General discussion / Latest purchases / Currently Playing?

[Leo656]

I literally play almost everything, it really doesn't matter.

The thing is that I'm generally a couple of years behind so even "new" games are a couple of years old by the time I get around to playing them.

I've been mostly on a run of NES, SNES and Genesis titles the last few months, but that's mostly because I haven't had my NES or Genesis hooked up in over 10 years so I'm making up for lost time. I definitely have a strong fondness and appreciation for retro games, but I'm not sure I'd call it a "preference". Although I would say I'm more "old school" than some because I prefer to play on the original hardware while most folks nowadays use emulators, which I can't be bothered to do. Like I've played a lot of Genesis games over the last few years on the various Xbox Genesis compilations, and now actually playing the authentic originals again the ones on the compilations just don't feel the same.

But I'm fine with "new" games, too, it really doesn't matter. I probably play more "older" games but that has a lot to do with the fact that I'm more familiar with them and so there's less of a barrier to entry.

[PizzaPower1985]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I literally play almost everything, it really doesn't matter.

The thing is that I'm generally a couple of years behind so even "new" games are a couple of years old by the time I get around to playing them.

I've been mostly on a run of NES, SNES and Genesis titles the last few months, but that's mostly because I haven't had my NES or Genesis hooked up in over 10 years so I'm making up for lost time. I definitely have a strong fondness and appreciation for retro games, but I'm not sure I'd call it a "preference". Although I would say I'm more "old school" than some because I prefer to play on the original hardware while most folks nowadays use emulators, which I can't be bothered to do. Like I've played a lot of Genesis games over the last few years on the various Xbox Genesis compilations, and now actually playing the authentic originals again the ones on the compilations just don't feel the same.

But I'm fine with "new" games, too, it really doesn't matter. I probably play more "older" games but that has a lot to do with the fact that I'm more familiar with them and so there's less of a barrier to entry.

That's awesome. $$$ is always a consideration on my part so I dont have access to a lot of newer stuff... but yeah, of all the newer games I've played, that new Spider-man 4 for the PS4 (that I played at my Dad's friend's house a while back) was killer. It's a game that finally surpasses the Spider-man 2 movie game in my mind.

As far as lately, apart from Splatterhouse, I've been playing NARC on the Gamecube as part of the Midway Arcade Treasures game. NARC is probably my 2nd fav. arcade experience of all time, behind TMNT arcade from 1989 of course. I love it because it has that 80's action movie feel. I love 80's action movies.

[Leo656]

HAH, I literally just bought "Midway Arcade Treasures" on Gamecube not even two weeks ago, that's pretty serendipitous. I love those older games, especially arcade ones. The only "arcade" within driving distance of me as a kid was the one at the mall and that one got closed down and revamped a lot (before they just shut it down entirely around 1998 or so). I was born just a little too late and lived just a bit too far off the beaten path to be able to participate properly in the Arcade Craze, but I've always had a strong appreciation for those games and I try and buy up as many arcade compilations as I can.

They're generally very flawed games by design, but they can still be a ton of fun. I specifically picked up that one because I was playing NES Gauntlet recently and wanted to play the arcade version again. There's a ton of great games on the first two Midway Treasures comps. Vol. 3, eh.

I don't have a PS4 so I haven't played the new Spider-Man. I'm sure I'll be all over it when I get to it, seems good. It's honestly been a long time since I played "Spider-Man 2" but I think I honestly liked "Web of Shadows" better. SM2 was great in its day but I think it's slightly overrated just because it was the first of that type of super-hero game. But I thought "Web" gave you more variety with the Black Suit and more replay value with all the "choice" options and multiple endings. Plus, it was based on the comics rather than the movies, so there's a bug Plus from me.

I also really like "Shattered Dimensions" from a completely different direction. I like open-world Spider-Man games, but there's been so many of them by now that I don't NEED them all to be that way, it honestly gets a little annoying. I actually really liked that they took the opportunity to do different things with that one. I liked the straightforward mission-based gameplay a lot more than I like racing missions or "Find 100 balloons" type of stuff. I thought the gimmick with the different Spider-Mans was a clever way to have some variety and I really liked the Boss fights. I wouldn't want EVERY Spider-Man game to be like that one but I really did love it, and I get annoyed with people who dismiss it simply for not being an open-world Spider-Man game. It's just as much fun, just different, and that should be Okay. There shouldn't be just one "blueprint" of how to do these things, you need something different once in a while.

[PizzaPower1985]

Originally Posted by Leo656

HAH, I literally just bought "Midway Arcade Treasures" on Gamecube not even two weeks ago, that's pretty serendipitous. I love those older games, especially arcade ones. The only "arcade" within driving distance of me as a kid was the one at the mall and that one got closed down and revamped a lot (before they just shut it down entirely around 1998 or so). I was born just a little too late and lived just a bit too far off the beaten path to be able to participate properly in the Arcade Craze, but I've always had a strong appreciation for those games and I try and buy up as many arcade compilations as I can.

They're generally very flawed games by design, but they can still be a ton of fun. I specifically picked up that one because I was playing NES Gauntlet recently and wanted to play the arcade version again. There's a ton of great games on the first two Midway Treasures comps. Vol. 3, eh.

I don't have a PS4 so I haven't played the new Spider-Man. I'm sure I'll be all over it when I get to it, seems good. It's honestly been a long time since I played "Spider-Man 2" but I think I honestly liked "Web of Shadows" better. SM2 was great in its day but I think it's slightly overrated just because it was the first of that type of super-hero game. But I thought "Web" gave you more variety with the Black Suit and more replay value with all the "choice" options and multiple endings. Plus, it was based on the comics rather than the movies, so there's a bug Plus from me.

I also really like "Shattered Dimensions" from a completely different direction. I like open-world Spider-Man games, but there's been so many of them by now that I don't NEED them all to be that way, it honestly gets a little annoying. I actually really liked that they took the opportunity to do different things with that one. I liked the straightforward mission-based gameplay a lot more than I like racing missions or "Find 100 balloons" type of stuff. I thought the gimmick with the different Spider-Mans was a clever way to have some variety and I really liked the Boss fights. I wouldn't want EVERY Spider-Man game to be like that one but I really did love it, and I get annoyed with people who dismiss it simply for not being an open-world Spider-Man game. It's just as much fun, just different, and that should be Okay. There shouldn't be just one "blueprint" of how to do these things, you need something different once in a while.

Oh man... those Midway discs are a blasts. It almost seems too good to be real for arcade lovers considering how many fully ported games you get on 1 disc. Though, because they are emulated, there can be some major lagging on the Cube versions.

Web of Shadows is a blast. Being related to my brother, he makes sure I play all the Spidey games eventually. He was always the Marvel guy (Spidey his fav.) and I was always the DC guy (Bats/Supes being mine).

Shattered Dimension was indeed good too... a great way to showcase the various incarnations of Spidey was cool. I remember being a kid and being obsessed with Marvel's 2099 line and Miguel O'Hara had some neat stories and a cool costume. Reading a lot of it these days, the 2099 stuff seems kinda shallow... not all of it but... it was... the 90's after all. Marvel is far more guilty of being 90's in the 90's than DC ever was. The gameplay was better on the open world games but I did like the game none-the-less.

[Leo656]

There were newer Midway compilations for Xbox 360 and PS2, kind of a compilation of all three "Treasures" comps but they left out a few of the games. I don't have it yet though so I don't know if they play any better than the 'Cube ones.

I actually originally had the Midway comps on Xbox, but then my Xbox broke so I started re-buying a bunch of those games on the 'Cube so I could at least play them somewhere. It's not a powerhouse but the 'Cube, like all Nintendo machines, is a consistent and reliable piece of hardware. I love it.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by PizzaPower1985

That's awesome. $$$ is always a consideration on my part so I dont have access to a lot of newer stuff... but yeah, of all the newer games I've played, that new Spider-man 4 for the PS4 (that I played at my Dad's friend's house a while back) was killer. It's a game that finally surpasses the Spider-man 2 movie game in my mind.

As far as lately, apart from Splatterhouse, I've been playing NARC on the Gamecube as part of the Midway Arcade Treasures game. NARC is probably my 2nd fav. arcade experience of all time, behind TMNT arcade from 1989 of course. I love it because it has that 80's action movie feel. I love 80's action movies.

https://gamefabrique.com/storage/scr...gc/narc-03.png

OMG I forgot this game even existed. Isn't this the old arcade game where the first level boss is, for some reason, a giant demonic skull head thing on a spring?

I need to download the ROM for this on my RG-350.

[PizzaPower1985]

Originally Posted by IMJ

OMG I forgot this game even existed. Isn't this the old arcade game where the first level boss is, for some reason, a giant demonic skull head thing on a spring?

I need to download the ROM for this on my RG-350.

Yeah, the pimp guy known as Mr. Big... Starts out as a head on a box but then, when damaged, is basically a T-800 on a spring. Very cool.

[PizzaPower1985]

Originally Posted by Leo656

There were newer Midway compilations for Xbox 360 and PS2, kind of a compilation of all three "Treasures" comps but they left out a few of the games. I don't have it yet though so I don't know if they play any better than the 'Cube ones.

I actually originally had the Midway comps on Xbox, but then my Xbox broke so I started re-buying a bunch of those games on the 'Cube so I could at least play them somewhere. It's not a powerhouse but the 'Cube, like all Nintendo machines, is a consistent and reliable piece of hardware. I love it.

Well, sh*t, man... I need to hunt down those Treasures comps then.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by PizzaPower1985

Yeah, the pimp guy known as Mr. Big... Starts out as a head on a box but then, when damaged, is basically a T-800 on a spring. Very cool.

I don't know why this came to me, but this convo makes me want to play this game but also.... lmao... Smash T.V. It just popped into my head.

[PizzaPower1985]

Originally Posted by IMJ

I don't know why this came to me, but this convo makes me want to play this game but also.... lmao... Smash T.V. It just popped into my head.

LOL. I haven't played Smash T.V. in legit... 2 decades. Damn. Talk about forgetting all about games. DAMN!

[Leo656]

Fired up the NES last night for a few hours. Good times.

- First up, I decided to give Spider-Man: Return of The Sinister Six a shot for the first time in ages. I remember renting and beating it as a kid, but haven't touched it since, and all I've seen said about it in years was how awful it is.

Man, those people are right. This game sucks!

Right away, the first thing you notice is the graphics are grainy and horrible. I mean, I've seen worse, but it wasn't even an early-NES game but it sure looks like one. NES games on a modern TV are always a mixed bag, some look alright and some look really grainy, and this game looks like there's a sheet of wet newspaper over the screen. Like the actual sprites are alright and the backgrounds are okay, but everything is too dark and too "rough". This can seriously hamper the gameplay, for example in the very first level there are land mines scattered along the ground which are practically invisible as they blend into the background almost entirely, and can drain almost your entire Life bar in seconds. Once you KNOW they're there, they're not too hard to avoid by web-singing over them, but you pretty much can't tell they're there until it's too late, and that sucks.

The controls are lousy. You can jump, and you can punch, but you can't jump AND punch. Your natural inclination is to press the Punch button repeatedly, like in most action games, but this is a huge mistake because pressing the button twice makes you execute a practically useless Jump Kick, which almost never hits anything but leaves you open to get hit once you land. Hit detection is terrible; enemies don't damage you by touching you, they have to actually "hit" you with an offensive attack, which makes the game somewhat easier BUT the reverse is true as well, your attack has to be Dead-On to hit an enemy and most times (especially with the Jump Kick) you'll just float harmlessly past them and then get hit when you land. The jumping controls are pretty bad and your ability to control where you're going is nil. Web-Swinging is harder to control than it needs to be and often you'll cut your web loose in mid-swing for no reason. If you're trying to climb a rope or something, you need to be lined up PERFFECTLY to where the game wants you to be, to the nearest pixel, and if there are enemies attacking you while you're trying to figure it out, you're f*cked. The whole thing plays like ass.

Enemy AI is pretty damn stupid. A lot of times they refuse to turn around and are programmed to permanently face one direction, so it's super easy to just jump over them and hit them from behind. They'll refuse to turn around and just keep shooting their guns at thin air, as if they didn't just watch you jump over them. This is actually a blessing if you ever want to finish this game (Don't Bother), because you only get ONE Life and One Continue to finish all six levels, and you also only get a tiny bit of Health back when you finish a level. Boss fight got you down to one hit from Death? Good Luck, pal, you start the next level with almost no Health. You can get a little bit back from killing enemies, but not much and some levels don't have a lot of them to kill. The f*cking rats in the second level are RIDICULOUS; they're almost impossible to kill and they'll whittle your Health down to nothing in seconds.

I gave up after dying repeatedly on the Boss fight with Sandman at the end of Level 2. I know I managed to somehow beat the entire game as a kid, but to be fair I didn't have a lot of games back then and if I rented a game for a weekend I was determined to get the most I could out of it. But I have hundreds of games now and I don't have the patience to waste my time on games this bad anymore. Supposedly, you can beat it in a half an hour if you figure out the little tricks and whatnot, but it's just not worth it, I say.

The ONE good thing I can say about it, is the between-level comic book-style "splash pages" of the villains are kinda nice-looking for the NES.

- Next up, I decided to try one of my Christmas gifts, and went with Robin Hood: The Prince of Thieves, which I'd never played before. This was fun! Kinda short, very easy, but fun. It plays kinda like "Zelda For Little Kids", for most of it, kind of a very simple action/RPG.

The plot (very loosely) follows the plot of the film, but it takes a LOT of liberties for the sake of being a video game. For example, I WISH that in the movie we got to see Robin Hood fight a giant Skeleton Knight under Mortiana's control before going to fight the Sheriff. There's also some missions added just for the game to add length to the plot, such as saving a kidnapped girl from having to marry an evil Baron, killing a wild boar that's been terrorizing the countryside, and hiring a Weapons Master to train your men (after you defeat him in a duel). There are also some missions straight from the film, obviously. All in all, it's a good enough story and the added missions feel pretty organic to the plot. There are a ton of omissions from the film's plot, though, but eh, it's a game.

The graphics are pretty good for the NES, although none of the characters' portraits look ANYTHING like the movie actors. Marian's portrait looks exactly like Elaine from "Seinfeld", it's pretty funny. I get that there were likeness rights issues, but it's still pretty silly to see people with beards who were clean-shaven in the movie, people who had long hair in the movie have short hair (or be bald), stuff like that.

Most of the gameplay is from a top-down perspective, very similar to "Legend of Zelda" but more zoomed-in and with a lot more detail to the characters and backgrounds. You fight the Sheriff's guards and wild beasts with your Sword and your Bow and can find money, items, and stronger weapons by killing enemies and exploring the environment, just like Zelda. However, there are some differences that add variety. In two sections, you get to ride a horse in a side-scrolling bit where you have to jump over puddles; nothing fancy, BUT you die immediately if you screw up, so thankfully it's pretty easy. Also, you gain a "party" of Merry Men whom you meet throughout the game; this only factors in during a few scripted "Melee" sections, where the top-down perspective zooms way out and enemies swarm the screen while you and your allies fight them off. Finally, at various points in the game you have Boss Fights, or "Duels", where you swordfight in a close-up side-scrolling view. It's a nice bit of variety that keeps things from getting stale, and it's all pretty fun.

You have Hit Points and gain Experience Points to Level Up, just like a standard RPG, but unlike a regular RPG "grinding" is pretty unnecessary and you can easily beat the game around Level 5 (and you can get to Level 3 within the first 10 minutes of the game). What's neat is that there's a Menu screen with Inventory slots for each character in your party, so you can manage all the weapons, Health items, and plot-related items you pick up along the way. It's a neat little "drag-and-drop" system rather than just clicking a menu box; if you drag an Item to the "Eye" icon, it'll describe the item to you, and if it's a piece of food or a Potion you use it by dragging it to the "Mouth" icon, and Weapons and Armor are equipped by actually "placing" them on your character in the appropriate places, like whether you want their Sword in their right or left hand. You can also have some characters dual-wield weapons for more damage, like a Sword in one hand and a Knife in the other. Kinda neat! It's just a different type of system and I thought it was clever.

Unlike a regular RPG, however, the game is very linear and mission-based. You move forward by going to Sherwood Forest and getting new Missions from one of your men, and when you leave the forest you're automatically placed in an area directly adjacent to your next mission. So it's not like a big open world or anything like that, and while there is some exploration it's very minimal. It doesn't hurt anything, though, as it's really not even necessary. It's NOT an RPG, but an action/adventure game with RPG elements, and for that it's perfectly fine.

Overall, I really liked this one. It's nothing special and it's rather short and very easy, but on the other hand it's not at all frustrating and doesn't overstay its welcome. Just a fun little game to whip through on a lazy afternoon that you can beat in a couple of hours, or when you want something "Zelda-like' but don't want to commit the next three or four days to it. I never hear anyone talk about this one but it's definitely worth checking out.

(Cont.)

[Leo656]

Finally, I finished the night off by playing Wizards & Warriors.

I had thought this was one I never played, but it turns out that I DID play it as a kid but only briefly as I had no idea what I was doing. Specifically, as a kid since I kept dying constantly and didn't know where to go I thought I was just playing it wrong; turns out the game's just like that.

This game was apparently pretty popular, so I assume most people who had an NES have played it. It's a pretty cool action/platformer with a Dungeons & Dragons kind of aesthetic. There's an evil Wizard who's kidnaped a bunch of chicks (in bikinis, apparently) and set a bunch of monsters loose upon the land, and you play as a Knight who has to save the maidens and beat the Wizard while collecting treasure along the way. Pretty straightforward stuff. There were two sequels and a Game Boy spin-off, so I assume it was a pretty decent hit.

The gameplay is very arcade-style (for good AND bad, which I'll get to). There's Treasure and Power-Ups to collect (as well as Enemies) literally everywhere you go, to the point where it's a little overwhelming. The levels are rather maze-like, but they're also not very large so it's hard to actually get lost. There are a few "hidden secrets", but they're not hidden to the point where they're actually hard to find, it's more like you'll stumble upon them by accident and it's a pleasant surprise. You have to find different-colored Keys to unlock color-coded Treasure Chests, some of which contain regular Gems but others have some of the better Power-Ups; the keys also open up corresponding doors within the levels, some of which lead to more Treasure but others are necessary to advance to the Boss Fight or next stage. Some levels are more side-scrolling, while others are almost entirely vertical-scrolling. There are Power-Ups you can find which make jumping easier, such as letting you hover and/or fall more slowly, which really comes in handy for the vertical-scrolling levels. The controls are responsive and it's pretty fun to play. I wish I'd given it more of a chance as a kid, because I definitely would have played it often if I had.

The graphics are pretty good for a 1987 NES game; I'd go so far as to say that graphically it may have been a bit ahead of the pack compared to most . The sprites are large, colorful and detailed. There are a lot of different enemies, most of which are unique to the level they're in. The backgrounds are a bit sparse, with much of the screen just being plain black for some levels with the exception of the platforms, but some levels have a lot more going on, particularly the later ones. Overall, it's a pretty good-looking game, especially for its time. It looks and plays very smooth.

Unfortunately, the "arcade-style" gameplay has its Ups and Downs, specifically with regard to the difficulty, or more specifically the enemy placement. This is a very notoriously "weird" game, in that it's both "too hard" and "too easy" at the Exact Same Time. It's definitely a game you could imagine being released in an arcade, because just like a classic "Quarter Muncher", you will die CONSTANTLY. It's not like you're totally helpless, but the number of onscreen enemies and the way they appear and attack makes it almost impossible to avoid them, especially on the last two levels. You're going to take damage constantly, and you're going to die often, and you're going to be hitting "Continue" every five minutes or so at max. This is one of the things that made me think I was "playing it wrong" as a kid, and made me not keep playing it, because I'd never played a game before where death was so constant and unavoidable. You're going to hear the "You're About To Die" alarm/music in your sleep after playing this game, from hearing it so much.

HOWEVER... you get infinite Continues, continuing places you back at the exact same spot you died, and the only "penalty" is that your Score resets (and even just beating the final Boss gives you enough points to give you the 1st Place Score after you finish the game). None of the Bosses are even all that difficult, even the final one, and you can figure out the pattern for each one very quickly. So really, it's honestly an incredibly easy game as long as you're determined to finish it. The constant dying is pretty annoying, but there's no penalty at all for dying so the game is really just a war of attrition; keep playing it, and you'll eventually win. In that respect, it was incredibly ahead of its time since most modern games are pretty much exactly like that. But back then "Die three times and you start over from the beginning" was the standard so this was a bit of an odd duck. Commit to seeing the end, and you'll beat it in a couple of hours, guaranteed.

Some people say it's a "bad game" because of the mix of constantly dying and hitting "Continue" but there also being no real "challenge" whatsoever because of the actual Continue system being so completely forgiving. But I disagree; the game itself is fun, it's just... weird. It definitely made me want to play it again, and made me look forward to checking out the two sequels. Again, had I known as a kid that all I'd have to do to win was just keep playing it, I would definitely have played it a lot more than I did. I actually regret not owning this one back then. Live and learn, I guess.

Fortunately, "Iron Sword" came in the mail recently so I plan to check that one out very soon, possibly tomorrow. I'm aware that they made the Continues more limited in that one and revamped some of the gameplay, so it will be interesting to see how that one goes. Very much looking forward to it.
------------

Also, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus (Game Boy Advance) and Tiny Toon Adventures (NES) both came in the mail today. I have fond memories of the Tiny Toons game, having played and beaten it as a kid (I also really enjoy the SNES one). "Battle Nexus", I can only HOPE isn't anywhere near as big of a piece of sh*t as its console counterpart. I've heard that it's actually rather good, so fingers crossed on that one. The Gamecube version of "Battle Nexus" is one of the worst games I've ever played, so just about anything would have to be an improvement!

[Leo656]

Well. Turns out the whole entire world has been lying to me for my entire goddamn life. Because "IronSword" is TERRIBLE.

I don't know how this happened. I liked the first "Wizards & Warriors" alright, and for 30 years all I've ever read or heard about was how this was even better, a "classic", one of the greatest NES games ever made. People overwhelmingly love this game. But then, a lotta people love smoking crack, too.

It SHOULD be a good game. There are definitely some improvements over the first game. The music is a bit better, and thankfully the "You're About To Die" alarm is gone - a huge blessing, because you'd be hearing it non-stop in this f*cking game if they'd left it in.

There's some neat additions to the gameplay, like an Inn where you can spend some of the Treasure you've collected on things like keys, stronger weapons, Extra Lives, and Food to replenish your Health. There's also a gambling game where you can ostensibly win more money really fast, but it's only worth playing if you cheat by holding Up, B and Select on the Title screen so the game's order is predetermined. Like almost everything else in the game, the gambling mini-game is a neat idea with awful execution. BUT, at least you can make it rigged in your favor, so it's not totally worthless. "At least you can cheat" is rather faint praise, though.

Much of the gameplay is the same, or at least similar; you still jump around on platforms, navigate rather small maze-like levels, find keys to open chests containing Weapons, Treasure, or Spells, discover hidden rooms full of Gems, and so on. But there are some nice expansions to the basic concept. Magic is a new addition, although except for ones that specifically help get you to a hidden part of a level most of the Spells you find are only really useful against the Boss of the level you're on, and after that you lose them forever. And those types of Spells are all really just beams that shoot out of your sword in different patterns so there's really only an illusion of variety to the Spells, when you get down to it. There are some other deviations from the first game, though. The color-coded keys that go with different doors and Treasure chests are gone; there's only one type of key and while you can find them within the levels you can also just buy a bunch at an Inn, and in some cases you have to. Rather than having to find a key to a matching door in order to advance through the level, in this game you have to find a specific hidden item and deliver it to a Guardian in order to move ahead. In most of the levels, you can only find the hidden item by using a particular Spell in a specific place. The levels feel a bit smaller, with each one only being made up of two main sections separated by the Guardian, but there's a lot more variety among the Bosses you fight, whereas the first game's Bosses were all very similar as far as how you played against them, except for the final one. Unlike the first game, this one actually has Extra Lives you can find or in some cases buy; they're pretty useless, though, because you will absolutely die like ten seconds after you get an Extra Life, so they don't buy you a lot of extra help at all.

The graphics are actually really good, very bright and detailed and a lot of the animation is very good. The backgrounds are way better than the ones in the first game, with a lot more going on and even more level and enemy variety. I'd go so far as to say it's one of the best-looking games on the NES. It's great to look at, and I really wish it played better so I could appreciate the graphics even more. The Guardians and Bosses are nice-looking, taking up much of the screen in some cases and are drawn with lots of detail. I really can't say enough good things about the graphics, really.

Unfortunately, as great as it looks, it plays just as poorly. This game truly is a shining example of "All Graphics, No Gameplay", because while there are occasional moments of fun, it is overwhelmingly difficult, frustrating, and at times completely infuriating to play. It's a goddamn shame, because there are so many good ideas here and the visual presentation is at times almost stunning, but it's all ruined when you actually try to play the goddamn thing.

First of all, there's just about no reason to even have an "attack" button, because until you get the Spell for the Boss Fight, trying to actually swing your sword is useless. The enemies will ALWAYS attack from an angle where you can't reach them by swinging your weapon, so even trying to attack them will guarantee you take a hit, and even the most minor enemies do MASSIVE damage. Like the first game, you can still hurt enemies by jumping into them at an angle where the tip of your sword will hit them, but that's honestly one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. You can get longer swords along the way but they're all equally useless. Your attack in the first game was also pretty "Nerf'ed", but in this one it's absolutely ridiculous. You don't even "swing" your sword at enemies, so much as you just kinda shake it weakly in their general direction. It's stupid that you even have a weapon; you may as well just have a pointy hat or something, since your only halfway-decent attack is jumping at your enemies from below. And it's a total crapshoot as to whether you'll damage them, or they'll damage you. Sometimes it's both!

The levels can be fun to explore but are almost entirely ruined by sloping platforms. There are TONS of sloping platforms that force you to slide down one or several levels if you misjudge your jump even a tiny bit, and it's incredibly annoying. It's a standard platform game obstacle, but they're EVERYWHERE. And a lot of times, they'll slide you right into an enemy that just happens to spawn underneath you, with no way to avoid taking damage. This happens constantly.

It seems like there are even more enemies than the first game, and considering how useless your attacks are, that ain't good. You'll be taking damage from every angle almost immediately, and how much damage you take seems very arbitrary; a lot of times, two hits will be enough to kill you in seconds. As I mentioned earlier, there were numerous times I thought I lucked out by finding an Extra Life, only to die two seconds later by an enemy randomly spawning right on top of me.

The game REALLY motherf*cks you by adding FAKE Health items, and furthermore, by making them look like ones you need to get. Since you're constantly getting hit, you'll always have low Health, and the Food items you find only replenish a small amount of your life bar. So you see BIGGER Food and your brain assumes that's an even better power-up... and then it knocks you down, taking a big chunk of your Health away. And THEN an enemy will inevitably run into you while you're down, and then you die. No matter how often it happens, you'll still fall for it occasionally, because you'll forever be desperate for a Health item. Sometimes killing an enemy in midair will spawn one of these Fake Health Items and you'll automatically grab it without even trying to. Terrible and cheap.

The whole game is just too goddamn difficult. The very first level is actually the hardest in the game except for the final Boss, and it's super annoying to start the game and die only seconds into it. You can easily find yourself on the Continue screen in less than two minutes. Through trial and error you can tough your way through it, but I can see a lot of people saying "F*ck this" before they get to the very first Boss. I almost quit the game ten minutes into it, because the amount of cheap deaths was completely overwhelming. Oddly, and thankfully, once you beat the first Boss the next couple of levels are a piece of cake by comparison. It feels really imbalanced the way the game starts off by completely nuking you and then backing way off for the next level. Most games try and ease you in; this one seemingly tries to see how fast it can make you rage quit, and then says "Just Kidding" if you manage to beat the first stage. It's weird. There's a Spell you can find later on in the game that makes you invincible for a very short time, but if you use it twice it's gone forever, so you're better off just saving it for the final Boss. It's pretty much impossible to win without it.

The bulk of the levels aren't as bad as the first one, but there are still a ton of cheap deaths and questionable level designs throught the entire game. The final Boss Fight, though, is one of the most infuriating things I've ever played through. I spent like two hours on it, and when I finally won it felt like an accident or dumb luck more than anything. I got very little satisfaction, only relief that it was over.

(Cont.)

[Leo656]

The thing is, all of these things could be true and it still COULD have been a decently fun game, in spite of itself. But the BIGGEST f*cking mistake, was removing the first game's unlimited Continues and replacing it with a Password system. The developers said that they took to heart the criticism that the first game was "too easy" thanks to being able to respawn forever right where you died. SO WHAT? It's a f*cking GAME, not water torture! The first game constantly killed you, too, but since there was no penalty it didn't make the game less fun; in this game you spend more time on the Title screen putting in Passwords than you do PLAYING the f*cking game! And that, more than anything, ruins the whole experience. Even if ALL they did differently was leave in the infinite Continues and let you respawn where you died, everything else would be forgivable. But constantly being kicked back to the Password screen every minute or two, especially near the end of the game, is SO F*CKING ANNOYING. Especially near the end when they take your Continues away completely! It's incredibly common to only manage about a minute of gameplay before getting kicked back to the Title screen. And that just ISN'T FUN.

The first game had the right idea; if you HAVE to motherf*ck the player non-stop, at least don't constantly break the flow. You were never out of the first game for more than a couple of seconds no matter how often you died; in this one, you literally spend more time putting Passwords in than actually playing the game, and that f*cking SUCKS. Towards the end when I was fighting the final Boss, EVERY time I had to stop playing after less than a minute and put in another Password, I wanted to break something.

It's a real shame. I really, REALLY wanted to like this game, and I did like the first one alright even though it was flawed. While this one improves on the first in some ways, that ONE big, stupid mistake ruins the entire game. Taking out the respawns and infinite Continues removed ALL of the fun of the first game and replaced it with infinite annoyance and frustration. And that's too bad, because it LOOKS great and there are some good ideas in play.

I don't understand, other than the graphics, WHY this game has such a stellar reputation. It's not fun! It's tedious and frustrating, for no good reason! And yet, people swear it's a "classic". I'll definitely play the first Wizards & Warriors game again, but I'm f*cking DONE with this one. I'm glad I got it for like five bucks and shipping, it's not worth more than that.

ALL That said... I'm still curious to check out the third game in the series, because supposedly it's totally different than the first two. Some people don't like how dramatically different it is from the first two, and especially how they removed most of the enemies and such. But after playing THIS, a game where you DON'T constantly die and have to restart sounds rather appealing. I don't know, we'll see. I don't have it yet, and I didn't order it because I wanted to play this one first. Now, I just don't feel any urgency to get it. We'll see.

This was a huge disappointment. Such a shame. COULD have been fun, if not for that One Stupid Thing.

[Leo656]

FINALLY!




Good Brother Josh Adams (aka "Violence") sold me his entire Master System load for a song. I just need to get the plug wires and we'll be in business! Pretty nice haul of games, too! Really pays to have friends in high places.

To illustrate how important this excursion and acquisition was... I missed today's entire block of "My Little Pony" for this.

[IMJ]

oh Geeze a master system. I haven't seen one of those in forever. And Shinobi? Man I've been playing Shinobi arcade for a few minutes at night on that RG-350 I mentioned.

I forgot how hard that game was. That and the arcade Stryder. I haven't had any luck with a NARC ROM though - anyone know where I can find both that and an Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ROM?

[frank_one]

Master System, oh, the memories... One buddy of mine had one when we were like 7 years old, good times. You've got a pretty collection of games there: R-Type is a classic, the two Fantasy Zone should be very good as well. From what I'm reading Zillion takes place in he same universe of Fantasy Zone and it's a Metroid-like game, interesting!

[Leo656]

Yeah buddy, the plug wires are on the way so we should be all set in a few days. Really hope it's in good working order, he didn't have the plugs so he wasn't able to test it out but he's a good dude so if it's not working we'll work it out. But fingers crossed! He recently sold off his SNES that was in the same storage space and the dude who bought that one isn't having any issues.

Good sh*t, pal.

[shredder orokusaki]

i JUST finished Ben 10 Power Trip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOjjw5LqEzA It was a fun game with a lot of action and i killed all iens very brutally. But it was very short as it took me only 1 day to finish it. Probably the shortest game i have played and i say that as iam gamer since 1994 and i play all action games. But i still recomend it to you to play it it is good.

[Icebot]

Just played Sonic 3 And Knuckles.