NecroPhile's game clears and mindless musings

[NecroPhile]

Do you know if there is a guide? (I haven't found any). Still, it is fun trying to figure out what every option does.

You don't really need a guide, as it's pretty linear.  There's generally only two or three places to explore at a time, and if nothing's happening where you're at, go somewhere else and poke around until you trigger something new.

[esteban]

Clear #10 - Splatterhouse



...

P.S. - Is it just me or does that look a bit like Robin Williams?

R.I.P. Robin Williams

[NecroPhile]

Clear #39 - Atlantean



Kick ass homebrew on a 3D printed glow in the dark huey and case.  Buy one now or FUCK OFF! 

The Good: sweet tunes; excellent sprite work and fantastic background graphics with loads o' parallax; great variety with different enemies that have differing attack tactics, various bosses to tackle, and mine dodging and Atlantean catching bonus levels to shake things up; and replay-ability with three difficulty levels and a score run challenge mode.

The Bad: some flicker here and there; you can't use a bomb during the short time you're invulnerable after dying, leading to loss of an Atlantean or another life when you madly dash ahead to save him; free life treasure trove practically guarantees you'll beat it (if you get to that spot); slowdown if you rush into a crowd (a quick bomb takes care of it); and at only four levels, it's kinda short.

The Ugly: NA

[OldMan]

Very nice.

[Medic_wheat]

I heard recently that it is possible to do 3D printing with metal instead of just resin or plastics.


Cant wait to see a TG-16 or PC Engine case done in shiny shiny metal.

[esteban]

I heard recently that it is possible to do 3D printing with metal instead of just resin or plastics.


Cant wait to see a TG-16 or PC Engine case done in shiny shiny metal.

Bonknuts has done this, I believe, but I'm not sure it was 3D printing. Rather, it might have been machined (as in, metal shop).

Clear #39 - Atlantean



Kick ass homebrew on a 3D printed glow in the dark huey and case.  Buy one now or FUCK OFF! 

The Good: sweet tunes; excellent sprite work and fantastic background graphics with loads o' parallax; great variety with different enemies that have differing attack tactics, various bosses to tackle, and mine dodging and Atlantean catching bonus levels to shake things up; and replay-ability with three difficulty levels and a score run challenge mode.

The Bad: some flicker here and there; you can't use a bomb during the short time you're invulnerable after dying, leading to loss of an Atlantean or another life when you madly dash ahead to save him; free life treasure trove practically guarantees you'll beat it (if you get to that spot); slowdown if you rush into a crowd (a quick bomb takes care of it); and at only four levels, it's kinda short.

The Ugly: NA

I missed this! Awesome. I gotta get ATLANTEAN.

[NecroPhile]

Clear #40 - Neutopia



'Tis a great clone of Zelda (not that Zelda is entirely original anyway) that everyone should enjoy.

The Good:  plenty of variation in beasties and bosses, pleasant tunes, and cute and colorful graphics.

The Bad:  there's very little story progression (having each boss say a little something before getting beat down would've helped a lot), and it's not very long or difficult.

The Ugly: NA

P.S. - the princess is a bit of a whore, no?

[dallaspattern]

*cough*
easy now
(sexism)

[seieienbu]

Always liked Neutopia.  I had it a long time ago but lent it to a friend who never gave it back.  Seeing the ending screen I get the itch to play it again...

[reno5]

Really like Neutopia too. I'm at the second crypt in the sky. Need to find time to finish it (never finished neutopia before. Finished Neutopia II like 10 times... )

[NecroPhile]

Really like Neutopia too. I'm at the second crypt in the sky. Need to find time to finish it (never finished neutopia before. Finished Neutopia II like 10 times... )

Though I have finished it a couple times before, I'm in a similar boat:  I bought Neutopia II back in the day and beat it several times, but I didn't pick up (and beat) the original until relatively recently.  I loved part two and wanted the first outing, but I couldn't find it anywhere. 

[jelloslug]

I heard recently that it is possible to do 3D printing with metal instead of just resin or plastics.


Cant wait to see a TG-16 or PC Engine case done in shiny shiny metal.

Yes, you can print metal.

[NecroPhile]

*cough*
easy now
(sexism)

Don't be an idiot.  There's nothing about my observation that implies that all women would (or should) throw themselves at their savior.


Clear#41 - Neutopia II



If you liked the first one, here's another serving of much the same.

The Good: all the goodness of the original but it controls a bit better (diagonal movement) and you get a couple more weapons to work with; neat wavy underwater visual effect; and now the bosses chat with you a bit.

The Bad: just as short as easy as part one.

The Ugly: 199X my ass!

P.S. - back to the whore thing.... what happened to the romance?  You play as the son of the original hero and you're tasked with saving the daughter of the original princess, so does that mean you're saving your half-sister?

[HailingTheThings]

The Ugly: 199X my ass!

Wasn't Frozen Utopia or possibly another Homebrew dev. working on the third installment?

[NecroPhile]

Wasn't Frozen Utopia or possibly another Homebrew dev. working on the third installment?

Yep, Nod was working on it.  It's on the back burner for now, but hopefully it'll get finished up some day.

[HailingTheThings]

Wasn't Frozen Utopia or possibly another Homebrew dev. working on the third installment?

Yep, Nod was working on it.  It's on the back burner for now, but hopefully it'll get finished up some day.

^_^

[seieienbu]

So having recently run through the both of them, which Neutopia did you enjoy more?

[NecroPhile]

So having recently run through the both of them, which Neutopia did you enjoy more?

They're both good and quite similar to each other, but I'll give the nod to part two, as it's equal or slightly better in most every respect.

[mitsuman]

Now I want to play Neutopia. Unfortunately, for now, it would have to be on the Wii VC... 

[seieienbu]

Likewise.  I never really played part 2 outside of just checking out the rom briefly.  I wish I'd bought a copy but now I don't think I'm likely to ever own the game.

[NecroPhile]

Slap 'em on the everdrive and give 'em a go!

[CrackTiger]

Slap 'em on the everdrive and give 'em a go!

It's not like Hudson Soft is making anything off of Virtual Console purchases.

[seieienbu]

I've been on the fence on an everdrive for a long time.  It seems like it would be the only affordable way to play the games that I never got (or the few that I've lost over the years) on real hardware.  At the same time, when I downloaded all the roms years ago and tried to play through a bunch of games it just didn't feel the same as hooking up my Turbo CD to a TV and using a controller that I've had since I was a kid.  When the Wii Virtual Console got a bunch of Turbo games I gave them a shot but again it didn't give me the same nostalgic feeling that the real games do. 

They're certainly cool, but I don't know if would enjoy having it or instead just not enjoy playing games the same way.  Hmm....

[NecroPhile]

There also good for playing translated roms (not that there's a plethora of 'em) or in place of a region mod.

[NecroPhile]

Clear #42 - 3x3 Eyes



This clear is sponsored by Bernie. 

'Tis an interesting comic with violent, gory action and some of the best looking cut scenes (when using the Arcade Card).  If you're a real baller, pay a bit more and get the version with the VHS pack in.... or just watch the short video on youtube.

The Good: fancy, animated intro and short cut scenes sprinkled throughout; colorful, detailed, and often changing backgrounds; tons of voice dialogue, which is presumably a good thing when you comprehend what they're saying; handy save file utility that lets you view (and delete) saved games and how much room each uses; and it's not entirely linear for better replayability.

The Bad: lengthy load at boot to fill the Arcade Card, which is understandable and expected, but there are other areas where it annoyingly loads every few seconds; mostly elevator music bgm, though the redbook versions played in the intro and credits are nice; as nice as the backgrounds look, they're sadly mostly static; and the maze portion looks good but there's not much to do.

The Ugly: Annoying pounding sound in intro animation and once again towards the end.  WTF is that shit?  It can't be intentional, but how did they miss it during play testing?!?

[NecroPhile]

Clear #43 - Bakushou Yoshimoto



A fun but easy game; good thing it's cheap.

The Good:  mildly humorous scenarios, varied and nicely detailed backgrounds, lots of different 'enemies' to dispatch, okay music (track 8 recycles the laughing monkey sound found on Bonk 3 CD), and fun and silly mini-games.

The Bad:  it's very easy - only a couple levels offer any challenge at all in their platforming, and the only hard part of the mini-games is figuring out what you're supposed to do.

The Ugly:  NA

[esteban]

This is one of those games I don't know.

[NecroPhile]

Clear #44 - Ane-san



I prefer Riot Zone (especially the tunes), but this one ain't all bad.  Give it a go some time.

The Good: some nice backgrounds, okay cinemas, one good tune, a couple little mini-games, and good replayability with different characters to try and different things to unlock and shit to buy (all women love to shop!).

The Bad: some not so nice backgrounds, there's not much variety in enemies, most of the tunes are pretty bleh, and it's super easy.

The Ugly: most of the girls

[NecroPhile]

Clear #45 - Ys Book I & II



This one never gets old and is easily one of the best games of all time.

The Good: great storyline, interesting group of characters to meet, sweet tunes, talented voice work, good variety of environments to explore and items to use, and I even like the battle system.

The Bad: they're minor complaints, but the only things I dislike are the goofy background scrolling in the bell tower and that some of the voice work is a bit muffled.

The Ugly: NA

[Gentlegamer]

I've never seriously tried to play Ys, but I can't imagine I will like the "bump into things" combat.

[NecroPhile]

I've never seriously tried to play Ys, but I can't imagine I will like the "bump into things" combat.

It never bothered me because it's not really that simple.  There's more strategy than just ramming enemies willy nilly, and you rely heavily on magic wands in the second half anyway.

[seieienbu]

I've never seriously tried to play Ys, but I can't imagine I will like the "bump into things" combat.

It's definitely worth a serious attempt at playing the games; I hope you'll try Ys again.

[HailingTheThings]

I've never seriously tried to play Ys, but I can't imagine I will like the "bump into things" combat.

Just like in real life, its very fun. Seriously, its fun. Seriously. Fun. Its. Seriouslyyyy. Do it. Fun. Yes.

[spenoza]

I bump into things all the time, but only I get hurt. Ys is clearly an unrealistic game.

[schweaty]

my only complaint with Y's was the pre-boss grinding.  but there werent many 90s RPGs that didnt require some grinding.  everything else was epic.  play this game!

[esteban]

Clear #45 - Ys Book I & II

The Bad: they're minor complaints, but the only things I dislike are the goofy background scrolling in the bell tower and that some of the voice work is a bit muffled.

The Ugly: NA

Are you talking about the awesome orange scrolling clouds at the epic tolling of the bell?

Surely not.

[NecroPhile]

Are you talking about the awesome orange scrolling clouds at the epic tolling of the bell?

Surely not.

The clouds look good, but the ground and mountains below move choppily like some stuff in Ys III.

P.S. - Don't call me Shirley! 

[esteban]

Are you talking about the awesome orange scrolling clouds at the epic tolling of the bell?

Surely not.

The clouds look good, but the ground and mountains below move choppily like some stuff in Ys III.

P.S. - Don't call me Shirley!

That's the climax of awesomeness, racing up the tower before the bell tolls.

Holy crap. I love that part of the game.

Such pure greatness, and sadness, when the bell tolls.

[NecroPhile]

Yarr, that's an awesome scene. 

[NecroPhile]

Clear #46 - Ys III



It's not as good as Ys I & II and I prefer overhead gameplay to this one's side view, but it's still thoroughly enjoyable and a must have in every collection.

The Good: good voice work (not as good as Ys I & II but way better than stuff like Final Zone II), fantastic music, fast paced action, and cool environments (I particularly like the clock tower).

The Bad: it's rather short, some of Elena's lines are rather trite and silly (Demanicus is person too!), and the choppy scrolling isn't very attractive.

The Ugly: NA

[poponon]

How long did it take to clear? Did you grind a lot?

[NecroPhile]

Because I often pause and wander off to eat, read the paper, watch tv, etc., I have a hard time estimating time spent on games.  It's pretty short, though, like maybe three or four hours.  Not much grinding is really needed; I only did it for a little bit if I was very near leveling up just before a boss and at the very end to replenish ~70 ring power points before fighting Demanicus.

[poponon]

huh, I started playing this a while ago but I tend to get obsessive with grinding. Spent a bunch of time grinding the first cave to buy some of the best gear in the shop. Only 3 or 4 hours though! I've got to get back and finish it up

[seieienbu]

what time is it again?

...probably time for another drink.

[poponon]

Went back to finish this game up today, just got to the last boss and realized i pretty much require the protect ring. dammit

[NecroPhile]

It sure makes life easier, allowing you to hack off half his life before it runs out, but it's not entirely necessary.  I used the ring (and the ring power potion for a little refill) and beat him with half my life remaining, and I still had the herb and necklace thingy in reserve.

[NecroPhile]

Clear #47 - Ys IV



More Falcom awesomeness.  I played through the fully translated version, which is very well done and more professional than many 'real' games from back in the day (no cheesy jokes or horribad voice acting).

The Good: sweet cinemas and lovely character portraits; nicely tweaked visuals that feel very much like those in Ys I & II but with more detail and colors; good tunes; revisiting friends and locales from the first game; well varied cast of baddies and bosses to beat down; and the developers room at the end, which really shows how much they cared about the game.

The Bad: the jazzy tunes aren't really bad, but they're not as rockin' as the those in the last two outings; I don't know if it's from recording too loud, the limits of adpcm, or what, but some of the voice work is clipped; and the fire floor trap is for the birds (c'mon, Dogi, keep the fuck up!).

The Ugly: NA

[NecroPhile]

Tangential Clear #47a - Ys IV: Mask of the Sun



It wasn't horrible, but it pales in comparison to the Dawn of Ys.  The meh tunes, lack of cut scenes and character portraits, and the smaller, less varied, and often drab environments can be somewhat excused by the cart size limitations, but there's no good reason for the gimped battle system.  It's the familiar bump attack again, but this time a straight on collision means the enemy will take little to no damage and poor Adol gets his ass kicked; even worse is that the enemies are very good at adjusting their path to line up perfectly, and the touchy control make it difficult to nudge Adol off center at the last minute making you miss entirely.

[seieienbu]

Like, yeah, it's not on CD and the music in Dawn of Ys is clearly superior to Mask of the Sun.  That being said, I always thought it was a pretty good soundtrack for a SNES game.  I thought that about Ys 3 and went back to give it a listen and then realized that I'd been wrong.  Afterward, I listened to Ys 4 from SNES and thought "Well, at least my memory was tricking me about this one." 

Pretty good.

[NecroPhile]

Its music isn't bad (way better than that in Ys III), it's just that it's not all that great even when compared to just SNES tunes.  Ys should be second to no one!


Clear #48 - Dynastic Hero



'Tis a fun action rpg platformer (or however you want to classify it), it's just too bad that the US version is so pricey.

The Good: jaunty tunes, colorful backgrounds, nice variety of enemies and big bosses, little helper friends, and it's cuter than a bug's ear (bad pun intended).

The Bad: the title screen song is awfully cheesy, the backgrounds are too flat and would benefit greatly from some simple line scrolls, the little helpers wander off and have to be retrieved every time you stay at an inn, and it's sometimes hard to figure out where you're supposed to be going.

The Ugly: it's probably not a big deal if you're more coordinated than me, but there's a platform jumping room near the end that makes me want to punch a dolphin.