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

davyK

Gradius V is one tough game. I never really got anywhere with it. Wasn't for the want of trying. Really liked it - was one of the main reasons I got a PS2.

Moot_Geeza

I bought Gradius V during the period where I was still buying everything highly rated, without spending too much time gaming. In hindsight I should have played it before selling it, but I got shot of a load of games. I've played and loved most Treasure titles but owned and got rid of one of the very best without even getting to the title screen. Facepalm.

Skerret

Still have GV, t'is excellent. Wall of wavy lasers ftlw.

retroking1981

It's the only PS2 game I still own along with Contra: Shattered Soldier. Damn Sony and they're weird releasing of PSN titles in different regions.

retroking1981

Gradius Advance is one that passed me by.

davyK

Have Gradius Deluxe pack (#1 & #2) for Saturn and Gradius Gaiden for PS1. Have played a fair bit of G1 on Saturn but haven't spent anywhere near enough time with the others yet.

Moot_Geeza

retroking1981 wrote:

Gradius Advance is one that passed me by.

I've got it if you want to borrow it for the Retron.

Moot_Geeza

Ploughing through Probotector on MD. It's a great looking game and it plays superbly, but in addition to the difficulty gripe it seems to be front-loaded with highlights. The highway level is superb, loads of nifty faux-scaling effects pushing the black box. The last couple of levels I did were a bt meh though, and the star sign Seven Force boss equivalent was weak sauce. Music is great, character choices seem genuinely different, there's at least one different path through the game and there's plenty of action being chucked around. Feels like an 86% to me.

davyK

Bit of Parodius love. Was playing the score attack level on SNES Parodius and then credit-fed my way through the Saturn version. I wanted to see if there was a score attack level to unlock on that version. There wasn't - in one way it's disappointing but then you have to give credit to Konami for making the ports have their own exclusive features. The Saturn version comes with Parodius Fantastic Journey on the same disc and it has a score attack level that's unlocked when you complete the main game.

I don't remember this game being as hard as I'm finding it. The rank seems to climb like crazy if you have any sort of powerups and the late levels are nuts re bullet speed even if you have nothing.

Moot_Geeza

Played the first three levels of Axelay. Forced scrolling shmups have never really appealed to me as I struggle with them, massively. To the point where I often think 'surely that's asking too much of the player on the second level?', or similar silent gripes. Then I see someone play them who knows what they're doing, when to attack, when to hang back etc, and I realise just how shit I am at the genre.

Axeley looks great, the bit where you slot between the canyon walls is exhilarating, for want of a less gushy word, the side scrolling sections are good (I wasn't aware the game had them), I just suck at it. Without save states I'd probably get stuck on level two.

davyK

Never played Axelay - was the darling of magazine reviews back in the day. Just never got around to playing it.

Moot_Geeza

It's definitely a 'only on SNES' kind of shooter. The graphics are decent, the way the ground tuns like someone's cranking a mangle off-screen looks neat.

JonB

I like it, but it was never a real favourite. The vertical scrolling effect is nice, but seems a bit gimmicky, since you lose precision and can't see what's coming far enough in advance. The horizontal bits are better.

I do love the shooters from that time though. I was playing Hellfire again the other day and it's still rather brilliant. I should probably have another crack at R-Type 3 as well, since I could never finish it when I had it.

It'd be great to do a 16-bit hoizontal shooters week on this thread. You can never have enough of them.

Moot_Geeza

Darius II would be one of my favourites, possibly because it's the only one I played a lot of as a kid (had the American cart - Sagaia).

Had some cracking music:

hylian_elf

@Moot: what do you mean by forced scrolling shmups? They're all like that no? Or are there any non scrolling shmups I'm not aware of?

JonB

I presume as opposed to Defender or Subterrania style things where you can go in different directions and it scrolls with you.

Moot_Geeza

Yes. Bangai-O and Sub-Terrannia would be the first shmups i'd think of when listing favourites. Ranger X, Pixeljunk Shooter, both great. I even appreciate a slight twist to forced scrolling shooters, I'm keen on both Sine Mora and Velocity Ultra, for example.

Moot_Geeza

Perhaps it's not the correct term, I learned it on this 'ere forum and liked it.

hylian_elf

Ah, I see what you mean. The only shmup of that type that I've played is Resogun. Oh; and Geo Wars if that counts. Western shmups basically. The inferior type, as with other genres that differ between East and West.

Moot_Geeza

Resogun is getting snapped up as soon as it goes in a Vita sale, it looks great. Mind you, I haven't played Super Stardust Delta properly yet, but it was only £2.30.

Moot_Geeza

Had a mess around with Tiny Toons on SNES again earlier. It's the perfect example of a game that time has improved, simply by removing that sulky feeling of picking up a £40-50 game that rolls over and shows its belly within a couple of hours. Top tier quick blast retro fodder - MD Aladdin, MD Terminator, NES Ducktales etc. The American Football level is great.

davyK

Horizontal shooters in which there is forced scrolling and you can collide with the scenery are amongst the toughest games out there and require high precision and learning by rote which is why many don't like them. Thunderforce, RType and Gradius/Parodius would be among the better ones.

davyK

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Had a mess around with Tiny Toons on SNES again earlier. It's the perfect example of a game that time has improved, simply by removing that sulky feeling of picking up a £40-50 game that rolls over and shows its belly within a couple of hours. Top tier quick blast retro fodder - MD Aladdin, MD Terminator, NES Ducktales etc. The American Football level is great.

Oh yeah - I paid £50 quid for that. To be honest though I loved it from the off. Level 2 is sublime and when I first played it I realised I had bought into something classy and I knew it was a game that could only have been on the SNES at that time what with the colours and that soundtrack. The dash control sections jumping from wagon to wagon on the collapsing train section just felt so good. I extended its life a bit by not continuing and also completing it on hard which ups the damage needed on enemies and shortens your life bar. I may well have 1-lifed that game - can't remember - but would have been damn close.

retroking1981

It was one of my Christmas presents in 1993. Good times.

Moot_Geeza

The MD Tiny Toon platformer is one of the most SNES-like games on the machine. it's unusually lengthy for a Megadrive game, and looks/sounds gorgeous. A great example of markedly different games being developed on both consoles that have a similar level of excellence - Aladdin, The Adventures of Batman & Robin, Shadowrun, rather than Robocop Vs Terminator or TNMT Tournament Fighters.

Big love to the 16-bit era.

JonB

I probably paid £50 for Tiny Toons on SNES as well. I think I had a US version. But I completed it many times and used to get it out again every now and again for another run through. It was just enjoyable.

It'd be weird to say it was worth the money, because nowadays I doubt I'd pay £50 for a game that lasted 10 times as long, but it never felt like a rip off.

Moot_Geeza

I loved Aladdin, from start to finish the MD one was an utterly fantastic experience, but the knowledge that I'd have to wait a couple of months before I could attempt to bargain for/afford another game (chores, pocket money, the perennial favourite 'birthday and Christmas combined', which worked for the damn 32X) hit me as soon as the credits rolled. Tiny Toons clearly had something special though, none of you felt short changed.

hylian_elf

Aye, I was fine with Buster Busts Loose. It was a great game that I played more than once. I still have it and would give it a run if I had the time.

retroking1981

I'd rather spend £50 on something I'd enjoy that lasts a couple of hours than on a 15 hour slog.

Plus none of us have only played Tiny Toons, Aladdin or Duck Tales for the minimum time to see the credits roll. I'm sure the time tallied has reached a much more 'acceptable' level of £s to hours.

Moot_Geeza

retroking1981 wrote:

I'd rather spend £50 on something I'd enjoy that lasts a couple of hours

Aah, juicy fruit. NSFW:

Spoiler:

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories