Retro Arena: 32-bit era consoles

[Team Andromeda]

The music in Guardian Heroes is superb. For me, that was a big part of why I loved it. I know what Leon means when he says it’s blocky though - it uses sprite scaling to make the bigger enemies that doesn’t always look great. I tend to tire easily of that type of beat em up but the music, feel and the branching paths kept me playing Guardian Heroes for a long time.

I found GH to be one of the most overrated Saturn games ever (I'm still amazed it got 9 in EDGE too) . Its not bad, but it didn't impress me as much as I wanted it too (becasue it did look amazing) but I got so bored with the game after half an hour

I so much rathered Die Hard Arcade in that era myself

[Team Andromeda]

What are your Top 5 games for any of these systems?

Saturn

1. Soukyugurentai
2. Exhumed
3. Decathlete
4. Panzer Dragoon
5. Sega Rally

N64

1. Pilotwings
2. Conkers Bad Fur Day
3. Mario Kart
4. GoldenEye
5. Mario Kart

PS

1. Metal Gear Solid
2. Alien Resurrection
3. Parappa the Rapper
4. Vagrant Story
5. Colin McRae

[Leon Retro]

Saturn

1. Soukyugurentai


N64

2. Conkers Bad Fur Day

PS


2. Alien Resurrection

Souky is such a great shooter. I didn't play the N64 version of Conker's -- but the Xbox version is excellent. I haven't played Alien Resurrection -- but I had Trilogy and thought it was pretty good.

[Team Andromeda]

Souky is such a great shooter. I didn't play the N64 version of Conker's -- but the Xbox version is excellent. I also haven't played Alien Resurrection -- I had Trilogy and thought it was pretty good.

Alien Trilogy is ace , I never got the hate over that title. Really try Alien Resurrection mate, its such an overlooked underrated gem of game, that also pushes the PS to insane levels.

[beecee]

Saturn
Never really got onto the Saturn, had one a while back but only for a month or two.
and only played a handful of games games for it.

1. Castlevania SOTN
2. Panzer Dragoon
3. Clockwork Knight
4. Shinobi
5. Sega Rally

N64
god knows how many times i sold and bought this machine. getting just 5 is hard.

1. Zelda OOT
2. Mario Kart
3. Starfox
4. GoldenEye
5. Rogue Squadron

PS
Same as above..

1. Castlevania SOTH
2. Tomb Raider
3. Ridge Racer
4. Metal Gear Solid
5. Doom

[Asura]

3. Decathlete

Maaaaan, you're making me think I may have to revisit my list. Decathlete (or Athlete Kings, as it was in my collection) was just wonderful.

There's a game which needs to be remade. Keep the mechanics, don't screw with the visuals too much - just make it 4-player and add more modes.

[Leon Retro]

that also pushes the PS to insane levels.

Yeah, I remember reading a review that stated how incredible the graphics were. I love to see games that push tech to really impressive levels, so I'll give it a go sometime soon.

Saturn

3. Clockwork Knight
4. Shinobi

I've always liked Clockwork Knight, even if it's far from the best platformer. I remember buying Shin Shinobi a few years after release -- and I thought it was quite good. I was expecting it to be rubbish judging by its rep.

N64

3. Starfox

Such a great game that still looks good and plays well.

3. Ridge Racer

There's something really uplifting about the first game that keeps me coming back for more. I wish Namco would create a new Ridge Racer inspired by the first game. Sort of a remix with hi-res colourful graphics and remixes of the original tunes. Give people a few more tracks and I'm sure it would be a popular digital game.

Maaaaan, you're making me think I may have to revisit my list. Decathlete (or Athlete Kings, as it was in my collection) was just wonderful.

There's a game which needs to be remade. Keep the mechanics, don't screw with the visuals too much - just make it 4-player and add more modes.

It's easily my favourite Track & Field type game. The graphics and overall design really impressed me. If Sega remastered it -- all they'd have to do is smooth the graphics a bit and bump the resolution up. A perfect game for digital download.

[Team Andromeda]

Maaaaan, you're making me think I may have to revisit my list. Decathlete (or Athlete Kings, as it was in my collection) was just wonderful.

One of the best 2 player games ever made and also the best Track and Field game ever made.

[_SD_]

There’s only a handful of N64 games that I could go back to now on original hardware… Pilotwings and Waverace still haven’t been bettered. And Starfox 64 is one of the finest, most awesomely fantastic video games ever created.

[Strider]

One of the best 2 player games ever made and also the best Track and Field game ever made.

Hmm. It has 2 too many dull button bashing races to be that.
It is very good, though

[_SD_]

Did anyone here bother with a DD64? The F-Zero expansion pack seems like the only thing that came close to all the promises Nintendo made surrounding the peripheral. And I believe you can run it from an Everdrive now anyway?

[Nu-Eclipse]

the Saturn could definitely deliver impressive 3D games. Sega Rally, Exhumed, Panzer Dragoon/Zwei etc... really show off the 3D aspect of the machine. But of course, the Saturn has always had a strong image as a 2D powerhouse.

Those titles are very much the exception and not the rule where 3D Saturn software is concerned.

My point still stands - across the board, over the distance, the PS1 consistently did 3D better than the Saturn. It's not even a contest.

I would agree to some degree that it's aged the worst -- and it definitely doesn't have as many good games as the PlayStation and Saturn. But I still go back to the N64 and enjoy some of its games. There are around 20 games that Nintendo developed/published that could go on an N64 Mini and I think most people would be happy. Most of them stand the time reasonably well. Of course, there are plenty of terrible games for the system that would be torture to play these days.

My point here isn't about the playability of N64 games or the titles that could be put on an N64 Classic Mini. The best titles for it are obviously still playable and of course Nintendo made great in-house titles for it, although not having anything from Rare or Konami or Asmik/AKI (for the wrestling games) would arguably be pointless imo.

My point is that for an N64 Classic Mini to ever happen, Nintendo would have to do much much more from both hardware and software perspectives just to get the games running at a minimum of 720p and 30fps on modern HDTVs - just stuffing the NES/SNES Classic Mini hardware into an N64 shell won't cut it. I think that we all know deep down that Nintendo won't make that kind of effort. Even if they did then the N64 Classic Mini would likely come in at a premium price (probably in excess of a £100 RRP) that would make purchasing one not worth it.

That is why I doubt that Nintendo will ever make one. If they prove me wrong though, great!

[J0e Musashi]

32-bit? There are only two games that matter. Virtua Fighter and Ridge Racer. Having both of those at home heralded a HUGE jump in quality and laid the path of what would come.

[Team Andromeda]

Hmm. It has 2 too many dull button bashing races to be that.
It is very good, though

Well, technically there's only 2 races in the actual game . But the simple 'button bashing' is what help make the game so playable, it was so easy to pick up and play and any one of your mates could play the game and be half decent at it . Just like with Track and Field in the Arcades, both were very simple to play, quite hard to master.

Add in great graphics a mad line up of characters and perfect controls and Decathlete was a winner in the Arcades and the home

[Leon Retro]

My point still stands - across the board, over the distance, the PS1 consistently did 3D better than the Saturn. It's not even a contest.

Yeah, that's 100% true. I never said the Saturn was better than the PS1 for 3D. All I've been saying is the Saturn could actually do decent 3D in the hands of a skilled and committed developer. It's well-known that the PS1 was a dream to develop for when it came to 3D.

My point is that for an N64 Classic Mini to ever happen, Nintendo would have to do much much more from both hardware and software perspectives just to get the games running at a minimum of 720p and 30fps on modern HDTVs

That is why I doubt that Nintendo will ever make one. If they prove me wrong though, great!

I would totally agree that delivering an N64 Mini would be far more challenging than a NES or SNES Mini. Even the best N64 games can feel very archaic because of dodgy frame-rates and blurry, rough graphics. So it's not like the SNES Mini where something like Mario World looks and feels just as good as it did back in the day.

If I were designing an N64 Mini, I'd offer three graphic options: Blurry; Clear/Sharp, Enhanced(Clear with filters to makes things look cleaner, like you get with emulators.) All running in HD.

Nintendo have around 20 first-party games that are still either good or very good. So at least they wouldn't have to worry about paying for third party titles.