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Post by runinruder on Jul 4, 2011 19:17:53 GMT -5
Castlevania -- The first one on the NES. I try it basically once a month to see if somehow I beat Death. I find just about all NES stuff unplayable these days, but this game has continued to hold up well for me over the years. Whenever I revisit it, I go in thinking, "This'll be the year it falls off," but it never does. The music and bosses are still as cool as ever, but the most surprising thing is that it actually plays pretty damn well--not as smoothly as the 16-bit ones, of course, but much better than the unbearably clunky messes that most of its 8-bit-platformer peers have become. Played through it just a few months ago actually, and really enjoyed it.
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Post by ECM on Jul 4, 2011 19:37:41 GMT -5
Ya know what's surprisingly good? Virtua Figher...on Genesis. I know, I know, it sounds crazy but it's actually pretty entertaining. (And, no, this isn't a favorite, but Smithee's inclusion of the series--I love 2 and 5--stoked the memory.)
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AllenSmithee
Stripling
Compulsive Pedant
dead men don't have dog days
Posts: 92
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Post by AllenSmithee on Jul 4, 2011 19:39:56 GMT -5
Virtua Fighter on 32X is better than on Saturn. The first one, I mean.
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Post by ECM on Jul 4, 2011 19:40:46 GMT -5
Yes, that is also true.
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Post by kog3100edw on Jul 9, 2011 15:57:58 GMT -5
My list would largely resemble the ones on here already. Including many of the 'mentions'.
Sonic CD Thunder Force IV (going against the grain I also love TFV) Strider Gunstar Heroes MUSHA Gate of Thunder
I'd also add: Guardian Heroes Castlvania: SOTN
Some games I suspect would make this list but I haven't owned them long enough to say they'll bear regular repeat visits:
Dracula X Muramasa Ketsui
Others I can't think of right now I'm sure. The reason these are all-time favorites for me are more-or-less the reasons given already. Skill-based where all the elements come together to make a 'total' experience.
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Post by ECM on Jul 9, 2011 20:47:06 GMT -5
Against the grain? TFV is freaking awesome, it's just too damn easy (though not TFVI first-run easy!).
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Post by ECM on Jul 9, 2011 21:22:01 GMT -5
This is true. I actually caused the exact opposite effect because I imported a PS1 (about 3 weeks after it came out in Japan) and all my floormates thought Toshinden was the greatest game ever (hey, we were young once...and stupid!), before SNES Super Bomberman 2 showed them the light.
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Post by kog3100edw on Jul 11, 2011 12:51:36 GMT -5
Against the grain because in my experience/reading, TFV doesn't get quite the love paid to III and IV owing to the switch to scruffy looking polygons and the game-breaking of that lock-on beam weapon (forgetting the name).
Personally the game is awesome and a favorite. Maybe the best soundtrack in the history of video games.
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Post by ECM on Jul 11, 2011 13:01:42 GMT -5
I never understood the fascination w/ III, even when it was brand-new. It's a good shooter, sure (and waaaay better than II), but there was nothing that really stood out about it and I haven't touched it in, wow, well over a decade?
But, yes, TFV is freaking awesome and I didn't realize it was looked down upon, even w/ the game-breaking Free-Range weapon. I just thought it wasn't as highly regarded as IV, which it isn't (and shouldn't be). The graphics were passable at the time, but the game played so well you could overlook the chunky polys and be swept away in an onslaught of gunfire and heavy metal.
(And I was listening to the OST this AM so, yes, it's definitely one of the top five game soundtracks of all time.)
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Post by kog3100edw on Jul 11, 2011 15:07:30 GMT -5
I actually really like III. I think visually it is slicker than IV in a couple of ways, has a good soundtrack and is a good 'trainer' shooter.
That last bit is probably the let-down in the game also though. It is just too easy. That doesn't make it worse in MY book, but it is one of the main failings for the game in the eyes of the hardcore.
Its okay with me because I don't need ever goshdamn shooter to be as hard as nails.
Interesting note: In their Arrange Soundtrack that Cave packed with the LE version of Akai Katana their is a track that is not in-game that I've been able to find, and sounds VERY much like a Genesis-era Tecnosoft track. To the point of being a tribute song pretty much.
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Post by runinruder on Jul 11, 2011 15:27:36 GMT -5
I love TF5... not as much as I love 2 and 4, but I love it. It definitely has excellent music (especially during Stage 4) and quite a few awesome bosses (particularly Guardian's Knight). Free Range does make it too easy, but not babyishly easy like TF3.
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Post by ECM on Jul 11, 2011 15:48:49 GMT -5
For me, it was a combination of the lack of difficulty, relatively laconic pace (I always felt I needed to get out and push the pixels to make the damn backgrounds scroll faster!) and my general ambivalence about horizontal shooters. (I like them, but my interest in them has always paled compared to verts.) Mix that all up and you've got a recipe for "WTF" after reading all the game mag hype of the day, which probably *also* contributed to the disappointment, since I was still a brainless kid at the time of its release and expected it to be the second-coming of...some other shooter that was really awesome before then. (Kinda reminds me of my reaction to the insanely-overhyped Axelay, in fact.)
Then there was the other overriding problem: MUSHA and Gaiares launched in the same time-frame. The former being, to this day, my favorite shooter of all time and the latter just being a better game in pretty much every way. (There was also the issue of Blazing Lazers being super mega awesome on that *other* platform which predated TFIII by a almost a year, all of which set a pretty high bar for TFIII to hurdle.)
All that said, I do think it introduced some good ideas--not losing all your power-ups upon death, for one--though I wager a lot of that was down to it being a console game first, rather than arcade, where it would have had to have been a lot less forgiving and probably would have made it a lot less well-remembered.
Also: I'm pretty sure it's still liked by the hardcore, unless there's been some radical re-assessment of its place in shooter history that I am unaware.
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Post by runinruder on Jul 11, 2011 16:40:30 GMT -5
For me, it was a combination of the lack of difficulty, relatively laconic pace (I always felt I needed to get out and push the pixels to make the damn backgrounds scroll faster!) and my general ambivalence about horizontal shooters. I love horizontal shooters, but I'm totally with you on the difficulty and pacing points. I definitely don't need all of my shooters to be challenging, although that "fear of dying" element can certainly bolster an experience. I do need the action to be satisfying. I don't think I've ever lost in Cyber Core for the TG-16, but even though it's easy, CC moves along quickly and feels very "busy," with lots of enemies flying and scampering about, so it's fun not just to play but to replay. TF3 is lethargic and ridiculously "dumbed down" at times. How tedious is the silly segment in Haides where your shop methodically drifts down a tunnel only to slowly creep up on a dead end and then slowly back its way out. There's no "strategy" involved except for the absurdly obvious "turn on your backshot when you start moving in reverse" moment, and there's no "close call" even the first time because the sequence unfolds so damn slowly, and it really is torture to sit through during every subsequent play. TF3 is also in many ways a style-over-substance sort of product. Yeah, those fire birds look damn cool on the cover, but they're so meek and even pointless when you come across them in the Gorgon level. It doesn't help that there were so many similar-but-superior products released during that era. It's even harder for me to stomach TF3 when I realize I could be playing Gate of Thunder or Gaiares instead. That stuff being said, I do like some of TF3's music, especially the Haides tune.
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Post by ECM on Jul 11, 2011 16:57:56 GMT -5
Well said
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