ZEELLO
Doesn't play as well as the original Nights, but it's nevertheless a WONDERFUL tribute, fanart in a way, that brings to the table such good ideas that it's worth checking out anyway. This includes, but is not limited to:
-Updated character design
-visually inspired bosses
-visually inspired side missions
-portrays kids actually bonding with Nights
-giving the kids actual stages (bad thing if you hate 3D platformers I guess!) instead of their gameplay existing only to penalize the player as was the case in the original game
-more coherent goal system (chase the bird) which is vastly more appropriate/fitting for a game about zipping around at max speed, and which does a much better job at actually conveying this to the player, as opposed to methodically touching every object you find
The new kids are kinda lame and the story is kinda cringe but that does not matter. The game's only relevant shortcomings stem almost entirely from the fact it's a gameplay downgrade from the original, which there wasn't really an excuse for but should probably have been expected considering that Sega was a shadow of its former self, and Just Don't Get Things Right (TM) anymore. Oh and framerate is bad too. Neither game is 60 fps but in this it seems to be wildly less consistent.
-Updated character design
-visually inspired bosses
-visually inspired side missions
-portrays kids actually bonding with Nights
-giving the kids actual stages (bad thing if you hate 3D platformers I guess!) instead of their gameplay existing only to penalize the player as was the case in the original game
-more coherent goal system (chase the bird) which is vastly more appropriate/fitting for a game about zipping around at max speed, and which does a much better job at actually conveying this to the player, as opposed to methodically touching every object you find
The new kids are kinda lame and the story is kinda cringe but that does not matter. The game's only relevant shortcomings stem almost entirely from the fact it's a gameplay downgrade from the original, which there wasn't really an excuse for but should probably have been expected considering that Sega was a shadow of its former self, and Just Don't Get Things Right (TM) anymore. Oh and framerate is bad too. Neither game is 60 fps but in this it seems to be wildly less consistent.
The worst way to play the Zero series. Control scheme was not updated to make use of the four button layout of the DS, making it a gimped experience. Controls should be B to jump Y to slash, accept no compromise, at least not from a definitive collection, GBA at least had the excuse of only having two face buttons, so at least you're not instinctively reaching for a button that doesn't do anything.
The new easy mode feels pretty sad. Hypothetically, it might serve well enough in its purpose, a digest version that lets you experience the storyline of all four games in a timely manner. But it's such a disappointment to come face to face with a boss that used to be such a memorable and exhilarating fight only to find that it was turned into a complete pushover that's over in a matter of seconds. It's such a waste. It also doesn't make any sense- I'm interested in Zero series's storyline, sure. But that's because I played the X series. Which I originally got into by playing Mega Man X on the SNES. Which I liked for the gameplay and which got me invested into the story/lore as a result of that. Therefore I should play Mega Man Zero series for the gameplay first, original difficulty and all, and if I'm not willing to do that then I probably wasn't serious about it anyway in which case I arguably don't deserve to experience the story nor should I need to.
This collection has actually made it harder for me to make a proper attempt to play through the series in the future, whether via the Zero/ZX Collection on Switch or by some other means. My enthusiasm was severely drained once I played the first game, again, far enough to get my first elemental chip. Ah, remember? You can assign an elemental attribute to your saber without it changing its attacks or appearance, straight out of the 'it is fire because I said so' school of videogame elemental system design. Meh. The game is maybe not the classic to the extent that I remember it.
The new easy mode feels pretty sad. Hypothetically, it might serve well enough in its purpose, a digest version that lets you experience the storyline of all four games in a timely manner. But it's such a disappointment to come face to face with a boss that used to be such a memorable and exhilarating fight only to find that it was turned into a complete pushover that's over in a matter of seconds. It's such a waste. It also doesn't make any sense- I'm interested in Zero series's storyline, sure. But that's because I played the X series. Which I originally got into by playing Mega Man X on the SNES. Which I liked for the gameplay and which got me invested into the story/lore as a result of that. Therefore I should play Mega Man Zero series for the gameplay first, original difficulty and all, and if I'm not willing to do that then I probably wasn't serious about it anyway in which case I arguably don't deserve to experience the story nor should I need to.
This collection has actually made it harder for me to make a proper attempt to play through the series in the future, whether via the Zero/ZX Collection on Switch or by some other means. My enthusiasm was severely drained once I played the first game, again, far enough to get my first elemental chip. Ah, remember? You can assign an elemental attribute to your saber without it changing its attacks or appearance, straight out of the 'it is fire because I said so' school of videogame elemental system design. Meh. The game is maybe not the classic to the extent that I remember it.
2006
I tried booting both games back to back as an experiment, was impressed by the extent this is a 1 for 1 exact carbon copy of the first game with some extra cups surgically inserted into it that make use of the extra tracks. But since most of the missing tracks were from Ridge Racer Type 4, all this game is really good for is reminding you that Ridge Racer Type 4 exists. Sigh.
2004
One of the most braindead games in existence. You have to play for hours to unlock the speed classes that can even be remotely considered not slow, there is basically no challenge during the first 99% of the game (you will invariably pass every AI even by driving slowly), the same courses are repeated over and over, and the game has near zero depth since you refill nitros at the same rate no matter what you do and it doesn't even really matter when you decide to use the nitros because drifting allows you to bypass any corner in the game. I imagine that this game gets mentioned only by people who aren't serious about racers to begin with or just really suck at them, and even they probably never actually finished this.
This is about the worst RTS they could have tried to make work on console. Had the game used a worker system, you could have simply selected a structure from the menu and place where you want it and let the worker do the rest. But instead your manual input is required first to start construction and again to actually place it when construction is complete. Seeing as you can only build one structure at a time and cannot start construction on another one without placing the previous one, it results in a lot of squandered time where you're not building/placing anything when you technically could have been, and a tremendous amount of extraneous dpad presses frantically flipping through the build menu over and over all because you don't have a mouse.
2018
It's Magic but your lands and enchantments disappear, and your creatures become these little grandma beads. To its credit the game tries to utilize mechanics that couldn't exist in a physical game and tries to run with these mechanics as far as it possibly can, but just because you can do something doesn't always mean that you should. Commonly someone will pull creatures out of their hand or deck with massive buffs attached and either player may have at best only a rough idea where those buffs came from and when. Adding a star just because it's a carbon copy of Magic, although I'd be hard pressed to figure out why someone would choose this over MTGA, aside from this game being on Steam or some equally fringe reason.
EDIT: The game is more fun for me now that I've decided on a archetype to stick exclusively by, as opposed to just playing this or that and fulfilling quest goals. Added a star.
EDIT: The game is more fun for me now that I've decided on a archetype to stick exclusively by, as opposed to just playing this or that and fulfilling quest goals. Added a star.
The best normal (as in non Sonic or Mega Man) 2D platformer. Honestly I didn't imagine being this excited over a standard 2D platformer until I got this game. It's satisfying to bop on enemies and hearing that ta-tack sound, and it's just fun to grab bananas and items even outside of trying to fully complete a stage.
It has poker, at least. But lots of games have poker. The freakin' Pirates of the Carribean games have poker.
The snowmobile sequence set gaming back ten years.
2006
Capcom's attempt at metroidvania but they apparently didn't understand how metroidvanias work. In this game rather than having everything connected physically, it's comprised of a bunch of separate areas with doors that teleport you between them. So you spend most of your time looking for these doors and backing out of them until you find the one that takes you where you needed to go. You can bring up a 'map' which is just a bunch of Scrabble tiles suspended on a black background with lines drawn between them. The doors' actual locations are not marked nor where they lead to.
2008
When played with a regular controller this becomes a really fun game. I think this is my favorite arena fighter after Dissidia.
The amazing sense of atmosphere (pun not intended) is enough to sell you on the game long enough to realize just how well done and addicting and replayable the actual gameplay is. Get to the final mission though and it will be etched in your memory for all time.
1991
When the road suddenly comes to a dead end in stage 7 I felt my soul leaving my body.
2002
Guilty Gear is the Garzey's Wing of fighting game franchises.
1998
For the record I have tremendous respect for this game for what it did for the franchise during an era dominated by Satam and Archie. Me back in 1999, seeing this upgraded and unapologetically rub-in-everyone's-faces "SegaSonic" (hell yes) version of Sonic with fully voiced dialogue for the first time in game canon utterly blew my mind. And the attract FMV, oh man it went hard.
But putting all that aside it's rather beyond me how anyone nowadays can seriously thinks this game itself is actually any good, aside from simply just not giving it a second thought, or blind nostalgia. Well, at least if not for the fact that EVEN BACK THEN while the Dreamcast was very much alive, the game invariably and blatantly burns itself out after you complete the main stories, most of which aren't that fun to begin with. What did you get for collecting all emblems? The tedious chao raising? Oh, that's right.
Take away the drug-inducing novelty of experiencing this bodacious happenin' Sonic in a city with humans (whoa!), the game is this paper thin extended glorified cutscene slash tourist trap. The amount of actual honest to god gameplay or platforming in the game can be condensed into a single Youtube short, and whatever is there is usually beatable in a few seconds if you know what you're doing, like the part in Windy Valley when you're sucked into a tornado. Each stage dying to throw on the next gimmick, like running down building in Speed Highway. There was a stage that was literally just pinball, another that was bumper car racing, another that was snowboarding. There is scarcely an actual game anywhere in SA1, and strangely enough, a lot of the content in the game that is is able to hold up to closer scrutiny in any measure is reserved to the side characters, like Tails's admittedly rather brilliant Speed Highway, or basically any Knuckles stage. (but nobody likes those?)
Sonic tho? His control engine is completely broken. You damn well better take extreme caution not to come near anything because he will cling to literally any surface that isn't the floor (and maybe even the floor) as though every single piece of geometry is made of glue trap. Which is easier said than done because Sonic's movement is fidgety and spastic, while the stages are severely cramped. The spindash offers a lot of momentum, but the game scarcely has any environments with which to make use of it. It's really like a glitch that was left in, or a postmortem addition like adding spindash to S1, but ten times more extreme.
Some people want a return to SA1 gameplay but this genuinely puzzles me as the game can scarcely be said to have a gameplay style at all. Does being able to run in Speed Highway for like all of eight seconds count as one? (and only if you purposefully take the "long" route.)
The loading breaks mid-stage are also gross. (Sonic Adventure 2 doesn't do that.) At least they are kept brief, but if one were to increase these to 15 seconds apiece then the overall experience would of playing Sonic Adventure would easily be comparable to 06. (maybe even worse in some ways) I have no doubt about this.
But putting all that aside it's rather beyond me how anyone nowadays can seriously thinks this game itself is actually any good, aside from simply just not giving it a second thought, or blind nostalgia. Well, at least if not for the fact that EVEN BACK THEN while the Dreamcast was very much alive, the game invariably and blatantly burns itself out after you complete the main stories, most of which aren't that fun to begin with. What did you get for collecting all emblems? The tedious chao raising? Oh, that's right.
Take away the drug-inducing novelty of experiencing this bodacious happenin' Sonic in a city with humans (whoa!), the game is this paper thin extended glorified cutscene slash tourist trap. The amount of actual honest to god gameplay or platforming in the game can be condensed into a single Youtube short, and whatever is there is usually beatable in a few seconds if you know what you're doing, like the part in Windy Valley when you're sucked into a tornado. Each stage dying to throw on the next gimmick, like running down building in Speed Highway. There was a stage that was literally just pinball, another that was bumper car racing, another that was snowboarding. There is scarcely an actual game anywhere in SA1, and strangely enough, a lot of the content in the game that is is able to hold up to closer scrutiny in any measure is reserved to the side characters, like Tails's admittedly rather brilliant Speed Highway, or basically any Knuckles stage. (but nobody likes those?)
Sonic tho? His control engine is completely broken. You damn well better take extreme caution not to come near anything because he will cling to literally any surface that isn't the floor (and maybe even the floor) as though every single piece of geometry is made of glue trap. Which is easier said than done because Sonic's movement is fidgety and spastic, while the stages are severely cramped. The spindash offers a lot of momentum, but the game scarcely has any environments with which to make use of it. It's really like a glitch that was left in, or a postmortem addition like adding spindash to S1, but ten times more extreme.
Some people want a return to SA1 gameplay but this genuinely puzzles me as the game can scarcely be said to have a gameplay style at all. Does being able to run in Speed Highway for like all of eight seconds count as one? (and only if you purposefully take the "long" route.)
The loading breaks mid-stage are also gross. (Sonic Adventure 2 doesn't do that.) At least they are kept brief, but if one were to increase these to 15 seconds apiece then the overall experience would of playing Sonic Adventure would easily be comparable to 06. (maybe even worse in some ways) I have no doubt about this.