PAPRIUM

[jamesy]

Anyone in the UK had theirs yet? Mine has been in Carvin, France for the past week. I think I'm going to have to pay VAT on this, which is annoying as Brexit wasn't even a thing when I backed this.

Same as mine too.

[CMcK]

Looks like my copy has hit the British isles. Might have to go and find a real MD in the loft to play it on.

[jamesy]

Mine has by some miracle turned up. Hopefully it'll work on one of my consoles. Will try it later anyhow.

[thetrooper]

Mine has by some miracle turned up. Hopefully it'll work on one of my consoles. Will try it later anyhow.

I really want to know if this game is actually any good, so don't keep us waiting too long, mate!! 😊

[samanosuke]

Just had a quick bang on arcade mode. Worked absolutely fine on my Jp Mk1 MD even though the serial number is on the naughty list. Cartridge was rattling though so I grabbed a Gamebit screwdriver and removed the heat sink to make sure it didn’t short anything.

Really f*cking impressed with the graphics and sound - you have to see it in person to believe it and this is coming from someone who’s spent the last few weeks watching numerous YouTube vids of the gameplay. Gameplay-wise it seems very competent, a bit floaty compared to Final Fight or Streets of Rage, but feels good to play and you can string combos together. Enemy AI seems lacking even on the hardest level but hopefully it will get better on later levels - I’ve only played the first two so far.

Really impressed and looking forward to ploughing more hours in tonight. Just got to make dinner and then I’ll be straight back on it.

Edit: although I haven’t played much, I’d say Wheelaa’s assessment of it being “a bit wank” is well wide of the mark. Plays great so far.

[phillv85]

Mine has made it to the UK at last! Just glad it is in country, I don’t mind if it takes another week now.

[samanosuke]

Having played Arcade mode a few times and falling at the final boss (on very hard mode), I decided to give Original mode a spin. Well, in spite of all the branching paths I managed to follow the exact same route as the Arcade mode so saw nothing new! I did manage to finish it this time, however, with the aid of the CPU as player two.

I’ve just looked at the time and blimey, I’ve been playing it for hours now. I still don’t think I’ve really scratched the surface based on what I’ve read about the game so far and look forward to exploring all it has to offer.

I’m damn impressed by it, I must say.

[jamesy]

I've had a blast on arcade mode on this now. Graphics are nice and colourful, and there's some really nice touches like sometimes characters appearing in the foreground in big chunky scaled up blocky sprites before entering the battle. Some of the sound effects are really good as well and its quite odd hearing them from a megadrive on occasion. (special shoutout to the motorbike noises haha) The music is hit or miss but could take a few listens before I can make any judgement on it.

Gameplay wise the enemies seem utterly daft at times but it could be so they aren't all attacking at once. I'll have to play more to learn the combos/special moves. The hit connection when punching enemies is alright but it doesn't have that satisfying crunch that the likes of SOR2 has. I managed to get to what I assume was the final boss on my first playthrough on the default difficulty.(hard mode) Seems decent and would be good for co-op.

Pretty cool surprise to get this as up to two weeks ago I'd completely written it off.

[samanosuke]

Still playing it some five hours after I first fired it up. Done some more time in Original mode and tried taking different paths this time. What I can say is that some of the alternate levels are much more interesting than the standard paths with some really nice graphical touches such as the reflections on the roof of the train, and the music on some of these levels is to die for. I see why Fonzie did this - he didn’t want us to blow our loads within the first few hours... play the game more and it seems to get better as more routes open up. The difficulty seems to ramp up a bit too which is comforting as the standard Arcade route is way too easy, even on the Very Hard mode.

[samanosuke]

Been giving this more time today...

So I finished Original mode (very hard) with Tug and was given the option to “throne” him which apparently makes the next playthrough a “mission”. What this mission seems to entail is a pre-defined path throughout the game a la Arcade mode, however every area is completely different to the standard route. The enemy AI seems to be a lot more aggressive in the later stages with the use of crowd control required much more than in my previous playthroughs. By the time I got to the Powder Zone and in particular the Bhopal levels, the difficulty ramps up significantly with frequent mid-level bosses and no energy-replenishing food items. I’ve yet to complete this mission due to the difficulty and I am tempted to “de-throne” Tug by selecting him as a player thus reverting to the normal game again.

I could use a second player to help me through this but the CPU controlled drone dies before I even get to the Bhopal stage.

I would encourage anyone who has the game to sink some good hours into the Original mode as it does seem like the Arcade mode is little more than a playable demo compared to the rest of the game.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I tried to cancel my order for this years ago when it looked like it was a scam. Checking my order now is just says cancelled but of course I never got a refund. Not that I could play it anyway as I have a Mega SG.

Rather annoying but a valuable lesson I guess in never again paying for something which isn't finished.

[wheelaa]

WM do seem to be responding to messages through the site now, so I'd drop them a message, explain. I imagine you're not the only one sans refund, and they do seem to want to make things right.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I sent WM/Fonzie a message but no reply of course. I'm glad others are finally getting their copies, but for me I guess I was right to call it a scam.

[Yakumo]

I sent WM/Fonzie a message but no reply of course. I'm glad others are finally getting their copies, but for me I guess I was right to call it a scam.

I sent a message asking for my tracking number but of course there was no answer . God only knows where my parcel is.

[eastyy]

Gamesack has a review



Looks decent but definitely one of those games where i really wish it was on modern systems and just beefed up a little bit especially when it comes to sound effects