StarTopic Retro Games |ST| Warp Zone Forever

[Red Monster]

I might be bouncing between older games for a bit as I definitely plan to play some PS3 games after I fix my controller, but I planned out my GameCube replay project and started it tonight. I’m going to be replaying six shorter games and then playing a longer one probably bigger than the other six combined lol. The seven games and likely order are Wario World, Rogue Squadron II, Mario Golf Toadstool Tour, F-Zero GX, Kirby’s Air Ride (which more accurately I’ll likely just dabble in), Zelda Four Swords Adventures, and Tales of Symphonia. A lot of the bigger GameCube games I’ve replayed over the years at various points (the Metroid Primes, Mario Sunshine, etc.) so it’s really just these seven I most want to replay.

I did start Wario World tonight and I’m already a solid way into it as I 100% finished the first three out of eight levels. I’m not really sure what the reception of this game is on Fami as I rarely ever see it discussed, but I’ve always loved this game. It’s very easy, but Wario feels so good to control it’s just a blast tearing through these levels and collecting all of the treasures, crystals, and more. Given how short it is, I’ll likely post again when I finish it, but yeah if anyone has played it I’d be curious to know what you thought of it.

I actually played the first three levels of Wario World a few months ago. I was really enjoying it, but I fell off for some reason. I know the game isn’t very long, so I’d like to go back to it soon and probably just start over. I remember really liking the combat, as simple as it is, and I thought combing through the levels for treasures was really fun. It seems like a great little game!

 

[big lantern ghost]

Started a new file of Mario 64 this morning, got 31 stars. Still an awesome game and obviously the influence is massive but WOO WEE, that camera! I have learned to make more strategic use of the “Mario” camera setting over the years but it’s pretty rough still. Just unlocked the upstairs which has most of my fave levels, so I’m sure I’ll keep playing at least a little longer.

 

[Concernt]

I played Minish Cap earlier this year and I am still stunned. I'm not a fan of pixel art at the best of times, especially modern pixel art, but Minish Cap is one of those games that floored me with stunning art and bouncy chiptune. It's definitely on the edge of pixel and chiptune presentation, being a late release on the GBA, but it does it so well. It's also genuinely fun and challenging! Although Cloud Tops' keystone puzzle annoyed me to no end, the visuals and music of Cloud Tops really cinched this as one of my favourite Zelda games.

It probably helped I played it on OLED Model where it pops extra hard.

I'm sure my opinions on TOTK are known by now, but it hurts extra to say... Of the two Zelda games I finished this year, TOTK and Minish Cap, Minish Cap was my favourite.

 

[Red Monster]

Started a new file of Mario 64 this morning, got 31 stars. Still an awesome game and obviously the influence is massive but WOO WEE, that camera! I have learned to make more strategic use of the “Mario” camera setting over the years but it’s pretty rough still. Just unlocked the upstairs which has most of my fave levels, so I’m sure I’ll keep playing at least a little longer.

I’ve played Mario 64 a lot throughout my life (I consider it my favorite game of all time). I’ve never understood the complaints about the camera. I can only think of a couple of times where the camera is an issue, like mainly inside the volcano in Lethal Lava Land or the ice block maze in Snowman’s Land. Otherwise I’ve never had a problem with it.

Now Sunshine on the other hand - that is a game with a terrible camera.

 

[Stilt Village]

I did start Wario World tonight and I’m already a solid way into it as I 100% finished the first three out of eight levels. I’m not really sure what the reception of this game is on Fami as I rarely ever see it discussed, but I’ve always loved this game. It’s very easy, but Wario feels so good to control it’s just a blast tearing through these levels and collecting all of the treasures, crystals, and more. Given how short it is, I’ll likely post again when I finish it, but yeah if anyone has played it I’d be curious to know what you thought of it.

I played through most of Wario World a while back, and as someone who never liked beat 'em ups, the combat is actually really fun, but as a platformer fan, the game is not good. Incredibly loose and imprecise movement. It evens out to being sort of okay I guess? Never really got to make a final judgement.

The highlight is probably the super weird boss fights. Some of the music goes really hard as well. Game was an odd collaboration between Nintendo composer Minako Hamano of Ballad of the Wind Fish and Vs. Ridley fame, and longtime Treasure composer Norio Hanzawa. I wonder who did Greenhorn Forest, which seems to be the most enduring bit of legacy from this game along with a few Wario voice clips. "Have a rotten day!"

The sort of "diorama camera" is kind of interesting, but very limited and not exactly helpful if you're jumping forward or back at all. I can see why this and the first Pac-Man World are the only 3D platformers I can think of to ever use it.

 

[big lantern ghost]

I’ve played Mario 64 a lot throughout my life (I consider it my favorite game of all time). I’ve never understood the complaints about the camera. I can only think of a couple of times where the camera is an issue, like mainly inside the volcano in Lethal Lava Land or the ice block maze in Snowman’s Land. Otherwise I’ve never had a problem with it.

Now Sunshine on the other hand - that is a game with a terrible camera.

I just find it doesn’t sit! I get it where I want it and then as soon as a start moving it flips it up on me.

The “porthole” mechanic in Sunshine is hilarious. What good is seeing Mario…if you can’t see anything around him?! It’s like the world’s shittiest kōan

 

[Stilt Village]

I’ve played Mario 64 a lot throughout my life (I consider it my favorite game of all time). I’ve never understood the complaints about the camera. I can only think of a couple of times where the camera is an issue, like mainly inside the volcano in Lethal Lava Land or the ice block maze in Snowman’s Land. Otherwise I’ve never had a problem with it.

Now Sunshine on the other hand - that is a game with a terrible camera.

It's a problem in the pyramid and the top of Wet Dry World, but never really been a big issue for me either.

I feel like the lack of real control over it is what bothers people. You can tell it to move, but you won't necessarily get an angle you like, and it will reset itself to the default a lot. Sometimes it just refuses to move at all. Galaxy is similarly bad with this, it's just not really that noticeable until you do the purple coin levels that have you exploring an area like you would in 64 instead of constantly moving forward.

Sunshine by contrast, it's actually possible to get a good angle when you're climbing up behind the ferris wheel, but you have to fight with the camera to a ridiculous degree to do it, it's even more obstinate than the more prescribed ones for some reason.

 

[xghost777]

I always throw Mario 64’s camera on Lakitu pulled back (arrow down) and that works fine for the vast majority of the game. I don’t really think about any times I manage it beyond that. There are very select spots like the very top of Big Boo’s Mansion where the Mario cam is helpful.

 

[xghost777]

I finished Wario World tonight with 100% completion. I had a great time revisiting it simply because it’s just really fun to play. The mix and flow of brawler gameplay, light puzzling solving, and platforming all feels right. The charge move + running jump, the spinning throw, and pile driver especially all feel good which is great because you’ll make extensive use of all them while playing. While there are only eight levels, you do spend a solid amount of time fully exploring each of them to claim everything. The bosses definitely range in quality, but generally they are fairly imaginative and well animated which gives even the more basic ones solid personality. Sadly the final boss in particular is a bit of letdown especially if you figure out how to lock it into a very easy pattern, but eh can’t win them all.

Not sure when I will exactly, but I expect to move into my next game in my GameCube replay project, Rogue Squadron II, fairly soon. Also, I did end up successfully attaching a new battery to my PS3 controller today after two attempts so I will be playing some PS3 games soon too!

 

[xghost777]

I knew the first few games in my GameCube replay project would go by quickly once I started it, but it’s still going by more quickly than I imagined! I played three more games today so I’ll just give some quick thoughts on each and I’ll just say upfront all of these games need to be brought back badly:

Rogue Squadron II - I wanted to play the normal ten missions so I kicked off with blowing up the death star and ended on blowing up the second death star. I’ve always loved these games and returning to my favorite one was an excellent time. I appreciate the full focus being on ship combat unlike the sequel and the missions generally have good variety between them. The first mission, the Battle of Hoth, the two missions revolving around the Star Destroyer, and the Battle of Endor are my favorites of the bunch. I hope one day I can revisit the co-op campaign version of this game in Rogue Squadron III with my best friend again, but otherwise yeah I walked away very satisfied.

Mario Golf Toadstool Tour - In my head this was always my favorite Mario Golf, but it had been a long time since I revisited it so I wondered how it held up. Wow this game is cool still! Being able to plan your shots so carefully is great fun and the course design, especially Peach’s Castle and Bowser’s course are fantastic. I hope we get another game like this eventually.

F-Zero GX - I’ve played every other F-Zero game now since I last played this game and this is far and away still my favorite. This game is just supremely rad. The sense of speed is phenomenal, the track design is fantastic and eventually super treacherous, and the rush and gut clenching moments are unrivaled. I played through the four cups in grand prix mode and I completely forgot about the silly post race interview lol.

…

That’s four out of seven games in my project down. I definitely need to replay these games more often since this has been an awesome time so far. Tomorrow I’ll dabble in Kirby’s Air Ride and then start Zelda Four Swords Adventures.

 

[xghost777]

I did continue on to both Kirby’s Air Ride and Four Swords Adventures today. Kirby’s Air Ride is an awesome game still. I had a good time checking out every course in the two main racing modes and doing a run of City Trial. My favorite part though was just setting up a free ride in the city with no time limit and just cruising around with the different vehicles. I always had fun coming up with games with my best friend inside of that mode, but I was playing single player today. The Dragoon, Wheelie Scooter, and Dark Star are my favorites and all feel awesome to control, but even the strange vehicles like the sliding star or the one that only moves in straight lines are still interesting and fun to play with. I’ve felt this way about all six of the games I’ve played so far, but darn I really want Air Ride to come back someday soon.

In Four Swords Adventures I already cleared the first two worlds. I’ve always had immense fondness for this game. The weird mix of A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, and Wind Waker for the graphics is odd, but the way it uses the Link to the Past graphics in particular always hit with me in a way some other retro throwbacks don’t always do. A lot of this game being so heavily pulled from a Link to the Past and the 2D segments of Link’s Awakening while being ultimately brand new is super awesome and some of the chaos the game brings like floods of enemies since you have four Links at once is wild. I’m a little busy tomorrow at least, but I’m hoping to finish this game by Wednesday night if possible even if ultimately I’m in no big rush. I’ll post again when I finish it.

 

[Red Monster]

I did continue on to both Kirby’s Air Ride and Four Swords Adventures today. Kirby’s Air Ride is an awesome game still. I had a good time checking out every course in the two main racing modes and doing a run of City Trial. My favorite part though was just setting up a free ride in the city with no time limit and just cruising around with the different vehicles. I always had fun coming up with games with my best friend inside of that mode, but I was playing single player today. The Dragoon, Wheelie Scooter, and Dark Star are my favorites and all feel awesome to control, but even the strange vehicles like the sliding star or the one that only moves in straight lines are still interesting and fun to play with. I’ve felt this way about all six of the games I’ve played so far, but darn I really want Air Ride to come back someday soon.

In Four Swords Adventures I already cleared the first two worlds. I’ve always had immense fondness for this game. The weird mix of A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, and Wind Waker for the graphics is odd, but the way it uses the Link to the Past graphics in particular always hit with me in a way some other retro throwbacks don’t always do. A lot of this game being so heavily pulled from a Link to the Past and the 2D segments of Link’s Awakening while being ultimately brand new is super awesome and some of the chaos the game brings like floods of enemies since you have four Links at once is wild. I’m a little busy tomorrow at least, but I’m hoping to finish this game by Wednesday night if possible even if ultimately I’m in no big rush. I’ll post again when I finish it.

Are you playing FSA solo? How's that going?

 

[xghost777]

Are you playing FSA solo? How's that going?

Yup and pretty good so far! If you are playing single player you have the option to enter into formations with your four Links (horizontal line, vertical line, a box, and a back to back plus shape). These handle most obstacles and enemy groups very well and you can break off and go solo if that’s more helpful. Unlike Tri Force Heroes in particular, there aren’t too many tight timing windows where juggling multiple characters is a pain so that’s good. The only annoying thing is when you have to carry stuff as a group since items and rolls cause the character holding something to drop it. Not too big of a deal except when there is more than one thing to hold across screens because then it gets unwieldy.

I beat this game definitely in singleplayer and I believe fully in multiplayer with a friend as well so I’m expecting a smooth journey to the end.

 

[BassForever]

FSA is still a really solid time even in single player. Obviously it shines brightest in multiplayer, but that's always been hard to do.

 

[xghost777]

I finished my Zelda Four Swords Adventure replay tonight! This was an awesome time especially as someone who loves Zelda dungeon gameplay as this offers a ton of that. I was wondering when I started if this would live up to my memories of it and absolutely yes. At least for me, this is the more interesting of the two more direct A Link to the Past follow ups as it offers a return to that world of sorts visually and by pulling on location themes (you go to the Eastern Palace again for example), but it offers new adventures entirely within them that also have a bit more teeth to them than the more breezy A Link Between Worlds. Most of the items are classics, but there is some unique fun to be had with the power bracelet that lets you pick up trees (which darn I want this in the BOTW Zeldas lol) and the magic hammer that lets you bring up treasures and traps from underground. The way caves are explored in this game is fairly unique as well, especially with the ways items are handled, as you’ll regularly bounce between the overworld and sublevels to navigate the maps, solve puzzles, and defeat enemies with a purposeful focus. I hope one day I can play this game in multiplayer again (an online version would be rad), but otherwise I’m walking away fully satisfied.

With FSA finished, I’ll soon move on to my final game in my GameCube Replay Project, Tales of Symphonia, which I’ll primarily cover in the RPGs ST. I did start chipping away at my PS3 backlog and while most of them are RPGs, a good number of the games I’ll be talking about here when I get to them. Up first are DuckTales Remastered, which I did start and will write about another time, and Tokyo Jungle which are the only PS+ games I have. Since the price of PS+ went up, I’m not sure if I’ll always have it active anymore so those games across PS3/4/5 and Vita are a bit of a priority.

 

[AngryAlchemist]

I was trying to wait until I made further progress in both games to comment, but between being distracted by Youtube and uni and anime I've been too busy to make much progress and I wanted to bump this thread, so I'll write down my thoughts.

I started a replay of Silent Hill 1 a few days ago. I'm very early on still, only like 30 minutes in, but I'm reminded of why I mostly love this game. The atmosphere is fantastic and the way this game utilizes the Playstation 1 hardware is extremely impressive. Enemies and characters have so much detail, have full proportions, and the animation in the game particularly on the character model is insane. When you run and hit a wall your character puts his hands forward and stops his momentum subtly bouncing off it a bit. When you shoot down a pterodactyl, the enemy falls to the ground and the sound of your radio alarms you to the fact it's still alive, making you do a badass execution style final shot to end the creature. Your animations are extremely detailed to the point where the combat itself is elevated massively and feels surprisingly good. It's still not a great combat system, but compared to it's sequel its leagues better.

Silent Hill 1 is also very impressive from a game design standpoint. When Alan Wake was in development, it was originally going to be an open world horror game and you can see this bleed into the game design because there's a lot of parts where linear levels connect to areas you've been too earlier. Alan Wake II expanded on this further and by the end of the game you can actually get to a lot of the locales from the same connected paths. Silent Hill 1 probably does this better than any horror game I've played, though, and it was arguably one of the first ones to make the town into its own character. One of the most impressive things about Silent Hill 1 to me is that the game starts off its creepiness not by throwing you into a small linear claustrophobic environment, but by introducing you to a wide open town area; even in the open you're trapped. It's the exact opposite of Resident Evil in this way. The puzzle solving and sequences of events has always seemed pretty imaginative to me, too. And don't even get me started on its impressive intro.

Sadly I do think my biggest problem with 1 is already kind of introducing itself, as cool as it is that you spend so much time in the town and really get a feel for it, it also leads to missing some key notes spread around because the fog effect is just so close to the player character. I still prefer the fog effect to how it's handled in the sequel, but even on a replay I already missed some notes and had to walk around the town looking for items or hints for a few minutes. It also does kind of feel like padding at times, as cool as it is, since even with your character's fast speed the town can still feel pretty big. It's also an interesting case of how replaying a game can make an experience worse, since I kept thinking I knew where the hints were and I ... didn't, lmao. Still, this is a minor grievance and the positives of making the town such a unique character still outweigh any negatives, it does just effect the pacing.

I was going to talk about Thief: The Dark Project but checks post length I'll post an update when I'm into it later.

 

[xghost777]

I finished Ducktales Remastered tonight as I’m beginning to chip away at my PS3 backlog. I think since I got a feel for it last time I had a pretty solid time today clearing the last five levels. I never saw the show, so the story didn’t do much for me, but Scrooge is likable enough. The pogo stick gameplay is fairly unique and I think the game is a good enough length to not overstay its welcome as you put it through its paces.

I played on Normal and had a few game overs which meant I had to do some full level resets here and there. The only frustrating one for this was the last level as if you lost either of the two final climb sequences both on timers you had to play the whole level again including beating the boss (one jump in particular I didn’t realize you needed a normal jump for which led to like five deaths…whoops). The game crashed on me twice only in one very large room in the final level which was incredibly frustrating and meant I had to reset even more than likely needed. Felt like a speedrunner on my final successful run lol.

Anyway, glad I finally played this game. I saw a short let’s play like video of the original NES version forever ago and a few friends liked it so I was always curious to give it a try. Not sure when exactly, but I’ll likely be rolling into Tokyo Jungle next so I don’t have to worry about PS+ for my PS3 backlog at least.

 

[Red Monster]

The GTA VI trailer inspired me to check out the series and for some reason I thought it would be fun to start with the PS1 original. I've played an hour of it, and... I donno if I can play this entire game. The camera is, uh, nauseating. The controls are ridiculous and finicky. There's no map which is insane. GTA 1 is a relic that is best left in the past, to be observed and appreciated for what it started, but not as a video game to play and enjoy in 2023. Which is a shame. I really did think it would be cool to play through the whole series right from the beginning. But I think I'll move on. Maybe I'll check out GTA 2 and GTA Advance, but I probably won't commit to them.

 

[shoptroll]

The GTA VI trailer inspired me to check out the series and for some reason I thought it would be fun to start with the PS1 original. I've played an hour of it, and... I donno if I can play this entire game. The camera is, uh, nauseating. The controls are ridiculous and finicky. There's no map which is insane. GTA 1 is a relic that is best left in the past, to be observed and appreciated for what it started, but not as a video game to play and enjoy in 2023. Which is a shame. I really did think it would be cool to play through the whole series right from the beginning. But I think I'll move on. Maybe I'll check out GTA 2 and GTA Advance, but I probably won't commit to them.

IIRC the game shipped with maps for the 3 cities, this was the late 90s after all. That said the first game is brutal hard due to the timing on all the missions. But you can see a lot of the DNA that goes into the series already in it. You’re not in the wrong for taking a look and moving on at this point.

 

[Red Monster]

I loaded up GTA2 for about five minutes, which was enough for me to see that while it’s prettier, it’s exactly the same as the first game, right down to the sound effects of the pay phone. Put it down immediately and moved on to GTA III.

GTA III is a treat. I played a lot of it in high school with my best friend, so a lot of things are familiar to me. I even remember some of the cheat codes. There’s nothing better than getting into a car and putting on Chatterbox. It’s the best!

My friend and I never played the missions, because we had too much fun messing around and causing chaos. So this is my first time actually playing through the story, and the story is there, but it’s very minimal. I’ve almost unlocked the second island so I’m a good bit into the game now. And even though the story is barely there, the game is so freaking fun that it doesn’t bother me.

In conclusion, don’t play the top down games (I can’t vouch for Chinatown Wars, maybe that one’s good?). Go straight to III and have a good time.

 

[Red Monster]

I bought a Japanese DSi off eBay because apparently I need all the handhelds. Even though I have a perfectly good 3DS XL. But I wanted the classic DS Lite form factor, and it was only forty dollars. Now I’ve got a device that looks nearly identical to the white DS Lite I traded in for my launch 3DS all those years ago, and it’s very nice.

For being so cheap, this DSi is pretty good shape. There’s some scratches on the touch screen, but I expected that. The screens are beginning to yellow, but that’s only noticeable on white backgrounds like the main menu; in-game I can’t tell there’s a problem at all. It does have two issues, though.

For one, even though the DSi was region free, and so this Japanese unit can play all my NA games, apparently the DSi does not have a language option. This thing is stuck in Japanese. That’s only a minor complaint, because I don’t plan on doing anything with it besides playing DS games. If I need to go into the settings, I’ve got Google Translate. So it’s not a big deal, but it is a bit strange that there aren’t any language options.

For two, it’s a button problem. All the buttons seem to work, which is a relief considering how notorious the shoulder buttons are on these things. And they all work well, too - except for the left d-pad. It works, but it sometimes won’t register. It’s good enough that I can drift in Mario Kart DS, but every so often it’ll just miss an input. And that feels bad. It sucks misplacing a block in Tetris DS because the button is faulty.

I’m willing to try and make a repair myself on this, if it’s repairable and doesn’t require soldering. I’ve taken apart controllers and stuff before, plus this DS wasn’t expensive so if I screw it up, I’ll just get another one. But I’m not sure what the fix is. Does the membrane need changed? That seems like the most likely solution to me, but my knowledge on this stuff is limited.

This is a great little handheld though. Even moreso than the 3DS, it’s amazingly pocketable and feels like it’s indestructible. And it feels great in the hands.There’s nothing like playing DS games on a DS.