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

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    Originally posted by dataDave View Post
    MGS looks absolutely blistering on original hardware with a decent CRT. It’s one of my PSX benchmark games, even if only for the menus and menu SFX.
    Using an actual PSX, I thought you were all Mister now?

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      I was using Saturn Bomberman to configurate some stuff with my capture card as it runs the “wide” 10 player multiplayer map in 480i and the rest of the game in 240p. Ended up returning to it on a whim and had a few hours of battles on it, what a superb game it is. My mate had it back in the day and we spent hours on the multiplayer, usually in co-op. The AI is pretty good if you set the difficulty up a bit.

      Funnily enough though, I was never a huge fan of the single player mode and I still feel the same. It’s alright enough I guess, nice-looking, but just feels so slow compared to the multiplayer. My mate liked the single player more than I did, but if you had another person round then it wasn’t going to get much of a look in.

      I guess the real multiplayer challenge nowadays would be finding 9 other adults with a simultaneous window free in their schedule who can still be bothered playing old Saturn games.

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        I somehow missed the thermal scope in my initial MGS sesh so had to rely on tab smoke to exit the hangar. Had my first encounter with Raven, made my way through the following building and I’m now at the corridor of gore.

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          It's an easy one to miss. It's in one of the rooms on the gallery level of the ground floor of the armoury.

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            I don't know if this is that widely known (I've certainly never found any mention of it online), but way back in the day when I was replaying Metal Gear Solid for the first time I was just at that room before you encounter Revolver Ocelot with the guy tied up behind all the trip wires. Out of curiosity I fired a shot into the room through that big hole smashed in the wall and Ocelot shouted "who are ya aimin' at!?" or something like that. If anyone is replaying it, give it a try and see if I just imagined it!

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              I remember that too now that you've said it. Def a thing.

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                Finish my original Xbox Doom 3 > Extras > Doom 2 (30? map) playthrough - didn't enjoy the final boss fight, "Icon Of Sin" much but eventually got it done.

                I have now moved onto something I had not noticed in the Doom 3: Resurrection Of Evil stand alone expansion and that was its Extras included Doom 2 Master Levels not included in the Doom 3 version I have. By the time I've finished, about 20 maps, I think I'll be all Doom-ed out.

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                  Decided to bring my 360 with me to my parents’ house for xmas as it’s easier to move and is the same res as their TV (unlike Xbox and Series X, as it is HD ready).

                  So I’m back onto JSR HD. I just about scraped my way through the single player campaign with lots of swearing. Then I have surprised myself, I have kept going for the Jet-rating achievement, you have to get top rating in every level. Watched the odd vid and read the odd thread as a guide. Good fun… when I’m not swearing too much. Also, may hands hurt.

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                    Aww yeah! I did it — all JSR HD achievements:



                    Last edited by egparadigm; 31-12-2023, 20:47.

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                      Managed to get my hands on an OSSC, so alongside the Analogue Duo I've been putting a lot of time in on the SFC and MD I picked up here recently on our big living room TV. With the MD I've been taking huge pleasure in playing through the games I bought back when I first bought my original import MD. So I've been down memory lane with the likes of Rambo III, Golden Axe, ESWAT and Revenge Of Shinobi. I'm basically planning to go through the library in the way I bought them back in the day, at least to the best of my memory anyway!

                      Christ knows what the guy I bought the OSSC from was playing at with the way he'd set it up mind you, the image with his settings was horrific. What I do need to do though is get a better MD scart cable as the one I have is producing a bit of noise, who's the go to for a good one these days guys?

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                        Have a look here - Packapunch RGB SCARTS (retrogamingcables.co.uk)​

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                          Loaded the everdrive up with portal 64 and a Mario Kart 64 hack which replaces it with Dragon Ball theme. Portal 64 is amazing, it may have Perfect Dark levels of frame-rate but it remains very playable in controls and visual clarity. The N64 controller is works just fine for the 12 tests they have in the build (up to where you they give you the orange and blue portals together for the momentum test) and audio is super clear, definitely using some high res samples they would have not done back in the day.

                          Dragon Ball Kart 64 is quite funny, all the racers are replaced with very well done, game matching sprites for Goku and co, the courses (so far) are the same with a couple of new textures here and there, the items are DB themed (shells become blue kamehamehas) and it uses english DUB samples which on point for me.

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                            Since the Pocket 2.0 update, I've been playing through a couple of fan translations on there.

                            Dead of the Brain

                            This is a PC98 point and click from a company who, like most other Japanese PC visual novel/point and click developers from the late 80s and early 90s, mostly made eroge.

                            The story goes that they got in some hot water following a public decency outcry in the Diet after a girl was caught shoplifting one of their porno games, and were forced to create something slightly less objectionable.

                            If that's correct, the blood 'n' boobs filled Dead of the Brain can be considered malicious compliance. And I think we owe that light fingered schoolgirl our thanks, since it's a blast to play.

                            This roughly four hour long adventure is, like Resident Evil, heavily inspired by Romero films, but enjoys a generous sprinkling of Re-Animator, Back to the Future and buddy cop influences too.

                            Although it was released on Japanese PCs in 1992, the version I played was the PCE CD port, released in 1999 (!) and notably the final release for the system.

                            The hero of the piece is Cole, an ordinary 24 year old painter and decorator in a nameless American city. His best friend is eccentric scientist Dr Cooger, whose new re-animation serum quickly becomes the source of a city-wide zombie outbreak, forcing the protagonists to take refuge with other survivors in a hotel.

                            Gameplay is divided between investigation pixel hunts, Snatcher-inspired shooting sections, and dialogue with the game's various characters. It's well paced, and for the most part manages to avoid the classic pitfalls of earlier examples of this genre, by keeping the flow of required actions by the player fairly logical and easy to work out. It's not perfect in that regard, but I only had to resort to a guide once or twice (although it's notable that, in both cases, I had no regrets, since the thing I hadn't done that was required to progress did not make a whole lot of sense and couldn't really be deduced rationally).

                            It's worth noting that the graphics are really great on this one. I personally absolutely love the high resolution PC98-style pixel art, and this game clearly had an expert team creating the visuals. The PCE CD version does feature downgraded graphics, however, so unless you want to play on the Pocket, it's worth seeking out the PC98 fan translation instead.

                            I had a very enjoyable lazy Sunday morning playing through this in bed. Highly recommended. BRAAAAAIIIIINSSS!!

                            J.E.S.U.S. Kyofu no Bio Monster

                            Brimming with a new-found love and affection for early Japanese point and click gaming, I then moved onto this sci-fi adventure. Originally released in 1987 for Japanese PCs, the re-issue I played was released on the Famicom in '89.

                            This one is a tough play. It's not a long game - I rattled through it one sitting last night, in about two and a half hours - but it is one that I recommend keeping a guide on hand for. It's afflicted by an inflexible and often seriously illogical path that the player must take through the game, with some un-guessable requirements like 'Talk to a particular person four times' or 'Search a thing three times'. It's more than possible to play through it entirely without a guide of course - but I'd suggest it would be a pretty poor use of time in places.

                            It's a simple sci fi story, heavily inspired by Alien. Space station J.E.S.U.S. is investigating Halley's Comet as it passes close to Earth, with the aim of proving the hypothesis that life was first seeded on Earth by alien matter living in the comet's gaseous tail.

                            Of course, what they find instead is a rather horrible Xenomorph-a-like, which soon starts bumping off members of the crew. It's up to the player, in the form of the heroic astronaut Hayao, to track the monster down and figure out how to kill it.

                            It's a pretty hackneyed story, and if you've ever watched any films at all, you'll probably guess pretty early on what the unexpected 'silver bullet' for killing the thing is going to turn out to be!

                            I can say that this one is possibly worth it as a curiosity play - it's got a very 80s feel, and is clearly prototypical of what was to come, particularly in terms of its crude Resident Evil style item hunting and combining style gameplay - but it's just a bit too awkward to wholeheartedly recommend.
                            Last edited by wakka; 16-01-2024, 11:59.

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                              Nabbed Sega Mega Drive Classics Collection (Xbone) in a sale so been hitting MD games with gusto.

                              Obligatory runs through the Golden Axe games. I remember the second as being longer for some reason. Still brilliant, as is the first.

                              Bare Knuckle runs. Three grows on me more and more, wonderful game. Didn't like it at release. Especially as I traded in BK2 towards the cost and BK2 is a personal all time top ten.

                              Thanks to the rewind feature, I was able to clear every room in Black's Dice Palace in Gunstar Heroes in the one run. Always wanted to do that for no reason whatsoever. Closest I ever got on real hardware was one room short a few times. (To be clear, I'm only talking about having to rewind a die roll here and there. RNG not a skill issue lol!)

                              Surprised how little I like Sonic 2 now. Alien Storm still rocks. Alien Soldier still sucks.

                              And so on.

                              Feel an RPG fest coming up. Been itching to rerun some Shining games, and now might be the time.

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                                I've been playing Raw Danger on PS2 which I really enjoyed to completion. Actions you take have a direct impact on other characters in the story. Really clever stuff.

                                Also Shutokou Battle 01, I seem to be playing that for some reason, for the millionth time...

                                Moved my SNES classic into my tiny setup also so I can access PS1, PS2 and SNES easily. Loaded it with all the physical games I own.

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