I didn't know that Joe was "always eager to find enemies that suck and swallow!" :D
Printable View
I didn't know that Joe was "always eager to find enemies that suck and swallow!" :D
Maybe he likes angry sex. It can't get much angrier if you're shtooping an enemy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Melf
Very true. Golden Axe is as repetitive as it gets but the theme and atmosphere makes up for it. Golden Axe 3 is the other way around, improved gameplay but the "heart" is gone. You can't even play as a bad ass dwarf anymore, and snails as mounts really?Quote:
Originally Posted by Obviously
Hyperstone Heist, now that's repetitive. Golden Axe is shorter, but has some elevation changes to throw a bit of a wrinkle into the enemy management for a bit of variety and I guess that's about it.
The foot soldiers always come in fours in HH, and generally the optimal way to dispatch them is to run into the centre of the group and start the body slam. You'll be doing this about 90% of the time since it's the quickest and safest way to down a wave. It does feel quite repetitive.
That's why I feel Konami, while a good, prominent developer of it, with their lack of good fighting mechanics, were never the genre's best(though a case could be made for Violent Storm). Just, in essence, the most memorable. They got more of a license's ambiance down, that anything else. Foot Soldiers popping out of hidden wall compartments, those drill vehicles popping up out the ground and releasing enemies, things of that nature. Konami had a lot more of that going in in their beat 'em ups than Technos, Capcom, Sega, or whoever else might have made some good ones.
Technos on the other hand, had the actual fighting aspect down better than anyone, but that's about it. Like the polar opposite of Konami. Check out Shadow Force if you get the chance.
Capcom had a great balance, for the most part.
Sega... put a ****load of effort in Streets of Rage 2, and that's why it's the best console exclusive. If they always got this kind of effort, it would be an even better remembered genre than it is. Though that's just basically repeating what everyone else has already said.
Arcades had a lot of great games too though.
I don't think I need to explain Technos, Capcom and Konami any further.
Irem had some of the best, despite starting with the proto-beat 'em up Kung Fu Master(or just Kung Fu if you had an NES). Blade Master and Hook(yes, seriously) were pretty good, but Undercover Cops(not an arcade exclusive, as it was attempted as a Super Famicom port. Good for what it is, but you can imagine how it compares), and Ninja Baseball Bat Man(again, yes seriously, even with a tittle like that) were 2 of the very best.
Data East, while they gave us the alright Bad Dudes and Two Crude Dudes games, came back with Captain America and the Avengers(at least the arcade game was great), and the stellar Night Slashers(which I would nominate as one of the overall best).
Taito has a lot of crap within the genre, but they have a few enjoyable gems(Superman, Arabian Magic, Riding Fight), and a couple phenominal games in Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga III, and especially Dungeon Magic.
Tecmo... unlike SNK, didn't almost completely suck at the genre, with the original Ninja Gaiden and Wild Fang.
Winkysoft on the other hand is the big surprise. These are the guys behind the Robot Wars series of strategy games based on giant mech manga/anime. They made the unbelievably great Denjin Makaii series, especially II(1st was ported to the Super Famicom as Ghost Chaser Densei), alternatively known as Guardians. It may be the absolute best game in the 2D side of the genre, if not overall.
Never been able to play it, but I've always heard good things about Zero Team by Seibu Kaihatsu.
Man, I love Game Sack Sundays! Street Fighter 2 for the PC engine would have been a great example for this episode, but I guess we'll see that next time. ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4oxszRCXgw
I have been looking for a cheap copy of Red Zone for Genesis to get shipped overseas.
Great episode but it looks like I'll be waiting a while longer. :(
Loved this ep, you guys get hit on the nail with Alien Solider.
I only recently got Shantae on the 3DS since I decided I should play the old games before the new ones come out and like Dave I'm finding it pretty insane for a Game Boy Color title. Most GBC games look and sound like garbage. If you had told me it was a GBA game I'd believe you.
I finished this a few months ago on my 3DSXL. They game is a technical marvel, but has too many issues for me to immediately love love it. Full of blind jumps, and baddie spawn points that are pretty much always where you are going to land after said jump. It's a metroidvania, but has no mini map, and Shantae seems to die really quickly given this game type, yet the most basic of enemies take too many hits IMO, Also quite a bit of money grinding early on. It requires patience, and a full understanding of how the game works before you will truly enjoy this one. YMMV.Quote:
Originally Posted by Obviously
Overall, if you are really up to a "NES hard" challenge, I would recommend it, just be ready.
I played the sequel Shantae Riskey's Revenge after this one. It addresses pretty much all of the shortcomings that I outlined for the original, yet keeps the original vibe of the gameworld. As a result, it is extremely playable. I finished the game very quickly. Almost too quickly.
Overall, consider me a big fan of this series, and I can't wait for the release of Shantae and the Pirate's Curse on 3DS eShop.
I'm not really bothered by the difficulty or money grinding though it could use a map. It's more comparable to Monster World 2 (animal forms!), 3 and (of course) 4 than a Metroid or Castlevania from what I've played so far. If I didn't already love those games I might be less forgiving of its foibles.
Money grinding hasn't been a huge problem for me yet due to some infinite enemy spawns and the dance parlor.
To bad Shantea is expensive, I would pick it up
I might buy it for the 3DS VC
On the Shantae title screen, it said GBA enhanced. Is there extra stuff going on if you play it on a GBA?
Great episode, but should games that use extra hardware count? If it uses some extra chip or ram cart, the console isn't doing it without help.
Joe,
Some suggestions for future episodes of "Games that Push Hardware Limits":
Master System
Master of Darkness - Very detailed graphics, good animation, etc; a good game too.
James Pond 2 Codename: Robocod - Some impressive multi-directional parallax scrolling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPXs-yljRXo.
Mega Drive
Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen - 4 players on screen, no slowdown and sprite scaling between planes.
Duke Nukem 3D - Despite its flaws (music sucks, etc), it probably would be interesting to show that it runs at reasonable frame rate without being a pixelated mess. With its re-release (now for the US market) in the horizon it would probably attract some attention. Also, its instant load and save option is a feature which wasn't common for 16-bit FPS at all.
SNES
Street Racer - 4P split screen using Mode 7 and no extra chip.
Saturn
Quake - Better lighting than on the N64. Impossibru!
PS1
Quake II - Better animation, textures and frame rate than on the N64 + expansion pack. Also, one of the few PS1 titles which managed to mitigate the texture warping issues to a minimal degree.
Crash Team Racing - More detailed and with better frame rate than any kart racing game on the N64. Also, one of the few PS1 titles which offers 4P split screen and which has CPU cars in the 2P split screen mode.
Speed Punks - In 1P mode this game is more impressive than CTR IMO. It just has an awful lot of transparency and lighting effects (something that most of N64 games lack) and most of the stages have impressive animation details. The color palette seem to be better than on CTR and on par with Diddy Kong Racing (the AAA N64 games are usually more colorful than the PS1 ones IMO).
Ridge Racer Type-4 - Much better lighting and tracks much more detailed than on Gran Turismo 2.
Fighters' Impact - Despite the noticeable texture warping, the characters animation (they have more moving parts than any 5th gen 3D fighting game AFAIK), the real time shadow casting and the fully 3D background animations are quite impressive IMO. Solid 60 fps too.
N64
World Driver Championship - Puts GT2 graphics to shame. Does not require the expansion pack. One of the first games to implement the Doppler effect.
i have a crush on game sack