Retro games and emulation - Discuss retro shit in case you're stuck in the past or a hipster

[Two Dollars]

Mario land 2 feels like a better version of Mario 3 with better levels and more power ups.

I’m starting to think you’ve never actually played any of the games you’re complaining about.

 

[3deadniggers]

I’m starting to think you’ve never actually played any of the games you’re complaining about.

If you want to consider the frog suit and boot to be power ups be my guest but other wise the hammer brother is the only unique thing and Mario land 2 has bubble and space suit.

 

[Pissmaster]

Wow really? Outside of Mega Man 3, Super Mario 1 & 3 I had some real stinkers including the notoriously bad Back to the Future game.

My list of NES games worth playing is 144 games long... very few that I ever owned pre-2010.

I wouldn't recommend more than a few to people with no love for it because a lot of games have newer, updated versions; and exclusives can be immensely difficult for not a lot of payoff. StarTropics is one of my favorite games on the platform, but it is brutal. And then you've got terrific games like Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, but if you've never played Punch-Out before, I would recommend playing the Wii version. It's fundamentally the same game, but with modern graphics and fleshed out opponents. The original's great and very worth playing, but I figure it'd be a better introduction for a newcomer to start with the Wii version. Super Punch-Out also works.

That includes FC, FDS, and games that required a fan translation of course. There's an insane breadth of cool games.

Oh yeah, true, but those are hard to recommend to a general audience. If a nigga finds Mario 3 unpalatable, there's no way they'll like even surface-level obscurities like Sweet Home.

 

[Carpenter Trout]

I wish there were more 3D Platformers like Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper and the first Jak & Daxter.
Most of the ones coming out these days only focus entirely on the Platforming part neglecting fighting and other aspects of gameplay, or do the polar opposite and make Gear of Tournament 3. I don't mind Ratchet Gladiator or the first 3 Spyro games, but you can only play the same games so many times before you memorise the triggers. It would also be very nice to have a recompile project for the PS2 Ratchet & Clank series, to at least have Ratchet 3's moveset on the previous 2 games, to at least how it would fare (since fighting is the weakest aspect of the first game).
I'd kill for an actual 3D Rayman 4 and a modern port of Rayman 3 for PC.

To put it in layman's terms: I'd love more Spyro rather than Crash.

 

[Baraka Obama]

The best thing about PS1 is how experimental the games of that era were.

You have the perfect era mixing new technology, new paradigms, new controls, along with the late 90s / pre-9/11 halcyon of the end of the cold war, the dotcom bubble economy, low interest rates, and Japan not quite realizing the Showa miracle was over.

The games are a product of that era and it's great. If you can't accept some wobbbly polygons and funky controls IMO that's a you problem.

And I say this as someone that overall thinks the next gen with PS2/GC/Xbox is the all time peak.

NES is interesting in a similar way in that it is an encapsulation of the 80s and also of the birth of home console gaming as we know it. You can whine about the early stuff being basic but the releases from like 88 onward just kept outdoing each other in new, fun ways. Just the ride from Dragon Quest 1 to 4 is super cool to see the progress that was made.

 

[3deadniggers]

I wish there were more 3D Platformers like Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper and the first Jak & Daxter.
Most of the ones coming out these days only focus entirely on the Platforming part neglecting fighting and other aspects of gameplay, or do the polar opposite and make Gear of Tournament 3. I don't mind Ratchet Gladiator or the first 3 Spyro games, but you can only play the same games so many times before you memorise the triggers. It would also be very nice to have a recompile project for the PS2 Ratchet & Clank series, to at least have Ratchet 3's moveset on the previous 2 games, to at least how it would fare (since fighting is the weakest aspect of the first game).
I'd kill for an actual 3D Rayman 4 and a modern port of Rayman 3 for PC.

To put it in layman's terms: I'd love more Spyro rather than Crash.

Look into PC 3d action games around that era. There's a lot of combat 3d platformers going under different genre titles.

The best thing about PS1 is how experimental the games of that era were.

This I agree with whole heartedly. The PS1 being so experimental is a great reason to pick up random games.

 

[Carpenter Trout]

If you can't accept some wobbbly polygons and funky controls IMO that's a you problem.

I agree, plus it's an easy fix with PGXP on Duckstation. While for controls, you can either rebind them

The best thing about PS1 is how experimental the games of that era were.

The PS1 being so experimental is a great reason to pick up random games.

I agree as well. It's just a bit sad that most of the games were left behind in the PS1. Bushido Blade, Spyro (Ps2 onward was a constant dumpster fire) and many of those other indie/b-studios game just didn't made the jump. I'd loved to see a 6th gen rendition of Bushido Blade. Also the early 6th gen was something spectacular. Look at Tekken 4 and Tag Tournament, for example. There's such a distinctive style in that 5th to early 6th generation that hasn't been reproduced yet.

 

[HexFag]

The best thing about PS1 is how experimental the games of that era were.

You have the perfect era mixing new technology, new paradigms, new controls, along with the late 90s / pre-9/11 halcyon of the end of the cold war, the dotcom bubble economy, low interest rates, and Japan not quite realizing the Showa miracle was over.

There's no other company that shows this better than Square during the late 90s. They were just pumping out gem after gem after gem and most were games that did something different with JRPGs.

 

[Judge Dredd]

"What 'broken' and 'unplayable' NES games are these people talking about," I wonder to myself. "Most of them seem perfectly playable to me."

I was talking games like Bart vs The Space Mutants, TMNT, and Strider, which are basically unplayable due to a mix of bad design and bad code. Battletoads literally can't be beat in 2 player mode because player 2 falls through the floor on a certain stage. I'm sure there's some autistic speed runner that managed to figure them out, but most people aren't willing to put up with that.

 

[3deadniggers]

I was talking games like Bart vs The Space Mutants, TMNT, and Strider, which are basically unplayable due to a mix of bad design and bad code. Battletoads literally can't be beat in 2 player mode because player 2 falls through the floor on a certain stage. I'm sure there's some autistic speed runner that managed to figure them out, but most people aren't willing to put up with that.

Isn't Pugsly's scavenger hunt also nearly unplayable on the NES? Fester's quest too?

 

[Skeletron Prime]

I was talking games like Bart vs The Space Mutants, TMNT, and Strider, which are basically unplayable due to a mix of bad design and bad code. Battletoads literally can't be beat in 2 player mode because player 2 falls through the floor on a certain stage. I'm sure there's some autistic speed runner that managed to figure them out, but most people aren't willing to put up with that.

There's a lot of these I need to be aware of. I've started the time consuming project that is curating a personal romset for each system to cut the chaff from the wheat, because nothing causes decision paralysis like 500 game covers staring at me through Playnite, of which arguably 50-100 of which are worth playing beyond personal nostalgia.
Also, what Simpsons game isn't a total garbage besides Konami's arcade game? Genuinely curious, because pretty much every one I've tried has been some variety of shit.

 

[3deadniggers]

Also, what Simpsons game isn't a total garbage besides Konami's arcade game? Genuinely curious, because pretty much every one I've tried has been some variety of shit.

I remember the game boy ones being playable.

 

[Pissmaster]

Isn't Pugsly's scavenger hunt also nearly unplayable on the NES? Fester's quest too?

Fester's Quest becomes very playable if you have a rapid fire controller. It also got a much-needed revision where enemies aren't damage sponges, but only for the European version.

Still not something I'd recommend without cheats, though. Some of the pickups are power downs, as in, your weapon loses a level if you accidentally pick one up. They're just mixed in with all the other pickups. I just figure that's one of those things that sounds like an interesting little way to mix things up that they didn't realize would just make the game worse, because it was the 80s and games like these were new territory.

 

[Two Dollars]

Also, what Simpsons game isn't a total garbage besides Konami's arcade game? Genuinely curious, because pretty much every one I've tried has been some variety of shit.

The Simpsons Hit-‘n-Run is a fan favorite, basically a T-rated GTA. There’s also Road Rage, which is such a shameless Crazy Taxi ripoff that Sega took the devs to court over it and won.

 

[Carpenter Trout]

There’s also Road Rage, which is such a shameless Crazy Taxi ripoff that Sega took the devs to court over it and won.

Lmao, yeah. That lolsuit because SEGA patented Crazy Taxi's arrow.
They also patented Virtua Racing's Camera Change effects.
Which reminds me that KOEI patented the Musou/3D Beat 'em Up formula, which extends to 2D Beat 'em Ups, apparently.

If you can tollerate Larry, there's a pretty neat video about patents in vidya. Pretty retarded to patent over a broad concept, imo

 

[Celebrate Nite]

Fester's Quest becomes very playable if you have a rapid fire controller. It also got a much-needed revision where enemies aren't damage sponges, but only for the European version.

Still not something I'd recommend without cheats, though. Some of the pickups are power downs, as in, your weapon loses a level if you accidentally pick one up. They're just mixed in with all the other pickups. I just figure that's one of those things that sounds like an interesting little way to mix things up that they didn't realize would just make the game worse, because it was the 80s and games like these were new territory.

Also

• You start with 2 life bars, but can upgrade it.... to only one more life bar at the beginning of the game
• You have to grind for money (which you use to buy hot dogs at varuious hot dog stands to keep your health at max), lightbulbs (to light up the sewers, which are ALWAYS dark by default and go back to being dark when you exit them) and keys (so you can spam going into houses to get potions, viegrips, rockets, and TNT's), and you absolutely NEED max number on all the weapon items when you get to the final boss
• Speaking of final boss, it will rape you no-lube style unless you figure out there's a very specific spot to hide that it's shots will not touch you while you spam rockets to finish it off, and that's on it's SECOND phase... the first phase you have to shoot it in the face while spamming potions so you don't die.
• When you get a game over, selecting continue just sets you back to the VERY FUCKING BEGINNING of the game.
• Bosses take fucking FOREVER to die, and to get them, you need to navigate rooms that are set in first person. Think that WIndows Screensaver where you're in a room maze, only not as fun and/or colorful.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

NES is interesting in a similar way in that it is an encapsulation of the 80s and also of the birth of home console gaming as we know it. You can whine about the early stuff being basic but the releases from like 88 onward just kept outdoing each other in new, fun ways. Just the ride from Dragon Quest 1 to 4 is super cool to see the progress that was made.

You can still see a lot of arcade influence in NES games. In the Atari days, almost everything was an arcade port or offered similar gameplay, whereas in NES, there were full games yet still had a lot of the same influence, including "continue" screens (some even with timers), which didn't make sense if you weren't throwing coins in.

People talk about the "golden age" of video games that began in the 1990s and ended sometime around the mid-to-late 2000s. Braindead zoomers will try to argue against this, pointing to good games in the current era and shit games in the old era, but as weak as this argument is, they're missing the bigger point that up until the mid-2000s games were getting bigger and better, more ambitious, and a better experience, even when the generational technological leaps became less and less impressive.

Infinite growth is of course impossible, but you don't get that feeling anymore, and even with games that aren't getting actively worse--microtransactions, GAAS, DEI shit--there's no real "industry improvement" anymore.

 

[IsaACKRepentance]

Wow really? Outside of Mega Man 3, Super Mario 1 & 3 I had some real stinkers including the notoriously bad Back to the Future game.

My list of NES games worth playing is 144 games long... very few that I ever owned pre-2010.

That includes FC, FDS, and games that required a fan translation of course. There's an insane breadth of cool games.

Just randomly reading the thread.

Have you posted this anywhere? Always looking for reccomendations for different consoles and would love to give this one a look. ive played a good amount of NES games but I'm sure theres a few good niche ones Im missing.

Probably the most niche game on the system ive played and liked is Destiny of an Emperor, which is a pretty neat Romance of the Three Kingdoms RPG.

 

[I am Jack's dead arm]

"What 'broken' and 'unplayable' NES games are these people talking about," I wonder to myself. "Most of them seem perfectly playable to me."

It dawns on me. "Ah yes, Mario 3. I forgot about that one."

Well then, I suppose pretty much everything is on the table.


I never got past the part where you can unlock the 2600 version of Pitfall, because I just drop the main game and play that instead.

Mayan Adventure is pretty solid, especially the Sega CD version. The "enhanced" sounds and music add a good deal.

 

[Baraka Obama]

Just randomly reading the thread.

Have you posted this anywhere? Always looking for reccomendations for different consoles and would love to give this one a look. ive played a good amount of NES games but I'm sure theres a few good niche ones Im missing.

Probably the most niche game on the system ive played and liked is Destiny of an Emperor, which is a pretty neat Romance of the Three Kingdoms RPG.

This is fresh from my spreadsheet. It's partially a list of things I own which is why there are things like DQ1-4 duplicated as DW1-4 and Akumajou Densetsu is listed instead of Castlevania 3.

Some of the names are translations of Japanese games which are direct, others are more "localized" ones that a fan translator provided.

Just to call out one thing I added recently: Samurai Pizza Cats is a very liberal fan translation of Kyattou Ninden Teyandee, just as the show is. I think the result is pretty neat: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1741/