Retro Club - 8 & 16-bit puzzlers
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Got my SNES with Star Fox back in the day, loved that game. Also had a top 10 entry on the vgm list with Corneria.
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I think it ran at 20fps most of the time.
Modders released a 60fps ROM of it last year. -
Not Star Control. I had that on the Megadrive and figured out a way to beat every other ship with any ship, even that tiny little pew pew teleporting saucer.
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Galaxian, Galaga, Phoenix, Asteroids, Star Wars Arcade (y'know, the OG vector graphics one), Moon Cresta, Xevious, Zaxxon, Tempest, the R-Type series, Salamandar are a few old skool ones that spring to mind.rateyourmusic: https://rateyourmusic.com/~Olimite -
Olimite wrote:Galaxian, Galaga, Phoenix, Asteroids, Star Wars Arcade (y'know, the OG vector graphics one), Moon Cresta, Xevious, Zaxxon, Tempest, the R-Type series, Salamandar are a few old skool ones that spring to mind.
I was thinking of 1st person old school but - yeah - played all of those in the arcade. Space shooter was the prevalent genre in the late 70s/early 80s. I think the black background was initially a technical constraint which explains that. The target audience and the whole Star Wars film / Space Invaders vibe explains it too of course.
Atari Star Wars is by far the best of that style of game of that era. There's a pop up arcade in Belfast that has the sit down version - still a blast.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
Its not retro and you'd be hard pressed to get a game on it now sadly but I absolutely loved the Starfighter mode on Battlefront 2.
It had a retro arcade vibe to it compared to the more complex Squadrons which came out later. Probably closer to Rogue Squadron.
At first it came across quite simple and repetitive but putting time into it there was another level of nuance to the ship control. I got really quite good at it at one point. Once I got a vibe for certain ships I was able to almost drift them and perform Top Gun style manoeuvres around other players.
Such a shame that the game was so fucked by EA's greed and the Starfighter mode being secondary to the rest means it will get lost in time. -
If I could afford one and had the space, I’d have a Star Wars cab in my flat!rateyourmusic: https://rateyourmusic.com/~Olimite
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The Gamecube launch Star Wars game was pretty special.
I never played Star Raiders but that was a sensation at the time. People bought an Atari 400/800 just to play that game. It got a 2600 port but I believe it had to be watered down a fair bit to squeeze onto a 2600 cartridge. But they made a effort with it. Even came with a touchpad to plug into controller port 2 of the console.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
Yeah the GC Rogue Leader game was a real looker.Live, PSN & WiiU: Yippeekiyey -
Great category to discuss. Has no-one mentioned Xenon yet? For the music alone surely.That was awkward and unsettling, never post anything like it again.
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Xenon 2 on MD is a pile of shite. I actually fucked the cartridge into the bin with excess energy.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009.
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I hope I can eventually separate that mental image from the soundtrack in my head.
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I don't remember it having a soundtrack on MD. Did the Amiga version?Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
hmmm... I don't remember it being like this.. I remember it being sluggish though.
Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
Looks OK I suppose. It looks amateurish though. At the time I got this I was used to playing Super Aleste and RType III on SNES. Maybe if I had played it earlier but it looks a bit sleepy.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009.
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Xenon2 was excellent audiovisually but sadly couldn't keep up in gameplay when compared to japanese output of the time from Irem, Compile or Konami. Collision detection was way, way off and the weapons system lacks a certain oomph!, sophistication and depth. Fantastic Bomb the bass ost tho. Still, a nice effort from the Bitmap bros. but ultimately not enough to be a stone cold classic.
5/10.Steam: Ruffnekk
Windows Live: mr of unlocking
Fightcade2: mrofunlocking -
Yeah I was talking about the Amiga version. Didn't even know it had a MD release.
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Unlikely wrote:Thinking of Xenon 2, perhaps?
Yes, Xenon 2. Thanks for the correction. I played it on the Amiga and loved it mainly for the soundtrack but gameplay was ok. Hunk’s review above sums it up nicely.
Another Amiga shmup that had great music but much better gameplay if I remember correctly was Apidya. But that didn’t feature space combat so will strike it from the record here.
That was awkward and unsettling, never post anything like it again. -
Analogue have announced a N64 FGPA console. Out next year. No other details.
https://twitter.com/analogue/status/1713933239327273452 -
Thought it was FPGA. Fully Programmable Gate Array or something. Mate of mine started working with them about 20 years ago and wouldn't shut up about how great they were.
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Gah, just posted same news on the retro gaming thread.That was awkward and unsettling, never post anything like it again.
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Unlikely wrote:Thought it was FPGA. Fully Programmable Gate Array or something. Mate of mine started working with them about 20 years ago and wouldn't shut up about how great they were.
Aye - FPGA means recreating the original hardware in a hyper configurable chip.
That hardware idea goes way back to the Apollo computers actually. Every piece of software instruction was in fact reconfiguring the computer's internal connections. Amazing stuff for the day never mind now.Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
Good knowledge Davy. Have you done that Apollo BBC podcast series thing?That was awkward and unsettling, never post anything like it again.
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Colony Wars was great.
I don't want to play it again and find out it's super clunky. I'll just keep my fond memories. -
stellavista wrote:Good knowledge Davy. Have you done that Apollo BBC podcast series thing?
No - picked that up from a YT video. Can't remember which. I also have a book on the architecture (which I bought after watching that video). Its memory was good old ferrite core rings. It was assembled by hand. Mind boggling.
pic is part of a 320 bit memory module ..Apollo had 4K. Can't imagine how complex that was to build. Each ring is 1 bit.
Holding the wrong end of the stick since 2009. -
Magical Hat's Turbo Flight! Adventure (Mega Drive)
Infamously known as Decap Attack in the West, I actually played the first six levels of both back to back before settling on the Japanese game. The overall look and mood of it just appealed more, even though it is Halloween season.
It's a momentum based platformer, enemies can be defeated by punching, jumping on them or by throwing 'Robegg', who is your robot egg friend who can be collected much like Mushrooms in Super Mario. He acts as a projectile and a shield, giving you an extra hit from enemies.
It's actually the third game in a loose set of platformers from Vic Tokai. The first is Kid Kool for the NES which is awful, honestly it's an absolute unplayable mess. Then came Psycho Fox on MS which I had as a kid, so I have a little soft spot for it. It's an improvement, but unfortunately still poor. The momentum based physics in both of these is just horrible.
It was third time lucky with this release, the controls are very refined compared to the first two games. Graphics are nice and colourful, and the music whilst not particularly memorable, was pleasant and had me humming along.
It's playable enough, but admittedly the history of the series is more interesting than the actual game, but I had a fun couple of hours.
3/5
My reviews
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