Retropolis Zone Video Reviews

What's up, Sega-16?

I have started a YouTube channel in March of this year where I upload video reviews of games, titled ''Retropolis Zone''. As the name implies, I will mostly focus on older games, to give them attention and to see if they have aged well, but I will also talk about modern games just as easily if I want to or am requested. My goal is to make a review as objective as I possibly can with some personal opinion and preference thrown into the mix at times, and also to entice people to try out games by examining them very in-depth. For that reason, the runtime on these videos is quite long, indeed. Grab a snack or drink if you want. ;)

So far I have five reviews under my belt, which you can all check out down below. The views have been decent, and the Sonic reviews have managed to sneak into the top YouTube search results, though I certainly want to get much bigger than I am right now. There's only one way to achieve that: keep producing fantastic content at a steady pace and promote the hell out of it all as much as I can. Sega-16 is one of those sites where I feel there is an audience to be found that is interested in what I do. I put a ton of effort and time into the entire process and the quality level is very high as a result.

Hopefully some of you enjoy the videos, and if so, I would very much appreciate your support and feedback!
Thanks for reading! :D


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEHkjy4rzVM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCUky0hn2Wo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sfA6VBNS6o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6EYbRqqGvc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQgxXxzMpW4

I really enjoyed your Sonic Adventure review. I remember when I picked up my Dreamcast on launch day with Sonic Adventure and House of the Dead 2 and was blown away with SA1. Your review reminded me of that. My Pro's and Con's with SA1 are as follows:

Pro's

• The game's graphics are vibrant and colorful and even better using the VGA box. I know some people say the game's graphics are "dated", but for a game released in 1998 I think they hold up fine. Though the characters constantly moving even while still can be funny at times. I'm also glad that you mentioned the character's mouths were synced to the Japanese dialog but not the English dialog. Too many people just say that they don't match at all when in fact they do. I guess Sonic Team had no interest in spending the extra time syncing the English dialog. Oh well, to me it's part of the game's charm.
• The music is great! I prefer Sonic Adventure's soundtrack over Sonic Adventure 2's any day. This mainly has to do with the music having variety. As much as I like Rock, SA2 had too much IMO. SA1 had Rock, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Pop-like music and others. Sega did a fantastic job and I still enjoy its soundtrack to this day.
• It may just be me, but I think Sonic Adventure was less linear than SA2. In Sonic's stages specifically there were more shortcuts, hidden item boxes and multiple paths. I feel with SA2 the exploration part was toned down and it became more of a Point A to Point B design with little off-path design included. While there are automated paths in SA1, I feel that SA2 has much more.
• Knuckles' stages are much better in SA1 than SA2. I still haven't figured out why in SA2 your Emerald radar locating one Emerald at a time would be a good idea. It seems like they wanted to make those stages longer by giving you a predetermined path to take by which Emerald you collect next. In SA1 you could do it your way. Much better in my opinion.
• The Mini Games! Sky Chase Act 1 and 2, Ice Cap snowboarding, Sand Hill and Twinkle Circuit. I enjoyed all of these. Amy's Hedgehog Hammer mini game not so much. I find that I play Twinkle Circuit the most out of all of them. It's fun and the BGM is great.
• Small, contained hub worlds. Big enough to explore, small enough not to get lost. That's what I like. Though I am a fan of just going Zone to Zone, for Sonic's first official foray in 3D I think the hub worlds let the player get used to the game's controls before you dive in the main game/stages.

Con's

• Oh boy, Big the Cat. This is where I have a love hate relationship here. I can see what Sonic Team was trying to achieve with him but the execution; meh. I know he was supposed to be a character that lets you catch your breath/do something different. Catching your breath by FISHING! In any other game it could've worked, but in a Sonic game, not so much. Though when I am bored and want to play a game without much challenge, I will play Big's stages. At least the music in his stages are enjoyable. So I guess it does have a place in a sense. A mode in SA1 where you can literally just goof off and fish. It's hard for me to explain. Though I think with the points I've made some people will get it.
• The cut-scenes. When I first played and completed SA1 I felt some lasted too long. But on my second run the length of some cut scenes really came to light. If they were condensed more I feel it would have been better.
• Same boss fight, different character. Self explanatory. Do I really need to fight the same boss two to three times? No.
• The camera. I don't think I need to explain this. The camera is relatively fine when you stick to the main paths. But as you said in your video, when you attempt to take a shortcut the camera can be your worst enemy. But for a 3D platformer from 1998 it's not that bad. Annoying at times, yes.
• Amy. I just didn't have that much fun in her stages. Thankfully, her story is short. I enjoyed Gamma's stages/story much more than Amy's. Now that I think of it, my favorite character story/stages are as follows: Sonic>Tails>Knuckles>Gamma>Amy>Big.

I didn't include the Chao aspect because honestly, I didn't spend that much time with it. It is entertaining but it's not really my cup of tea. Though I have read some people prefer Chao Adventure more than the main game itself. To each their own, I guess. All in all I think that Sonic Adventure was a great way to introduce Sonic in his first fully 3D game (I know about Sonic R and Sonic World, but I'm talking about the main games). It's a game I still enjoy to this day and will in the future.

Thanks for watching and replying here, I am glad to hear you enjoyed the Sonic Adventure video because I heavily dislike my bored tone in it. Haha. Narration has improved dramatically as the videos go on.

I would reply to a lot of what you've said, but I think that would only be redundant if you've seen the video. It does give a great feeling that the review took you back, though. :)

I would rank the characters as such: Sonic > Knuckles > Tails/Gamma > Amy > Big. I swear, beating Big's 3rd objectives of catching 2000g fish is HELL. I hated it so much, it was all luck based and it kept on going and going.
See, Sonic's fantastic, Knuckles is good, Tails and Gamma are average and Amy and Big just fall flat on their faces to me. Now yes, Sonic's story is the longest and you can decide to only play his story if you want, but when such a large portion of the game just isn't that great, in conjunction with an aged camera and such, I can't help but feel to say it's not worth playing nowadays for non-Sonic fans or those who don't have nostalgia with it.

I literally could not care less about Sonic Adventure, and sitting through 30 minutes of Sonic 06 is 30 minutes too many, but I really enjoyed your reviews of Pulseman and Gunstar Heroes. Pretty much agreed on every point.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

I literally could not care less about Sonic Adventure, and sitting through 30 minutes of Sonic 06 is 30 minutes too many, but I really enjoyed your reviews of Pulseman and Gunstar Heroes. Pretty much agreed on every point.

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To each their own. It's great to read you really enjoyed the reviews of Pulseman and Gunstar Heroes, though. I guess length isn't as much of an issue as I originally thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMp_qc51Uvg

New video. This time it's Gunstar Super Heroes for the Game Boy Advance. Do most people even know this game exists? :|

I always liked the game. I bought it the day it came out, possibly one of the few people on the planet who was super-psyched for its release. Most fans of the original tend to brush it off which is sad because it's a really great run 'n gun and certainly the best one on the GBA, or at least I can't think of a better one.

The weapons combining gimmick and lack of multi-player are sad losses and probably the most often cited reasons people don't give this game a fair shake. As far as the weapons go though, I do think the weapons are more balanced as a result and appreciate that you're never running into a situation with the wrong gun.

Yeah, it's sad to see how nostalgia-blinded or biased people can be. Gunstar Super Heroes is a very worthwhile game if you can look past its short length (though the original was short, too), nuded weapon system and lack of co-op. On the flip side, it has more variety in terms of gameplay and the presentation is definitely better thanks to the dialog and stronger hardware of the Game Boy Advance.

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Originally Posted by Retropolis Zone

Yeah, it's sad to see how nostalgia-blinded or biased people can be. Gunstar Super Heroes is a very worthwhile game if you can look past its short length (though the original was short, too), nuded weapon system and lack of co-op. On the flip side, it has more variety in terms of gameplay and the presentation is definitely better thanks to the dialog and stronger hardware of the Game Boy Advance.

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That helicopter level though.... :mad:

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

That helicopter level though.... :mad:

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Right, that really sucked. I felt the need to rant about it for over a minute. The boss in that section is so poorly designed and feels totally out of place with the rest of the game. Fortunately, it's only one section.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Retropolis Zone

Right, that really sucked. I felt the need to rant about it for over a minute. The boss in that section is so poorly designed and feels totally out of place with the rest of the game. Fortunately, it's only one section.

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Yes, I really like the game. It suffers a bit from Super Turrican 2 syndrome (a little too many different "game modes" in it, and too much mode-7), but otherwise a pretty darn good followup to the original. Graphics are gorgeous. On the forest stage it has a whooping 4 independent layers of parallax scrolling. Then all the sprite scaling and rotation (specially that huge yellow robot boss) with the crazy flaming background. Easily one of the best looking 2D games ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7D2bYgA5IA

The series with an absolutely confusing naming scheme, but one that also spawned some classics that have generally stood the test of time. If only Wonder Boy wasn't so forgotten, especially Wonder Boy in Monster World...

Great video about a great game.

Thanks a lot, good sir. :cool:

Some new ones online. Monster World IV for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Ape Escape for the PS1 and PSP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g5s6qDah4I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xiTSemsjmU