(Retro) What have you been playing this week?

[B1gBeard]

Blazing Star (MVS) - Lovely hori shmup. Steals tons from the likes of R-Type but its beautifully crafted. Lovely graphics. Not bullet hell by any stretch but the bosses become real bitches.

Shadow over Mystara (CPS2) - My fav scrolling beater. Its the pinnalce of Capcom's scrollers imho improving on the likes of King of Dragons and Tower of Doom. If you like D&D its even better.

It has suprisingly deep item, combat and magic systems. You can even get some super powerful items crafted from boss drops.

As Skull Commander says its tough and I'm currently working my way towards a 1CC with the Mage.

[Strider]

I'm playing Shadow Over Mystara on my Saturn (vid here)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JssM9TfsmnA

loading times are naff but it's still the best scrolling fighter i've ever played.

[BigDeadFreak]

Yeah, loading times do spoil it don't they. I can't see what the 4MB cart is doing half the time?

[Skull Commander]

Who is everyones favorite character in this? Am I right in saying the mage is considered the best?

[Strider]

Yeah, loading times do spoil it don't they. I can't see what the 4MB cart is doing half the time?

It's got **** loads of animation so towards that surely?

[Skull Commander]

I managed to pick up a disc only Corpse Killer for the 3DO the other day for next to nothing (kept missing out on boxed ones going for too much!). It's absolutely crap, but in the best possibile way.

The game itself is a very simple (sub Operation Wolf simple) lightgun title, made up from very short sections of digitised Zombies shambling around which must be shot. I've only played for a wee while but there seems to be no innocents to avoid shooting and not a great deal of variation.

There is multiple routes to go and you can choose the order in which you do certain missions. Also at certain sections you get a choice of "power ups" from the generic rasta fella that features in the movie sections.

The movie sections are what makes this game. Coming from Digital Pictures, the same company that brought you the cult classics Night Trap, Sewer Shark and Supreme Warrior, they are sub B-movie standard and completely brilliant!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtOdLOkFKts

There is a link of the start. If you skip to 3.50 you can check out my personal highlight.

[jnm23]

Super Mario 64

is what I've been playing, Wii VC version. I haven't played it for about 8 years and it's like discovering a new game.

It really is fantastic - the only slight negative is the camera. The creativity in the levels

If they refined up the camera and the pop up (which sometimes makes coins invisible), it would be worth a 10/10 today. I'd still give it a 9

I'm playing through this and Galaxy in parallel, 10 stars at a time, so it's interesting to compare them

[B1gBeard]

I'm playing Shadow Over Mystara on my Saturn (vid here)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JssM9TfsmnA

loading times are naff but it's still the best scrolling fighter i've ever played.

Get some sliding action going on over the coins and stuff mate. It scoops them all up in one go and saves all that picking em up one at a time doodabs.

[B1gBeard]

Who is everyones favorite character in this? Am I right in saying the mage is considered the best?

The mage is considered the best boss killer I believe.

[BaudAttitude]

This has been a Saturn sort of week. I finished a couple of short anime-tie-in games to start it off, and just got going in Powerslave (Exhumed outside the US, I think)

It's brilliant. Even though it has quite a good reputation, I expected it to be rather painful to play a 13-year-old FPS, and I am quite happily proven wrong.

Those damn jumping red spider/crab things, though...

[parkinho]

Yeah Exhumed is still an amazing game, reminds me of an Egyptian-themed Metroid Prime! I know Team Andromeda is a massive fan of the game too based on him waxing lyrical about it everytime it is mentioned on here.

Got a free day tomorrow and I'm really in the mood for some bright and colourful gaming, so I am going to blitz Mario World to achieve all 96 exits as I haven't done it for a good few years.

[egparadigm]

I've always struggled with the MD Sonics. However, after playing on the Master System, I thought I'd put in a bit more effort; and it's paying off!

Second attempt today and I made it all the way up to Metropolis Zone, where I was – predictably – killed by the boss. However, I did devise a strategy (read, stole one from GFAQs) that should be very easy to use. I think I may actually be able to do this one. It does take a fair amount of time to play through. I must have been on there an hour; Sonic on the Master System only takes about 30 mins from start to finish!

[JazzFunk]

Dug my Megadrive out today, had a quick blast of Castle Of Illusion, just to test it, then I played Dahna for 20 minutes or so, giving up at the end of the second level, a frustrating, vertically scrolling 'fire level'. The worst thing about Dahna is that it's quite an interesting game, but the rigid playability kind of spoils matters. Still, I've always loved the cover.

Right now I'm now playing through Darwin 2041, a vertical shooter which I've had since about 1994 but never really got round to playing properly. It's nothing too remarkable, kind of a cross between Xevious and Dragon Spirit, with graphics reminiscent of Slap Fight. The one original idea it has is the fact that the power-ups alter your ship's DNA and evolve/devolve you (hence the game's title) but I'm having a bit of a problem working out what does what - one minute, I'm a giant, crimsony black phoenix firing out crimsony black phoenixes, the next minute, after not taking any hits, my ship is a little pea shootery sluggish thing. Bizarre game, but I'm still playing through it...

[JazzFunk]

****, been on the MD all night, Jap games on a PAL machine (with the slots carved out) via RF lead!! Bordered, crap-looking and blocky, but ACE, cheap cans of Melcher's Dutch Beer and Henry Weston's Vintage Cider helping out thoroughly.

The boss on Stage 8 of Darwin was a right bastard, these three green, regenerating testes that fire out 8-directional shots out when they fade, very confusing, I lost a few credits trying to get past that bit and ended up getting three quarters into stage 9 then lost everything.

Decided to try out my Jap Flintstones (minus book), played through the first 4 stages before deciding it was one of the most generic games Taito ever did, it feels very western in gameplay. Now, deciding to go back on the vertical shooters - just played a bit of Master Of Weapon, a game I always thought looked appalling and never bothered with (even in the 90s) but tonight, I noticed the elegantly animated explosions amidst the spartan blur, and decided to check how the ROM looked via fullscreen 60 hz RGB on a DC emu, and it looks great, very clean, a conversion that is almost as good as the arcade, minus a bit of detail. I'm gonna play this more, it's a very playable game, with a fair bit of power in its engine.

Gave Super Airwolf a blast, it's colourful, has Toaplan-esque graphics, but it's a bit dodgy in feel. Got to the Commando-style bits and the gameplay is preposterous, you can't fire backwards, and you have to do a 'static jump' to take out turrets. Ridiculous. Will play again, but I'm certain it's no classic.

Now playing "Tiger" (AKA Twin Cobra) and like it loads better than I did when I first played the MD version of it back in 1996. Back then, it just looked blobby, inelegant, sounded tinny, didn't feel anywhere near the arcade, I got a bit disappointed, but now I'm feeling it's a pretty damn good conversion for the MD, despite the yellow tanks, much lower resolution, it's good fun, and the graphics aren't bad at all, even through slow n' bordered RF.

Got three more Jap MD games waiting to be 'tested' - Phelios, Arrow Flash and The Zew Zealand Story. And I might even dig out Midnight Resistance...

This is such a f*cking nice "Nerd Night" for me, given wor lass is on her hols, quite exquisitely brilliant!!!!

[Wools]

I've never played The New Zealand Story at all, I've only ever heard good things about it.

I completed Perfect Dark last night on the N64 and that last level has been holding me tight for a few days! The level itself was not too bad once you've learned to save your ammo, and to pass the scene with the enemies in suspended animation, but the final boss was tricky in till you realised what to do.


Also I never remember Mr Blondes revenge when I completed it first so it was a nice surprise to find it waiting to be played, Rare were there in regards to rock hard extra type missions before Epic and Halo 3 ODST!


I think I'll be playing a few Combat Simulator missions and unlocking the multiplayer slow mo features and levels, so I can re-build my original multiplayer settings back when I was a kid. Good stuff.