Game Collecting Thread

[Jester]

Sweet Parodius. My wife is jelly, good sir.

[Peanut]

They're such amazing games. I'm not really a big shooter guy, but I absolutely adore Parodius. Probably more to do with how bat sh*t insane they are than anything else, but they're still a lot of fun.

[Ecto Jedi]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Heh, it's been years since I've popped that cart into my SNES. I loved Double Dragon II on NES but no other game in that series has been able to live up to my expectations. I actually haven't even spent that much time trying to advance through it either.

Well, Battletoads & Double Dragon is first and foremost a Battletoads game. It's got all the series trademarks and it plays like the original through and through.

Have you checked out Super Double Dragon? It looks and sounds amazing:

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Ecto Jedi

Well, Battletoads & Double Dragon is first and foremost a Battletoads game. It's got all the series trademarks and it plays like the original through and through.

Have you checked out Super Double Dragon? It looks and sounds amazing:

I concur that Battletoads & DD is certainly more Toads than DD.

Super Double Dragon was one of my top priority games to find after I bought my first SNES a few years back. Although I do like the game and had fun using the block button to put my enemies into an arm hold and set them up for devastating attacks, I found the game very disappointing overall.

The first big problem is how slow the game seems to run. Maybe it's the inferiority of the SNES's processor compared to the Genesis, or maybe it's just the culprit of lazy programming, but there are times when the game seems to crawl. Furthermore, street thugs require many hits to finally K.O. Even if you unload on them with your most powerful attacks, you'll find yourself waiting on them to get back up off the ground 2 or 3 times. These two factors together really slow down the pace of what should be a frantic beat 'em up romp.

I could be wrong, but I think the game doesn't really offer any platforming elements at all, which kinda broke precedent of the gameplay seen in DD 1-3 for the NES. DD never really did platforming especially well (that's where most players probably lost most of their lives in a hurry) but it did vary the gameplay a bit. I remember Super DD being exclusively side scrolling beat em up (with some occasional step climbing... woohoo), and perhaps some levels that required carefully timed jumps could have been a refreshing break from the slow paced combat.

Presentation wise, you can tell the development team either got lazy or (more likely) pressed for time to rush the game out prematurely to meet a release date. There really aren't any special bells n' whistles, no elaborate intro, no cutscenes, and only a bare bones ending. That's very disappointing considering the history of the franchise, and it's especially painful to see what the design team actually planned to do.

Double Dragon Dojo has an insightful look into what this game could have and definitely should have been:
http://doubledragon.kontek.net/featu...truestory.html

I still recommend the game for hardcore Dragon fans, since it's probably the last true DD game that's decent until DD Advance & Neon came along. The aforementioned DDDojo does offer a more position review of the game than I can give it, however.

[Ecto Jedi]

Update: cotton-swabbed the sh*t out of my carts with some isopropyl alcohol, and now all three work as if brand new. I'm actually quite impressed. For a little while I thought perhaps it was my SNES acting up, but dirty contacts were the culprit after all.

Super Mario All-Stars even saves its game files now, without incident. But more impressive still is my copy of Hit the Ice, which was a rental cart judging by the Blockbuster stickers plastered all over its rear. I like to think I saved it from a life of bondage and degradation.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Ecto Jedi

Update: cotton-swabbed the sh*t out of my carts with some isopropyl alcohol, and now all three work as if brand new. I'm actually quite impressed. For a little while I thought perhaps it was my SNES acting up, but dirty contacts were the culprit after all.

Super Mario All-Stars even saves its game files now, without incident. But more impressive still is my copy of Hit the Ice, which was a rental cart judging by the Blockbuster stickers plastered all over its rear. I like to think I saved it from a life of bondage and degradation.

Rarely have I ever bought a used game cart that I didn't have to clean thoroughly, no matter how clean or dirty it looked. Funny thing is that all my game carts I've owned since childhood are still in great shape, never been cleaned, and still play immediately upon insertion.

[Peanut]

I almost always have to clean every SNES/NES game I buy for it to work at all, let alone every time. The one exception are my Japanese imports. They boot immediately every single time without fail and have since the first time I tried them. Granted, I've only ever purchased boxed Sufami games, but its still impressive.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Peanut

I almost always have to clean every SNES/NES game I buy for it to work at all, let alone every time. The one exception are my Japanese imports. They boot immediately every single time without fail and have since the first time I tried them. Granted, I've only ever purchased boxed Sufami games, but its still impressive.

Indeed, I've never owned any import games for any system. Kinda makes one wonder if the Japanese carts might have been somewhat higher quality or else the previous owners just took better care of their stuff than the average American owner.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

The first big problem is how slow the game seems to run. Maybe it's the inferiority of the SNES's processor compared to the Genesis, or maybe it's just the culprit of lazy programming, but there are times when the game seems to crawl.

I still don't get this whole thing about the SNES being slow. None of its games ever seemed or felt that way to me. Besides, you know that whole "blast processing" term that Sega came up with is bull, right? Anyway, the SNES was the one with the better hardware overall, and many people have actually enjoyed it.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

I still don't get this whole thing about the SNES being slow. None of its games ever seemed or felt that way to me. Besides, you know that whole "blast processing" term that Sega came up with is bull, right? Anyway, the SNES was the one with the better hardware overall, and many people have actually enjoyed it.

"Blast Processing" was all marketing, no doubt. But while the SNES hardware had many advantages over the Genesis (most notably in color palette and sound quality), the processor's speed was not one of them.

Ultimately, it comes down to what the programmers were able to do with games within the hardware's limitations. I own both systems and enjoy their various differences.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

"Blast Processing" was all marketing, no doubt. But while the SNES hardware had many advantages over the Genesis (most notably in color palette and sound quality), the processor's speed was not one of them.

Ultimately, it comes down to what the programmers were able to do with games within the hardware's limitations. I own both systems and enjoy their various differences.

Nintendo claims that they can have things move so fast in SNES games that you could hardly see them, but who really knows?

[Peanut]

I think you're taking the speed thing far more literally than you should be. You're also confusing processor speed for literal on-screen movement speed.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Peanut

I think you're taking the speed thing far more literally than you should be. You're also confusing processor speed for literal on-screen movement speed.

Certainly could be the case, and I've never liked to belabor 20-year old video game hardware debates.

All I know is that Super Double Dragon runs pretty slow for my tastes. It's been a while since I've played it, but I think the problem is only exacerbated in 2-player mode as well.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Peanut

I think you're taking the speed thing far more literally than you should be. You're also confusing processor speed for literal on-screen movement speed.

Whatever it is, there was just nothing really slow about SNES games in my opinion. Not even the processing speed.

[Peanut]

That may be one of the stupidest things I've ever read here. Well done.

[愛]

Where's Naruto or Utrom when you need 'em?

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Peanut

That may be one of the stupidest things I've ever read here. Well done.

Everything you see being stated might as well be the stupidest thing you've ever read here, or anywhere else for that matter. So what else is new?

[Peanut]

Not true at all. Oldmanwinters actually has a firm grasp of the basic concepts you're oblivious to and also had a well-written and highly informed post about Double Dragon just a few posts ago that I enjoyed reading. Imagine that.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Peanut

Not true at all. Oldmanwinters actually has a firm grasp of the basic concepts you're oblivious to and also had a well-written and highly informed post about Double Dragon just a few posts ago that I enjoyed reading. Imagine that.

I saw it too, but that's just one game so far. I haven't played that game myself, so I can't vouch for his statements. Most of the games I've played, however, seem to flow just fine.

[Peanut]

Oh, man. Woooooosh!