The Gamer's Quarter

[Harveyjames]

Wanting to 'make games fun again' is as pretentious as doing a poo.

[Dracko]

If you're saying making the outrageous claim that you're messianicly bringing back fun to a medium which is already enjoying titles and developments you're too deluded to take a part in is like putting the conclusion of your bowel movements on display, then I agree.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[SuperWes]

They should use the slogan "making games games again" instead.

I think the main difference between these games and Warioware is that Warioware is meant to last 5 seconds per game and these are meant to last closer to 10 minutes (or longer?). They are a bit of a rip-off at $20 each, but then again they're not making very many of them, and they're sure to sell out, making Nintendo some money in the process. I don't see anything wrong with intentionally catering to a smaller audience who wants games like these but couldn't otherwise get them because they're not mainstream enough.

I tried out Coloris and Digidrive last night and today. I like Digidrive a whole lot for some reason. I have barely any idea what's going on, but I think I'm getting a hang of it and I like the concept.

And for those interested, there isn't a single line of Japanese in these once you make it past the Epileptic warning screens.

-Wes
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[Harveyjames]

[Dracko]

[helicopterp]

[helicopterp]

[SuperWes]

I have a problem with pretty much every sentence in that previous post, but since this is the bit generations thread and I should actually be working instead of posting on message boards, I'll comment on this one.

[dessgeega]

[GSL]

[dessgeega]

yeah! i finished the all-stars version years ago, via world nine. i think it's probably about time i return to it.

supposedly the famicom mini version lets you save after each stage, just like in all-stars. otherwise i'm not sure i would be able to cope with it.

it's definitely one of the most sinister and excellent sequels ever made.
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[SJ]

You guys really have to stop making me desire certain games more based on their packaging. I might give in sooner or later.

[dessgeega]

if i may derail the thread momentarily!

pretty much every place i know is sold out of super mario 2, so i flashed it. it's really swell! the famicom disk system boot screen shows up at the beginning, and you can leave it on to watch the little mario and luigi animation. as for the game itself, the backgrounds are slightly compressed vertically, and the sprites aren't compressed at all. it actually looks very nearly perfect (better than if i were playing it on pocketnes. if pocketnes even supports fds games).

but either i was misinformed about game save data or something is wrong because i'm playing the game off a flash cart. if it doesn't save after all i'm kind of glad i didn't spend money on it, since i can't even get past the first world right in one "credit" right now.

EDIT: so it turns out the game only saves after each world. that's every four stages. yikes. looks like the ante has been upped.
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[helicopterp]

So I am buying myself Coloris as a birthday present. I hold Dessgeega responsible for any experience that might befall me.

Note: I posted this first on the street fighter asshole thread by accident. The offending parties have been sacked.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[SuperWes]

Any y'all fools know the cheapest place to buy the whole set of these minus digidrive? I could stick with Play-Asia and I've got two of the PlayAsia coupons, but I'm hoping there's a better option.

-Wes
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[SuperWes]

Ok! I just ordered the whole set from YesAsia where they're $19 each with free shipping. I'm pumped!

-Wes
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[Shapermc]

[SuperWes]

[wourme]

Bit Generations music:

http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2006/10/22/bit-generations-tunes/

I actually know nothing at all about these games--I haven't even read this thread. But I'm glad I just glanced at it now because I learned about the re-release of SMB2. I've never actually played SMB2 because I don't like playing that sort of game on a computer and I don't like All-Stars.

false edit: But now I see that this game is extremely rare. Oh, well, maybe next re-release.

[Pijaibros]

It looks like a good chunk of the bit Generations titles have been knocked down to only $15. A couple of them (Orbital + Coloris) are still $25. Are those 2 more special than the others?

I am very close to biting on getting these imports. Now seems to be a good time to get them if anyone else has been mulling over it like I have.

The log of importy things I want just keeps on building here! Monster World, Treasure Box, Tengoku, yeesh!

[aerisdead]

Everyone should get Soundvoyager, at least.

It's really good.
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aerisdead

[Shapermc]

Yeah, SoundVoyager is something very unique and special, which I talked about in issue 7. If you're only going to get one of them that goes to the top of the list. Important note: You need to be able to use stereo headphones to get the most from it.

Also, I've been kind of covering these in the "what game you played today" thread. I should probably transport some of my impressions.

Coloris is one that I'm kind of working on, but it's really hard after a certain point. The way it uses colors and the "connect three" style of puzzle games is just, well, it makes my brain hurt.

If there is one not to get, it's Boundish. That is, unless you really, really love pong.

I just ordered Digidrive, Orbital, and Dialhex to finish off all the games I'm interested in playing.

Fake edit for Dot Stream impressions:

Ok, so, like, you know how I wasn't really digging Dot Stream?

I think it's fantastic.

It grew on me little by little and all of a sudden I realized that I was playing it like I would listen to a CD. Then I got past the second GP set and moved onto the third and final GP set.

Oh god! The music and level design comes to a huge climax with these. I only cleared about 3 of the 10 drawings on my first try. But I had a huge grin on my face the whole time.

It's a shame that this isn't instantly aparent in the game.

With that said, I think part of the initially disappointing nature of Dot Stream is that it’s hardly a racing game at all. It’s more like a drawing/momentum game. The name makes a lot more sense when you actually figure out how to play the game.

Initially I was under the impression you had to actually HOLD a button to race. I later found out that holding a button just cramped my hand and did nothing at all. It’s interesting learning how to play the game because you have to use the “slip stream” from the other lines. This makes sense in a more realistic setting where cars are actually breaking the wind in front of you creating less resistance from your car so it can go faster. In the abstract setting of Dot Stream it becomes this weird sort of learning how to follow the lines and keep your “stream” bar up.

There is also more to the game than just knowing the course and which route to take. You have to also know what route the other lines take. On top of that you have to know how and when to best overtake the opponent and how best to abuse the minimal power-ups. Then the game will mess with you and throw in a level where you have to completely disregard everything you know and you have to use the terrain to your advantage.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[SuperWes]

[dmauro]

I stil find myself going back to coloris. While I was able to complete the levels with more colors, I usually go back and play the levels with fewer colors because they don't drive me nuts and it's just sort of fun and casual. And that's what the game is about. You can't really formulate a strategy, and I think you would have to be a serious idiot savant to be able to spot any combos you could pull off when all three primaries are in the mix, so you're just constantly reacting, one turn at a time, by finding which colors are closest to matching.

[Shapermc]

[Pijaibros]

I am sorry for any of you who bought things yesterday. I mislead you

Play-Asia is having a crazy week now! Everything (except stuff released in the last 30 days) is 20% off. Bit Generation titles are only $12 now, Tengoku is only $30! Some good stuff to be had!

Now if only things can stay in stock until payday!

[Shapermc]

:(

I just bought a bunch of things and could have saved on most of them. (though I should have them on my doorstep soon, so I guess that time=money)
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[Shapermc]

Ok, So I have now officially spent at least an hour with every game in the series aside from Boundish (which I have played, just not for at least an hour).

Waiting it out and getting the bulk of the series for about $80 or so was really worth it. I hate to be so superficial, but the packaging really makes taking the price hit not so bad. Had these been available for $15 each in the US I would have been slowly picking them up over time.

The games range from decent and interesting, to very good and deep. Sound Voyager is still my favorite of the bunch because it examines something most games ignore. After that game I have no idea how I would organize things.

Digidrive is… well, I don’t really know. It’s a game about sorting things. I think. See, it’s so abstract in what it’s trying to do that I still feel like I have no idea what’s going on or if I’m playing it right even after a couple hours with it recently. I need to put more time into the game.

Dialhex is fantastic. It’s like Hexic (HD!) but fun. My first time playing I had no idea what the heck I was doing. By my third round I was frantically attempting to make these same colored hexagons. It reminds me of what coloris is doing with color, but since it’s more free form it allows for a much different style of manipulation. The sound design is so well done that it reminds me of playing with blocks as a kid, or later in life playing with those tantagram (?) puzzles. I kind of feel deeply in love with this game last night, something that hasn’t happen with me and a puzzle game in a long time. I was sad that when I stopped last night because I was literally so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

Coloris is very good for a puzzle game. It’s easily the most “standard” game in the bunch. It’s a twist on the connect three syle of casual games, but it’s trying to do much more than just making you connect three. It’s trying to make you deal with colors in a way that you’re just not use to. On top of that it’s trying to make you screw up, and brutally punishes you when that happens. The game is a cruel mistress. I’m stuck somewhere in the basic puzzles, but they’re about as far from “basic” as I can think.

I put a lot of time into Orbital a while back when I borrowed Wes’ copy of the game. I never felt like I knew what I was doing. I guess that’s what it was aiming for at times. But I also mean that I kept forgetting which button did what (attract or repel, I would get them mixed up). I’m going to start playing that after I put some more time into these other games first.

[dmauro]

Watch a playthrough of a high score on digidrive to get a sense of what it should look like when you're playing. The game does sort of let you know how you're doing by awarding you with new skins though.

The thing that bothered me about dialhex, besides the fact that I just didn't enjoy it, was that I felt like I had played the exact same game before.

Orbital is probably my least favorite game of the bunch though. It has the worst graphics, the controls don't feel right (it never feels clear how the increase in gravity is going to affect how your planet reacts). It's a great idea, and it I was really hoping for a lot from this one, but I felt it completely failed to deliver.

[Shapermc]

[dmauro]

[Shapermc]

Blocks
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[Shapermc]

So last night after finishing a fairly large project I put Digidrive back in. I broke 2000 on my second try, and it wasn't that hard really. The game gets pretty intense.

Anyways, I opened a TON of skins with that, some of which are very, very awesome and make the colors of the differnt shapes easier to see. I also opened a new song. I had originally dismissed the music in the game as being uninteresting and simple, but I finally played with a set of headphones last night and the music is actually really well implemented into Digidrive .

I am starting to enjoy just how abstract this game really is. It's much better than my first impressions of the game.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[Ethoscapade]

i told you! lumines!

[Shapermc]

[Nana Komatsu]

[dmauro]

[Shapermc]

[Nana Komatsu]

Did either of you play Vs. CPU mode?
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resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

[aerisdead]

Still loving Soundvoyager. I think the levels that aren't Sound Catcher levels are underrated. They're not as good, but they're still fun, and feel like ninja training!
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aerisdead

[Harveyjames]

Just recieve Coloris, Electroplankton and Rhythm Tengoku through the post yesterday. It was a good day for obscure, overlooked sound-based handheld Nintendo games!

I've got a question regarding Coloris... does anyone consider the score mode to be any good? It's too hard to lose, so it seems like you just carry on playing until you get bored of it. It feels aimless. The score just seems to correlate to how much time you're willing to put into it.

[dessgeega]

score mode is boring. i just replay the stages.

i played some digidrive last night. it seemed like a a mechanical sorting excersize, but there are clearly nuances to the gameplay i havn't grasped yet.
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[Shapermc]

[dessgeega]

you need to finish it, matt! the ending is great.
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[Shapermc]

[dmauro]

I wish Puzzle Quest was more like Coloris.

[dessgeega]

coloris is probably the most gorgeous puzzle game there is.
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[Harveyjames]

I love how it seems to be designed to be looked at with your console, rather than the screen being a window into a seperate world. It makes your DS/ Gameboy into a beautiful object, rather than just being a beautiful thing on your DS screen.

Having said that, I was thinking that if Coloris was called 'Kirby's Rainbow Dream Blocks' I probably wouldn't want to play it. Although it's my favorite game of the Bit Generations series in terms of gameplay, I still think it's the graphics and style that are its main appeal.

My housemates haven't really touched it, and they're not people to ever play a game for it's own sake. They're in love with Rhythm Tengoku, though!

[dessgeega]

[Ethoscapade]