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Messages - undertakerprime

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31
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022
« on: November 14, 2022, 08:43:23 am »
I was doing ok with my list and had a shot at finishing 52 games this year, until I bought Skyrim Anniversary Edition…
Now my list is FUBAR.
Skyrim is all I’ve played over the last few weeks, and I’m not going to hurry up and finish the main quest just to add it (that takes the fun out of it). Oh well, I honestly didn’t think my list would get as long as it already is.

32
General / Re: What video game related job/profession would you most want?
« on: November 10, 2022, 09:10:09 am »
I majored in Computer Animation in college because I wanted to get into making video games. Didn’t quite work out that way, mainly since Atlanta didn’t really have any game companies at the time (2001, just before some companies moved there) and I was told I’d have to move to New York, Chicago, or LA to actually get a job in that field.
Considering the horror stories I’ve heard of overwork, burnout, and low pay, I’m honestly glad I didn’t get into that industry.

I’ve given passing consideration to starting a YouTube channel based around my varied and eclectic interests: gaming, toy collecting (namely Transformers) and pro wrestling (with an emphasis on entrance music and the “theming” hobby). I got the idea from the “Fireworks, Candy, and Puppy Dog Store” on the Simpsons; like, why focus on one thing (where there’s a ton of competition) when I could include all my interests? :)
Not sure I’ll bother though. I’ve heard it’s really hard to get any views on YouTube without dedicating most of your time and energy towards your videos, and between family and work I don’t have the time for that. I would only be doing it for fun anyway.

33
General / Re: Most Rare -- VGC Edition
« on: November 07, 2022, 02:59:42 pm »
A while back, I remember I could click on an item and the entry would show me how many collections it was in, along with how many are selling, how many want it, etc.
That information disappeared and now I don’t know how to see it. Whether I click on an item in my collection or browse, those numbers are missing. Am I just not doing it right?

34
General / Re: What's worse? A mediocre game or a bad game? - MKSR001
« on: November 07, 2022, 01:40:42 pm »
Hmmm, a very intriguing question. And I definitely get the distinction; it’s a choice between a game you KNOW is crap, and one that SHOULD be better but isn’t.

Honestly, I’d say mediocre games are worse.
With crap games, like the OP stated, there’s no expectation of quality. You can choose whether or not to subject yourself to the crap, and when it is, you can chalk it up to being a bad game and move on. I mean, I don’t think anyone boots up Pepsiman or Burger King Sneak King and expects a deep experience.

But when there’s obviously love and hard work put into a game, and it’s so close to being good but something’s holding it back, to me that’s really frustrating.
One example (for me, at least) is Spider Man & X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge for SNES. The graphics and animation are very good, the music is EXCELLENT, and for the most part it gets the characters’ powers right and makes them fun to use (except for sticking Storm underwater). I used to keep giving it chance after chance, certain that it would be better, but it’s just let down by a number of issues: abhorrent level design, humongous levels with no checkpoints, and no password or save feature for a game that takes a LONG time to finish. It would always end in frustration, much more than any straight-up kusoge.

Also makes me think of Mirror’s Edge. When it’s good it’s REALLY good and hella fun. But again there’s a few issues holding it back, mainly the gameplay often devolving into maddening trial-and-error and questionable level design decisions which force you to take things slow, eliminating the main thing that makes it fun in the first place.

Just my take. I’ve had many games I wanted to like but just couldn’t.


35
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022
« on: November 07, 2022, 12:30:01 pm »
We had a pub crawl in Indianapolis, IN and the first bar was a "barcade". I was able to replay some classics despite the expected jank from the alcohol soaked buttons/joysticks.

58. Street Fighter II - Ken

I'm glad everything was on on free play. This game's difficulty was either cranked up to the max, I'm just that bad at fighting games, or a combination of the two.

59. Bad Dudes

Time has not been kind to this game. The highlight was the "I'm bad!" shout at the end of a level.

60. Shinobi

This game, however, has aged quite well. It was difficult but fun. It's actually the first time I ever played this, despite seeing it all over various restaurants or hotels when I was a kid.

Which gaming bar did you go to? I live near Indy and I pass by one called 16-Bit on my way home from work. I’ve been meaning to check it out (that Q*Bert arcade machine in the doorway beckons) but I haven’t had the time yet.

36
One popular game that I know was fairly common back then but expensive now is Conker’s Bad Fur Day. I don’t know if it’s expensive more because of demand or rarity, but from working in the game section at Toys R Us I know we had piles of them back then.

We also had a few copies of Misadventures of Tron Bonne on clearance, and still no one would buy them. I wanted to get one but never did, which naturally I’m kicking myself about now.


Other than its relation to the Mega Man franchise I will never understand why this game is worth so much. It's a very mediocre game that gets boring after just an hour of playing it. I found it for a really good price probably 10-years ago and thought it must be incredible since its so expensive. I've since learned that a huge portion of these types of trophy games are mediocre at best and pretty shitty at worst. Makes me wonder how they ended up getting the reputation they have as rare "hidden gems" in the first place.


Oh, and I sold my copy of Tron Bonne a few back for probably 4x what I paid for it.

I think you hit on why I never pulled the trigger on buying it back then. I recall the reviews were just average, calling it a collection of minigames. And I was never a huge fan of the Mega Man Legends games anyway (personally, I think they’re overrated). Sure, the first one was kinda fun, but not enough to motivate me to bother with its sequels.

But yeah, market value doesn’t necessarily equal play value. Just look at Clay Fighter Sculptor’s Cut…super-valuable due to rarity, but utter dogshit gameplay, just like the whole Clay Fighter series.

37
One popular game that I know was fairly common back then but expensive now is Conker’s Bad Fur Day. I don’t know if it’s expensive more because of demand or rarity, but from working in the game section at Toys R Us I know we had piles of them back then.

We also had a few copies of Misadventures of Tron Bonne on clearance, and still no one would buy them. I wanted to get one but never did, which naturally I’m kicking myself about now.

38
General / Re: What is your favorite menu theme?
« on: October 26, 2022, 05:54:10 pm »
Journey to Silius on NES.
Blew me away the first time I heard it.

39
The controls may have been clunky in the first few games, but I loved the series through RE4. RE2 was definitely my favorite, followed by Code Veronica and RE4. REmake was amazing and set the standard for how remakes should be done.

Then RE5 happened…
I HATED that game. I eagerly bought it, played it for 10 minutes, and never played it again. It’s NOT Resident Evil, it’s a cooperative third-person action game. I never play co-op games anyway and RE5 puts a huge emphasis on it, so that was another strike against it.
I heard RE6 was even worse so I never bothered with it.

Haven’t returned to the series since. I downloaded the free demos for the RE2 & 3 remakes but haven’t tried them yet. Also want to try REVIII, which looks pretty good and much more “Resident-evily”, just haven’t gotten around to it.

40
If we’re talking strictly video games, I’d probably go with:

Troy Baker (Booker Dewitt in Bioshock Infinite, Joel in The Last of Us, Joker in Batman Arkham Origins, Snow in Final Fantasy XIII) - A true chameleon, he’s really good. His Mark Hamill Joker imitation in Arkham Origins is spot on.

Nolan North (Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series, Desmond Miles in the Assassin’s Creed series, David in The Last Of Us)

Jennifer Hale (FemShep in the Mass Effect series, Naomi Hunter in the Metal Gear Solid series, Rosalind Lutece in Bioshock Infinite)

I love meeting voice actors at cons. I’ve met Jennifer (got my ME3 Collector’s Edition signed) and Troy (autographed a Bioshock Infinite poster), not Nolan yet.

41
General / Re: Shoot-Em Ups
« on: October 11, 2022, 06:32:31 pm »
2 years ago, I would have given a different answer.
I was never big into shmups. For years, my favorite ones were Axelay on SNES and Gradius Interstellar Assault on GB. I played Twin Cobra and Life Force on NES and they were alright. Had a hard time getting into Stinger. Gradius 3 was OK, R-Type was too damn hard. Never really played many other shmups; didn’t have any for Genesis and didn’t own a TG-16.

Then last Christmas I got a Coregrafx Mini….and my eyes were opened WIDE.
Huge multi-form bosses, badass screen-filling weapons…WOW.
Lords of Thunder almost immediately became my favorite shmup ever. Blazing Lazers, Soldier Blade and Seirei Senshi Spriggan were great. Star Parodier and Super Star Soldier, not quite as good but still fun. R-Type….too hard to be fun for me, but whatever. Still working on some of the others. These games made me wish I owned a TG16 back in high school.

Now, not every shmup appeals to me; I don’t like bullet-hell games and some shmups just don’t click, but at almost 50 years old, my interest in the genre has been rejuvenated, and it’s really exciting. I asked for a Genesis Mini 2 for this Christmas almost specifically BECAUSE of the shmups, like Truxton and Thunder Force IV. I’m open to any suggestions of games like the ones I said I liked here :)

42
Pricing has gotten outrageous on 2 series I’ve been wanting to try entries I haven’t played:

Pokémon - I had Blue, Gold, and Sapphire back in the day but didn’t buy any more for years. Got back into the series when my kids played Sword/Shield and I bought White from a game store shortly before the prices really went up. I want to try the other entries like X/Y, Sun/Moon, etc but they’re all extremely expensive now, plus many are for the 3DS which I do not own (the 3DS/2DS system is also very expensive by itself, but I’m working on getting one).

Dragon Quest - I finished the original NES Dragon Warrior as a tween but I didn’t really like it so I ignored the series for the next 15 years. I really liked DQVIII, but recently the extraordinary DQXI became one of my top RPGs ever and inspired me to try the ones I missed. But the older games, especially IV-VI, are way out of my price range. I’m hoping for a rerelease/remaster at some point.

43
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022
« on: September 14, 2022, 12:18:00 am »
43. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade)

I was pretty late to the TMNT craze of the late 80s and early 90s. For one, I was an infant when it began, however by the time I did get into it around the time I was about 5 or so, the popularity of the franchise had began to fade significantly, but more importantly I missed out on a lot of the intense nostalgia that many people born in the early 80s and late 70s got to experience with the franchise, including playing some of the beloved arcade games. Unfortunately I can't remember ever playing TMNT or Turtles in Time as a kid, much less seeing them anywhere growing up. Because of that I lack the childhood connection to them that many people have. As a result I feel like I can go into playing this game as more of a fan of retro beat em' ups and a old time fan of the franchise, rather than someone who directly has nostalgia for the TMNT arcade game released in 1989. TMNT is a decent arcade beat em' up, however it lacks a lot of he refinement in terms of gameplay that some other games in the genre had around this time. In fact, I'd say Final Fight and many other Capcom beat em' ups had TMNT beat. And more importantly, TMNT arcade doesn't even come close to being as awesome or memorable as its direct arcade sequel, Turtles in Time. Audio and visual are both great, however some questionable character voiceovers and many stages having the same city look to them hold these two things back from greatness. Overall, it's a fun game, but the inherent repetitiveness of gameplay combined with a lack of refinement really prevented me from wanting to return to this game again for a very, very long time. But I guess your mileage will vary dramatically depending on your history with this game and franchise. (9/11/22) [32/50]

As you said, others’ mileage may vary, and that’s the case with me :D
TMNT Arcade is my second favorite game of all time, and I’ve played it a LOT. I can regularly beat it with 2 credits (still working on a 1CC; the game’s difficulty gradually gets higher the longer you go without dying and by the end it gets REALLY hard).

The big reason I like it over other beat-em-ups, including its own sequel, is because its fighting system is deeper than it seems, and can be mastered with a combination of timing, patience, and finesse. TMNT 2 Arcade involves more randomness, including the turtles’ throws (which seem to happen at random, unlike the SNES port) which can mess me up.
I totally admit it might be the nostalgia talking, but if I go into the nuances I’ll end up writing a thesis :D

44
General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022
« on: September 05, 2022, 02:21:05 am »
35. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

Quite simply, one of the finest action-platform games ever made. Difficult, but fair in that it gives you the tools and control to improve your skills with practice. High-end play is possible with mastery of blocking and ninja magic.

45
The first game that comes to mind is Vice Project Doom on NES.
No one ever talks about it, but I think it’s one of the best games on the console. It combines action, driving, and first person shooting in a way Adventures of Bayou Billy only wishes it could, and they’re all actually FUN. Add in the Ninja Gaiden-style cutscenes along with pretty good music, and you have a great yet underappreciated game.

One more: the arcade game Food Fight. A pretty obscure game that has been kind of forgotten, and I believe has only been rereleased once via some defunct online service years ago. I only ever saw and played the actual arcade cabinet once during my childhood. It’s actually a LOT of fun plastering the evil chefs in the face with watermelon or peas, and IMO deserves much more recognition.

Actually, both games you mentioned here are totally unknown to me. Gotta check those out ... !
Great, I hope you like them as much as I do  :)

FYI, Vice Project Doom is available for free with a Switch online account.
On the other hand, unfortunately Food Fight is not currently available through any conventional means, so emulation is the only option. Just make sure you play it with an analog stick, a standard d-pad doesn’t do it justice :)

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