What have you been up to lately with your SNES/SFC?

[Tanooki]

I found this SNES game the other day and I'm shocked how hard but fun it is, it's basically Qix but not.  Cacoma Knight is a tricky fun colorful little game, anime style, same studio as Kendo Rage.  Picked it up at a local shop for $20 which isn't bad at all.

 

 

[Bloodreign]

Datam Polystar, Kendo Rage (beautiful game with pastel colors), great game. This one is fine and dandy, it does play quite similar to Volfied/Qix. Last I looked at online Ebay prices, and they had gone up a bit on this game ($30 average for a cart only, not the worst, used to be cheaper though). Super Famicom version though has hit triple digit territory, just for a cart only copy.

[Wayler]

8 hours ago, Bloodreign said:

Super Famicom version though has hit triple digit territory, just for a cart only copy.

Yeah, I was planning on doing some proxy shopping through Yahoo and Mercari this summer and see if this might be one of the titles to get this time. Seems to be very rare with only a few options available. Cart was around $20 and the cheapest CIB copy was about $75. No thanks, not with those prices. 

 

I might get lucky and get it in some random bundle but I haven't seen it floating on those either. 

[Wayler]

Shopping succcesfully done. This is what I got for $140:

But then there was also handling fees, international shipping and our customs and that took a combined $70ish. So not cheap. But I'm happy with the haul:

Some CIB games with Prince of Persia being the highlight.

Some loose carts with VS collection and Dezaemon being the target, the others just came with the bundle.

A couple of nice guidebooks and some FC stuff too.

And a truly special album.

 

[SiberianSpForces]

Ooh boy. Not much, it's in the closet at the moment. I did snap the cart tabs off so it can now play Super Famicom games. I should fire it up with S-Video to see how it looks.

[WavyGravy]

Had a lot of false starts getting a CRT, bit finally did it. Period correct, for the most part, by which I mean composite cables going to a pretty modest TV.  I've never seen the point in hooking up a low-end, built-to-price device to a PVM, the games weren't really developed to be seen that way. And it's not how I remember them looking, either, which is a lot of the point.

The only thing I went a little overboard on was the sound. The TV's only mono, and I didn't have anything I could really do about that, so I picked up a pair of Edifier 1280T speakers. Can't be listening to Aquatic Ambiance in mono for cryin' out loud!

[Tanooki]

I've been kind of thinking of posting about it, but hadn't because I only have 2 hours on the clock since last weekend due to crap going on, but I haven't done SNES/SFC in awhile.  I got this high end bootleg of Secret of Mana 2(Trials) on a brand new board/new chips/new notch in slot coin cell board with an og SNES cart and a solid label - the ROM is the original one Neill Corlett did back in the mid 90s as one of the first 2 that cranked out(along side of FF5 I helped in a small part with.)  Sickeningly all these years I never found time, never made time, forgot about it for ages...and it shows up locally and I was like $20 WTF ever and took it.

 

So far I'm only that little bit in, got as far as forming a team of 3, have the fairy, in the falls and stuff, working towards that first seal.  It was annoyingly confusing and rocky to start.  I went with the magician female, the strongest swordsman, and the little kid healer combo on this as it seemed like a nicely rounded out set.  I like the audio so far, maybe as nice as th eolder, visually it's a moderately nice improvement, AI has less jank for sure, and seems to play a bit more fluid with the timing around shots.

[newtmonkey]

Romancing SaGa

I've wanted to play this one ever since reading a small preview blurb in Nintendo Power back in the day.  The screenshots made it look a lot like Final Fantasy IV, and the mention of the "ever-changing storyline" was intriguing:

(Although the game never made it out of Japan, its PS2 remake [Minstrel Song] was in fact released in the US, and I did play that release quite a bit.)

 

What sets Romancing SaGa apart from pretty much every other JRPG that it is truly nonlinear.  You're free to accept or refuse quests, and doing so actually has consequences on the world; time advances in the game (based on how many battles you've fought), and quests have time limits.  You can follow the main quest (which itself is composed of a bunch of linked sub-quests), or just take a boat to some random town and look for work.  Quests, even minor ones, are quite meaty, and the game is thankfully free from the "collect five squirrel nuts" stuff you normally find in these kinds of games.

 

Having played Minstrel Song before, I had a decent idea of how to play the game, and it's definitely not your typical JRPG experience.  You cannot just zone out and expect to make progress as long as you follow the plot, like in most JRPGs.  You are constantly making decisions about which characters to use, how to equip them, and whether or not to have them learn magic.  I definitely recommend reading the "Introduction" section of the excellent FAQ written by Fox73 if you're interested in playing this game:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/588632-romancing-saga/faqs/78029

 

There are no random encounters as enemies are shown wandering around on the maps.  This means you can clear an area of enemies completely, though they will regenerate if you leave and come back.  You could probably avoid many encounters, but I've been playing so far under the assumption that the game was balanced around clearing each area of encounters.

 

Five hours in, I absolutely love the game.  It's everything I look for in an RPG: awesome sense of adventure, plenty of worthwhile exploration, and addictive character/party development.  The fact that the game is truly nonlinear and open just makes it even better.

 

Having said, there are a couple of (minor) things I don't like about the game.  First, is the lack of tunes; the same single song plays inside and outside towns and you get a single battle theme for regular encounters and bosses.  The music is great, I just wish there was more of it!  Second, the writing is terrible (not a huge problem imo).

[Tanooki]

Nice magazine article grab, had the same feeling for ages when it came to NP, the issue that dual revealed Earthbound for NES (ie MOTHER, now earthbound beginnings due to NOA) along with Sim City.  When neodemiforce did the good work to nail down EB it was amazing, that up there is how I much felt having a crack at that, and then like 20 years or so later again with SimCity, which in that case, had someone make me a one off cart to enjoy that right.   I wish more people manufactured it for people to enjoy like the other gets everywhere.

 

SoM2/SD3/Trials I put a good stretch into the other day (I think Fri night) a few hours which is rare.  I pushed and pushed a bit more than I felt I would as I wanted to stop, but felt motivated not to get up and well... I got this device now where I can get tiny to go into this next space to search for the third mana spirit.  I had to shut it off and the weekend was hot, busy, and draining so I didn't game at all, despite even coming across on Saturday a couple FC/GB games too, still need to test the GB games on my desk. :\

[newtmonkey]

Romancing SaGa

11 hours in and this game is still awesome!  I was surprised to see that it has a pretty bad reputation outside of Japan, though I think that's mostly due to people randomly loading it up in an emulator and expecting something like Final Fantasy IV, when the game is actually structured more like an Ultima game or something like Baldur's Gate.  You really have to pay attention to what random townspeople tell you (hearing rumors is how you find quests), and need to explore and figure out how the game works.  That requires reading the manual and experimenting a bit (or just reading the Fox73 FAQ I mentioned earlier).

 

Anyway, I accomplished a lot over the last six hours.  I had finished the quest I was on, so I went sailing around the world to gather information.  I found some adventurers to fill in some holes in my party, and some random bar patrons gave me some leads on stuff to do.  I tracked down a holy relic used to slay a powerful vampire in the catacombs beneath the city, discovered the secret Thieves Guild, and took on a job to rescue someone's kidnapped daughter.  That wasn't me following the plot, but instead going around seeking out stuff to do.

 

The only really annoying thing about this game is how many monsters there are wandering around the maps.  It's always a bit disheartening to walk into a corridor and see five encounters headed your way, though individual battles actually go by very quickly.  You can actually outrun most monsters and can thus avoid combat much of the time, through the game seems balanced around fighting as much as possible (but not mindlessly grinding).

[Wayler]

Had some nice retro gaming time over the last few days and played quite a number of titles. For this thread I've chosen:

 

Prince of Persia (SFC) 

Got this as CIB as you can see from my previous post. Don't understand what happened to the cart as the plastic was brown on the backside, like it had been cooked in an oven. Worked fine though. It is basically the same version we got. The only difference is a torture scene in the intro that was cut when it was released in the west. 

 

I must say I love this game still. The meticulous controls, the precision puzzle element of the movement, the atmosphere, music. Food for the soul. Played it through, killed Jaffar, saved the Princess, so damn satisfying.

 

Out of all the set-pieces, this one is my favorite. Great Temple of Doom vibes, even though as a boss he's a bit of a cakewalk. 

 

Recently I found out that there are multiple hacks for the game with whole new levels. I might have to try those one day. 

[newtmonkey]

I've never been 100% pleased with my wireless SFC controller options, so I was on the lookout for something else.  My go-to until now has been a Wiimote connected to a SFC Classic controller, paired with an 8BitDo Retro Receiver.  It works absolutely fine, but it's sometimes annoying being tethered to that Wiimote.

 

Anyway, I decided to subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online just so I could order some of the retro controllers (FC, SFC, and N64)... and my NSO SFC controller was delivered today (along with the N64 controller), so here's a quick review:

 

The controller itself feels great with a nice solid build (the extra weight of the battery gives it a nice feel over an actual SFC controller).  The dpad felt a bit tight out of the box and I was initially concerned, but in play it feels fine.  The controller pairs without issue with an 8BitDo Retro Receiver, and I was pleased to find that the dpad requires just the right amount of pressure to activate and that it's extremely accurate -- just as accurate as an actual SFC controller with perfect diagonals.  Shmups and other games with 8-way scrolling play like a dream on this.

 

In Japan anyway, these controllers are only available to NSO subscribers, which is a hassle, but so far I'm very pleased.  I hope it will be nice and durable over time, and it would also be nice if the dpad loosens up a bit with use.

 

---

 

A quick ranking of the wireless SFC controllers/options I've tried:

 

1. Nintendo Switch Online controller: The only negatives here are the cost, annoyance at having to subscribe to NSO just to buy one, and having to get a separate adapter to actually use it with the console (either 8BitDo Retro Receiver or BlueRetro adapter).  You could argue that using BT instead of 2.4g is a negative in terms of input delay, but I think BT lag is low enough that not many people would notice it.  Otherwise, it's perfect (knock on wood).
2. SFC Classic controller w/ Wiimote: Really, the only negative is having to have a Wiimote available (and being tethered to it), and of course having to get a separate adapter to use it with the console.  One very nice thing about this solution is that you can easily keep playing if the Wiimote batteries die, since you can just swap in a new pair.
3. Stock SFC controller and raphnet adapter w/ Wiimote: Just as good as Option 2, except you need yet another separate adapter, between the controller and Wiimote.  Over the long term, this would be a more future-proof solution, since it's pretty easy to find stock controllers in decent condition... who knows how difficult it might be to find SNES/SFC Classic controllers (or even worse, NSO controllers) 10-20 years from now.

4. 8BitDo SN30 2.4G: This is definitely not a bad solution, since it has good build quality and is an all-in-one solution complete with 2.4g receiver.  However, the dpad behaves somewhat differently from the dpad on an actual SNES/SFC controller, and this becomes evident especially when playing game that require you to roll from U/D to L/R and vice versa.  I also have trouble getting accurate diagonals on this controller, and it really sours the experience when playing shmups.  Having said that, side scrollers, RPGs, and other games that don't rely much on diagonals or rolling around the dpad play just fine.

5. 8BitDo SFC Bluetooth controller: This controller is no longer available, so I don't know the model number.  I really didn't like this one at all, due to diagonals being activated either too early or too late.  Playing Contra III was an exercise in frustration with this one.  I recall lots of tweaks being posted online to fix the dpad, like placing those protective rings for reinforcing holes punched in paper around the U/D/L/R contacts.  Anyway, this thing has been wiped from history, so it's not even an option anymore!

Edited July 23 by newtmonkey

[newtmonkey]

Romancing SaGa

I'm just over 20 hours in, and this game is simply amazing.  There's so much going on with the timeline advancing as you play.  This goes beyond simply stumbling upon new quests, because stuff continues to happen throughout the world whether you're there or not.  Towns can actually get wiped out by enemy forces, and twists start getting introduced into questlines you thought were already finished, but you'd never know unless you put in the effort to check up on things.  What a game!

 

 

[Trinity]

What do you guys think about this mod?

 

I glad there is a installation service. It's a bit beyond my skills.

[Tanooki]

I guess if you really hate your SNES because it's not a 1CHIP then it's worth the effort, but largely seems like a very niche somewhat pointless one to do.

 

I really wish the guy would start offering up some more of his stuff from the past and not handle it like limited run games bullshit where it's just gone and if you may find someone who has one, you'll get reamed.  He made these very tiny PCBs you drop onto the board direct with a few spots of solder and both a standard and top loader designed PCB to restore full audio and expansion chip functionality to the NES that got cropped from the FC design when it left Japan.  I really would love to just get one of those boards for the old action set I have but it just can't be found.

[newtmonkey]

Super Mario: Yoshi Island

I've tried playing through this game multiple times over the years.  Although it looks and plays great, and has top-tier level design, I always lose steam about halfway through.  I decided that this is the year I will finally complete this game, though I'm definitely not going to aim for 100 points in each stage!

It's an awesome game, but the baby Mario health system is pretty annoying (and the main reason I have zero interest in getting the full 100 points in each stage).  Of course, if you play decently enough you really don't have to worry about it that often.

 

Anyway, I got through the first world without any trouble, even though I was quite drunk lol.  A great game to play alongside...

 

Romancing SaGa

I'm drawing near the end of the game at around 25 hours in, though there's still lots to do.  It blows my mind how massive and complex this game is.  I checked a walkthrough just to see what I've missed, and I've probably only done 25% or less of all the content.  Of course, without thoroughly researching and planning your route through the game, you will end up missing a ton of stuff... it really makes it feel like your adventure is just a small part of a changing world.  It also makes the game highly replayable, since each of the characters you choose from at the beginning start in different areas and have access to different quests.  The game also apparently has a sort of rudimentary alignment system, where your actions determine which of the three ending scenarios you gain access to.  I'm apparently on the neutral path.

 

This game is seen as a beloved classic in Japan, and I can see why.  It's not perfect though, as it's a big buggy and some content was left out due to lack of development time.  It also doesn't really explain how its systems all work (the manual helps a bit but not much).  This could be seen as a negative, but for people who like to experiment and figure out how a game works, it's a positive.  Of course, how the game works is now quite well known, and there's lot of information out there in both Japanese and English, so there's no need to experiment and figure stuff out if you don't want to.

[newtmonkey]

Romancing SaGa

I'm definitely near the end now at 32 hours in, as the mysterious minstrel who hangs out in the pubs has been directing me toward the final showdown with the evil god Saruin.

Having said that, there's still so much stuff to do, and I don't think I'm ready yet to complete the game.  I've only found two of the seven destiny stones, and only a single legendary weapon.  I'm also only halfway through a major quest chain that started way back toward the beginning of the game that has you negotiating with ancient dragons to prevent a sacrifice.  There are also lots of areas I've barely explored at all, such as most of the "Frontier" part of the map which increasingly gets overrun with monsters as the world state advances.  It seems that you can win territory back from the monsters, as I did exactly that for one of the towns.

 

I cleared the semi-final dungeon on the neutral path, but did something that dropped my alignment to evil, which opened up the evil path dungeon, so I'll probably do that (I'm sure it will have a destiny stone and some legendary equipment in there).

 

The game can get pretty brutal at this point.  Some monsters have attacks that can do 500+ damage to every party member, and 32 hours in my hardiest characters have just under 700 HP.  On the other hand, you can the save the game anywhere except in battle, and you are given three slots, so even a full party wipe won't necessarily set you back much.  Interestingly, bosses are generally pretty easy.  They do a ton of damage, but also have relatively few HPs... so boss battles typically end in victory or defeat after just a couple of rounds.  Most of the difficulty actually just comes from getting to the boss, just like a lot of the older Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games.

[newtmonkey]

Romancing SaGa

Finished!  The game ended up taking just over 40 hours to complete, and I was pretty overpowered in the end.  I was probably ready to actually complete the game 30 hours in, but I just kept finding more and more stuff to do, and was having so much fun that I didn't want the game to end!

 

The game is awesome, and the only thing stopping it from perfection is some bugs (the game actually crashed on my once, playing on actual hardware) and the fact that combat is mostly brainless and way too frequent.  The sense of adventure is unparalleled.  Each of the eight starting characters has his/her own fixed starting scenario, and then all characters go through the same final scenario in which you defeat the evil god Saruin and save the world.  Between those two scenarios, however, you are largely free to do what you want.  That includes accepting or refusing quests, and unlike in most games (even other non-linear ones) refusing a quest can actually have repercussions on the rest of the game, since all the quests are plotted within an overall game timeline.

 

It would actually be a lot of fun to replay this with a different starting character and making different choices along the way, which I may do after I play through the other two SFC games in the series.

 

Overall, easily a 10/10 game.

Edited August 1 by newtmonkey

[NE146]

So.. playing GBA Link to the Past. Is it just me or is it more difficult than the SNES original?

 

I've always ignored the GBA version of LttP since I played the SNES version so much... but recently I started it on the Switch, and got sucked in by default. But anyway, aside from the various known differences (or the Lamp able to burn enemies, etc.), I'm just noticing that nearly all the enemies seem to be more aggressive, Link takes more damage, and the bosses are a little harder to kill. Am I imagining it?? lol 

 

Anyway not that it's a bad thing.. I just was surprised by it. 

 

[Tanooki]

From what I kind of remember, it was more challenging to me too.  I can't remember if it's the less screen real estate causing it, and in turn maybe it is being differently balanced on the difficulty maybe in relation to that.

[Bloodreign]

The first of my SNES and SFC batch have arrived:

 

Super High Impact Football

Based off the arcade game, sort of a precursor to NFL Blitz. Pretty decent port, though playing defense seems to be a nightmare from the little I have played of it.

 

Jikkyo Power Pro Yakyuu 97 and Jikkyo Power Pro Yakyuu 98 Basic Hen

Konami's long running franchise, never got it quite down yet how to pitch effectively. Fun series though nonetheless.

 

Major Title

Also known as Irem Skins Game, precursor to Neo Turf Masters, damned fun golf game (and one of 2 I picked up this round, the other Ultra Golf for the GB).

 

Midway Presents Arcade Greatest Hits The Atari Collection 1

Outside of the boring as hell Pong game seen on here, nothing like having Battlezone, Missile Command, Centipede, and Tempest on a collection. I have this same collection for the PS1 as well.

 

Libble Rabble

Strange little early Namco arcade game, takes a bit to master, and probably the only console port till it appeared on Arcade Archives for modern systems (as emulation). As an SFC port, I must say, the port is quite nice. Shame my copy didn't come with the thing you put on top of the control pad to help with the games controls, but no biggie as I bought the game loose anyway.

 

 

[Tanooki]

What a crazy little selection up there.  I never really thought of Skins game being golf, but I saw that yesterday in a huge drop of SNES games at this shop we have in town, oddly enough, 'Through the Decades' is the nations largest sports and trading (competetive)  card game store in tbe nation and it's here 10min away.  That game seeing YT looks like an alpha version of Neo Turf Masters, makes sense given that part of IREMs crew then went on to be Nazca who did NTM.  Oh I'm tempted...so tempted.  I think it was some piddly $5 title too 10 tops.

 

That Midway collection was solid, I won't recap it, but the Atari one was phenomenal and it is one of those $5 titles despite the fact they re-sampled the original arcade audio sources exactly and then took the source code and converted it to work on SNES so they are in effect arcade accurate which is nuts.  Digital Eclipse in the 90s to the 00s just god tier when it came to sneaky shit to emulate or simulate stuff right on low end hardware, still gets me laserdisc Dragon's Lair works on a 4MB GBC only cart.

 

SInce I mentioned that shop I found 2 games I've been trying to source locally for like 2 years now, set me back $40 for the pair and the cheaper $15 title was a jaw dropper seeing that for my tastes.

 

It gets me and I really wonder why a game with such a special one off AI (DSP) chip, high production values, and low print run basically isn't some taken advantage of $100 'rare' for the system.  If you check ebay by US only, you don't get too many copies compared to most, but you can snag it for so little which is a shame.  And that game is...

 

F1-ROC II Race of Champions (aka Exhaust Heat 2 in Japan/SFC.)

 

The game is fast, and it's smart too, it's like F-Zero cranked to 12 as a fast moving mode7 title.  The racers aren't dumb cars that just race a line and barely bob about or not like FZ did.  That's what that 10mhz NEC DSP they retagged as the ST010 chip does, gives the drivers a level of intelligence.  They take off from the line fast, and when you get near them from behind they will weave, cut in or out, even brake or hit the gas (once passed) to ram you out of the way to re-take that spot so it's not just some mindless beat the clock racer alone.  You start out with 1/3 save spots within the C class area and you have 8 courses to run but 1 is free (in each) and you get paid a minimum to a max by what place you end up in.  The money then goes into your garage where your scientist/pit crew developers can beef up various parts of the car to a max of 8 for a price each time (they go up and +1 more parts per each of the 3 classes.)  The game has a strong RPG element of sorts because you gain experience (cash) to then use that cash to develop parts to have the car do better and slowly grow into more races to clear the entire circuit into the next.  This isn't some dumb 60min racer you can get over with, it will take a decent amount of hours.  YOU can also truncate or grow that too as each race you qualify on 2 (or add more) laps to place, then you race a little 3(never will win on this) lap race but can tier it up to like 9 or 11 then it gets into larger jumps to the 50s where you'll need to PIT which is all optional.  I ran a 7 or 9 lap race and eeked out barely a 1st once and a 3rd otherwise.

 

I wrote too much, just been awhile when a SNES game truly impressed me for being unique and good.

 

[Bloodreign]

There's a few more SNES/SFC games I await before all 13 games arrive (11 SNES/SFC, 1 NES, 1 GB).

 

Jikkyo Power Pro Yakyuu 96

Giving me the entire SFC series, 2 Saturn and 7 PS1 games still await, and a slow as molasses Game Boy title if I want to get it (it's dirt cheap). The only one not too cheap, the 2001 PS1 version.

 

Super Off Road, a bitch to get on Ebay due to all the copies of the Baja Ebay brings up when searching the game. Game is like $20+ now, not sure why it has gone up like it has.

 

Konami NFL Football SNES

Awful football game from Park Place, only put out by Konami, but I am trying to amass a large retro Konami library, once all is said and done, 208 Konami games I'll have. Every now and again I buy a turkey of a game for shits and giggles.

 

Prince of Persia

I forgot I got this one at the same time as the others already in the mail. Yeah it's an NCS port, again Konami released it in the US, and the US version has some censorship in the games intro (your character gets put on a wall and beaten I believe, or tortured). I believe this version is considered the best of the home console versions, and is a pretty decent game. The most expensive game of the lot this time, $22, more than NES Tengen Ms Pac-Man.

 

Dino City

I put this one off for years, should've gotten the Japanese version as it is slightly cheaper. Good little Irem platformer, and I try to collect some Irem, thinking the Gussun Oyoyo series in the future if those don't get too expensive. Irem has done puzzler before, with Kickle Cubicle, and that game is absolutely maddening in clearing levels once you get past the initial stages.

 

With these I'll have 219 SNES/SFC games, never thought I'd get that many as prices on a lot of SNES stuff was bonkers at one time, perhaps prices have come down somewhat. Genesis stuff I still want, like Ys 3, are getting a bit too painful to look at prices of, going $50+ for a cart only copy. The SFC I'd really love to get my hands on is Ghost Sweeper Mikami, but that ship may have sailed with the prices it sells for.

Edited August 31 by Bloodreign

[Tanooki]

@Bloodreign You know you're right about baja, a strange situation, and that one oddly isn't a bad game either but clearly not what you and others would want.  The only somewhat fix since their search blows is snes super offroad -baja and still some will come up because a true reseller doesn't care and won't title it right.

 

Prince of Persia would be my one I can't grasp costing like $20 either...wtf, it and offroad are so $5-10 titles given the commonality of that version and on large any version since they were ported to basically anything that could play a game short of some Doom level psychosis of getting it to run off a pregnancy test and a toaster.  It's at least a lower priority because I have the very competent copy on GBC black cart so it can just be the old b&w release or the gbc/nes style one and it works well.  I like the unique artistic taste of SNES title.  You know, one thing I wish that didn't have was the timer but was the core mechanic.  Yet I think with a time hack, just so you can explore and take time could make it a bit more enjoyable as an option.

 

...and kickle cubicle I finally got another copy of later last year, rarely have time to fiddle with it so maybe i didn't know it was sadist, but so far it's not a bad little game once you figure out the mechanics.

 

You got me well beat on the SNES/SFC front as I'm at 89/35 on those though I do have a pair of 90s vintage mini-multi carts for the thing bringing another 6 and 8 to the party.  I'd love to find more, they're hard to snap up on ebay since all the 'in 1' searches get aliexpress garbage.  As much as I tend to prefer historically SNES/SFC stuff the NES, FC, and now FDS have me at 107/49/11(famiclone)/10(FDS) games putting all that at 177.

[Wayler]

5 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Prince of Persia would be my one I can't grasp costing like $20 either...wtf, it and offroad are so $5-10 titles given the commonality of that version and on large any version since they were ported to basically anything that could play a game short of some Doom level psychosis of getting it to run off a pregnancy test and a toaster.  It's at least a lower priority because I have the very competent copy on GBC black cart so it can just be the old b&w release or the gbc/nes style one and it works well.  I like the unique artistic taste of SNES title.

Being an unabashed fan of the SNES version, there are a couple of things why I think it is a tier above a "normal common cheap title". 

 

-While technically "only a port", there is so much more stuff to it than any version out there. Vastly more levels, story more fleshed out, a practice mode, etc. 

-The graphics and music elegantly capture the Persian flair

-The controls and movement are perfection

 

It is no wonder then that this game is regarded as the definitive PoP experience and why it fetches a steeper price, even with the horrendous US art. Placing it in the same category as the GBC version is tomfoolery (imo of course). 

 

5 hours ago, Tanooki said:

one thing I wish that didn't have was the timer but was the core mechanic.  Yet I think with a time hack, just so you can explore and take time could make it a bit more enjoyable as an option.

I'm also not a fan of timers but here it makes thematic sense. But there's still room for ample exploration. You need to get familiar with the level layout and see what detours are worth it. But the main key is not go forward with runs that took a long time or said time will quickly dwindle away. 

 

Resetting the timer on a given level is just as easy as quitting and then continuing on the main menu as the last password is there automatically. So if you dilldally around 20minutes on a level, just make sure to quit & continue when ready to make the run for the next one.