Did you spot a Moai in it? Unconfirmed info.
Lol no, but it’s full of ‘wacky’ stuff so sounds entirely plausible.
1 Like
Purchased Celeste on the Switch after that really good sale. I sort of knew what to expect going in beforehand (a MeatBoy type), but I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation. About half way through the main game, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy playing through it again to git gud.
I like it even more than Meat Boy. It’s a very tight game with excellent mechanics and optional challenges.
The controls are a dream. If you dig it and want another great game by the same dev, check out Towerfall.
I’m playing through D2 for the first time and really enjoying it. I get the feeling Kenji Eno was a big fan of John Carpenter’s The Thing. It’s a very weird game in a good way. It plays like a cinematic adventure game at times, and it also has 3rd person exploration with random battles and character leveling similar to a jrpg. The battles play out like an FPS, which is also weird. Overall, I’m really glad I decided to pick this up, as back in the day I remember most magazines weren’t too keen on it. Kenji Eno passed away too soon, his games were bizarre in a good way, and I wonder what else he would have done if he were still with us.
5 Likes
I’ve always been meaning to get this. Couldnt find a copy at a decent price.
I didnt realize what the current going rate is. Disc Replay had it for 39.99 and I had a 10.00 coupon, so it was reasonable. It’s crazy how bad Dreamcast game prices have exploded.
You might have just summed up how I felt about everything else I’ve played from Wayforward, except maybe Mighty Switch Force which was tight enough that I wanted to get high scores on.
Daily STG rounds aside, I’ve been revisiting 3DS games lately having been feeling somewhat nostalgic for the library. Darumeshi Sports Shop (Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball in North America) is one of my favourite games from Nintendo last decade, and its arcade-like sensibilities have meant I’m always happy to go back to it and aim for new high scores.
Matsuno’s last game, Crimson Shroud, is also excellent, being a 5-10 hour RPG with imaginatively translated D&D-style presentation. Near the end of chapter 1 at the moment.
I also dug out the Japanese PS2 this evening to play a bunch of sim games, the most notable one being Tokyo Bus Guide which I really find hard to not break the rules in. It’s easy enough to follow the directions (it’s mostly making sure you take the right turns, and follow the road markings and traffic signals) but accelerating and braking require a lot of discipline. Accelerate too sharply and you get a ‘sudden acceleration’ penalty because you disrupted the passengers. But I really can’t resist doing that, nothing more satisfying than making a heavy vehicle fly…
Do you have any japanese 3ds titles you’d recommend. I need to expand my collection. Ive been mostly playing the dragon quest rhythm game on it.
I’m playing Indivisible via Game Pass. I sort of missed this game when it came out late last year. It’s fantastic. The pacing is amazing for a JRPG inspired game. Fans of Valkyrie Profile should check this one out. And being a Secret of Mana fan, I love the Hiroku Kikuta OST in this one.
Sure!
- Darumeshi Sports Shop (of course!)
- Kokuga (released overseas as digital-only but the boxart is great!)
- Labyrinth no Kanata (inventive Tri-Ace RPG from the team behind Resonance of Fate and Valkyrie Profile 2. I really enjoyed this one, it’s a very unique take on the labyrinth crawler)
- Metal Max 4
- E.X. Troopers (fun arcade-y lock-on shooter designed for the 3DS)
- Band Bros P
- Minna de Mammote Knight (released in North America as Gotta Protectors, unreleased in Europe)
- Sega 3D Classics Collections 1 and 3 - only 2 was released in the west
- Kunio-kun games (I think only two of them were released in North America)
- Taiko no Tatsujin (last way to play with the cool stylus controls)
- A-Train 3D Neo (New 3DS enhanced version of A-Train 3D with more content)
- Rhythm Tengoku: The Best Plus (released outside of Japan)
- Final Fantasy 3D (remake of PSP FF with 3D graphics).
- Picross 3D Round 2 (released outside of Japan)
- Puyo Puyo Chronicle (RPG Puyo hybrid)
- Puyo Puyo Tetris (3D is great and Sonic Team used both screens really well, feels like its own special version of the game)
- Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2 (pretty solid rhythm action title from Sega AM2 with plenty of Sega references in the ‘my room’ mode)
Set up the Virtual Boy this morning for the usual seasonal session with it. It’s always a novel system to play even after you think you’re finished with most of its games, the arcade qualities of its libraries, and the sheer uniqueness of the hardware give it everlasting appeal.
I never did finish Red Alarm, only getting as far as stage 4’s totem pole boss last time. This time I managed to beat it on my first attempt, but the final level is brutal. I lost all my lives there but I did make it to the final boss once, which is a giant mech surrounded by respawning smaller mechs, all aiming lasers toward you…
T&E Soft did a great job with their use of wireframes as well. The stereoscopic 3D bring it all to life but they are very creative in making level furniture look like real places despite there being no texture and limited colour. You can tell what each level is meant to be - for example stage 4 is obviously a temple, stage 3 is an underwater cave. even elements like water are animated and have a wavy surface:
Red Alarm is still the most ambitious Virtual Boy game and it largely executes everything it tries to do well. Analogue triggers would definitely help with fine-tuning those sharp turns but it all largely works very well and offers these 3D spaces which are fun to navigate, complete with enemies and traps that are fun to dodge.
3 Likes
I played through the Switch version of Another World/Out of this World. I never get tired of replaying this classic every few years, just an incredible action-adventure and a landmark title for cinematics.
I first got it for SNES for Christmas 1992 (I didn’t have an Amiga, and it was the first port to console) and have played every version since. It’s nice to buy a physical copy again thanks to the Limited Run release.
3 Likes
When Kojima, Suda, and Ueda all reference a game as being inspirational, and influential, it’s probably a game to check out.
1 Like
I’ve gone back to Orbital/Orbient on Wii. I finished the GBA version many moons (pun intended) ago, but got bogged down on the Wii version in a quest to get “all golds”. It seems like a lifetime ago when I had that much time to sink into a game.
Anyway, on my return to the game I’ve decided to be happy with just finishing the level(!) and have already seen the Staff Roll and unlocked a set of Extra levels.
I’m playing Dragon Warrior 2 on NES right now, coming off beating the first game.
This one is still very much an old school experience, yet it’s cool to see just how much they were able to evolve the gameplay in just 1 year after the first game. In all ways, it’s a deeper and denser and larger experience. There are way more places to explore, the landmasses seem more endless, there are more monsters to fight, you have multiple characters now, and there are more items to keep stock of too.
Other than graphics, this feels a game that very much could pass for an early SNES JRPG. I love how when they went for a more content-rich game, however, they did not introduce any linearity to the gameplay. In the early goings at least, this still feels very much like an open world like the first game where you can travel too far and get killed by powerful monsters if you’re not careful.
My only complaint is that encounters are just as frequent as DW1 but they can take a bit longer on average since there is multiple monsters per fight. It adds a bit more tedium that I felt the first game did not have.
Otherwise, I am enjoying this so far. I’m about 3 hours into it and already have my second character.
Also, I’m playing Hotline Miami on Switch and even though I’ve tried playing this game before, I’m now hooked on it due to the Switch’s form factor. It’s getting more difficult, but it’s the kind of difficulty I like. I’m not usually a fan of the stealth genre, but the twitch like nature of this game plus the stealth elements combine for such a perfect recipe. There’s a real nice balance between structured and emergent gameplay here.
The graphics and music are also perfectly styled to compliment the gameplay.
I’m interested in seeing your reaction to Dragon Warrior 3. For a game released in 1988 it’s kinda mindblowing. Most SNES RPGs aren’t even nearly as well put together as that.
Loaded up Kururin Squash! to check my save game and grab some screens. What a great game.
And BOY OH BOY, I must have had some real time on my hands before kids! I can’t get anywhere close to my records, it would require a real time investment.
1 Like
DQ1 and 2 are great games. But DQ3 and 4 are mindblowing, and especially 4 is still one of my absolute favorite games ever. Hope to be able to read your impressions on that in the not too distant future!