What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[BIL]

Sadly no - those mixes are exclusive to the Zuntata soundtrack release. As with Ving's similarly brilliant Metal Black, Liquid Kids and Bubble Symphony ports it's a disciplinedly straight port of the PCB, a strength in itself of course. AC soundtrack ain't chopped liver either!

Hell yeahhhh.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I recall some Eurogamer article where somebody from Criterion said that in NFS "car is the star" which was supposed to explain why their NFS game has got fewer frames per second, but more eye-catching car models, lighting and such. Not sure what particular game was that about.
It was weird of EA to put NFSU2 demo on Burnout 3 PAL (Platinum) disc (different devs, but hey, same publisher). After slick as hell Takedown, Underground looked like 20 fps at best (it was probably 25 as, unlike Takedown, that demo was 50 Hz-only).

If the game's lacking something it's memorable boss battles (sometimes any boss at all), though the endgame still feels great.

I think bosses typical of run & gun would be against some high concept Taito had there. The game looks and feels a bit like "cinematic" platformers (think PoP) and my assumption is it was supposed to be "realistic".

[BIL]

Also,

Like those idle seconds when you retrieve data behind red doors. Those don't add any "stealth" tension and I think the point is, two players could rush forward the way one person can't.

Press down to return from the data rooms immediately. You can even hold down as the character enters to do this instantly. See here.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Still, nice to have a moment of relief without pausing.

[BIL]

Yeah, on the higher difficulties you actually need to take cover if bullets are flying, dogs are jumping, blowtorches are blowing, etc - basically plays like Rolling Thunder, no bad thing. IIRC holding up will let you stall your return in those situations.

[Marble]

I had never heard of Elevator Action Returns - looked up some footage, seems decent. Are there many good side view action games on the Saturn? Including ports, even. I really need to get another Saturn one of these days, they are too good.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Are there many good side view action games on the Saturn?

Keio Yuugekitai/Flying Squadron 2 and the leaked Chelnov/Atomic Runner port come to mind. The latter could use auto-fire and configurable controls, but seemed pretty faithful overall (if you need any excuse to get a chipped Saturn, Chelnov is as good as they come).

[BIL]

The only Saturn original sidescroller that really stands out for me is Shinrei Jusatsushi Taroumaru - very expensive, but worth it in my opinion as a sidescrolling action aficionado. It could've easily been an STV arcade release. People compare it to Alisia Dragoon, making me think they've not played or are terrible at both games. AD is the original Akumajou Dracula compared to Taro's Strider 2. In other words AD is a methodical action game, Taro lets you jump around like a motherfucker and will destroy you if you don't.

Shin Shinobi Den gets a ton of flack for its digitized sprites, but it's honestly quite good - it's very much The Super Shinobi III and the increased involvement of the sword is welcome. Not a great game but certainly very good. Cheap too.

Silhouette Mirage is on the PS1 as well, but it's also pretty good. Lacks focus and is more of an "experience" (could never have worked in the arcade) but I find it enjoyable with that kept in mind. Some great bosses and stage designs, rather like Dynamite Headdy (MD).

[EmperorIng]

On Elevator Action Returns:
Well, that's all good to know - I just ordered my copy. I finally took the plunge because A) My copy of Outrun for the Saturn sold and B) ebay gave me a coupon. I'm looking forward to blasting some classy terrorists... sometime by the end of the year, ha.

I'm excited.
===

I've been playing more of Fallout New Vegas, finally making some progress after putting it down for a long time. Still a lot of fun to play in my DOLEMITE run, where I don't give low-down, rat-soup-eatin', junk-jawed, born-insecure honkey mutha-fuckas the time of day.

I had never heard of Elevator Action Returns - looked up some footage, seems decent. Are there many good side view action games on the Saturn? Including ports, even. I really need to get another Saturn one of these days, they are too good.

Off the top of my head, there's a port of Metal Slug, there's an action platformer that's super rare called Super Tempo, there is the ludicrously expensive Psychic Killer Taromaru, the cheap and very-good-looking Astal... well let me make a list:

Metal Slug
Super Tempo
Psychic Killer Taromaru
Astal
Assault Suit Leynos 2
Silhouette Mirage
Guardian Heroes

And of course, the Megaman games, Mega Man 8 and Mega Man X4... but honestly, they're not really worth shelling the extra bux for, when they are virtually identical on the Saturn. I only have my Saturn copy of X4 so I can sell it later on ebay, lol. I know, I know.


I personally have to give a resounding personal thumbs-down for Shinobi Legions. Maybe if you find the Shinobi-X PAL release, for like, bottom barrel price, go for it (if for at least the better music!), but nothing else. As funny as the cutscenes are, I just don't think it's very fun.

[BIL]

Oh yeah - good call on Assault Suit Leynos 2 as well. Forgot to mention it as I consider mecha sidescrollers a specific subgenre. Very in-depth controls, customisation and performance grading. If you like the Armored Core series this is basically those games in 2D.

[Marble]

Yeah cheers for the info guys. Looked up just a couple of minutes of footage for these games to get a general idea. The Shinobi game actually looks awesome - the graphic style and music actually gives me a mega boner and while the level design looks kind of basic it looks really fun. If only there was an option to turn shuriken off completely in The Super Shinobi 2 it would probably be my favourite Mega Drive game, and in the replay I checked out the player was only using his sword despite building up shuriken. Awesome. Taromaru looks pretty sick as well, I must say at a basic level surely you can see it does somewhat resemble Alisia Dragoon? And yes, I do suck at that game. But being destroyed for not jumping around everywhere sounds good - I like that in pretty much every game I play.

Stuff like Astal, Silhouette Mirage and Keio Yuugekitai look pretty unappealing thematically but wouldn't mind giving them a shot. Leynos 2 looks fair awesome.

[BIL]

Shuriken are actually pretty weak in SSD - many stronger enemies will block them, and some will even send them right back at you! It's hard going back to the first two and not having the double-jumping sword attack. I always wanted a true no-shuriken mode in SS2, too.

I like the art style too, it'd seem like Mortal Kombat tackiness at first glance but it reminds me way more of awesome cheesy Japanese live action shows from the 70s / 80s. It's not what I'd call a fantastic game, but it's certainly not the terrible game it's frequently made out as.

Taromaru looks pretty sick as well, I must say at a basic level surely you can see it does somewhat resemble Alisia Dragoon?

Oh yeah, they do share the whole "kill without touching" concept - it's more that I've seen people write off Taroumaru as some kind of AD knockoff when it goes in a completely different direction. You can't move around much in AD, and have to rely on safe spots and environmental cover. There are no safe spots or cover in Taro - you have to run, slide and block like crazy while charging up and unleashing attacks, literally killing screenloads of enemies at a time - flailing away with weak attacks will get you nowhere, and lead to unfortunate reactions like this.

[blackoak]

Damn, everytime I read BIL's sega posts, there's a whole new slew of games I have to try out.

[Obiwanshinobi]

There's SonSon bundled with Vulgus (!) and two other games (Capcom Generations 3), but I'm not sure if I'd recommend SonSon itself (didn't play it seriously).

[BIL]

Damn, everytime I read BIL's sega posts, there's a whole new slew of games I have to try out.

Glad I could be of some assistance (especially after all your translations!)

[EmperorIng]

Damn, everytime I read BIL's sega posts, there's a whole new slew of games I have to try out.

I've been using this post by The Coop on OCR for almost two years now as my go-to guide for buying Sega Saturn games.

[null1024]

Stuff like Astal, Silhouette Mirage and Keio Yuugekitai look pretty unappealing thematically but wouldn't mind giving them a shot. Leynos 2 looks fair awesome.

I enjoy Keio, although it's pretty easy. I remember needing to continue once because I died a bit on the second shmup stage because of avoidable accidents, I could have 1cc'd the game pretty easily. Very colorful and fun, a few neat puzzles near the end. Pretty long.

I want to like Leynos 2, but it has no difficulty curve -- it's all over the place. Also, the stupid convoy mission can fuck off and die. If this were a tighter game, it's be amazing. As it stands, I can't say it's as great as I expected. I could play something better, like Ranger-X on the Genesis.


Also, I am still playing the Pokemon TCG game for the GBC, it's fun.

[Obiwanshinobi]

AMOK last night, on the Saturn. Has that "Mode 7+" going for it, but slick as it is, left me with an impression that it was not as good as Spectre Supreme (now THAT was a game of search and destroy), or even Granada while we're at it. AMOK looks and sounds very "next gen" compared to those two and has technically aged way better than Tomb Raider, though. I wonder what other non-Japanese games of note are to be found on the Saturn... Sure thing - Duke Nukem 3D supports the steering wheel as you operate the tank, but I doubt it makes the port worthwhile (the gap between consoles and high-end PCs was already huge at the time).
Oh yes, nice to hear Jesper Kyd's tunes in AMOK.

[K.B.]

Super Hexagon is great - that video and Hexagon give a taste for what it's like. I'm getting well more than my $2 worth out of this game.

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

Hexagonest is where the fun begins.

Then there's Hyper Hexagonest (aaaa).

doing well in this game will make you feel like a god made flesh

[Obiwanshinobi]

Um, playing AMOK again (Saturn) and also played Loaded yesterday (Saturn too). Doesn't even slightly more 3-dimensional explosive action on Saturn really get any further? More 3D than Radiant Silvergun, that is. Those two games have decent enough tech and 2 player modes (I think it's co-op) going for them, but... PSX has got Silent Bomber and Apocalypse. In the latter, even window panes break explosively. AMOK gives me that Euro sadness Hurrican gave me in the past. I'm like "where's the game?"
But man, are those Kyd tunes sick. Pretty long for video game music.

[Moniker]

I beat Sleeping Dogs (360) last week. Thoughts:

Very solid brawler combat. A tad on the easy side (counters are way too powerful and easily executed), but the feel is great, and it beats the hell out of GTA's melee.

Armed combat is okay - very similar to GTAIV's. You don't do that much of it outside a couple missions.

So-so driving mechanics. Races are fun, but I never felt like doing them outside missions. Getting from A to B is a lot more fun than in GTA, as bikes are much more sturdy.

Fashion is pretty rad. Different outfits give you bonuses, which is cool. Lots of variety, too. You have to build up "Face" (street cred, basically) by doing side missions to get the classy stuff, which is a pretty good system. Side missions are either 'favors' (fun, good variety), or drug busts (the same every freaking time.. lost opportunity).

Music is solid. Most of it not my cup of tea, but I recognize the quality. The ambient station rulz.

Story is above average; felt pretty drawn it at parts. Only a few characters (Jackie, Winston's mom) have much staying power, although they're pretty great. The cop/gangster tension isn't exploited well enough, but is good for what it is.

Replay value is non-existent. After finishing, I had no desire whatsoever to check out the DLC. I very much doubt I'll ever replay it.

Overall: A solid improvement on the GTA formula, nothing revolutionary. Get it when the cost comes down and sell it back.

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

I was playing Street Fighter all day yesterday!

... The original. I hate to admit it but I was actually having fun despite fighting with the controls more than half my opponents. I need help.

[iconoclast]

I spent the last couple weeks playing Vita games:

Wipeout 2048 - The graphics are great, but it's disappointing since it only runs at 30fps. Other than that it's pretty much Wipeout with bad load times and terrible combat events. It's fun.

Gravity Rush - Platinumed this one. The gravity gimmick is fun to play around with, the story is decent enough to keep you moving forward and the music, art and atmosphere are pretty nice. It's nothing special, but it's worth playing if you have a Vita.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss - The graphics are great, but I think the whole Uncharted series is pretty crappy and this is probably the worst one yet (I didn't play UC3). The very definition of style over substance.

Lumines: Electronic Symphony - Only played this enough to loop Voyage mode. The skins and music are pretty nice (probably the best in the series) and I like how your avatars have special abilities, but I don't like how you can recharge your ability faster by tapping on the screens. There also seems to be some scoring exploit that's tied into doing that, so it really sucks.

Persona 4 Golden - Seems like a good port (just finished the first proper dungeon). Textures are more detailed, there are some new graphical effects, new content, and lots of small changes and additions. The worst thing about it is probably Chie's new voice actress. She's absolutely horrible.

[ryu]

gotta love breaking games

[mesh control]

Played the fuck out of Gravity Daze. Combat is so bad, but the exploration and gravity shifting kept me playing. The game gives me lots of Nier vibes, in both story and design.

Now playing:
Persona 4 Golden - I think I like it? I'm not really sure.
Technicka Tune GIVE ME A STONE COLD HELL YEAH
SMT: SJ - 30 hours in and I just want it to end before I get super busy. In the dungeon that starts with a D. Just fucking end already, please.
Metro 2033 - Grey tunnel shooter. Voice acting make me want to punch my fucking laptop.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss - The graphics are great, but I think the whole Uncharted series is pretty crappy and this is probably the worst one yet (I didn't play UC3). The very definition of style over substance.

It doesn't really feel right calling this a game. It's more like interactive movie or something. Thankfully I didn't pay for it.


It's also a shame about Wipeout, especially considering HD & HD Fury DLC is free. Wipeout has been dead to me since 3.

[Marc]

WipeOut isn't a shame, it's fucking amazing on Vita. Yea, 30fps takes some adjustment, but it seems to bother me less on the smaller screen. It's worth the price just for the HD campaign.

[Ruldra]

Finally, after so long...after so much grinding and insanely difficult events, this is finally mine:



Only someone who played through the game can understand how tough is to get this platinum. Definitely the hardest PS3 game in my collection.

The crap I had to endure to get this plat burned me out so much I'm not trophy hunting ever again. From now on I'm setting my own goals and decide how I should play my games.

[Ed Oscuro]

GT2 was tough enough even in its early stages, so I have some kind of idea how difficult that must've been. Congratulations!

[EmperorIng]

I've been playing Chase HQ 2 on a Genesis emulator. I'm trying to see if the core game mechanics themselves are good enough to warrant looking at the Saturn port of Chase HQ + SCI, or the PS1 release Ray Tracers. I rather like Chase HQ 2, even if the Genesis can't really do those 3D racing games very well, and the control with manual gear-shifts is a bit sloppy - the only type of these games that I have come across and has excellent controls is the saturn port of Outrun. For a Taito game, the music is not really good. Maybe because the awful-sounding engine blares everything out. But I don't think that would really help.

I am definitely going to pick up Ray Tracers at some point, because A) it's cheap, and B) it has that aesthetic and feel to it that I love about Taito/Arcade games.

Can anyone vouch for either one?

[BIL]

Lazy lazy Saturday afternoon relaxing with Vampire Killer.