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

Eric

Yes, you can change your 'hero's' name to much hilarity. You're in for a treat with the c64 version, all those extra colours!

Hodgepodge

Question for @JonB:

I'm leaning towards Contra for my game of choice out of your list, but do you know how Mode 7-heavy it is, as I will be emulating it and Mode 7 is always a tough one!

davyK

Downloaded NESTERJ and got Pinbot going last night.

Played a couple of games but I need to mess about with the key config because it uses dpad left for left flipper and B for right flipper which is the opposite way round on the keyboard (B is mapped to key X by default).

JonB

Hodgepodge wrote:

Question for @JonB: I'm leaning towards Contra for my game of choice out of your list, but do you know how Mode 7-heavy it is, as I will be emulating it and Mode 7 is always a tough one!

Pretty heavy. A couple of top down stages (2 and 5) are all mode 7, plus other effects in the first level.

Give it a try, I suppose.

davyK

Aye. I never liked the top down levels in SNES Contra. They would have been better sticking to the into-the-screen levels of the NES game. I suppose it was another excuse to use Mode 7.

Hodgepodge

My selection for @JonB

Home Alone (Mega Drive)
Bear with me on this. This was one of my most-played games growing up, and I would be interested to see whether I regard it so highly due to nostalgic reasons. Each time you play, you have a set time limit that varies depending on difficulty settings. A single play through can be between 45 minutes to an hour. Defend the neighbourhood from the Wet Bandits by setting traps in each house, creating (bizarre) makeshift weapons, and hold the thieves off long enough until the police arrive.

The G G Shinobi 2: Silent Fury (Game Gear)

Excellent little Shinobi game. The main gimmick here is the ability to switch between different coloured ninja's, each with their own unique ability. Has a very lite Metroid-esque feel to it, as you visit previous stages once new characters/abilities are unlocked.

Bio-Hazard Battle (Mega Drive)

Often over-looked Sh'mup in the vein of R-Type/thunderforce. Has a high difficulty level, but excellent visual art style, with a "corrupted nature" vibe, and foreboding atmosphere.

Moot_Geeza

Well Hodge's first choice is the most left-field by an immeasurable distance. Home Alone was in contention for king of turd mountain at one point, the mags beat it to death with paint cans and snow shovels before glue & feathering it for good measure. I rented it, and there was plenty to enjoy, but I'm still surprised by the choice. Hodge gets the coveted Orbulon award this month.

Hodgepodge

Orbulon Award: Excellent! I genuinely think Home Alone on MD is an interesting little game. By no means a classic by any stretch of the imagination... but I am fond of it.

I'm picking Mega Man X, by the way. Never played a Mega Man game before, and I know they are held in high regard.

davyK

Home Alone on SNES was certainly lambasted. Perhaps the MD version is different.

Moot_Geeza

Just looked at a few screenshots of the SNES one. It's been a while since I played the MD one but I don't think that's the same game.

JonB

Well I haven't played any of those anyway, so that's something. Interesting choices...

Hodgepodge

SNES and MD are indeed different. SNES version is atrocious...

retroking1981

Best gen ever.

Completely different games of the same name. The industry is bigger than ever yet the PS4 and XOne are interchangeable.

Bit off topic there but I said that in celebration of Retro.

Moot_Geeza

The mags enjoyed tearing Tom & Jerry on the Master System apart, but I liked it. Back then if games had mechanics that were iffy, you learned to work around it/turn a blind eye. I knew Rastan Saga 2 on MD wasn't setting the world alight, or that the Master System Shadow Dancer/ESWAT/Terminatpr ports/versions were a sloppy mess, but it didn't stop me developing an affinity for the games. I was the Mild-Mannered Videogame Nerd, and everything better than atrocious was awesome.

retroking1981

Played a good hour of Hagane.

It's... ok I guess. Good but not the amazing unkown SNES gem that's listed in various top games for the console.

I'm currently on Stage 2-3, there's five in total.

Is it one you've played yourself @davyK or just read of in lists like me?

retroking1981

Moot_Geeza wrote:

The mags enjoyed tearing Tom & Jerry on the Master System apart, but I liked it. Back then if games had mechanics that were iffy, you learned to work around it/turn a blind eye. I knew Rastan Saga 2 on MD wasn't setting the world alight, or that the Master System Shadow Dancer/ESWAT/Terminatpr ports/versions were a sloppy mess, but it didn't stop me developing an affinity for the games. I was the Mild-Mannered Videogame Nerd, and everything better than atrocious was awesome.

That's why the AVGN is great, we all played shit games as kids but as you say we worked around it/turned a blind eye.

In a way he kinda reminds me of Peter Kay, they just state the obvious, something you already knew but never spoke of. Like missing hold on a teletext page and having to wait for it to loop around again.

That's the funny thing about playing old games with friends. For every one you loved that you show mates that they like there's one that they simply don't get. It's probably because it wasn't that great in the first place.

The last retro day was a perfect example. Robocop VS Terminator - thumbs up, Red Zone - head scratching.

Tom & Jerry on MS probably is shit but your not wrong for loving it. We all have games like that.

JonB

retroking1981 wrote:

Played a good hour of Hagane. It's... ok I guess. Good but not the amazing unkown SNES gem that's listed in various top games for the console. I'm currently on Stage 2-3, there's five in total. Is it one you've played yourself @davyK or just read of in lists like me?

I played it a few years ago and found it quite annoying. Couldn't get on with it at all, really, and it's one I remember reading about in the SNES days and always wanting to try.

Moot_Geeza

All set up with a C64 emulator on my desktop, I just need to find a USB pad now. In the mean time, I've been playing Home Alone.

davyK

JonB wrote:

Played a good hour of Hagane. It's... ok I guess. Good but not the amazing unkown SNES gem that's listed in various top games for the console. I'm currently on Stage 2-3, there's five in total. Is it one you've played yourself @davyK or just read of in lists like me?

I played it a few years ago and found it quite annoying. Couldn't get on with it at all, really, and it's one I remember reading about in the SNES days and always wanting to try.

I actually have the cartridge (no box or manual sadly). I can't remember how I came across it. I don't remember hearing anything about it when it was a new game but it's unusual for me to pick up something cart only so maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. I believe it is worth a few bob now. It's been a long time since I played it but I quite liked it back in the day.

Put in some time on Pinbot last night (about 30min). It has a very interesting solution to the problem in pinball games that scroll taking the flippers off screen. Not a bad game at all but I will reserve judgment after finding a manual and trying again.

JonB

Home Alone might need some explaining. I played it for about 15 mins and didn't really get it.

I can assign traps to the houses the first time I enter, and inside the house can pick up various things. I can then assign those to... something on the pause screen, but I've no idea what they do or how they work.

And what happens then? It seems I just wander about and shoot the burglars, or they grab me and put me on the wall for a bit. It's all a little confusing.

retroking1981

Moot_Geeza wrote:

All set up with a C64 emulator on my desktop, I just need to find a USB pad now. In the mean time, I've been playing Home Alone.

You can have one of those SNES USB pads I have if you want mate?

Moot_Geeza

Cheers, that'd do it.

Moot_Geeza

JonB wrote:

Home Alone might need some explaining. I played it for about 15 mins and didn't really get it. I can assign traps to the houses the first time I enter, and inside the house can pick up various things. I can then assign those to... something on the pause screen, but I've no idea what they do or how they work. And what happens then? It seems I just wander about and shoot the burglars, or they grab me and put me on the wall for a bit. It's all a little confusing.

You can combine items to create weapons, then attack the wet bandits to inflict maximum pain to clear a house. I think you keep doing this until the timer runs out.

Moot_Geeza

SNES pad in the bag. I'm off home to rule the Skool.

Eric

Moot, stay away from Angel Face, he has got mumps!

Hodgepodge

JonB wrote:

Home Alone might need some explaining. I played it for about 15 mins and didn't really get it. I can assign traps to the houses the first time I enter, and inside the house can pick up various things. I can then assign those to... something on the pause screen, but I've no idea what they do or how they work. And what happens then? It seems I just wander about and shoot the burglars, or they grab me and put me on the wall for a bit. It's all a little confusing.

Ah, you picked Home Alone! You basically have a few minutes before the thieves arrive where you can ride around the neighbourhood, setting traps and collecting equipment to make more traps/weapons. The pause screen is where you make weapons, but the combinations are a little... Random. Each weapon will give more damage when used on the theives. Fill up their "Pain Bar", and they leave, to look for a higher house to burgle. If they fill up their "Loot" bar, they flood the house and leave. The goal is to save all the houses (I think there are 6?) before the police arrive.

Hodgepodge

Gonna start Mega Man X tomorrow.

retroking1981

Superb game.

Moot_Geeza

For the purposes of quick fix retro gaming I'd suggest a) an online guide to tell you which order is best to approach the levels, and b) leave any save state pride at the door.

Edit: If 'a' sounds daunting, it's really not, but the trial and error progression would mean you'd see far less of the game.

retroking1981

For the most part its like PokeMon. Fire>Leaf Leaf>Electricity Water>Fire etc

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