Why add games to the NSO service when you can just sell games directly to people on the eshop through compilations?
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NSO Exploring NSO together... Randomly! (Game #14 picked!)
- Thread starter jnWake
- Start date
Mer.Saloon
Chain Chomp
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Fun twist, the ref cheats in this mode too. He ignores blatant cheating from the other team, but will penalize your for your mistakes hardcore. I didn't get that far but finding that out makes me just chortle. Imagine getting that far only to face a computer blatantly cheating against you for story reasons.Someone already spoiled this on a post above, but beating every single team isn't the end... In a plot twist (yes, one in a football game!) it's revealed the referee also wants to challenge you!
I'm pretty sure this is exactly what it means...
Now, this is the cheating part I mentioned above. The team you battle here is called "Nintendo Team" and it's completely bullshit. Every single player is very good and it's just a complete pain to beat them legit... I tried for a while but I eventually gave up and used Rewind to win and even then all I could manage was a measly 1-0.
I still feel I earned this, despite how I won that final match!
And with that, Super Soccer is over! Being honest, I didn't like it much. It's not unplayable but the perspective is simply bad, it makes both offense and defense very tricky, and the switch of perspective on the second half is just terrible. If that wasn't enough, the broken Foul system and the absurd cheapness of computer controlled teams just make this game a pure exercise in frustration. I'm not even sure why I pushed myself to beat 99% of it legit but I did anyway! Guess my south american blood didn't want to give up at football.
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Anyway, with this we've reached 10 games cleared on the Exploring NSO project! To celebrate, I wanted to share two things!
First...
Playtimes! If anyone had ever wondered how much time I dedicated to every game, here you go! I'm not proud of that Super Soccer time. I also now realize I actually didn't play that much of Wave Race, guess that's one game I should revisit sometime.
Second, and this could be spicy... the TOP 10 of games played so far!
Wario Land 3 gets the gold medal! Don't flame me Mario 3 fans please...
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This post is a little lengthy so I'll leave the next roll for a future post.
Finally, there's one last thing I wanted to share here. I've decided to set up a special rule for one game... IF I ever roll Golden Sun: The Lost Age, this will active a massive Wombo Combo and I'll play through both Golden Sun games, one right after the other! Why? Simply because The Lost Age's best played directly after the original Golden Sun both for story reasons AND gameplay ones, as your progress from the first game actually matters there! Don't take this as a tease as I legit haven't rolled the next game yet, but I wanted to share this special rule just in case it gets rolled!
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
Even more justification for my decision of basically cheating to defeat them!
Game #11
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
K, enough hours passed. It's time for a new roll!
As always, first we roll for one of the six available consoles:
... SNES again. Out of 11 rolls, 5 of them have been SNES. Randomness can be nutty at times.
ANYWAY, there's 73 games on the SNES NSO list so let's roll a number:
New number! And the game is...
Wild Guns!
I don't think I've played this game before, but reading about it seems like it's actually a good game! Excited to try it out. As usual, anyone with experience on this is welcome to share it!
As always, first we roll for one of the six available consoles:
... SNES again. Out of 11 rolls, 5 of them have been SNES. Randomness can be nutty at times.
ANYWAY, there's 73 games on the SNES NSO list so let's roll a number:
New number! And the game is...
Wild Guns!
I don't think I've played this game before, but reading about it seems like it's actually a good game! Excited to try it out. As usual, anyone with experience on this is welcome to share it!
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Mer.Saloon
Chain Chomp
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Ooh, this is a good one. A short and hard one but really good. Though it's best played with a buddy.K, enough hours passed. It's time for a new roll!
As always, first we roll for one of the six available consoles:
... SNES again. Out of 11 rolls, 5 of them have been SNES. Randomness can be nutty at times.
ANYWAY, there's 73 games on the SNES NSO list so let's roll a number:
New number! And the game is...
Wild Guns!
I don't think I've played this game before, but reading about it seems like it's actually a good game! Excited to try it out. As usual, anyone with experience on this is welcome to share it!
That reminds me that I've been wanting to play the remake.
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
So...
Wild Guns! Finally a game with effort put into the title screen. So, for those not in the know (like me a few days ago), what is Wild Guns?
Wild West + Steampunk is always a neat combo
I'm not sure what to exactly call the genre, but I'd say it's an arcade shooting game. Basically, you control your character on a 2D plane, moving left/right or jumping to dodge enemy attacks while you also control your aim cursor and shoot at enemies. It's pretty simple all things considered, with most of the games' depth coming from your ability to properly dodge enemy attacks. There's a few extra mechanics, like the option to use a bomb for a screen-wide attack or different weapon types you can get from killing enemies/destroying objects, but the core of the gameplay is dodging and shooting.
Game features 2 playable characters, with the correct choice being, of course, the girl. There's really not much story to the game but if you read the manual it seems she's on a quest for revenge so it's just natural to pick her.
In terms of difficulty, Wild Guns is a little hard and you'll likely see the above screen quite a bit. It's not bullshit hard though and with some practice you should be able to beat the game...
Each level ends with a victory pose! I only played as the dude to get a screenshot of his pose
One of the few "negative" things I have to say about Wild Guns is its length, as the game features only 6 levels. Most levels feature 3 "screens" where you'll battle multiple waves of enemies and, usually, a boss. If you get a "Game Over" you always have the opportunity to retry the current level (from the beginning), so the punishment for dying isn't too much.
After almost 3 hours, I managed to clear the game! I only used savestates to save my progress as this is one of those "beat in one sitting" kind of games...
Overall, I thought it was pretty good! It's a little basic in terms of gameplay and a little short, but it's super fun. If you like games where the focus is on dodging and attacking back (like shoot 'em ups) you'll surely like this one.
You can compete against yourself if you're the score hunting type!
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Anyway, so that's Wild Guns. Fairly short game so I got it done quickly (also because it was fun). I'll post the next game tomorrow probably.
Wild Guns! Finally a game with effort put into the title screen. So, for those not in the know (like me a few days ago), what is Wild Guns?
Wild West + Steampunk is always a neat combo
I'm not sure what to exactly call the genre, but I'd say it's an arcade shooting game. Basically, you control your character on a 2D plane, moving left/right or jumping to dodge enemy attacks while you also control your aim cursor and shoot at enemies. It's pretty simple all things considered, with most of the games' depth coming from your ability to properly dodge enemy attacks. There's a few extra mechanics, like the option to use a bomb for a screen-wide attack or different weapon types you can get from killing enemies/destroying objects, but the core of the gameplay is dodging and shooting.
Game features 2 playable characters, with the correct choice being, of course, the girl. There's really not much story to the game but if you read the manual it seems she's on a quest for revenge so it's just natural to pick her.
In terms of difficulty, Wild Guns is a little hard and you'll likely see the above screen quite a bit. It's not bullshit hard though and with some practice you should be able to beat the game...
Each level ends with a victory pose! I only played as the dude to get a screenshot of his pose
One of the few "negative" things I have to say about Wild Guns is its length, as the game features only 6 levels. Most levels feature 3 "screens" where you'll battle multiple waves of enemies and, usually, a boss. If you get a "Game Over" you always have the opportunity to retry the current level (from the beginning), so the punishment for dying isn't too much.
After almost 3 hours, I managed to clear the game! I only used savestates to save my progress as this is one of those "beat in one sitting" kind of games...
Overall, I thought it was pretty good! It's a little basic in terms of gameplay and a little short, but it's super fun. If you like games where the focus is on dodging and attacking back (like shoot 'em ups) you'll surely like this one.
You can compete against yourself if you're the score hunting type!
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Anyway, so that's Wild Guns. Fairly short game so I got it done quickly (also because it was fun). I'll post the next game tomorrow probably.
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Mer.Saloon
Chain Chomp
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Love me some Wild Guns! Such a stylish arcade shooter.
Amishpriest
Cappy
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- He/Him
So when I typed this post, I was actually thinking of Super Tennis, not Super Soccer (lol). I did go try Super Soccer for a bit, and wound up enjoying it more than I expected to. Granted, I don't really play soccer games so I don't have much to compare it to.
Wild Guns is another I haven't played before, looking forward to trying it when I have some time.
Game #12
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
Indeed, I forgot to mention this on my review but the visuals in Wild Guns are super good. Beautiful pixel art, fun designs for characters/enemies and the animations are pretty cool as well. It manages to be hectic but still readable, unlike some other games in similar genres.
Haha, I hope I don't roll too many of those old sports games like Super Tennis or, worse, the NES black box sport titles. I can't imagine them being particularly good.
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I seem to be in a burst of motivation for this so I decided to roll the next game today! As usual, first we roll for a console (please don't be SNES again...)
3! That's Nintendo SIXTY FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUR. There's 31 N64 games on NSO so we'll roll the game next:
Number 13! Let's see...
F-Zero X!
I don't have too much experience with the F-Zero franchise. I played the SNES one and although I thought the controls were good I absolutely hated the difficulty in Grand Prix mode. I've also played some runs of F-Zero 99 which I think is super fun, despite the fact that I haven't won a race yet.
In any case, I imagine there's many fans of this game in here, so I'm interested in hearing from you!
Did the emulation issues on this game ever get fixed? I hope they aren't too annoying.
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Mer.Saloon
Chain Chomp
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If you're sensitive to even slight fluctuations, F-Zero X's frame issues may pose a problem. But nothing you couldn't adjust to especially since they are really so minor.
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
I haven't updated in a while, sorry. I've been playing through F-Zero X a little slowly, mostly since I've been playing FFV at the same time.
Managed to beat all the cups in Novice and now I'm trying Standard. I dunno if it's that I suck at the game or that the game's tough but it took me a bit to get 1st place on the Jack Cup. I'll try to get 1st place on the other 2 cups before posting my review. Definitely not gonna attempt Expert mode haha, I feel Standard is enough "exploration" for me. This isn't the "Mastering NSO" thread after all!
Managed to beat all the cups in Novice and now I'm trying Standard. I dunno if it's that I suck at the game or that the game's tough but it took me a bit to get 1st place on the Jack Cup. I'll try to get 1st place on the other 2 cups before posting my review. Definitely not gonna attempt Expert mode haha, I feel Standard is enough "exploration" for me. This isn't the "Mastering NSO" thread after all!
Mer.Saloon
Chain Chomp
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Never got far in X myself. My terrible response time has always made this kinda of game ridiculously tough for me.
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I haven’t played X but it looks brutal. The only way I’d be able to make any progress in X would be with save state abuse!
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
So... that post yesterday was the classic case of complaining about something and immediately fixing it! Managed to beat all the Standard cups last night. So...
F-Zero X! Fairly cool looking title screen, makes you wish the game had something like a story mode, doesn't it? Anyway, although I assume most people here know, what is F-Zero X?
F-Zero X is a high speed racing game, sequel to the SNES classic F-Zero (which I don't like much but shh). As you can see on the screen above, each race begins with 30 racers, which is very chaotic. I say begins since one of F-Zero's most interesting mechanics is the fact that racers (including the player) can be eliminated during each race, either by falling down of the track or by having their energy depleted (notice the Energy bar in the screenshot above). This adds an extra layer of risk to the game, making each race even more thrilling than it already was due to the difficulty.
F-Zero X features a wide array of characters with designs that range from regular humans to uh... Octoman. Sadly, not all racers are unlocked at the beginning and you must actually clear all cups in each difficulty to unlock the rest (each difficulty unlocks an additional row).
One of the coolest aspects of the game is its track design. As you can see from the map here, some tracks are heavy on verticality and loops. All the stuff you saw in Mario Kart 8's track design that was cool was actually already done many years before by F-Zero X!
Now, a word on difficulty. F-Zero X is a tough game, many tracks feature tricky lay-outs so you'll probably see the "Retire" screen a fair amount. Enemy racers are also quite challenging and you may also see the "Try Again" screen when you don't manage to win a cup... believe me that I saw it more than enough. Anyway, after enough practice I managed to beat the 3 cups in Standard Mode and I was ready to call it quits but...
An extra cup unlocks! First track, as Mario Kart EXPERTS may realize, is the N64 Rainbow Road. Sadly, the music here is just a regular F-Zero X song, it'd have been great to have a rock remix of the Mario Kart tune... So, this final cup was actually pretty hard, with the final race in particular being pretty difficult. But! I don't give up easily and eventually...
I won! Using Billy the monkey I managed to snag first place and prove that monkeys are the best or something like that. You can notice one of the funny quirks of F-Zero's "elimination" system in the rankings, since my closest competitor (Samurai Goroh) was actually eliminated in the final race so I managed to get a ridiculous lead at the end!
Overall, I really liked F-Zero X! It controls great and although it's pretty hard it's not BS (at least on Standard). It's a major improvement over the SNES iteration, which controlled great but was complete BS on Grand Prix.
I'm gonna roll the next game soon!
F-Zero X! Fairly cool looking title screen, makes you wish the game had something like a story mode, doesn't it? Anyway, although I assume most people here know, what is F-Zero X?
F-Zero X is a high speed racing game, sequel to the SNES classic F-Zero (which I don't like much but shh). As you can see on the screen above, each race begins with 30 racers, which is very chaotic. I say begins since one of F-Zero's most interesting mechanics is the fact that racers (including the player) can be eliminated during each race, either by falling down of the track or by having their energy depleted (notice the Energy bar in the screenshot above). This adds an extra layer of risk to the game, making each race even more thrilling than it already was due to the difficulty.
F-Zero X features a wide array of characters with designs that range from regular humans to uh... Octoman. Sadly, not all racers are unlocked at the beginning and you must actually clear all cups in each difficulty to unlock the rest (each difficulty unlocks an additional row).
One of the coolest aspects of the game is its track design. As you can see from the map here, some tracks are heavy on verticality and loops. All the stuff you saw in Mario Kart 8's track design that was cool was actually already done many years before by F-Zero X!
Now, a word on difficulty. F-Zero X is a tough game, many tracks feature tricky lay-outs so you'll probably see the "Retire" screen a fair amount. Enemy racers are also quite challenging and you may also see the "Try Again" screen when you don't manage to win a cup... believe me that I saw it more than enough. Anyway, after enough practice I managed to beat the 3 cups in Standard Mode and I was ready to call it quits but...
An extra cup unlocks! First track, as Mario Kart EXPERTS may realize, is the N64 Rainbow Road. Sadly, the music here is just a regular F-Zero X song, it'd have been great to have a rock remix of the Mario Kart tune... So, this final cup was actually pretty hard, with the final race in particular being pretty difficult. But! I don't give up easily and eventually...
I won! Using Billy the monkey I managed to snag first place and prove that monkeys are the best or something like that. You can notice one of the funny quirks of F-Zero's "elimination" system in the rankings, since my closest competitor (Samurai Goroh) was actually eliminated in the final race so I managed to get a ridiculous lead at the end!
Overall, I really liked F-Zero X! It controls great and although it's pretty hard it's not BS (at least on Standard). It's a major improvement over the SNES iteration, which controlled great but was complete BS on Grand Prix.
I'm gonna roll the next game soon!
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Game #13
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
Double post! New roll!
As usual, first the console:
3 is N64! Again!
Thanks to last week's Rare megadrop we now have 32 games, so let's roll a number:
#29! It is...
Jet Force Gemini!
I think I rented this one once when I was a kid but I couldn't really progress much, it was pretty hard. I hope this one is decently playable on NSO with Joycons, a quick glance at the manual makes me think it'll be a little rough...
Anyway, I don't know much about this game so I'm interested on any impressions!
As usual, first the console:
3 is N64! Again!
Thanks to last week's Rare megadrop we now have 32 games, so let's roll a number:
#29! It is...
Jet Force Gemini!
I think I rented this one once when I was a kid but I couldn't really progress much, it was pretty hard. I hope this one is decently playable on NSO with Joycons, a quick glance at the manual makes me think it'll be a little rough...
Anyway, I don't know much about this game so I'm interested on any impressions!
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Stilt Village
GBA
The Expansion Kit actually corrected this!
It's like, the only notable release for the N64DD, so I sort of get why they've never bothered working out the emulation so they could include it when rereleasing F-Zero X, but it's still a bit of a shame.
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
Played around 1 hour of Jet Force Gemini so far. I can see this will be tough, the game is a third person shooter from the era before twin stick controls and gyro so the controls are, um, difficult to say the least.
I've managed to clear 2 "levels" and it's been kind of a struggle. I hope I get used to the controls since I don't want this game to be the first one I don't beat in this project.
I've managed to clear 2 "levels" and it's been kind of a struggle. I hope I get used to the controls since I don't want this game to be the first one I don't beat in this project.
Mer.Saloon
Chain Chomp
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Jet Force is a long one, regardless if you get used to the controls or not. And there's a really nasty surprise waiting for you by the end.
You NEED all the Tribals to even unlock the final boss.
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
Been progressing steadily with Jet Force Gemini. It's kind of a long-ish game so it has taken some more time than usual... My official review will be posted later when I beat the game, but some quick more detailed impressions:
- Graphics are great. It's honestly one of the best looking N64 games, tons of neats effects, good character models and nice environments.
- Controls are still not great, with time you learn how to use them as best as possible but they're definitely the weakest part of the game by far.
- Game is tough, even if it controlled well it'd be difficult...
Amishpriest
Cappy
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I'm absolutely not above save state abuse...I'm 43 and I never had great reflexes to start with.
I'm a bit behind on this thread. Still need to have a go at at the last few games, though I do remember playing some F-Zero X on the Wii U Virtual Console (I think). Never have played Jet Force Gemini.
With the N64 games, I assume it's better in tabletop or docked mode using the Switch N64 controller (which I did pick up).
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
I was checking some older posts and it seems the image links are broken... I have all the screenshots saved, does anyone know of a good/reliable image hosting site? I was using a Discord server but it seems URLs randomly changed so it ruined everything...
- Pronouns
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I use https://postimages.org/ for all my uploading (and sharing) needs. Free and easy and already comes with preformated code for sharing on Forums or elsewhere.
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
Thank you! It seems to work well! Now begins the painful process of replacing all the screenshots... I'll take it slow haha.
EDIT: Replaced pics for Mario's Super Picross and F-Zero X... 10 games left!
EDIT 2: Kirby's Dream Course and Wild Guns back online... 8 remain.
EDIT 3 (15-03): Wave Race, Tuff E Nuff and Light Crusader revived... 5 still to go.
EDIT 4: Game & Watch Gallery 3 and Super Mario Bros Advance 4 restored... 3 more and I'm done!
EDIT 5 (18-03): All are up again!
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Amishpriest
Cappy
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This is a great thread, and you've done a great job, so take your time by all means. I do greatly enjoy reading everybody's insights. It's like a window back to an alternate universe childhood (and high school years) where I had the money to get all the games I wanted.
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
Just keeping this alive. As I've already mentioned, Jet Force Gemini is a little on the longer side so it's taken more than usual to clear it, especially when it competes with parenthood, my hobby of making music and my desire to play other games (almost done with Final Fantasy V!).
Anyway, as an update. For those who haven't played the game, "JFG" has like a 2 part structure. Part 1 is somewhat linear, you'll play through different planets while trying to reach your main enemy. Part 2, after some plot shenanigans, turns into a collectathon bit where you must re-explore cleared levels with new abilities to find some plot-relevant stuff. So far, I liked Part 1 much more, I think most would agree that backtracking segments in games tend to be annoying. It gets especially annoying in "JFG" since the 3 characters have different abilities so you have to know beforehand who to pick before re-exploring each planet otherwise you'll have to do it more than once.
In any case, I still find the game mostly fun, it's just a little long for this project! I hope to clear it soon, this week or (more likely) next week, since I really want to play something new!
Anyway, as an update. For those who haven't played the game, "JFG" has like a 2 part structure. Part 1 is somewhat linear, you'll play through different planets while trying to reach your main enemy. Part 2, after some plot shenanigans, turns into a collectathon bit where you must re-explore cleared levels with new abilities to find some plot-relevant stuff. So far, I liked Part 1 much more, I think most would agree that backtracking segments in games tend to be annoying. It gets especially annoying in "JFG" since the 3 characters have different abilities so you have to know beforehand who to pick before re-exploring each planet otherwise you'll have to do it more than once.
In any case, I still find the game mostly fun, it's just a little long for this project! I hope to clear it soon, this week or (more likely) next week, since I really want to play something new!
- Pronouns
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I want to play Jet Force Gemini, but my sister borrowed my N64 controller a couple of months ago.
Still waiting to get it back...
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jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
It's finally over... Time for my Jet Force Gemini review/impressions!
This is how the title screen looks when the game first greets you!
So, what is this game about?
Jet Force Gemini is a third person shooter where you play as members of a galactic police team that's trying to save the universe from an evil dictator called Mizar. Gameplay has 2 "modes", a free roaming mode where you can move and jump but can't aim and an aiming mode (activated by holding R) where you can aim but your movement is limited to 4 directions (forwards, backwards, left and right). Remember that this is a game before dual sticks or gyro were a thing, so the somewhat unusual controls are kinda expected...
Sadly, the controls aren't just "unusual", they're plain bad. In the "aiming" mode, you aim with the control stick and move with the C buttons, which is fairly odd. However, the main issue really is the aiming itself. I don't know if I should blame NSO or the joycons for this but the aiming is simply really inaccurate, any stick movement results in huge movements of your crosshair, which makes aiming very hard. I really can't overstate how frustrating it's to try to simply lightly move your aim to try to hit an enemy in this game. Even, as I played through the game I found it simpler to move my entire character rather than the aim thanks to how bad the controls are.
Anyway, moving on from the controls...
Jet Force Gemini features 3 playable characters: Juno, Vela and Lupus. At the beginning of the game you can only use Juno but you eventually unlock all 3. They play almost the same but Juno can walk in lava, Vela can swim underwater and Lupus has a jetpack-ish ability that he can use to float for a bit. During the first half of the game, each of the 3 characters follows a separate story that shows their journey to reach the lair of the main villain.
Game features several weapons, although several of them you'll barely ever use. In fact, since the aiming controls are so bad the most accurate weapon ends up being the weapon the game itself calls inaccurate, the Machine Gun. There's also Homing Missiles that are basically mandatory to beat the final boss.
Every once in a while you'll encounter a boss battle. They are locked to the aiming mode, which as you can imagine makes them an absolute delight to play... Luckily, there's only like 4 of them in the entire game.
Jet Force Gemini is a fairly long game. After the 3 main characters meet in the main villain's lair, plot shenanigans happen and the second half of the game begins. For this half, the team gets new armors and the ability to use a jetpack, which is kinda cool!
What is not kinda cool though is that second half is basically a huge backtracking section. Here, the game asks you to explore almost every level you had already cleared to find parts for your spaceship but also to rescue Tribals, NPCs that are scattered throughout each level that you must rescue to be able to reach the final boss. Main issue of this entire section is that to get all Tribals and spaceship parts you'll have to play through almost every single level of the game again and, for some levels, more than once since there are sections that only specific characters can reach (thanks to their unique abilities). I strongly recommend using a guide here unless you want to spend an eternity doing this...
Eventually, however, you'll collect everything, defeat Mizar and save the galaxy! After you do so, the title screen changes to a cool one featuring the entire team.
It seems I've been shitting on the game a fair bit, so for my last section of the review I left some screenshots that showcase how good the game looks!
There's some neat effects and environment design in Jet Force Gemini, which is easily the game's strongest aspect. Music is also pretty good!
Anyway, that's it for JFG! I wish I could say I enjoyed the game more, but the truth is that between the bad controls and how long/tedious the second half I ended up feeling pretty "meh" by it. If the game had just been the first half I'd be much more positive on it but oh well... It's not a completely awful game but I can't really recommend it too much.
For those curious, playthrough was 21 hours and 49 minutes, the current record for the Exploring NSO project!
I already rolled the next game, I'll post about it tomorrow but I think it's a fun one!
This is how the title screen looks when the game first greets you!
So, what is this game about?
Jet Force Gemini is a third person shooter where you play as members of a galactic police team that's trying to save the universe from an evil dictator called Mizar. Gameplay has 2 "modes", a free roaming mode where you can move and jump but can't aim and an aiming mode (activated by holding R) where you can aim but your movement is limited to 4 directions (forwards, backwards, left and right). Remember that this is a game before dual sticks or gyro were a thing, so the somewhat unusual controls are kinda expected...
Sadly, the controls aren't just "unusual", they're plain bad. In the "aiming" mode, you aim with the control stick and move with the C buttons, which is fairly odd. However, the main issue really is the aiming itself. I don't know if I should blame NSO or the joycons for this but the aiming is simply really inaccurate, any stick movement results in huge movements of your crosshair, which makes aiming very hard. I really can't overstate how frustrating it's to try to simply lightly move your aim to try to hit an enemy in this game. Even, as I played through the game I found it simpler to move my entire character rather than the aim thanks to how bad the controls are.
Anyway, moving on from the controls...
Jet Force Gemini features 3 playable characters: Juno, Vela and Lupus. At the beginning of the game you can only use Juno but you eventually unlock all 3. They play almost the same but Juno can walk in lava, Vela can swim underwater and Lupus has a jetpack-ish ability that he can use to float for a bit. During the first half of the game, each of the 3 characters follows a separate story that shows their journey to reach the lair of the main villain.
Game features several weapons, although several of them you'll barely ever use. In fact, since the aiming controls are so bad the most accurate weapon ends up being the weapon the game itself calls inaccurate, the Machine Gun. There's also Homing Missiles that are basically mandatory to beat the final boss.
Every once in a while you'll encounter a boss battle. They are locked to the aiming mode, which as you can imagine makes them an absolute delight to play... Luckily, there's only like 4 of them in the entire game.
Jet Force Gemini is a fairly long game. After the 3 main characters meet in the main villain's lair, plot shenanigans happen and the second half of the game begins. For this half, the team gets new armors and the ability to use a jetpack, which is kinda cool!
What is not kinda cool though is that second half is basically a huge backtracking section. Here, the game asks you to explore almost every level you had already cleared to find parts for your spaceship but also to rescue Tribals, NPCs that are scattered throughout each level that you must rescue to be able to reach the final boss. Main issue of this entire section is that to get all Tribals and spaceship parts you'll have to play through almost every single level of the game again and, for some levels, more than once since there are sections that only specific characters can reach (thanks to their unique abilities). I strongly recommend using a guide here unless you want to spend an eternity doing this...
Eventually, however, you'll collect everything, defeat Mizar and save the galaxy! After you do so, the title screen changes to a cool one featuring the entire team.
It seems I've been shitting on the game a fair bit, so for my last section of the review I left some screenshots that showcase how good the game looks!
There's some neat effects and environment design in Jet Force Gemini, which is easily the game's strongest aspect. Music is also pretty good!
Anyway, that's it for JFG! I wish I could say I enjoyed the game more, but the truth is that between the bad controls and how long/tedious the second half I ended up feeling pretty "meh" by it. If the game had just been the first half I'd be much more positive on it but oh well... It's not a completely awful game but I can't really recommend it too much.
For those curious, playthrough was 21 hours and 49 minutes, the current record for the Exploring NSO project!
I already rolled the next game, I'll post about it tomorrow but I think it's a fun one!
Game #14
New
OP
OP
jnWake
i have 50 characters and i'll use them, all of 'em
Double post! Time for yet another new roll...
First, console!
Number 4 is the Genesis! This is the second time, after Light Crusader last year. There are currently 45 games for Genesis NSO, let's see...
Number 24! This was the first roll and the game is...
Shining Force II!
I don't know much about this series but I think it's like Fire Emblem... probably means this game is fairly long so it'll likely take a while to beat. In any case, I'm excited to try it since I love FE. If anyone has any impressions/recommendations, please share!
First, console!
Number 4 is the Genesis! This is the second time, after Light Crusader last year. There are currently 45 games for Genesis NSO, let's see...
Number 24! This was the first roll and the game is...
Shining Force II!
I don't know much about this series but I think it's like Fire Emblem... probably means this game is fairly long so it'll likely take a while to beat. In any case, I'm excited to try it since I love FE. If anyone has any impressions/recommendations, please share!
Mer.Saloon
Chain Chomp
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Ooh. I beat Shining Force 2. It has much more in common with an RPG than a full on strategy game. The only time in the whole playthrough where the strategy aspect came to play was one point in the story.Double post! Time for yet another new roll...
First, console!
Number 4 is the Genesis! This is the second time, after Light Crusader last year. There are currently 45 games for Genesis NSO, let's see...
Number 24! This was the first roll and the game is...
Shining Force II!
I don't know much about this series but I think it's like Fire Emblem... probably means this game is fairly long so it'll likely take a while to beat. In any case, I'm excited to try it since I love FE. If anyone has any impressions/recommendations, please share!
But yeah, this game is great. An awesome example of Camelot's early work.
Stilt Village
GBA
My impression of Shining Force II was "this is like Fire Emblem but with zero strategy and everything takes an eternity". Same with the GBA one. I'm not even a Fire Emblem fan, but I appreciated them so much after trying all the other GBA SRPGs.
Mer.Saloon
Chain Chomp
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, the appeal of Shining Force is the character designs and humorous story (for the era) rather than a lot of strategy. Its more helpful to think of it as an old JRPG with a really, really, really big party.
Honestly just level up your phoenix companion, you'll blaze through most fights.
Honestly just level up your phoenix companion, you'll blaze through most fights.
batfax
Pofuilly Slime
Both SF 1 and 2 are contemporary with Fire Emblem Gaiden, so... Make of that what you will for the standards of map design at the time. If you only played the Echoes version of Gaiden, know that it used to feel even worse. Still, I think their other attributes of SF 1 and 2 make them really fun, unique games. Love little things like checking all the book shelves to get different titles and just the way more unique world with a bunch of different kinds of races in your party.
2's also got some of my favorite battle and town themes of any RPG, so it's got that going for it too.
