What Game/s are You Playing? Daily / Whenever Check :) (GAMEPLAY)

[YoshiM]

I spent the nights of this past weekend setting up drive images for my Apple Powerbook 180. I bought a BlueSCSI V2 device that allows me to use disk drive images as virtual (but real to the PowerBook) hard drives. It took me a bit to get things right and I had to take the microSD card out of the BlueSCSI a couple times as I forgot to do a step or an INI file got goofed up in the fixing process but in the end, the sucker worked! I even got the RasPi Pico WiFi module up and going, so this bugger can go online. Not that I want to surf the web but at least do FTP stuff or maybe visit a BBS or three.

The fruits of that labor bore a drive filled with a bunch of electronic entertainment delights. Granted it was in 16 Shades of Gray (or less) but I was able to play some "Lemmings", "Zork", some blind "Civilization" (the map screen was all white-not sure why) and some "Kings Quest 1". I didn't do a deep dive as I had already spent a long time on the floor of the living room (which is where I had enough flat space to work on this thing-thank Woz this thing was designed to be fairly easy to take apart) and my legs were yelling at me to stand up and move. The laptop is primarily going to be for creative writing and general retrocomputing, but I wanted some entertainment options.

I was going to play some Switch at work but my time flew and I wanted to leave earlier than usual due to the blizzard mid-central/southern Wisconsin was getting. At least NOW it looks like we have four seasons again.

[Aussie2B]

I'm up to the 19th stage out of 24 in Rock Boshers DX: Director's Cut on my Vita, and I've only missed one food pickup so far (in the stage where you have to battle a tank; I wasn't expecting the stage to abruptly end upon its defeat). The difficulty definitely ratcheted up after those first few stages, so it's taking me a good number of failed runs to clear each stage. Still having fun, but it's not something I can play for long stretches without wearing out my thumbs and/or getting frustrated.

[Aussie2B]

I beat Rock Boshers DX: Director's Cut for Vita a few days ago and simultaneously earned 100% of the trophies as I did so, since I went back to grab the food pickups I missed first. So that adds to my small number of PSN games where I've earned every trophy, but my platinum count is still a measly two. Some of the stages toward the end were pretty brutal, at least for me, with my limited experience with twin stick shooters. I think this is actually the first one I've ever beaten. The stages where you have to run a certain number of laps around the stage while getting more and more swarmed were a pain, also the ones where you have to lure guided missiles, and the one where you gotta kill 150 enemies with missiles. But the last few stages were a little more story-focused, as they wrapped up the few little plot points going through the game, and weren't so difficult thankfully. Not much of an ending, but that's in line with the era the game is mimicking.

Next up, I started Exile's End on my Vita. I wouldn't say I have any major problems with it thus far, but I can understand why a lot of reviews aren't so glowing. For one, the game definitely has an identity crisis. Part of the game's marketing is "NOT a Metroidvania" yet practically everyone calls it one, and I can't blame them for that as it does come off as a Metroid-style game. The developer says it was inspired by "cinematic platformers" like Flashback and Another World, and I can see that too, but I think it's those elements that put off people who expect a typical game in the style of Metroid. You start the game with absolutely no way to attack (you'd think this grizzled old mercenary could at least punch), and you take fall damage from not much of a drop at all. So you have to carefully and methodically move around, scrolling the screen down to look before you continue on, and dodge a million snakelike enemies. Finally, you find an upgrade for shock absorption, which eliminates the fall damage, though there's still the impact from a drop that stalls Jameson (the protagonist) for a second. That's about as far as I've played so far. I still don't even have a means of attacking just yet.

Other than that, like the last time I was visiting family, I'm playing some Super Mario World via the flash cart we brought with us, mostly for my daughter's amusement, since she's crazy about Yoshi.

[Aussie2B]

I finally got a real weapon in Exile's End (well, a few, at this point) on my Vita. You could count the rocks, but you only get a few, and they're better used for flipping levers than combat. I basically just dodged everything until I got the handgun, though I did use a rock on a falling worm to earn a trophy. On that note, the trophies are weird in this game. There's one close to the beginning that nearly 90% of player earn (you get it automatically as long as you play long enough to get to that part), yet every other trophy is at less than 20% of players. I've gotten two more beyond that first one, and neither was tough to get. I guess a lot of people must quit this game early on, probably turned off by the fall damage and lack of a weapon. I have noticed that some of the complaints people have with this game are straight up BS. I've been reading some pro reviews from around when the game launched, and it's kind of driving me nuts how many people claim you have to make "leaps of faith" (and thus supposedly can't avoid fall damage or landing in spiked pits). There is literally not a single area where you have to drop down blindly while you're still taking fall damage and none I've seen after that either). The controls in the game aren't complicated at all and are laid out in the digital manual too. You simply crouch and keep holding down briefly to scroll the screen lower, like in the Sonic games and a bajillion other 2D side-scrolling games. Apparently people want in-game tutorials and hand-holding, yet can't be bothered to look at a very short manual in lieu of those? It's pretty sad when games journalism is no better than "y cant metroid crawl?" sometimes.

[Aussie2B]

I just entered the Cathedral area in Exile's End on my Vita. I haven't had much time for playing, but it's been relatively smooth sailing when I do. I haven't had any difficulties stumbling across stuff I need to progress further. It probably helps that the graphics are pretty repetitive in each area, so it's easy to spot something that's different. And with examining stuff to get a bit of text, it's usually obvious what is needed where (like bringing the wrench to the stuck valve). Outside of the worm trophy, every trophy I've received so far is something you get automatically just by progressing far enough, so it's surprising I'm only midway through and already getting "rare" trophies that only 10% of players have earned, in a game that seems pretty short (even if my limited playing time is stretching it out).

[fpbrush]

Metroid Prime or Super Mario Wonder

[Aussie2B]

I beat Exile's End on my Vita with over seven hours on the clock, but I didn't manage 100% completion. I had 85% of the items and 3 out of 7 of the hidden messages. Around the time of my last post about the game, I started talking to my husband about it, which got him interested and then he blew through the whole thing. Since he was playing on a much bigger screen, he could more easily spot breakable walls. I noticed the obvious spots in the first mine, but I didn't realize there were much subtler tells in the other areas. So I started examining walls much more carefully from that point on, but I'm not surprised I missed some. I'll check out some online maps to pick off what little I missed and try to get that 100% completion trophy. I obviously didn't get remotely close to earning the Fast Mover trophy, which requires beating the game in under three hours. I hate speedrunning trophies, so I'm just gonna say to heck with that one. I get speedrunning is part of this genre, starting with Metroid's different endings depending on how much time you take, but it's not my thing at all.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with the game. It's not amazing, but I never expected it to compete with the greats like Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night. I don't think it's fair to hold indie developers to the same standards as industry pros on top of their game. All the mixed reviews and criticism makes Exile's End sound a lot worse than it actually is, which is sad considering a lot of the criticism is straight up false. I guess it shows the difference between pretentious indie aficionados who want to pretend they're into retro games, even though they either haven't played old games since they were brand-new or are so young they never played them to begin with, and people like myself who still play decades-old games in the present day and have no problem playing an indie that tries to be fairly authentic to the way old games played. I found the game pretty straightforward and easy, so it's perplexing to me that so many people find the game so frustrating and confusing. The only real beefs I have with the game are the crappy way the map fills in (some rooms just never fill in completely, making it seem like you've got something left to explore when you actually don't) and that the involvement of the "legendary" Japanese industry veterans didn't amount to much. Despite having the same composer as Ninja Gaiden, the music in Exile's End doesn't stand out, in my opinion, and other than a nice piece of art when the game loads up, there's nothing about the visuals that's especially impressive either. They could've told me the game was entirely made by Western indie developers, and I would've believed it no problem.

[Aussie2B]

I added roughly another hour to the clock to get the five rooms I missed in Exile's End on my Vita, but after that, I had 100% completion and saw the tiny extra scene added to the ending. It's not so apparent while progressing normally, but the areas are rather annoyingly linear when you're trying to navigate around the whole map quickly to look for things you missed. There are a lot of dead ends from places where you drop down but can't jump back up, and I often found myself thinking I could reach another area going a certain way only to hit one of those dead ends, then I had to backtrack to where I was before and try a longer way around.

Last night, I started up Lucifer Ring on my Vita. It's another PS1 game that originally only came out in Japan but much later got a US PSN release, with no localization work done to it. Like the previous couple I mentioned, it's stupidly expensive to get a physical copy of the game, hence my opting for a cheap digital copy instead. It's not quite as English-friendly as Gaia Seed, but all that people who don't understand Japanese would miss out on here is a little bit of narration for the opening, in between the five stages, and during the "ending". Not only did I start Lucifer Ring but I also beat it during my very first session with the game, and I use quotes because it was hardly an ending. Just credits, a small window of gameplay footage, and some narration talking over it. There's very little story in general. It's just a simplistic 3D beat-em-up in a fantasy setting where you collect four rings (by beating the first four stages) and use those to open up the gate to hell or something and defeat some big, evil monster. I played on the default Normal difficulty setting, and with the infinite continues, it was no problem blowing through it. You do have to start from scratch on whatever section/boss you were on if you use a continue, so maybe that presents more of a challenge on the higher difficulties. Once you beat it, you can choose which type of sword you want to use when you replay, and I hear you get a level select after a second time through, so I'll probably do that at least. The game felt really slow and clunky to me, but I thought the only way to run was by double-tapping, though apparently you can hold a shoulder button to run too, oops. It's not a particularly good game, but it definitely has that kind of quirky charm a lot 5th gen games have, in my eyes at least.

[fpbrush]

Pubg mobile rn

[Aussie2B]

Yep, holding R1 to run in Lucifer Ring for PlayStation makes a huge difference in how fluid the game feels, though platforming still doesn't feel great and is better done without running. The running strong attack just slices and dices through practically anything. I set the difficulty to Easy and blew through the whole game again, without even using any continues, I believe. In fact, I think you have to do the whole game in one sitting because it seems like the only time the game saves is after beating it. Though, after beating it a second time, you unlock the level select, which not only lets you pick the level but even which section of the level you want to start on, and after clearing a stage, you return to the level select. With that, I saw I missed two optional routes (one in the first stage and one in the third), so I started sections before those to find them, then jumped straight to the final boss to beat the game again and save the fact I've explored every section. The part I missed in the third stage was especially notable in that in contains the stage's mid boss (a basilisk). So now there's nothing left I could do in the game besides try the two harder difficulties, but I hear they don't change much (I assume it just takes more hits to kill everything). I'm satisfied leaving it there, so I'll have to pick something else to start now.

Other than that, my daughter has switched from wanting to watch me play Super Mario World to Super Mario Kart, which I've been playing via our flash cart. I've gotten gold on all the 50cc and 100cc cups, and I was apparently wrong in thinking you have to clear 150cc to get the credits. I imagine I'll tackle those cups soon.

[YoshiM]

It's been a dry spell. With work being busy, I haven't been able to take a proper break or much of a lunch, so the Switch has been dormant. With what time I've had at home to myself, I've been loading my 2DS's and 3DS with CFW along with bigger memory cards. Right now I'm formatting a 64 GB for my New 3DS, which is taking forever. I did get to play some "Kid Icarus: Uprising", which has been a thorn in my side due to its funky land movement controls. But I'm trying to wrap my brain around the controls as in the past I just pushed it aside in disgust.

[Aussie2B]

I've been coming to the realization that I probably should've put more thought into the diversity of the games I brought with me for my stay with family. In the grand scheme of things, I have more options than I know what to do with, since we've got loaded up flash carts for use on the AV Famicom and SNES we keep here, and we also brought a back-light modded original GBA with its own flash cart. But I've always used flash carts more for toying around, while the games I get seriously invested in are the ones I've bought officially. So I've got my Vita with five physical games and an assortment of PS1, PSP, and Vita games I've gotten digitally (mostly stuff that's digital-only). Subtracting out the games I've already beaten and ones I don't especially want to play during this trip (because I don't have great headphones with me or because there are other games in the series I want to play first), that leaves me with over a dozen to pick from. But around a third of the games I've got with me for my Vita are shmups and a couple are twin-stick shooters, and having recently beaten Gaia Seed and Rock Boshers DX, I wasn't super eager to start something similar to those just yet. But I wasn't feeling the other stuff right now, so I did end up starting another 2D horizontal shmup: Super Hydorah for Vita.

I've beaten a few stages so far, but the difficulty does seem to ramp up fast. I like that it saves so you don't have to always start from the beginning, though I wish I could revisit stages to search for secrets. I found one on the second stage but haven't seen anything else yet.

[fpbrush]

On the road again getting new badges on the Mario Wonder. Pretty fun, still.

[Aussie2B]

Going off the in-game map, I assume I'm about halfway through Super Hydorah for Vita, but the stage I'm up to, Galactic Inferno, is like a brick wall. It's a real gauntlet, with so many sections and boss fights, and it's been royally kicking my butt. And with its length, it's tiresome to try over and over, not to mention you lose some weapon strength with each death, so you're put at more and more of a disadvantage, since you can't repeat prior stages to power up. I could restart from the very beginning, but ehhhhh.

[Aussie2B]

After a LOT of practice, I finally managed to clear that brutal Galactic Inferno stage in Super Hydorah on Vita and then quickly blew through a couple short stages following that. It's definitely not a linear difficulty curve. But I'm a little worried if there are going to be stages just as hard or harder than Galactic Inferno. If there are, I hope they're at least a good bit shorter. Each attempt at Galactic Inferno was taking me around 10 minutes, so needless to say, that gets tiresome after many attempts. To add insult to injury, there's a cutscene at the start of Galactic Inferno that can't be skipped. It's a small scene, but it's still aggravating after you've seen it tons of times.

[Osirus]

[Aussie2B]

I've got access to three different stages in Super Hydorah on my Vita right now, but they're all a pain in the ass. Mostly I'm trying to clear Underground Base, and it doesn't seem like it'll be hugely difficult to do so, but I feel like Galactic Inferno kinda sapped a lot of my patience for the game. My next game definitely needs to be something that's not quite so challenging for me to make progress in.

Still playing Super Mario Kart via our flash cart on SNES for my daughter too. I got gold in the Mushroom Cup and Star Cup on 150cc. The former was no sweat, but the latter took a number of failed attempts. But my daughter likes the Star Cup anyway, since she seems to be fond of the beach and snow tracks.

[Aussie2B]

I managed to squeak by the last boss of Underground Base in Super Hydorah on Vita and then quickly cleared the following stage. The difficulty of this game is seriously whiplash. I'm still not sure what is up with the end of Underground Base. I couldn't tell if I was actually damaging the machines firing out the electric bolts or if it's another case of having to wait something out, like the collapsing ceiling after the first Hydorah seed I destroyed. Anyway, I have two stages left to beat the game, the first of those being a boss rush (all-new bosses, not returning ones), but I don't know if I could pull those off without clearing some of the other stages to gain their weapons. There are four other optional stages left I can do.

Clearing the Flower Cup on 150cc in Super Mario Kart on SNES was no sweat too, so now I just have 150cc Special Cup to go, which I know took me a long time to earn gold in as a kid.

[fpbrush]

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all.

Enjoying Mario Wonder, still. I managed to get 2 badges and there are 3-4 more to go. All the standees. Just gonna max it all out someday I imagine. Picked Metroid Dread backup. Had to guide through a rough spot, but smooth sailing for now. It says: “Items: 61%” so good progress?

Off to the side I started playing PGA TOUR Golf Shootout. A fun little diversion from surfing the internet black hole, haha. It’s supposed to have real courses and looked arcade-y fun.

[Aussie2B]

It took some practice and the help of the better weapons I recently gained, but I cleared Charybdis in Super Hydorah on my Vita. It's one of the short stages, but I really struggle with parts that make you wait out being in extremely tight quarters with swarms of enemies. So hard to dodge without slamming into something. Moa-Urdz after that wasn't too tough, so now I'm down to two optional stages and two required.