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NSO NSO Games: Your Pleasant Surprises and Your Disappointments

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Mer.Saloon

Mer.Saloon

Chain Chomp
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I thought the last thread was a good idea, but it got bogged down by Goldeneye talk.

Basically what games have you played on NSO where you were pleasantly surprised by how fun they still are to this day?

My pleasant surprise has to go to all the Black Box Games. When purchasing them separate on Wii, they really were not enough to justify a purchase but having played them in a subscription service, they're actually surprisingly fun timewasters. The whole score attack aspect is really fun when you just sit a few minutes on Donkey Kong or Clu Clu Land. I even started to note some nuances in the design of some of these blackbox games which usually takes me a while of investment before I start to do that. Now, some are better than others, don't get me wrong (be a while before I can ever get used to Ice Climber), but give a few of the black box games a try or several and it can be a right fun time.

iu


A second surprise because I prefer the positive part to be longer than the negative part, but my second pleasant surprise goes to Shining Force 1 and 2. I am not a strategy person much, and these games are closer to a really big turn based RPG than a strategy like the old Fire Emblem games. But I seriously managed to enjoy just managing my mini army. There was no big character customization and micromanaging of stats, just moving the characters around on the board and manipulating the AI into making mistakes. But I loved the character designs, it's so cartoony but also kinda crude in a 90s American cartoon style with high fantasy species (big fan of the centaurs) and while the plots were nothing to write home about, I love how much the designers still tried to implement frequent humor and notable character quirks into the few moments these people talk.

Makes me wanna play Golden Sun now that I know they're both made by Camelot.
iu


My pick for a disappointment has to go to Wario Land 3. It's a game I will come back to, but my first experience was not pleasant. Frustrations, frustrations, frustrations at having my time wasted and meandering around levels collecting treasures with such a limited moveset and tools. The transformations were punishments more than boons that just wasted your time. (Rewind does not fix my problems, it just makes me constantly start and stop, start and stop, start and stop.) And you can't say I wasn't fair to the game, because I got to the perfect screen. In the future I think I'll try just going the straightforward route and see if I prefer Wario Land 3 that way instead of 100%.

iu
 
I think I’ve only got a Pleasant Surprise for this as I don’t tend to dwell on negatives, but

Castlevania Bloodlines is an action platforming masterpiece! I hadn’t played it before NSO, and I’m SO glad I did. It rules!
 
Mario’s Super Picross was the first picross game I really got into, thanks to finding it on NSO.
It was a disappointment because now I am addicted to picross LOL

In all seriousness, what a fun little game. The music for the Wario Puzzles is eternally stuck in my head.
 
StretchNStripes said:
Mario’s Super Picross was the first picross game I really got into, thanks to finding it on NSO.
It was a disappointment because now I am addicted to picross LOL

In all seriousness, what a fun little game. The music for the Wario Puzzles is eternally stuck in my head.
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156 hours and 49 minutes is how much I invested in Super Picross. The mileage I got out of what I thought would be a silly puzzler astounds me to this day. The Wario levels were such brutal brain busters and I'm afraid to say, some of the later ones broke me into busting a guide.

But I'm proud to say that was only 5 of the hundreds of puzzles.
 
another vote for mario's super picross. i was already a picross fan by then but getting the game for "free" was a great surprise. no one other than nintendo has the info but i have a feeling it's one of the most played games on NSO, player hour-wise. i'm actually surprised mario's picross for game boy hasn't been added to NSO yet.
 
Pleasant surprise has been Banjo-Kazooie and subsequently Jet Force Gemini since we never thought that the Rare games would return. May it be the first of many.

Disappointment- Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2. Technically it isn't the games' fault, but not being able to train and use GB Pokemon in the Stadium kills the vibe.
 
My pleasant surprises are the Rare N64 games and Star Fox 2 - that they actually showed up - and my disappointment is where the hell is Smash 64 and why does it never show up on time or often, at all

Another pleasant surprise is providing Japan only stuff like Panel de Pon, Joy Mech Fight and Takamaru's game. Another disappointment is Nintendo having a translated FE1 and choosing to be total dicks about how it dropped and then didn't

Oh and another disappointment is the price of the expansion pack
 
In a way my surprise and disappointment simultaneously was the lack of SMRPG, because it eventually foreshadowed a remake.
 
I don't think I've had too many disappointments, other than not liking DKC2 as much as nearly everybody else.

My most pleasant surprises were the extreme sports games on N64. 1080 Snowboarding and Excitebike 64 were two games I never played as a child that hold up really, really well all these years later. Wave Race 64 is awesome, too, but I already knew that.
 
Postive:
Kuru Kuru Kururin - absolute banger of a game. I would never have known about it if not for NSO

Negative:
Banjo Kazooie - Reinforced my beliefs that N64 games hasnt aged very well. The 3D games of this generation just are not a thing I can enjoy currently.
 
If I focus exclusively on the games offered by NSO rather than the quality of the service itself, I'd have to say I am pleasantly surprised that GoldenEye happened at all. Yes, I'm still bummed that there's an HD 360 port that is 95% completed and couldn't have been used instead. Yes, the online is limited exclusively to your friends list. That said, if we didn't get any rumours and it was a through and through surprise, I think everyone would have been gobsmacked to think it would ever return.

Getting to replay Paper Mario for the first time since Wii has been a treat, especially now on a proper wireless N64 controller.

It's a disappointment that after more than two years, we are still waiting for Super Smash Bros on N64. The only justifiable reason for this delay is to ensure the online is perfect, better than the twine and duct tape powering SSBUs online. I expect nothing less for what they're charging.
 
Clarity of the main post.
  • Index
    • Rooster said:
    My pleasant surprises are the Rare N64 games and Star Fox 2 - that they actually showed up - and my disappointment is where the hell is Smash 64 and why does it never show up on time or often, at all

    Another pleasant surprise is providing Japan only stuff like Panel de Pon, Joy Mech Fight and Takamaru's game. Another disappointment is Nintendo having a translated FE1 and choosing to be total dicks about how it dropped and then didn't

    Oh and another disappointment is the price of the expansion pack
    Click to expand...

    Beanstar40 said:
    Pleasant surprise was definitely the addition of n64 games, and recently the addition of the golden sun duology
    Click to expand...

    Mekanos said:
    In a way my surprise and disappointment simultaneously was the lack of SMRPG, because it eventually foreshadowed a remake.
    Click to expand...

    Ricimer said:
    I wish we could get rid of the borders. Black borders should be a required option for 4:3 retro titles!
    Click to expand...
    This thread was more about the games you actually played then the additions/announcements and features of the service itself. The surprises of the games you tried and the disappointments of them.

    Far be it from me to police the whole thread but felt like at least one post clarifying is not too much to do.

    Anyways carry on as you were.
     
  • Index
    • Pleasant surprises:
    • Castlevania Legends was something I thought would be "bad good, fine enough for Halloween" and I ended up enjoying it a good bit.
    • I thought WarioWare games weren't my thing because I was cool on the DS installment, but ended up putting a ton of time into the GBA game.
    • I also had low expectations for Goldeneye after years of "that game hasn't held up" but once I figured out a control scheme that works I had a blast going through the campaign

    Disappointments:
    • I mentioned this in the last version of the thread, but I was underwhelmed by Link to the Past; it's fine for what it is but I also kinda felt like it wasn't doing anything that almost every Zelda since hasn't done better (and also the puzzles in the dungeons didn't really do much for me, felt like too many were just "kill all the enemies in a room")
    • Gunstar Heroes is another one I'd seen people hype up that just didn't really click for me.
    • And I also learned that I don't particularly care for Rare's Donkey Kong games; don't hate 'em, but wasn't particularly fond of them either. I found myself missing the weightiness and readability of Retro's DKC games, and even more controversially I think DKC3 was actually my favorite of the 3 DKC games on SNES (probably helped by the setting being a little less boiler-plate jungle)
     
    one of my suprises is Demon's Crest, legit a hidden SNES gem. Just be warned it's REALLY FREAKING HARD. Use the rewind feature a ton. I could never beat it's secret boss lol
     
    Mer.Saloon said:
    This thread was more about the games you actually played then the additions/announcements and features of the service itself. The surprises of the games you tried and the disappointments of them.

    Far be it from me to police the whole thread but felt like at least one post clarifying is not too much to do.

    Anyways carry on as you were.
    Click to expand...
    Oh, in that case it’s Kuru Kuru Kuryuken (sorry if I misspelt it). I’d literally never heard of the series until an ant dude video I’d watched. I tried it on nso and really enjoyed it!
     
    Lugia667 said:
    one of my suprises is Demon's Crest, legit a hidden SNES gem. Just be warned it's REALLY FREAKING HARD. Use the rewind feature a ton. I could never beat it's secret boss lol
    Click to expand...
    I am ashamed to say I cheated on that boss using rewind, and even then, that was still the hardest rigged fight I ever beat in a game. Every other second I was dead.

    But Demon's Crest is such a cool game for the period. I can't believe I never even heard of the game prior to playing it. Or that it came to the US with so much of its imagery in tact.

    ImpromptuR said:
    Would be so cool (and would add so much value) if instead of only the SP versions, we had leaderboards for NSO players.
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    A game by game leaderboard would be so cool for NSO. Even game by game achievements.
     
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    Super Picross got dozens of hours out of me on the SNES app. Sin and Punishment on 64 app is incredibly good, easily top 10 in the entire catalog. Gunstar and Alien Soldier on the Genesis app got a lot of play too. My allegiance to Treasure probably comes off a little strong there haha
     
    GAP said:
    Super Picross got dozens of hours out of me on the SNES app. Sin and Punishment on 64 app is incredibly good, easily top 10 in the entire catalog. Gunstar and Alien Soldier on the Genesis app got a lot of play too. My allegiance to Treasure probably comes off a little strong there haha
    Click to expand...
    Gotta give Sin and Punishment a try, have been holding off for a while. But I sing my allegiance to Gunstar Heroes.
     
    Great thread! It made me realize that I'm basically sitting on a goldmine with the NSO and I barely scratched the surface of it outside of replaying some favorites. You all inspired me to dig into the catalogues a little deeper (how did I completely ignore Mario's Super Picross before now? I already liked Picross games and here's one that was brand new to me that I didn't even look at!). I have a feeling that I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of my Switch in 2024, even if it's a light year for new releases.

    Zero Wing was a pleasant surprise for me. I was a nerdy, very-online teenager in the early-mid 2000s, so I was super familiar with the All Your Base meme. I had no idea that the game it came from was a legitimately solid 2D shooter! I think the infamous translation and memes had me believing the game itself would be bad, but it's really good!
     
    Glad to see this thread still get some mileage for folks.

    Gotta give a shout out to Prehistorik Man for being my pleasant surprise this year. The game is a really really really solid 2D platformer and one of the rare Western platformers from this era I find actually pretty good. Open level design, smooth controls, awesome bosses, fun collectables, and an actual plot. That last bit is the really surprising part, but I actually got invested in the lives of these silly Flintstones wanna-bes.
     
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