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NEC PC-Engine/SuperGrafx => PC Engine/SuperGrafx Discussion => Topic started by: sanjo on June 27, 2017, 12:51:38 AM
Title: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: sanjo on June 27, 2017, 12:51:38 AM
I started gaming from the 8-bit era, so the 8 bit to 32 bit were parts of my childhood while the ps2 and beyond came out when I was an adult.
of these older retro consoles, which was your favorite era?
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Killjoyy027 on June 27, 2017, 12:54:38 AM
I started in the 2bit Atari era but I think the 8bit era was the biggest for me. I really saw what video games could be.
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Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: esteban on June 27, 2017, 12:59:00 AM
80's...but I cheat and include the older mechanical game,too, since they were still in the arcades at the time (light guns, periscope submarine-torpedo, racing, pinball).
But, if I had to eliminate these older games, I'd still choose 80's.
Arcade, console, computer...tons of my favorite stuff.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: MrBroadway on June 27, 2017, 01:38:01 AM
The diversity and polish of the 3 sacred 16-bit consoles gets my vote.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Gypsy on June 27, 2017, 01:48:59 AM
The diversity and polish of the 3 sacred 16-bit consoles gets my vote.
yup same here the pc engine was the first console that got me started into importing. 2D graphics were the best then followed by Saturn era.
oh man, that was a difficult one for me too. I really loved my Sega Saturn, much more than my PSX.
But at the end of the day I also chose the 16 bit era. The rivalry between the systems was really intense and great (SNES vs Gen in the US, SFC vs PCE in Japan). Ports weren't perfect so it was fun comparing them. I started with 8 bit but games weren't refined, music was just ok.. but the 16 bit was really polished.
The main thing I feel swayed me over towards 16 bit over 32 bit was that the 32 bit era was the first big jump into polygons that aged really poorly. Also everyone was doing that early CG thing that I really hated (donkey kong, mario rpg, etc). Also in Japan, the mid 90's to late 90s era of anime art work, with its big hair, extremely pointy faces, extreme eyes, overly long legs.. was the worst imho.
These days when I see people mentioning pixel art, 8-bit art, etc what they really mean is 16 bit art.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Black Tiger on June 27, 2017, 07:02:50 AM
The 8 and 16-bit gen overlapped and the best period was while 16-bit was still current, but it was still easy to get 8-bit games.
I love 32-bit much more than anything that followed, but it will never come close to the magic of the peak of 2D gaming.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: seieienbu on June 27, 2017, 07:51:49 AM
I'm sure if you were on an NES related forum that 8bit era would be the highest. Likewise for an N64 era and that generation. Given that this is a PC Engine forum I daresay most everyone is going to vote for 16 bit generation (I know I did!)
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: MrBroadway on June 27, 2017, 08:00:02 AM
I'm sure if you were on an NES related forum that 8bit era would be the highest. Likewise for an N64 era and that generation. Given that this is a PC Engine forum I daresay most everyone is going to vote for 16 bit generation (I know I did!)
Some of us are on multiple forums!
I will say that I'd give 8bit second placeand 32/64 bit third place. I don't really game beyond PS2 with the exception of a dozen titles. If I had to choose just four consoles, it'd be the NES, Genesis, SNES, and PC Engine. There are enough games between the four to last a lifetime.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Black Tiger on June 27, 2017, 08:51:19 AM
The NES era was great! It included great releases for 2600, Intellivision, Collecovision, SMS, PCE, Genesis/Sega-CD/32X, SNES, 3DO Jaguar, Saturn, Playstation, Lynx, Gameboys and Game Gear.
Compare that to what came out during the lifespan of the Wii U.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: exodus on June 27, 2017, 11:22:34 AM
Saturn is my 2nd favorite console after PCE, but I think I like that era the most due to all the weird experimentation that went on at the time.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: esteban on June 27, 2017, 11:41:40 AM
NOTE: On my phone, the POLL did not display. Ha!
So I voted 8-bit just now using the power of technology
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 27, 2017, 01:17:58 PM
Whichever one was before the internet ruined everything.
what one is that
I like that one.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: crazydean on June 27, 2017, 01:22:21 PM
I miss cheats: invincibility, infinite ammo, guns that you couldn't otherwise obtain.
I miss gameshark. Man that thing ruled.
but really, I guess all of those eras are before the internet ruined everything.
Gaming with the internet was OK until like, Facebook.
Gamesharks and ARs. Good times. Except for N64, those Gamesharks never worked.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 27, 2017, 02:19:00 PM
It's N64. You probably needed 12 AA batteries for it, and an expansion pack.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Gypsy on June 27, 2017, 02:22:21 PM
Sounds about right. I have no idea why it didn't work. I ran through a bunch of dead ones before getting one that worked when I was a kid. Maybe I was just retarded but all my other cheat devices just actually f*cking worked.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 27, 2017, 02:24:45 PM
Well, yeah, you're probably retarded if you needed to cheat at N64 games.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Gypsy on June 27, 2017, 02:31:50 PM
Time saving for shitty wrestling game unlockables, I'm surprised I actually remembered.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: crazydean on June 27, 2017, 02:34:02 PM
Sounds about right. I have no idea why it didn't work. I ran through a bunch of dead ones before getting one that worked when I was a kid. Maybe I was just retarded but all my other cheat devices just actually f*cking worked.
I had one for the N64. There was this weird thing where some games required a specific setting. I think Banjo Kazooie was one. Say you owned BK and Goldeneye. You had to turn the console on with the GS and Goldeneye in. Then, change the setting. Then turn the console off and replace Goldeneye with BK. The GS wouldn't work properly until it was turned on with a game that satisfied the setting.
This could have been your problem....the setting was changed and you had no way to start the GS again.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 27, 2017, 02:35:53 PM
Sounds about right. I have no idea why it didn't work. I ran through a bunch of dead ones before getting one that worked when I was a kid. Maybe I was just retarded but all my other cheat devices just actually f*cking worked.
I had one for the N64. There was this weird thing where some games required a specific setting. I think Banjo Kazooie was one. Say you owned BK and Goldeneye. You had to turn the console on with the GS and Goldeneye in. Then, change the setting. Then turn the console off and replace Goldeneye with BK. The GS wouldn't work properly until it was turned on with a game that satisfied the setting.
This could have been your problem....the setting was changed and you had no way to start the GS again.
This...probably had a lot to do with it. I almost never play N64 anymore but interesting to know.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: sanjo on June 27, 2017, 03:24:51 PM
Whichever one was before the internet ruined everything.
what one is that
I like that one.
I feel that would be the 32 bit era and up. Not that it was needed often, because games at that time began introducing super long tutorials and introductions, and challenge dumbed down significantly.
the 8 bit and 16 bit era, we had to go to the bookstore and look up EGM, strategy guides, etc. Between those two I liked the 16 bit era more since things were a bit more intuitive where as the 8 bit era had some ridiculous difficulty or really random secrets.. Like Zelda II's house in the forest or the house that grew in an empty area.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 27, 2017, 04:26:08 PM
I remember making fun of Game Informer because Gamestop shoved it up our asses and down our throats, but now, I really miss game magazines.
The internet (Gamespot/IGN) have basically become a disaster. The magazines were cooler
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: MrBroadway on June 27, 2017, 04:30:22 PM
I remember making fun of Game Informer because Gamestop shoved it up our asses and down our throats, but now, I really miss game magazines.
The internet (Gamespot/IGN) have basically become a disaster. The magazines were cooler
Download the magazines. Problem solved. I'm happy for the space saved by not having a ton of magazines, but still being able to read them whenever I want.
It's not exactly the same, and perhaps one day I'll have all the copies of Turbo Play/Force/Duo World, but until then, a digital copy suffices.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 27, 2017, 06:50:10 PM
Gee I bloody wonder which generation would get the most votes =w='; I mean, they're all great and all, but in a forum filled to the brim with PCE fans I think it's safe to assume that the generation that has the PCE in it would win... I know I voted for it... Having 2 of the best consoles of all time as the competing options helps a lot too...
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: blueraven on June 27, 2017, 07:03:03 PM
I would have voted for Pleistocene but it wasn't there so i picked the turbo one
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 27, 2017, 07:10:14 PM
I honestly picked the PS1 era, because those were some of my fondest memories of not getting up and leaving the house.
The dawn of real 3D gaming complete with Jumping Flash 2, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Twisted Metal, Tony Hawk, and Metal Gear Solid was a pretty great time for myself and friends. That era is also when games started to really experiment again and do different things.
My 8/16bit era was spent mostly by myself because my friends were dumbshits
and, downloading magazines is not the same. It sucks. Alot.
I've actually been replaying PS1 games alot lately and find that they still hold up pretty well. I enjoy having my younger friends play them.
HOW DO WE MOVE THE CAMERA.
You don't. You f*cking deal with it. lol.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 27, 2017, 07:18:03 PM
That's fine and dandy, I also like the PS1 but I don't have nearly as much experience with it (even though I had one)
But still, even if the PCE didn't exist I'd still have picked the 4th generation because of the SNES alone, it's my favourite console, and the Genesis does help it a lot too, it's also one of my favourites, so it's a little hard to compete IMO... Having the PCE in it makes it go above and beyond and makes that generation undisputed the peak of gaming to me...
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 27, 2017, 07:23:23 PM
You just said you don't have much experience with the PS1, so you determining which of the 3 is undisputed is a little goofy, lol.
Saturn and PS1 is kind of a force to be reckoned with.
It really is difficult to pick between those two.
All I am getting out of this conversation is that you need to go play some PS1. I forget, what kind of games do you like most?
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: ClodBuster on June 27, 2017, 07:35:02 PM
My personal golden era of videogaming ist the transition from 8bit to 16 bit consoles. Plus, I read a lot of magazines in the late SNES/early N64 era.
Gamesharks and ARs. Good times. Except for N64, those Gamesharks never worked.
Since newer N64 games were protected against Gameshark, Action Replay and the likes, you needed a newer revision of cheat device to use it with these games.
By the way, GoldenEye 007 has some secret button combinations built-in (no Gameshark needed) that can be input while playing a level. These will grant you e.g. invincibility. This way, you can easily beat 00 Agent, unlock the bonus levels, unlock "regular" cheats as well as the 007 Agent mode.
Good thing GE007 has four save slots, so you can apply this to a secondary slot, while keeping your primary and honestly earned savegame untouched. But seriously, beating GE007 at least at Secret Agent difficuilty isn't THAT hard to do.
I wish there was something like this secret button combination for Perfect Dark, too. That game kills me on Perfect Agent difficulty on some stages like Maian S.O.S., thanks to silly respawning enemies. Also, shields are awful since they make enemies invulnerable for the first few shots, this f*cks PD's gameplay hard. With the bullet proof armor vests of GE007's harder enemies, they would at least show some pain reaction when shot at, delaying their movements a bit.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 27, 2017, 08:58:41 PM
You just said you don't have much experience with the PS1, so you determining which of the 3 is undisputed is a little goofy, lol.
Saturn and PS1 is kind of a force to be reckoned with.
It really is difficult to pick between those two.
All I am getting out of this conversation is that you need to go play some PS1. I forget, what kind of games do you like most?
Fighting games, shmups and platformers, I like a lot of other stuff as well so I'm open to suggestions, especially if they're 2D action games... The thing with me and the PS1 is that I played a whole lot of games, but many of them not for very long, so I have enough experience to tell that the PS1 doesn't quite appeal to me as much as the SNES, PCE and MD, just not enough experience to judge the system as a whole as there's much that I'm still missing out on...
Oh and, I've already played almost every fighting game on the PS1 so if you're gonna suggest anything keep it to the rest... I've also played all of the Crash games, Klonoa, Harmful Park, Spyro, Bomberman, Jumping Flash and Castlevania so, yeah...
What I haven't played much of on the system though are the RPGs, I know the PS1 has a load of critically acclaimed RPGs, but I'm afraid I'm not gonna be playing any of them due to my general lack of time and patience, not to mention the sizeable queue of 16 bit RPGs that I'm saving for whenever I can emulate them on my 3DS...
Side note: One of my (not so) recent favourite PS1 games is Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, what a fun game! I'm still picking Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu over it any day though =w=';
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: ClodBuster on June 27, 2017, 09:17:48 PM
I play PS1 mainly for Tekken 3, the three Parodius games, Gradius Gaiden, Salamander 2 (+ the other Konami shooter ports from the Arcade) and Puyo Puyo Sun.
And Castlevania Chronicles, amazing.
I've got to say, these 2D games held up pretty well. Not so sure about the 3D games, but at least Tekken 3 is still fun and very playable. Plus, it has got volleyballs and a farting dinosaur.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 27, 2017, 09:19:07 PM
Well, if you like fighters, I would have figured you would prefer PS1 over SNES/PCE/Genesis. Street Fighter Alpha 2 shits on all the 16-bit street fighters, and PCE's fighters are fun but not nearly as complicated.
I guess I'd say Asuka120 and Advanced VG are more fun than SF2 though.
If you like shmups, have you tried Einhander? Raycrisis, and Raystorm were also pretty fun. Philasoma was another good one. Shmups were not really the thing to do on PS1 unfortunately, lol.
Platformers, this depends. Does Tomb Raider count?
Oddworld is one of my favorite platformers, but it has Flashback style gameplay, so that might immediately piss you off. If you're into that, there's also Heart of Darkness. If you haven't played Flashback and have no idea what I am talking about, you are banned from using the internet unless it's to download a ROM of Flashback and play it.
You could also try Adventures of Lomax. That was a fun one. It's got a Lemmingduder from Lemmings. Play Rayman too, if you haven't played that in some form already.
oh man, and Skullmonkeys. Or Pitfall 3D ! Silhouette Mirage? MEDIEVIL!
PS1 is definitely an exploratory era. There's some other cool shit like Taifu: Wrath of the Tiger, or Ninja. Fighting Force. f*ckIN TONY HAWK 2. Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu 1&2, Deathtrap Dungeon.
Ghost in the Shell on PS1 is pretty fun too.
PS1 has an RPG motherlode though. its a shame you missed it and won't get to it. There's some really good ones like Brave Fencer Musashi, Grandia, Saga Frontier, and Star Ocean 2.
OH
AND BLOOD OMEN: LEGACY OF KAIN. IT'S ZELDA FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T SISSIES.
Shit that game ruled. brb playing that.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: TR0N on June 27, 2017, 09:20:39 PM
Voted 16-bit.PCE,SNES,Neo-Geo,Genesis there timeless to me for what they did with 2D.Though the most fondness i have for the 32-bit era is the,sega saturn plenty of 2D goodness for that console.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 27, 2017, 10:01:39 PM
I've got to say, these 2D games held up pretty well. Not so sure about the 3D games, but at least Tekken 3 is still fun and very playable. Plus, it has got volleyballs and a farting dinosaur.
I'd say the 3D games look like s*** but some of them at least still play well...
Well, if you like fighters, I would have figured you would prefer PS1 over SNES/PCE/Genesis. Street Fighter Alpha 2 shits on all the 16-bit street fighters, and PCE's fighters are fun but not nearly as complicated.
I guess I'd say Asuka120 and Advanced VG are more fun than SF2 though.
When it comes to 2D fighters what I really want to play is the Saturn, I've heard mednafen now supports it, but who says I have the patience to figure out how Saturn emulation is supposed to work on an emulator that I have to go out of my way to get a GUI for? And even when I DO get a GUI I still can't get any game to work on it so I say "F*** it!" and go use the FAR more user-friendly WiiMednafen instead, but wait, that one doesn't support Saturn! And that's because I have to download bioses and stuff, I'm gonna need a guide and lots of time before I can get into that... Or a real Saturn, but that's off-limits for my budget...
As for the PS1, the shining example of a good fighter that I found on it was Bloody Roar 2, it has quite a few good fighters in it, but emulation issues prevent me from truly enjoying the ones that I wanted to play the most, like Asuka 120% Burning Fest Final and Advanced V.G. 2, I mean seriously, EPSXE SUCKS! I hate that emulator, if you know any better and more accurate PS1 emulator that runs Advanced V.G. 2 and Asuka 120% without issues, or at the very least where to find better video and audio plugins for EPSXE then please let me know...
But seriously, even then, even with those fighters, I still don't think there's anything on the PS1 on quite the same caliber as Gundam Wing Endless Duel and Killer Instinct for the SNES, I know that PS1 era fighters are more robust, but I prefer the older fighters even if they are simpler, they're just so much fun! And they always feel more impressive when I know that they're being handled by not-as-powerful machines... And yeah, I still prefer Asuka 120% Maxima Burning Fest on the PCE CD over Burning Fest Final on the PS1, but I still play the X68000 version the most, even if it's not quite as good as either of those two, and it's all because of the spectacular FM synth soundtrack!
If you like shmups, have you tried Einhander? Raycrisis, and Raystorm were also pretty fun. Philasoma was another good one. Shmups were not really the thing to do on PS1 unfortunately, lol.
Yeah, I've played Einhander, it's allright... I'm gonna try these other ones later, but well, Shmups are another thing that I really want to play on the Saturn... I'm pretty sure that if I did play the Saturn my opinion on the 5th generation would be a lot less dismissive...
Platformers, this depends. Does Tomb Raider count?
Oddworld is one of my favorite platformers, but it has Flashback style gameplay, so that might immediately piss you off. If you're into that, there's also Heart of Darkness. If you haven't played Flashback and have no idea what I am talking about, you are banned from using the internet unless it's to download a ROM of Flashback and play it.
I did play Tomb Raider, let's just say it's not my kind of platformer >w>';
And yeah, I'm well familiar with this cinematic style of platformer like Oddworld and Flashback, but I don't have much patience for those either, I prefer platformers that ask more of your skill than your planning puzzle-solving abilities...
You could also try Adventures of Lomax. That was a fun one. It's got a Lemmingduder from Lemmings. Play Rayman too, if you haven't played that in some form already.
oh man, and Skullmonkeys. Or Pitfall 3D ! Silhouette Mirage? MEDIEVIL!
PS1 is definitely an exploratory era. There's some other cool shit like Taifu: Wrath of the Tiger, or Ninja. Fighting Force. f*ckIN TONY HAWK 2. Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu 1&2, Deathtrap Dungeon.
Ghost in the Shell on PS1 is pretty fun too.
Yeah, I've heard of Medievil and GitS, I've been wanting to play those, just haven't gotten around to them yet... As for the others, I'll be taking notes...
PS1 has an RPG motherlode though. its a shame you missed it and won't get to it. There's some really good ones like Brave Fencer Musashi, Grandia, Saga Frontier, and Star Ocean 2.
OH
AND BLOOD OMEN: LEGACY OF KAIN. IT'S ZELDA FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T SISSIES.
Shit that game ruled. brb playing that.
I'll see about getting to them whenever I'm done with the SNES, GBA, PCE, MD, 3DS, DS and PSP RPGs that I want to play... I know there's good stuff in there, but the RPGs for those other systems have been in the back of my mind asking to be played for quite a bit longer... (Not to mention the emulators for those systems don't make my head hurt... Minus the 3DS which I play on the real thing, and play DS games on it too, and that's the ideal anyway)
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: sanjo on June 28, 2017, 01:30:16 AM
on the subject of 16-bit era, which consoles were the easiest and hardest to program for? for example in the 32 bit era, Saturn was infamous for its difficulty to program for due to the multiple cores, and the PS1 being relatively easier.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Gypsy on June 28, 2017, 01:48:29 AM
Yeah downloading magazines definitely isn't the same. It's also why I still prefer physical books over ebooks.
Well, if you like fighters, I would have figured you would prefer PS1 over SNES/PCE/Genesis. Street Fighter Alpha 2 shits on all the 16-bit street fighters, and PCE's fighters are fun but not nearly as complicated.
I guess I'd say Asuka120 and Advanced VG are more fun than SF2 though.
If you like shmups, have you tried Einhander? Raycrisis, and Raystorm were also pretty fun. Philasoma was another good one. Shmups were not really the thing to do on PS1 unfortunately, lol.
Platformers, this depends. Does Tomb Raider count?
Oddworld is one of my favorite platformers, but it has Flashback style gameplay, so that might immediately piss you off. If you're into that, there's also Heart of Darkness. If you haven't played Flashback and have no idea what I am talking about, you are banned from using the internet unless it's to download a ROM of Flashback and play it.
You could also try Adventures of Lomax. That was a fun one. It's got a Lemmingduder from Lemmings. Play Rayman too, if you haven't played that in some form already.
oh man, and Skullmonkeys. Or Pitfall 3D ! Silhouette Mirage? MEDIEVIL!
PS1 is definitely an exploratory era. There's some other cool shit like Taifu: Wrath of the Tiger, or Ninja. Fighting Force. f*ckIN TONY HAWK 2. Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu 1&2, Deathtrap Dungeon.
Ghost in the Shell on PS1 is pretty fun too.
PS1 has an RPG motherlode though. its a shame you missed it and won't get to it. There's some really good ones like Brave Fencer Musashi, Grandia, Saga Frontier, and Star Ocean 2.
OH
AND BLOOD OMEN: LEGACY OF KAIN. IT'S ZELDA FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T SISSIES.
Shit that game ruled. brb playing that.
I enjoyed the PC port of Legacy of Kain. I believe I still have a PS1 copy lying around too.
As for RPGs yep you named some good ones and still barely scratched the damn surface. Lunars, Arc the Lad II, Wild Arms, Chrono Cross, Tales of Eternia etc... I could go on.
@michirin: Definitely get a Saturn at some point. If you can find a cheap system only you should have a compatible power cord lying around, crap av cords on eBay are like $3-4 shipped from China and the pseudo saturn is $23. The bad part is a controller would be about as much as the ps. But I recently got a great deal on a couple extra controllers. I should have them tomorrow. If they work out, I could toss you a controller for shipping cost. Not sure how tight your budget is but this would probably be around $60 total to play all Saturn games w/o fuss.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Black Tiger on June 28, 2017, 03:11:32 AM
on the subject of 16-bit era, which consoles were the easiest and hardest to program for? for example in the 32 bit era, Saturn was infamous for its difficulty to program for due to the multiple cores, and the PS1 being relatively easier.
The SNES is supposed to be ridiculously convoluted and doesn't have a lot of horsepower in the first place. Both the sound and sprites are bottlenecked by a tiny amount of space (among other things) and devs had to get creative to build a typical game. Nintendo's policies also negatively impacted development bitd.
This is why there is so little honebrew for it.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 28, 2017, 04:39:42 AM
I think objectively, the Genesis is the easiest to program for because the 68000 CPU is a friendly motherf*cker.
Ecco was written entirely in C IIRC.
Now, the downside is, graphically, Genesis is a pain in the dick to make look nice.
If PCE had a 68000, that would rule.
@michirin: I keep forgetting you are like, stuck in emulatorland. Playing PS1 and Saturn via emulator f*cking sucks, lol.
Saturn is basically PCE 2.0 IMO. It's basically what the PC-FX could have been if they didnt bank so hard on FMV being the hotness that would pave the way into the future.
another PS1 game that you should try at some point in your life is Parasite Eve.
I assume you have already played Valkyrie Profile via PSP.
If not, go do that. Your life needs it.
Are you one of those people while playing games like Flashback or Prince of Persia, you end up running off of cliffs because the controls are weird? lol
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Gypsy on June 28, 2017, 04:46:53 AM
Ha I even forgot Valkyrie Profile, and I loved that game. Just so many RPGs on PS1 and yes, the PSP version is way cheaper or easier to emulate, so either way, it's the way to go.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 28, 2017, 04:50:13 AM
or you could just play your real copy you got back in the day for 15$ used before the gaming world collectively went f*cking mental.
ayyyyyy
macarena.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 28, 2017, 10:02:54 AM
Not sure how tight your budget is but this would probably be around $60 total to play all Saturn games w/o fuss.
If I had $60 lying around I'd buy some more 3DS games that I'm still missing out on >w> I sure want to get a Saturn someday, but I've only just started working (as an animator), and I'm only gonna be paid (pennies) by the end of July, I don't think I'm gonna be able to afford collecting anything this year, maybe a couple of years from now, when I'm done with college, but by then I believe the prices are gonna be even more astronomically high than they already are...
@michirin: I keep forgetting you are like, stuck in emulatorland. Playing PS1 and Saturn via emulator f*cking sucks, lol.
It sure would help if my real PS1 hadn't been broken since 2006, and as far as I'm concerned, buying a new PS1 would be cheaper than fixing mine, but let's just say I have other priorities...
Saturn is basically PCE 2.0 IMO. It's basically what the PC-FX could have been if they didnt bank so hard on FMV being the hotness that would pave the way into the future.
Yeah, that's pretty much exactly why I want to play it! I've only barely touched the Saturn, but of what I did see on the system it already feels like it would be right up my alley! So many 2D games! So many Fighting games! So many shmups!
another PS1 game that you should try at some point in your life is Parasite Eve.
I assume you have already played Valkyrie Profile via PSP.
If not, go do that. Your life needs it.
Taking notes! I'll see about trying more PS1 games next weekend, I'll be less busy by then, and no I haven't played Valkyrie Profile yet, I've mostly just been playing Street Fighter Alpha 3, Project Diva and K-on Hakugo Live...
Are you one of those people while playing games like Flashback or Prince of Persia, you end up running off of cliffs because the controls are weird? lol
Sometimes, the biggest problem with the controls in these types of games is that I think they feel stiff, you have to preemptively do what you want your character to do instead of having it respond immediately as you play like in a normal platformer... I know they're supposed to be good, they have loads of fans for a reason after all, but due to how they play they're gonna appeal more to players who want a slower-paced more methodical game, and I'm not one of them... Oh and, being flip-screen doesn't help matters in my book >w> I always felt that was a step backwards in the evolution of platformers, they went from static screens to flip-screens, to scrolling horizontally or vertically only, to scrolling in 8 directions, not to mention the Parallax Scrolling that only got better and better, and now back to flip-screens? C'mon! Yeah I know they look "prettier" now with the pre-rendered graphics and stuff, but I much prefer the more cartoony graphics often used on the 16 bit systems, those aged a heck of a lot better...
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 28, 2017, 10:07:03 AM
The accelerated physics movement/climbing in a scrolling engine would be a disaster. That's why they are flipscreen still.
You need fairly pixel perfect grabbing/climbing/etc. Having to deal with that while it's all moving would make for the worst game ever.
plus, mapping out a scrolling adventure/puzzle game is a real punch in the dick. Flipscreen lets you map stuff out in your head, or on paper, or when you suck and have to use a walkthru, lol.
Also, screw buying a PS1. Just get a PS2. \o/
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 28, 2017, 10:14:33 AM
The accelerated physics movement/climbing in a scrolling engine would be a disaster. That's why they are flipscreen still.
You need fairly pixel perfect grabbing/climbing/etc. Having to deal with that while it's all moving would make for the worst game ever.
plus, mapping out a scrolling adventure/puzzle game is a real punch in the dick. Flipscreen lets you map stuff out in your head, or on paper, or when you suck and have to use a walkthru, lol.
Point taken, but that only adds to why I would NOT want to play them >w>
You're right. Flashback is a playable game. Turrican is just some shit people pretend they like. lol.
Nah, Turrican's bloody awesome! Particularly Super Turrican 2, that one blew my mind back when I was little, too bad the music isn't as awesome as Super Turrican 1... Mega Turrican is pretty damn good too, but I prefer the SNES ones for the most part...
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 28, 2017, 10:46:04 AM
Super Turrican 2 is literally the only Turrican anyone should play. The rest are all garbage lol.
I feel bad for everyone that was stuck with C64 Turricans because they didn't have an NES growing up.
You all got shafted once that sweet intro tune ended.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 28, 2017, 11:03:31 AM
Super Turrican 2 is literally the only Turrican anyone should play. The rest are all garbage lol.
I feel bad for everyone that was stuck with C64 Turricans because they didn't have an NES growing up.
You all got shafted once that sweet intro tune ended.
Well, the only computer Turrican game I've played was the Speccy version of the first game, and that was out of curiosity, I haven't played the C64 or Amiga ones, only their console counterparts on the SNES, MD, TurboGrafx and NES, and yeah, the NES version of Super Turrican is kind of rubbish, and so is the TurboGrafx one, but Mega Turrican, SNES Super Turrican and Super Turrican 2 are all damn good! (But Super Turrican 2 is the best)
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 28, 2017, 11:12:35 AM
I had Turrican on C64 and Amiga bitd. I thought they were shitheaps when they were basically current games, lol.
I was like "f*ck this I am playing Contra"
and "f*ck this, playing Contra 3"
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Gypsy on June 28, 2017, 01:43:13 PM
Yeah not sure what that PS1 games not playing on PS2 is about. Some have minor performance issues (notably Zanac x Zanac) but everything plays. I played some Legend of Dragoon this year on my PS2.
If I had $60 lying around I'd buy some more 3DS games that I'm still missing out on >w> I sure want to get a Saturn someday, but I've only just started working (as an animator), and I'm only gonna be paid (pennies) by the end of July, I don't think I'm gonna be able to afford collecting anything this year, maybe a couple of years from now, when I'm done with college, but by then I believe the prices are gonna be even more astronomically high than they already are...
;_;
Just make sure to get a pseudo saturn when you do. It's definitely worth playing some of the higher value ($200+) games but not worth paying for imo.
Yeah, that's pretty much exactly why I want to play it! I've only barely touched the Saturn, but of what I did see on the system it already feels like it would be right up my alley! So many 2D games! So many Fighting games! So many shmups!
Sounds like you will love the Saturn. Maybe some day the emulation won't suck. That would be nice.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 28, 2017, 02:00:09 PM
Anyone who doesn't like the saturn probably only played Bug and Virtua Cop
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 28, 2017, 02:02:38 PM
(http://i67.tinypic.com/x1jdrr.png)
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 28, 2017, 02:10:42 PM
Sounds like you will love the Saturn. Maybe some day the emulation won't suck. That would be nice.
I've seen videos of people running Saturn pretty damn well on Mednafen, but if only it was more user-friendly... I mean, dragging PCE roms into it is fine and dandy, but I still could never manage to get a CD game working on it! (Well, I did, but it was PC-FX, still didn't manage PC engine, Playstation or Saturn) I don't know what I'm doing wrong, or not doing, so the least they could do is make it obvious what is it that I'm doing wrong or not doing! I don't wanna read pages upon pages worth of forum threads in order to figure it out, I don't have any patience for that...
That's why I love emulating stuff on my Wii, it's far from the most powerful system, but since it's a console they have no other choice but make it more user-friendly, the Wii doesn't have a bloody keyboard and mouse in it, it's got a controller with a D-pad and 7 buttons, there's only so much you can do with it so you have to actually display the options you have on the screen, right there, easy for anyone to see, as for running the games, just put them on your HDD or SD card and you're good to go! Why can't stuff be as simple as that on the PC? No reason, because it can! Just look at PPSSPP, that's like, one of the best emulators I've ever used, I just expect emulators to be about as user-friendly as Snes9x, or worst-case-scenario I have to load a bios or swap floppy images, which I'm perfectly fine with, but PPSSPP is as easy to use as just downloading it and whatever ISOs you need, you don't even need to mount the ISO image to Daemon tools or anything, it just works! And even DLC is easy to install, you just put it on the folder it tells you to put and voila! It's installed... But not only is PPSSPP an easy to use and configure emulator that runs PSP games excellently even on lower-end computers, but it goes above and beyond into making your emulation experience as well-presented as possible! It's got a pretty good-looking UI, it's easy to locate your games, it gives you little thumbnails of the games you'll be playing, it has a list of recently played games front-and-centre, getting to whichever options you need and tweaking them is just a couple of clicks away, you don't have to read a manual to find out what keyboard combination you have to press to make it work, it's PERFECT!
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Gypsy on June 28, 2017, 02:11:35 PM
Anyone who doesn't like the saturn probably only played Bug and Virtua Cop
What a sad Saturn experience to have.
Bug was kinda funny, but like holyshit if the usa library is all you had, you were f*ckin screwed.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Gypsy on June 28, 2017, 02:22:22 PM
Yeah importing is a must. People that are like, the Saturn (or Turbo for that matter) sucks it doesn't have many good games, but also aren't willing to import confuse me. It's a Japanese console that flopped in America but was wildly successful in Japan, what do you expect?
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Dicer on June 28, 2017, 02:57:30 PM
16-bit hands down. The best smattering of all around goodness.
The pong/8bit era can be a close second if sometimes primitive plenty of those games are easy to pick up and go.
The 32-bit era can be hard to go back to, some of the game just do NOT hold up well, even with upscaling/filtering they are still ugly janky foggy framey messes, but there is other stuff that holds the up to test of time.
Everything past that is just prettier/faster/sleeker versions of crap before it, not always for the better...
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: MrBroadway on June 28, 2017, 04:35:44 PM
The only US Saturn disc I own is Rayman, and only that because it was cheap. Every other game I own is the Japanese version. 1) Way f*cking cheaper; 2) Way more space for more games; 3) Looks better than those monstrous-yet-fragile abortions of a case.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: sanjo on June 28, 2017, 06:47:06 PM
I loved the Sega Saturn! I began as a Nintendo fanboy. Atari and NES were my first systems but I was hardcore NES and SNES nerd as a kid. at that time I did have a slight interest in the Turbografx because Sears always had it on display and I'd play it while my parents went shopping. But they refused to buy me another console.
Some time later, when 32 bit was about to arrive and things got cheaper, I finally I gave the Gen and Sega CD a chance (but what I really wanted was a Turbo, but they were now gone), but was let down by the sound in many of the games (lesser colors wasnt so bad). I purchased it solely for Phantasy Star series, Shining Force, Lunar, and Sonic 2.
By the time the 32 bit era arrived. I decided to break from tradition and went for the Saturn first, while most of my friends went for PS1. At first, I had some buyers remorse because 3-D Polygons were the big thing back then, and PS1 games used it better. I was like, why can't the saturn version of Toshinden look as good? I eventually ended up buying a PS1 as well.
However in the end I played my Saturn 2 or 3 times more. Later on the Saturn had some games that I felt had better polygonal graphics, like Virtua Fighter 2 and Sega Rally. I also had this dual mod saturn (a store put in some additional circuitry or something where you switch it from US or JPN).. and this greatly expanded my library.
I stuck to games that didn't require much Japanese at first, mostly fighters and shooters, then started learning Japanese.
in the end the PS1 AND Saturn's polygonal games aged poorly but Saturn's 2D games were fantastic. Arcade ports were much much better and had less loading times. My favorite fighter was the Saturn exclusive, Groove on Fight.
RPG wise, I think I logged on far more hours on Dragon Force 1 and 2 than the FF series on PS1. I also liked Iron Storm (Daisenryaku), a WW2 strategy game. Its what led me to translate daisenryaku for the PCE-CD 10 years ago.
On the regular tv, the Saturn looked a lot sharper, with better contrast and colors. the PS1 had this blurry look (like how the Sega Genesis was).
Best of all, the Saturn was far more reliable. Never had any hardware problems with it, Just had to replace the battery every now and then. I had to completely replace my PS1.
I know some people complain about dithering used on the Saturn, but back then, they looked transparent due to the technological limitations of the TV.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 28, 2017, 06:51:04 PM
Saturn had Magic Knight Rayearth and that was the best.
as was Dragon Force.
Both those games were f*cking masterpieces.
It's a shame saturn kinda blows in the RPG department by comparison really. The games are all good, but it doesn't have as wide of a selection.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 28, 2017, 07:19:19 PM
I picked the same as everyone else. I love this period because it was as advanced as games got before they kinda...left the garage and got big time. The gulf of technical resources between Sega and Technos was massive yet Kunio-kun is at least as fun and was at least as popular as Space Harrior. The JRPG matured, playable pseudo3D was possible on SFC and if was actually fun. STREET f*ckING FIGHTER TOOOOO and of course Neo Geo, Yoshi's Island, Y's IV, Tengai Makyoi, Sonic 2...shit, I just named more shit than I've enjoyed since since the Dreamcsst died.
16-bit forever.
Btw, hear hear to the "8-bit graphics" thing. It always bugs me when people say "8-bit" and there's like 24 colors per sprite and megapixel resolution. "8-bit" is usually like three colors plus transparent unless they stack sprites. It's usually kinda ugly, and that's why the 16-bit era is my favorite. I apreciate the spirit of the Famicom times a million but I just need *slightky* better shit, sorry. :)
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: ClodBuster on June 28, 2017, 08:45:43 PM
Michirin, I'd suggest a PS2 SCPH-9x (Superslim) equipped with a Modbo chip.
This revision isn't as f*cked up as some of the SCPH-7x (Slim) revisions with the frail diode problem. The SCPH-9x also has better compatibility with the majority of PS1/PS2 games than the 7x.
This is what I use with my PAL SCPH-9x, and it plays pretty much everything fine that I throw at it (haven't tested MGS VR missions yet, though), which is mainly Japanese and some US PS1 and PS2 games. Will play CD-/DVD-Rs too, reserved for some otherwise prohibitively expensive games.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 28, 2017, 09:00:51 PM
I laugh at people who need RGB nes.
It still looks bland half the time because the sprites lack any details.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: MrBroadway on June 29, 2017, 01:56:50 AM
Which PS2 do you have? I have a chipped PS1 for imports, and neither console are stay hooked up, so it's not a big deal for me to get it out and play PS1 games on it. I never checked for myself what games work or don't work, since I never got rid of my PS1 to begin with.
On the regular tv, the Saturn looked a lot sharper, with better contrast and colors. the PS1 had this blurry look (like how the Sega Genesis was).
Genesis composite is pretty bad on most models and PS1 composite is truly awful so that's probably why. It's been awhile since I've seen Saturn composite and I actually don't even have a Saturn composite cable anymore to check.
Saturn had Magic Knight Rayearth and that was the best.
as was Dragon Force.
Both those games were f*cking masterpieces.
It's a shame saturn kinda blows in the RPG department by comparison really. The games are all good, but it doesn't have as wide of a selection.
Definitely. I loved Dragon Force. I still need to play the 2nd one. I have the patch for that and Policenauts sitting here waiting for me to get done with my anime bender.
I picked the same as everyone else. I love this period because it was as advanced as games got before they kinda...left the garage and got big time. The gulf of technical resources between Sega and Technos was massive yet Kunio-kun is at least as fun and was at least as popular as Space Harrior. The JRPG matured, playable pseudo3D was possible on SFC and if was actually fun. STREET f*ckING FIGHTER TOOOOO and of course Neo Geo, Yoshi's Island, Ys IV, Tengai Makyoi, Sonic 2...shit, I just named more shit than I've enjoyed since since the Dreamcsst died.
16-bit forever.
Btw, hear hear to the "8-bit graphics" thing. It always bugs me when people say "8-bit" and there's like 24 colors per sprite and megapixel resolution. "8-bit" is usually like three colors plus transparent unless they stack sprites. It's usually kinda ugly, and that's why the 16-bit era is my favorite. I apreciate the spirit of the Famicom times a million but I just need *slightky* better shit, sorry. :)
So this post (mine) might not make much sense but here goes.
I have played pretty much everything you mentioned (not Tengai Makyo yet) and liked them all. I like plenty of new games too, despite how different they are from old games. That said there is a deluge of very shitty samey indie roguelikes and all the AAA shooter and sandbox clones that you have to look past and find the better games. And I mean, I enjoyed RDR but I don't understand people wanting to wander around and plat all the sandbox games that come out. I just want to play through the game once w/o a guide. I cleared over 50 PS3 games (not supposed to be an impressive number) so I think there is definitely some fun to be had.
Agree about old games. For me games mostly didn't get fun until PCE. Now there are some playable NES games for me, mostly the ultra popular and well made shit like SMB3. Whereas PCE I can play and enjoy most of the library.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 29, 2017, 07:52:08 AM
Which PS2 do you have? I have a chipped PS1 for imports, and neither console are stay hooked up, so it's not a big deal for me to get it out and play PS1 games on it. I never checked for myself what games work or don't work, since I never got rid of my PS1 to begin with.
Just these 3? Not that big a loss... I could just emulate them if I ever want to play them...
Nah, a lot more, but those were the only three I cared about.
I can go check when I am home. I have 2. but, I use PS1 mostly for PS1. I need to get some more PS1s.
sometimes they f*ck out on me.
I was just playing JetMoto2 on a PS2 a few weeks ago. lol it seemed OK to me.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Gredler on June 29, 2017, 09:02:57 AM
NHL Rock the Rink - the middle man between Hit the Ice and Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey / NHL Hitz.
Great game, worth having a ps1 around to play it.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: coryoon on June 29, 2017, 09:07:08 AM
Whilst I did some gaming in the 8-Bit era (had an Amstrad CPC), although I liked to play on it, I find it hard to go back to 8-Bit stuff. The same can be said of the 8-Bit consoles (bar a few stand out games).
The 16-Bit era has the consoles that I like the most - PC Engine, Snes and Neo Geo.
With that said the 16-Bit era continued long after the Playstation era, as the Neo still had releases as did other arcade hardware that I suppose could be lumped in with this era?
-Was CPS2 16-Bit? -The CAVE CV1000 pcbs were much more powerful than the 16 Bit PGM hardware that preceded it.
I never like to use the generational classifications that are used, save as to say that there was a jump from 8 to 16 bit graphics and then a gradual peaking of 16 bit (style) 2d graphics well into the 000's.
I dare say that I am into the era of 2D pixel games that started from the PC Engine and ended with the last official Neo release, so that gives me 1987 - 2003.
Certain exceptions are made on the handheld format as I love the GB and the GG - although they do fall into my 87-03 window.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: esteban on June 29, 2017, 10:56:30 AM
FINAL CONCLUSIONS:
(1) The 8-bit era is, without a doubt, the best era. (2) Pussyfooters say otherwise. (3) FEKA agents hacked the poll to elevate "16-bit Era" into the lead. Therefore, the results displayed above are invalid. Ignore them. (4) For three hours this afternoon, the poll was titled "Dendy4Ever" (Russian hackers). Necro fixed this by hitting "refresh" in his mobile Opera browser.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 29, 2017, 03:21:43 PM
I think there are plenty of NES, GB and GBC and a few Master System games that have actually aged pretty damn well in my book and still look sound and play great now, granted they're never gonna compare to the likes of what you find on the PC engine, Mega Drive and Super Nintendo, but I still love games such as NES Batman, NES Batman Return of the Joker, Shatterhand, Ninja Gaiden 1, 2 and 3, Kirby's Adventure, Super Mario Bros. 1, 2 and 3, Contra, Super C, Castlevania 1 and 3, ZAS (GB), Crisis Force (FC), Crystalis, Adventure Island 2 and 3, Final Fantasy III (FC), Dragon Warrior IV, Super Mario Land 2, Gremlins 2, Journey to Silius, Bomberman II, Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu (NES), Faxanadu, TMNT 3 The Manhattan Project, Wacky Races (GBC), Zelda Link's Awakening DX (GBC)... The point is that there is no shortage of 8 bit games that are still pretty damn good, sure some of you might not agree with some of my choices, but there are plenty more that I haven't mentioned so my point stands...
I voted for the 16 bit generation for a good reason, that's when 2D graphics became truly amazing, 2D gameplay was pretty much perfected, and the sound that those systems produced has never been and will probably never be surpassed, but if you dismiss the 8 bits you're only doing yourself a disservice...
Yeah I know I was a little dismissive of the 5th generation earlier in the thread while saying I didn't have a ton of experience with it, but that wasn't exactly the most accurate way to word what I was trying to say, not only do I have experience with the 5th gen systems (minus the Saturn which I really want to play when I can) but I was open to suggestions! (In other words, I'm not being a hypocrite by defending the 3rd generation even though the 4th is my favourite by a long shot)
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: MrBroadway on June 29, 2017, 03:33:59 PM
I think some trends are in order. I'd say 8-bit platformers were represented the height of the genre, as they started to get too easy with 16-bit consoles. There are, of course, many exceptions.
The absolute pinnacle of shooters is either PC Engine greatness or Saturn greatness, late enough to be polished, early enough to avoid the terrible danmaku fetish.
RPGs were greatest in 16-bit generation, but racing games from the Saturn and PS1 on blow everything before that out of the water. Not even close.
On the other hand, 8/16-bit beatemups were way, way cooler than 3D platformers, which objectively suck. Final Fantasy went from dark knights to scrappy but effeminate boys.
Things were weirder in 8 and 32/64-bit eras than 16-bit, but that's mostly due to the sheer size of the shovelware (and thus unusual and unexpected slam dunks) from the NES and PS1 libraries.
Sports games get more boring the more realistic they make them. Ergo earlier is better. (Are there any phenomenal sports games after NHL 94? I'm thinking Virtua Tennis and Hot Shots Fore! or something.)
Hard to say which gen is best with all this, but I'd still lean 16-bit as a comfortable middle ground there.
Title: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: esteban on June 30, 2017, 02:35:59 AM
Obviously, I love the 16-bit era. :)
That said, there is an awful lot of pussyfooting in this thread! 8-bit4Evuh
Michirin9801, you have sound reasoning. I hear you. I think most folks would (do) agree with you.
MrBroadway: I think you identified something crucial to this discussion...trends and genres. A person's personal preference for certain genres will absolutely affect their vote in this poll.
Personally, the fact that I don't really care for:
* Vs. Fighting Games (a la Street Fighter) * RPGs on consoles (I used to play RPGs on computers in 80's, then got sick of it) * FPS/3D platformers
...really shapes my vote in a favorite "era"...
Plus, the incontrovertible fact that the 16-bit Era is, and always will be, inferior to the 8-bit Era is integral to the analysis, too. :)
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: sanjo on June 30, 2017, 03:18:07 AM
It's a damn shame they never made a sequel. When SNK made it big with the Neo-Geo, I was really hoping for a 16-bit sequel.
Best action rpg of the 8-bit era
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: NE146 on June 30, 2017, 04:45:41 AM
I'm a child of the 70's.. had a Coleco Telstar console, and then was fully and absolutely immersed in the 2600/5200 era. I had also had a Famicom before the NES was all that huge in the states and totally loved that era. However my "favorite" has to be the 16 bit era.. that was truly a golden age imho.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 30, 2017, 05:37:27 AM
yea, but theirs are in a released Crystalis fansequel, so they kinda one upped you.
Point taken, I never finished my old RPG maker projects...
that's interesting. I thought RPG Maker only did rpgs, not action rpgs
You kinda have to go out of your way with events and scripts in order to be able to make anything that isn't an RPG... It's possible, but if you're gonna put in the effort you might as well use some other software like Game Maker Studio... It's gonna be harder considering that you'll be making the game pretty much from the ground up, but the results will be a heck of a lot better!
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 30, 2017, 04:05:50 PM
"The results will be a heck of a lot better"
How? Why? This is just some made up nonsense statistic with no real evidence, lol.
It's up to the graphics/programmer to make the results. The fact you're doing it "from the ground up" doesn't automagically result in "a heck of a lot better". In some cases, it results in "worse and doesn't get finished ever".
I wouldn't be surprised if the below results couldn't be achieved by the same team using GameMaker, or some other "DIY" setup, because it's harder.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on June 30, 2017, 04:49:40 PM
Look mate, there's only so much you can do in RPG maker before it becomes even harder to make there than it would in another software, and depending on what you're making it can be limiting in all of the wrong ways... I've never said that good games can't be made in RPG maker, they definitely can, I sure have seen some and even played a couple, but when you go out of your way to make something that isn't an RPG, you're more often than not doing yourself and your game a disservice by making it in RPG maker... (Note: "More often than not" doesn't mean "always")
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on June 30, 2017, 09:14:46 PM
OK, given the copious amounts of discussion/scripts/tutorials/youtubes/examples, I am saying what you're saying is a bit nonsensical.
What experience do you have that qualifies what you are saying, anyways? You said you never finished anything from RPG Maker. How many other things have you had any experience and/or success with when trying to make an RPG?
How much of what you tried was action? When did you even try it? RPG Maker has evolved a bit over the years.
RPG Maker gives you a lot of powerful features/things that you no longer have to DIY. Forsaking those to do it all from scratch in Game Maker or some shit, especially if you aren't exactly a fantastic programmer or experienced game maker seems fairly strange.
You keep saying these "more often than not" and "heck of a lot better" statements that sound more opinion than fact, and don't have any real backing to them. Yes, it doesn't mean "always", but what you're saying is sort of exaggerated.
How are you doing your game a disservice using RPG Maker? Can you explain this?
As I said, if you can't get it to work in RPGMaker, I don't think you'd manage to implement anything more competent in an engine that basically does nothing for you, so I don't see how you'd be doing a disservice.
We were doing action RPG stuff in RPG Maker over a decade ago, when it was actually hard. Not like it is now.
http://rpgmaker.net/games/1722/
Not seeing how this sort of thing is a disservice because it is an RPG Maker game, and also not seeing how you could do "heck of a lot better" in Game Maker.
There's a bunch of other games that aren't turn based in RPGMaker.
I would take RPG Maker to do an action RPG over something like Game Maker, or Allegro/Verge. It abstracts away a lot for you.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on July 01, 2017, 07:25:07 AM
I've used RPG maker 2000, 2003 and VX ace from 2009 through about 2013, but I mostly used 2003 due to being a pretty good improvement in usability over 2000 while still being in 240p, and from my experience RPG Maker is an excellent tool for beginner game designers who are more experienced in making graphics than anything (my case exactly) and you could do almost anything you wanted using the game's event system, even some really impressive stuff as seen in this video:
(Unfortunately I've never managed to find this game for download so I can't say how well it plays)
But RPG maker 2003 doesn't have scripts, so there's only so much you can do in it, you'll always be limited to tile-based movement in it, no 8 direction movement either, only 2 BG layers with no way to split them and move parts at different speeds, and you have very little control over the parallax (although if you're really creative you could fake extra layers by overlaying sprites and animations on top, but that only gives you foreground layers)
Here's the thing though, I'm not much of a writer, I have no interest in making an RPG, so I've always been trying to see how much I could push RPG maker 2003, what I could get out of it that wasn't an RPG, granted I've never managed to get anything even remotely close to what's shown in that video, but I could already see from afar that using RPG maker to make something like that would be a massive pain in the arse, and it would most likely not play well at all, so if I wanted to make anything that was good I'd either have to upgrade to newer versions which supported scripts (such as VX ace which I also tried to use), which would require me to either learn to code on my own or use other people's scripts, which might not exactly do what I wanted to do, or use some other program, either way, I'd have to learn to code, so if I were to learn to code, I might as well go all the way and use another program where I'd have full control over everything! The sizes and amount of frames of animation of all of my graphics, where to put them, how to refer to them, all of my variables, I can have as many background layers as I want and I can make them parallax at any speeds I want, I can have my movement work any way I want, with whatever controls I want, my title-screen can be much more interesting than a static image with a dialogue box with 3 options that say "New Game", "Continue" and "Exit" or any variation of these 3 functions, so on and so forth... And making all of those things with the level of control that I wanted turned out to be MUCH easier in Game Maker Studio... Granted there are some things about RPG maker that I still like better than GMS, like the tilemap editor, GMS's Tilemap editor is a flaming pile of rubbish that I hate almost as much as I hate Sonic (or maybe even more considering that I have to deal with it instead of ignoring it) and uhh... I suppose it's easier to actually finish a game in RPG maker if your game doesn't have robust physics?
While RPG maker is definitely usable to make games on a publishable level, I see it more as a learning tool that you move on from once you've acquired enough experience (unless all you ever want to make is RPGs and RPG maker fits what you want to make) but if you don't want to make RPGs (like me) nowadays there are a lot of programs more suited to what you might want to make, which would serve as far more useful learning tools! The same creators of RPG maker have made their own 2D game engine for games other than RPGs, which is IG maker, it requires no scripting knowledge what-so-ever (read: "It doesn't support scripts" at least as far as I've used it back in 2014) you code with events, kinda like you did back in RPG maker 2003, but it has a lot more broad events meant for things other than RPGs, so if you're not much of a coder and you want to make a shmup, a top-down action game, a puzzle game or a platformer (maybe even a fighting game?) you know, games that have more robust physics and aren't necessarily top-down, you can make them MUCH more easily in that than you ever could in RPG maker, THAT's when you'd be doing yourself and your game a disservice by making it in RPG maker, because that way you're only over-complicating something that could be done easier in other software...
And that's because IG maker isn't even the best one out there, Construct 2 has come to my attention in recent months and it's not only easier to use than IG maker, but it's also more flexible than it! It also uses a "coding through events" system, but that system is even more robust and somehow even easier to use than IG maker's, and it has "Behaviours" which you can use to make some of the game's objects pretty much code themselves, all you have to do is adjust some parameters, but personally, I don't like behaviours at all, from my experience they mostly work like s***, you're better off coding everything on your own with events, the only one that I found to be useful was "Sine" which makes an object move in a sine wave, it's alright...
Personally I'd say Construct 2 is a FAR more useful learning tool for non-coders who want to make games that aren't RPGs, even an action RPG would be better off made in it than it would in RPG maker I'd say because you're able to use as many sprites as you want and make them as big and animated with as many frames as you want, with full and easy control of the collision boxes, without requiring ANY scripting what-so-ever! (The program doesn't supports scripts either, but you can code fine just using its event system) In this program you're not adjusting a pre-existing engine to suit your needs, you're making your own game engine in the easiest way that I personally know, which gives you MUCH more creative freedom and that's good! That said though, RPG maker (and IG maker) still have a better tilemap editor... Yeah they just don't get any better than that... Although Construct 2 still has a better one than GMS, but GMS2 has just come out and it's a MASSIVE improvement in the tilemap editor! I haven't tried it yet (no moniez) but you can make animated tiles in it which you couldn't in GMS1 and you had to use a custom shader that replaces tiles with sprites if you wanted to do that, not to mention there's an auto-tiling feature too (like there also is in RPG maker) so that makes my job a heck of a lot easier... Oh and the Drag 'n Drop coding has also gotten better, I've heard that anything you can do with GMS Scripts you can now do in the Drag 'n Drop code, which wasn't the case before, so that makes the code much less of a pain to deal with in my book, not that I have to deal with that, I've got help, so all I have to do is make graphics, music, level design, character and monster design, sound effects and so on... I really need to upgrade to GMS2...
The point is that RPG maker is perfectly fine to make RPGs, but if you want to do anything else there are better tools out there which will make it much easier, at least from my experience, but hey, if you say that it's gotten easier to make action RPGs in RPG maker lately I'll just take your word for it, but from my experience, if it requires scripts at all, I'm always going to recommend other programs to use instead, not only for the added freedom, but also because the results will be better...
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on July 01, 2017, 07:54:37 AM
Tldr, youre speaking with noncoder opinion as fact. Theres nothing wrong with scripting engines. unity even uses them. Lots of commercial games do too. Sometimes its preferable to event driven.
We were talking about action rpgs anyways. No kidding you could make other genres better in another engine.
That was never really up for debate lol.
The latest rpg maker is a better tool for arpgs than construct.
Construct is kind of shit. It works but isnt ideal.
Insanity blade was made with it, and the author talked about his ughs
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on July 01, 2017, 08:45:40 AM
Tldr, youre speaking with noncoder opinion as fact. Theres nothing wrong with scripting engines. unity even uses them. Lots of commercial games do too. Sometimes its preferable to event driven.
We were talking about action rpgs anyways. No kidding you could make other genres better in another engine.
That was never really up for debate lol.
The latest rpg maker is a better tool for arpgs than construct.
Construct is kind of shit. It works but isnt ideal.
Insanity blade was made with it, and the author talked about his ughs
Indeed, there's nothing wrong with scripting engines, but my point is that if you're gonna learn to code in order to use scripts in your RPG maker game you might as well go the extra mile and use another tool which will give you more creative freedom...
I was never talking specifically about just action RPGs, I was talking about any game that wasn't a traditional RPG, granted if you're gonna make something in RPG maker that isn't a traditional RPG you'll have the best results with Action RPGs because many of the traditional RPG elements carry over, but there's no shortage of games that aren't RPGs OR Action RPGs made in RPG maker which could end up being better if they were made using other programs...
That said though, I've seen adventure games made in RPG maker which I found to have been massively improved by being made in RPG maker if only due to the fact that controlling characters with the arrow keys and 2 buttons is WAY better than pointing and clicking, and inventory puzzles are much more manageable when everything is laid out on a tilemap rather than clicking on semi-conspicuous places on a bitmap background, so yeah, exceptions exist...
Also, yes, Construct really isn't ideal, but I find it to be a better learning tool than RPG maker for games that aren't RPGs, it's an okay program for non-coders to put a prototype together, but commercial games should probably be made elsewhere... Same goes for IG Maker...
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on July 01, 2017, 08:48:21 AM
The topic was action rpgs, and you went off on some tangential deepend fueled by your incomplete experiences.
The engine is only half the battle. Stop saying one thing will instantly produce a better thing.
Ive played seuck and qb games that take hot dumps on unity games faces
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on July 01, 2017, 09:18:30 AM
The engine is only half the battle. Stop saying one thing will instantly produce a better thing.
Ive played seuck and qb games that take hot dumps on unity games faces
Amateur 3D games generally suck a big one anyway...
And please don't twist my points, I've never said the engine will instantly make a better result, I said "If you're going to learn to code to use scripts, you might as well go the extra mile" which I'd imagine implies that it's up for the designer to make a better game by putting in the effort to make their games better! And if they're willing to put in that effort using an engine that gives them more creative freedom will ultimately allow them to make a better non-RPG game than they'd otherwise be able to make in RPG maker, be it an Action RPG or otherwise...
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: elmer on July 01, 2017, 10:08:44 AM
Theres nothing wrong with scripting engines. unity even uses them. Lots of commercial games do too. Sometimes its preferable to event driven.
Actually, IMHO (and experience), events driving a well-designed scripting-language that can modify events/behaviors/attributes in the low-level engine, is the way to go.
AFAIK, that's what a lot of commercial developers have been doing for many years.
It's just so much easier to dynamically update script-code while the game is running and interactively test changes that way.
At this point, it just seems as though you're both looking at things from different perspectives.
Coming from a third perspective, as someone that doesn't know about, or care about, any of these xxx-maker or yyy-engine easy-to-use systems, all that I can see is that you're both arguing for two different, and not-really-incompatible, viewpoints.
That doesn't seem like it makes much sense, or is going to do anything more than annoy each of you.
It also has absolutely nothing to do with what this thread is supposed to be about.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on July 01, 2017, 11:22:21 AM
Coming from a third perspective, as someone that doesn't know about, or care about, any of these xxx-maker or yyy-engine easy-to-use systems, all that I can see is that you're both arguing for two different, and not-really-incompatible, viewpoints.
Since unlike me you know how to code stuff, I'd say you're perfectly fine not bothering with these easy-to-use game-making programs, as I kinda said before I see them as nice tools for the folks who are good at art and want to make games but can't find someone to code, or to serve as more of a learning tool for people who want to be game designers regardless of what they're good at...
But as most learning tools go, they're something you move on from eventually, I think the best games are done when someone who's good at graphics, someone who's good at music and someone who's good at code come together to make something great, each one focusing on what they do best!
And yes, I can definitely see the overlap in my points and in Arkhan's as I've pointed them out in my own responses, but can he? And does it even matter?
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on July 01, 2017, 12:02:33 PM
You should reread how youve worded your statements like how stuff will be a heck of a lot better. Youre speaking in like, unfounded absolutes.
Unity also does 2d. Were not discussing 3d.
You keep diving to other points that arent being discussed lol.
Someone asked about action rpgs in rpg maker. This tangent is basically irrelevant and nonsensical. Its not that youre wrong, its that you missed the point and ran with it lol.
Besides though, some wildly popular stuff atm is being made with Unity. And game maker even. These toy like engines arent awful, and i personally find it lame when coders look down on people using easy things. Im not too picky as long as a game isnt shit. Ive played games in basic that are better than supposedly pro stuff.
By people who write kind of bad code. Some of the collison and raycasting ive seen in use drives me nuts.
But it works, and the game is ok.
Dismissing scripting is a fundamental misstep by anyone doing it though, and as elmer pointed out, often times combining the two works well.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on July 01, 2017, 12:39:09 PM
Except I don't believe in absolutes, everything I say is my opinion, and everything I hear from other people is their opinion, there's no such things as "Absolutes", heck even in the scientific realm there are things that we'll probably never know, and therefore can't be called "absolute"... The only thing there is is consensus, which comes from a general overlap on a lot of different people's opinions, none of which is entirely equal, or at least that's what I believe in, the point is that no, I'm not speaking in absolutes, nor do I ever mean to...
Besides though, some wildly popular stuff atm is being made with Unity. And game maker even. These toy like engines arent awful, and i personally find it lame when coders look down on people using easy things. Im not too picky as long as a game isnt shit. Ive played games in basic that are better than supposedly pro stuff.
By people who write kind of bad code. Some of the collison and raycasting ive seen in use drives me nuts.
But it works, and the game is ok.
There's no black and white "This is professional" and "This is amateur/hobbyist", it's all more of a gradient, and I think Game Maker and Unity are on more of a higher end of the spectrum towards the "Professional" level at this point... I've heard Unity can make 2D games, but I've also heard it being described as "Trying to carve a wooden statue with a chainsaw", not my words, I have no experience with it, but I AM using Game Maker Studio to make my own in-development-hell project, so that should be proof enough that I have respect for the software (even though the room editor sucks and I dread going back to it and I want to upgrade to GMS2 because the Room editor is so much better)
And it's not like I look down on easier tools like RPG maker, IG maker or Construct, they have their place, but I personally would use and recommend something else for a game to be made on a 'publishable' level, especially if you want more creative control...
Dismissing scripting is a fundamental misstep by anyone doing it though, and as elmer pointed out, often times combining the two works well.
I agree with that! And that is why I looked for help with that part! So that they can focus on doing what I can't, while I can focus on doing what I'm good at...
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Arkhan on July 01, 2017, 12:44:17 PM
Oh i get that its your opinion, its just sort of coming off as a bit cut and dry, which is a bit goofy to me when you do it while admitting you dont have alot of experience.
I know youre not looking down on people. Its just something other people unfortunately do. Some of these toy like engines can produce perfect games. Works for me lol. Id pay full price for an rpg maker or game maker game if it looked fun.
Insanitys blades a good example of that. Lol and he did it in construct. He deserves a medal.
Unity added proper 2d a few years ago. Its pretty solid. No more fighting with 3d confines on a flat z axis.
I was using it for a bit before going back to msx and pce.
I like the actual retro more than trying to pander to new people
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Michirin9801 on July 01, 2017, 01:11:17 PM
I like the actual retro more than trying to pander to new people
So do I
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Naniyue on September 18, 2023, 12:13:47 AM
I figured I'd search for this topic first, before posting a new one. I know the topic is old, but I'm new, and curious if opinions have changed, been reinforced, or if there are new ones that haven't been posted yet.
I've been a video game fanatic since the 2nd generation (ATARI! ATARI!) and my favorite is the 4th generation. Surprise, surprise. What a jump in graphics and technology at the time, especially with the TG/PCE CD!! Guess which system is my favorite? Hmmmmm . . .
I do have a soft spot for the Saturn.
I stopped buying consoles once I FINALLY got my own PC in the late 90's, and I'm never going back! Most of the games of the past 20 years that I have wanted are available on PC anyway.
But the Turbo/PCE will ALWAYS be the BEST console!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: majors on September 18, 2023, 09:07:12 AM
I figured I'd search for this topic first, before posting a new one. I know the topic is old...
<rise from your grave>
I feel you're in with the majority of members here. Being a TG forum, it makes sense that we have nostalgia or appreciation for the NES/TG years of gaming. Of course it helps when the Turbo is the best evah :)
I did go "PC master race" around 2004 with the release of Half Life 2 (and Unreal Tournament) and took a detour from consoles for a few years, but I've found my way back to the obey. For the past 10 years, I've been focusing my gaming passion back on Turbo along with 1st-3rd gen JP console video games.
Nani -> If you focused on PC in the 90's, does that mean you emulate your retro games or do you have some real hardware to play on?
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Naniyue on September 18, 2023, 08:42:28 PM
Both. I still have my Duo, Nomad, Atari 2600, GBA and NDS. I also have the plug and play versions of the Colecovision and Intellivision. I'm considering buying an Analogue Duo, since my actual Duo is fickle at this point. :cry:
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Necromancer on September 21, 2023, 02:33:36 AM
I'm still 16-bit era all the way. I've played a lot of PC, PSP, and Vita since then, but PCE is what I keep coming back to and playing more than anything else.
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: _joshuaTurbo on September 21, 2023, 06:06:06 PM
Both. I still have my Duo, Nomad, Atari 2600, GBA and NDS. I also have the plug and play versions of the Colecovision and Intellivision. I'm considering buying an Analogue Duo, since my actual Duo is fickle at this point. :cry:
At this point what is even considered "retro"? I know this question comes up from time to time, but seriously. I have children that look at the PS3/360 era as "ages ago"... and I'm like... THE GAMES LOOK THE SAME!
Get off my lawn.....
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: majors on September 22, 2023, 10:35:29 AM
...get off the lawn and stand on the porch to yell at the clouds. (personally, I look forward to the day of being Clint Eastwoods' character in Gran Torino with the cooler of beer sitting on the porch)
For the generation that grew up on PS3/360, so that is "retro" for them, be able to mingle with the prior gen that grew up in the 16-bit wars? Sort of like how do WW2 vets feel about Vietnam vets? Will our love of turbo turn us into spiteful resentful elitists? (if it hasn't already)
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: Naniyue on September 22, 2023, 06:25:14 PM
I like games from all generations. I just don't like using a controller for an FPS. Keyboard/mouse all the way!!!!
Don't worry! Thirty years from now the youth of today will have kids that look at the Playstation 5 and say, "Those graphics suck!"
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: TurboGrafx-16 on February 12, 2025, 08:49:23 PM
1989-1992
Title: Re: Which is your favorite retro gaming era?
Post by: HuDuo on February 14, 2025, 12:32:04 AM
I've been on a bit of a Saturn kick lately so I'd say my current favorite year in 1997.
But really I like a lot of games from 1980 to 2005 or so.