cimerians

...I did hear about the horrid N64 incarnations. Although I haven't tried them. I think I built up my hopes too high for the PS2 version. Hopefully they will improve on it.

Just wondering if anyone else here enjoys the CVania series. If so, I would just want to add that the latest Castlevania game on the PS2 for me is a huge disappointment. Granted, if you look at it like a simple old-school button masher with 3d graphics you might enjoy it. But I for one could not have been more disappointed. Basically, you run from room to room or corridor to room to corridor to room and whip monsters constantly by jumping around and pressing the fire button. You do this constantly. I repeat constantly. With no environmental interaction. Very little character growth (ie. experience, weapons). Very little of anything! You can't even look around the rooms to enjoy the great graphics! (Not as great as Devil May Cry. The wall clipping is a bit goofy too). The only "puzzles" you have are bacically navigating a few rooms and finding buttons or sculptures to push to unlock doors. Some rooms use the very bad camera angle to "challenge" you. (If you know what I mean). Eventually you come to a boss and defeat him and return to the castle entrance to pick another "world" and beat another boss. When you beat all 5 or 6 bosses (can't remember how many) you advance to towards the end half of the game. I felt tired of mashing ONE button for hours, travelling through similar and I mean SIMILAR rooms and corridors. Fighting a boss or two then repeating. Is this really what Castlevania has become. There is no way in all #@!ell that the same programmers from Symphony were paid to design this game. Utter, utter disappointment so far. I'd rather just play the 1st Devil May Cry instead. Someone please tell me what the bright side to this is. I really need to know. Future improved versions perhaps? I dont know right now. A real heart-breaker....

Well I picked it up yesterday and I give it a 7 out of 10 Its about average to good, the games all look perfect although the sound is probably not 100%. The controls are actually very good EXCEPT for anything that used a steering wheel. For example: Roadblaster was still very playable although the car would center itself on the screen every time you let go of the analog stick!!! Very disappointing at first but when I actually sat and played the game I got used to it quick. Its still a disappointment though... Hi-Scores are saved to a memory card and there are a bunch of extras for each game. History/art gallery etc.. This is not an Activision Anthology which was done much better IMO but its probably worth it for 20 bucks.

I can think of three games that I was most hyped up about: Pac-Man - Turned out horrible but slightly fun Donkey Kong - Again somewhat fun but completely horrible translation Swordquest - HUGE disappointment.

oh man. I haven't played this in a while. Try www.gamefaqs.com I always like Metal Gear Solid (for Ps1 and Ps2) no matter how long-winded or whacko it got. I enjoyed them a whole lot. I wonder how well the Xbox version plays. (You need to be a pretty good sniper in one chapter of the game). Just wait till you get to the underwater part, very interesting. And the last chapters of the game are the most crazy.

Anyone like this game? I dig the hell out of it. Me and a few friends played the original to death about 5 years ago. This new one is great although I wish they improved the enemy AI more. (Off topic: Whats this I hear about a new PS3 this year? Is Sony completely insane? Again I must say it has to be a joke. heh heh)

What are they nuts?? I just got my PS2 last year! Hmmm...hopefully this is a good April fools joke.

oops.... I must pay more attention to these boards.

http://www.gweep.net/~hansford/video/SNL-Atari.wmv (I wonder if anyone saw this episode on SNL?)

I don't know, I enjoy some of the console rpg's that they are today although I agree they are not as fun as what they used to be. I think Japanese companies like Konami and Square try to mix in movie like storylines and scenes with traditional role-playing elements. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it doesn't. I of course will also take any old Ultima or AD&D goldbox games over any of today's games. Those goldbox games were a mappers nightmare (unless you had the hintbooks.)

....and you forgot to mention that the lead character in most Japanese RPG's is usually and indecisive, young thief or mercenary, usually the quiet type who doesn't talk much, cannot remember his past, and never admits to loving that girlteammate. "...." "...."

Imagine how great Ultima, the Bard's tale or the AD&D Gold box games would be today if they were still around and they have Japanese RPG features: (Cutscenes, Great graphics, Great music etc.) It seems every american RPG tried to advance technologically in some way that ruined the game in the long run. Imagine playing a remake of Ultima 7 today with the features mentioned above and was developed by Lord British and Squaresoft. (minus the dopey storylines and goofy animations) I'm with you to a certain extent. I also am sick of them but I still play them because some are good and some are fun to play and besides its all we've got. (I highly recommend Drakken, I really had a lot of fun with this game. If you have a PS2 (I think its on Xbox as well) buy it. Its a non-japanese RPG that turned out to be worth every dime I spent on it. A measley $29)

Every article written has the purpose of getting someones attention. PS3 like PS2 will be a solid machine but it won't dance and make Burgers. One thing I would like to say is that I'm not a fan of endless sequels. I really love Metroid Prime and Gran Theft Auto (as well as Halo). But I don't want to see the same games or should I say .....the same charactersthemes for the next 20 years. In some situations change is good. As a result, I think Microsoft will lead the way on the next consoles, but only in this country. Outside of here I still think Sony will rule. Nintendo sadly will hang around, they really need to try new things. (IMO)

Thank you for this link! I CANNOT STAND Acclaim either. I hate them more than any other company ever and it was hilarious to read this

Eternal Darkness Phantasy Star Online Skies of Arcadia Legends Resident Evil Good stuff!

I like Playstations controller second and yes you are right, SNES had the best controller for fighting games!

I tried using the paddles at the same time in Warlords and Indy 500 when I was a kid. Indy 500 must have been a very comedic scene. I had the other controller braced between some pillows or books and tried to use both paddles one in each hand. (Goofy) I used to play Pele's soccer as well to see how many goals I could score, single player game obviously. Combat was another (how many hits I would get)

I'm not sure. But I rented Capcom Vs. SNK 2 EO and it was pretty clunky using a Gamecube controller. Hopefully someone will make a more comfortable controller for fighting games like that.

Its really great playing the games again on a real C64, rather than an emulator (as with any other machine) I used to love Trolls and Tribulations, Snokie, Beach-Head and Maniac Mansion. (Not to mention the AD&D games, Ultima, Zork, and hundreds of other stranger titles) Forbidden Forest rocked!

The disk swapping was brutal on the C64 version of U5 Never played 6 on the 64. U5 was the hardest one I played. Anyone have a favorite piece of music they like? I dig many of the tunes in 3 and 4 and especially the "overland music" in 3. I love the intro music in part 5. I guess I be talking about the music done on the C64 although the C128 played music in Ultima 5. (I'll never forget the combat music in Ultima 4 )

super monkey ball is fun and very Japanese also check: Resident Evil 1 and 0 Skies of Arcadia Legends (Rpg) SMS Phantasy Star Online (very addictive and fun when played online) Sonic Collection (must have) Nice system, nice controller but a controller NOT built for fighting games! Stay away from Capcom Street Fighter type games! (Good games, hard to control)

Games I liked that I found out later on were hated by many: ET Raiders of the Lost Ark Battlezone ET and Raiders I hated when I first played them, but once I learned what to do to win the game, then they were somewhat fun. I'm not sure but I heard over the years some people bash Battlezone, I may be wrong about this but anyway I liked it back then and still do.

LOL! Man... So I wasn't the only one who grimaced at disgust for this game. At the time I thought, "Cool! Another Adventure game! I can't wait to slay more dragons and find more goblets!" I can't beleive I actually thought about finishing this game. My mind is changed, I will leave it alone........

You know I never finished Earthworld because I never understood what you needed to do. Read the comic! get clues! is all I ever read in the manual.... Run from room to room dopping things like an idiot. Round and round again and again. So now 20 years later, I know that you must drop certain items in certain rooms to win. Or something like that. Is that it? Because of course I plan on finishing this mindless game once and for all. (Is it worth it?)

Pac-man or maybe Donkey Kong Even though I played the hell out of both of them