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

[Tanooki]

If practice mode is the game where you can just fool around timer free that's a win in my book.  As I said I know the timer is key, just would be nice to have another option too at times.  I've only really ever dug into the PC original, GBC, and NES releases and only SNES lightly decades ago on a ROM.  I've never actually owned that copy for whatever reason.

[Wayler]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

If practice mode is the game where you can just fool around timer free that's a win in my book.

It is actually called Training and consists of 6 or 7 short levels to get the player accustomed to the rather unusual movement mechanics & other skills that the Prince has up his sleeve, like combat. There is no timer on those I believe.

 

An often forgotten part of the experience. I usually go through it first after a long break from the game, to familiarize myself with the capabilities and limits before tackling the proper 20 levels. 

[Tanooki]

So like I had some time yesterday and I have accumulated a few things between the closet etc that I was fed up with, but knew the local closer stores wouldn't care to bother with so I went to the usually a bit heavy handed priced shop we have in town (they are down to 1 from 7 locations due to this too) with the goodies.  It was mostly famicom/clones cheapies, a blu ray double, a tiger quiz wiz, and a spare memory card+black gc controller I forgot I had still along with one of those old generic cabinets to hold PS1 titles in it.  The cabinet is worth something online but you know how that goes with ebay, shipping extortion etc it's worth 1/4 of the value in the end so it went too.

 

$30 cash or $65 credit, and that's where this leads to things, they were NOT heavy handed on one game, one I had not seen on a shelf in over a decade.  So I took the money, paid the other $35 short ($100 total) and brought home Pirates of Dark Water.  I vaguely remembered it being a good brawler, Capcom-esque style, but also being one of those over $100 titles that drive people nuts because of that.

 

I don't bother using the thrift etc finds post actively anymore as I felt like I was largely carrying it, but a week ago I scored a local upgrade to a beautiful 2007 produced 14" Color Monitor up from my lower resoultion 9" so I plugged into that wih the new game and got sucked into it.  It seems to have 8 stages, the first is a full stage but a primer where you steal a compass from the main villain Bloth,a nd then go and seek 7 treasures of rule to combat the dark water and save the land from that clown.  I got through 7 1/2 stages, and my power on the handheld I was using crapped out.   I should have plugged the USB cord into the wall... ugh.

 

The game is hard, not too hard, but it's in line with like Final Fight 1-3 in that way, more so 1 and 3 (2 is easier) and it's more in line I think with 3 than 1.  A good combo system, a hard and soft strike, a jump and jump strike, a dash or dash to strike, and even a block, and the classic overpowered immediate area clear hit that hurts you a little too as a payoff.  There are quite a few enemies, more than Final FIght uses I think, and color swaps of those too, so it doesn't get stale fast.  And they're smart, not so much cheap smart, but you can get tangled up and blocking really can help if it's not a heavy charging smack down, you'll defend without injury which is good.  The game seems to employ some basic level of tactics more like the King of Dragons/Knights of the Round style Capcom title, with the charging strikes with a dash and evade TMNT4 pulled in from Konami.  I think the music is the most generic and that's just puzzling to an extreme given Sunsoft isn't known for bland.  The game is also 2 players so you're not stuck alone if you have someone to go at it with.

[Dire 51]

Been playing Thunder Spirits and Phalanx recently.

[DeathAdderSF]

Last thing I played on my SNES before I sold it was, I reckon, Robotrek. The English translation is lousy and the combat system ridiculous, but I dig the graphics & soundtrack. So it was fun-ish. Finished it back in high school, despite the crap translation, then did another playthru a couple years later. Most recent play was just a brief one, a sort of goodbye.

 

But this reminds me: a former girlfriend, about 20 years back, loooooved playing Tetris Attack so much that she didn't mind losing to me every time – save for once when I was a bit preoccupied – over the course of several months.

 

I'd say she got her "revenge" by destroying me at Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, but she wasn't the gloating type. She just liked playing with me. (And was big on video games, too. )

 

I broke up w/her aboot a year before the A'can came into my life, thus 2-player Formosa Duel was reserved for a future relationship.

 

Ah, memories. *burp*

Edited September 14 by DeathAdderSF
Added needless innuendo.

[newtmonkey]

Ys V Ushinawareta Suna no Miyako Kefin

  A lot of Ys fans see this as sort of the black sheep of the series (even more than Ys III) due to not really playing, looking, sounding, or feeling like an Ys game.  At two hours in, I can see that.  It's grim and grimy instead of bright and colorful, the soundtrack is atmospheric and slow instead of kickass and rocking, it plays like any other action RPG instead of using the combat system from Ys I/II and Ys IV, and the cartridge format means no spoken dialog (of course) but also no cinema scenes or character portraits.  It also throws out iconic stuff from the previous four games, like the little icons for all your equipment and items (and the joy of finally getting a screen full of them), and Dogi smashing through walls to save you.

  The biggest change of course is that you have to swing your sword and jump around, instead of just bumping into enemies off center.  You also have a dedicated button for your shield.  This should have been an improvement over bump combat, but (so far) the developers didn't really do anything with it.  Enemies still just dash straight at you, so you basically just stand there smashing the attack button.  Bosses should have been awesome action contests, but instead you just stand there and button mash them once they start moving around.  Making it worse is the fact that you can access your inventory even during boss bottles, which means you can gulp healing potions (you can carry many) and really just button mash your way through the game.

  Although it's a disappointing Ys games (especially after the amazing Ys IV Dawn of Ys), it's a decent enough action RPG, and the soundtrack is quite nice.

Edited September 17 by newtmonkey

[newtmonkey]

Ys V Ushinawareta Suna no Miyako Kefin

  This is a pleasant enough game, but I'm not sure if I really like it.  I am a firm disbeliever in the modern notion that game design is something that always improves over the years, as though technology was too limited for something so simple as video games to work over the last 40 years, and that something as subjective as "fun" can only be understood by people in 2024, so I try to evaluate games as they actually play today, rather than how they played back when they were released.

  Having said that, I think if Ys V was released on the SNES back in the day, I think I would have loved it.  It would have been a cool follow-up to Ys III, and compared to that game would have seemed more complex and interesting.

 

  However, it's not really a good game.  First of all, it's unbelievably, ridiculously easy.  I mentioned earlier about being able to gulp potions during boss battles, but in most you don't even have to resort to that.  Just stand next to the boss and slash his head over and over, and you will often win without even getting low on HPs.  Dungeons are tiny and mostly linear, and the only reason to really explore them is in the off chance that they have some magic ring (you will never use).  All equipment for most of the game is bought in shops, so you don't even have the joy of finding some kickass sword in a chest somewhere.

  The story is dumb.  I really hate it when a game forces you to be dumb for the story to progress, and that is basically Ys V in a nutshell.  A sinister guy asks you collect a bunch of crystals that have unimaginable power "for the people" and you have no choice but to just do it.  Of course, he double crosses you.  The game even rubs it in, with a bunch of NPCs criticizing you for trusting people too much.  Instead of insulting me for being so dumb to actually play your game and follow your linear story, how about writing villains with actual motivations besides being totally evil, and coming up with some scenario where a normal person would be tricked into doing the wrong thing?

  After the amazing Ys IV Dawn of Ys, it's quite a letdown so far, but at 7 hours in I'm apparently somewhat close to the end.  I've actually played the next game in the series, so I know it's very cool, but I'm looking forward to getting this game over with and heading into the Ys renaissance that starts with Ys VI.

Edited September 21 by newtmonkey

[Tanooki]

So I don't know what really inspired it, but I got back into fiddling with the SNES a bit more unrelated to that last find.  I pulled a few things from the shelf to see how I felt, but got oddly compelled to pull out Link to the Past which I haven't thought much of since the GBA seriously at least.  Next thing I knew I played it 2 of the last 3 days (not including yesterday) and the first put me through 2 dungeons and a full added heart.  The other day I went back, and I did the third pendant, first maiden, got more heart pieces, charged my arrows and bombs up like 3-4x each (I had max cash), got the flippers, the ice wand, etc.  I only put it down as I had been on it a couple hours.  I decided it would be interesting to just keep the Supaboy black plugged in via USB and set it in my ROBs domain on top of the new 14" monitor I'm using and played off a real controller with that and it was a nice trip.  The flippers were the last bit I snagged when I remembered where I thought they might be (and were) and also got that thunder or quake (the one in the water ring of rocks) medal spell as well.  I parked it at Link's house since it's easy enough from there to gate to the second dungeon I can do now with flippers.  The game truly is whatever goons will say otherwise, the high point of that franchise.

 

Oh I also got curious and fired up Star Fox, not sure why but I guess I got close enough and went from stage one, into the asteroid belt, and somehow luckily edged it enough to tip off the troll face moon and slammed into that which took me into the Black Hole.  I had to leave which SUCKED, as I forgot about that one, and the lead in about the father lost here for all time bit was a nice omen.

Edited September 21 by Tanooki

[newtmonkey]

Ys V Ushinawareta Suna no Miyako Kefin

  Finished!  It was an alright action RPG, but a disappointing Ys game.  It feels a bit unfinished.  There's this unique alchemy system for casting spells, but you can't use magic against bosses, and killing regular enemies with spells robs you of experience and gold... so there's no point to magic whatsoever.

  It also remains extremely easy until the very end. Still, it's not broken or anything. It controls well, it's got some decent looking environments, and the soundtrack is quite good.  It took me just over 9 hours to get through the entire game, so you could blast through it over a weekend if you want.

[Tanooki]

I don't know I'd call making magic work against growth and profit broken.

 

Yesterday I grabbed a small selection of games, the first two were SFC releases and the first one annoyed me enough I forget at the moment what it was, but then I also was thinking ehh...why not and snagged Shanghai III (I have no idea why it's 3) and that one I went on probably nearly an hour.  The default I hate, it has a very annoying kill timer, but if you config first you can just set infinity so you can enjoy trying to work the puzzles making it fun.  It does negate the need to get the bonus time extension though but whatever.  You can also get a peek bonus, and a hint bonus too (hint though is next move you aren't seeing.)  The game plays around the chinese zodiac so each has a differing table of tiles.  If you can clear it, you get a SMB3 style bonus game where you get 3 strikes to flip to add points to score, then the time and peek can be +1 if you find that too.  It's not a graphical or audio masterpiece, but it very well gets the job done without being a negative or worse grating.

 

After that, Zelda... had to remember how to pop back and forward, but then I did, drained the swamp, and did the 2nd dungeon to free the maiden.  Yay hookshot, that is a real game changer in this one since you can crack stuff weapon strength without getting a shock, but also can obviously go over gaps and pull stuff away from things using pieces as a shield.

[newtmonkey]

Ys IV Mask of the Sun

  Back in the day, Falcom farmed out two different versions of this game, Mask of the Sun on SFC and Dawn of Ys on PC Engine, and they are wildly different.  I originally planned on skipping this one, as Ys IV Dawn of Ys on the PC Engine is widely regarded as the better of the two.  However, after completing Ys V I decided to give this one a look and see how it compares to the excellent PC Engine game.

  Much like Dawn of Ys, it's a return to the bump combat of Ys I/II, but is sadly somewhat clunky.  Unlike in Dawn, you can't move diagonally, which is a problem because Mask absolutely requires you to be off from center from the enemies when bumping into them, or you will eat a ton of damage instantly.  What's worse is that the game runs way too fast and enemies move constantly back to center the moment before you hit them, making combat an absolute pain.

  Other than that, though, it's a decent game.  It looks nice and colorful like an Ys game should, though the backgrounds are quite a step down from the impressively detailed areas of Dawn.  There isn't any spoken dialogue (of course) or any character portraits, but you do get a nice intro cinema.  The soundtrack is more or less the same as Dawn, though obviously not CD quality.  It sounds okay, but some of the instruments chosen sound off.

  I enjoyed the hour or so I spent with it, but I'm quite burnt out on Ys games, so I'll be putting this aside for later.

[Van Halbgott]

I was playing Super Mario World (1991) when I lost my save data after fiddling with my SNES because my cartridge wouldn’t read at first.

 

Keep in mind that my father replaced in built-in battery.

[Wayler]

10 hours ago, Van Halbgott said:

Keep in mind that my father replaced in built-in battery.

[newtmonkey]

Aretha

  This is an interesting little RPG that's not well known outside of Japan, but is actually part of a somewhat extensive series with three games on the Game Boy and three games on the Super Famicom.  I haven't played the Game Boy games so I don't know if they are related, but decided to start out with the first SFC game.

  You start the game as a little girl living in the woods with her grandma, just doing normal chores like delivering herbs to the nearby town... but of course get wrapped up in a world-spanning quest.  It's a unique setup for an RPG for sure.

  The game does some really interesting things.  First of all, the music is awesome and reminds me of the iMUSE stuff Lucasarts did with some of their PC games.  The music is dynamic and changes based on what's currently going on, and individual tracks actually (mostly) seamlessly flow into each other.  I wish more games would do this!

  Combat looks a lot like Dragon Quest, but you can actually get surrounded by enemies and have to press L and R to turn around and face enemies to your sides or rear.

  Although the game uses your typical RPG system of experience points and levels, you actually learn new spells not by leveling up but based on how often you cast spells in battle.

  Finally, there's a crafting system and it's unbelievably broken.  Monsters will sometimes drop elemental souls when slain, and you can have hermits use these souls to create equipment.  The thing is, some of the stuff you can craft is ridiculously powerful.  You don't even need to consult an FAQ or anything; I tried crafting stuff with one soul of each type I had, and with ten souls (the max) of each type I had, and I was able to craft armor that boosted my defense to 300, where the best armor you can buy at that point gives you a defense of 30!  It's insane.

  My only complaint so far is that EVERYTHING seems to be based only on your level.  It's Ys syndrome.  If you are at the right level, the game is easy.  If you are below that level, you literally cannot even land a hit on enemies.

[Tanooki]

So here's an interesting take I swung back around to the SNES a bit today, in part, because I felt bad letting Zelda rot, but more so because I stumbled across a couple SNES games I didn't have before today, and one, the name is confusing and sucks but it hides a bit of an utterly under the radar diamond in the rough.  Back to that decades shop, nationally it's the largest for trading card game cards and tournament play, but they keep games, old toys, sports stuff too.  For a time now they've by far had the largest singular collection of NES, SNES, GB-A, and Genesis games on the shelf in the county so I try and go in once a month minimally.  What do I see in there, for one, Lemmings 2 which I've wanted as I'm familiar with the first and because it uses the mouse.  But what I locked onto was the terribly(NA market only) named The Skins Game, better known in arcade/anywhere else as Major TItle 2.  It's an IREM game, and IREM GOLF game, see where this is going yet?  The game came out in 1992, and the core mechanics and designs are what carried into those IREM coders who quit to form NAZCA that created not just Metal Slug, but also their lead off game Neo Turf Masters.   Match Game 2(Skins Game) is effectively a beta/precursor of Neo Turf Masters, just as In the Hunt was the beta/precursor to Metal Slug.

 

It has a little bit of a rough edge to it, but I think it's mostly myself needing to get used to these fairly whacked out greens, and the unique swing mechanic the game uses.  Style from how it looks, sounds, calling certain things, the multiple player types with differing abilities are all what you see in Neo Turf Masters.  The concept of a skins game, it's a gambling game, you bet cash to see who can finish the hole with the best score and win/lose cash off that, and then the usual match, stroke, and tourney play too.

 

So I fiddled with those two a bit today, then swung back around to Link to the Past and quickly went in through the east, confused for a few moments, but then found the right way to access the 3rd dungeon and took that thing down pretty fast and then walked to the 4th and parked it there for tomorrow/next time.

[Bloodreign]

Major Title was one I recently picked up my last batch of games I bought off Ebay. And I fully knew it was a precursor to Neo Turf Masters, and of course knew it was a port of an arcade game.

 

As for Lemmings 2, I have it on Genesis, have never gone after the SNES version (I don't even own the mouse for the console), and not even sure if it's expensive or not.

[Tanooki]

4 hours ago, Bloodreign said:

Major Title was one I recently picked up my last batch of games I bought off Ebay. And I fully knew it was a precursor to Neo Turf Masters, and of course knew it was a port of an arcade game.

 

As for Lemmings 2, I have it on Genesis, have never gone after the SNES version (I don't even own the mouse for the console), and not even sure if it's expensive or not.

Lemmings commonly sells for $30, $5~ less if you're persistent, and the other is a $10-12 game again unless you get lucky then maybe $8 and both those are prices before shipping/tax on ebay is tacked on.

[+Biff Burgertime]

I'm playing Seiken Densetsu 3 again, originally played it 20 years ago in ZSNES with my Gravis Gamepad Pro.