The Gamer's Quarter

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:48 pm Post subject:

i guess i will, because fuck the last boss of sky blazer.

to be able to hurt him you have to use a special ability which costs all the magic you have,, which means you can no longer heal yourself, so you can get hit twice by the boss before you die. and short attack range plus unclear collision boundaries plus large enemy who chases you means it is impossible to avoid getting hit a few times by accident.

looks like i'm playing hook.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:59 pm Post subject:

okay, it has chunky flat edges instead of smooth round ones, but the buttons are arranged the same way. it's a saturn pad!
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dessgeega · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:25 pm Post subject:

hook is actually pretty charming for a licensed game but it's way too slow, and that combined with much larger levels with few checkpoints makes the control issues the game shares with sky blazer that much more irritating. the level design is totally bland! sky blazer doesn't control as well as it should, but the level design is killer. hook is just enemies in trees.

then again, i didn't have the patience to play past the second level.
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:40 pm Post subject:

Have you played the arcade Hook by irem? It's quite good.
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JasonMoses · . Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

It looks like a cheap third-party saturn pad.

dessgeega · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:04 am Post subject:

GOD LOOK AT IT IT'S A DISC
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dhex · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:07 am Post subject:

the wonderful end of the world was pretty good for nine bucks if you wanted a katamari clone that's several orders weirder than katamari.
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dessgeega · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:56 pm Post subject:

why did no one tell me the genesis version of rainbow islands has a mode that replaces all the enemies with darius enemies while captain neo plays these are the kinds of things i need to know
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

I call this writing style 'Daphgeega'.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

So on my third attempt at 1942: Joint Strike (360) I one credited it. Granted I had 0 lives and no bombs, but I had a full life bar. I tried the Mosquito first, and didn't like it (too slow), then the Shinen which is a little too weak, then I tried the "balance" type craft (which is hardly ever my craft of choice in an stg) and beat the game. So, I guess that's my ship!

Umm, So, I think that the game is actually starting most people out on the easy difficulty (out of 5 difficulties it starts you at difficulty 2, just below medium/normal), which is similar to other console ports of arcade stgs. The difficulty reminds me a lot of PCE home ports of them. The design for the game is actually pretty good all things considered.

After Commando 3 was exceptionally disappointing, I was expecting this to be the same, but my only complaint is really that the default difficulty is a bit easy, which makes sense for a home port.

So, anyone challenging my score on this game?
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dessgeega · Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:11 pm Post subject:

so how is that, really? i saw some footage of it yesterday and it looks bland.

in contrast: SUPER CHASE H.Q. the premise of a first-person chase h.q. is pretty exciting on its own. but the perspective allows for some neat little details, like a rear-view mirror that shows you your character's eyes, narrowing as he rams a no-gooder and widening in surprise as his car is thrown from the road. it's the doom face, but much more subtly integrated into the presentation of the game. and of course, the music starts when he turns on the radio at the start of each stage.

there's also some effort to break away from the relative uneventfulness of the traditional chase h.q. level (dodge traffic until the villain shows up, then fight the villain). now in the middle of a stage you might fight a biker gang - it's not the "don't touch anything, then keep hitting this thing" of the original. you send these guys FLYING. in level three, they introduce oncoming traffic.

it's a very super nintendo sort of game - we've got sprite scaling, now what can we do with it - but the perspective allows for some neat stuff.
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kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

W00T - finally got through all 20 levels of http://fantasticcontraption.com/

Decided to shell out the $10 on principle and to celebrate my victory.

What a grind, some of the people building are so clever, with walkers and trebuchet... and some of the designs are so elegant and simple I feel very dumb and heavy handed. Actually, half the reward of beating a level was to see the other, better designs.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=53435
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=54725
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=100587
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=103909
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dessgeega · Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject:

KIRKJERK I CAN NAME A GAME YOU SHOULD BE PLAYING
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kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Cowboyana, the hippest indie western game this side of the 'net?
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Dessgeega it's on my friend's computer right now. She has to let me come over some time.
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JasonMoses · . Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Street Fighter IV. Pretty good! I played as Dhalsim, and lost to Guile in the second round. I thought I had him on the ropes at one point, though! Better luck next time!

Also they have Rhythm Tengoku arcade over here! Didn't play it.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

daphaknee · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:14 pm Post subject:

i finally started actually playing pacman ce i dont know why i waited so long

do each of the ghosts have different like tactics i know not all of them cut you off but it seems random to me

i just heard somewhere that they do differentt hings

extrabastardformula · . Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 295

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

daphaknee · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:57 pm Post subject:

cycle what ARE the personalities tell me

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

blue is pretty tame. if you get eaten by blue it's your own damn fault.

watch out for orange. orange is a tag-team level assfart.

listen to me and not cycle because in this game and this game alone my high score is significantly higher than his.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

did i just hear a CHALLENGE
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:15 am Post subject:

dessgeega · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:46 pm Post subject:

the developers of american mcgee's grimm started out with a kind-of interesting premise and no idea how to make it into an actual game. it seems more than anything like one of these videogame school student projects (and i should know because i've been to one). "hey, so you know how like fairy tales were originally a lot darker than they are now? what if we make the game be about that?" "we've got the unreal engine. let's do it as a 3d action-platformer!"
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:23 pm Post subject:

Is it better than American McGee Presents Bad Day L.A?
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Today in the mail:
Rhythm Tengoku Gold
Korg DS-10
Digidrive
a new DS screen protector.

what a haul! I played the first stage of RTG and love it already.

Yes, I realize these have all been pirated and I could have put them all on my flash cart just fine, but there are very few things in the land of videogames worth fully supporting, and here are three of them.
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dessgeega · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:10 pm Post subject:

JasonMoses · . Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

For the Korg, I guess it depends how deep into this one I get. I thought I'd heard you could link multiple copies? That combined with English documentation would be nice. So probably.

And every second I spend with Rhythm Tengoku (both iterations) makes me love it more, so probably that too, though I may download it first to see if it's worth it. If the translation ends up terribly I may skip it.

These two together are a damn perfect argument against Guitar Hero, I'll tell you that.
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"Worlds turn the new machine to thee. To thee. Though, thine the new machine space."
-Kurt Schwitters, 1919

SuperWes · Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:14 am Post subject:

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:37 am Post subject:

maybe simplicio means that playing them does a good job of making one realize how shallow guitar hero is.
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Right. I'd say both Guitar Hero and Rhythm Tengoku are games about making music- a correct input from the player completes the tune. But neither actually involve making music- there's no creativity involved, just a simple gauge of On or Off Target.

But I've always resented GH's approach, which apes the actual creation of music through a demeaning system of wish fulfillment and self-gratification. Here's the player on the couch, with a lousy plastic guitar, hitting buttons in time to the rigid, garish display, making a ROCKSTAR avatar dance around on the screen and making ROCKSTAR music blare through the speakers. It's like playing air guitar, but with the vitality and activity and creativity removed.

Rhythm Tengoku, on the other hand, focuses on the game aspect of the rhythm game system. So instead of concentrating on the faithful recreation of an existing song, the player is more invested in playing a game of ping pong or blasting aliens or whatever, while the musical aspect serves as a guide and enhancement to the gameplay.

The Korg I would personally label as important, because it's a musical instrument, a raw creative tool designed for gaming hardware. Important because gaming as a medium not only largely lacks support for creativity, but also increasingly (through Guitar Hero and the like) presents a seductive imitation of creativity disguising rote input.

Also: Digidrive knocked my socks off! This thing's got a tremendous depth to it- I'm adding it to my gaming pantheon right next to Mr. Driller and Every Extend.
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"Worlds turn the new machine to thee. To thee. Though, thine the new machine space."
-Kurt Schwitters, 1919

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:13 pm Post subject:

i never really hit the right place with digidrive, but i like dylan cuthbert's crew. they're doing the pixeljunk games, right?

but yes, what i love about rhythm tengoku is that it revels in the experience of being a videogame rather than merely present a fantasy of something that is not a videogame. escapism is a dead-end street.

i'm really looking forward to getting my copy in the mail now that i'm not making a videogame anymore.
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SuperWes · Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 6:49 pm Post subject:

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject:

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 7:12 pm Post subject:

"this game is a hollow experience." "JUST DON'T THINK ABOUT IT AND YOU WON'T NOTICE"
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SuperWes · Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:02 pm Post subject:

JasonMoses · . Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Simplicio said what I was going to say Sad

Guitar Hero is a QTE game with great presentation.

RG is a QTE game with greater presentation.
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SuperWes · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:51 am Post subject:

dhex · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:19 am Post subject:

that wee korg ms10 simulator is neat. had i a ds i'd probably buy it, though it's also sort of a shame to build neat software but have to pump it through a shit minijack output.

such is the nature of the future.

i wish i had an ms10, but they haven't held up well and require a lot of maintenance, and i already own a frostwave filter. but still, buttons. knobs. cables.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Wes, you must visit really boring Karaoke bars.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

You beat me to it cycle.

Incidentally, I find that the emulate-the-vocals-exactly approach that rock band takes to be its biggest weakness as a game.
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