Turbo games you should like that you don't. My example (Forgotten Worlds)

[nodtveidt]

If the legendary axe is mediocre, then castlevania on nes is terrible.

It is terrible... that's another game I didn't play back in the day so there's no nostalgia attached. Hell, the first few Castlevania games in general were pretty terrible. They established standards for the series, but their gameplay is awful.

[Gypsy]

Dynastic hero is a lame port. The soundtrack is terrible and the lack of parallax really hurts the graphics. No new content to balance out the bad.

Never liked dragon spirit or ordyne

Agree very much about Dynastic Hero. I tried to play it recently but ended up getting bored and moved on.

Dragon Spirit and Ordyne are alright though. Not masterpieces but they are also cheapies so they are fine for what they are imo.

[seieienbu]

If the legendary axe is mediocre, then castlevania on nes is terrible.

It is terrible... that's another game I didn't play back in the day so there's no nostalgia attached. Hell, the first few Castlevania games in general were pretty terrible. They established standards for the series, but their gameplay is awful.

Just curious on your thoughts of Castlevania 3 then.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Dynastic hero is a lame port. The soundtrack is terrible and the lack of parallax really hurts the graphics. No new content to balance out the bad.

Never liked dragon spirit or ordyne

Agree very much about Dynastic Hero. I tried to play it recently but ended up getting bored and moved on.

Dragon Spirit and Ordyne are alright though. Not masterpieces but they are also cheapies so they are fine for what they are imo.

Man, Dynastic Hero has one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time.  It's a great game, though I have nostalgia for it, as I played it probably 15 years before I played Wonderboy in Monsterworld.  It is a shame that there's missing paralax & a missing boss.  Plus, the heat wave's from the hearths are gone, which would also be easy to pull off.

[esteban]

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION: I will not defend the games whose reputations are being besmirched and besotted in this thread.

This will save me from arguing with NODTVEDIT about the collision detection in Legendary Axe (every few years this comes up).

HAPPY NEW YEAR NOD!

[gilbert]

About Dynastic Hero, I never owned the games but I've played them back-to-back before, which I personally prefer the PCE version massively much to the MD version.

Neither of them were bad and of course the MD version was the original, but I found the PCE version heavily improved in the graphical and audio departments (okay not as heavily in the graphical side).

I like the red book tracks more than the FM tunes and the new boss designs are more interesting(those in the MD version are "standard" Wonder Boy stuff). Also, the additional animated opening and ending (together with the vocal ending theme) are the main reasons to go for the PCE version.

I think the fairy/whatever companions are more varied in their ability too, whereas in the MD version they are more or less the same.

Personally I found the missing parallax scrolling not so important here, as it's not really ground-breaking but of course it'd be nice to have some of these included.

The major let-down of the PCE version, though, is that there is no visual indication of the equipments on your character (I think only the weapon is changed, another game suffering from this is Princess Minerva, that in the original PC version the equipments of the characters are reflected in the walking characters on the field and in combat). It may be due to hardware difference that the PCE is more powerful in displaying larger sprites whereas the MD being more capable in displaying a large number of small sprites, thus there are more games with overlapping sprites (and more games with segmented bosses, and "oddities" like Ernest Evans), though I think it's more due to the laziness of the developers.

[esteban]

About Dynastic Hero, I never owned the games but I've played them back-to-back before, which I personally prefer the PCE version massively much to the MD version.

Neither of them were bad and of course the MD version was the original, but I found the PCE version heavily improved in the graphical and audio departments (okay not as heavily in the graphical side).

I like the red book tracks more than the FM tunes and the new boss designs are more interesting(those in the MD version are "standard" Wonder Boy stuff). Also, the additional animated opening and ending (together with the vocal ending theme) are the main reasons to go for the PCE version.

I think the fairy/whatever companions are more varied in their ability too, whereas in the MD version they are more or less the same.

Personally I found the missing parallax scrolling not so important here, as it's not really ground-breaking but of course it'd be nice to have some of these included.

The major let-down of the PCE version, though, is that there is no visual indication of the equipments on your character (I think only the weapon is changed, another game suffering from this is Princess Minerva, that in the original PC version the equipments of the characters are reflected in the walking characters on the field and in combat). It may be due to hardware difference that the PCE is more powerful in displaying larger sprites whereas the MD being more capable in displaying a large number of small sprites, thus there are more games with overlapping sprites (and more games with segmented bosses, and "oddities" like Ernest Evans), though I think it's more due to the laziness of the developers.

I concur, but, since I made a sacred New Year’s Resolution *not* to defend the honor of unjustly-condemned games, I must not comment any further.

ASIDE: Thank you for defending the venerable Dynastic Hero. Did you see what the heathens in this thread said about...

[nodtveidt]

Just curious on your thoughts of Castlevania 3 then.

Plays like crap, just like its predecessors.

[lukester]

About Dynastic Hero, I never owned the games but I've played them back-to-back before, which I personally prefer the PCE version massively much to the MD version.

Neither of them were bad and of course the MD version was the original, but I found the PCE version heavily improved in the graphical and audio departments (okay not as heavily in the graphical side).

I like the red book tracks more than the FM tunes and the new boss designs are more interesting(those in the MD version are "standard" Wonder Boy stuff). Also, the additional animated opening and ending (together with the vocal ending theme) are the main reasons to go for the PCE version.

I don’t think we played the same game.

I can’t remember a single song being good except the beach song. Everything else was poor. They didn’t even include the classic monster land final castle theme!! If tatsujin wasn’t on the Facebook groups he’d be telling us all how the “great nick wood composed a masterpiece”

All the bosses looked weird and out of place. And if Paranoia is correct then missing a boss is a big deal. The final boss was also neutered since the buzzsaw was removed.

This wasn’t just simple parallax. The snowy and underwater levels looked absolutely stunning. I was appalled when I tried the pce port, these beautiful scenes looked so flat and empty.

A vocal ending? Eh. I think we are reaching for straws here.

Is dynastic hero a bad game? No it’s fantastic. But there’s practically no reason to play it over the original unless you’re curious about the differences. For a community that puts pride into the system’s quality ports, they cut dynastic hero too much slack.

Happy new year!

[gilbert]

I don’t think we played the same game.

Probably not, as I'd only play the Japanese version, though the difference could be minimal given that they probably spent minimal effort in localisation, and obviously the vocal song in the ending would be replaced by an instrumental one in the US version.

I can’t remember a single song being good except the beach song. Everything else was poor. They didn’t even include the classic monster land final castle theme!! If tatsujin wasn’t on the Facebook groups he’d be telling us all how the “great nick wood composed a masterpiece”

It's just personally taste, and I couldn't really get into the tinny sounds of the FM synth of the MD. Whether the musics are poor is quite subjective. And for the classic tracks, since I'm not familiar with the Wonderboy games I'm not sure how great they could be. The reason for changing (some of?) these music is obvious though, as the PCE version is not a Wonderboy game they probably wanted to strip as much references out as possible.

All the bosses looked weird and out of place. And if Paranoia is correct then missing a boss is a big deal. The final boss was also neutered since the buzzsaw was removed.

Again this is more personal taste, and for the buzzsaw thing, it's misblamed, since the PCE version is a port of the original Japanese MD version, which doesn't have it. Personally I prefer easily beatable games to too challenging ones, so it's a blessing (to me) to have the game follow the easier version. I'm not sure whether the PCE version is missing a boss though as I couldn't remember.

This wasn’t just simple parallax. The snowy and underwater levels looked absolutely stunning. I was appalled when I tried the pce port, these beautiful scenes looked so flat and empty.

Maybe my memory is hazy, but as far as I remember they're not that special, at least not technically groundbreaking, so I don't miss them much (though it can be more due to personal prejudice; isn't this more the purpose of this thread?) but indeed Alfa System was lazy here, doubtlessly. Anyway, to each his own.

A vocal ending? Eh. I think we are reaching for straws here.

Yes. At least in the version I played.

Is dynastic hero a bad game? No it’s fantastic. But there’s practically no reason to play it over the original unless you’re curious about the differences.

There is a reason if you only have a PCE, not a MD, like me. But yeah, I played both just for comparisons, and I still choose the PCE version over the original, though probably more due to personal bias.

[esteban]

I will not add fuel to the fire, since I vowed to follow my solemn Resolution, but some folks would argue that the character design/sprites in Dynastic Hero actually are quite nice and hold up very well compared to Wonderboy roots (and this is coming from folks who *love* Wonderboy).

[csgx1]

Interesting difference of opinions in this thread.

One game that I don't really care for is Star Parodier.  It's a beautiful looking game but the cute style, being too easy and the voices are kind of irritating to me.  It seems most cute shooters are not my thing except maybe Fantasy Zone.

Magica Chase.

I played and own the PCE version.


It’s an okay game. However I found it not very challenging and I SUCK at shooters.

So for my to say it felt easy I can only imagine what people who are vastly more capable at shooters must think.

Also it’s short. And not oh I picked the easy version and the game stopped is way asking me to play again but oh it’s over?

R-Type I&II felt more challangjng and meatier to game content. And it was one of the first few games to come out I believe.

I agree, I don't really care for MC.  I played through the PCE version probably about 15+ years ago.  From what I remember the challenge level seemed okay, but was kind of boring.  Probably just the cute style shooters don't really appeal to me.  I definitely prefer R-Type or just about any other spaceship shooter.

The Legendary Axe. People go on and on about how great it is but I did not play this back in the day so I'm not nostalgic about it. I did not play it until many years later, and immediately saw it for the terribly-flawed mediocre game it really is.

If the legendary axe is mediocre, then castlevania on nes is terrible.

I love the axe and knowing when to use it. The full power strike is incredible. CRACK!!!


I’m not big on military madness. If there was an enemy turn skip feature, those hardass later levels wouldn’t be as frustrating and long.
...

I never played Legendary Axe until about a couple years ago and it ended up becoming one of my favorites.  I agree, the full power strike is really awesome and satisfying when it connects. 

Military Madness is one of my all time favorites but I do agree there should have been an enemy turn skip option.  They probably didn't include it so the player won't miss any of the enemies movements/attacks to understand the overall enemy strategy.  I've just played through Neo Nectaris for the first time in the last few weeks and really enjoyed it.

[nopepper]

I think I should like Gunhed more than I do, but the first few levels really turn me off. Bumping up the difficulty helps in that regard, but then later levels are not as balanced as before. Still, it's a good game, so it only gets an (dis)honorable mention from me.

The one game series I feel I should like is Bonk. Great graphics, awesome music, responsive controls, lots of personality. But I just find the gameplay tedious and can't really ever get into a rhythm, so I usually play a couple of levels and move on.

[seieienbu]

The one game series I feel I should like is Bonk. Great graphics, awesome music, responsive controls, lots of personality. But I just find the gameplay tedious and can't really ever get into a rhythm, so I usually play a couple of levels and move on.

There was a time when I was the same.  At the tail end of the 32 bit era or maybe about when the Dreamcast was around I tried playing some turbo games again and couldn't get into Bonk at all.  I mostly disliked Bonk for a while because it doesn't feel like there's as much movement happening compared to Mario World or Sonic games from the 16 bit era.  Maybe it was that he can't straight up fly and there's no loops to run through or something.  Or perhaps it was just me being annoyed at the system I got as a kid not getting as much support or respect as the two that came just afterward.

I played them again a few years later, however, and found them charming and delightful.  I don't know what I was going on about as I find all 3 fun; they remind me of everything that I'd like a childhood adventure game to be.  I would wager there was about a 5 year gap in between playing and disliking then playing and enjoying the games.

[grolt]

The one game series I feel I should like is Bonk. Great graphics, awesome music, responsive controls, lots of personality. But I just find the gameplay tedious and can't really ever get into a rhythm, so I usually play a couple of levels and move on.

There was a time when I was the same.  At the tail end of the 32 bit era or maybe about when the Dreamcast was around I tried playing some turbo games again and couldn't get into Bonk at all.  I mostly disliked Bonk for a while because it doesn't feel like there's as much movement happening compared to Mario World or Sonic games from the 16 bit era.  Maybe it was that he can't straight up fly and there's no loops to run through or something.  Or perhaps it was just me being annoyed at the system I got as a kid not getting as much support or respect as the two that came just afterward.

I played them again a few years later, however, and found them charming and delightful.  I don't know what I was going on about as I find all 3 fun; they remind me of everything that I'd like a childhood adventure game to be.  I would wager there was about a 5 year gap in between playing and disliking then playing and enjoying the games.

I've always had a hard time warming to the BONK series too.  I always revered it back in the day, and when I would play the odd level at a friend's house I'd like it, but like with nopepper, I could never really get a rhythm when playing the full game on my own.  I'd like everything I was seeing - the assortment of characters with a lot of animation and personality (and cross-dressing!) and the very responsive control and collision detection, but yeah, I don't know, I'm always just kind of indifferent after a bit and wanting to stop and pop in something else.  The Turbo was kind of platformer-starved, so I really should be grateful for the three Bonks, but I'm still not quite there yet.  I'm sure in time I'll get sucked in.