What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Apparently "The Lost Levels" are unlockable (titled "For Super Players") in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for the GBC. One of so many reasons to own that thing... Deluxe marked one of those moments in my life when I had to admit Nintendo knew what to do with their stuff.

[BIL]

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.

Interesting - I did assume the ledge's "hitbox" was all in order, but it's a little disconcerting to see that kind of thing in a Nintendo platformer. More like something from Gradius III or Salamander.

Apparently "The Lost Levels" are unlockable (titled "For Super Players") in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for the GBC. One of so many reasons to own that thing... Deluxe marked one of those moments in my life when I had to admit Nintendo knew what to do with their stuff.

Oh yeah, I've got SMBDX. It does indeed have SMB2JP. Lovely little cart, bless its transparent shell. Good to have with a GBA SP for bus trips.

[null1024]

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.

I know that Tekken is first and foremost an arcade game still, unlike the Soul series.

Interestingly enough, all Tekken games in the arcade run on variants of PlayStation hardware -- 1, 2 and 3 and TTT1 run on PS1 variants. 4 and 5 on a PS2 variant. 6 and TTT2 use PS3 variants.


And I don't know any portable fighting game that's well regarded, barring the entire fighting library of the NGPC [hell, SvC: Match of the Millennium is noticeably better regarded than SvC: Chaos].

[Moniker]

And I don't know any portable fighting game that's well regarded, barring the entire fighting library of the NGPC [hell, SvC: Match of the Millennium is noticeably better regarded than SvC: Chaos].

Well, the PSP has excellent (perfect?) ports of BlazBlue:CT/CSII, GuiltyGear, and Tekken 6. Obviously, those aren't exclusives, save CSII.

[gabe]

Sakura Wars: So Long My Love (PS2):
Completed chapter 7. Only one more chapter to go (I understand 8 has a lot of combat).

I'm currently playing through the Wii port of this... And I can't figure out how I feel about it. Curiosity of the series drew me in, and I think it's the only reason I'm continuing to play. It seems pretty mediocre thus far (both as a game, and a story). That said, I'm just past the halfway point (episode 5) and things seem to be picking up a bit. Also, the dialogue is great:

[iconoclast]

Finished Binary Domain on the highest difficulty. Here's a quick review:

+ Good combat. Being able to target independent body parts makes the combat more interesting than most TPS. Shooting an enemy's head off will turn him against his robros, shooting a leg off will incapacitate them, shooting an arm off will make him drop his weapon, etc.
+ The upgrade system rewards playing well. You earn credits from each enemy you kill, and you get extra credits for getting headshots, destroying more body parts, melee kills, double kills, multi-kills, etc. You spend these credits on nanomachines from the shop that grant bonuses (eg. extra health, faster health regeneration, increased invulnerability when rolling) and upgrades for you and your squad's weapons.
+ They introduce new enemies pretty frequently and mix them together to keep things interesting throughout the game.
+ Good story, characters, voice acting.

- The boss battles. They're fine conceptually, but some of them have at least 3x as much health as they should. I hate bullet sponges more than anything, so fuck em.
- The difficulty levels are pretty lazy. I was hoping No Mercy would have remixed enemy waves (like all good action games), but it looks like they only made some basic adjustments (like how much damage enemies do, how much health they have, maybe increased accuracy, etc.). Disappointing.
- Weapon variety. Your arsenal is pretty basic: assault rifles, sniper rifle, shotgun, rocket launcher, grenades, pistols, etc. I usually didn't see much reason to use anything but the standard Assault Rifle (and a rocket for bosses). It would have been nice to have a few unique weapons, especially since the game takes place in a futuristic setting.

= The trust system. I'm kinda indifferent toward it. Your squad's trust will increase if you're issuing smart orders and they'll ask you questions every once in a while, but as far as I know having high trust doesn't do much besides change the ending.
? There are some multiplayer modes that I haven't played. I think they might be like horde mode or something. shrug

So the game has its flaws, but overall I really enjoyed it. It might not be on the same level as Vanquish mechanically, but I'd still put it above most of the other modern TPS (like Gears, Uncharted, and Mass Effect).

[TransatlanticFoe]

Sakura Wars: So Long My Love (PS2):
Completed chapter 7. Only one more chapter to go (I understand 8 has a lot of combat).

I'm currently playing through the Wii port of this... And I can't figure out how I feel about it. Curiosity of the series drew me in, and I think it's the only reason I'm continuing to play. It seems pretty mediocre thus far (both as a game, and a story). That said, I'm just past the halfway point (episode 5) and things seem to be picking up a bit. Also, the dialogue is great:

I'm pretty much at the endgame. The completely absurd characters drew me in - the way you could give an innocent answer and cause so much offense with some of them!

The disjointed nature of what was voiced and what wasn't was a bit jarring. And I don't have a classic controller so it took me ages to work out a decent rhythm in stick LIPS. I have to say I was hoping for a lot more in the strategy department - only the bosses present a challenge but it's often in a frustrating trial and error fashion with invunerable parts and ridiculously overpowered attacks.

[gabe]

I'm pretty much at the endgame. The completely absurd characters drew me in - the way you could give an innocent answer and cause so much offense with some of them!

The disjointed nature of what was voiced and what wasn't was a bit jarring.

Agreed. So are the transitions between 3d animation/2d animation/2d stills. I also wish there was an option to play the game with the original Japanese voice actors.

And I don't have a classic controller so it took me ages to work out a decent rhythm in stick LIPS.

I've been playing with the classic controller, and while it does make stick LIPS easier, the game's menus and interfaces don't recognize that you're using a classic controller, so you're constantly being asked to press buttons that you don't have. Awkwardly, the "click search" screens still require you to point and click with the WiiMote while advancing text with the classic controller.

I have to say I was hoping for a lot more in the strategy department - only the bosses present a challenge but it's often in a frustrating trial and error fashion with invunerable parts and ridiculously overpowered attacks.

Agreed... I was hoping the strategy end of the game would get better later on. If it doesn't, that's a shame as it seems as though a decent amount of thought was put into the rules and mechanics of the strategy side.

Regarding the trial/error nature, I gather that this game was designed with multiple play-throughs in mind. Sadly I dunno if I'll have the patience to give it another go.

[BIL]

Had to go for a quick and sloppy 1CC of Ninja Gaiden (FC) after watching the AVGN's video on it. God tier action game. Collision detection is explosive and airlock-tight. Three deaths, by falling in 4-1 and 6-3, and straight up getting the shit beaten out of me in the latter by a couple of hoppers and a disc chucker while being indecisive. I've never gone for the all-jumpslash speedrun route, so it's nice that the vanilla shuriken is actually very useful at a few points in the game.

I love AVGN and know it's all in good fun, but I was a little surprised the video ended with him and his sensei both getting their asses handed to them. If something's beating you, figure out why and get better. Enemies can't respawn unless you scroll their spawn point offscreen by retreating, so don't.

[Ed Oscuro]

I love AVGN and know it's all in good fun, but I was a little surprised the video ended with him and his sensei both getting their asses handed to them.

AVGN is the pinnacle of slackergaming culture.

[moh]

I love AVGN and know it's all in good fun, but I was a little surprised the video ended with him and his sensei both getting their asses handed to them.

AVGN is the pinnacle of slackergaming culture.

I'm pretty sure he doesn't even lift.




HAHAHAHA OMG, IM SO FUNNY, GET IT???

[BIL]

I'd foolishly hoped his ninja pal would be an envoy from the world of REAL GAMERZ. Should've known he'd merely be a legitimating device for shitty players who nostalgise about NES Contra, the game that anyone who's not a total pussy can no-miss while doing bouncing cock pushups on the controller, being the hardest shit evar.

[Obiwanshinobi]

(Not really) surprisingly, Battle vs CPU of Bomberman Tournament makes for some brief gaming intermissions whenever I'm too lazy to swap the cartridge for something else. The pacing is just right. Very commendable package all around.

[null1024]

Super Dodge Ball [MAME/Neo Geo].

Played against some friends, so much fun. So full of ass-kicking it hurts. Might as well be a fighting game with the mechanics it has. Lots of A-button mashing to try to catch the ball, making crossups with downed teammates the most important way to win, and keeping the ball in the hands of players that are out.

I love AVGN and know it's all in good fun, but I was a little surprised the video ended with him and his sensei both getting their asses handed to them. If something's beating you, figure out why and get better. Enemies can't respawn unless you scroll their spawn point offscreen by retreating, so don't.

Probably because of the game's legendary reputation of being ludicrously difficult. All in good fun. In any AVGN video, 90% of it is him being silly about something, the other 10% being the actual truth [such as game x is pretty bad, even if he's overstating it; game x is pretty hard, even if he's overstating it; etc].

[drauch]

I'd foolishly hoped his ninja pal would be an envoy from the world of REAL GAMERZ. Should've known he'd merely be a legitimating device for shitty players who nostalgise about NES Contra, the game that anyone who's not a total pussy can no-miss while doing bouncing cock pushups on the controller, being the hardest shit evar.

Yeah, I really like this one. I even remember thinking like that when I was younger. I think I realized it wasn't that brutal when I almost blacked out and got to like stage 5.

[null1024]

Contra isn't that hard, it's just if you make a dumb mistake, you die. Making mistakes is easy. Plain and simple.
Easy death == hard to people.

Mind you, it was still ages before I could beat the first level, but hey.

[BIL]

NES Contra = power up your deathcock with S, then R, and spray scalding cum all over the screen for eight stages. It's frickin' awesome.

[EmperorIng]

I was playing some Super Metroid. It's been about a year or so.

Still perfect.

[DrTrouserPlank]

I utterly implore everyone who plays shumps to go buy super hexagon from steam.

As you will obviously have a fetish for seeing game over screens as a shump player you'll love this game with it's utterly stupid and completely broken difficulty. It literally is just one step away from being the game which I have proposed which gives you an instant "game over" for pressing start when prompted to "press start" on the title screen..... an experience that some of you wouldn't be adverse to I suspect.

[Tyjet]

The hidden object PC game Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake

Super high production value for just a casual game.

[KMM]

After being pointed toward DTP's post in IRC a few minutes ago, I pulled up Super Hexagon on my iPod touch and did this:



(Sixty seconds is a clear.)

Yep, that's some utterly stupid and completely broken difficulty.

[Zeether]

I utterly implore everyone who plays shumps to go buy super hexagon from steam.

As you will obviously have a fetish for seeing game over screens as a shump player you'll love this game with it's utterly stupid and completely broken difficulty. It literally is just one step away from being the game which I have proposed which gives you an instant "game over" for pressing start when prompted to "press start" on the title screen..... an experience that some of you wouldn't be adverse to I suspect.

"shumps"

Also why do you keep posting here if every single post of yours is ARGRHGRHRGHRGR SHUMPS ARE HARD FUCK CAVE

[DrTrouserPlank]

I'm touched that people are actually pointing out my posts via IRC and deploying a representative to refute my assertions on the forum. That is commendable organisation.

"shumps"... XD

Yeah that's a good one, not sure where that came from but at least I was consistent with my mis-spelling.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'd foolishly hoped his ninja pal would be an envoy from the world of REAL GAMERZ. Should've known he'd merely be a legitimating device for shitty players who nostalgise about NES Contra, the game that anyone who's not a total pussy can no-miss while doing bouncing cock pushups on the controller, being the hardest shit evar.

lol this is true

(there was a reason I was all about Super Contra arcade on the hardest difficulty, instead of the NES one, when I was with the Contra HQ)

[null1024]

KOF 13 [360].

Gah. Playing on the Xbox pad is impossible, I have an Xtokki, but my non-analog PS1 pad is getting really old and worn, and my DualShock 1 has a bit of a deadzone issue, so sometimes the stick will send a direction for no good reason. Doesn't happen when using the controller on a Playstation, which probably means it's just a normal difference between deadzone sizes causing the issue. Bleah. It is the most responsive controller I have though.
Both of my DualShock 2s like to fuck up on diagonals, and I cannot get QCF to register at all.

Either way, control is messed up. I won some and lost some.
I want to get a stick, but I also want something small that I can carry around with my laptop really easily. And preferably be a Playstation 1/2 one.

[Moniker]

[360 controller issues]

I'd recommend either a madcatz fightpad or a versus controller, depending on preference. Neither are like PS controllers, though, but they have reliable inputs. I like the Versus Controller, myself. But if there's a CCP->360 adapter, I need to know about it, stat.

[njiska]

Decided to try playing Telltale's Jurassic Park game since I'm in an adventuring mood and I've not touched it in a year. Boy what a piece of shit. Bad/illogical QTE gauntlets mixed with a wildly inconsistant engine and a lot of frozen frames. This is going to be a long haul.

EDIT: And as soon as I finish posting I get stuck on a button mash QTE I cannot for the life of me get past, so yeah, fuck that. I am not playing this piece of shit.

Now Playing: Sonic 06.

[Vexorg]

Now Playing: Sonic 06.

Cue the "Now loading" jokes...

[njiska]

Now Playing: Sonic 06.

Cue the "Now loading" jokes...

Oh I know the shit storm I'm infor with this one. But at least, unlike Jurassic Park, the suffering here is on purpose.

[EmperorIng]

One of my buddies put it best:

"Sonic Adventure 2 is interesting - it's like SEGA was trying to make the worst game ever made, but wasn't quite able to reach that goal. They perfected the craft, however, with Sonic 06."