1973
Half-Century Challenge Series: https://www.backloggd.com/u/C_F/list/half-century-challenge/
HCC #4 = Maze (1973)
Maze predating Wizardry by roughly a decade is something that my mind struggles to process. The influence of Maze's dungeon crawling is immense. It's like it was copied by everything from Wizardry to Phantasy Star to Megami Tensei for decades.
Just exploring the maze got old quickly, so people were added into the maze. There was interaction between characters, with an ability to shoot motherfuckers to boot.
I don't really know what else to say. It's basically THE genesis point of first person games and the cover art is really damn charming.
Next time: Wander (1974)
HCC #4 = Maze (1973)
Maze predating Wizardry by roughly a decade is something that my mind struggles to process. The influence of Maze's dungeon crawling is immense. It's like it was copied by everything from Wizardry to Phantasy Star to Megami Tensei for decades.
Just exploring the maze got old quickly, so people were added into the maze. There was interaction between characters, with an ability to shoot motherfuckers to boot.
I don't really know what else to say. It's basically THE genesis point of first person games and the cover art is really damn charming.
Next time: Wander (1974)
1972
Half-Century Challenge Series: https://www.backloggd.com/u/C_F/list/half-century-challenge/
HCC #3 = Pong (1972)
If there is any game that can be called synonymous with video games, it's Pong. When the term "video game" was first coined, it was because the average gamer experience consisted of playing something like tennis or ping pong on their TV. It's no coincidence the term "video game" came into mass usage during the early 1970s, right when Pong exploded.
The importance of Pong cannot be overstated. Dedicated Pong consoles, arcade cabinets, Atari ports, etc all rose into prominence. The idea of porting a game a million times for accessibility, and the sheer mass appeal Pong had over prior 0 player games or text adventures? It's breathtaking how much came out of the game. Remember, just 10 years prior if one wanted to play Space War, there were only a couple locations on earth where they could do so. Pong was even designed with controllers in mind, an early prototype to things like the Atari controller and by proxy controllers by companies like Nintendo or Sega.
One could even call it the genesis point of multiplayer gaming. Being able to play against both AI and another human was beyond novel. Fighting game arcade modes? They owe their thanks to Pong. Which in hindsight, makes it funny that my first time playing Pong was via the embedded port in Mortal Kombat 2. You see, in Mortal Kombat 2 if you win 250 matches in a row, you get to play one round of pong. So one evening as a child, I spent what must have been 2 or 3 hours killing the fake player 2 in my copy of MK2, just to play Pong for 30 seconds. I felt like I had been massively trolled.
That tangent aside, I brought up mini consoles earlier. Indeed, even Nintendo got their start in the game industry with the Color TV Game 6 which was directly inspired by Pong's success. Let alone the NES Classic Mini and SNES Classic Mini some half century later.
It would be easy for me to look at Pong and go "who gives a fuck" but honestly, I can't help but admire this abstract world with nothing more than a few white pixels. Everything comes from something. Even if it's not the most fun game to a newcomer in 2024, it still has plenty of usages. After all, it's a great project to recreate in languages like GML for the sake of learning game development. In fact, a friend and I actually did that for a narrative driven minigame compilation game a while back. https://c-fhacks.itch.io/aikon
With its sheer influence on the industry, the fact it's so helpful for learning game development, and that it's perfectly playable, Pong deserves this score. Perhaps even higher.
Next time: Maze (1973)
HCC #3 = Pong (1972)
If there is any game that can be called synonymous with video games, it's Pong. When the term "video game" was first coined, it was because the average gamer experience consisted of playing something like tennis or ping pong on their TV. It's no coincidence the term "video game" came into mass usage during the early 1970s, right when Pong exploded.
The importance of Pong cannot be overstated. Dedicated Pong consoles, arcade cabinets, Atari ports, etc all rose into prominence. The idea of porting a game a million times for accessibility, and the sheer mass appeal Pong had over prior 0 player games or text adventures? It's breathtaking how much came out of the game. Remember, just 10 years prior if one wanted to play Space War, there were only a couple locations on earth where they could do so. Pong was even designed with controllers in mind, an early prototype to things like the Atari controller and by proxy controllers by companies like Nintendo or Sega.
One could even call it the genesis point of multiplayer gaming. Being able to play against both AI and another human was beyond novel. Fighting game arcade modes? They owe their thanks to Pong. Which in hindsight, makes it funny that my first time playing Pong was via the embedded port in Mortal Kombat 2. You see, in Mortal Kombat 2 if you win 250 matches in a row, you get to play one round of pong. So one evening as a child, I spent what must have been 2 or 3 hours killing the fake player 2 in my copy of MK2, just to play Pong for 30 seconds. I felt like I had been massively trolled.
That tangent aside, I brought up mini consoles earlier. Indeed, even Nintendo got their start in the game industry with the Color TV Game 6 which was directly inspired by Pong's success. Let alone the NES Classic Mini and SNES Classic Mini some half century later.
It would be easy for me to look at Pong and go "who gives a fuck" but honestly, I can't help but admire this abstract world with nothing more than a few white pixels. Everything comes from something. Even if it's not the most fun game to a newcomer in 2024, it still has plenty of usages. After all, it's a great project to recreate in languages like GML for the sake of learning game development. In fact, a friend and I actually did that for a narrative driven minigame compilation game a while back. https://c-fhacks.itch.io/aikon
With its sheer influence on the industry, the fact it's so helpful for learning game development, and that it's perfectly playable, Pong deserves this score. Perhaps even higher.
Next time: Maze (1973)
1971
Half-Century Challenge Series: https://www.backloggd.com/u/C_F/list/half-century-challenge/
HCC #2 = Oregon Trail (1971)
Anybody remember playing video games in your school's computer lab? I was a tech savvy kid who always finished work early, so I had quite a few things I would put on to pass the time. Showing off cheat codes to my classmates in flash games like Stick RPG or Swords & Sandals 2. The reactions when I entered a comma at the end of my character's name and clicked randomize made me feel so proud of tapping into the hidden knowledge of how to break some silly Newgrounds game. Putting a flash drive with SNES emulators inside the school's PC... I'll never forget the time my classmate saw me struggling with the button mashing minigame in Chrono Trigger. Mainly since it led to him mashing the spacebar so hard he finished it with plenty of time to spare while half the class stared at him due to the noise he was making. Hell, I even remember making a visual novel for my senior project. I wish I had saved it outside of class in hindsight, but what can you do?
Anyways, on one slow day my teacher let me play Oregon Trail after proclaiming it was an edutainment game I would enjoy. All I could wonder was how it would be possible to learn a lesson and play a game at the same time.
Needless to say I was in awe. It was like getting a crash course on money management, American history, and arithmetic all in one. At the time, it never occurred to me how silly the game was. I never stopped to think about how goofy the idea of going to sleep and getting SIX FUCKING OXEN stolen from me was. I never stopped to wonder if the prices actually made sense for the time period. Cus, frankly, none of that was too important to me. None of that is important to me right now.
To me, games are so much more than the graphics, the music, the text, the data occupying the screen. Oregon Trail is more than some silly edutainment game I played half a lifetime ago. It's a connection.
I can't remember my classmates' names. I can't remember my teacher's name. I can't easily Google "what school did I go to in 2010" or anything. I can easily Google Oregon Trail. Every year, our memory fades more and more. The digital footprint of Oregon Trail, however, hasn't faded.
I almost vividly remember naming my Oregon Trail party members after my classmates and my teacher. I recall wondering what the fuck dysentery was and being upset I let "my classmate" die. I know how accomplished I felt to have beaten the game in such a short timeframe. Every 4th of July, I run a simulation of this game with my friend group and save some screencaps. I like to think it helps somehow.
I could sit here and tell you about how Oregon Trail is the longest running game franchise. I could tell you how Oregon Trail started as a random teacher's indie game before becoming the most impactful edutainment game ever made.
But the truth is, none of that is important to me. My memories with this game are important to me. I don't even know if I can really rec this game unless you're a nerd like me who plays notable games academically. At least it's an hour long tops?
And as Alek Wek once said, the most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don't celebrate those, they can pass you by. The creator of Oregon Trail said in an interview that even if he didn't get to buy his own private island from all the money Oregon Trail made, he doesn't care since he's still so happy a game he made in 10 days is still so celebrated. And that's just beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QbjlHeoLdc
Next time: Pong (1972)
HCC #2 = Oregon Trail (1971)
Anybody remember playing video games in your school's computer lab? I was a tech savvy kid who always finished work early, so I had quite a few things I would put on to pass the time. Showing off cheat codes to my classmates in flash games like Stick RPG or Swords & Sandals 2. The reactions when I entered a comma at the end of my character's name and clicked randomize made me feel so proud of tapping into the hidden knowledge of how to break some silly Newgrounds game. Putting a flash drive with SNES emulators inside the school's PC... I'll never forget the time my classmate saw me struggling with the button mashing minigame in Chrono Trigger. Mainly since it led to him mashing the spacebar so hard he finished it with plenty of time to spare while half the class stared at him due to the noise he was making. Hell, I even remember making a visual novel for my senior project. I wish I had saved it outside of class in hindsight, but what can you do?
Anyways, on one slow day my teacher let me play Oregon Trail after proclaiming it was an edutainment game I would enjoy. All I could wonder was how it would be possible to learn a lesson and play a game at the same time.
Needless to say I was in awe. It was like getting a crash course on money management, American history, and arithmetic all in one. At the time, it never occurred to me how silly the game was. I never stopped to think about how goofy the idea of going to sleep and getting SIX FUCKING OXEN stolen from me was. I never stopped to wonder if the prices actually made sense for the time period. Cus, frankly, none of that was too important to me. None of that is important to me right now.
To me, games are so much more than the graphics, the music, the text, the data occupying the screen. Oregon Trail is more than some silly edutainment game I played half a lifetime ago. It's a connection.
I can't remember my classmates' names. I can't remember my teacher's name. I can't easily Google "what school did I go to in 2010" or anything. I can easily Google Oregon Trail. Every year, our memory fades more and more. The digital footprint of Oregon Trail, however, hasn't faded.
I almost vividly remember naming my Oregon Trail party members after my classmates and my teacher. I recall wondering what the fuck dysentery was and being upset I let "my classmate" die. I know how accomplished I felt to have beaten the game in such a short timeframe. Every 4th of July, I run a simulation of this game with my friend group and save some screencaps. I like to think it helps somehow.
I could sit here and tell you about how Oregon Trail is the longest running game franchise. I could tell you how Oregon Trail started as a random teacher's indie game before becoming the most impactful edutainment game ever made.
But the truth is, none of that is important to me. My memories with this game are important to me. I don't even know if I can really rec this game unless you're a nerd like me who plays notable games academically. At least it's an hour long tops?
And as Alek Wek once said, the most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don't celebrate those, they can pass you by. The creator of Oregon Trail said in an interview that even if he didn't get to buy his own private island from all the money Oregon Trail made, he doesn't care since he's still so happy a game he made in 10 days is still so celebrated. And that's just beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QbjlHeoLdc
Next time: Pong (1972)
1970
Half-Century Challenge Series: https://www.backloggd.com/u/C_F/list/half-century-challenge/
HCC #1 = Game of Life (1970)
Hello everyone, I'm happy to announce Mega and I are engaging in the site's first Half-Century Challenge! We are both playing 50 games spanning from 1970 to 2020 and reviewing each one as we go along. Look forward to the series as a whole!
So, let's talk about Game of Life. This is not a 1 player game but a 0 player game, meaning it is played without any input from the player and merely observed. This game led the way to all sorts of 0 player games in the future such as Progress Quest, Godville, and, hell, CPU VS CPU matches in fighting games or whatever the hell. Essentially, the game is determined by RNG seeds before it even begins.
It looks like a simple game where some squares can live and die. But there is so much more to it. The abstract shapes function as a sort of Rorschach test, and I think that's kinda incredible for something from 1970. Gliders, spacers, pulse stars, etc are all potentially viewable from inside the grid.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Gospers_glider_gun.gif
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life#/media/File:Game_of_life_pulsar.gif
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Animated_Hwss.gif
It's pretty telling that new patterns were being discovered for decades after its release, to say nothing of the countless times it has been recreated. It is directly homaged in various future games for good reason. Google "Game of Life" and thank me later.
Overall, Game of Life probably isn't something the player will be spending hours on. However, to quote John Apollo 11, it was one small step for a game, one giant leap for gaming. The term video game has sorta outgrown its origins. In the 70s, experiences like electronic versions of Pong were all the rage. The term "video game" is only so ubiquitous now since the medium harkened forth the image of games like Pong being recreated on a screen.
The fact Game of Life continues to be a cultural landmark, to say nothing of the fact it simulated something the players could never hope to recreate in real life with something along the lines of a ball and paddle? If that doesn't scream the medium was always a unique form of art, I'm not sure what does.
Next time: The Oregon Trail (1971)
HCC #1 = Game of Life (1970)
Hello everyone, I'm happy to announce Mega and I are engaging in the site's first Half-Century Challenge! We are both playing 50 games spanning from 1970 to 2020 and reviewing each one as we go along. Look forward to the series as a whole!
So, let's talk about Game of Life. This is not a 1 player game but a 0 player game, meaning it is played without any input from the player and merely observed. This game led the way to all sorts of 0 player games in the future such as Progress Quest, Godville, and, hell, CPU VS CPU matches in fighting games or whatever the hell. Essentially, the game is determined by RNG seeds before it even begins.
It looks like a simple game where some squares can live and die. But there is so much more to it. The abstract shapes function as a sort of Rorschach test, and I think that's kinda incredible for something from 1970. Gliders, spacers, pulse stars, etc are all potentially viewable from inside the grid.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Gospers_glider_gun.gif
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life#/media/File:Game_of_life_pulsar.gif
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Animated_Hwss.gif
It's pretty telling that new patterns were being discovered for decades after its release, to say nothing of the countless times it has been recreated. It is directly homaged in various future games for good reason. Google "Game of Life" and thank me later.
Overall, Game of Life probably isn't something the player will be spending hours on. However, to quote John Apollo 11, it was one small step for a game, one giant leap for gaming. The term video game has sorta outgrown its origins. In the 70s, experiences like electronic versions of Pong were all the rage. The term "video game" is only so ubiquitous now since the medium harkened forth the image of games like Pong being recreated on a screen.
The fact Game of Life continues to be a cultural landmark, to say nothing of the fact it simulated something the players could never hope to recreate in real life with something along the lines of a ball and paddle? If that doesn't scream the medium was always a unique form of art, I'm not sure what does.
Next time: The Oregon Trail (1971)
2006
Let's talk about strategy guides. It's no secret some games have very obtuse elements about them. Often times, they're not meant to be used in a first playthrough at all and are the kind of thing one would find out from Nintendo Power ages later. One example would be the Hadouken and Shoryuken in the Mega Man X games. Then there are secrets like the Lightsaber in Ico which nobody would ever find without a strategy guide, but the player probably wants to get on their first playthrough even if they don't necessarily need it.
And then you have games that can feel completely overwhelming or even unplayable without a strategy guide. I cannot even begin to name all the point-and-clicks and JRPGs filled to the brim with labyrinthine structures, permanently missable content, bugs or intended conditions that cause the player's save file to essentially become bricked, sidequests so hidden it took decades to find them, etc etc etc.
Knytt manages to be all of this. Knytt is nearly a brilliant game. When I started playing Knytt, I picked up all but 3 items blind in under an hour. At first, I thought it was a very soothing experience with an incredible atmosphere. The ambient music is shockingly amazing, and perfectly compliments the dark yet colourful world.
Unfortunately, as I neared the end of the game, I started growing increasingly frustrated. Too many platforms were lined up in such a way the player was only 1 pixel out of reach to entering a new path. It became hard to distinguish background characters from actual enemies. And then the worst part happened; I accidentally jumped into an invisible tile in the middle of nowhere that turned out to be an important warp zone.
Within minutes, my opinion of the game lowered from perhaps a 9/10 to a 7/10 at best. I'm not even certain if the last few powerups can be found without all the other warp zones I discovered in a speedrunning video, because there are no guides online. There is no communication to the player they are near an invisible tile, and the game's world is so massive it takes about 5 minutes to run across it in a straightish line. I did find some codes for the game on GameFAQs but I don't think the game itself communicates them anywhere either https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/937276-knytt/cheats
So what are we left with? A passionate and unique game that is ultimately too messy and unnecessarily obtuse for its own good. What could have been an all time classic PC metroidvania is bogged down by adhering to the "we need to sell strategy guides" school of thought despite it being a freeware indie game.
If the game looks up your alley, my suggestion is to look for how ever many items you can naturally find in about an hour with the searchlight feature, and then watch this speedrun to find the rest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmg_maTOSrs
Also worth noting, it is a 2006 PC game. It ran without any significant issues on my Windows 11 rig, but I did have to use Joy2Key for controller support and the fullscreen was a bit fucked in that it forced everything to my second monitor. It's nothing too inconvenient given how short the game is however.
And then you have games that can feel completely overwhelming or even unplayable without a strategy guide. I cannot even begin to name all the point-and-clicks and JRPGs filled to the brim with labyrinthine structures, permanently missable content, bugs or intended conditions that cause the player's save file to essentially become bricked, sidequests so hidden it took decades to find them, etc etc etc.
Knytt manages to be all of this. Knytt is nearly a brilliant game. When I started playing Knytt, I picked up all but 3 items blind in under an hour. At first, I thought it was a very soothing experience with an incredible atmosphere. The ambient music is shockingly amazing, and perfectly compliments the dark yet colourful world.
Unfortunately, as I neared the end of the game, I started growing increasingly frustrated. Too many platforms were lined up in such a way the player was only 1 pixel out of reach to entering a new path. It became hard to distinguish background characters from actual enemies. And then the worst part happened; I accidentally jumped into an invisible tile in the middle of nowhere that turned out to be an important warp zone.
Within minutes, my opinion of the game lowered from perhaps a 9/10 to a 7/10 at best. I'm not even certain if the last few powerups can be found without all the other warp zones I discovered in a speedrunning video, because there are no guides online. There is no communication to the player they are near an invisible tile, and the game's world is so massive it takes about 5 minutes to run across it in a straightish line. I did find some codes for the game on GameFAQs but I don't think the game itself communicates them anywhere either https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/937276-knytt/cheats
So what are we left with? A passionate and unique game that is ultimately too messy and unnecessarily obtuse for its own good. What could have been an all time classic PC metroidvania is bogged down by adhering to the "we need to sell strategy guides" school of thought despite it being a freeware indie game.
If the game looks up your alley, my suggestion is to look for how ever many items you can naturally find in about an hour with the searchlight feature, and then watch this speedrun to find the rest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmg_maTOSrs
Also worth noting, it is a 2006 PC game. It ran without any significant issues on my Windows 11 rig, but I did have to use Joy2Key for controller support and the fullscreen was a bit fucked in that it forced everything to my second monitor. It's nothing too inconvenient given how short the game is however.
1991
I played 1 level of this and almost had a seizure
1992
I haven't done every route yet
but this might be the funniest fucking VN ever made https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1218758562726281307/Untitled.png?ex=6608d45c&is=65f65f5c&hm=eefd55b36d8340c6e66f51f9c172437c2c24cf45b29fdd72418a83bd79614bb5&
All jokes aside, it's a cool and very important piece of history. Can really see how many VNs were inspired by it like its immediate successors including Kamaitachi No Yoru or Tegami, let alone later VNs. If nothing else, Otogirisou is an important history lesson to experience for any VN fan imo, and it's extremely easy to get the first good ending in ~2 hours without a guide.
Even in a silly group reading setting, I was scared several times by some of the pixel art and noises. The credits music in particular is rather beautiful.
I might type more when I read the other routes but anyways enjoy the fan translation title screen for now
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1218734760340226190/image.png?ex=6608be31&is=65f64931&hm=678cd0abdcbf0adbe13ca61b6a38b6aade5180cf40ecaa1cdbdae8afb7f108a2&
but this might be the funniest fucking VN ever made https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1218758562726281307/Untitled.png?ex=6608d45c&is=65f65f5c&hm=eefd55b36d8340c6e66f51f9c172437c2c24cf45b29fdd72418a83bd79614bb5&
All jokes aside, it's a cool and very important piece of history. Can really see how many VNs were inspired by it like its immediate successors including Kamaitachi No Yoru or Tegami, let alone later VNs. If nothing else, Otogirisou is an important history lesson to experience for any VN fan imo, and it's extremely easy to get the first good ending in ~2 hours without a guide.
Even in a silly group reading setting, I was scared several times by some of the pixel art and noises. The credits music in particular is rather beautiful.
I might type more when I read the other routes but anyways enjoy the fan translation title screen for now
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1218734760340226190/image.png?ex=6608be31&is=65f64931&hm=678cd0abdcbf0adbe13ca61b6a38b6aade5180cf40ecaa1cdbdae8afb7f108a2&
1994
Haven't played but they really called a game Basted, that's amazing
I played the console EVO game something like half my life ago and thought it was super average with some really interesting concepts, but was sad I didn't live in a reality where it shaped up to something more. Little did I know I was already living in a reality where The 4.6 Billion Year Story existed and I'm immensely blown away by it. Like genuinely, this might just be a top 10 RPG ever for me, and easily my favourite game on the PC98.
The in-game graphics aren't quite up to par with the wonderful mode 7 visuals of the SNES game, with fairly standard visuals for the system (likely to save on space) but the portraits and cutscenes very much make up for it 1000 fold. The depiction of the dinosaurs dying is unlike anything I've ever seen in media and it truly made me feel bad for the most predictable "plot twist" ever. I'm always amazed when PC98 artists manage to make screens that look like they came straight out of an old ass OVA.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1156847687476457492/1208832081619329124/image.png?ex=65e4b79b&is=65d2429b&hm=0ad2863e98a196b94910ec2b07733f44e02d92fc44099ddc35e2fb690628212a&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1177&height=662
In fact, the designs are just stellar all around. The portraits are colourful and feel like they had such an attention to anatomy, I wouldn't have figured some of them were original to the game if it wasn't pointed out in the in-game encyclopedia. And what a hilarious message indeed!
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1208832199520952320/image.png?ex=65e4b7b7&is=65d242b7&hm=d4f6524b44cba88173918ca5be7ba85ec5ef59c719ecd005e49fd33144a1aee7&
There are 3 things that really set this game apart from Search For Eden. The first is that the encyclopedia teaches the player a lot about all sorts of different animals like dinosaurs every time they evolve. The second is that the timeline goes quite a ways beyond what is in the SNES game, with the human character actually feeling like a big deal instead of the weakest evolution in the game.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1209017264993599518/image.png?ex=65e56412&is=65d2ef12&hm=2838d37a715ce3ffc996eeeb9bf90db489aeebbaf74848b5e82570c76a5f29b3&
And the last thing, most importantly, is the religious and political elements. The epic wars are great, but the Biblical symbolism and use of Lady Lucifer as a villain truly elevate the experience. She is seriously one of the most fun villains I've ever experienced in a video game which is saying something. Even without any voice clips, her evil laugh haunts me.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1209002061601972304/10.png?ex=65e555e9&is=65d2e0e9&hm=82d991915c968d9691977d345525d735b5e7a06fdb5dad88204eac2b6ba4d4b7&
The story is just incredible. The joke endings are probably the one area where the console game wins, but seriously the story in 4.6 Billion Year Story is one of the best I've ever experienced overall. I was really flabbergasted watching all my frens die; there were no punches held whatsoever and it truly did a great job highlighting how vicious the life cycle was IRL for the animals of the past. The epilogue legit had me crying with how inspirational it was. Really insane how far the timeline went given it started with a fish running away from other fish.
As for the gameplay? I actually enjoyed it a lot! Though I will add the caveat that I played it with speedup via the NP2Kai core in Retroarch, complete with Joy2Key to force controller support.
4.6 Billion Year Story is a nice early example of a game with no random encounters thanks to everything being on the map, predating even the likes of Chrono Trigger by years. Escaping battles was reliable too! I loved grinding for EXP by just holding the speedup key and running back and forth until i triggered dozens of evolution events. It was strangely calming tbh? I also dig the lack of MP system and the fact there are no boss fights until the end; the latter especially reminded me of Wizardry. Unlike the console game, each evolution is just a flat upgrade. Literally the biggest thing I could complain about with this game is maybe that the combat itself is super average and I wish there were more overworld interactions depending on the player's evolution, but the final battle with its status ailment tug-o-war makes up for all that imo. After all, status ailments are rarely helpful in JRPGs so that really struck me as a memorable finale. It was also nice not having to worry about items or anything since the player could just stand still or find health replenishment spots where ever in the world maps.
Oh, and the OST is great. A lot of the music is shared in common with Search For Eden, but I just prefer how it sounds here. Not to mention how killer the final boss' death cry is.
I highly rec this game to any fans of classic JRPGs, Japanese PC games, or the console equivalent EVO game. Simply a masterpiece, all in all.
The in-game graphics aren't quite up to par with the wonderful mode 7 visuals of the SNES game, with fairly standard visuals for the system (likely to save on space) but the portraits and cutscenes very much make up for it 1000 fold. The depiction of the dinosaurs dying is unlike anything I've ever seen in media and it truly made me feel bad for the most predictable "plot twist" ever. I'm always amazed when PC98 artists manage to make screens that look like they came straight out of an old ass OVA.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1156847687476457492/1208832081619329124/image.png?ex=65e4b79b&is=65d2429b&hm=0ad2863e98a196b94910ec2b07733f44e02d92fc44099ddc35e2fb690628212a&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1177&height=662
In fact, the designs are just stellar all around. The portraits are colourful and feel like they had such an attention to anatomy, I wouldn't have figured some of them were original to the game if it wasn't pointed out in the in-game encyclopedia. And what a hilarious message indeed!
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1208832199520952320/image.png?ex=65e4b7b7&is=65d242b7&hm=d4f6524b44cba88173918ca5be7ba85ec5ef59c719ecd005e49fd33144a1aee7&
There are 3 things that really set this game apart from Search For Eden. The first is that the encyclopedia teaches the player a lot about all sorts of different animals like dinosaurs every time they evolve. The second is that the timeline goes quite a ways beyond what is in the SNES game, with the human character actually feeling like a big deal instead of the weakest evolution in the game.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1209017264993599518/image.png?ex=65e56412&is=65d2ef12&hm=2838d37a715ce3ffc996eeeb9bf90db489aeebbaf74848b5e82570c76a5f29b3&
And the last thing, most importantly, is the religious and political elements. The epic wars are great, but the Biblical symbolism and use of Lady Lucifer as a villain truly elevate the experience. She is seriously one of the most fun villains I've ever experienced in a video game which is saying something. Even without any voice clips, her evil laugh haunts me.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1209002061601972304/10.png?ex=65e555e9&is=65d2e0e9&hm=82d991915c968d9691977d345525d735b5e7a06fdb5dad88204eac2b6ba4d4b7&
The story is just incredible. The joke endings are probably the one area where the console game wins, but seriously the story in 4.6 Billion Year Story is one of the best I've ever experienced overall. I was really flabbergasted watching all my frens die; there were no punches held whatsoever and it truly did a great job highlighting how vicious the life cycle was IRL for the animals of the past. The epilogue legit had me crying with how inspirational it was. Really insane how far the timeline went given it started with a fish running away from other fish.
As for the gameplay? I actually enjoyed it a lot! Though I will add the caveat that I played it with speedup via the NP2Kai core in Retroarch, complete with Joy2Key to force controller support.
4.6 Billion Year Story is a nice early example of a game with no random encounters thanks to everything being on the map, predating even the likes of Chrono Trigger by years. Escaping battles was reliable too! I loved grinding for EXP by just holding the speedup key and running back and forth until i triggered dozens of evolution events. It was strangely calming tbh? I also dig the lack of MP system and the fact there are no boss fights until the end; the latter especially reminded me of Wizardry. Unlike the console game, each evolution is just a flat upgrade. Literally the biggest thing I could complain about with this game is maybe that the combat itself is super average and I wish there were more overworld interactions depending on the player's evolution, but the final battle with its status ailment tug-o-war makes up for all that imo. After all, status ailments are rarely helpful in JRPGs so that really struck me as a memorable finale. It was also nice not having to worry about items or anything since the player could just stand still or find health replenishment spots where ever in the world maps.
Oh, and the OST is great. A lot of the music is shared in common with Search For Eden, but I just prefer how it sounds here. Not to mention how killer the final boss' death cry is.
I highly rec this game to any fans of classic JRPGs, Japanese PC games, or the console equivalent EVO game. Simply a masterpiece, all in all.
1998
My final 1cc score https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847812378628116/1208187784972607588/image.png
I was very up and down with this game tbh but I can safely say the best ship in the game is the R-Type ship since it lets you save a lot of mental energy from dodging. Using it immensely improved my enjoyment of the game, along with finding some jank ass hiding spots for bullets.
I don't have a huge amount to say about this game ig. I wish there were extends, but it took me under 10 hours which is smol potatoes for an arcade shmup. The pre-rendered aesthetic was really cool and showcased the power of the Neo Geo, but I was creeped out by the Angelfire/Geocities era baby dancing gif that was the final boss lmao.
Also my favourite detail was how the stage 6 boss was visible in the very first screen of the game! I love when games do this.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1208188110412849223/image.png
https://youtu.be/8f8i3QfQu_0?t=576
The main problem is how unbalanced the game is. Some ships are just straightup better than others, and the first 5 stages are extremely easy while the last 2 take a LOT of practice and esoteric strategies. It's really weird how the objective best way to beat the game for survival is to avoid as many items as possible and how there are invisible bullets at a high enough rank, it really feels like an unpolished gem. A diamond in the rough game for sure. In a more tightly designed game, there would be extends so that the player would be encouraged to hit a nice risk and reward spot between getting a lot of points for extra lives but not too many points so the enemies were too hard.
Oh and for the love of god please use this romhack and don't play the game on Fightcade or GOG lol
https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/blazing-star-special-hack-no-bonus-sound.19817/
I was very up and down with this game tbh but I can safely say the best ship in the game is the R-Type ship since it lets you save a lot of mental energy from dodging. Using it immensely improved my enjoyment of the game, along with finding some jank ass hiding spots for bullets.
I don't have a huge amount to say about this game ig. I wish there were extends, but it took me under 10 hours which is smol potatoes for an arcade shmup. The pre-rendered aesthetic was really cool and showcased the power of the Neo Geo, but I was creeped out by the Angelfire/Geocities era baby dancing gif that was the final boss lmao.
Also my favourite detail was how the stage 6 boss was visible in the very first screen of the game! I love when games do this.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1208188110412849223/image.png
https://youtu.be/8f8i3QfQu_0?t=576
The main problem is how unbalanced the game is. Some ships are just straightup better than others, and the first 5 stages are extremely easy while the last 2 take a LOT of practice and esoteric strategies. It's really weird how the objective best way to beat the game for survival is to avoid as many items as possible and how there are invisible bullets at a high enough rank, it really feels like an unpolished gem. A diamond in the rough game for sure. In a more tightly designed game, there would be extends so that the player would be encouraged to hit a nice risk and reward spot between getting a lot of points for extra lives but not too many points so the enemies were too hard.
Oh and for the love of god please use this romhack and don't play the game on Fightcade or GOG lol
https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/blazing-star-special-hack-no-bonus-sound.19817/
1994
I haven't played the Pocky & Rocky games for a while, so I opted to replay them this week and TBH, unpopular opinion as it is, I think I just vastly prefer P&R2 to 1?
Sure, the slide is gone, but on the flipside the enemies aren't generally as lightning swift anymore. They tend to have more telegraphed attacks as well, such as the lightning demons who can be dodged in advance once the player figures out where their magic spawn from. This is remarkably forgiving for endgame bosses, actually.
In fact, the whole game could be described as easier than 1. The player can collect more charms and bunny ears for extra hit points all across the board. The shop system really helps, with it even being an early game that gave out guides in-game much like Forgotten World. The partner attacks deal massive damage to bosses, especially Rocky's if timed properly for each boss.
As somebody who tends to prefer harder games, I should in theory prefer P&R1. However, the consequences of the system changes here means the player can be more aggressive until the last level which makes the end's methodical pacing more like a cool change of pace. I find that pacing change to be really cool. The other thing is, frankly, co-op games are almost always harder in multiplayer for the resource splitting alone, to say nothing of other factors P&R1 suffers from like screen scrolling issues in multiplayer. Of course, P&R1 tried to band-aid this with the solution each player would collect a different type of powerup, but health pickups are still split, not to mention the screen scroll with the aggressive enemies and stage hazards makes it very easy to lose lives and need to continue off the other player's stock. I respect the effort to accommodate the multiplayer mode, but it's simply not something that will be reasonable to finish for most players. Contrast that to Pocky & Rocky 2 which I finished with a partner who never played the game before in only 2 sittings, especially helped by the new password system. Hell, it's one of the only arcadey co-op games I can think of that's actually easier in multiplayer, since player 2 can make full use of elements like homing attacks.
I guess to tldr it, this is the definitive Pocky & Rocky game to me. I love the shops, partner system, new enemies, visuals, and so forth. I respect 1 and had fun challenging myself to beat it for a playthrough or 2, but I really enjoy 2's flow and could see myself coming back to it again.
Sure, the slide is gone, but on the flipside the enemies aren't generally as lightning swift anymore. They tend to have more telegraphed attacks as well, such as the lightning demons who can be dodged in advance once the player figures out where their magic spawn from. This is remarkably forgiving for endgame bosses, actually.
In fact, the whole game could be described as easier than 1. The player can collect more charms and bunny ears for extra hit points all across the board. The shop system really helps, with it even being an early game that gave out guides in-game much like Forgotten World. The partner attacks deal massive damage to bosses, especially Rocky's if timed properly for each boss.
As somebody who tends to prefer harder games, I should in theory prefer P&R1. However, the consequences of the system changes here means the player can be more aggressive until the last level which makes the end's methodical pacing more like a cool change of pace. I find that pacing change to be really cool. The other thing is, frankly, co-op games are almost always harder in multiplayer for the resource splitting alone, to say nothing of other factors P&R1 suffers from like screen scrolling issues in multiplayer. Of course, P&R1 tried to band-aid this with the solution each player would collect a different type of powerup, but health pickups are still split, not to mention the screen scroll with the aggressive enemies and stage hazards makes it very easy to lose lives and need to continue off the other player's stock. I respect the effort to accommodate the multiplayer mode, but it's simply not something that will be reasonable to finish for most players. Contrast that to Pocky & Rocky 2 which I finished with a partner who never played the game before in only 2 sittings, especially helped by the new password system. Hell, it's one of the only arcadey co-op games I can think of that's actually easier in multiplayer, since player 2 can make full use of elements like homing attacks.
I guess to tldr it, this is the definitive Pocky & Rocky game to me. I love the shops, partner system, new enemies, visuals, and so forth. I respect 1 and had fun challenging myself to beat it for a playthrough or 2, but I really enjoy 2's flow and could see myself coming back to it again.
1992
What a dogshit fucking video game. Every single viable "kombo" consists of just jump kicking into whatever special move can somehow followup the falling down animation, except for Scorpion and Sub-Zero's kombos that consist of the brilliant "stun the player and then uppercut" game plan. Oh, and I should mention projectiles don't trade in this game, so some projectiles are just objectively better in zoning fights which results in Scorpion being considered a clear worst character by a lot of players. Amazing.
The AI gets to do a good amount of exclusive stuff like throwing players in the middle of their recovery animations and sometimes the player must just pray to RNGesus Goro decides to not break the game's rules. The arcade mode really set up the most insufferable AI of any mainstream fighting game to come in MK2 and that's just obnoxious to look back at in hindsight.
Also good lord, the player must block to perform some fatalities, which means some characters simply cannot fight Reptile.
Despite the rage over its content, each character only has a single fatality and some are hardly even violent, especially in the SNES port where Kano rips out one's sweat glands instead of their heart. Hell, I'm pretty sure Liu Kang's fatality doesn't even kill the other player. Only one stage contains a stage fatality and it consists of uppercutting somebody down a pit.
This game is so fucking trashy the player can just mash jab for an unsightly animation to take off half the other player's health bar in a matter of 2 seconds, but also it can be blocked 1 hit in so it's not even reliable to jab without getting punished. There also isn't a proper low punch since attempting to perform one just uppercuts instead.
In fact all the animations in the game are janky as fuck. Why does Johnny Cage's knocked down animation look like he was shoved a bit? Why does Shang Tsung's flight look so stiff? Why is Scorpion just Sub-Zero but yellow? Why does every character have the exact same attacks minus a special move or 2 when they're martial artists from different backgrounds with different stances? And why is Raiden's name pronounced RAY-den while I'm at it?
The fact of the matter is, this game came out the same year as actually good fighting games I can still go back to today like
Nekketsu Fighting Legend and that's just embarrassing given the difference in popularity.
The AI gets to do a good amount of exclusive stuff like throwing players in the middle of their recovery animations and sometimes the player must just pray to RNGesus Goro decides to not break the game's rules. The arcade mode really set up the most insufferable AI of any mainstream fighting game to come in MK2 and that's just obnoxious to look back at in hindsight.
Also good lord, the player must block to perform some fatalities, which means some characters simply cannot fight Reptile.
Despite the rage over its content, each character only has a single fatality and some are hardly even violent, especially in the SNES port where Kano rips out one's sweat glands instead of their heart. Hell, I'm pretty sure Liu Kang's fatality doesn't even kill the other player. Only one stage contains a stage fatality and it consists of uppercutting somebody down a pit.
This game is so fucking trashy the player can just mash jab for an unsightly animation to take off half the other player's health bar in a matter of 2 seconds, but also it can be blocked 1 hit in so it's not even reliable to jab without getting punished. There also isn't a proper low punch since attempting to perform one just uppercuts instead.
In fact all the animations in the game are janky as fuck. Why does Johnny Cage's knocked down animation look like he was shoved a bit? Why does Shang Tsung's flight look so stiff? Why is Scorpion just Sub-Zero but yellow? Why does every character have the exact same attacks minus a special move or 2 when they're martial artists from different backgrounds with different stances? And why is Raiden's name pronounced RAY-den while I'm at it?
The fact of the matter is, this game came out the same year as actually good fighting games I can still go back to today like
Nekketsu Fighting Legend and that's just embarrassing given the difference in popularity.
2018
I'll be real, this game is far from perfect and I'm surprised how much I enjoyed it. A lot of criticisms leveled against it are totally legit. But at the same time, I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about it and wow, I must say I'm totally blown away by just how memorable the experience was even a week later.
Not everything works; some laughs are very intentional like the entirety of the parachuting scene, while others are often the result of janky death animations where the player may break the laws of physics in a raft out of nowhere. But for sure, it is unforgettable.
I'm still thinking about the way the transitions work and how much thought went into the UI as well as the general feel of the split-screen co-op. Switching to a 1 screen view for key scenes, the screen stretching horizontally for shooting segments, the sheer frantic energy of the hospital sequence....
On the topic of the hospital sequence, I must mention how this game tries to do everything under the sun. Connect 4 mini-games, a beat em up segment paying homage to the one-lane beat em ups of old like Karateka, vehicle chase sequences, QTE fests, etc. When the players must cooperate the whole game, it really makes segments like, say, the dart competitions stand out all the more.
I played as Vincent. Generally I found him to be the more interesting of the 2 characters for a variety of reasons, although that seems to be the unpopular opinion? Regardless, I really appreciate how much subtle foreshadowing is used in the story (which, admittedly gets a bit too ridiculous for its own good given how grounded it was trying to be) but I don't think I will ever replay it for reasons that may or may not be a given. I wish I could say more but I really want to make sure nobody is spoiled on the game. Even if it's far from a flawless story, it definitely feels like it had a compelling vision behind it to make something that could only work as a video game.
Also the game really went from Shawshank Redemption fanfiction to Scarface fanfiction, jeez.
Not everything works; some laughs are very intentional like the entirety of the parachuting scene, while others are often the result of janky death animations where the player may break the laws of physics in a raft out of nowhere. But for sure, it is unforgettable.
I'm still thinking about the way the transitions work and how much thought went into the UI as well as the general feel of the split-screen co-op. Switching to a 1 screen view for key scenes, the screen stretching horizontally for shooting segments, the sheer frantic energy of the hospital sequence....
On the topic of the hospital sequence, I must mention how this game tries to do everything under the sun. Connect 4 mini-games, a beat em up segment paying homage to the one-lane beat em ups of old like Karateka, vehicle chase sequences, QTE fests, etc. When the players must cooperate the whole game, it really makes segments like, say, the dart competitions stand out all the more.
I played as Vincent. Generally I found him to be the more interesting of the 2 characters for a variety of reasons, although that seems to be the unpopular opinion? Regardless, I really appreciate how much subtle foreshadowing is used in the story (which, admittedly gets a bit too ridiculous for its own good given how grounded it was trying to be) but I don't think I will ever replay it for reasons that may or may not be a given. I wish I could say more but I really want to make sure nobody is spoiled on the game. Even if it's far from a flawless story, it definitely feels like it had a compelling vision behind it to make something that could only work as a video game.
Also the game really went from Shawshank Redemption fanfiction to Scarface fanfiction, jeez.
1991
Cybernator/Valken, Metal Warriors, Front Mission Gun Hazard, etc all fill in this really weird niche subgenre of 16-bit mecha games, but to my surprise there was yet another one of these games for a 16-bit Japanese PC, and it predates even Valken by a solid year. I hereby present Aquales, by Exact in their second X68000 game.
I am absolutely blown away by this game. It really feels like the type of game that would have needed a $5000 PC to run at the time, using a solid half dozen or so layers of parallax scrolling to convey a sense of screen depth. The Sharp X68000 primarily had games that were ports from other system, so the fact I can finally see a game that showcases the full potential of the system is nothing short of breathtaking. It even has hands down one of if not the most beautiful waterfalls in gaming; screenshots alone can't do this game justice https://youtu.be/-PxIxJUMOjc?t=1306
There are so many details in the game's world. Even shit that would be inconsequential to draw is there to help with the game's approach to storytelling. For example, seeing the sunken ship really cements a sense of danger in the aquatic world https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/427275136635502594/1192860742693691402/image.png
The music really helps sell the game's tone as well. Everything is consistently threading a needle between calming and intense, and every single boss has a unique battle theme to my surprise. This was basically unheard of for 1991! For sure though, this is my favourite track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wgX6uyCF_Y
But of course, the most compelling thing about the game is seeing the roots of a strange subgenre of games. In terms of similarities to Valken and in particular Gun Hazard, there's a lot. There is similar mech with a walking speed relative to those games, emphasis on vertical traversal albeit with a grappling hook, boss fights like the computer cores, the Gundam-inspired anime aesthetic used in the cutscenes, the level up system, hidden weapons, etc etc etc. Hell, the napalm shots even bounce around the screen! Of course, games like Thexder, Metal Storm, Zeta Gundam Hot Scramble, and Leynos predate all of these games as far as mecha sidescrolling action goes, but I would argue Aquales' use of things like RPG elements puts it closer to games like Valken and Gun Hazard.
The game is shockingly approachable. In between levels, the player can adjust their lives to be at up to 7 per level, and the player can continue off of any level desire in case they missed a hidden weapon or want to level grind to make later levels easier, although honestly it's almost impossible to miss any hidden weapons in this game. I was dreading playing this game due to there being 7 weapons to discover, but to my surprise I found all of them without a walkthrough and without focusing on exploration. It's shockingly simple.
The amount of strategy one can use with the sheer loadout is magnificent. Using the grappling hook to cling to ceilings and shoot 1000 homing missiles at helpless enemies, using the super lightsaber to quickly kill the vertical boss gauntlet, hell even taking the bouncing bullet gun and sticking it directly inside of some bosses to kill them insanely quickly (this was the only way I could beat the final boss lol) is rad.
Not to mention, the sheer sense of polish is ever present. This is one of the only games where there are no ambidextrous sprites; the sprites actually change depending on whether the player is facing left or right, so the mech is always carrying a gun with its right hand!
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1193260640941391932/image.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1193260641327271987/image.png
One thing I will say is that the game is almost too approachable. I didn't really level grind in the game, but even when I reached max level some enemies were kinda damage spongey lol. There are often ways to approach enemies that feel like the "correct" safe ways but take a while to execute since enemies have so much health. Perhaps this could have been helped if the level cap was level 8 or so instead of 10. It still only took roughly 100 minutes to finish the game blind, although perhaps beating the game over a couple sessions instead of 1 is the kind of pace the devs intended. The bosses can be kinda hit or miss as well, with the boring ones just eating shit to a 360 degree chain swing spam while the cool ones make more use out of verticality such as the core boss. IDK, the enemy design just feels secondary to the level design and player controls in general, but it's still pretty fun for at least a couple playthroughs.
Also really neat how the game ends with a rocketship setpiece level instead of a level where one fights any enemies at all. Love the willingness to break the mold.
Great game for mecha fans, I can't rec enough.
I am absolutely blown away by this game. It really feels like the type of game that would have needed a $5000 PC to run at the time, using a solid half dozen or so layers of parallax scrolling to convey a sense of screen depth. The Sharp X68000 primarily had games that were ports from other system, so the fact I can finally see a game that showcases the full potential of the system is nothing short of breathtaking. It even has hands down one of if not the most beautiful waterfalls in gaming; screenshots alone can't do this game justice https://youtu.be/-PxIxJUMOjc?t=1306
There are so many details in the game's world. Even shit that would be inconsequential to draw is there to help with the game's approach to storytelling. For example, seeing the sunken ship really cements a sense of danger in the aquatic world https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/427275136635502594/1192860742693691402/image.png
The music really helps sell the game's tone as well. Everything is consistently threading a needle between calming and intense, and every single boss has a unique battle theme to my surprise. This was basically unheard of for 1991! For sure though, this is my favourite track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wgX6uyCF_Y
But of course, the most compelling thing about the game is seeing the roots of a strange subgenre of games. In terms of similarities to Valken and in particular Gun Hazard, there's a lot. There is similar mech with a walking speed relative to those games, emphasis on vertical traversal albeit with a grappling hook, boss fights like the computer cores, the Gundam-inspired anime aesthetic used in the cutscenes, the level up system, hidden weapons, etc etc etc. Hell, the napalm shots even bounce around the screen! Of course, games like Thexder, Metal Storm, Zeta Gundam Hot Scramble, and Leynos predate all of these games as far as mecha sidescrolling action goes, but I would argue Aquales' use of things like RPG elements puts it closer to games like Valken and Gun Hazard.
The game is shockingly approachable. In between levels, the player can adjust their lives to be at up to 7 per level, and the player can continue off of any level desire in case they missed a hidden weapon or want to level grind to make later levels easier, although honestly it's almost impossible to miss any hidden weapons in this game. I was dreading playing this game due to there being 7 weapons to discover, but to my surprise I found all of them without a walkthrough and without focusing on exploration. It's shockingly simple.
The amount of strategy one can use with the sheer loadout is magnificent. Using the grappling hook to cling to ceilings and shoot 1000 homing missiles at helpless enemies, using the super lightsaber to quickly kill the vertical boss gauntlet, hell even taking the bouncing bullet gun and sticking it directly inside of some bosses to kill them insanely quickly (this was the only way I could beat the final boss lol) is rad.
Not to mention, the sheer sense of polish is ever present. This is one of the only games where there are no ambidextrous sprites; the sprites actually change depending on whether the player is facing left or right, so the mech is always carrying a gun with its right hand!
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1193260640941391932/image.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156847687476457492/1193260641327271987/image.png
One thing I will say is that the game is almost too approachable. I didn't really level grind in the game, but even when I reached max level some enemies were kinda damage spongey lol. There are often ways to approach enemies that feel like the "correct" safe ways but take a while to execute since enemies have so much health. Perhaps this could have been helped if the level cap was level 8 or so instead of 10. It still only took roughly 100 minutes to finish the game blind, although perhaps beating the game over a couple sessions instead of 1 is the kind of pace the devs intended. The bosses can be kinda hit or miss as well, with the boring ones just eating shit to a 360 degree chain swing spam while the cool ones make more use out of verticality such as the core boss. IDK, the enemy design just feels secondary to the level design and player controls in general, but it's still pretty fun for at least a couple playthroughs.
Also really neat how the game ends with a rocketship setpiece level instead of a level where one fights any enemies at all. Love the willingness to break the mold.
Great game for mecha fans, I can't rec enough.
1997
FROM THE STUDIO THAT PLAYED PARODIUS
HARMFUL PARK!!!
Giant idols? Check. Big variety of weapons where the homing one is way better than the rest combined? Check. Power up balloons out the ass? Check. Secret things to shoot? Check. Wacky food items? Check.
This is basically an easier Parodius game all around, right down to floors not killing the player upon contact. And given the last shmup I 1cc'd was RADiant KINOgun which is (zero hyperbole) by far the hardest game I've ever beaten in my entire life, I think I'm ok with this. It's the kind of game that one could 1cc after only a handful of attempts. I didn't even know how the chaining system worked until the 2nd last stage nor did I know where the last hidden item was. Yet I still ended up with 2.3m points on my 1cc after not touching the game for a year. If I had a bit more knowledge going in, I could have even gotten another extend or 2 to make the game even easier.
The game's powerup system really fucks. My strategy of choice was to power up the JERRY I mean JELLY to max level immediately and spam its bombs when I felt I might die. When I ran out of bombs, I switched to the French Fries so that I wouldn't lose the Jelly's much needed power. It's very reminiscent of Japanese Contra Hard Corps in that way! So, the homing weapon is by far the best one in the game, but there's still very good reason to use the other weapons.
The visuals are genuinely amazing, some of the absolute best 2D spritework ever. The wackiness is perfectly highlighted with the use of bright colours and large sprites. A giant idol boss, a wedding the player can crash while speech bubbles fill the screen, and my personal favourite, 2 mooks just sharing 1000s of gallons of beer in the background. It's peak https://i.imgur.com/KqHzrUL.png
The music is also pretty good! Very energetic and jolly, though I will admit I think it peaked at the first stage. Not much more to say beyond that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ3Bg79goVU
I also really appreciate the story emphasis. In between every level, there are anime cutscenes that bring Dirty Pair to mind. It's nothing deep or super memorable, but it's really cool how they're there. Really one of the reasons I love cute em ups is how prevalent these tend to be.
Ultimately however, it's an extremely short game that is perhaps a bit too easy for its own good. The kind of game I would have been pissed if I had spent $50 on even before adjusting for inflation. And yet? It's the exact kind of game that was perfect for receiving a 2nd life in the digital age of emulation and so forth.
These kinds of AA productions are just straightup a thing of the past. This is the kind of game that would never be made nowadays, and is the perfect arcadey embodiment of the 2D games of its era. Short and sweet, arcadey, zero padding. It's no wonder it never got a localization as I am positive magazines of the time would have shat on it for not having much to chew into. But it's the perfect game to just plug and play on a rainy night. One of my favourite PS1 titles for sure.
I strongly recommend setting L1 and R1 to cycling weapons backwards and forwards in the options menu, BTW! Makes the game a lot more accessible IMO. Overall, a fantastic experience for any cute em up fan. Special thanks to Hilltop for the hard work with the fan translation.
HARMFUL PARK!!!
Giant idols? Check. Big variety of weapons where the homing one is way better than the rest combined? Check. Power up balloons out the ass? Check. Secret things to shoot? Check. Wacky food items? Check.
This is basically an easier Parodius game all around, right down to floors not killing the player upon contact. And given the last shmup I 1cc'd was RADiant KINOgun which is (zero hyperbole) by far the hardest game I've ever beaten in my entire life, I think I'm ok with this. It's the kind of game that one could 1cc after only a handful of attempts. I didn't even know how the chaining system worked until the 2nd last stage nor did I know where the last hidden item was. Yet I still ended up with 2.3m points on my 1cc after not touching the game for a year. If I had a bit more knowledge going in, I could have even gotten another extend or 2 to make the game even easier.
The game's powerup system really fucks. My strategy of choice was to power up the JERRY I mean JELLY to max level immediately and spam its bombs when I felt I might die. When I ran out of bombs, I switched to the French Fries so that I wouldn't lose the Jelly's much needed power. It's very reminiscent of Japanese Contra Hard Corps in that way! So, the homing weapon is by far the best one in the game, but there's still very good reason to use the other weapons.
The visuals are genuinely amazing, some of the absolute best 2D spritework ever. The wackiness is perfectly highlighted with the use of bright colours and large sprites. A giant idol boss, a wedding the player can crash while speech bubbles fill the screen, and my personal favourite, 2 mooks just sharing 1000s of gallons of beer in the background. It's peak https://i.imgur.com/KqHzrUL.png
The music is also pretty good! Very energetic and jolly, though I will admit I think it peaked at the first stage. Not much more to say beyond that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ3Bg79goVU
I also really appreciate the story emphasis. In between every level, there are anime cutscenes that bring Dirty Pair to mind. It's nothing deep or super memorable, but it's really cool how they're there. Really one of the reasons I love cute em ups is how prevalent these tend to be.
Ultimately however, it's an extremely short game that is perhaps a bit too easy for its own good. The kind of game I would have been pissed if I had spent $50 on even before adjusting for inflation. And yet? It's the exact kind of game that was perfect for receiving a 2nd life in the digital age of emulation and so forth.
These kinds of AA productions are just straightup a thing of the past. This is the kind of game that would never be made nowadays, and is the perfect arcadey embodiment of the 2D games of its era. Short and sweet, arcadey, zero padding. It's no wonder it never got a localization as I am positive magazines of the time would have shat on it for not having much to chew into. But it's the perfect game to just plug and play on a rainy night. One of my favourite PS1 titles for sure.
I strongly recommend setting L1 and R1 to cycling weapons backwards and forwards in the options menu, BTW! Makes the game a lot more accessible IMO. Overall, a fantastic experience for any cute em up fan. Special thanks to Hilltop for the hard work with the fan translation.