Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

I know people who argue this is the first 3D Zelda that tries to replicate how the first 3 worked.

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

March 12th

Today's challenge is: Game you always come back to.

Halfway point of the original challenge image! And another tough one.

I had no problem coming up with games I “always come back to”, but when factoring in some of my personal rules, it becomes considerably harder. An obvious answer could be Stepmania/Flashflashrevolution, but I'm hoping to avoid resorting to games that never had a physical release. Then you have some of the classics I kept playing here and there either from a young age or since their release, like Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64 or Super Smash Brothers (Melee or 64), but I find those to be extremely disappointing picks, as there's not much to say about those games anymore. There's another game I could name that would work fine, but it's a little too recent, and there are already 5 tiles it would have to go in, and I'm already having issues deciding where it's gonna go (can't spoil it yet!)... So I need to pick a title I keep coming back to, that there's something to say about it, and that saw a physical release. I'm finding out that there aren't that many obvious ones then.

Anyway, under these circumstances, the best one I could think of is Wild Guns, for the SNES. I played it for the first time as a kid during daycare (and played it quite a bit), then played it on emulators during most of my high school and early college days out of nostalgia, then it became the first game I've ever bought online on the Wii's virtual console, then bought a reproduction cart online as an adult (after finding out that it costs a fucking fortune nowadays), then bought the remastered version on PS4 as one of the first games I bought for that system, and I still played it recently on the Switch's SNES emulator. Therefore, I think it ticks all checkmarks.



So what is Wild Guns? Well, it's something that I'd classify as a Gallery Shooter. It's not quite a shmup or a rail shooter, because the screen is static, though it does feature similar mechanics. You must also control your character while also controlling the reticle. You can jump, double jump, roll and walk left and right. If you've played Contra on the NES, it kinda works like the middle sections where you see your guy from the back. Oh, and it supports simultaneous two-players mode!

The game is made by Natsume, which in my opinion are by far the best 3rd party developers on the system. They haven't made a ton of games, but holy fuck are all of their products amazing. Gundam Wing, Wild Guns, both Pocky and Rocky games, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, Ninja Warriors, there's some really good arcade stuff here. But let's focus on Wild Guns a bit more.



There are 2 playable characters in the game, and 4 in the remastered version, though I don't like the new ones. Those characters are Annie and Clint, and despite what you'd think, Annie is actually the main character. She's setting out to avenge the massacre of her loved ones by the goons of a big time crime boss. Early on her journey, she meets Clint, a bounty hunter, who offers a hand since he's after his “wanted: dead or alive” bounty anyway, and she agrees to let him tag along so long as he stays the fuck out of her way.



Wild Guns is also Spaghetti Western themed, with a special twist in that it also features futuristic robots, cyborgs and other machines coming straight out of Japanese sci-fi, which is a really odd mix that actually works really well. You also have infinite ammo when firing your old school rifle, but you can also pick up a few power ups along the way. Once you get them, your firearm is replaced by the “stronger” one until you run out of ammo. These are the grenade launcher, the shotgun and the heavy machine gun (in the original version at least, there are a few more weapons in the remastered version). There is also the peashooter, which does no damage, but you still have to go through its ammo in order to be able to hurt things again. Lastly, you can also obtain the mighty Vulcan gun, which is a damn minigun. It has infinite ammo and renders you invincible for a while, and you can get it by fully charging a gauge that's powered by intercepting enemy bullets with your own projectiles. You still have other means of attacking however! You have your laser lasso (which freezes enemies for a while, which you can then shoot down safely), you have the butt of your firearm, which you can use as a melee attack, you can also throw back the dynamite sticks enemies throw at you, and you can also use a screenwide attack, which you have a limited number of. Clint's screenwide attack is a TNT box that blows up everything, and Annie uses an overpowered mortar to achieve the same result. In the remastered version however, Annie's mortar attack covers only half of the screen, to balance out the fact that she's been buffed a lot over Clint with her movement.



The game isn't very long, and a playthrough consists of 6 levels total. A playthrough takes about half an hour to complete. The first one is Carson City, then you can do the next 4 in any order you want (Megaman style, and bonus stages will be triggered after beating 2 and 4 of these stages respectively, so long as their respective criterias are met), then the final stage. The remastered version has different stages available depending on what difficulty you are playing on, but still has only 6 stages per playthrough.



Last but not the least, the music and visuals are simply mindblowing, both in the original and remastered versions. Like I said before, the two themes going on are a little unrelated to each others, but they managed to blend the two perfectly in the more aesthetical department. I still don't know if I prefer the remastered style or the original game. I'm playing both versions of Carson City and they're both perfect efforts. I might like the original a bit more because, well, it's the original and its music is, in my opinion, hands down the best there is on the console, but the optional remastered music and the way the first boss blows up in the remastered version also gives me the manliest of boners.



As a bonus last note, I'd like to say that this is one of VERY FEW games where I'll occasionally play the dude instead of the girl. Their playstyles are only very marginally different, so the change is mostly in their appearance.

I'm likely to keep coming back to this one until the end of time, on whatever platform it's available on. The original version is exclusive to the SNES, virtual console versions are available on the Wii, Wii U and Switch, and the remastered version is available on PS4, Switch and PC.

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

Oh god I read this wrong the first time

Hell no man, I really didn't like this one. The only 3D one I haven't done is Skyward Sword, but I'll absolutely get the Switch version, but still, I really can't deal with WW. I tried to get into it a few times for completion's sake, but, I lose all motivation a few hours in. Maybe with a guide on my knees, I could grind through to the end, but until then, fuck that one.

I'd honestly rather play the CD-i ones again (except Zelda's Adventure, that one is horrendous)

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

I mean, that's part of the plan. You get to discuss those you know, and to discover new games.

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

March 13th

Today's challenge is: That atmosphere...

Today's challenge was kind of a revelation to me. I feel like my gaming experience is severely lacking in the “atmospheric” department, to a point where I almost wanted to troll and pick an aircraft game (specifically, I was gonna pick Ace Combat 7, and even more specifically, its VR mode, since it's amazing), because of the possible meaning of “atmosphere” being of Earth's actual physical atmosphere.

Anyway, while I do play a bunch of games with a great atmosphere, they're never or at least extremely rarely the reason I play them. You can argue there are several rhythm games like Rez or Thumper that I play and love with a really strong emphasis on ambiance, but I really just want to test my reflexes with hand-eye coordination challenges, and the rest is just random flavor to me. On the other hand, I would associate the concept with horror games, and I've played far too few of those to be able to say something about it. Lastly, I could talk about games with an upbeat and overblown atmosphere, since I'm a much bigger fan of those in general, but it felt like cheating. I wanted to pick a game that has a much heavier feel rather than an uplifting one.

I remembered Felix making me play Super Metroid for that reason, and that wasn't gonna cut it. But it made me think of another game he recommended me after asking about if he knew a shmup and platformer hybrid, and that's how I thought of Air Fortress, made by HAL (the Kirby and Smash folks!) for the NES.



After being gifted the game by a friend (giftwrapped with airplane lolis, thanks Phil!), I got to play it. Air fortress is exactly what I wanted Felix to suggest me. You control some guy trying to defeat an incoming army of “space fortresses” by destroying them from the inside. First, you have to fly through and past an enemy defense fleet into the main structure, then carry on by foot in order to find the core and force the whole thing to self destruct.

The game is very simple, and there isn't so much of a strong atmosphere up to that point. But then, you actually have to escape the fortress in order to move on to the next one, and honestly that part is absolutely crazy. There's no timer or anything like that, but you just know that you should probably hurry up. As you progress (and as time passes), the structure starts shaking more and more, and after around 2 minutes, if you haven't made it out, you will die with the structure itself.



I didn't play this game for this moment, I didn't even know it was gonna be a thing, but now that I know about this, I often boot the game just to go die there. I think it's fascinating, how the atmosphere changes after activating the self destruction protocol, and on NES on top of that. This was wayyyyyy ahead of its time. Sure, there were Metroid and Zillion before that, but those had simple countdowns, so nothing like what Air Fortress did in its escape sequences.



Oh, and some quick googling told me that after the last fortress, the player finds out he is the last fortress, and has to kill himself. That shocks me, I'm pretty sure the ending mentions no such thing.

The game is exclusive to the NES!

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

people who say that haven't actually played Zelda 1

but if you would rather play the CDi games over wind waker I'm very concerned that you may have gotten a bootleg copy or something

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

how the fuck is the character the last fortress that doesn't make any sense at all

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

That's a hell of a take for very different games, not sure if I can see any of it

I can confirm that everyone I know who says that has played Zelda 1, but honestly I think it's a little far fetched. You can counter each argument fairly simply, like the free roaming and little to no guidance, or so I feel.

And no. Obviously WW is a higher quality game, but it falls in the boring territory. Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon are hilarious and honestly both in the top 5 on the console unironically. They're not solid or anything, but with the proper setup, they're quite unique and interesting, and the painted backgrounds are beautiful, even if they are a bit confusing. They're also rare and some of my most expensive games too, so the collector's pride does factor in.

That's what I thought when I read that, but upon further examination, I do think that's complete BS. The wikipedia paragraph on the topic doesn't have any references, and I can't find one on my own.

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

March 14th

Today's challenge is: Bad Day Cure

If I'm having a bad day, and want to cure it with videogames, I know exactly what I want. I want an uplifting game with great controls and with moderate to intense difficulty. The idea is to have a game that can resist me, but that gives me a way to vent my frustration without adding to the reasons why I may feel down. At first, I thought of Super Punch Out since it does all of the above really well, but I thought of something much better.

That game is Dragonball Advanced Adventure, on the GBA. It's pretty interesting that, considering how many games there are about Dragonball Z, there are very, very few games about Dragonball. And this one might possibly be the best of them all! It's a 2D sidescrolling beat 'em up for most of the game, with some shmup stages as well, and it sometimes becomes a 2D fighter with a completely different control scheme. And, oh, by the way, I consider this game to be the best Game Boy Advance game ever made, but for very subjective reasons for the most part, as there are plenty of other great games on the system that people might feel more drawn to.



The platformer stages cover some of the most iconic adventures in the original Dragonball saga, but taking a lot of liberties to enhance the experience. There are also a lot of hidden items to find. You can use either Goku or Krillin in the main story (each having their own routes, and it pretty much plays by itself. Everything you can and want to do comes out so fucking fast, as you'd expect of a Dragonball game. It's really fun! And this nails the Kamehameha like no other Dragonball free roaming action game.

The fighter stages are a little more interesting, as the way they work is very unique. You usually have to find a way to jump on your opponent, and trade hits with them. It does no damage, and you don't receive or deal hitstun. There's a small stamina gauge, and the first one to empty the other player's stamina bar, gets to do a combo on them (which deals damage), aerial or ground based, which may then be followed up by a launch attack or a special move. This may sound weird, but honestly it makes you feel like you are playing the anime most of the time. And this is where I would get to vent most of my frustration. I also think this is one of the most underrated “fighting games” of all time. And, cherry on top, you can use a lot of characters in this mode.



There are also bonus modes, which are mostly unlocked by unlocking every collectible. In these modes, you can use ANYONE. Down to the shittiests grunt in the game. It's not that unique, but they've made them all play really well.

The music and art are sublime. The former is actually not taken from the anime, but mostly arrangements inspired by the show's OST, and it works super well. I wouldn't listen to it on its own, and honestly it's not the same without the sound effects, but it's incredibly satisfying. The artwork did take some liberties here and there, but it does a great effort of doing justice to the source material.



If I had any complaint about this game, it's that it didn't cover the 23rd world's martial arts tournament (at least, not by a whole lot, only cyborg tao is in there), but other than that, it's fucking amazing, and it can be quite hard too!

It's only available on the GBA, and it's a must have title, Dragonball fan or not. And fun fact, I personally own a PAL copy, which features different artwork on the cover of the box. I prefer the NTSC goku look, but the one I have doesn't have a DBZ Goku in the back, so I like it a bit more.

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

honestly looks fucking incredible

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

It is, pls try it

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

no

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

wow ok

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

March 15th

Today's challenge is: Favorite Protagonist

I was dreading this one ever since I looked at Trevor's meme template for the challenge. It's also been a topic of discussion with fellow gamers, since for years I couldn't really think of a protagonist I was that much a fan of. Deuteragonists are another story entirely, but protagonists, I can think of some pretty good ones, but none truly satisfying, considering I can only pick one.

On top of that, I threw myself 3 dumbass rules for today's theme, and it made it quite a bit harder. The main character had to originate from the game and not from another medium, the game also had to have been released physically, and most of all, it had to be a girl. So, why the last one? Because while I can actually think of some great male characters, I've also picked the girl first in any game I could choose to (unless she was lame or if there was a ninja guy instead), and thus, picking a guy would feel like betraying myself. I didn't want to make this a waifu pick however, so this has nothing to do with it.

Before I get down with the main topic, here are some of the characters I was considering (this post is gonna be really long I'm afraid). First, there was my safety option, Aya Brea from the Parasite Eve franchise. She's not the best character ever, but I got into her world a whole lot and absolutely enjoyed her perspective of being thrown into the fray alone simply because she was naturally the only one with the means to survive the challenge. Whether or not she was the protagonist of The 3rd Birthday (fantastic game that is grossly overrated, by the way) is debatable, but despite her acute gasp syndrome, she was still awesome for the same reason.

Next, there's Ashley Mizuki Robbins, from Trace Memory. She had a fun sense of humor, and displayed a wide range of emotions that you could always relate to. You could make a similar case for Max Caulfield from Life is Strange, which was fantastic (and the cel shaded graphics probably made me appreciate her a lot more, as they really eased my way in my immersion).

As far as retro games, Ellinor Waizen from the Aleste series (specifically, from MUSHA) left a great impression on me. I thought her circumstances were quite epic, and as weird as it sounds, I loved how fucked up she got through the game. It's not that I enjoy girls getting hurt, but pushing through the pain and stuff like that is just a great heroic trait regardless of the gender, and it's not something you'd often see in games like this. For example, I think Samus Aran would be multiple times more badass if she finished the game bloodied and beaten up.

Then for some left field options, I think Neptune from the Hyperdimension franchise is incredible in her own right. She's mostly a quirky parody character, and how much she (and the other characters) make fun of other gaming related companies, games or events was a guilty pleasure for me.



These are a but a few examples of protags I had in mind, but none of them felt right for today. So how did I make up my mind? Well, I asked Thesunfan for a fresh perspective on the topic, and while we both didn't know how well it would turn out, it definitely did clear up my thoughts. Therefore, I will talk about Faith Connors' debut game, Mirror's Edge.

Faith is not really the greatest main character ever, and nowhere close to that if you ask me. However, a lot of things were done right with her design. She wasn't the kind of character you're supposed to project into, but a character that tries to tell you her story, which is something I MUCH prefer over the former option. There aren't that many flaws I can point out otherwise, other that she's a little too much of an edgelord sometimes, but she's interesting enough, and her looks are appropriate for the kind of game she stars in.



About Mirror's Edge itself. Well, that's another game that completely changed my life. I had the chance to play the pre release demo on launch and on a few occasions afterwards on my friend's PS3, and I knew I had to buy the console just to play that one game. It took a little while for that to happen however, and sure, it did come out on PC and Xbox 360, and at the time, it might not have bothered me a whole lot to pick either of those systems, but I was slowly getting interested in the trophy system.

So yes, I ended up buying a brand new PS3 on a random whim while at Best Buy simply because I was craving this game too much. Also bought my first flatscreen the next day. And yes, this is THE game that got me into trophy hunting, which is the one activity I ended up dedicating myself to the most in my entire life. I'm currently sitting at 151 platinums, and I'd have exactly zero if this game didn't come into my life.



Anyway, what is Mirror's Edge, exactly? And why did it speak to me this much? Well, the sum of my gaming experience led me to imagine something like this, and when I saw it, if felt like getting my dreams served on a silver plate in the form of a Blu Ray disc. It's a first person, high speed parkour game, with minor combat mechanics and extremely stimulating yet minimalistic graphics. The controls are a little janky, but they work perfectly when it comes to making the player feel fully immersed into the action.



The story isn't all that great, and the characters are all kind of lame, but the universe is the best representation of a dystopian future I had ever seen until its reboot came out (sorry Cyberpunk, but you can't touch this thing). The way sound effects are used is unbeatable by any game ever. The cutscenes are animated in a different style entirely, but it was a nice artistic choice. And honestly, if it wasn't for the impact this game had on my life, I might have actually leaned towards Mirror's Edge: Catalyst instead. Sure, you couldn't use a gun in that one, but the free roaming was a major upgrade, and HOLY SHIT that last mission. The sense of vertigo was always a fantastic aspect of the game, but it outdid itself there.



Now, if this franchise gave me full VR support, and did it well, it might jump dangerously close to being my favorite franchise ever, but regardless, I will forever cherish this title, and I'm 200% sure it will forever be my favorite game of the 7th generation for video game, as well as having a solid spot in my top 5 games of all time. It's this fucking good.

As mentionned before, it's available on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

March 16th

Today's challenge is: After Work Relaxation.

Halfway done!

I didn't think today through a whole lot, mainly because I'd honestly play anything to get my mind off work, even games I don't like, so I consider this one to be kind of a freebie. I did try to pick a somewhat relaxing game, but that's the extent of my effort. Otherwise, I just picked whatever I feeled like talking about.



I decided to talk about Magical Chase. It's a shmup (yeah, a relaxing shmup) with 3 difficulty settings: breeze, bumpy and rough, but it's always an evenly smooth experience regardless of what you pick (the difficulty does increase or decrease significantly (depending on your pick), but no “spikes” are present). You control a cute witch on a broom named Ripple, and go through horizontally scrolling stages, where you usually have to fight a boss or two (shoutouts to Fat Metal).



She has two weapons in her arsenal. One is her main gun, which is upgraded by visiting the pumpkin man in a mid level shop (you see it floating up, then fly into it and you can buy custom parts, as well as health upgrades and stuff like that). The other one is her stars, which behave in an extremely counter intuitive way. They either move around the witch in reverse, like if you fall back, they'll get in front of you, and if you push forward, they'll cover your back, or they lock themselves in a specific position, which is weird to set up and I honestly don't really understand how the hell it works. The stars can also block certain incoming attacks, and it is necessary to make use of that in some levels.



The artstyle is fantastic for the era, the level design is flawless in my opinion, and the music is great. As I've already mentionned twice, I have a soft spot for cute 'em ups, and even though I first heard of this game because of its value, that's not really why I wanted to play it. There are a lot of wacky enemies and stage mechanics, and after playing through the game with my buddy for the first time, I stayed up all night to complete it a second time on the higher difficulty setting. I found it to be quite nice and relaxing still, which is basically the only reason it's the game I picked today, as I've never played this after work. I also never even booted my own copy or played my own PC Engine console (more on that in the next paragraph).



You can't talk about Magical Chase without talking about how it is the most expensive game to ever see a regular release, with copies fetching well over 10k dollars everytime nowadays. I personally own a custom made reproduction cart, which is even rarer than the real deal. Contrary to the PC Engine (the Turbografx-16 in Europe and Japan), the TG-16 has some weird protection in its HU-cards (there exist the PC Henshin, which is the third version of the region converter which allows you to play North American copies on the Japanese PC Engine, which was actually developped by a Quebec dude, and which I own). You really have to know the right people in order to get your hands on that, and even then that's not the most likely thing to happen.



I also seeked to buy two copies of this, which I did. A friend of mine bought one from a Canadian turbo enthusiasts' test run batch, and let me in on their little experience. They eventually sold a tiny batch of these carts, and I got there just in time to buy what I wanted. I gifted my friend Phil (who doesn't like cutesy girly games at all) one of the copies as a troll gift (he likes horizontal 2D shooters, however, so it wasn't entirely troll).



I've technically lied though, as I actually had heard of Magical Chase before (in a litteral sense). During FlashFlashRevolution's 6th Official Tournament, a chart for a song called “Ochitsukeruwakenaiwayo!” (by a guy going by “Yuuyu”) was used for Round 3 in my division. I later learned that the song was sort of a medley/arrangement of music from the Title Screen, the jingle that played after pressing “Run” on said title screen, and the first level of Magical Chase.

The game was initially released for the PC Engine, then got a slightly enhanced version 2 years later on the Turbografx-16. It was later made available on PC and on the Game Boy Color.

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

March 17th

Today's challenge is: Biggest Letdown.

Another easy one today, which I'll try to keep short since I'm getting a little burned out. The thing is, I rarely let myself get let down by games, because I rarely get hyped for games. When other people hype up games, I tend to approach them with extreme caution, which hinders my personal enjoyment and leads me to be cautious even more. When I do get hyped up, it usually does live up to my expectations, so I guess I'm fairly lucky. The only other scenario is if a game starts up pretty good but then quickly goes down the shitter. However, I'm gonna focus on the other one.

Examples of games that fall in that scenario for me are Pokemon Stadium, Hagane and Smash Brawl. But I'm not gonna talk about any of those. Instead, I'll talk about Dead or Alive 4, mostly because I wanna have at least one game from a Microsoft console. I don't know how many times I watched the first trailer from that game, I actually saved it to my computer when it was released. I thought it was sooooooo epic, and a great step up from Dead or Alive 3, which had been my favorite fighter ever since I got to play it for a few days straight the very week the original Xbox came out.



It took me forever to get to play it, since I was already fully into trophy hunting at the time and thus spent most of my “modern gaming” budget on the PS3. Hell, I already had over 500 hours of playtime on Dead or Alive 5 at that point. I actually accidentally bought a 360 while doing late night eBay auction sniping. How did that happen? Well, someone online was about to win a 360 with a 20$ bid. I was like “fuck that you aren't paying 20$ for a current gen console”, so I bid 40$ just to raise his bid (I can be a real asshole sometimes). However, 20$ was close to his max bid, so I ended up being the highest bidder with 30$ or something, and I won it myself for that price. Oh well, there was a handful of games I wanted on the console anyway, so that didn't really annoy me.



Dead or Alive 4 was the first game I bought on the console, and I played it as soon as the 360 arrived. And I felt let down, but why that happened is hard to put into words, but mostly, I thought it was a little stiff compared to DOA3 and DOA5, that the new cast and new costumes were lame, and it didn't have huge launching attacks like the one before (when Ayane would shitkick you across the arena). Plus, having played DOA5 a lot beforehand, I felt like this was a major downgrade. I could feel something similar when playing the first two games, but when comparing them to their contemporaries, mostly Virtua Fighter and Tekken, I felt like they were pure gold.



It's honestly a game I should revisit with a new mindset, as it's really bumming me out how that's the only game in the series that didn't blow my mind once I had actually played it. I played 3, 5 and 6 on their release day (or close to), and the only one of them I encountered any sort of issues with was the 6th one, although it still felt great. Maybe one day, I'll play it again and enjoy it like the rest.



Oh, and juuuuust in case: I know everyone knows it as the “tits fighter” with the whole boob physics engine thing, but it's so, so much more than that. You shouldn't dismiss the franchise because of this, because you'd be missing out on what is, to me, the greatest fighting game franchise of all time, no less than that. At least among those with 3D models.

Only available on the Xbox 360.

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

March 18th

Today's challenge is: “Back in the day” Game.

Let's go way back, to a console I've very rarely had the chance to play: The Atari 2600. I actually don't own any Atari console, but that will change in the future, I'm sure, as I've been looking up for 7800 offers here and there. Anyway, one of my friends (sup Jay) has a small Atari collection, and he once tried to impress me with one of the games he had. It worked, and I went and bought it afterwards, despite not owning the console to play it on.



The game he made me play was Solaris, a very late release for the console. I'll do my best to explain what the game is, because I don't really get it, and I just go into a crazed frenzy whenever I play it. It's an open world action game, and you're a lone spacecraft pilot travelling across the galaxy, fighting against alien squadrons, conquering planets (or blowing them the fuck up, more on that later), invading enemy bases, picking up people on planets, stuff like that. Like I said, I don't have a clue what's actually going on, but it's somewhere around those lines, and I'm not going to research it, I'll discover what it's about by myself in the future.

So, for a game I know so little about, why is it my pick for today? BECAUSE IT'S AMAZING, OH FUCK IT'S AMAZING. There is literally nothing on the console that looks and feel as advanced as this game, save for maybe some modern day tech demos if you wanna count those. The game graphics may be ahead of their time, and the whole concept might also be, but those sounds are pure Atari 2600 gold. You know the classic explosion noise on the console? Well, variations of it play non stop through the game. It's crazy.



Let's talk about the planet blowing thing. You can select a planet on the map if you wanna visit it, and you'll “jump” there afterwards. You'll fly close to the ground and do whatever it is you need to do near ground level. Eventually, you'll come across a small building that is basically a gas station, you can go there to refuel your airplane. What you can also do, however, is shooting it down. It doesn't blow up just the gas station, oh no, somehow I guess those are always connected to the planet's entire fuel supply. So after shooting it down, your spaceship will automatically speed up, as the whole planet starts to collapse, then after takeoff, debris from the planet will fly all over the place from behind you and the whole galaxy will try to hunt you down. That is so fucking crazy, I literally can't even. Oh and you better believe that the Atari's soundchip is having a fucking seizure while this happens.



Sadly the above gif runs at too few FPS, so you can't see the planet flashing and breaking down before the ship escapes.

Ah, just thinking about it makes me happy, and I wanna play it. Exclusive to the glorious Atari 2600.

Re: March 2021: 31 days game review challenge
 

March 19th

Today's challenge is: “Not the best, but having fun.”

I thought I should play with the meaning of this theme a little. I'm pretty sure it should be “average game I enjoy”, but I decided to take it a little bit more literally. Therefore, today, I'm gonna talk about Psychic World (or Psycho World, if you're playing it on the MSX2), a great game that is mostly defined by not being “the best”, according to yours truly. I will cover all three versions of this rather obscure title in order to explain why I'm saying that.



First of all, all three versions of the game are the same at the core, but they're also all significantly different. It's essentially a Megaman clone (and even though I enjoy playing this more than playing Megaman, it is definitely not as good), where you play as a girl with latent psychokinesic powers unlocked with some cutting edge headband. As you play, you can unlock various powers and switch between them as you need to. You mainly have elemental powers (like fire, ice, sonic, etc) and some support powers (like levitation, teleportation and invincibility).

The girl in question is called Lucia, and she was the assistant of a certain Dr. Knavik along with her twin sister, Cecile. Cecile is kidnapped by some monsters, and Lucia sets out to rescue her. It turns out that this was all part of Dr. Knavik's plan, who mind controls Cecile to turn her against Lucia. After peacefully incapacitating her twin sister, Lucia is shocked to find out that Dr. Knavik actually is in alien (sounds familiar?) and unleashes all of her abilities in a furious rage, which is where the story concludes.



Now that this has been said, let's talk about all three versions, starting with the Game Gear as it was the first one I've played. This version probably has the best combo of storyline, sound and controls, however almost half of the levels are missing, and the game doesn't look super great. I don't know the reason behind this as the Game Gear is pretty much identical to the Master System in terms of hardware, except slightly better since it makes use of a better color palette. The psychic powers are lined up horizontally, which makes it easy to stop and pick which one you want. Plus, the game pauses while you switch powers, which seems obvious, but sadly the Master System version doesn't do that. The music and sound design are identical to the console version, and it's absolutely fantastic, which is rare by 8-bits SEGA standards. The whole storyboard cutscene set is there (but it's ugly). However, due to there being fewer levels, some of the game engine cutscenes are missing, which is a shame since those were more on the lighthearted side, which gave the game a lot of personality. The cover art also sucks dick, unless you get the Japanese version, which looks pretty cool. Another plus exclusive to this version is that it's dirt cheap.



The Master System version is probably the one with the best presentation and graphics overall, as all the cutscenes, be storyboard or game engine, are present. All the levels are there, with some being slightly different from the Game Gear version, mostly due to how that one would sometimes blend two levels together. This would be the best version of the game if it wasn't for the fact that the game doesn't pause while selecting your powers, which make some sections very frustrating design wise, such as when you're forced to switch back and forth on top of a conveyor belt that drops you to your death. Also, you really have to be a fan of the Tonka artwork, because that's what you'll get on the cover, but honestly it's one of the less kitsch ones they've done. You can get this one for several times the price of the Game Gear version, but still usually under 60 USD.



Lastly, you have the original version on the MSX2. I haven't played this one, and I sure as hell am never going to own it because like most of the games on the console, you have to expect paying over a grand to own it. The cover art is one of my favorite of all time, however, which is why I've used it on the grid above. In this version, the artwork and sound engineering are drastically different, and all the levels are designed differently, though I'd say the Game Gear and Master System versions were improvements on that end. There are no cutscenes made with the game's engine, but a few more with detailed pixel art. I still count this as a flaw, however. This version also has the best music of the bunch, and the final fight with the alien doctor is a lot better than it is in the other two versions. And thank god, you can pause while switching which powers you are using. I don't know how well the controls feel in this one as I've never even seen a MSX2 in real life, but I'd like to assume they at least function like the other versions, since they look to me like they would.

So, which one is the best? Honestly, you could go either way, there's no clear cut winner. They each have their own strenghts and issues, which is why I said this game was “defined” by never being the best. It's not the best when you compare it against Megaman, and it's not the best when you compare it to either other versions. If you want the best controls, you pick the Game Gear version. If you want the full experience, you go with the Master System version. And if you want the most advanced version, you go with the MSX2 version. If I'm picking myself, I'll give a tiny, TINY edge to the Master System version, because I'm able to ignore the power switching issues and because I'm a diehard fan of that console.



On a last note, the first I heard of this game was after skimming through my friend Phil's personal list of “Master System games to look out for” after he had looked through the console's library. I was pretty shocked when I checked it out, and I then made acquiring both the SEGA versions a top priority. As it stands, I rank it as the 2nd best Master System game, so it is really fucking good, and definitely not average. What is my #1 game on the console, you ask? I think you'll find out sooner than later...

As mentionned multiple times in today's post, the game is out on the MSX2, the SEGA Master System, and the SEGA Game Gear.