With the camera controls patch released I thought I’d check out Mario 3D All Stars and er, played through the whole of Mario Sunshine and Mario 64 this weekend. Wasn’t really planning to but there’s something about the Switch that makes those games even harder to put down!
Going from completing Sunshine to tackling 64 was rather liberating, I must say. More in the Mario 35th thread…
Yes totally flat.
I’ve shut down 9/10 of the Most Wanted cars in Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012 - PS3 version for me). It’s not a great game but it’s been a good serving of “chicken soup for my soul” lately. The open world is refreshing as I haven’t played many of these games (no Xbox so no Forza Horizon series). I think the last in this type of genre was Test Drive Unlimited on PSP.
I love sim racing games but I don’t currently have the time or patience to tweak suspension settings and scrape out the last tenth on a circuit or rally stage. The ability to cruise around, do laughable jumps, run from the cops, and burst the tires doing burnouts is refreshingly fun. Fun is the best way I would describe the game. There are a bunch of cars (a couple trucks and SUV’s too) to drive and there’s not much in terms of barriers to unlock new cars (less DLC).
It’s odd to play in 2020 with it marketed as a social racing game. I’m logging times and scores against human ghosts of Gran Turismo 5 NeoGAF Racing League PSN ‘friends’ of past, lol. The DLC is a bit of a drag. The main drag is looking at the map and plotting a course for a place out on the edge only to find a literal DLC barrier in the road preventing you from getting there.
The handling physics are pretty floaty on a stock car. Chassis and tire upgrades help that. The drifting design is counter intuitive - you turn more lock in to the apex to drift which still makes my mind melt. It does offer a more forgiving model than trying to balance a pendulum effect of the back coming around in oversteer though. I can see how that design direction was chosen for an arcade racer.
I’m about 10 hours in, which is the most I’ve played any game over a couple weeks in recent memory. For a game in my backlog I hadn’t touched it’s been very fun. Recommended if you are looking for an open world arcade racer and see it in the bargain bin.
The answer is yes, the USA version does indeed have a better framerate. Really makes this thing enjoyable to play. I’ll crack on with it.
And boy is this fun at 20% faster than I’d be trying to play it.
Would you reorder your series ranking based on this?
Played three hours straight of Sega Ages Shinobi, enjoyed (almost) every second of it. Given its heavy debt to Namco’s Rolling Thunder I was worried that it wouldn’t be all that exciting, but I was wrong!
The faster pace, wealth of attack options and shorter but more plentiful stages make for a very different experience, one with more variety and one that ultimately gives you more breathing room to dodge projectiles and enemies while rarely feeling unfair.
The only time the game felt unfair was in the second level of mission 5, there’s no way to tackle those flying ninjas without learning where they appear, not very fun.
M2 added Ages mode which gives you an extra hit and automatically powers up your shots. I tried this after watching the credits roll on Arcade mode and this seemed almost too easy - didn’t have much trouble clearing the entire game on a single credit! The arcade game, however, I’m struggling to get past mission 3 on a single credit.
Good question.
I still need to finish the PS2 game and will then report back.
Best is still Runabout 2. Worst is Runabout 1. The 3DS is effectively a remake of the PS2 game with less levels and cleaner graphics. So I just need to figure where the DC and PS2 versions slots in.
Playing this on Switch?
Do those other side by side arcade screen edges change?
Looks like they are just static poster sheets/instruction sheets. Shinobi doesn’t let you zoom out of vintage mode (presumably because it’s got cabinet mode) but Fantasy Zone does - similar deal.
Played 10 hours of Metal Max 4 over the past couple of weeks, it’s good so far, but definitely a lot more story-focused (for now) than Metal Max 3 was. Metal Max 3 mostly throws you in to its world and leaves you to figure things out, whereas Metal Max 4 doesn’t fully open up until you get past the second main area on the map.
I’ve also got mixed feelings about the move to fully 3D graphics. The spritework on Metal Max 3 is impeccable, and the 3D backgrounds are very well designed. The two combined make for one of the best looking games to combine simple 3D and sprites, and probably one of the last of its kind given it released at the end of the DS’s life. Metal Max 4 ups the ante on intriguing environment design but its visual makeup ends up looking like a hundred Dreamcast/PSP/3DS games instead of something unique.
I played the whole Mass Effect Legendary Edition a little while back and really enjoyed the reunion, here is my review about it if anybody is interested in picking this up!
Not an awful lot on the retro side lately, but I do intend to delve into Spelunker Collection (M2 developed Japan-only release) at some point, and I’ve been meaning to revisit Flipnic Pinball.
I’m blazing through video games in 2022! Lol!
Tonight I finished No More Heroes III. It took me around 20 hours. I absolutely loved it. Travis Strikes Again is probably a bit better for me personally because that game transcends what we typically think of with videogames since it functions as a commentary on the life of Goichi Suda. That said, NMH3 is a fantastic ending for Travis Touchdown and has some inspired moments and boss fights along with lots of funny (and horrific) scenes as well. If you’ve played the series, this one is absolutely worth your time.
A couple weeks ago, I put Sonic Forces to bed. I enjoyed it! Certainly not the best Sonic game but I think it flies along at a great clip. It’s not terribly challenging, but I wasn’t approaching it for challenge, just the speed, the spectacle, and the music and adventure. I know it’s been savaged by some, but I found it good enough for the run. It was free awhile back via PS Plus so it cost me nothing, but I’d still say it’s worth a budget price play. Sega still puts out good music in these games and technically it played well on PS5/PS4.
I’ve made solo gaming a priority this year so while I’m still in the Warzone and Apex regularly among others, I’m also gunning for finishing a bunch of stories/campaigns. Next up is either Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive or Metroid Dread. Haven’t decided yet.
I don’t think Pickles appreciates that I’m playing Game Gear instead of scratching her head.
I started playing Defenders of Oasis a bit ago on a whim. Good little JRPG! The story is simplistic fare that’s pretty typical for the time, but I’m finding it interesting and a lot of fun.
so i got a satiator fully loaded up
and also was on the final act of shenmoo 3 finally
started lost judgment
playing some great attorney chronicles here & there
elden ring has literally brought all of this to a screeching halt for the foreseeable future
How’s the satiator?
Elden Ring has been about it lately. Still playing Warzone too.
I’m 24 hours into ER and just took on the first real story boss tonight. Expansive is an understatement for how much there is in this game.
