Author Topic: My on-going SMS test thread  (Read 65979 times)

soera

My on-going SMS test thread
« on: June 23, 2014, 07:39:32 pm »
Since I mentioned it in another thread, Im going to give a small run (approximately 5-10 minutes) on each game and then to post my observations and thoughts of each game.

*EDIT* I picked up every game I was missing and then some. Also have access to a Sports pad (although this happens to be the worst peripheral I have ever put in my hands. Whoever the hell designed this thing has to be unemployed by now) so I knocked those two games first. Only missing a way to use 3D glasses to completely finish this list.


« Last Edit: September 26, 2014, 10:58:32 am by soera »

turf

PRO Supporter

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2014, 08:59:17 pm »
Video this mess. It'll be fun


abe

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2014, 09:43:47 pm »
Film it while intoxicated. It'll be even more fun. :D
Currently playing: Persona 5 (PS4)

soera

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2014, 11:09:57 pm »
I have no way to film stuff. But I started already. Im going down the list alphabetically. :D

Ace of Aces - Ugh. I really dont understand the obsession of flight simulators that was going on at this time but this one is just as bad as all of the rest. It literally took me the entire time of playing to even see an opposing plane and by the time I actually saw it, he blasted me down to the ground. The up/down controls were correct but the left/right controls were backwards (even by flight stick standards) and it made controlling this plane almost impossible. I couldnt find a use for the second button either. Just blah. Grade : D-

Action fighter - Kind of a wanna-be Spy hunter with a twist. You start as a motorcycle driving down a boring road with lots of cars/other bikes. Nothing attacks you with weapons at this point but they can run you off the road into your instant death. Randomly letters A-F will appear. Once you get A-D, you turn into a car with double the firepower. E&F will turn you into a flying car which brings the game into the air into a generic shmup. Grade : C+

Aerial Assault - Side scrolling shmup. Very generic. The weapon upgrades go from a weird gun that follows you whichever direction you go to a really powerful and fast missile. Nothing else to say about the game. Grade : C-

After Burner - Arcade port of the game with the same name. Kind of an over the shoulder shmup. If you have played the arcade game, you know what this game is. Fun factor is lacking here. Grade : C-

Alex Kidd in miracle world - One of the most popular games on the system. For me, however, it was not my favorite in the A.K series. You are Alex (obviously) and you have an over-sized fist and not much else. You punch rocks, monsters, and stars for money. Platformer that leaves much to be desired. Grade : C

Alex Kidd in Shinobi world - 2nd choice for me in the A.K. series. Side moving action game. Alex this time has a katana and can jump and slice monsters.  Can be a fun game. Grade : C+

Alex Kidd in high tech world - My top choice for the A.K. series. Kind of feels like Paper Mario/Zelda II when he is in the town. You are searching for pieces of a map to find your way to an arcade. Looks to be an interesting adventure title. Grade : B-

Alex Kidd lost stars - My last choice in the A.K. series. Nothing redeeming on this game. Side scrolling platformer that you cant even get attack power on til about half way through the levels. Not fun at all. :( Grade : D

ALF - Ugh. Has to be one of the worst titles Ive ever experienced. You are ALF "Alien life form" and not even sure you have a goal. Anything touches you and you die. You can not jump, attack, or anything. All that seems you can do is walk around til you die. Period. Grade : F

Alien Syndrome - Port of the arcade game of the same name. Feels like the original arcade game with occasional lag when the screen fills up. You are on an alien base rescuing the hostages while trying not to get captured yourself. Once you find all the ones on each level of the base, the exit opens and you have to kill the boss monster to move onto the next level. Frustratingly difficult game but so was the arcade version. Grade : B-

Altered Beast - Another arcade port. This one isnt as well done. The only way to jump is to hit both buttons at the same time and its only random if its going to work or not. You are a generic fighter guy trying to rescue your girl from "Satan" of some sort. Start as a medium build guy with a kick and punch. When you kill a white wolf, an orb spawns. One orb turns you into a steroid version of your original self. Two orbs and you become the beast of the level. Level 1 is a wolf, Level 2 is a dragon, etc. Each button turns into a different attack. One becomes a damaging shield of sort, the other a projectile. Once you have walked far enough in the level "Satan" will transform himself into a monster to fight you but only if you are in the beast form ... otherwise you have to fight on til you have acquired it. Sadly the game could have been better if there were 3 button options instead of only 2. It is what it is. Grade : C+

Assault City (phaser only version)- What a phaser game should be! This was entertaining for sure. You are Joe who is trying to stop a robot invasion from happening. The gun is pretty reliable and accurate (except on my TV where the left side of the screen is kind of scrolled away and I havent been able to fix it). You have a survivability which is unlike a lot of phaser games. I got to level 3 or 4 before my time was up. I would definitely play this again. The only downside is the actual price of this game which is by far the rare version and tough to come by. Grade : B

Asterix - Platformer involving two viking looks guys. Asterix is a short old little guy and Obleisk is none of those. It kind of feels like a weak wanna be version of a Mario game. Fairly fun for what it is. I didnt get too far in the 5 minute play but what I did do was cool. Each character has their own options to survive. Asterix can jump, punch, drop explosive potions. Obleisk can jump, head butt, and pound things. There are hidden rooms through what looks like castle turrets. Replayable for sure. Grade : B+

Astro Warrior - 3rd person shooter. Nothing to set it apart from others but kind of fun in its own form. Upgrades include little orbs that follow you around and attack as well. The game could have done well with an auto fire hold down the button option. Grade : C

Aztec Adventure - My shocker for the evening. The game looks nothing like the boring case. It really doesnt seem to have any sort of story but has a Zelda/Golvellius feel. You start with what looks like a small dagger and you have to navigate yourself to .. who knows where. Along the way, you kill stuff and they drop various items which help you navigate further. Flame, for example, will burn the plants out of your path. Definitely requires more play! :) Grade : B
« Last Edit: September 26, 2014, 11:05:36 am by soera »

90snostalga

  • Guest
Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2014, 12:21:54 am »
Very nice detailed reviews and thoughts Soera.  Thanks for this  :)  It will help me develop more into my Master System games wish list :D


*If I may ask just for personal reference on my wish list, do you consider how well a game has aged, or do you grade them based on the time they came out?  I know it's an off beat question but I personally find it unfair to grade a game based on how well it aged especially from the 80s early 90s.  Just curious on your thoughts*
« Last Edit: June 24, 2014, 12:23:31 am by 90snostalga »

soera

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2014, 10:58:42 am »
I just grade it as a game. :)

burningdoom

PRO Supporter

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2014, 12:28:26 pm »
And your gonna review every one of them? Wow.

If your gonna put that much effort into it, write a book and make a little money.

BTW, let's hope the other letters fare better than the "A" titles. Didn't see single stand-out title there.

soera

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #7 on: June 24, 2014, 01:01:10 pm »
Yeah, Ill go over every one of them. :) Im going to try to do some of the B's today.

Yeah wasnt much of a stand out. Only Aztec Adventure was a shock compared to what I expected.

soera

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #8 on: June 24, 2014, 11:37:02 pm »
All right, I got to play the B games today. Here we go!

Basketball nightmare - Its like Teen wolf on a game system! Its a basic basketball game with monsters as opponents. Very simplistic game with its only redeeming quality being the breakaway dunk scenes from the different monsters. They can be pretty cool to watch but otherwise the game is super redundant and the AI is not very intelligent at all. Grade : C

Battle outrun - This game is more fun than I expected it to be honestly. Its the same outrun game people remember except you have to destroy a car at the end of each run. In order to do so, you ram the car over and over til its life bar runs out. You can buy car up grades from driving up the back of the 3 lane sized semi that will appear in front of you in the middle of the run. Overall, a cool game. Grade : C+

Black Belt - Kung fu for the SMS. I didnt really enjoy this all that much. Kick/punch generic fighters over and over til a bigger fighter attacks you. At the end of each round, you get a single screen fight with a main boss. They are stronger than you and will kill you fairly consistently. The hit detection on this game is horrible and very boring. Grade : D

Blade Eagle 3D - Will review soon!

Bomber raid - This is 1942 for the SMS. Not very different than any other over the shoulder shmup other than powerups seem to flow like water. Grade : D+

Bram Stoker's Dracula - I expected this game to be more fun than it was. It kind of reminded me of an 8 bit Pitfall. No real redeeming qualities to mention. Grade : C-

Bubble Bobble - This is exactly the same game as on the NES. Its fun for what it is, just not my genre of entertainment. Grade : B-


soera

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2014, 10:19:48 pm »
Its time for page 3 "C" games.

California games - Man, what a flop. The controls on this game are horrible. I cant believe the way some of this stuff works. Skating for example. You have to move the control pad back and forth to make each leg move ... wtf? Grade : D

Captain Silver - Silly side scrolling game. Can be mildly fun. You attack monsters/pirates with your sword. They drop letters in which you spell "Captain Silver" and get a free man. Fairies fly around and will give you attack power. Not a bad game, not a great title. Grade : C+

Casino Games - Basic gambling game. The card games are self explanatory (other than Baccarat ... whatever the hell that is). Slot machine is a money sponge. And there is a pinball game, although Im not sure what that has to do with gambling. Its the most generic pinball game Ive ever seen. If you like gambling games, this one wouldnt be a total letdown. Grade : C-

Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse - Platformer where you are, obviously, Mickey. You walk and jump and can pick up stuff to throw at creatures. This game would appeal to little kids. Grade : C

Champions of Europe - Soccer game that actually could be fun to play. It looks a lot more realistic than other sports games of this generation. Once all these reviews are done, this is one I will pick up and try some more. Grade : B

Choplifter - Arcade port. Very addictive. It makes you want to try to rescue all those stupid hostages no matter how many times you lose. And lose you will. Fairly difficult game. Grade : C+

Cloud master - This game will make you wonder wtf the creator was smoking when he designed this game. You get attacked by pig heads, birds with human heads, bowls of ramen and the first boss is a huge rooster which looks like it shoots it beak at you. This game would be really fun if it wasnt for one thing. One hit - you die and start all over. Grade : B-

Columns - Tetris wanna be puzzle game. Not nearly as controllable as Tetris however. You can not rotate the bars only alternate which gem is on bottom/middle/top. Seriously a disappointment compared to Tetris. Grade : D

Cyber Shinobi - Side scroller. Joe is you. Attack power slow he has. Real ninja he is not. Game boring it is. Grade : C-

Cyborg hunter - Not really sure what this game or what its purpose is. You start out as a robot with the power to punch. You go into level "A" to find a shield and end up having to take elevators up and down different levels looking for this shield. Games like this boggle the mind as to how they even got past testing. Very odd game. Grade : C-

90snostalga

  • Guest
Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #10 on: June 26, 2014, 05:45:29 am »
Either your very strict at game rating, or the SMS does not have a lot of good grade a games do far...

flatapex

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #11 on: June 26, 2014, 09:52:51 am »
the sms has loads of great games, i think that soera is very strict, i for example would rate dracula a b+

we havent had reviews of:
the ninja
ninja gaiden
wonder boy 3
tecmo world cup 93
rampart


for a start
You do not have an area. Unless it is some sort of play area, with sandcastles, and buckets, and spades!

soera

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #12 on: June 26, 2014, 10:16:37 am »
I am really strict. Ive always been that way with games. I tend to piss people off on Nintendo Age with it too. Almost every single person on there is a massive NES fan and when I tell them that the library is 5% acceptable, 95% trash, it starts arguments.

I will get the D list done today (sadly this is the one missing the most titles ... 11 games missing and 3 of them are D titles).

soera

Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #13 on: June 26, 2014, 10:18:31 am »
the sms has loads of great games, i think that soera is very strict, i for example would rate dracula a b+

we havent had reviews of:
the ninja
ninja gaiden
wonder boy 3
tecmo world cup 93
rampart

for a start

I dont have Tecmo world cup. Im expecting Ninja Gaiden and Wonder boy III to get decent reviews but alphabetically, they are a few days away heh.

90snostalga

  • Guest
Re: My on-going SMS test thread
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2014, 12:43:09 pm »
I am really strict. Ive always been that way with games. I tend to piss people off on Nintendo Age with it too. Almost every single person on there is a massive NES fan and when I tell them that the library is 5% acceptable, 95% trash, it starts arguments.

I will get the D list done today (sadly this is the one missing the most titles ... 11 games missing and 3 of them are D titles).

Nothing wrong with being strict.  I do have a few titles I am anxious to see what you rate them so this is like a tv series for me and I'm just waiting for my games lol.  Nice detailed summary's tho'.  Believe it or not, its helping me out.