2nd Annual RGB Spooktacular Game/Beer Month

[BTails]

It’s hard to believe that Retro Game Boards is approaching it’s ONE YEAR anniversary… We were born in October 2017, and because October is nearly upon us, it’s time for the 2nd Annual Spooktacular Game Month!!

Time to bust out those Castlevanias and Splatterhouses… The Resident Evils and Silent Hills… The Superman 64s and Bubsy 3d- okay, maybe not THAT scary.

In October, I’ll be playing lots of SPOOKY games, and hope you’ll all join me! As is my tradition, I will be posting my progress as the month goes on, as well as reviewing the various PUMPKIN BEERS I tend to drink this time of year.

On the docket this year:

CASTLEVANIA, yes ALL of them. I’ve only ever beat 1 and 4, and I plan on changing that. I’ll try to get through the majority of the classic series, from 1 all the way to Rondo, all on original hardware. Let’s see how that goes!

UNTIL DAWN - PS4 - I’ve been meaning to play this for a long time, and what better month than October? I’m a sucker for this style of game (Telltale / David Cage), and am looking forward to some slasher fun.

Friday the 13th: The Game - This one’s free on PS Plus in North America this month! They raved about it on the Player One Podcast last year, and I never got a chance to try. I’ll probably only dabble in this, but maybe some fellow RGBers would be interested in playing a round or two?

My stretch goals include some other PS4 and Xbox One horror games that have made their way into my backlog, notably SOMA and Layers of Fear.

What is every planning on playing? I look forward to hearing your Horror Game thoughts! And feel free to ask for suggestions, I absolutely love everything horror and would be happy to help if you want to dabble in this genre.

[D.Lo]

Maybe I’ll play the original…

[BTails]

I legit love it. Reposting my thoughts from the NES thread:

Friday is an Atlus game, and has a lot of depth hidden to it: you can swap between 6 characters at any time with their own strengths, weaknesses, and individual inventories. Plus there’s lots of secrets items, rooms, and other things to do over the course of three days in between Jason attacks. The only truly terrible part of the game is the music, of which there’s 3 tracks and they all loop in 5 seconds (I’m not joking!). Otherwise the game is pretty fun, but unfortunately is known online mostly for that time is was roasted by AVGN.

[Morfeo]

I’ll try to join this, some games on my to play list that fits this criteria:

Castlevania Chronicles (PS1)
Splatterhouse-series
Silent Hill (the original)
Resident Evil 3
Alone in the Dark (PC)
Nosferatu (Super Famicom)

Will try to beat at least one of these games.

[fester]

Good timing on this thread, it’s reminded me that I want to play through Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube.

[tron]

Until Dawn is AWESOME. So much replay value. REALLY good game.

[asmith906]

Until dawn is an awesome group game. I somehow managed to always pick the worse options.

[raskulous]

I’d love to get going on some more Castlevania games, as I’ve only ever finished IV on the SNES.

Zombies Ate b My Neighbours is another one I should dig into a bit deeper, but I honestly don’t think I can finish it with it having so many levels.

Maybe I should finally try and finish Alien Breed I or II on the Amiga!

And for non-retro on PC, I could get into Alien: Isolation, or something really scary like Outlast.

I’ll make sure to post my results!

[apathetic]

Going to use this chance to stan for Haunted: Halloween 85 and 86 again. Two good halloween themed NES homebrew games that now seem to even be on steam instead of just the NES cartridges.

[Peltz]

Can’t believe it’s that time already! Our 1 year anniversary as a community is coming up too!

I’ll be participating by playing the following:

Sure, they’re not really “horror” games in the traditional sense. But each still contains elements of the genre and feels appropriately themed in my humble opinion.

[khaz]

I recently got a Sweet Home repro, so I might play that or Castlevania 3. Probably both though.

[DaveLong]

It’s probably going to be some form of Castlevania for me. I might make a run at completing Rondo of Blood on the Wii Virtual Console and use some of my remaining points on ReBirth too.

On top of that, I’m going to pull out Mr. Bones on Sega Saturn!

[cornerstone]

I’ll try to have some patience and get past the first few levels

[BTails]

I played Sweet Home for the first time last year and absolutely loved it. It’s one of my favourite NES games now. I would highly recommend not using a walkthrough and creating your own map. Once you get a handle on the battle system, it’s not particularly difficult, and the backtracking / puzzle solving will mean enough experience so that you’re not having to grind.

My thoughts on the game are in our first Spooktacular thread for anyone interested:

Retro Game Boards - 1st Annual Spooktacular Game Month

I’ll get things started with some impressions of my own. This month I’ve been playing Sweet Home on the Famicom: [image] For those who don’t know, this is a horror puzzle RPG from Capcom, which only released in Japan. It was a licensed title, based on a Japanese horror movie of the same name. It would later go on to serve as the inspiration for the original Biohazard/Resident Evil. I’ve been forcing myself to play this game without a guide, which means creating a map as I go of the mansion y…

[Mega]

I’m currently playing Aliens: Infestation on DS.

I have RE: Deadly Silence but I think I’d rather take my first real stab at original RE1 with the PS1 copy of RE: Director’s Cut I acquired a while back. Or replay REmake!

[asmith906]

Just downloaded Doom. plan to finally give them a play through

[raskulous]

Nice! I played Doom I and II as a kid, but revisited them a few years ago with intentions of finishing them both, moving onto Doom 3, then jumping into Doom (2016) when it released.

What a great journey it was… The original games were as good as I remember them I used the Brutal Doom mod to give myself some modern features like higher resolutions, mouse look, and a few graphical options like better lighting. I didn’t use all the game-changing features like the excessive blood, and new weapons because I wanted the vanilla experience. It would be fun to play them again like that, though.

Doom 3 was a struggle to get through, and I really wasn’t a fan of the slower horror-style gameplay.

Doom 2016 is PHENOMINAL however. I would highly recommend playing it, especially on PC.

[Socksfelloff]

Brutal DOOM is amazing!

I couldn’t get into Doom2016 at all and that’s me as a lifetime DOOM fan.

[dubc]

I’m playing Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow.

I really liked the change of pace OoE presented but I realized I really missed exploring a big castle. DoS is scratching that itch so far. The stylus inputs don’t seem to be too intrusive so far besides the ‘oh shit!’ moment when I realize I need to pull out the stylus, lol.

[BTails]

Happy October 1st, everyone! I sat down to play some Castlvania this evening…

Yes, I said “Castlevania”, but what I actually meant was “Akumajo Dracula”. I’m playing the original Famicom Disk System version of the game on my FDS stick, which is an amazing device for those of you who’ve never heard of it.

See, there’s the FDS stick plugged into my AV Famicom. Also posing is my glass of Pumpking Pie Spiced Ale from Alley Kat brewery in Edmonton AB, an annual favourite of mine this time a year. DON’T PANIC, the beer was only there for the picture, no AV Famicoms were harmed this evening.

Oh look a boss! The control feels stiff at first, but man is it tight. Once you get a feel for how Simon Belmont controls, the game becomes so rewarding when you nail a jump, whip an enemy out of mid air, then throw a sub weapon to hit another. There’s lots of small details too, like the way Simon hits the ground with a THUD after a large fall, and crouches on impact.

Dracula’s famous tower looms in the background. Another great detail in this game is the sense of progression. From the opening where you enter the gate, you really feel like you’re making your way through the castle, getting closer and closer to Dracula’s lair.

HERE IT IS. The bane of my existence, and where I bowed out tonight. This hallway is pure madness. Note the enemies on the left side of the screen: an armoured knight AND a medusa head. You have to fight your way through two knights, and countless medusa heads at the same time. And the hallway is capped off with the fight against Death, arguably the hardest boss in the game. I actually made it to him and got him halfway dead on my sole attempt at this gauntlet this evening, but alas a victory wasn’t in the cards.

One of the good things about playing the original disk version is that there’s a SAVE feature! So when I pick this back up tomorrow, I can start at the beginning of the 5th level. Unfortunately, that means I have that damn hallway, and Death waiting for me, but if I can get past that, I should be free and clear to take on Dracula, and finish my first horror game of the month.