Wait, I've played this game before!!

[Queen Of The Felines]

Being a fan of the Heroes of Might & Magic series, I recently picked up Heroes of Might & Magic: Quest for the Dragonbone Staff for the PS2. I read through the instructions and think "Hey, this sounds familiar..." I pop the game in, play for a bit, and then it dawns on me...

It's not a new game at all. It's King's Bounty. Sure, the HM&M series spawned from King's Bounty so there are similarities, and there are graphic improvements and slight (very slight) changes to the gameplay, but this is basically THE EXACT SAME GAME (even down to the maps!) I had played on my Apple II computer back in the '80s!

Now mind you, I'm not really complaining since I loved that game and there is enough randomization for repeated play, but c'mon 3DO, is it really necessary for you guys to come full circle here?

Are there any other games that had you fooled into thinking it was something new only to discover it was basically a remake of an older game?

Kristine

[Quazick]

Would you mind writeing a mini review for the ps2 version?
I have chance to get it and I'd like to know what people think about it.

[Lady Jaye]

I've been through that experience before, even though I never actually bought the game. It was with Turn and Burn: No Fly Zone, by Absolute on the SNES. When F-14 Tomcat was released on the GBA by Majesco, I found that it bore a resemblance to Tomcat F-14 on the Atari 2600 and 7800. However, critics wrote that the game was a remake of the SNES game Turn and Burn. I check it out, out of curiosity, and noticed that it is basically Tomcat F-14 but with slightly nicer graphics and only slightly expanded gameplay. When you get down to it, there wasn't that much evolution from the first Tomcat on the 2600 and its GBA descendent. And yet, I seem to be the only one to notice that Majesco's game had its true roots not in the SNES but in the Atari 2600!!! Gives it a whole perspective when it comes to review the game, doesn't it?

[Tritoch]

I've considered getting that HoM&M game for EXACTLY that reason. I loved King's Bounty (still play it on Genny), and wouldn't mind going through an updated version of it sometime. If I ever see it in a bargain bin...

[Queen Of The Felines]

Tritoch, here's a list of differences between HoM&M and King's Bounty (Apple II version, I haven't played the Genny one even though I somehow have the box and manual!).

- Bad guys, towns, and castles have different names.
- In KB, game ends when you find the staff. In HoM&M, the game ends when you defeat all bad guys. The staff just lets you kill dragons easier.
- KB has gnomes and barbarians. HoM&M has trogoldytes and lizardmen with the same stats.
- KB gives you the option of running away from an enemy encounter without fighting. You're stuck fighting in HoM&M.

That's it. Everything else is an exact match to King's Bounty. Gameplay, maps, spells, you name it. Get it if you can find it for cheap, it brought back a lot of memories.

Kristine

[Atari7800]

i just played "wonder 3" for the sega saturn and one of the games might as well be called "super ghosts and goblins 2" by capcom. they released the arcade gane game and it is the exact same game same armor same treasure chest same cool 2-d graphics same everything i am veryn impressed

[Tritoch]

Tritoch, here's a list of differences between HoM&M and King's Bounty (Apple II version, I haven't played the Genny one even though I somehow have the box and manual!).

- Bad guys, towns, and castles have different names.
- In KB, game ends when you find the staff. In HoM&M, the game ends when you defeat all bad guys. The staff just lets you kill dragons easier.
- KB has gnomes and barbarians. HoM&M has trogoldytes and lizardmen with the same stats.
- KB gives you the option of running away from an enemy encounter without fighting. You're stuck fighting in HoM&M.

That's it. Everything else is an exact match to King's Bounty. Gameplay, maps, spells, you name it. Get it if you can find it for cheap, it brought back a lot of memories.

Kristine

Cool, thanks for the list! The ending change sounds like a good one, as one thing that always bugged me was how abruptly the game ended once you found the staff. Don't think I'd like being stuck in every fight though.

The other two differences shouldn't be that big of a deal, unless the new names they came up with for the bad guys are lame. I always loved the old corny names.

What I forgot to mention before is that I also have it for DOS (came free with the $5 copy of HoM&M1 I bought at TRU a few years ago). Assuming that version is identical to the Apple II version, the only differences between the two are the graphics (much better on Genesis) and the addition of catchy music on the main map. Unless of course the DOS version actually has music, but it never plays properly on my machine (I've always wondered whether it does or not...).

[digitalpress]

Here's one:

Virtua Tennis is Pong.

[MankeyMan]

Super Mario Advance seemd to be suspiciously like SMB2.

[Lady Jaye]

Gee, I wonder why?