#and every time they put a Castlevania sound effect I know exactly what game it’s from and what it’s for 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

[chibishortdeath]

I just put on a playthrough of CV1 as background noise for drawing and I have realized that I can tell exactly where this guy is in each level by sound effects alone. He just missed a secret chest.

[glassmarcus]

The Rogue Lite Mexican Stand Off

*All games played in January 2023, Written in November 2023

I've had a backlog of Rogue Lites I planned on checking out for years now. This list keeps growing and I've accepted that I'll never reach the bottom. So I decided to knock out the three I felt were at the top of the genre at the very least. First I played Hades, a title I wasn't super psyched to try because I'm not a huge fan of isometric angles in games. But word of mouth overcame that doubt and I gave it a shot anyway. And yea, the game is aces. I was not led astray. Second on the docket was Rogue Legacy 2. I knew I was going to love this game because of how much I loved the first. To zero shock, I loved Rogue Legacy 2. Last was Dead Cells. A game I was interested in because I heard it be compared to Dark Souls at one point. What got me to finally buy it was the Castlevania DLC which I had to purchase because I'm a huge shill. By the way this game is also pretty good.

I see why this gallery of Rogue Likes are praised so highly and I enjoyed my time with them immensely... But which one is the best? I tried to place them all on the same level in my mind, but that's not how I operate. There needs to be a clear pecking order. A hierarchy must be established and that's exactly what I will do here. I'm going to pit these three Rouge Lites against each other and see who comes out on top. And no, I will not stop using the terms Rogue Lite and Rogue Like interchangeably. I know they are technically different things, but they sound far too similar for me to care. All games that expect you to complete their procedurally generated adventure in a single run are Rogue Likes/ Rogue Lites. That's the definition I'm using here.

In one corner of this Rogue Like Mexican stand off is Hades. Hades is a mechanically efficient masterwork of roguish progression. Not a single aspect is wasted and unpolished. You look at the weapons you get and might think "oh, there's only six of them" only to realize that they only made six because you only need six. Every weapon is completely fleshed out and has its own advantages over others. Swords deal high damage and take out a lot of enemies at once, but require putting yourself in risky situations. The Bow is weaker but safer as you can attack from anywhere in the screen. The Spear is somewhat of a jack of all trades, not as much range as a bow, not as much power as a sword, but enough of both to be worth using. Shields take a different approach in being a middle man by having its normal attack be melee and it's special long range. Fist and Guns act as the gambling man's version of the sword and bow. With Fist, you can get a lot of damage in when you're close, but it's harder to gauge when you should retreat. With Guns you can get way more hits than with the Bow, but you also have to manage your ammo and if you lose count you'll be shit out of luck.

I gotta say, there is no clear best weapon to use. I like the fist the best because obviously I'm gonna gravitate towards the punchy one the most, but I can't say it's strictly better than the others. And I came to this conclusion by naturally trying out every weapon. Hades attributes a point bonus for a random weapon in each run. These points can be used to permanently upgrade yourself between runs. So you have to decide if you want consistency with the weapons you are used to, or invest in the future by trying something new and getting potentially more points. Its a great way to incentivize variety and exploration of the mechanics of the game. The weapon options don't even end there as you get the ability to permanently upgrade your weapons after you've probably found a favorite. And these upgrades can substantially change the way you play as they aren't merely damage increases, but diverse effects that you can take advantage of to great result.

This game could just have these weapons and be perfectly great, but what takes it to the next level are the mid run upgrades you'd expect from any rogue like. Boons, the power gifted from the gods, are what really counts in getting you strong enough to claw your way out of hell. When you understand the advantages of your weapon, the permanent abilities you've acquired, and the effects boons can have, you can figure out which boons cynergize with you the best. As I stated prior, I was a Fist Aficionado. A weapon that hits fast and requires you to get in and out of enemy range. So when I picked boons that worked well with that, I got outstanding results. Abilities that decreased enemy attacks were my go to, because I knew I was going to get hit so I thought I might as well make it hurt less. And figuring out that build myself was when I really started to mesh with Hades. At first I wasn't getting any of the mechanics, flailing around with my standard attack until I dodged. But as I progressed it only kept feeling better to me. They introduce new combat options and improve the old ones. I think the game went from decent to incredible once I got a second Cast.

Cast are such a beautiful mechanic. Somehow both great for single target damage and Area of Effect depending on what boon you choose. But no matter which you choose, it changes the flow of combat due to the fact you have to pick that shit up. Keeping your rhythm despite cast not recharging automatically is the heart of why combat feels so good to me. Calls and Specials are great, but the real heroes are Cast, Attacks, and Dashes. In my experience, that’s actually the order I prioritize these moves. Your cast always have some effect that influences how you attack so that comes first. Then you attack to take advantage of what the cast does. While attacking you are dodging to stay alive. And then the cast wears off and they are left on the ground. And now you must use your attack and dash to navigate through enemies and pick up your cast so you can start the whole thing over again. Once you get into that flow state and start incorporating specials and calls into the equation, the combat of Hades becomes something truly special.

On a gameplay level this is brilliant. And you know what? The story ain't too bad either. Most Rogue Lite stories aren't something to write home about as far as I've experienced. After all, they are kind of the junk food of video games. Short and sweet experiences that don't have time to make an interesting story. Hades is built a bit different. Every run you do progresses the story and everything you do is canon. Games have been explaining away respawning for decades now, but I think this is on a different level. Characters acknowledge the things you did in prior runs. Story lines are moved through both success and failure so there's a palpable sense of progressing delivered in multiple ways. There's dating sim elements. And every character is hot. The story of Hades doesn't just work well, it works in a uniquely video game way. The setting of Hades is roguish in both thematics and mechanics. It's all about taking failure on the chin and accepting any help you can. It drove me to play it even more than I normally would have and made each run unique. It drove me to play it even after I beat it. This game’s story doesn't conclude until you beat it 10 times and I’m not upset about it one bit. You can customized each run's difficulty in a variety of ways after you beat it to add new rewards and content.

It really is a near perfectly crafted game in its genre. The only thing it drops the ball in is music which is a bit underwhelming. Don't remember a damn thing from it. And I've heard praise for the OST too, but it appears to not be my bag. It worked for what the game was going for and it matched the environments well, but it didn't stick with me the way I'd prefer an OST to stick with me. That's really is the only issue about the game I can conjure...but if it was clearly the best one of the three, I wouldn't be writing this.

In the second corner we have Rogue Legacy 2. Rogue Legacy is the inverse of Hades. Its narrative foil in a way. They are both games about overcoming impossible odds with the help from your family and end up being equally powerful despite going separate routes with this premise. Hades is based around Nepotism. You get to know your uncles and cousins throughout the game and your bonds with them push you forward. As such Hades is a more character driven narrative due to how large and important the supporting cast is. The cast in Rogue Legacy 2 is potentially bigger, but they're mostly all the same character. The Premise of Rogue Legacy 2 is that each run follows the latest heir of a family sworn to conquer an evil castle. When you die, you play as your offspring in the next push through the castle. It's a different character technically, with a different class and unique attributes. But one thing is maintained between the end of your last journey and the beginning of your new one: Your Bank Account.

If Hades is about Nepotism, Rogue Legacy is about Inheritance. Your character is given every advantage their predecessors were given and then some, assuring the next generation grows up stronger. Rather than death being equated to a minor setback, it's given real narrative consequence in a way. Every failed run is an echo of your past self. And it's cool that their efforts aren't going to waste. You are carrying the weight of your entire bloodline on your shoulders and it makes it all the more gratifying when you get to your points of respite. It's not as interesting as the standard well written game story, but it's just as powerful as one. When I beat the game and saw 100+ ancestors given their due credit, I felt that shit.

None of this is authentic by the way. Every bit of this was executed in Rogue Legacy 1 prior. The thing is, the sequel is better than that game in every conceivable way that it overwrites its very existence. I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that there is zero reason to play the first game anymore. I get that it would be embarrassing for a game about improving over generations to not be way better than it's predecessor, but Junior didn't have to go this hard. I'd go as far to say that the first area of Rogue Legacy 2 completely encapsulates the experience of the first game. Everything beyond that point feels fresh and new. So for the remainder of this essay, Rogue Legacy only refers to the second game. It's such a large improvement to an already good game.

Rogue Legacy works because it's unabashedly brutal. Your hit boxes are so small and the enemy hit boxes are so big. Damage values are obscene. Enemies are around every corner and are relentless. Conquering this game is supposed to be difficult so it is designed around failure. It's not fair, but doesn't pretend to be. Your goal is rarely about accomplishing shit on your own and is more about fostering a new generation. Sewing seeds for the future. This game has six areas you need to conquer before gaining access to the final boss. Areas that you can access in a non linear way. It's essentially six separate Rogue Likes glued together. After you beat one area, you can still revisit that area in future runs, only the boss is permanently dead now. Once you've built an heir capable enough, you have the freedom to make short runs where you B-line to the boss or long runs where you scrape each prior area before the showdown. The draw of Rogue Legacy lies in how unlikely it is that you beat it in under a few dozen runs, but because every single run you failed in built towards your eventual victory, it is all the more satisfying.

Rogue Legacy is a game with an insane number of mechanics. Classes, armor, seals, equipment load, bank interest, skill trees, artifacts, upgrades and the list keeps going. Rogue Legacy takes Search Action gameplay and implements systems with the breadth and complexity of a 60 hours long RPG. And it functions perfectly because this is going to be a very looooong game, so the player has time to understand how the systems interact. Unlocking a class you can vibe with and figuring out which abilities and equipment optimize well with it is one of the many joys of Rogue Legacy 2.

Classes define your initial weapons, skills, and spells and additional stats. Class skills and stats basically determine how you're going to play. Weapons are important too, but the skills and stats can't be swapped out the same way weapons and spells can. And much like any craft, they can be improved. You can level up classes by playing them and defeating enemies. This incentivizes focusing on a single class that you've grown fond of so that their base stats will improve. But the random character generation limits your choice in the matter. It forces you to choose different classes. You're always making the best with the hands you are dealt, similar actual genetics. Classes aren't the only thing randomly generated in character creation. Each heir has a genetic trait that has a benefit and drawback. You can be born as a dwarf with shorter weapon range, but makes more money per chest. You can start off with a character who falls slowly, making some sections easier and some a nightmare. Every aspect of build creation of this game has a push and pull.

The armor you buy in this game increases your defense but the set bonus combination for said armors can give you extra stat or ability modifications. Seals are exclusively ability modifications guaranteed to make the game more fun to play with reliable effects. Artifacts fulfill the same purpose a lot of the time, but they are objects you find within the castle runs themselves. Having the right class, armor set, artifacts, and seals can make for a devastating build that will get you far in your adventure. But it's never that simple. Everything in this game has a cost. Armor cost money and ore to make and their weight fills up your maximum armor equip limit. Seals cost money and blood stones and have their own equip limit as well. Artifacts cost resolve and maybe re-rolls to get the best ones, and your resolve lowers if you have too much armor. The lower your resolve gets, the lower your Hit Point Maximum gets, making the character’s stats themselves a form of currency. Nothing in this game is simply handed to you and you have to do everything yourself with the small loan of 1 million gold your dead father gave you.

These systems and how they interact push this to being a phenomenal game, but they wouldn't mean anything without fun gameplay and that is something Rogue Legacy has in spades. Movement is the best part of this game I feel. It really leaned into the Metroidvania aspect. You get powers throughout the game that make world traversal delightful, and become even more fun when you have seals to build off of. Not many games let you do a quintuple jump into a triple air dash, but Rogue Legacy is one of those games. No mechanic you are given is that complicated as they are simply extensions of what you can already do. Attack, Magic, Skill, Dash, and Jump are basically the whole of the gameplay. Just fine tuning those things makes it satisfying to master. But there is one aspect added in this sequel that felt so natural I forgot to list it.

The Spin Kick. The spin kick is essentially a Duck Tales pogo. But you don't get that much height from it. But what it loses in height, it makes up for in surface area. You can spin kick basically any thing in this game so long as long as it's physical or electrical matter. Enemies, projectiles, weird candelabras, are all spin kick approved. Think Cup Head parry, but exclusively down ward, which doesn't seem that great, but it's a platformer essentially. You are jumping a lot. It's really not that different from attacks coming from the side when you are in mid air so much of the time any way. This platformer parry is utilized throughout the whole game to making interesting level obstacles and boss patterns. It is the unsung hero of this game and 3 playthroughs later, I'm still finding joy in executing it.

It's very hard for things in Rogue Legacy to overstay their welcome. Even the procedural level design remains fresh. Lots of variety in the rooms. It's not only a series of corridors where you have to kill enemies in a generated mini level. Some rooms are puzzles. Some are platforming challenges. Some are gauntlets and mini bosses. Some are purely story related. Also the 6 level motifs are distinct both visually and how they are designed. Level 2 almost entirely horizontal while the last area feels like a true dungeon crawler due to how dark and dangerous it is. I wasn't kidding before. Rogue Legacy 2 is 6 Rogue Legacy sequels stuffed into 1 game. And the post game adds another layer to that variety. One of the best parts about a long dev cycle is that entire trends go by in the middle of it. And because of that the creators can be given new ideas. Rogue Legacy blatantly takes the same post game ideas displayed in Dark Souls and Hades and injects it into itself. Rogue Legacy waited until the last moment to turn in its homework and then unabashedly copied off its classmates for an easy A. And god bless it for doing so. With the scaling and customizable difficulty, expansion of rewards and enemies, and completely unique bonus challenges, I'm gonna be playing this one for a long time.

So clearly I enjoy these two games a lot. But what about Dead Cells? What does it bring to the table? What can it do to stand up to these titans. Well. Honestly not much. If Hades is Angel Eyes, and Rogue Legacy is Blondie, then Dead Cells is Tuco stuck in the stand off with an unloaded gun.

Dead Cells is a good game. It looks better than Rogue Legacy. I might enjoy the gameplay more than Hades. But that's where the advantages end. And I'll be honest I haven't spent enough time with this game to truly have scholars opinion on it, thus I can’t write paragraph about its design. But that's kind of the problem. I beat this game in 4 runs. I'm no god at gaming. I'm slightly above average on a good day. The fact that I stumbled upon the ending of this game so early is disappointing. Rogue Legacy, I died a hundred deaths before reaching credits. Hades took me around 14 to beat the first time. Dead Cells gave it away and it was so deflating. I didn't work towards anything. I just sort of won. I never even died to a single boss. Once I upgraded how many estus I could hold, the only thing that mattered was the pick ups I got during the run. I'm sure if I go back there is way more to the game, but after seeing the credits I kind lost all motivation to play it. It's not fair to the game that I did that, but that's how I feel and I got other things to do with my time. It’s too bad I had the idea of comparing these three games before playing all of them.

So it all comes down to Rogue Legacy 2 and Hades. Hades has untouchable presentation and succeeds in everything it attempts with grace in a way that Rogue Legacy 2 doesn't. I can't really break down why, there's an air about it that makes it feel more thought out and seamless. But...I value what Rogue Legacy 2 is more as a game and more over, as a Rogue Like. Sure I like 2D games more than isometric games, but even beyond that, Rogue Legacy has a layer of exploration that pushes it over for me. I find it far more replayable. Hades likely has more condensed quality, but the quantity of Rogue Legacy makes up for it, and quantity is a bit more important for the genre honestly. The depth in content for Hades lies more in the story after you've beaten it, while Rogue Legacy is more in the gameplay. There are more things to do and experience, so it has more value to me. It was likely obvious what my preference was due to how I wrote more about it and made that spot on Dollars Trilogy Reference, but I couldn't really hide it. It's just that damn good.

[thisyearingaming]

1997 - This Year in Gaming

Muggins here was born in ‘97, and can’t really remember much of it, natch. But there were some good things released this year - I’ve played every one of these, and have missed so many more.

Diablo - Windows, January 3rd

We start with dungeon-crawl-em-up and well-loved out of season April Fool’s Joke, Diablo. I’ll be totally honest - I don’t like Diablo that much. It’s absolutely fine, I just can’t get into it. The writing, setting and characters are all very good especially since this year only marks the beginning of games being seen as a bit more adult and intelligent. Check out this gameplay from Hour of Oblivion on YouTube, and marvel at the faux-Scottish accent on Griswold the blacksmith.

Mario Kart 64 - Nintendo 64, February 10th

Compared to its more recent versions, Mario Kart 64 is a veritable bloody relic of the past - solid controls and a quirky style mean it’s still a crowd pleaser to this day, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone right now that would die on the hill of it being their favourite single-player racing experience. It’s also got some of the deepest, impenetrable lore in any medium known to the human race - why exactly is Marty the Thwomp locked up here?

Blast Corps - Nintendo 64, February 28th

February’s position as most boring month of the year is shaken up a bit by having a uniquely designed Rare game slammed into its 28-day long face. Blast Corps is the puzzle-action game where you take control of several vehicles to destroy homes and buildings in order to prevent a nuclear warhead exploding in the coolest incarnation of Cold War politicking ever seen in a video game. Calling Blast Corps a “hidden gem” these days is like calling Celeste a hidden gem - it impresses nobody and makes you look like a dick. 

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Nintendo 64, March 4th 

The N64 was home to a surprisingly large number of above-average shooters despite its muddy graphics and small cartridge space - Turok is one of these, a great FPS game where you shoot the SHIT out of dinosaurs. Brett Atwood of Billboard said it was like Doom and Tomb Raider mixed - Doom Raider, if you will. I say it isn’t - there’s no demons, and there’s no polygonal breasts to poke dinosaurs’ eyes out with! 

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Sony PlayStation, March 20th

What is a retrospective? A miserable little pile of opinions. I’ve only recently played through SotN for the very first time on a TOTALLY LEGITIMATE copy with a CRT filter. Bloody good (geddit?) game, that takes the repetition of its predecessors, improves on it in basically every conceivable way, and combines it with special effects and graphics that even 23 years later had me going “ooh, that looks quite good!” Symphony’s music and audio design are wonderfully paired with a deeply enjoyable experience that’ll have you saying “mm, maybe just one more room?”

Tekken 3 - Sony PlayStation, March 20th

Also releasing from the Land of the Rising Sun that day was Tekken 3, which many believe is still one of the best fighters ever made. Tekken 3′s combat is so fast and responsive that it’s better than some games made today. T3 is also the best and easiest way to knock seven shades of absolute shite out of your friends without risking a massive head injury or a trip to the headmaster’s office... where you could also challenge him, but only if he plays as my favourite Not-Guile-or-Ken character in gaming, Paul. 

Sonic Jam - Sega Saturn, June 20th

The moment Sega realised that re-packaging old Mega Drive games would net them serious cash - although unlike later collections, this is a strictly Sonic affair, and has a neat little 3D world to run around in as a sort of hub world. Sonic X-Treme proved that Sonic Team would have to work hard at getting the fastest thing alive into 3D space properly: Jam is the sort of test ground for it too. It features some genuinely good emulation work for 1997, although it’s basically the gaming equivalent of going round to your grandparents at Christmas only for them to give you the exact same gifts you got in 1991, 1992 and 1994 but wrapped in a bow to make you think it’s different. What are you lookin’ at, you little blue devil?

Star Fox 64 - Nintendo 64, June 30th

So there’s this German company, right, called StarVox. Nintendo look at Europe and say “shit, we don’t want another lawsuit... after all, we’ve done three this year!”. So they give us in the PAL region the exciting title of Lylat Wars which as far as I know means absolutely fucking nothing in the context of the game. They’re still called Star Fox in-game too so what was the point? Anyway, fun 3D shooter with graphics that’ll make you do a barrel roll off the sofa and onto the power button to make the brown and green blurs a little easier on the eyes. Hello 2007, I’ve come back to make old references with you!

Carmageddon - Windows, July 30th

The game so scary it was BANNED in the UK! More like the game so fucking shit it was banned. Carmageddon is so deeply boring to play on PC that I can only imagine that Stainless Games made it tasteless by 90s standards simply to ramp up demand - much like another game we’ll be covering soon. 

Herc’s Adventures - Sony PlayStation, July 31st

“And they said Kratos was the best hero? Shish... they got it wrong, sister! Hercules is clearly better... he even has a coconut weapon.” A surprisingly fun overhead action game that most people only know for... well, I’ll just embed it.

Mega Man X4 - Sony Playstation, August 1st

A few years ago I tried playing every Mega Man game there is - I gave up at X3 because I was getting bored. Even still, Mega Man bores me - but at least the level design is good. Stay away from the Windows port. Pictured: me in the background yawning.

GoldenEye 007 - Nintendo 64, August 25th 

The name’s Intro. Overused intro which I also managed to fuck up twice through the deeply editable medium of text. GoldenEye is like the Seinfeld of console shooters - playing it nowadays you’re unlikely to be amazed but holy shit there’s some absolute greatness in this game. Every sound and every piece of music in GoldenEye is permanently seared into my brain - sometimes I’ll just hear Facility or Frigate in my head alongside the door opening sound and the gentle PEW of the PP7. I mean come on, fucking listen to this and tell me Grant Kirkhope isn’t cool as all hell.

LEGO Island - Windows, September 26th

The first open world experience I ever had was LEGO Island. It’s still quite good today, utterly deranged animation from the likes of the Infomaniac and Brickster - a cautionary tale for children that giving pizza to high-profile criminals is disastrous for the human LEGO race. 

Fallout - Windows, October 10th

War never changes, but franchises do. Fallout’s legendary status in the industry is exemplified in how different it feels. Yes, we had the game Wasteland nine years prior, but until September 97 there was nothing quite like Fallout. From the chilling introduction sequence showing the ruins of the United States to the tragic ending, Fallout is an exercise in pure human misery with the brightest spots of hope it can possibly muster thrown in for good measure. What begins as a tedious isometric point-and-click RPG ends as a minigun-wielding power fantasy, before your entire worth is stripped from you at the finish line. You have 500 days to find a water chip before it’s too late, but you’re constantly being fought by terrifying Super Mutants, irradiated animals, and the biggest monster of all - humanity. See what I did there? If anything, humanity in Fallout’s setting would be the greatest unifying force possible against the horror of the outside world. But how is it? It’s dull, it’s sluggish, and it’s really hard to get into even if you’re already a fan - but push through that and it’s worthwhile to see exactly how far the series got before Todd Howard said “eh fuck it” and had the whole thing dipped into an FEV vat.

Grand Theft Auto - Sony PlayStation, October 21st

To put it simply, the first in the GTA series is now nothing but a novelty. It has an irritating camera, wonky controls, poor graphics and deeply repetitive gameplay. But thank fuck it exists, because without it the Rockstar story may have been very different indeed. It’s quintessential cops and robbers gameplay, spanning across Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas in one game, but with maps so far removed from their modern incarnations they may as well be named “Not New York, Possibly Bristol and Orange Town”. People really fucking hated Hare Krishnas in the 20th Century, didn’t they?

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Sony PlayStation, October 31

A hard one to talk about, honestly - it’s more Crash and better than the first one. It looks great, and Crash controls so well compared to his first outing. It’ll also keep you playing for 100%, fiendishly addictive and unashamedly difficult. Had a weird cover that moved with your head. 

PaRappa the Rapper - Sony PlayStation, November 17th

Type type type the words into the box! (Type, type, type - uh oh - the box?)

PaRappa is a gorgeously stylised rhythm game about rapping to steal the heart of the girl of your dreams - which involves learning karate, getting your driver’s license, selling bottle caps and frogs, making a cake, desperately trying not to shit yourself, and finally performing live on stage. Every one of its segments is so well-produced that they’d genuinely sell like ghost cookies in this era of shite rap. Notable for producing the greatest Jay-Z backing track ever made.

Sonic R - Sega Saturn, November 18th

Sonic R is absolutely FINE with vibrant textures, interesting levels, neat gimmicks and decent controls. But I’m gonna talk about its fucking AWESOME soundtrack by Richard Jacques and T.J. Davis, an eclectic mix of Europop and New Jack Swing - even thinking about it is bringing tears of absolute joy to my eyes hearing Super Sonic Racing in my head. You’ve got the main theme, Living in the City, Can You Feel the Sunshine, Back in Time, Diamond in the Sky, Work It Out and Number One - all of these are absolute club bangers and genuinely wouldn’t be out of place in a 90s disco. 

Tomb Raider II - Sony PlayStation, November 18th

Lara Croft returns to single-handedly endanger every species on Earth. TR2 is really good, the exploration and puzzle-solving aspects of the first game expanded upon here and the gunplay remaining just as punchy. Lara’s got a fully-functioning ponytail which absolutely boggles the fucking mind - a lot of work went into Lara’s hair for the 2013 reboot, so I can’t imagine the amount of man hours it took to get fluid(ish, come on, it’s the PS1 we’re talking about) hair movements in 1997. 

And really, that’s all I played from 1997. I’ve left out big hitters like Quake II, Gran Turismo and Diddy Kong Racing, but I simply haven’t formed an opinion on them yet. Maybe in a future post. 

Thanks for reading.

[operationrainfall]

Title Contra Anniversary Collection Developer Konami Publisher Konami Release Date July 11th, 2019 Genre Platformer Platform PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One Age Rating E for Everyone 10+ – Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco Official Website

Every gamer has those series that helped define them. Games that spoke to your first perception of what made a game fun, and despite quirks or faults, are still seen through the rose colored glasses of nostalgia. One of those series for me was Castlevania, which I covered last year. But there’s another big series published by Konami that also helped define who I am, and that’s the Contra series. Admittedly, they’re both very different, since one focuses on precision and strategy and the other focuses on adrenaline pumping mayhem. Contra taught me patience and the importance of learning enemy patterns, amongst other lessons. It wouldn’t be fair to cover one series and not the other, so today I’m gonna review the Contra Anniversary Collection. Yes, it came out a while ago, but the gaming world has been ridiculously jam packed for a long period of time now, and it’s better late than never. So I’m going to cover the 10 main games in the Anniversary Collection, as well as the bonus features I spent time with. Unlike my Castlevania Anniversary Collection review, this one won’t have games listed in the order I played them. Instead, I will list them in order of preference, starting with my least favorite and working up to most. So go ahead and crack your knuckles and pop some drops in your eyeballs, cause this is gonna be a big one!

Game # 1 – Contra (Arcade version)

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I really wish I could say I loved the arcade version of the original Contra. After all, I had never played either of the arcade cabinets, so the opportunity to tackle them now seemed like a good idea. The graphics were definitely more impressive here than on the NES or Famicom, which should have translated to a better experience. Unfortunately, I ended up disliking both of these arcade variants. Sure, they’re pretty, but they’re also completely unbalanced. And that’s saying something considering how hard this series is. But there’s a difference between fair and unfair difficulty, and this Contra fell into the latter category.

For one thing, enemies move much faster than usual, and the turrets that track you are no joke. They are rapid firing mechanical death machines that track your every move and trip you up in streams of bullets. Worse, there’s not any invincibility frames in this game, so you’ll respawn and think you’re safe, just to get gunned down again. This happened many times during one boss fight, and even against the basic enemies I had a rough time.

Much like in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, I made use of the save states here to spend less time reviewing, and even then I was getting destroyed. While I did beat nearly all the other main games in this collection, I made an exception here. I just didn’t have the patience to beat this particular game. I’m happy I got a chance to see what the Contra arcade experience was all about, but I’m much happier that I don’t ever have to play this one again. Let’s move on with a step in the right direction.

Game #2 – Super Contra (Arcade version)

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Yes, I know I just said I didn’t like the arcade Contras, and while that’s largely true, at least this one felt a bit better balanced. So much so that I was able to actually beat it! Sure, it’s still a rollicking ride, and largely unfair, but not so unbalanced that it’s unbeatable. Especially with my good friend, save states. The biggest challenges I encountered here were in the top down stages, most notably the final boss. It managed to pin me in place many times with projectiles and other threats, and it took a good amount of practice to finally put it down. But at least I mostly had fun, and didn’t find the other bosses overwhelming.

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In many ways, this one reminded me of the first console versions of the original game put into a blender with Super C. Which sounds weird, but it does make sense. The thematic focus was more on organic creepy critters than robotic threats. But don’t worry, there’s still a good chance a surprise turret will take you out. I guess my biggest issue with this particular entry was it wasn’t clear which upgrades you were collecting. I grew up with Contra III, and I like knowing exactly what upgrade I’m picking up. But at least it took the sour taste out of my mouth after the last arcade experience.

Game #3 – Probotector

I should point out here that until I bought the Contra Anniversary Collection, I had never played the European releases of the games. I honestly wasn’t even that familiar with them, and initially thought they were unique entries. Imagine my disappointment when I learned that both European entries were just remakes of Contra III and Hard Corps, but with some new quirks. For one, to get published they had to replace the humans with robots (probably cause blood was too scary for the rating board back then). More importantly, both Probotector and the other EU variant had a slower framerate. At first I didn’t notice that, but when I played the games they were based on, it became very apparent. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, since both Contra III and Hard Corps are incredibly fast paced and challenging games. In a way, Probotector is a more laid back game.

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The one downside that I saw very clearly when I was playing Probotector was the screen size. I’m not sure if this was originally the case or is due to faulty emulation in this Collection, but it’s odd. Everything looks fine, but it’s super tiny and scaled down, which hurts the eyes. And that’s a shame, cause Probotector is actually a pretty good entry, quirks aside. It just can’t live up to Hard Corps. Honestly, once I found out that both games were essentially the same experience, I stopped playing this one and moved onto the real deal. But we’ll talk all about that later. Next up, time for a portable Contra experience.

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Game #4 – Operation C

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Much like for Castlevania, Contra had a surprisingly great portable game. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was the best in the series or anything, but it does take many elements I associate with a real Contra and made them work. There’s various weapons, difficult bosses and long stages. In fact, the final boss in this game, some flying mecha that harasses you with missiles, was one of the harder bosses I’ve faced in this notoriously difficult series.

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Even with a limited color palette, Operation C was very visually impressive. I would even go so far as to say I liked the visuals more here than in either of the arcade games. Everything was more clear, albeit less colorful. The only real low points are that the game is relatively short, which was likely due to the Game Boy’s limitations, and that the music wasn’t that compelling. For better or worse, I grew up with fond memories of Contra III, so whenever I think about the series, I think about that game. And that game had some incredible music. Sadly, unlike Castlevania, the Contra series isn’t known for having consistently amazing music, but there are still some standout games. Operation C just wasn’t one of them. But, mechanically, this was a very solid entry, and one I’m glad I finally got the chance to play.

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Game #5 – Contra (NES)

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It was very cathartic for my childhood self to play through and beat this game. Because when it originally came out, I was a young whippersnapper, and I was not nearly as good then at gaming as I am now. I hadn’t yet learned true patience or developed the reflexes I rely on, which made the first Contra a real pain. Playing through it now, it actually holds up remarkably well. You could tell Konami was just figuring out what they wanted the series to be, and there are distinct influences from other sources, such as the Rambo tough guys, some levels that reminded me more of Ninja Gaiden, and some bosses that could have worked in the TMNT games.

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You wouldn’t be faulted for initially thinking the series was just about humans fighting other humans. Eventually you’ll come across some high tech crazy and start to wonder, and then the final level goes full Alien, with horrifying biological nightmares and monstrous entities. I feel that final stage really set the tone for later games, and how they alternate more fluidly between mechanical threats and the alien bastards behind it all.

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All in all though, the game which gave me so much trouble as a child was a lot more fun as an adult. Sure, it’s still a bit frustrating at times, and you can easily die from jumping at the wrong time, but overall this was a fun entry with the tight controls the series is known for. The biggest thing holding it back was the version that came out in Japan…

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Game #6 – Contra (Famicom)

A common refrain from gamers of a certain age was that Japan got all the best stuff. That ranged from swag to special editions to pre-order bonuses, but it also often applied to versions of games. The Famicom version of Contra was frankly the superior one. Not only was it graphically more impressive, allowing for effects like trees swaying or snow falling, but it was just more ambitious. This game has a full introduction, and even though I can’t read a word of it, it’s evident they put some real effort into making an interesting plot. One that was totally missing from the US version of the game.

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I especially found it interesting how this version has cutscenes after each stage, as well as a map that was very reminiscent of Ghouls ‘n Ghosts. While most of the bosses and enemies are the same, those foes more dependent on speed are much harder, like the spiked tank in the snowbound stage.

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Though this entry is in most ways identical to the NES one, I am very glad I could finally compare the two. The only thing I wish this Collection had was a way to translate all the dialogue into other languages. But I know that’s a tall order, and ultimately the plot is the least important aspect of any Contra game.

Keep reading for the top 4 games plus more ->

Game #7 – Super Probotector Alien Rebels

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Now, I know I spent some time earlier talking about the EU Contras. And yes, this one is pretty much an exact clone of Contra III. But that doesn’t change the fact I adore that game, so I found this one entertaining as well. It’s still a very pretty game, with tons of mechanical and biological threats to combat. I also found the robotic heroes looked really cool, and in some odd ways it makes more sense to have powerful robots fighting aliens than bare chested humans with guns.

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Honestly the only real complaint I have about Super Probotector Alien Rebels is that they didn’t try something new. With the whole robots versus aliens theme, it would have been cool if Konami had thrown in a new boss or two, or even a unique stage. Cause honestly, I’m invested in that concept. That said, if you like the series but feel the other games are too hard, this slowed down adventure should be more your speed.

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Game #8 – Super C

Now we’re really starting to get to the good stuff. While the original Contra was fun but a bit of a mess, Super C is where the series started to come together. There was no question that aliens were up to no good here, and they mixed horror with action very well. Infected soldiers, creepy skull ships and much more made this a game worth remembering.

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Not only was the balance better in Super C, but they had some really iconic fights that were echoed in later games. A noteworthy one is the freaky final boss, which is reused later in Contra III, but there’s a lot more that I loved. Take the dangerous metal spider you have to stand on top of and shoot bullets into. Also, the top down sections here were much more interesting than the first game.

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All in all, I feel Super C did a memorable job of bringing Contra into a more coherent place. It wasn’t afraid to try crazy shit, and the bosses were more significant and fun to battle. But the next game is one that has a very special place in my heart.

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Game #9 – Contra III: The Alien Wars

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This is the game that I have held up for years as my example of what the best Contra is. And there’s a few reasons. One is the nostalgia factor. I can still clearly remember playing this with my friend in elementary school on a giant TV, yelling and screaming as we blasted aliens to bits and got destroyed in return. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was great at the game way back then, I didn’t care. I kept playing cause I enjoyed it so much, and in the process got better and better.

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Another really obvious reason I love Contra III is the music. This is the entry in the entire series that has my favorite soundtrack. I can still hear the haunting tunes from Neo Kobe Steel Factory, the upbeat tracks of Road Warriors and the tense tenor of the boss track, Invasion. While the tunes are definitely better blaring at you from a giant sound system, they also are quite enjoyable on the portable Nintendo Switch. But it wasn’t just the music, I also loved the gameplay in this entry. Not only is it rock solid, it’s very well balanced. You won’t die for stupid reasons once you get down the patterns.

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I feel Contra III did the best job of streamlining the action while still keeping it complex. Dual guns you could swap between, bombs and shields all were in this game. And that’s a good thing, since it had some gnarly boss fights. The whole game is almost a boss rush, with grunts rushing you in between. Sure, the final stages are a bit much, and the fact you have to play through it more than once to get the best ending is a challenge, but that’s just part of the special sauce that makes a Contra. Next, we have the game that stole the gold from Contra III in a surprising upset.

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Game #10 – Contra Hard Corps

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As a lifelong Nintendo fan, this is hard for me to admit, but the sole Sega Contra in this collection has become my favorite Contra game. Which is a sentence I never thought I’d write. The primary reason is this – the staggering ambition of this game. Konami wasn’t content to sit on their laurels and phone this game in. It’s almost so over the top I can’t classify this as a Contra. There’s multiple endings, for one. For another, the primary focus of the game are out of control robots (at least initially). But then you throw in things like multiple playable characters with different weapons, and I was just staggered.

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Now, while in many ways I still feel that Contra III is the purest experience, this one is worth owning for how nuts it is. You won’t know what’s coming down the pipe next, other than the fact it’ll be angry and bloodthirsty. This is also a rapid fire Contra, making Contra III appear like it’s standing still in comparison. One jungle stage has hordes of angry critters that rush you, and if you’re not ready they’ll tear you to ribbons. Oh and did I mention there are bosses that also get some character development? Not much, mind you, but still that’s impressive. I love Colonel Bahamut, who reminded me of Dracula mixed with Dr. Wily. Or take Noiman Cascade, an obese hacker that attacks you with virtual constructs.

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In many ways, I think Hard Corps is remarkable, and it’s evident now how fully it inspired another game I love, Blazing Chrome. But Hard Corps is also really, really difficult. Even with save states, you’ll be replaying fights over and over til you get the patterns down pat. I do think the balance is a little skewed, but I still had a blast. I managed to get two different endings, but I know there’s still a handful more waiting for me. But this is one of the few games in the Collection I’ll be replaying multiple times just for the hell of it.

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Now, while those 10 are the main reason you’ll buy the Contra Anniversary Collection, there’s still more. There are Bonus JP versions of some of the games, but I didn’t have the time or inclination to play those. Mostly because I don’t believe there was enough new variation in any to justify playing them. But if you want some added replay value, you certainly have it there. Or if you want to play with a friend, I’m pretty sure all the games that originally had co-op can be played locally with a friend on Switch. Which is a nice touch.

Aesthetically, there’s really not a bad game in the bunch. Sure the series started more primitive, but even the earliest examples here had great and vibrant designs. I would definitely point to later games, such as Hard Corps and Contra III, as having the best monsters in the Collection, but there’s nothing ugly here. Even the arcade games I disliked are well animated. Musically, the game is good, not great, with the exception I mentioned earlier. Overall, the design is very solid, and I love the creativity on display in all the games.

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Another cool bonus in the Anniversary Collection is the gallery. Not only does it include tons of artwork, but a lot of behind the scenes info and even an interview or two. It even features a Contra Timeline (proving Konami didn’t learn their lesson from Castlevania) as well as a really nifty list of how many games each of the iconic weapons from Contra appeared in. My favorite is still the good old Spreadshot, but I have some affection for the Crush and Homing guns as well. However, just like the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, this compilation lacks one key feature – a music box. Now it’s not as unforgivable here as it was there, since all Castlevania games have amazing music, compared to only a couple Contra games, but it’s still a bummer.

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Altogether, the Contra Anniversary Collection is still a hell of a bargain. As a gamer that grew up playing many of these games, it’s nice having a bunch of them together in one place. I probably spent 12 hours or so playing through the entire thing. I’m a bit dissatisfied that some of my other favorite games in the series aren’t here, such as Shattered Soldier and Contra 4. But even without those, this Collection is a great deal for only $19.99. If you love over the top mayhem, giant bosses and lots of challenge, look no further.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4.5″]

Review Copy Purchased by Author

REVIEW: Contra Anniversary Collection Title Contra Anniversary Collection

[actutrends]

GamesBeat editor Jeff Grubb’s top 20 games of 2019

We’ve had a lot of really good years in gaming recently, but 2019 is at the top of the list for me. I get that not everyone feels that way. For me, however, I got to play so many games I was looking forward to. And then several other games caught me by surprise.

So sure, we didn’t get the Gods of War or Red Dead Redemptions, but … I don’t even like those games. What do I like? Well, how about these 20 games right here?

20. Untitled Goose Game

Goose is the breakout video game of the year. It has the most viral buzz, and that’s for a good reason: It’s fun to watch. I also enjoy playing it, but it’s significantly better as a game you play for others. It’s a joy to do something silly and make everyone in your family laugh. And Untitled Goose Game is great at creating those moments.

19. Resident Evil 2

I’m not a Resident Evil guy. I adored Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 1 Remake on the GameCube, but I had never even played the original Resident Evil 2. Thankfully, Capcom gave me a chance to go back to this game in an exquisite reimagining. While I didn’t find the game all that frightening, it’s still fun to work my way through the Raccoon City police department while avoiding the indestructible Mr. X.

18. Ape Out

Ape Out is a game where you you help an ape get out. As a ferocious and unjustly imprisoned gorilla, you can smash enemies like the Hulk or use them as human shields. And your goal is just to run to the exit on every stage. But the game’s top-down view, simple art, and dynamic percussion soundtrack make it one of the most stylish games of the year as well.

17. The Outer Worlds

I’m a fan of the recent Fallout games, but I’ve always wanted a similar game that took place in space. The Outer Worlds definitely delivers that. It might not have all of the interlocking systems of a Bethesda RPG, but it does well with its slimmer scope.

16. Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a bizarre and challenging game. It has you guiding a lineage of primates through eons of time and evolutionary progress. If that sounds like an obtuse, high-concept idea, that’s because it is, but that’s also why I love it.

15. A Short Hike

A Short Hike is exactly what its name suggests. It’s a short game where you hike through a woodsy terrain. But it is so charming and packed with different little things to do that it feels much bigger than its 2-hour playtime. I also love the charming, aliased visual style that is like Animal Crossing on PS1.

14. Disco Elysium

I haven’t played enough Disco Elysium to put it much higher on my list than this. But even after only a handful of hours, I can see why people are so enamored with it. Its reactive world is always aware of the context players are working from. And its mystery is genuinely interesting. But the best part is the conversation system where almost all of the game happens. Even as someone who has never really gotten into an RPG like this, it’s winning me over.

13. Shovel Knight: King of Cards

Shovel Knight is such an accomplishment. Developer Yacht Club Games has packed it with tons of content. And King of Cards is the exclamation point on years of work. This is a completely new release, with excellent platforming mechanics and a full card game. I haven’t finished it, but I keep sneaking in more time with it when I should be playing other games.

12. Tetris 99

Tetris continues to prove itself as one of the most resilient games of all time. It can come back year after year, and it did just that with Tetris 99. Despite Tetris Effect ending up on my list last year, Tetris as a battle royale was just as fun and impressive. I’m probably going to play different versions of Tetris for the rest of my life, and I’m OK with that.

11. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for Game Boy is my favorite game of all time. That makes this near one-to-one remake for the Switch difficult for me to assess. It’s still that game with some new visuals and an improved interface. And while it’s dense with discoveries, it is also simple. I also can’t help that I prefer the look of the original black-and-white game. Still, I played through this version back-to-back when I got it for review, and it’s still excellent. It’s also the first Zelda I would give to any kid looking to get into the series.

10. Factory Town

Factory Town was an obsession of mine this year that I wish I could have given into more than I did. This is just one entry in the growing automated-production genre where you must design a world to process resources into currency you can spend to expand your processing capabilities. You have a lot of options in this category, but I’m glad I went with Factory Town. It’s in 3D, so you have to deal with elevations. But it’s also streamlined enough that I felt like I could always deal with any issues. And now I want to go back and check on my town.

9. Trials Rising

Trials Rising is exactly what I want from the motorcycle-platforming franchise. It has excellent courses that are exciting to run over and over, and it has a wild and irreverent tone and sense of humor. It definitely has some issues with progression that are going to turn a lot of people off, but it’s a game I’m still going back to regularly as a Trials fan.

8. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Bloodstained came out, and it is great. This is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night spiritual successor from former Castlevania director Koji Igarashi, and it lived up to that legacy. It has fun, fast-paced combat, great exploration, and a bizarre roster of enemies.

7. Luigi’s Mansion 3

I wish Nintendo would’ve released this earlier in October. It came out on Halloween, and I didn’t have time to play it. And then suddenly it was November, and the timing didn’t feel right. But I’m playing through it now, and I’m enjoying it. That’s the right word, too. It is nice to play with really satisfying vacuuming action and incredible animations. But I hope that I end up loving it.

6. Super Mario Maker 2

Super Mario Maker 2 should be higher, but Nintendo is not great about some key things. Mostly, it doesn’t integrate your Switch friends list to make it easy to track your friends’ creations or their leaderboard times. But the game is still excellent — especially after its most recent update to include Link. That completely changes how the game works. I’ve also had a great time racing against people in the Vs. mode even if I’ve had little luck winning.

5. Sekiro: Shadow’s Die Twice

This is the game that got me into From Software’s style of punishing combat. It took a while to win me over, but it did. I love its battles that force you to get creative with attacks and items. And I also love its world and grim characters.

4. Lonely Mountains: Downhill

Lonely Mountains: Downhill is exactly the kind of game I want to discover when I open up Xbox Game Pass. It’s a game about guiding a bicycle through a hilly obstacle course. And while it starts out laid back with the goal of just getting to the bottom, it quickly turns into a significant challenge where you need to get to the bottom as quickly as possible without wiping out too often. This leads you to searching out the plentiful shortcuts, which is a satisfying experience in itself.

3. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is exactly my kind of game. I jive with all of Respawn Entertainment’s design decisions. And then the studio also nailed the implementation of the Star Wars universe.

The game is an expert combination of Dark Souls combat and progression, Metroid Prime environments and exploration, and a sprinkle of Uncharted set pieces at the beginning and the end. And all of that worked for me. I especially love slowly pushing through a world, getting a new power, and then having an easier time working my way back out. And I am so impressed by the boss fights that always find a way to stay interesting and push the story and state of the world forward.

And then I totally fell in love with the characters. I especially appreciate the relationship between hero Cal Kestis and the Nightsister, Merrin. That friendship/budding romance was handled deftly and has me rooting for Cal, which is not where I thought I was going to end up when his adventure started.

Respawn nailed this game, and I am desperate to see a sequel.

I’ve gone back and forth about placing it as my No. 1 of the year, and I may regret leaving it at No. 3 once I actually publish this list.

2. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I’ve played Fire Emblem: Three Houses for 90 hours. That’s for one playthrough. I guess some of that is idle time, but not much. Still, I think it’s a testament to how engaging that game’s characters, writing, and tactical battles are. I don’t have time to play games for 90 hours, and yet Fire Emblem proves that I still will for the right game.

This is another game that could easily end up as my No. 1 of the year.

1. Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds was such a surprise. It’s a game that is technically only 22 minutes long. But you’ll repeat those 22 minutes over and over until you discover all of the secrets contained within its clockwork solar system. When I look back, it’s amazing how many moments left me astonished and in awe.

At its core, Outer Wilds is a game about learning rules and then deploying that knowledge to solve larger and larger puzzles. Eventually, you will know enough to go from the beginning of the game to the end before your 22 minutes are up. And along the way, you’ll jump across the surface of the sun, ride debris beyond a planet’s atmosphere, and travel through a wormhole.

Outer Wilds is good enough to be my game of the year, but I had a pretty rough experience getting through the end. It was not a game I could play uninterrupted due to my many children, and that made it difficult to keep all of its secrets in my head at once. So I had to turn to guides for help enough that I didn’t get to experience the “aha!” moments for myself. I’m not gonna hold that against the game — except for on my personal GOTY list.

The post GamesBeat editor Jeff Grubb’s top 20 games of 2019 appeared first on Actu Trends.

[decaffeinatedbarbariantree-blog]

Huawei Announces A Gold Nexus 6P As well as Higher.

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[myupdatesystems-blog]

Reasons We Love Retro Gaming

New Post has been published on https://myupdatesystems.com/2017/04/05/reasons-we-love-retro-gaming/

Reasons We Love Retro Gaming

#5. Games Were Simpler Back In The Day

Video games have unquestionably become more ambitious and impressive in recent years. When you look at the likes of The Last Of Us, it’s impossible to overstate just how far video games have come since people were playing Pong forty-odd years ago. But for all the innovations within the medium, and for all the new fangled ideas and increasingly elaborate control schemes, there’s something to be said for how much more straight forward things were in the games we played as kids.

Gaming today can be difficult for people without the muscle memory that comes from years of dedicated gaming. Give your mom or dad a PS4 controller and if they’re anything like mine they’ll spend half the time playing the game looking down, attempting in vain to remember where all the buttons are. Use the left analog stick to walk, hold X to jog, or tap X to sprint. L2 is aim and R2 is shoot, but R1 becomes shoot if you’re driving because in a car R2 is the accelerator. R3 (that’s when you click in the right analog stick) lets you look behind you, and to open the menu you need to hold down the touch pad. And that’s just part of the control scheme for Grand Theft Auto 5, one of the best-selling games of all time.

Even for seasoned veterans, the increasing complexity of games can become a turn-off. Super Mario World is still as intuitive as it was back in 1990 because of the inherently simple design and pick up and play nature of the game made it timeless. You can give a kid who’s never played a Mario game the controller and within seconds they’ll have worked out how to play. This simplicity is an attractive concept, which is almost certainly part of the reason that retro games like Shovel Knight and Axiom Verge are so popular today. The simpler a game is to play, the more inclusive and immediate the fun. Retro gaming has that in spades, and that’s the reason I’m still playing Super Mario World twenty-six years after release.

#4. Retro Games Have Better Music

As gaming production values have increased over the years, we’ve seen the medium change in many ways. We made the jump to 3D, we now have voice acting, and elaborate cut-scenes tell complicated stories that rival those seen on television or on the big screen. Games today feature fully orchestrated scores or soundtracks featuring popular music that are every bit as impressive as what we’d see in other mediums, but it feels like we’ve lost something along the way, too.

I can still hum the theme music to Treasure Island Dizzy on the Commodore 64. I was playing that game nearly thirty years ago and I haven’t played it since then (and I’ve still never beaten it, damn it) but I can still remember the theme music that plays in the background in its entirety. I played games last week and I couldn’t even tell you if they had music at all.

Because of the simplicity of early games, and without voice acting to tell a story, the music had to be good. Other than a few crummy sound effects, the music of the game was the only aural stimulation that the games provided. There are still great game soundtracks today, but they seem few and far between when compared to the games of my youth. Mega Man, Castlevania, the early Final Fantasy games, and iconic titles like Zelda, Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog – these all featured highly memorable tunes that stick with us long after the last time we played them. I still remember how the music for Commodore 64 classic Prince Clumsy changes when you save the princess at the end of the game like I was playing it yesterday. We can’t really say that about Shadow of Mordor, can we?

#3. Games Used to Work Right Out of the Box

One thing that games from yesteryear unquestionably did better than the games of today is that they, well, worked. You’d think that it should be a pretty fundamental aspect of any product released to the market, but it’s truly staggering how many games in 2016 ship broken, requiring either days or weeks of server tweaks to get the multiplayer working or enormous day one patch to fix all of the bugs that made it onto the disc. Today, if you don’t have a decent Internet connection in your home, some games are genuinely unplayable, and many others severely hampered.

Street Fighter V released earlier this year, with Capcom promising that the single player Arcade Mode, a staple of the series, would be available to download in July. What if you don’t have an Internet connection? Well, then you’ve got half a game. That’s not a problem we faced when Street Fighter II released on the SNES in 1991. Back then, we had no Internet acting as a safety net for developers. Games had to work right out of the box.

Going back and playing Global Gladiators today is as simple as popping the cartridge into your Genesis and turning on the power. It works now as it did then; exactly as it should, and without any fuss. This is one of the many great things about retro gaming; if you’ve got the game and the hardware you’re pretty much good to go. You don’t need to download drivers, or updates, or patches. You put in the game, and then you play. Just like you should.

#2. Games Used to Be More of a Challenge

Today, anybody who keeps up to date with the latest trends in gaming will likely know of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, and the reputation these games have for punishing difficulty. Gamers flocked to the Souls series in droves, excited to play a title that challenged them and refused to hold their hands. There are no extended tutorial sections. There’s little in the way of help. You can’t pause. And every enemy can make mincemeat out of you unless you learn their attack patterns and act accordingly. It’s exciting for a game to provide us with an uphill struggle like this, but then, I’m old enough to remember a time when every game was like this. And worse.

Modern games have a tendency to spell things out to the player, often to an almost insulting degree. Popping a disc into a PS4 in 2016 means waiting for the install, then the day one patch, and then when you finally get a controller in your hand you spend the next two hours being walked through the early stages of the game like a kid on his first day of school. Everybody likes a bit of help now and again, but there’s something to be said for just being thrown in at the deep end and being told to sink or swim.

#1. Nostalgia

Nostalgia might seem like a cop-out the answer; after all, looking back at the past with rose-tinted spectacles is often what fans of anything retro is criticized with. It’s easy to dismiss nostalgia as a way of justifying the opinion that everything was just much better in your day, but the truth is that nostalgia is an immensely powerful agent and it shouldn’t be ignored.

Today, we watch rubbish movies and bemoan the use of obvious CGI, but we’ll happily sit through Raiders of the Lost Ark and not bother mentioning that the melting Nazi at the end looks like he’s made out of plasticine. We listen to the appalling pop music of our youths with a reflective smile on our faces while turning our noses up at Justin Bieber’s latest video. And we’ll talk about Final Fantasy VII as though it were a second coming of Christ, completely ignoring all of the flaws in the game that we’d hang a modern game out to dry for. Nostalgia is a strong enough influence to make us believe that Sonic the Hedgehog was actually ever good. Now, that’s serious.

The reason a lot of us like playing old games is simply because of the feeling we get playing them. I’ve played hundreds, if not thousands of games in my time as a gamer. And I’m smart enough to know that in that time video games have improved in almost every way. But that doesn’t change the fact that if I load up Street Fighter II I remember the days of playing it during the school summer holidays with all my friends. I remember the day I completed Toejam and Earl with my brother every time I hear the first few bars of its ridiculously funky theme music. And I remember the giddy thrills we got when we first got the fatalities working on Mortal Kombat II.

Playing old games, just as with watching old movies or listening to old albums, transports us to a time in the past that we like to remember. Whether its memories of old friends, loved ones, people we may see every day or might have lost touch with, every old game we load up is a window to the past and that’s special. The latest Call of Duty is never going to compete with that.

[mookjoones]

Mook’s Top 10 Games of 2016

Hi, i’m back! Sorry for the delay, I promise i’ll write more. Boom, ok. Done. Let’s talk about 2016:

Shit got weird in 2016. I probably don’t need to reiterate here, but I just wanted to put that out there. Let’s just try to remember that we have one planet, so let’s not wreck it too bad, ok?

That sounds like enough Debbie Downer talk for today, so how about we talk about some games? 2016 had some pretty badass ones, so im’a run them down here right quick. BUCKLE UP! HONORABLE MENTIONS

Devil Daggers

Overcooked

Furi

Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight

Surprise! It’s a Top 14! I really enjoyed these titles, but 2016 is a cruel mistress and some awesome games must be left off of the top 10. Frantic symphony of Overcooked is some of the best couch co-op you can find theses days. Furi’s style and speed is a joy to experience, and it has pretty badass soundtrack to boot. Momodora was a short, but sweet tribute to castlevania/souls with great sprite work.

And then Devil Daggers....

Actually, I liked this game too much to cut it. Fuck it. TOP 11

11. Devil Daggers

This game is so damn cool. It doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel (It’s a 1st person Geometry Wars), but i’m a sucker for style and this game has loads. The almost PS1 era graphics give some extra oomph to the experience as you furiously dodge the spoopiest-skeley dudes. To me, this game really felt like some crazy gem you would dig up in the bargain bin of your ma and pa game store (not to sell the game short by any means).

The action is only enhanced with the leaderboards (I have a higher record than my co-host Josh, if anyone was wondering) and the accompanying replays that gave me a few ideas on how to survive just a few more seconds. It’s not the deepest game I’ve played, but this game is one that you can find yourself pouring a surprising amount of time into. 10. Dishonored 2 9. Dark Souls III

I put these two games together as my blurbs about them ended up being pretty similar. Both of games expanded on elements that I enjoyed in previous entries in the series (the combat/LORE!). Additionally, parts that I found clunky were streamlined in these entries (weapon repair/bone charm hunting). While these game were definitely improvements on their predecessors,it was hard not to feel like parts of these games were a little too familiar. Ultimately, Dishonored 2 and Dark Souls III were more of what I know I enjoy. Comfort video gaming at its best. 8. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

While it is the final entry in a series that has gotten a little long in the tooth, Uncharted 4 finally lives up the lofty goals set by Naughty Dog; something that it’s predecessors could never quite achieve. The storytelling and characters finally take precedence over the latest McGuffin hunt, without sacrificing the jaw dropping set pieces, gorgeous scenery, and swashbuckling we’ve come to expect from the Uncharted series.This game is a wonderful coda to a great series of which Naughty Dog should be very proud.

7.  Titanfall 2

This game finally made the COD style shooter click for me. All the modern shooter needed was an incredible traversal system with giant robots. Who knew? The multiplayer is incredibly cinematic, and sets up great opportunities to do the coolest looking shit ever. Like, throwing ninja stars while jet boosting from building to building cool.

As for the campaign, Respawn delivers a well crafted story that feels like an action movie crossed with The Iron Giant. It’s not afraid to introduce unique mechanics and ideas that don’t stick around too long; it’s a move that keeps the game fresh and something I wish more games would try. A very well rounded game that is just a blast to play, and I’ll keep coming back to for a long time. 6. SUPERHOT IT’S ONE OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE SHOOTERS IN YEARS.

SUPER

HOT

SUPER

HOT

5. Hitman:2016

I always appreciated earlier entries in this series from afar. The intricate level design seemed fun, but it wasn’t enough to draw me with sluggish control and muddy graphics. I’ve only really scratched the surface of this year’s Hitman, but it forced me to readjust my ordering of the list as I dive deeper.

First all, the environments look great are brimming with detail. However, the real beauty of this game is hidden in the intricate design. The clockwork constructions IO has put together are incredible to explore and dissect. I barely made it through my first missions, but as I learned more and more about each map, the game opened up for me in ways I never imagined. The ability to masterfully manipulate the mechanics and unique quirks of each level to pull off the perfect hit is gripping.

To be honest, I’ve really only spent major time in one of the games beyond the tutorial levels. There is always a new trick or zany disguise to pull off that keeps you replaying the same mission over and over in a way that is surprisingly engaging. The core mechanics in Hitman are excellent foundation to a game that has a ton of personality too. They play it straight on the surface, but you’re only a few cans of spaghetti sauce and a crowbar away from a really good time.

4. The Witness

This game shatters the previous standards for art direction in games. On a basic level, the game is gorgeous and is a joy to simply “take in” all the varied and colorful environments. However, this “puzzle” game shines when you begin to understand how much damn thought went into crafting this world. The game asks the player to constantly rethink the nature of the surrounding environments. The art is interwoven into the gameplay with stunning intellect.

Like the art, the gameplay in The Witness is constantly challenging your preconceptions. What starts out as simple mazes become dastardly puzzles, trusting the player to build a mastery that equal parts frustrating and brilliant. This game has found a way to trigger that Eureka moment for me that is thrilling. The Witness is a game that demands your attention and thought as a player, and the payoff for that investment is incredibly rewarding. 3. Hyper Light Drifter

The complete package offered by Hyper Light Drifter made it one of my absolute favorites this year. The haunting a mysterious art; the moody and evocative score; the subtle, yet powerful storytelling. These elements combined with snappy and stylish combat (especially after the 60fps patch) create a game that I just adored. The execution on everything, top to bottom, in this game is so cohesive. Everything comes together so perfectly, it transported me into a completely different world with ease.

Not bad for a Kickstarter game, huh Ray?

2. DOOM

For a guy who’s only experience with old DOOM is Chex Master Quest, I wasn’t sure of what to make of the first reports on DOOM. Was there going to be anything for someone who didn’t have any long lost childhood memories buried in a sarcophagus with Doom Guy? I feel foolish for ever thinking this.

DOOM is just fucking incredible. The combat has a thrilling speed that is so refreshing compared to the run-of-the-mill shooter these days. The design of the environments is masterful. The soundtrack is so damn metal, only serving to make the action feel that much more intense. The story is whip smart and is incredibly effective at delivering what the game needs to move the story while being endearingly cheeky just beneath the surface. What DOOM’s story lacks in quantity, it makes up for with the hilariously one-note Doom Guy and his 0 tolerance policy any and all demonic forces, no matter the cost to humanity’s efforts to use Hell Energy as clean/renewable energy (no, seriously). This game is just a nonstop thrill ride from beginning to end in a way that is almost peerless.

Rock on Doom Guy. Rock on. 1. Overwatch

I covered my thoughts on this game pretty well in my review last year, and not much has changed. This was my most played game this year, and it’s still a blast to play every night. New characters, maps and modes have only made the package better. This more I play this wonderful game, the better it gets. There simply isn’t a better choice for my personal Game of The Year.

Thanks for checking out my list fam. Time to start working on that 2017 list!

-Mook

[operationrainfall]

Title A Robot Named Fight Developer Matt Bitner Games Publisher Matt Bitner Games Release Date September 7th, 2017 Genre Metroidvania Platform Steam Age Rating N/A Official Website

One of my favorite genres of all time is the Metroidvania. Like many gamers, it all started with Super Metroid, but my passion was also reinforced by the glorious period of time where Castlevania started to adopt that style, all beginning with the incredible Symphony of the Night. As a result of my fandom, I do a lot of research into upcoming Metroidvanias, and do my best to follow their progress. So it was to my utter surprise that one came out of nowhere and slapped me across the face, demanding my attention. It wasn’t just a Metroidvania, it was a procedurally generated one with roguelike aspects. That game is called A Robot Named Fight.

Drawn, programmed and created by the one man team of Matt Bitner (with some assistance from his lovely wife), A Robot Named Fight is a tribute to many games he loved from the good old days of the SNES. That inspiration shows in how it borrows the winning aspects of many games, such as Super Metroid and Contra. At first glance it would be easy to make the erroneous claim that the game is just wilfully copying those games, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You need to appreciate that Matt spent the time to teach himself many aspects of game creation while making A Robot Named Fight, and while you’ll be familiar with some parts of the game, it was more of a delightful mash up of recognizable features than theft. After playing the game for six hours, I can say with confidence that it more than stands up on the merits of its own ideas, and you’ll quickly look past those features which may remind you of older games.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the meat of the game. The basic premise is that robots have become the dominant members of society and have heralded in a age of prosperity. Enter the hideous Megabeast, a cancerous collection of mutant horrors, which it literally rains upon the land in endless horrifying combinations. Robot society is devastated by this assault, not least of all because the legions of the Megabeast are capable of infesting and controlling some robots. Enter our hero, a nameless plucky robot determined to slay the Megabeast, and in so doing earn the distinction of being named Fight. It’s a little silly and very 90s, but the plot provided just enough motivation to get drawn into the game. Like any Metroidvania, the whole point is the action and exploration, and A Robot Named Fight doesn’t disappoint.

A great part of exploration is finding odd graffiti which gives hints to the lore behind the game.

I said earlier that the game is procedurally generated, and that’s very true, but with some provisos. Though the layout and weapons you find on a given run are totally random, the basic order in which you proceed is not. You always start at the same opening stage, working your way to the Caves, then the Factory, down into the Buried City, and then back to the beginning to finish things. That probably sounds like a short jaunt, and while that’s true, the game has ways to keep things going. Every level you discover and every boss you first defeat unlocks new content, from weapons and upgrades you can find on subsequent runs to save stations you can use. In essence, the farther you get, the more the game world expands and becomes more complex. If you find a dark room, you’ll need to find a Bright Shell to illuminate it. Can’t proceed through a narrow tunnel? Find a Arachnomorph transformation! While you can beat the game in less than an hour, it will take time to get powerful enough to successfully do so. I spent a good 3 hours trying and dying again and again until I had unlocked enough upgrades and gotten the perfect weapon and skill setup (Infinijump, Flamethrower, Buzzsaw and Tri Orb) to take on and beat the filthy Megabeast, and managed to do so in just over 51 minutes. So it’s both a game with good amounts of exploration and combat as well as a game that can be speedrun for fun.

Nothing wakes you up like the smell of roasted Megabeast in the morning!

The procedural generation has good and bad aspects. The good is that you’ll be given different upgrades at different points in the game. One run I got a flamethrower that could unlock flesh covered doors as well as do burn damage on foes; another time I got a slide move that took me under tight tunnels, and yet another I got an electrical blast that could shoot through walls to trigger switches. I loved this variety, as the same basic goals can be accomplished a million different ways, and that makes each run an unpredictable delight. The bad is that sometimes it seemed that I was locked out of progressing forward. Multiple times I came to a room where the way forward was blocked by a huge pillar, and since I had no upgrades at that early point, I couldn’t go farther. I forcibly restarted several times until I had the bright idea that maybe there was a hidden passage. Sure enough, by shooting at the ceiling I revealed a way forward, a technique that has worked ever since. This was to the game’s credit, as the way it unveils the stages teaches players what to expect and how to think critically. Like in Super Metroid, there are lots of locked doors and hidden paths, and diligence and patience will always reward you with a way forward. While I did occasionally find that the game would create rooms where entering would immediately put me right next to an enemy, instantly inflicting damage and even killing me one time, this was the exception and not the norm. Overall the procedural generation is well implemented and keeps things fresh. Combined with the intuitive controls found when paired with an XBox 360 controller, the game proceeds at a brisk pace.

The more you unlock, the better your chances for success.

Fight On! ->

It wouldn’t be a true Metroidvania without hulking and beastly bosses, and A Robot Named Fight mostly doesn’t disappoint. While each of the bosses is well animated, freaky and challenging, some are much easier than others. That might not sound like an issue, and it mostly isn’t, but given the random nature of the game, you might encounter wild difficulty spikes unexpectedly. For example, you might fight a boss such as Sluggard, a slow moving boss that does little to threaten you, and then move onto a much more difficult boss next, such as Wall Creep. Most boss fights are one note, as they only have a single phase, and typically revolve around rushing them with a torrent of gun blasts, avoiding their attacks and then rushing them again. There are a few bosses which are much more of a challenge, such as the sinister Metal Patriarch or the Megabeast itself, but it’s hard to know what to expect whenever you enter a boss chamber. To be fair, most of the bosses are fair for what your current weapon setup turns out to be, just don’t expect the game to always play gentle.

One way to even the odds in your favor is to use scrap and artifacts you have collected to buy upgrades and new weapons from robot shopkeeps scattered about the game. They only have a couple different things on sale at a time, and there’s no way of knowing exactly what you’re getting. At first I was ready to complain about this, until I realized another well known roguelike, The Binding of Isaac, basically does the same thing in the shop, and only experience used in subsequent playthroughs will tell players what to expect from items. While I do wish A Robot Named Fight was a bit clearer, you can usually get an idea what items do from visual cues you’ll find on the selection screen. I will say that if you ever see an icon that looks like a green buzzsaw, buy it. That weapon is utterly devastating, as it can slice through hordes of foes with ease. My only other minor complaint with regard to the shopkeeps is that I wish the scrap and artifacts needed to buy things were held between games instead of lost when you die.

Visually, the game is quite pleasing and features robust enemy variety, as well as colorful attack animations. The monsters you face are all delightfully horrifying, striking me as some dark mix of Aliens, Contra and even Dementium. None of the foes you face look remotely normal, and the vast panoply of horrors gave the game a unique flavor not usually seen in Metroidvanias. There’s also plenty of gore, as defeating enemies generally paints the walls with their gore and guts. The synth music is catchy, and reminds me fondly of Mega Man X, and I loved the ominous sounds found outside a boss room, but the basic sound effects can get grating. The standard shot is very loud and some enemies screech every time they move. When you hear the same foe screeching every other second as it bounces against the far end of a room and then rebounds, it can get a bit annoying.

Those egg sacks will always release lovely monsters when you burst them. How fun!

While I don’t have any major complaints against the game, there were a couple of minor issues that nagged me. For one thing, I’m not sure if there are only four main areas in the game, or if I can unlock more eventually. Though the variety present isn’t lacking, I always love getting lost in sprawling Metroidvanias. I also desperately wanted a bestiary. From following the game on Twitter, I see that many of the bosses have great names, like the aforementioned Sluggard and Metal Patriarch, yet the game doesn’t clarify which is which. Yes, upon beating a boss you get the achievement for doing so and their name, but the accompanying picture is of the weapon you unlock, not the beast that you beat to unlock it. I would love being able to pause the game, bring up a picture of all the bosses I beat and some flavor text to round things out. I think doing so would provide the game with a longer legacy, as it’s much easier to remember monsters with memorable names, such as Ridley, as opposed to monsters whose name you’re uncertain of.

This room caused me to restart repeatedly until I found the hidden passage.

Overall, I was quite impressed with A Robot Named Fight. It provided a healthy challenge, tons of unexpected variety and just enough exploration to satisfy fans of the genre. It’s clear to me that Matt truly understands the factors that make this genre great, and did his level best to include all of them in this, his very first game. While the base journey is pretty short, the various achievements and the need to find everything keeps me playing. I would venture that even Sundered, another fantastic Metroidvania with random generation, isn’t quite so adept at procedural generation as this one. For only $9.99 (or 25% cheaper for the next few days) this game is one any Metroidvania fan should own. I can only hope that it does well in sales, since I’d love to see it make its way to other consoles, as well as maybe getting some DLC. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and beat the Megabeast for the third time and finish getting 100% of those achievements!

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4.5″]

Review Copy Provided by Developer

REVIEW: A Robot Named Fight Title A Robot Named Fight