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

JonB

Went back to Extra 1 (Poochy) and burned through about 30 lives trying to finish it. Finally managed it then went back and got 100 just a couple of goes later. Horrible level though, mostly just frustration all the way through getting that little fucker to go where I want it to.

retroking1981

I lost about 20 lives doing that one, missed one of the red coins on the last jump and then lost another 10 lives or so getting the 100pts.

Extra 3 is currently doing my head in. Bloody Monkeys!!!

dynamiteReady

retroking1981 wrote:

I lost about 20 lives doing that one, missed one of the red coins on the last jump and then lost another 10 lives or so getting the 100pts. Extra 3 is currently doing my head in. Bloody Monkeys!!!

World 3 is easily my favourite in the game. Those monkeys, and the baseball boys are amongst some of the coolest things in the game.
That's one of the things I like most about the game... Enemy variety.

Every stage feels more like a mini ecosystem, and not a procession.
Though Nintendo do also offer up a fair number of clockwork stages... And those are awesome too.

davyK

Agree - world 3 is excellent: 3-1 is pure enjoyment and feels epic without being overly long - which can sometimes be a chore. 3-3 is a bast though.

Love the fact that the monkeys can grab man-cub Mario. There are frogs that do it too later on - think it's 3-4?

Moot_Geeza

Yep, just done 3-2 to 3-5, including the frog boss. Great stuff.

hylian_elf

You guys... stop talking about this game and making me want to play it more than current stuff like Bioshock Infinite. I DON'T HAVE THE TIIIIIIMME!!!!

Moot_Geeza

hylian_elf wrote:

You guys... stop talking about this game and making me want to play it more than current stuff like Bioshock Infinite. I DON'T HAVE THE TIIIIIIMME!!!!

I'm starting to look at new games and think 'I could finish fifteen Master System games in the time it would take me to complete that'. Bioshock Infinite might be that game to drag me back up to date though, I do half own it - but is it as good as Yoshi's Island??

hylian_elf

I doubt it very much, but its being touted as an 'important' game.

Fuck it, I'ma go home and download a Yossy ROM. It's alright. I own the actual (sealed) game on the SNES.

dynamiteReady

hylian_elf wrote:

I doubt it very much, but its being touted as an 'important' game. Fuck it, I'ma go home and download a Yossy ROM. It's alright. I own the actual (sealed) game on the SNES.

You know... when I was ickle', my mum gave away our (mine and my bros) Snes to this kid, a friend of a family friend... He was diagnosed with some terminal illness, she said, and was confined to a life indoors.

We never had much money, so it was a big gesture, though it was an old console.

I was pissed off at first, but accepted it in time...
I look back at that now, and now have no idea why I was angry at all...

Life...

Not quite relevant, but, you know...

Moot_Geeza

I tried to finish this last night, but realised it was shit and played Kid Chameleon instead.

In all honesty I won't finish this by the deadline though. I'll give it a good go, but I'm only up to 4-1. I played it on the SNES yesterday, rather than the GBA, and I thought it was faster (although I'm apparently wrong), and I see what people mean with the more cartoony/storybook feel to the visuals. I'm intrigued by the extra levels in the GBA version but Youtube will have to do. If Dynamite's friend of a family friend was also given YI, at least he might have found the confinement enjoyable for a while. That's probably an odd thing to say....it's a game that would cheer me up a little if I was ill.

hylian_elf

Moot_Geeza wrote:

I tried to finish this last night, but realised it was shit and played Kid Chameleon instead.

Haha! You should've played Alex Kidd on Master System, even that's better than crap SNES games, eh?!

Moot_Geeza

You haven't lived until you've accidentally pressed reset instead of pause.

JonB

Haha.

On YI I unlocked the Extra level on World 6 today, and then got 100 on it. Some tough bits but not the ordeal I was expecting. Secret 6 was probably tougher. I think the only one I haven't tried yet is Extra 5. I won't be going for perfect scores on every level, just something respectable. It seems I never bothered with all the extra bits when I played it before.

retroking1981

Moot_Geeza wrote:

I tried to finish this last night, but realised it was shit and played Kid Chameleon instead.

Am I missing something here? You tried to complete YI but realised it was shit?

davyK

see SNES v MD thread

mistercrayon

retroking1981 wrote:

I tried to finish this last night, but realised it was shit and played Kid Chameleon instead.

Am I missing something here? You tried to complete YI but realised it was shit?

Kid Chameleon is bobbins.

Moot_Geeza

Got up to 4-5 on YI in the end. Will post a quick review later and write the blurb for Midnight Resistance (which I've managed to get through during one train journey and a lunch break - those cog/razor bosses were a pain even with save states).

JonB

I completed all 60 levels on the GBA version in the end. 90+ scores on all but a handful of levels, which I don't have the patience for, but at least 70+ on everything.

It's still an amazing game though, probably the best platformer of its time and pretty much ever, along with SMW. I think it edges it for me because of the floaty jump mechanic, which allows the designers to get really devious with some of the level design and always gives the player a bit of room for on the fly improvisation when something goes wrong. Those moments when you think you're falling to your doom and somehow navigate back to a platform or hop off an enemy in mid air are unmatched anywhere else.

I sold a lot of my GBA games a few years ago. The only ones I kept were YI, Fire Emblem and Astroboy. They're all games I could play repeatedly, and they never get old.

davyK

After spending this week on this game I have now changed my mind. YI is better than SMW but that's probably only until I spend some time on SMW.

It is astoundingly good - I had forgot just how great the level design is. Very good point made by JonB about the flutter jump - allowing designers to put legit leaps of faith into the levels without it being cheap.

Back in the day the underground levels annoyed me but this time around I really enjoyed them. The only "fault" is going for 100pts which can get really annoying - but that's hardly a fault - it's kind of the point. The crying noise is really annoying but that's probably deliberate.

JonB

I feel like going back to SMW now too. I haven't really played it since the early SNES days.

retroking1981

Yoshi's Island (SNES)

Only got up to 4-2 in the end but managed 100pts on every level up til then. Love the level design, some of the best bosses in any Mario game and the replayability getting perfect scores not only got me addicted to this game in 1996 but also kept me up long past bed time on more than one occasion over the last week. Better than SMW? For me definitely, but then again I always prefered 3 to World. I'd have to say it's my favourite ever 2D platformer and the easiest rating I've had to give in this thread to date.

5/5

davyK

JonB wrote:

I feel like going back to SMW now too. I haven't really played it since the early SNES days.

I've played the VC version on the Wii and going back to it you really see just how bloody good it is. For the longest time I was unsure about it back in the day because of the comparison with SMB3 which itself is fabulous. Maybe because SMB3 was revolutionary and SMW "just" a rather understated further refinement of that makes people underestimate it. SMW is quite superb in its own way and comparing SMW and YI is actually a tiny bit invalid as they are quite different even though they are within same main genre.

I can't say about the New SMB WiiU , but I can say that while New SMB Wii is excellent, it isn't as good as SMW - that would be a better game to compare it too.

hylian_elf

Nah, the NSMB games really aren't that great. The Wii U game is good, though.

hunk

Playing Y's Island now.
I'm still stuck in world 1!

retroking1981

Just DL SMW for the Wii U, given up with ebay for a proper boxed copy, goes for just that bit to much.

Played about an hour of it and done the first 2 worlds unlocking all the exits so far.

It is an amazing game but I stand by preferring YI.

Regarding the NSMB series, they're definitely a step down from World. Having said that when the original one came out on the DS that was kinda the point, going back to the purity of the original on NES so it was kinda refreshing in a way and being on a handheld expectations weren't so high. I was just happy to be playing a new Mario instead of the countless re-releases on GBA.

The Wii version brought co-op to the table which I really enjoyed, never bothered (at least yet) with 2 on 3DS which brings me to NSMBU.

NSMBU is the closest to the quality and epicness of World. I really wish they just went just that bit further with it and called it New SMW. It really does open up, there's warps, secret exits and a star road. Problem is it takes too long to get going. You could play it for hours and be forgiven for thinking it's just another A-B Mario game. Also it's a tad to easy but for the wrong reasons, you'll die a hell of a lot, it that respect it's tough but the problem is the game throwing power ups at you far to much and thats not even taking the power ups you collect and store in the menu into account. Also just playing SMW reminded me that getting hit in the old ones meant you shrink straight to small Mario, none of this Fire Mario > Super Mario > Mario > Dead nonsense. Anyway rant over, NSMBU... very close to being great.

Stick with it @hunk really is an amazing game

Moot_Geeza

I'm not gonna go in depth with my Yoshi's Island review, because we've covered almost everything in the past couple of weeks. One of the reasons I think it's so good is that you can get so much out of it even if you just plough through the levels. The 100pt thing is welcome and fiendishly designed, but even if it had no score system it would still be my pick of the 16-bit platformers, because just negotiating the levels is such a joy. Super Meat Boy pips it for me as my all-time favourite 2D platformer, but second place in twenty five-ish years of gaming is very respectable, especially when you consider that it's my favourite genre. The graphics are lush and the music is memorable, but it's the varied yet intuitive mechanics that keep you on your toes.

I was right to be extremely jealous of this as a Megadrive owner; perhaps more so than with any other SNES game, and that's not a statement that can be taken lightly.

96%

Moot_Geeza

Twenty eight: Midnight Resistance (fortnight) - Arcade, Amiga, Megadrive, various)

An arcade platform shooter from 1989, developed by Data East. The Megadrive port lacked the two player mode, and according to MK was gimped slightly, so track down the Amiga or Mame versions if you can. The arcade game was notable for its rotating joystick mechanic, which enabled the player to stand still whilst firing in one of eight directions, or even move one way and shoot in another. Fallen enemies drop tokens that can be used to upgrade weapons in between levels, and the game mostly follows a left to right run and gun, sub boss/boss format. If you're familiar with the Contra titles you know what to expect - learn the enemy patterns, often through trial and error, and be prepared to die continuously. Good luck!

Play and discuss, or simply reminisce.

Schedule:

Twenty nine (13/05, fortnight): Super Metroid (SNES, various downloads)
Thirty (27/05, week): Rub Your Own Rhubarb: Retro Batman week (various)
Thirty one (03/06, week): Battletoads (NES)
Thirty two (10/06, week): Master System Week - Action Fighter, Teddy Boy and The Ninja
Thirty three (17/06, fortnight): Toki (Arcade, Megadrive, Amiga)
Thirty four (01/07, fortnight): Castlevania IV (SNES)
Thirty five (15/07. week): Free choice Parodius (various)
Thirty six (22/07, week): Scrolling Beat 'em up Free Choice (various)
Thirty seven (29/07, fortnight): El Viento (Megadrive)
Thirty eight (12/08, week): Atari 2600 High-Score Challenge Returns
Thirty nine (19/08, fortnight): Yoshi's Story (N64)
Forty (02/09, week): Rollergames (NES)

hylian_elf

Just hurry up and get to Super Metroid already. There's no way I'll miss that.

JonB

JonB wrote:

I sold a lot of my GBA games a few years ago. The only ones I kept were YI, Fire Emblem and Astroboy. They're all games I could play repeatedly, and they never get old.

It seems I still have Advanced Wars as well. Which makes sense.

davyK

hylian_elf wrote:

Nah, the NSMB games really aren't that great. The Wii U game is good, though.

I really liked the Wii one - but I would rate it slightly below SMB3 and SMW. However those are really single player games, the NSMB series seems to be about multi-player so the levels have to give you a bit more space and this affects the level design.

I'm enjoying the coin hunting on the NSMBWii. It's a pity it didn't include a TT mode as the levels seem set up for it. I liked that mode in DKC Returns.

Just reading retroking's comments about NSMB and I'm in agreement - and that power down scheme in NSMBU was in SMB3 too and it was a fault in that game as well.

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