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When Star Wars: Dark Forces was announced as March's game of the month for the Together Retro game club at http://Racketboy.com, I wasn't quite sure how to feel. On the one hand, I was excited at the prospect of trying out a game I had never had any experience with. Certainly it had attained its Greatest Hits package because enough people liked it. Right? And plus, I was back into the swing of seriously collecting PS1 games again. So it was a great excuse to snatch this one up. But on the other hand, I'm really not a Star Wars fan. I mean, I saw the original trilogy growing up. I certainly was aware of the license. But I was never all that into it either. So I've always avoided games based on it.
Upon first firing it up, I felt a bit of relief. The truth is that I don't have all that much experience with first person shooters. I did enjoy Wolfenstein 3D and Doom during the golden age of freeware. I loved the GBA Duke Nukem sequel. But for the most part my experience with the genre was limited. So imagine my comfort when I realized that Dark Forces was cut from the same mold as Doom.
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It should certainly be distinguished that Dark Forces is not quite a Doom-clone either. I mean obviously it borrows at least something from such an influential game, but it also adds a lot as well. The most impressive addition being the ability to freely look up and down, thus adding an extra layer of importance to the 3D environment.
The first few levels impressed me immensely. Even without being a Star Wars fan, there was a lot to enjoy here. The absolute high point for me with this game was the level design. Each level was amazingly well thought out and featured various puzzles or gimmicks that made them stand out. Whether it was dealing with the absence of light until getting a power generator running, or navigating through multi-level platformed mazes in a sewer, the game offered incredible levels to explore and enjoy.
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Unfortunately there was one major drawback to the game that completely derailed my progress: the lack of ability to save anywhere. You see, in Dark Forces you can only save your game after you beat a level. This might be fine in a game like Doom where you can shoot your way through a level in no time. But whereas Dark Forces concentrated so heavily on mission-based levels with puzzles and mazes and other various objectives, this really hurt things. At least for me.
After spending about an hour and a half making my way through a maze-like level one evening, it got to a point where I simply had to go to bed. So that was it. I had to just hit the power switch and lose ninety minutes of progress. The slightest thought of powering up my console to replay that same ninety minutes over again just enraged me. Especially if I wasn't able to complete the level before having some other real world thing to deal with. There was no way, man. No way.
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So honestly much of the month was spent with that mindset. I'd pick up Dark Forces with the intention of making some more progress. But then I'd look at the clock and figure I best just play something else instead. I figured I just didn't have the time to devote to a single level like that. Considering many (probably more recent) games of this nature my let you save your progress as you go, I'd probably do better with them. Y'know making my way through a game in baby steps.
But that got me to thinking a bit about the whole concept. I mean, is it wrong to want your game to be so flexible? I couldn't help but think back to Resident Evil with its infuriating typerwriter ribbon save system. Now certainly I don't look back on Resident Evil with any disdain, but I will say that I was thrilled that saving was a far more easy and constant prospect by the time Resident Evil 4 was released. I'm also somewhat reminded of the save-state debate that's developed since the dawn of easily attainable ROM's via the internet. While we old timers might look down on the youngin's for "cheating" by using save-states, how many of us actually have time to handle all of our day-to-day adult responsibilities and keep replaying the same dungeon over and over again? (I'm looking at you Ice Palace).
I know I've gone off on a bit of tangent here. But I guess it's nice to know that even if I didn't get a chance to really get as much gameplay enjoyment out of Dark Forces as I may have wished, at least it caused me to do some thinking.
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I'm a huge fan of the Retronauts podcast, and was devastated when it stopped. Thankfully it soon resurfaced as Retronauts Live with a whole new format. The revised podcast is now a call-in show rather than strictly a round-table. Episode 6 was released this week and the show is all about celebrating a decade of the Game Boy Advance. With that in mind I'd have to urge you all to listen. I even managed to call in and plug the GBPL blog. Enjoy!
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If you've been following my blog for a while now, then it's no secret to you that I've become a pretty big fan of shmups. And when I'm collecting for a system, it becomes near impossible for me to pass any up at the right price. This means that constant trips to GameStop have resulted in some peculiar purchases. Y'know the old saying of judging books by their covers? I don't really buy into all that. I tend to know the sort of games that I enjoy. And I tend to believe that many game companies knew enough to market a lot of their games as such. If I see a shmup that has an anime witch with odd-colored hair and the screenshots boast bright pink or green bullets, then guess what? I'm probably gonna like it. But then there's a game like Platypus. I mean forget the cover -- just take a gander at that title: Platypus? Really?
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Platypus is a horizontal shmup that seems to draw inspiration from the Cute-em-up sub-sub-genre. To put it bluntly -- everything is made out of clay. It's sort of like Gradius meets Clay Fighter. Your ship has several power-ups to its main gun, and no secondary weapons. One interesting feature is that rather than lose your power-up at a death, instead there's a count-down timer on each power-up you collect. So while you may find one power-up more useful than another, it's also in your interest to keep grabbing new ones so as to not be demoted down to your standard shot.
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I'm not going to pretend that Platypus is some amazing hidden gem. It's not. It's basically a very so-so shmup. But it is at least unique in its presentation. And it boasts thirty levels, which means it will keep you busy for at least a bit. Perhaps more importantly, it's very cheap on the after-market. Basically you're getting into a just good shmup, but for the low premium why not? The visuals are at least interesting, which is at least saying something. The bit of searching I tried to do on the game's developer, Squashy Software seems to say that this is their only game so far (and it was released in 2006). I'd at least give them a chance to see what they do next considering their attempt at putting a unique visual spin on such a long-running genre.
This year was my first visit to PAX East. Unfortunately I didn't make it up there until Sunday. But my wife and I had a blast. Here's a few brief glimpses of some of the stuff we saw. (Unfortunately I didn't take a lot of pictures, and the ones I took were on my cellphone. Sorry guys.)
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Here's some shots of the action on the floor. It's amazing to see so much going on at once.
The Nintendo area was a bit of a letdown. I spent some time looking at the 3DS (note: I did not play one, as the lines were way too long. Instead I just leaned over someone's shoulder. So if that was you, sorry about breathing down your neck, but it was for the blog.) I really wasn't impressed. I kind of don't see what all the fuss is really about. But that could be just me.
My wife and I tried out the new Mario Sports Mix for Wii, and it really didn't blow our minds. Rather it took us about ten minutes to actually start the game. Since when are long tutorials necessary in a sports game? Especially a Mario sports game -- a series long known for oversimplifying controls. And really the whole tutorial could have been three words: SHAKE THE WIIMOTE.
On the upside, the new Dragon Quest DS title looked nice, but really I was there to demo some new things not get wrapped up in a retro RPG for hours on end.
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Of the new games I gave try, the real stand-out to me was a PSN title in the works called Skullgirls. Basically a very cutesy 2D fighter in the spirit of Guilty Gear or Darkstalkers. I look forward to seeing it get completed. Hopefully the developer, Autumn Games can port it to the PSP as well.
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Another major highlight was catching Keith Apicary's panel party. He came out wearing a Virtual Boy suit which was made by the designer responsible for Daft Punk's costumes. He then premiered his new Virtual Boy music video, which was probably his best yet. He took some questions, did some skits (one that included my wife) and then proceeded to get kicked out by security. Dude party's like a rockstar.
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Later we spent some serious time playing classic games.
The arcade they had set up featured an amazing collection of classic cabinets on loan from Fun Spot. It was really great to get to play on these cabs and the ambiance was accentuated by projections of Don Bluth games on the walls, and 1980's electro-pop. Oh and by the way, Frogger is way more unforgiving in its original form than on any Atari compilation I've played. Seriously. But hey, the cabs were on Free-Play so who can complain?
Down the hall there was a classic console room filled with NES, SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, Dreamcast, Saturn, Vectrex, PlayStation and other consoles and handhelds. All of them could be rented for free, and the library of games were decent enough. My wife relived her youth on the Colecovision while I got my ass handed to me in NBA Jam by RFGeneration's very own dsheinem, who you may know best from his Transitions blog.
All in all, the day went by in a blur. I wish I had taken more pictures. But more importantly, wish I had had more time. Hopefully next year we'll spend more than just a day there.
Last month The Legend Of Zelda turned 25. And because of this every single retro-gaming related website ran a bunch of features related to the series. So I figured I'd wait for the celebration to die down and then get into it here. Or rather, I just got sidetracked and forgot to get around to it until now. Whatever. But the series is certainly important to me. And as such it's important to this blog. Seeing as how the blog started as a way to showcase lesser known Game Boy carts, it should be noted that my purchase of the Nintendo Game Boy Player attachment for the GameCube was based almost solely on the fact that doing so would suddenly mean that there were a pile of Zelda games that I could play on my TV. So let's take a look at all those Zelda games that found their way to a Game Boy handheld.
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The Legend Of Zelda was re-released as part of the Game Boy Advance's Classic NES series. That choice was certainly a no-brainer. The game is of course not only a high-point of the NES, but of gaming in general. It basically created an entire genre that meshed action with elements of role playing. The GBA port is excellent and cheap-n-easy to find on the after market. All GBA enthusiasts should have this one.
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Surprisingly the sequel Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link also made it to the Classic NES line. Strange considering the phrase "black sheep" being almost synonymous with the game. Though for all the flack it receives, I'm a longtime fan of this one. The truth is, Adventure Of Link was actually my first Zelda game. I got it for my birthday soon after its release. At the time the first game was impossible to find in local toy stores, so this was my introduction to the series. Say what you will about it. There's a very unique and daring quest within. The GBA port is wonderfully faithful to the original, and considering it's probably the cheapest GB-related Zelda game to find in the wild, it's worth giving it a go even if you don't remember loving it the first time.
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A Link To The Past is my favorite game ever. So I'm totally biased when I say that everybody should own this game either in its original SNES form, or here on the GBA. It looks fantastic on a GBA SP screen, although suffers slightly from a few oddly annoying voice samples that were added to the re-release. They aren't nearly as overdone as in the GBA port of Super Mario Bros. 2 though.
The GBA re-release is also notable for including a bonus game, the brand new Four Swords which would be the first multi-player Zelda game. It recycled sprites from Link To The Past which was welcome artistically, but it was also somewhat of a burden to play. Sadly unlike its GameCube sequel, there's no single-player campaign on the GBA game. This means that some of us (me) who don't have local gamer friends with their own GBA's and copies of the game never got the chance to delve in to this one.
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Link's Awakening was released for the Game Boy in 1993, and was a total revelation. Although the GB's hardware was lesser than that of the NES, the graphics, gameplay and story of this one actually aligned with the SNES' Link To The Past. Playing the game on Game Boy hardware back then was stunning to say the least, as nobody realized that the handheld was capable of such things. Even to this day the title remains a cult-classic in the Zelda series, often considered the standard by which to judge all portable outings.
Link's Awakening received a Game Boy Color re-release in 1998 which adds to the game by giving it vibrant colors, an extra dungeon and even compatibility with the Game Boy Camera.
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Perhaps the two most overlooked titles in the official Zelda cannon, Oracle Of Ages and Oracle Of Seasons are the definition of ambition. What began as an attempt to port the original Legend Of Zelda to the NES somehow turned into an original game, then three games, and eventually scaled down to two games. The misconception among gamers seems to be that these are two takes on the same game -- like Pokemon Red and Blue. But that's not the case at all. The two Oracle games are completely different and original quests. One relies heavily on puzzles, the other on action. One toys with time, the other with nature. But each of them are remarkable little gems that should get a bit more attention than they do.
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Minish Cap would be the final Zelda game to come out on a GB handheld, and it's a solid affair. Admittedly it's the one that I've spent the least amount of time with as I personally got slightly bored with the shrinking and growing gimmick. However, I can certainly say that it's artistically great, borrowing heavily from A Link To The Past's art style and features some jaw-dropping visuals on the GBA. Fans of the heavy-puzzle side of the series will enjoy this one quite a bit, though the game's biggest criticism tends to be its brevity.
So there we have it -- the GB side of Zelda. What are your favorites and why?
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As anyone who's been following this blog may have noticed, I've been spending an awful lot of time with my PSP lately. And for good reason. In a sense it's become one of the few outlets for developers to release what you might call "new retro" games. It's home to such throwbacks as Half-Minute Hero, remakes like the recently released Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, and retro compilations like the upcoming Final Fantasy IV release that will be packaged along with the previously download-only The After Years. Perhaps the system strikes a perfect balance of being just powerful enough to pull off old school games with an updated style. Or perhaps many developers realize that the PSP is a console overlooked enough to use it as a medium for experimentation.
Whatever it is, it's still an exciting time to be a fan of the handheld. True it may be on its last legs in a sense. But there's a rather impressive list of games coming out this year -- most of which on UMD -- that says that it may still have a chance at sticking around for a while. And if enough of us continue to buy UMD's then perhaps that physical media won't die out. At least not as quickly as the media seems to assume.
On a recent trip to my local used stores looking for cheap UMD's I stumbled upon Gunpey. The name alone caught my eye. Could it really be? "Originally created by the late Gunpei Yokoi..." read the back of the box. Yes, this is a title making reference to Gunpei Yokoi himself -- the sadly deceased genius who invented the Game Boy. And without hesitation I snatched this game up. It seemed far too cosmic. Something I absolutely must own. If the PSP has taken its place in my travels as thee portable gaming device to keep my attention, then any game that has such a strong connection to the Game Boy deserves to be played by me.
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After reading through the PSP game's manual, I could find no real answer as to how much Yokoi had to do with this game. So I was off to do some research. As it turns out Gunpey is actually a remake of a puzzler that Yokoi created for his original WonderSwan handheld. This of course was the portable console that he would create after leaving Nintendo, and it was a direct competition to the Game Boy that he had been responsible for creating. It, and its successor the WonderSwan Color would never leave Japan.
Basically Gunpey is a puzzle game in which you must take jagged pieces of angles arranged in blocks as part of a grid and connect them so that they reach from one side of the screen to the other. The result will look something like a graph before clearing.
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Gunpey on the PSP is exactly what it should be -- an updated version of the original. It plays just like the original, but yet features vibrant colors and lush trance-like music. It offers some unlockable content, such as new music and backgrounds and of course keeps track of your high scores. But really the game is little more than the simple, but challenging puzzle game that Yokoi came up with over a decade ago. To be fair Gunpey is not a classic. It does not have the sort of addictive quality that games like Tetris are best known for. But it is elegantly simple. It is challenging. It is a work out for your mind and fingers at the same time. It is completely conducive to a portable setting. And with that in mind, it is a perfect tribute to its creator. And a welcome addition to the PSP's library.
King Of Fighters 98 was the game chosen for February's Together Retro game club title over at http://Racketboy.com. Though I'm a fan of 2D fighting games, the King Of Fighters series always seemed tough to keep track of as far as I was concerned. And even after putting in plenty of time to research it for the month, it came across as no less daunting of a task. Even this particular entry in the series was released and re-released multiple times, often with alternate titles (KOF 98 is even titled 99 on the Dreamcast!). However, I did my best to wrap my brain around it and put together some thoughts for your amusement dear readers.
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Because I've been heavily concentrating on collecting PS1 and PS2 games lately I decided to devote most of my playing to King Of Fighters 98: Ultimate Match. Though even then there was a decision about which PS2 version to buy seeing as how KOF 98 was also featured on a compilation disc called King Of Fighters: Orochi Saga. In the end I chose Ultimate Match based mostly on the fact that I could find the game for a bit cheaper, it apparently contained more characters, and it included a nice KOF poster and bonus DVD. I'm a total sucker for "extras."
I have played a fair share of SNK fighters in the past -- namely Fatal Fury -- but all in all, I'm a lot more familiar and comfortable with Capcom fighting games. As it turned out King Of Fighters 98 played completely differently. The biggest thing for me to get used to was using three fighters out of a pool of characters that I really wasn't familiar with. This proved to be an especially daunting task to me, as I was used to the concept of choosing one character and familiarizing myself with their moves by experiencing lots of fights as them. Instead I was forced to pick three fighters from a huge roster and try to grasp how to use each.
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The team that I created is pictured above. First I chose Terry Bogard, based totally on the fact that he was who I often used in Fatal Fury so I was pretty familiar with his moves. Then I chose Mai, because she's fast and has a rather fan favorite animation. And then finally I chose Choi because well... he reminds me of Freddy Krueger. Terry is pretty good. Mai is definitely awesome. And Choi is mostly crappy but fast. So whatever.
I'm still not really sure if the fighting system is just too deep for me, or if the AI is too cheap for me, or if years of Capcom fighters have just left me a total idiot when it comes to any other fighting system, but I just could not seem to make it far in King Of Fighters 98. Generally I'd do really well for one or two fights, but by the third I was just getting completely destroyed. But what's odd is that I didn't find it to be a fun challenge. Instead I just found it annoying. Perhaps a big problem is that I could never quite find a third fighter to get good at. Though Choi was usable, I wasn't great with him. So really I was hoping to beat all three opponents with just Terry and Mai.
Though I didn't love the game itself, I am still impressed with the wonderful graphics. All of the fighters are just drenched with character. It's all so very SNK. Also playing the game to the point of aggravation did unintentionally re-kindle my love of Capcom Vs SNK 2. In fact, I even started using Mai in that game -- adding her to my team of Morrigan and Chun-Li. Oh and speaking of Chun-Li, I was using her Street Fighter II anniversary fighting pad to play the game, which did lend a level of comfort.
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Shadow Of The Colossus has always been one of those games that I planned on playing. But never did. Sort of like those big classic books that you plan to read someday, but their size scares you off -- and there's always the possibility that you'll be let down after years of hearing how classic it is. Well, I finally decided it was time to cross this one off my list. And to sort of motive me to do so, I kept a log of my playing. I did so in the form of a forum thread at http://Racketboy.com, but I've taken the liberty of editing my impressions together here (sans conversations) to chronicle my journey.
Lots of swearing and spoilers after the break!
Continue reading Shadow Of The Colossus
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Posted on Feb 21st 2011 at 10:00:00 AM by ( noiseredux) Posted under Blog |
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Today marks the one year anniversary of Game Boy Player Land. And with that I thought it might be nice to organize all of the first year posts into a nice table of contents that might make it a bit easier to browse through previous posts. Enjoy!
Games
Adventure Island Series http://www.rfgeneration.c...re-Island-Series-1541.php
Alien Hominid http://www.rfgeneration.c...ux/Alien-Hominid-1520.php
Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare http://www.rfgeneration.c...he-New-Nightmare-1471.php
Anguna: Warriors Of Virtue http://www.rfgeneration.c...rriors-Of-Virtue-1413.php
Backyard Sports Basketball 2007 http://www.rfgeneration.c...-Basketball-2007-1403.php
Battletoads http://www.rfgeneration.c...edux/Battletoads-1289.php
Bonk's Adventure http://www.rfgeneration.c...Bonk-s-Adventure-1352.php
Bubble Ghost http://www.rfgeneration.c...dux/Bubble-Ghost-1472.php
Castlevania: The Adventure http://www.rfgeneration.c...ia-The-Adventure-1468.php
Centipede http://www.rfgeneration.c...eredux/Centipede-1572.php
Chunkout http://www.rfgeneration.c...seredux/Chunkout-1532.php
Contra GB Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...Boy-Contra-Games-1301.php
Double Dragon GB Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...-Dragon-GB-Games-1580.php
Ecco The Dolphin http://www.rfgeneration.c...Ecco-The-Dolphin-1428.php
Gargoyle's Quest http://www.rfgeneration.c...Gargoyle-s-Quest-1473.php
Godzilla: Domination! http://www.rfgeneration.c...zilla-Domination-1528.php
Ghostbusters II http://www.rfgeneration.c.../Ghostbusters-II-1464.php
Ghosts 'N Goblins http://www.rfgeneration.c...Ghosts-N-Goblins-1465.php
Kid Dracula http://www.rfgeneration.c...edux/Kid-Dracula-1469.php
Kunio-kun Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...-Kunio-kun-games-1423.php
The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures http://www.rfgeneration.c...words-Adventures-1426.php
Mega Man X Remakes http://www.rfgeneration.c...ga-Man-X-Remakes-1616.php
Monster Force http://www.rfgeneration.c...ux/Monster-Force-1466.php
NBA Jam Series http://www.rfgeneration.c...x/NBA-Jam-Series-1433.php
A Nightmare On Elm Street http://www.rfgeneration.c...re-On-Elm-Street-1481.php
The Pinball Of The Dead http://www.rfgeneration.c...ball-Of-The-Dead-1495.php
Puzzle Boy http://www.rfgeneration.c...uzzle-Boy-Series-1626.php
Rebelstar: Tactical Command http://www.rfgeneration.c...Tactical-Command-1369.php
Resident Evil Gaiden http://www.rfgeneration.c...dent-Evil-Gaiden-1480.php
Riviera: The Promised Land http://www.rfgeneration.c...he-Promised-Land-1606.php
Scooby-Doo! Classic Creep Capers http://www.rfgeneration.c...sic-Creep-Capers-1467.php
The Simpsons: Night Of The Living Treehouse Of Horror http://www.rfgeneration.c...ehouse-Of-Horror-1470.php
Malibu Beach Volleyball http://www.rfgeneration.c...Beach-Volleyball-1365.php
Outrun http://www.rfgeneration.c...oiseredux/Outrun-1398.php
Phantasy Star Collection http://www.rfgeneration.c...-Star-Collection-1325.php
Robocop http://www.rfgeneration.c...iseredux/Robocop-1334.php
Skate Or Die Bad 'N Rad http://www.rfgeneration.c...Or-Die-Bad-N-Rad-1315.php
Spider-Man 2 http://www.rfgeneration.c...dux/Spider-Man-2-1336.php
Super Mario Series http://www.rfgeneration.c...per-Mario-Series-1534.php
Super Puzzle Fighter II http://www.rfgeneration.c...uzzle-Fighter-II-1343.php
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles GBA Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...urtles-GBA-Games-1446.php
Tempest http://www.rfgeneration.c...iseredux/Tempest-1558.php
Tetris GB Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...Tetris-GB-Series-1588.php
Urban Strike http://www.rfgeneration.c...dux/Urban-Strike-1487.php
World Reborn http://www.rfgeneration.c...dux/World-Reborn-1546.php
Other Articles
Beach Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...edux/Beach-Games-1396.php
Behond The 2-Player Cube Setupd! http://www.rfgeneration.c...layer-Cube-Setup-1474.php
Beware GBA Bootlegs! http://www.rfgeneration.c...are-GBA-Bootlegs-1390.php
Cheap Game Boy Display Shelves http://www.rfgeneration.c...-Display-Shelves-1391.php
The Cover Project Needs Your Help http://www.rfgeneration.c...-Needs-Your-Help-1539.php
Game Boy 101: A Beginner's Guide http://www.rfgeneration.c...Beginner-s-Guide-1611.php
Game Boy Launch Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...Boy-Launch-Games-1386.php
Game Boy Color Launch Titles http://www.rfgeneration.c...or-Launch-Titles-1401.php
Game Boy Color Sewing Machine http://www.rfgeneration.c...r-Sewing-Machine-1455.php
GameCube Arcade Sticks http://www.rfgeneration.c...be-Arcade-Sticks-1338.php
GameCube Retro Controller Options http://www.rfgeneration.c...ntroller-Options-1568.php
GameCube Shmups http://www.rfgeneration.c.../GameCube-Shmups-1491.php
Games Beaten: 2010 http://www.rfgeneration.c...ames-Beaten-2010-1564.php
GameSpite Quarterly No. 1 http://www.rfgeneration.c...e-Quarterly-No-1-1317.php
Go Buy Invader! http://www.rfgeneration.c...x/Go-buy-Invader-1486.php
Hello World http://www.rfgeneration.c...edux/Hello-World-1286.php
How To Get Ahead In Handheld Advertising http://www.rfgeneration.c...held-Advertising-1309.php
Iridion Soundtrack Gets Digital Re-Release http://www.rfgeneration.c...gital-Re-Release-1529.php
It's A Secret To Everybody http://www.rfgeneration.c...ret-To-Everybody-1605.php
Jamie Woodhouse's GBA Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...ouse-s-GBA-Games-1330.php
Konami Hyper Boy http://www.rfgeneration.c...Konami-Hyper-Boy-1535.php
Nintendo Player's Guides http://www.rfgeneration.c...-Player-s-Guides-1294.php
Nintendo Power Advance http://www.rfgeneration.c...do-Power-Advance-1371.php
October Spooktacular! http://www.rfgeneration.c...ber-Spooktacular-1457.php
Pocket Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...dux/Pocket-Games-1553.php
Pokemon Creepy Black http://www.rfgeneration.c...mon-Creepy-Black-1435.php
Qwak GBA Gets Digital Release http://www.rfgeneration.c...-Digital-Release-1360.php
Racketboy 2010 Charity Auction http://www.rfgeneration.c...-Charity-Auction-1544.php
Some Game Boy Fighting Games http://www.rfgeneration.c...y-Fighting-Games-1377.php
Some GB and GBC Shmups http://www.rfgeneration.c...B-and-GBC-Shmups-1376.php
Some GBA Beat-em-ups http://www.rfgeneration.c...-GBA-Beat-em-ups-1345.php
Some GBA Fighters http://www.rfgeneration.c...ome-GBA-Fighters-1405.php
Some GBA Retro Compilations http://www.rfgeneration.c...tro-Compilations-1358.php
Some GBA Shmups http://www.rfgeneration.c.../Some-GBA-Shmups-1341.php
Some More GBA Shmups http://www.rfgeneration.c...-More-GBA-Shmups-1368.php
There's no denying that the Game Boy -- and handhelds in general -- are well-suited for puzzle games. The portable nature of a handheld system just seems so perfect for the quick burst of playing that most puzzle games demand. And yet there are two puzzle games for the original Game Boy that I never seem to hear too much about. Which is, err... puzzling seeing as how they're both brilliant little cartridges.
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Puzzle Boy first came to the US in 1990 under the new title Kwirk. Developed by Atlus, the titular Puzzle Boy was a potato in his birthplace, Japan. However when he made his way oversees new publisher Acclaim decided that a walking potato was far too strange for US gamers. So they made the natural decision to change Puzzle Boy to a walking tomato. With sunglasses. Named Kwirk.
Kwirk is a fantastic puzzle game. It is simple and elegant and challenging without being infuriating. It's the sort of game that teaches you how to play it without ever being condescending. Instead the game slowly ramps up its difficulty, introducing new elements which will slowly cause you to continue to think outside the box until you "get it."
The basic premise is this: you are a tomato. You arrive in one part of a room, and need to get to the exit. In order to do so you will need to push some objects out of your way. It's so incredibly basic, yet just amazingly well put together. It's the sort of game that is generally overlooked (maybe because of the silly box art?) and yet once you sit down with it you can blow an afternoon on it without even realizing it. This isn't a puzzle game of hand-eye coordination like Tetris though. This is a logic puzzle game. A real chin-stroker.
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When it came time to bring Puzzle Boy II to the US, Atlus decided to do it themselves. They ditched the Acclaim-branded redesign in favor of their original potato. However since there was no game called Puzzle Boy in the US, they opted to give this one a new title -- Amazing Tater. The decision to not call the game Kwirk II tends to make the connection between these two games fuzzy in most gamers' memories. In fact what Amazing Tater is most well-known for nowadays is being a rare game published by Atlus. Indeed, it is one of the more sought-after and expensive Game Boy carts on the aftermarket.
To say that Amazing Tater is "more of the same" might sound like a put-down, but in fact this is a good thing. The formula that had been so perfected in Kwirk is still in place, and really doesn't need to be tweaked too much. Really any fans of the original game are going to want only one thing after completing it -- more puzzles. And that's exactly what this is. Although it goes for far more money than the first game, most fans will want them both. And once you sit down with either for an extended period of time, you'll understand exactly why that is.
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Mega Man X was one of my absolute favorite SNES games. I don't think there's much need to explain that really. It successfully took everything awesome about the NES games and actually made it feel futuristic with its new 16-bit appearance. It introduced a highly detailed Mega Man, now known as X (duh) who not only looked awesome but who could now cling to walls, do a fast dash, and maybe most importantly could throw a Hadoken fireball. For these reasons, and many others Mega Man X remained a staple of my SNES-playing for a very long time. And when the Mega Man X Collection was released for Playstation 2 and GameCube, I was sure to seek out a copy immediately.
But what's interesting is that although many sequels of varying quality were released as part of the X series, the original and wonderful Mega Man X was never forgotten. Instead, it received two re-releases on portable consoles. Both of which were complete reinventions of the game, made to re-imagine the game with the actual handheld hardware in mind.
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Mega Man Xtreme was released in 2001 for the Game Boy Color. It was the first of two Xtreme games released for the GBC that year. However where the second game was a completely original title that took full use of the GBC's new upgraded hardware, the first game was actually a backwards compatible GBC cart. This meant that although it was colorized, it still ran on the more primitive Game Boy hardware as well. Knowing this reveals just how impressive this demake really is. Essentially this a port of a SNES game to hardware less capable than the NES. Though the resolution is surely lower, the game really looks as good, or better than most NES Mega Man titles. The controls are a bit of a mixed bag, as they are sufficient, but certainly not as smooth as the SNES original.
In fairness it should be pointed out that this is not an apples-for-apples conversion of Mega Man X. Although it's very closely based on the original game, it also used bits and pieces of X2 along with a mish-mash of music. In theory it's actually a bit similar to the Game Boy Mega Man games that would combine bits from several of the NES releases to make a new game. Extras include unlockable levels and characters, which definitely add to the merits of another playthrough for fans of the X series. Though it's far from perfect, it's really a damn fine 8-bit portable Mega Man. Maybe it shouldn't be remembered quite as fondly as say the Game Boy's Mega Man V, but it certainly should not be forgotten either.
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Five years later Capcom released another remake, Mega Man X: Maverick Hunter for the PSP. Unlike the toned down version on the GBC, this one would be completely rebuilt from the ground up to show off the capabilities of the PSP and see what the game would have looked like had it been released all these years later. The game features polygons instead of sprites, full dialogue instead of text boxes, and the addition of anime cutscenes to help the story's momentum. And although none of these new features seem necessary, the game continues to grow on me.
For instance, though I'll always prefer sprites over polygons, I can't help but be a bit taken aback by the intricate details that were put into the backgrounds. Though spoken dialogue can be a drag, it is kind of fun to hear these back-and-forth's betwixt X and his enemies. And to be totally honest, the anime scenes are really quite beautiful. Though I won't for a second say that I would prefer the PSP version over the original SNES game, I can certainly recommend it for fans of the series looking for a new and interesting way to experience it. Although I assume the real target demographic were younger gamers who may not have the same fondness for 2D sprites.
[img width=440 height=238]http://www.randomracket.com/images/gameboy-101/gameboy-101-header.png[/img]
Just a quick plug for http://Racketboy.com, as the recently published Game Boy 101 article was co-authored by myself. I've been meaning to mention it here since it went up in January, but kept forgetting. Anyway if you want to kill some time, it's a fairly extensive overview of the original Game Boy's history and was also written by RFGen-blogger Ack, who keeps an awesome (though not updated often enough) horror blog on this very site.
Link: http://www.racketboy.com/...01-a-beginners-guide.html
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The Together Retro game club at http://Racketboy.com spent January playing through Riviera: The Promised Land, which gave me an excuse to finally put some serious time into the GBA version which had been sitting on my shelf collecting dust for far too long. First: a bit of history. Riviera is the first title in a five-game series collectively referred to as Dept. Heaven. So far only the second (Yggdra Union) and fourth (Knights In The Nightmare) entries in the series have been released alongside this one.
Riviera was developed by Sting Entertainment, who are well-known for creating interesting mash-ups of genres, especially within the Dept. Heaven games. Although it's easiest to refer to Riviera as an RPG, there's actually a lot of other elements that are also present from other genres. The game also plays against the confines of the stereotypical RPG conventions. The biggest difference is that there is very little flexibility to the progression of the story. The plot is extremely linear, and feels a bit closer to a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure than a Final Fantasy. Though in a sense there's a certain simplicity to Riviera that's akin to the infamous SNES release Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest. Though whereas Mystic Quest's goal in being basic was to act as a gateway to more complicated RPG's, Riviera tends to use restrictions to focus on really thinking ahead. For instance you can bring three characters into battle, but you can only bring four items including weapons. If you want to bring a healing item or something other than a weapon, then an option may be to have two characters learn to use the same weapon, though all items including weapons have a limited number of uses. These sort of gameplay restrictions can be either awesomely challenging or extremely frustrating, depending on which camp you're in.
(Note: some content after the jump may be considered slightly NSFW. You've been warned.)
Continue reading Riviera: The Promised Land
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It's been a couple of weeks since my last big post. Some of you may be wondering why the lull. Well there's lots to talk about, so I've decided to just jam it all into one big, unstructured post. So let's begin with a post-Holiday story. Being a "gamer," I received a fair share of gift-cards to video game stores for Christmas. And understandably. I don't expect family members to keep track of my constantly in-flux collection. So the day after New Year's my wife and I went out from store to store using up various gift cards (and "mad money" from Grandma) that we received. Here's where the story takes an interesting turn. Most of the gift cards that I received were for GameStop. I went to four of them in a single day only to find that their GBA sections were almost gone. The games they did I have, I already owned. And then I'd start to notice things out of the corner of my eye. And by "things" I mean Playstation 2 games that I wouldn't mind playing.
Let me back up for a minute here. Many of you know me as "the Game Boy guy," and that's certainly understandable. I mean look at the name of my blog, right? But here's the thing: I've had a long history of various systems beginning with the Commodore 64. And believe it or not, when the Playstation launched, it was actually the first console I ever bought with my own money. I had to put it on layaway and pay it off with bits of allowance over a period of months. When I finally got the damn thing, I couldn't even afford a game for quite some time, so I had to settle for the demo disc that came with it. But those demos of Jumping Flash and Battle Arena Toshinden kept me busy. And I really did love that thing.
And though I've always been a bit of a Nintendo Fanboy, I skipped over the N64 altogether. A single friend of mine owned one, and though I was impressed with Mario Kart 64, nothing else really appealed to me the same way that Resident Evil, Suikoden, RPG Maker or the Tekken series did. In fact, the PS1 was awesome enough to me to make me purchase a Playstation 2 at launch as well. This is the last console that I bought at launch to date!
However sometime in 2008 I realized that I just had way too many video games for a married man living in a small apartment. I knew I had to condense. It made sense to focus on a single collection. And thus the GameCube with Game Boy Player made the most sense to me at the time. Though it's true that the PS2 (and it's PS1 backwards compatibility) offers a huge library of games, I decided to focus on the GB/GBC/GBA library based mostly on a handful of series. To be honest, the biggest draw for me was that Zelda didn't exist in Sony's world (unless you count Dark Cloud). So I sold my PS2 along with my PSP and all the games I had for each.
In the time since I've certainly become a bit of an expert on the Game Boy's library. And rightly so, as I've spent enough time with it. But I've also become a far more educated gamer as well. I've spent countless hours reading the amazing wealth of information over at http://HardCoreGaming101.net, http://GameSpite.net and their ilk. I've discovered a new fondness for entire genres (Shmups!) and publishers (Atlus!) and well, I just know a lot more now. It occurred to me that it was time to re-buy my once beloved PS2 and PSP. And so I spent those gift cards.
Now many of you know that I'm a very regular poster in the forums at http://RacketBoy.com. And as I started building up my old PS1, PS2 and PSP libraries all over again, along with new additions, I felt the need to discuss this blog over there. I guess I was looking for permission to expand the blog's horizon. And though I got lots of feedback (some begging I keep it GB-only, others wishing me luck), ultimately I have to go with my gut feeling. And my gut feeling is that this blog is my blog. And my blog will be at it's best when I'm writing about whatever I'm excited about right this very second. So that's what I'm planning on doing, folks. (If you're really bored, you can read the whole soul-searching thread here: http://www.racketboy.com/...mp;st=0&sk=t&sd=a)
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My main reason for wanting a PS2 again was to tap into the rather rich library of (both domestic and import) PS1 and PS2 shmups out there. So I picked up a used slim model, and a Hori stick made to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Tekken. A handful of trades yielded me such entries as the US version of Castle Of Shikigami (known as Mobile Light Force II here), along with the second Shikigami, Gradius III & IV, R-Types, Sol Divide, Gekioh Shooting King, and many others. But probably my biggest delight thus far has been Einhander, the infamous Square developed shmup that has proven to be even better than I've heard.
Truth be told I've gone on a pretty serious binge over the past month. Numerous retro collections and fighting games (Darkstalkers 3!) and everything else in between. To put it mildly, I am really enjoying getting back into collecting PS1 and PS2 games again. It has a ton of "hardcore" games that I'm loving attempting to track down, and on the casual front my Celtics are 4-0 in NBA 2K9 and my wife and I are hopefully on our way to a championship in Jeopardy.
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Which meant buying another PSP was the next rational step. To be honest I've loved the PSP since it was released. Of course back when I owned one, there weren't as many must-own titles that I knew about. When I first had an original "fat" model PSP, it was mostly used as an MP3-player and retro-emulator to be completely honest. Of course now I'm far more interested in imports and more interesting releases, such as the absolutely amazing Half-Minute Hero which is pretty much blowing my mind right now.
And though I'm not an advocate of piracy by any means (seriously, I hate the Johnny Depp movies even), I can't ignore that the PSP homebrew scene is among the best. There's an absolutely wonderful port of the indie hit Cave Story for the PSP. And the solid Atari 2600 emulator means that I could finally play Halo 2600, which turned out to be one of the finest 2600 games I ever played. It was addicting, and well perfect, forcing me to beat it as quickly as I could.
So there you have it, dear readers. The end of the beginning. Or whatever it is. Of course I'm not abandoning Game Boy coverage, but I am intending to let other stuff in. I hope you all stick around to see where things go from here. Hopefully some of you are just as excited as I am.
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Tetris. It's an infamous title. Perhaps the original "casual game." The one that caused moms to buy their own Game Boys. The one that caused many of us to report seeing falling blocks on our inner eyelids upon attempting to fall asleep. It was first pack-in game when the Game Boy was released, and in many ways proved to be a killer app. So what would be the smart thing to do then? Make a whole bunch of variants for each Game Boy system of course. Although the original Game Boy is the biggest perpetuation of Tetris-fever, even its colorized big brothers got in on the fun. Let's take a look shall we?
Continue reading Tetris GB Series
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