Author Topic: Necro's game clears and mindless musings  (Read 23542 times)

EmperorIng

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #315 on: June 14, 2016, 11:59:37 AM »
If you haven't had the chance, the Genesis port of Chiki Chiki Boys is really swell. It looks/sounds nicer (for one!), and the added souped-up shop system (think Forgotten Worlds) adds a lot of replayability to the game.

It's fine Capcom platforming; there's something novel about a diminuitive fat clown being the ultimate evil final boss.

Medic_wheat

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #316 on: June 14, 2016, 12:25:58 PM »
If you haven't had the chance, the Genesis port of Chiki Chiki Boys is really swell. It looks/sounds nicer (for one!), and the added souped-up shop system (think Forgotten Worlds) adds a lot of replayability to the game.

It's fine Capcom platforming; there's something novel about a diminuitive fat clown being the ultimate evil final boss.

It's gotten kind of pricy as of late.

Necromancer

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #317 on: June 15, 2016, 02:52:47 AM »
I ain't no FEKA agent!  :mrgreen:

They did a nice job porting it and keeping it colorful without making it all brown, but other than the parallax it isn't nearly as faithful to the original, omitting too much detail and variety.  And where's the girlies and two-player option?  I won't say one sounds better than the other, though, as all the music is pretty meh (even the arcade), but at least the PCE version has the various enemy samples intact (roaring dragons, clanking tank treads, etc.).  'Tis still a good game, of course, but I can't say it's the better game.
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SavagePencil

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #318 on: June 15, 2016, 04:28:56 AM »
If you haven't had the chance, the Genesis port of Chiki Chiki Boys is really swell. It looks/sounds nicer (for one!), and the added souped-up shop system (think Forgotten Worlds) adds a lot of replayability to the game.

It's fine Capcom platforming; there's something novel about a diminuitive fat clown being the ultimate evil final boss.

There's also the emulation of the arcade version done on the Capcom Classics Collection 2 for Xbox and PS2.  I need to go back and do a comparison of the two, as Chiki Chiki always felt like an updated Wonder Boy in Monster Land infused with Capcom-style platforming.

Gentlegamer

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #319 on: June 15, 2016, 04:32:21 AM »
I've never seriously tried to play Ys, but I can't imagine I will like the "bump into things" combat.

Sorry to respond so late to your post, but if you are still around, as a classic gamer Ys vI and II is a must play. Fondest memories of my video gaming youth come from this game - it's just amazing.

I'm going to try it, but my expected misgivings about bump combat remain.

Black Tiger

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #320 on: June 15, 2016, 06:27:02 AM »
Only the short Ys one is mostly a bump'n action game. Ys II is mostly an overhead 4-way shooter. Ys IV even more so.
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SavagePencil

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #321 on: June 15, 2016, 09:04:57 AM »
I ain't no FEKA agent!  :mrgreen:

They did a nice job porting it and keeping it colorful without making it all brown, but other than the parallax it isn't nearly as faithful to the original, omitting too much detail and variety.  And where's the girlies and two-player option?  I won't say one sounds better than the other, though, as all the music is pretty meh (even the arcade), but at least the PCE version has the various enemy samples intact (roaring dragons, clanking tank treads, etc.).  'Tis still a good game, of course, but I can't say it's the better game.

In watching an arcade longplay, I noted that there was a charge meter that appears in the HUD at screen bottom.  I'll have to check when I get home, but is this meter built up by holding a button, or is it a Legendary Axe/Magic Sword (also 1990)-style charge meter that builds while you don't attack?  It almost feels like Chiki Chiki has a little bit of a wink and a nod at Magic Sword and Black Tiger.

Necromancer

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #322 on: June 15, 2016, 11:32:24 AM »
In watching an arcade longplay, I noted that there was a charge meter that appears in the HUD at screen bottom.  I'll have to check when I get home, but is this meter built up by holding a button, or is it a Legendary Axe/Magic Sword (also 1990)-style charge meter that builds while you don't attack?

It builds when you're not attacking in the PCE game, but you can't see the meter until after you've used up your magic attacks (they're in the same spot on the HUD).
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Necromancer

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #323 on: June 24, 2016, 03:49:51 AM »
Clear #72 - Gate of Thunder



An essentially flawless shewty.  Own it, play it, love it..... or go f*ck yourself.  :mrgreen:

The Good:  fast pacing with practically zero load times; rockin' tunes and clear voice samples, except I'm not sure what it's saying when you pick up the pair of options ('tusks'?); colorful, detailed backgrounds with lots of parallax; decent opening and closing cut scenes; and oodles of different enemies with big, cool looking bosses and mid-bosses to destroy.

The Bad:  ummm.....  pretty much everything is good.  The only thing it's missing is a proper 'The End" screen, though there's aforementioned ending cut scene and proper credit roll.

The Ugly:  NA
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jtucci31

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #324 on: June 24, 2016, 07:13:38 AM »
Yeah it does miss a cool end screen, but the song that plays during the credits is amazing! Worth a playthrough of the game each time just to hear that track

Black Tiger

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #325 on: June 24, 2016, 09:18:46 AM »
Gate of Thunder is the first game I tested my TurboDuo with after having it refurbished by Keith Courage. I was shocked by how not only were the load times faster than when I got the system brand new bitd, they really were no longer than most cart games and shorter than so many others.
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Necromancer

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #326 on: July 01, 2016, 04:20:25 AM »
Clear #73 - Xak I & II



If you liked Ys I & II, you'll enjoy this action rpg.  There's many similarities, including the bump battle system, the simple equipment and inventory screens, how it plays as a single game, and even a few familiar looking locations that feel next door to Ys sites (i.e. - burn land and the cleria mines).

The Good:  the unnecessary umlaut in Cöntinue; great redbook music, some tracks using horns and whatnot to sound a bit Ys-like; cool and sometimes humorous cut scenes (Fray gets mad!); neat (if jerky moving) background scenery seen through the castle windows; lots of different environments to explore; loads of different enemies to whack, some quite large and cool looking; and cute touches not seen often in other arpgs, like shrinking to go mousehole spelunking and the Dragon Spirit-esque vertical shewty bits.

The Bad:  bosses are mostly chumps, easily destroyed with little to no effort; the loading gets annoying in spots; and the post jumping section is just plain crap, with safe landing spots that don't match up with the visuals.

The Ugly:  NA
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geise

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #327 on: July 01, 2016, 04:39:29 AM »
Only the short Ys one is mostly a bump'n action game. Ys II is mostly an overhead 4-way shooter. Ys IV even more so.

Yeah.  Once you get that magic...

Necromancer

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #328 on: July 01, 2016, 04:47:32 AM »
Another Ys similarity: Xak I & II also has magic but only in the second half.  It's not very well implemented though, as I played through quite a bit of part II before figuring out how to use it, even then only because it's the only way to damage some bosses.
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EmperorIng

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Re: Necro's game clears and mindless musings
« Reply #329 on: July 01, 2016, 05:40:00 AM »
The bump system felt more to me the "pin enemies up against the wall" system, because that is the safest and most efficient way to handle the game's monsters.

The worst thing about this game is that it does not seem like you can hurt the water dragon boss (the second boss of the game) unless you are level 14. Which means a lot of grinding (I got there at level 9 in my normal play). By the time you are level 14, nothing in Xak 1 can even hurt you, including the final boss. They all die within 1 second of contact with your sword.

Actually, building off of that, the balance in Xak's PCE remake is very off, with the above being symptomatic of it. Either you are one level under what you should be, and everything kills you in one hit, or you are one level over, in which nothing can kill you. Most of my deaths were probably in the very beginning, and at the very poorly-designed platforming segments.

The dragon segment is cool but I don't know why they only give you horizontal control of your dragon's movement and lock you in the center of the screen. The only way to change your position is to get hit and have the natural knockback throw you down... where you still can only move left or right! It smells half-baked.

The magic is hilariously broken because it tries to do the Ys thing of "one fireball on-screen at a time." However, Falcom understood that to balance this meant that the fireball had to go through the enemy leaving you locked to that one fireball shot unless you were on the edge of the screen. In Xak it destroys on contact, resetting the limit. This means that if you get close to an enemy or a boss, you will rapid-fire them into oblivion. It's how I killed Badu in half a second at the end of Xak I, as well as Gospel in Xak II. I don't know what Telenet did, but I highly doubt the PC games were that wonky.

I enjoyed the game in a "this is kinda fun" sort of way.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2016, 05:42:34 AM by EmperorIng »