Retro Club - 8 & 16-bit puzzlers - The Bear and Badger

davyK

mk64 wrote:

omg. Just noticed midnight resistance is up after YI. As one of the most die hard players of this game ever can I suggest you all dont play the MD version but somehow play the Amiga 500 version? Its the best by a mile. If anyone needs any tips or help let me know, It was one of the first games i ever completed.

Never heard of this - I believe Amiga emulation is pretty solid? There's a free PC version here:http://moazzamgames.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/midnight-resistance-892kb.html

Anyhow I've 100pt-ed 2-7 and 2-8 and have unlocked Extra-2 which is one of those timed switch ones - you get stars from the off to get you to the required 30 so I guess it's the red coin and flower collecting that is the challenge - which seems to require perfect timing while on the run to the next switch to stop the arse falling out of the level....looks to be a good one in an infuriating "learn-by-rote" way.

JonB

The good news is it's not too long and if things go wrong there's often a chance of getting back to the start rather than dying. It took me ages though, I think mainly because the timing of jumping off those springy arrows is just slightly later than feels right. And I still missed a couple of coins and got 98.

Rev

I love this game. Total classic.

dynamiteReady

Given that everyone else is suggesting stuff, how about Bonk/PC Kid 2 (or 3)?
I never did quite make up my mind about that game, and wondered what others thought of it.

davyK

What about some bitmap bros stuff? Never finished Chaos Engine - played Gods to death though...plenty of ways to play those ones.

dynamiteReady

Speedball 2, lest it's been done... Never did quite understand it in it's heyday, and the reboot attempt (PS1?) fell on it's arse...
Did anyone play it? Gods though, I heard a lot about, but never played it.

This is fast becoming my favourite thread...

mk64

I didn't like Gods.. i just didn't get it. It felt slow and clunky. Maybe I just missed the point.

Speedball 2. Played a shit load of it. Ice cream ice cream etc.

Fairly sure I had a cheat to have my players hard as nails. Loved the fireball thing. It looked like madness but there was real method.

davyK

Gods runs really fast on the SNES - faster than the MD version and better music too. I played it on PC as well and it was really slow on that - so I could see how some people didn't like it if that was how they experienced it. One of the few games I completed.

There's good weapon development, some alternate paths, and lots of little bonuses to discover for high score chasing - I really enjoyed it.

I've just realised that I played it at 50Hz - though it being a BritCode game it probably got good optimisation, otherwise if would run even faster on NTSC without glitching.

Moot_Geeza

I played Chaos Engine for a few days when I rented it on the MD, and also on the Amiga a couple of times. I remember thinking it wasn't quite as good as some reviews suggested, but that was twenty years ago, and the Youtube vid I just watched looked superb.

Bonk was suggested a few months ago iirc, and I never got round to adding it, so I reckon we should go for that (always been intrigued, never played it).

If you see a suggestion you like, be sure to second it. Keep 'em coming and I'll sort the games with multiple votes into an orderly fashion in a couple of weeks. Remember to suggest the odd multiple choice week too, to mix things up - like the upcoming free choice Batman week and budget Master System triple header.

Moot_Geeza

I never played Gods but remember reading about the DPA (Dynamic Play something-or-other?) feature in mags, whereby the game would apparently adjust its difficulty on the fly depending on how well you were doing.

davyK

You collect gems, treasure etc. that lets you power up in the couple of shops that appear at the end of main levels - a fully powered up character is quite a sight - so I expect the enemy patterns and resiliance respond to that - quite like other games of the time - I remember Parodius being like that - most shmups respond that way now.

The shop lets you select from different weapon flight arcs which is an interesting feature that adds tactics as you have to consider the enemy movement.

Chaos Engine starts slow - and at first your health bar is pretty anemic so it can be frustrating - once you get to the end of a level and can spend your money on weapons, health etc. it opens up. In one player mode you pick your partner and its a fairly decent effort at producing an AI controlled partner for its time - and you can also choose to spend your credits on powering up and enabling your partner as well - quite interesting. It has a great look too with the design based around Victorian hi-tech / steam punk.

LarryDavid

I remember Gods being absolutely solid, it seemed impossible as a kid. Admittedly I've never been a games-playing genius but I only got three or four levels in before giving up and swapping it for something else with a schoolmate (possibly Cybernator, which was equally tough). Having enemies randomly appear from nowhere really annoyed me at the time, although it looked nice (in 1993 terms) and was a bit of a change from the never-ending stream of cutesy platformers.

I'd be interested to go back and play it again to see if it's as tough as I recall. Or if I'm just a utterly inept player (I'm almost certain I am).

davyK

The enemies do seem to appear at random but it's really just a memory test - very old school.

Actually Chaos Engine suffers from the same symptoms - but I guess that behaviour is of the age - enemies don't respawn in either game thank God unless you lose a life (if I remember right!)

retroking1981

Up to 3-6 now, 100pts on all levels.

Btw did any of you know the GBA version has 6 extra levels. Its got the extra set that open up when you 100pt a world just like the SNES version and a 2nd set that open up when you've completed the game.

Really hope the 3DS one lives up to this. Story was good but very different and Island DS lacked that Nintendo polish although I much prefered it to Story.

Moot_Geeza

I'm up to the final standard stage of the 2nd world.

retroking1981

The boss on level 3-4 is the best one yet. Its the one where

Spoiler:

JonB

How about Fantasy Zone games (Master System, Megadrive) as an option? I always loved FZ2 in particular on the MS. Not sure they'd be everyone's cuppa but maybe worth a go.

Another thing could be a Wonderboy week - quite a few to choose from there.

retroking1981

Defo up for Wonderboy week.

Moot_Geeza

Wonderboy week is in, 100%. I love Fantasy Zone too, played through it recently but would play again.

retroking1981

What was Wonderboy called on PC Engine?

davyK

100pt-ed 3-1 and 3-2 (haven't even completed Extra-2 though!!)

3-3 is very fiddly - going to be a nightmare to perfect that one?

davyK

Fantasy Zone is lovely - have the Saturn version - don't think I've got past the 3rd boss yet though.

Haven't played Wonderboy in a while - there was an arcade game I really liked - played quite a lot of that on MAME.

JonB

retroking1981 wrote:

What was Wonderboy called on PC Engine?

Not sure, but Adventure Island was basically the same game as the original WB.

retroking1981

Yeah that's the one. I remember them both coming out on VC. Is one better than the other? Might pick one of them up when that week rolls round.

retroking1981

Was playing YI into the early hours last night, only put it on to get 100pts on 3-6 - that last flower was playing on my mind.

Ending up finishing World 3 with perfect scores apart from the extra level, I did have a few attempts but I had to admit defeat or today could have turned into a sick day.

JonB

retroking1981 wrote:

Yeah that's the one. I remember them both coming out on VC. Is one better than the other? Might pick one of them up when that week rolls round.

I think the game is pretty much identical, just different graphics. There was Super Adventure Island on SNES too, but again I think it was the same. I always quite liked the original Wonderboy - simple as it was.

I'm just trying to get scores on YI now, playing a completed save and revisiting levels that I hadn't bothered with much before. My World 5 scores seem particularly poor, including a 35 on 5-8. Didn't take too long to get 100 on it.

Moot_Geeza

Up to 3-2 on this. I'm starting to see why the 100 point challenge would be addictive, although I won't be attempting it myself. I've left it a bit late, but I aim to see the credits by Sunday.

davyK

JonB wrote:

There was Super Adventure Island on SNES too, but again I think it was the same. I always quite liked the original Wonderboy - simple as it was.

It is quite the same - but it is rock hard - painfully old school with restarts miles apart.

hylian_elf

Music by Yuzo Koshiro was awesome.

davyK

Have just hit a wall - 3-3 and 3-4 are a step up in general toughness - have improved my scores up into the 70s/80s but perfecting these will take some work - for me anyhow..

I'll just plough on through the levels and see how well I can do - it won't be getting any easier!

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