(Retro) What have you been playing this week? Vol.2

[randombs]

I bought Jet Set Radio for my Series S yesterday.

I was worried something would go wrong because it seemed like it wouldn’t work(showed as “not available” on the console’s own store) and the Xbox marketplace website got stuck during payment on my pc and iPhone. Hilariously, the sale went through on the Xbox’s own Edge browser(someone on Reddit had success this way, too).

Bizarrely, the game is all in English even though my Xbox account is Japanese.

Still as great as ever, and it’s much nicer to play on the Xbox pad than the PS3 one.

[Cepp]

Finished Luigi's Mansion on 3DS. Wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it after struggling with the camera on the third game but the fixed camera worked well here for the most part.

[Cepp]

Played through Ape Escape for the first time in 20 years. The framerate is rough, really rough in parts but the game's pushing the PSX pretty hard. It's gorgeous in parts and the character designs are decent. I prefer the UK dub but the US version is good enough. The final level was super long, taking over an hour but the final boss was easy enough. It looks like you have to 100% it to get the true ending, and I may go back through the levels and get all of the missing monkeys since there aren't that many stages in the game.

It's still quite charming and very colourful.

[fallenangle]

Not sure if this counts as retro although it is certainly an old school style 2D platformer/shooter: Momodora but was actually first released in 2010.

Looks simple but it quickly gets quite difficult due to the distances between save points.

Momodora

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtRHIHNwOLU

[Cepp]

100% completed Ape Escape - Got all monkeys and spectre coins, beat the true final boss and got Gold in all Time Trials.

It's been some time since a game grabbed me so much I just wanted to go back and do/get everything.

[S3M]

Sega Rally 2 on Dreamcast, not a perfect version of the game, but still fun to play.

[Cepp]

Played through T.R.A.G, better known as Hard Edge over here. I remember reading about this in magazines and I was always curious. The crazy anime hair of the male protagonist pulled me in. The character models are really impressive for the PSX and the music is nice although it doesn't fit with the setting. The rest of the game is quite awful and the final boss is frustrating due to bad tank controls, a terrible boss design with massive hit boxes you get caught in, and a framerate that feels like its in the single digits.

It's pretty bad RE style game and I think it was Sunsoft's last ever game? The team looks to have been quite small, I'm assuming they were running on empty when this came out.

I got the bad ending where the office building in the middle of a city with a nuclear reactor beneath it gets destroyed.

Sega Rally 2 on Dreamcast, not a perfect version of the game, but still fun to play.

I always enjoyed it but wished it had some kind of online at the time.

[Cepp]

Played through Final Fantasy II from the PSX Origins collection.

It certainly lives up to its reputation with how obtuse it is and if I ever play it again I'll do my character builds a lot differently.

With that and Dragon Quest II out of the way there's just The Adventures of Link to go for odd NES sequels.

[samanosuke]

I started playing Neutopia on the PCE Mini last night. Put it on the downstairs telly after the missus went to bed around 10.30pm and was playing until about 2am. Was tempted to have a quick go on PC Genjin after but my bed was calling me.

Although it clearly takes massive cues from the original Zelda - okay so it’s a carbon copy - the vastly superior graphics and nice QOL additions such as the compass which shows you which direction to head make this far more accessible today than LoZ.

[Cepp]

I went back to Air Combat for the first time in forever. I thought it felt very stiff at first before double checking the manual and realising the game defaults to a more limited control system that stops you from rolling and taking sharp turns. It's an early game and it shows in some ways but I still had a blast with it.

I started playing Neutopia on the PCE Mini last night. Put it on the downstairs telly after the missus went to bed around 10.30pm and was playing until about 2am. Was tempted to have a quick go on PC Genjin after but my bed was calling me.

Although it clearly takes massive cues from the original Zelda - okay so it’s a carbon copy - the vastly superior graphics and nice QOL additions such as the compass which shows you which direction to head make this far more accessible today than LoZ.

Always been interested in giving this a go and my PC Engine Mini is collecting dust under the telly atm...

[fallenangle]

Re-playing both Xbox Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams and the still playing through for the first time the original Forza Motorsport.

SH2:RD is still a great game but certain aspects annoying me much more now than when I played it originally well over a decade ago. Monsters instant respawning, something that plagues the RE games too - you clear an area and go through a door to another area but if you go back through the same door all the same monsters have immediately respawned.

I've always found that gameplay design unnecessarily tiresome. Five minutes later yes, no problem but 5 seconds. no, not fun,

Dialogue is clunkier than I remembered too and that same bizarre casual acceptance of being in a place populated by grotesque monsters, no WTF was that or why am I here moment, just like the RE games of the same era and before.

[samanosuke]

Always been interested in giving this a go and my PC Engine Mini is collecting dust under the telly atm...

Deffo give it a try! And why is it gathering dust when you also have Gunhed on there as well? (I can’t bring myself to even say Blazing Lazers)

[Cepp]

Deffo give it a try! And why is it gathering dust when you also have Gunhed on there as well? (I can’t bring myself to even say Blazing Lazers)

Too many games mate, can't keep up! Deffo gonna jump in soon with it though, it's overdue.

[Cepp]

Decided to finally beat Alundra. I've always had a fondness for this game, ever since seeing a two page advert for it in Total PlayStation back in the day. I never got too far though, it's stupidly hard.

I'm 10 hours in now and the puzzles are really tough. Every room in a dungeon has them and a lot involve some jank top down 2D platforming. Muck it up and you have to re-enter the room to reset the puzzle which respawns the enemies who had their HP boosted by Working Designs. It can get a bit frustrating.

The graphics are gorgeous and the story is much more interesting than your usual JRPG. A lot of people suffer/die in the village the game is centred around, even after you do everything you can to help. The people left behind are just broken and the town is slowly turning against the main character as things get worse and worse. It's pretty grim, you're trying to get to the bottom of everything but everyone is becoming actively hostile towards you.

Sometimes you're taken out of a scene by jokes inserted by the localisers though. I just had the mayor crack a joke about cable TV, while stood next to a dying man in a game with elves and magic.

[samanosuke]

Sometimes you're taken out of a scene by jokes inserted by the localisers though. I just had the mayor crack a joke about cable TV, while stood next to a dying man in a game with elves and magic.

Humour on so many levels, there. Me personally I love the WD quips and pop culture references.