of the bosses are insanely cheap - lost 3 lives on that clown boss alone. You need to be really careful here.

Nice one!

There's another hidden 1up in the final stage, as well as a hidden barbecue in stage 4 and the final stage, in case you didn' know. I also managed to get a 1up from one of the boxes in stage 1 during my run, but I have no idea what the system for box items is. Managed to no-miss Rolento, so that's why I had 3 lives in stock when I reached Retsu.

[null1024]

Panzer Bandit [PS1].

ass fuck damn cunt bitch
Literally one hit before I can beat a boss, it kills me, without fail. Ass damnit.

I also have no idea how to dodge those homing energy orbs that everything seems able to do [including you], and bosses love to spam it when they're low on health.

[Necronopticous]

Dragon Warrior III in the bag. On to Dragon Warrior IV.

[Hagane]

Panzer Bandit [PS1].

ass fuck damn cunt bitch
Literally one hit before I can beat a boss, it kills me, without fail. Ass damnit.

I also have no idea how to dodge those homing energy orbs that everything seems able to do [including you], and bosses love to spam it when they're low on health.

Full Panzer Bandit walkthrough:

- Pick Ein, the shotgun dude
- Do (Hard attack xx grenades) xN
- Win

[Aquas]

Dragon Warrior III in the bag. On to Dragon Warrior IV.

Heh. Myself, I played IV before III. IV is quite wonderful, you'll enjoy it much.

I picked up Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and learning it in earnest. Newb to Tekken but pretty excited to get better.

[null1024]

Dragon Warrior III in the bag. On to Dragon Warrior IV.

Heh. Myself, I played IV before III. IV is quite wonderful, you'll enjoy it much.

I picked up Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and learning it in earnest. Newb to Tekken but pretty excited to get better.

Tekken is pretty fun. I can only play on a PS pad though, was playing TTT2 with some friends earlier today on the 360, trying to do things with the 360 controller felt terrible. It doesn't help that I only use the d-pad.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Are Tekken games still tested in real arcades before getting released for consoles? (Not really obvious after SoulCalibur III.) Also, is any handheld 1vs1 fighter considered good by the genre fans? I read praise about some Dragon Ball one (Supersonic Warriors?), but have no idea if the one looking most compelling to me (DB: Advanced Adventure) is much of such a fighting game.

See, I'd like to check out my performance with the GBA SP d-pad, even though I suspect handhelds to be not very good for this kind of workout by nature.

[system11]

Black Ops II, it's like crack.

[BIL]

Playing SMB2 on the SFC compilation. Physics feel... kind of loose compared to the 8-bit games, I hate how you bust right through broken blocks to no real advantage, just a longer delay in returning to terra firma.

Also, as Psycho Mantis correctly surmised so long ago, I am the type of man who kicks his tyres before the start of a long journey. When playing a new sidescroller the first thing I do is 1) check whether jump height is set or variable and 2) find the character's edge falling threshold. We all know the answer to the first with Mario but look at this shit:





But am I getting an FDS to have its discs corrupt and its belts snap, like fuck I am. So this'll do! Great level designs, at the end of the day.

[Moniker]

Actually, tile-wise, those two cases are identical. Since doing some romhacking, I always view things by tile. But yeah, they should've done something about the platform's tile art in the 2nd pic.