What You've Been Playing This Week

[Wools]

Thanks for the recommendations wakka and congratulations on deciphering my typo of Wario Land 3, too!

I don't think I've ever given the GameBoy the time of day, till Mrs Wools expressed so much enthusiasm for the system this weekend. I wanted a GB as a kid but my parents couldn't afford it. As such, when I saved up myself for a GB Colour (I was prevented from opening a NatWest Bank Account to get a GB for free, which was a UK promotion at the time!) I got one for Pokemon and new GB Colour titles. So after Pokemon died down, I only picked up colour games such as Links Awakening DX, Metal Gear Solid, I never picked up any GB classics. So it's been good fun going back and exploring what classics are there.

[Neon Ignition]

At the moment:

A Hat in Time
The game has longer legs than I thought it would, though I'm definitely in the late stages now

Final Fantasy XVI
I originally dropped this pretty quickly for some reason so have put a few more hours into it, looking at walkthroughs I seem to be around 1/7 of the way through so still a long road ahead. The Game of Thrones setting is still an awful choice for a Final Fantasy entry but the game is pretty easy going so far and fun enough.

Far Cry 6
Because I keep looking at a backlogged game and then feeling like something weird has happened to time when I see the year a game released, thinking it's still a much more recent title than it is. About halfway through, it's still more of the same but at the very least I'm liking that this one cut towers etc out. The series needs a heavier shake up though

[wakka]

Thanks for the recommendations wakka and congratulations on deciphering my typo of Wario Land 3, too!

I don't think I've ever given the GameBoy the time of day, till Mrs Wools expressed so much enthusiasm for the system this weekend. I wanted a GB as a kid but my parents couldn't afford it. As such, when I saved up myself for a GB Colour (I was prevented from opening a NatWest Bank Account to get a GB for free, which was a UK promotion at the time!) I got one for Pokemon and new GB Colour titles. So after Pokemon died down, I only picked up colour games such as Links Awakening DX, Metal Gear Solid, I never picked up any GB classics. So it's been good fun going back and exploring what classics are there.

Metal Gear Solid on Gameboy is a banger to be fair. I played that for the first time a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

In terms of original GB games I do think the pickings are slightly thinner in terms of what's genuinely worth playing today. But there are some gems on there. It looks great with the right filters on a modern handheld display, too.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Metal Gear Solid on Gameboy is a banger to be fair. I played that for the first time a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

I genuinely think that it might have the best storyline/plot of any Gameboy game ever FWIW. So good, way better than it should be for a handheld game.

[Wools]

Metal Gear Solid on Gameboy is a banger to be fair. I played that for the first time a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

In terms of original GB games I do think the pickings are slightly thinner in terms of what's genuinely worth playing today. But there are some gems on there. It looks great with the right filters on a modern handheld display, too.

I was an uber-fan of Metal Gear Solid and lived and breathed the PlayStation game. So the GBC version was an immediate purchase for me. At the time, I remember not being as kind to it but I was a young teenager and had not played the 2D Metal Gear's. I was a lot more favourable to Links Awakening, Pokemon etc, as I had no 1:1 comparision.

I've played the opening 20 minutes of MGS on the Miyoo and that IPS screen really makes the lines look sharp. Enjoyed it so far, looking forward to playing more of it. If only I would stop swapping between games.

[wakka]

Yeah I was a huge fan of MGS as well. I played it over and over. For whatever reason though, I never got the GBC game. I remember my best mate at school had it, but I think I must've been distracted by something else gaming-wise at the time.

To be honest I'd have been like you and struggled with it though, had I had it. It's a harder game than MGS1, and I'm not sure if I'd have stuck with it. I think I'd have given up on the sokoban puzzle stuff you have to do at one point, or the NIKITA missile puzzles. So I was probably better off playing it as an adult (I was 10 in 2000).

Wools Are you using a screen filter in your emulator to approximate the look of one of the original GB screens (DMG, Pocket or Light)? It makes a massive difference imo and I recommend looking into it if you aren't.

I genuinely think that it might have the best storyline/plot of any Gameboy game ever FWIW. So good, way better than it should be for a handheld game.

It does have a really cool storyline, and one thing I wondered when playing it through recently was if it incorporated unused ideas from MGS1's story - especially since it has some identical beats which make it feel almost like an alternate or early draft of MGS1's script.

It's also pretty dark in places. There is one boss that commits suicide in front of you. I certainly don't remember anything else like that on the Gameboy. The ratings agencies obviously didn't play it through properly, since ESRB gave it an E for everyone and ELSPA an 11+!

[Wools]

Yeah I was a huge fan of MGS as well. I played it over and over. For whatever reason though, I never got the GBC game. I remember my best mate at school had it, but I think I must've been distracted by something else gaming-wise at the time.

To be honest I'd have been like you and struggled with it though, had I had it. It's a harder game than MGS1, and I'm not sure if I'd have stuck with it. I think I'd have given up on the sokoban puzzle stuff you have to do at one point, or the NIKITA missile puzzles. So I was probably better off playing it as an adult (I was 10 in 2000).

Wools Are you using a screen filter in your emulator to approximate the look of one of the original GB screens (DMG, Pocket or Light)? It makes a massive difference imo and I recommend looking into it if you aren't.

Glad to hear from another MGS fan, that was such an important release in my life, bloody loved that game. 10 in 2000? I'm a bit older than you, was 15 in 2000 and getting ready to leave secondary school in 2001.

I always used to be a staunch no filter advocate, as it never felt quite right and after years of using consoles and PC's through RF, Scart and VGA, it was really nice seeing pixels, sprites and polygons in their cleanest form. But dataDave's championing of the Perfect CRT Filter on RetroArch and associated pictures he took, really made me look at them in a new light. I was also receptive to the idea, after playing Lunar Lander at Arcade Club in Bury last Summer, with its amazing Vector screen which just looked unlike any CRT or OLED screen in existence. I've come around to the idea that a clean output of the game doesn't always replicate the OG feel.

I've fell head over heels for the Perfect CRT Filter for retro console and computer games, but haven't explored possible GB and GB Colour filters. Is there a good one on RetroArch?

[QualityChimp]

I literally binned the MGS PC disc last night as there's no real way to play it now. I'd get it on GoG, but what a game MGS1 was!

[wakka]

Glad to hear from another MGS fan, that was such an important release in my life, bloody loved that game. 10 in 2000? I'm a bit older than you, was 15 in 2000 and getting ready to leave secondary school in 2001.

I always used to be a staunch no filter advocate, as it never felt quite right and after years of using consoles and PC's through RF, Scart and VGA, it was really nice seeing pixels, sprites and polygons in their cleanest form. But dataDave's championing of the Perfect CRT Filter on RetroArch and associated pictures he took, really made me look at them in a new light. I was also receptive to the idea, after playing Lunar Lander at Arcade Club in Bury last Summer, with its amazing Vector screen which just looked unlike any CRT or OLED screen in existence. I've come around to the idea that a clean output of the game doesn't always replicate the OG feel.

I've fell head over heels for the Perfect CRT Filter for retro console and computer games, but haven't explored possible GB and GB Colour filters. Is there a good one on RetroArch?

I don't know about RetroArch but I'm sure there is. It has the most filter options of any emulator. You can download and plugin different ones. I'd do some googling about it.

Filters are definitely the way to go imo.

The classic example which demonstrates this is from Symphony of the NIght:



You can see that the art was designed to take advantage of how CRTs blend pixels together to create a cohesive image, which isn't replicated on LCD because it becomes a mess of coloured dots.

Of course it's different for handhelds because they themselves used LCD, but the screens of Gameboys, NeoGeo Pockets, etc, have particular characteristics which again the art was designed for. This isn't always a good thing. The original GBA screen was so dark, for example, that games like Super Mario Advance had deliberately overbrightened colour palettes to compensate. This means that when they are played on modern screens you aren't actually seeing the artists' original intent and there are ROM hacks people have made which make the colours look 'normal' on a modern screen (there are also filters which emulate the darkness of the original GBA). Still other games like Minish Cap accommodated the variance in GBA model screen types by offering different colour/brightness settings in their options.

For me, I am always trying to get as close as possible to the artists' original intent, and so I like to make sure I am using screen filters that support that. So I steer away from raw pixels.

RE: MGS, yeah, very important game in my life too huge huge title for me and influential on me in all sorts of ways I think.

[Wools]

Never seen that used as an example before, such a clear demonstration of why filters should be used for any kind of emulation on a non-CRT screen.

[hudson]

I wonder if I can invent glasses that keep your eyes squinted...

[QualityChimp]

Pushing on with Skyrim to finish off those last few missions of the main story.

Earlier, I was mooching through some dwarven dungeon with that vampire companion.
I found the corpse of some poor elf and read his journal warning of the dangers ahead and how he missed his wife and child and wished he could've found treasure to support them in these new lands.

Such a sad story and his body would remain here forever as a testament to the dangers within.

a moment later, we're being attacked by some robospiders and I nearly soiled myself when I turned around to see the elf stood next to me.

Turns out the vampire lass had reanimated his corpse to fight for her!
It's not enough that he died at the hands of the automatons, but she reanimated him and made him die again. Blimey!

[hudson]

Monster Hunter Wilds - Mainly doing Investigations for decorations. I have the ones I need, but I like posting quests which have a lot of yellow gems (potential decos), so others can join and we all have a merry jolly co-op time. I thought after sorting my build that I may take a break, but to be honest, I find myself thinking about the game a lot and when I get home, I just feel like playing it again!

Street Fighter 6 - I throw this on in between hunts. Just chilling in Casual online. Change character to Honda. He's quite fun to use.

Balatro - Continuing my quest to do all stakes on each deck. I have a lot to get through, but I am more than happy to play through.

[QualityChimp]

Monster Hunter Wilds - Mainly doing Investigations for decorations. I have the ones I need, but I like posting quests which have a lot of yellow gems (potential decos), so others can join and we all have a merry jolly co-op time. I thought after sorting my build that I may take a break, but to be honest, I find myself thinking about the game a lot and when I get home, I just feel like playing it again!

I don't want to open the rabbit hole and start MH: Wilds, but I might watch some footage or Twitch.

[QualityChimp]

I finished off the main story of Skyrim (PS4), mainly by grounding the boss dragon with a shout while he chomped on the NPCs and I sniped with my bow.
I then rode across the map, looking for undiscovered locations and I died a couple of times and realised I'd had enough.
I've just saved the world and punched a dragon, so finding some jazberries for someone has lost its appeal.

What a fantastic game, though.
I probably enjoyed it more in PSVR, but I was spending hours with the headset on, so the chill mode on the sofa was what I wanted this time.

Dipped into Andro Dunos II (PS4) that I picked up for about £1.64 and it's a fun little shmup where you can cycle the weapons, and power them up.
Every time you die, they lose a level, so it's the risk/reward of staying alive as long as possible and do you spread the powerups or focus on one?
Some lovely parallax scrolling and graphics.

It was only when the Visco splashscreen came up that I realised this is a genuine old-skool update.
The first game came out on Neo-Geo in 1992.



I've been rereading The Dark Knight returns and looking for a figure and whilst looking at my catalogue, I remembered that I have Arkham City (PS4) from a previous sale when I bought "Return to Arkham" bundle.

Even better, it comes with all the DLC and when you complete the game, you can change Batman's skin to the DKR skin, orrrrr you can enter a cheat at the menu screen and play as him from the start, so I'm currently playing my own unofficial sequel.

Gameplay, it's a bit weird as I played 1, 3, 1 remaster now 2, so there are more features than Asylum, but less than Knight. I think I need to upgrade some skills and it'll be closer to Knight, but I loved and rinsed 1 and 3, so I'm enjoying learning the Batcontrols and hopefully will be able to soar across Arkham looking perps to Kapow.