The "I finally played [classic game] and here are my thoughts on it" thread

Steve · Jun 26, 2016

I really liked the ActRaiser thread and wanted to make something more general. Anytime you play an old video game for the first time and have some thoughts, feel free to share it here.

I finally played Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES). Now, I'm sure I played it briefly back in 1993 as a kid, but it's definitely been over 20 years since I played it. Wow. I have to say I am sorely disappointed. It's not really a beat 'em up. After the first stage it turns into this gimmick of ride this, ride that. Quite frankly, it's not fun at all and is more of an exercise in frustration.

A very disappointing game. I expected more. Does anyone else feel similar to me? The game is just ridiculous in the worst of ways.

On a side note, I fired up Battletoads & Double Dragon (SNES) today, and found that to be disappointing as well. Way too damn hard and cheap. Although at least it's more of a pure beat 'em up than Battlemaniacs, but both games aren't very good IMHO. In fact, I would go as far as to say Battlemaniacs is straight up bad and BT&DD is fair to middling at best.

Heard over the years that the NES version of BT&DD is where it's at, though.

DevilRedeemed · Jun 26, 2016

Good idea. Nothing to report right now.
I will say that some time back I played Super Metroid for the first time, a venture I would have scoffed at in the past as I had serious reservations about engaging with a game that seemed to be about grinding and monotonous repetition. I was absolutely amazed to find that this was not the case. The subtle atmospherics and excellent learning curve really drew me in. Trance like. In fact now I yearn to play the game again on real hardware, which is a pain in the neck since I don't currently own either SNES/SFC or Super Metroid/Everdrive cart.

GregN · Jun 26, 2016

Good to see you posting again Steve. I don't have any that come to mind at the moment.

fenikso · Jun 26, 2016

Timely thread

E.G.G.

I bought this brand new back in the day for about ten bucks, played it about thirty minutes, got bored and never touched it again. I saw recently that it was going for a decent amount online and decided to give it another go to see if I was missing anything.

The writing/localization is godawful, but the game itself is fun in a Zelda meets Metroid sorta way. The graphics are a weird hybrid of 2D art mixed with polygons and pre-rendered sprites. A real hodgepodge of styles. I think that the strange art direction was part of the reason I stopped playing it the first time around.

It's been enjoyable enough that I'm going to try to stick it out, hopefully long enough to complete the game.

Tanooki · Jun 26, 2016

I fairly recently found a (compared to full price) cheap Popeye Game & Watch over the river in Indiana. I always avoided it because I never looked into it thinking it was much like the terrible handheld LCD version. I grabbed it knowing I could flip it and make a few bucks for my time and effort, ended up really enjoying the game. It's a smart fun competitive brawler, and far nastier on Game-B since you can also get speared by a sword fish. Sits on my desk now with batteries in it as a fun desk clock. You have to time pounding Bluto or he knocks you back a space. Each swim he takes, before he goes over spinach appears to help drive him off with a big point bonus (not needed but nice), third time you free Olive and he ends up on a hook which is amusing.

I've got others, but more fun to spread it out.

Alpha Skyhawk · Jun 26, 2016

I recently picked up that huge Genesis set on Steam, and I gave the Genesis version of Virtua Fighter 2 a whirl. It's surprisingly entertaining. I wish I had it before I got my own Saturn and the Saturn version of VF2 in 1999.

goombakid · Jun 26, 2016

Played Jet Set Radio on Steam. Brought back so many memories. Soundtrack is still one of my favorites. Sucks playing from a keyboard, though.

NeoSneth · Jun 26, 2016

fenikso said:
E.G.G.

I bought this brand new back in the day for about ten bucks, played it about thirty minutes, got bored and never touched it again. I saw recently that it was going for a decent amount online and decided to give it another go to see if I was missing anything.

The writing/localization is godawful, but the game itself is fun in a Zelda meets Metroid sorta way. The graphics are a weird hybrid of 2D art mixed with polygons and pre-rendered sprites. A real hodgepodge of styles. I think that the strange art direction was part of the reason I stopped playing it the first time around.

It's been enjoyable enough that I'm going to try to stick it out, hopefully long enough to complete the game.

Dood. fuggin Ditto. This was a lackluster RPG if you compared it to the primitive 3D RPG's of the time, but it's a beautiful hand drawn 2d RPG. One of the last 2d RPG's until the GBA resurrected them.
Picked this up a few weeks ago because it was cheap. It's another one that suffers from MegaMan NES cover art quality that really belies the contents of this game.

neo_mao · Jun 27, 2016

So I finally got around to playing Super Mario Bros.

WTF - Mario is wearing red overalls and a brown shirt??? I thought he was supposed to be in blue overalls and a red shirt. Luigi's colors look all messed up too.

Clearly this game isn't worth my time.

Takumaji · Jun 27, 2016

AFAIK, "retro" refers to something that has been designed to look old/like it was made in a certain time period but actually is new. I think "classic" would be the better choice here.

sparksterz · Jun 27, 2016

Gaplus/Galaga 3.

Never played much of it as I had never seen one in the arcade, but recently picked up a cocktail table and I find it to be pretty fun. Perhaps not as memorable as the original, but the ability to move up and down certainly helps dodge in tight situations. Of course the enemies move faster and more chaos occurs on the screen as a result, but I think it's a fine successor. The bonus stage is a nice change from the original and is a bit less high stress. Have still not managed to spell out the full word "Bonus" on the stage though.

smokehouse · Jun 27, 2016

Steve said:
I really liked the ActRaiser thread and wanted to make something more general. Anytime you play an old video game for the first time and have some thoughts, feel free to share it here.

I finally played Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES). Now, I'm sure I played it briefly back in 1993 as a kid, but it's definitely been over 20 years since I played it. Wow. I have to say I am sorely disappointed. It's not really a beat 'em up. After the first stage it turns into this gimmick of ride this, ride that. Quite frankly, it's not fun at all and is more of an exercise in frustration.

A very disappointing game. I expected more. Does anyone else feel similar to me? The game is just ridiculous in the worst of ways.

On a side note, I fired up Battletoads & Double Dragon (SNES) today, and found that to be disappointing as well. Way too damn hard and cheap. Although at least it's more of a pure beat 'em up than Battlemaniacs, but both games aren't very good IMHO. In fact, I would go as far as to say Battlemaniacs is straight up bad and BT&DD is fair to middling at best.

Heard over the years that the NES version of BT&DD is where it's at, though.

I played the Battletoads games as they came out and to be honest, I wasn't ever really into them. I'm all for a good challenge but sometimes enough is enough. BT is just too damn frustrating for me to enjoy. For the time, the SNES BT was a gorgeous game graphics wise, but it was a one and done for me.

FilthyRear · Jun 27, 2016

neo_moe said:
Luigi's colors look all messed up too.

Best color scheme ever. They never should have changed it.

HeavyMachineGoob · Jun 27, 2016

Steve said:
Heard over the years that the NES version of BT&DD is where it's at, though.

NES BT&DD is a hugely overlooked classic. Everyone who complains that Battletoads 1 is too hard should play BT&DD, it's a lot easier and more like a traditional belt-scrolling beat em up. It was developed by Rareware, so it's still Battletoads, it just features Double Dragon characters. It still has the occasional mix-up in play style, like riding speeder bikes and what not, so it's not completely just Double Dragon with Battletoads graphics.

Tripredacus · Jun 27, 2016

Takumaji said:
AFAIK, "retro" refers to something that has been designed to look old/like it was made in a certain time period but actually is new. I think "classic" would be the better choice here.

Yes, please change the title. Or at least people should post retro games instead of just old games.

Steve · Jun 27, 2016

Tripredacus said:
Yes, please change the title. Or at least people should post retro games instead of just old games.

Done.

Just played Axelay thoroughly. Really enjoyed it although what's up with the game forcing me back to the middle of the screen? Never experienced that before in a SHMUP and it's a bit annoying. I do like how you lose weapons instead of lives though when enemy bullets hit you. Not a big fan of the weapons though. Blue laser one is handy but too many of them felt a bit insignificant.

Died at last boss. Gonna try it again later tonight.

This is the summer where I want to play a lot of the old SNES classics I missed out on or never played thoroughly before.

Steve · Jun 27, 2016

GregN said:
Good to see you posting again Steve. I don't have any that come to mind at the moment.

Heh thanks Greg. I still browse daily but just don't post much these days. Crazy that a lot of the 2001 members (myself included) are now 15 year NG vets. Nuts. I signed up a few months before Senior Prom and six months before 9/11. Can't believe how fast time flies...

WoodyXP · Jun 27, 2016

I played Custer's Revenge last night. Can't believe it took me 30 years to find this gem. The color and detail in the graphics are phenomenal.

FilthyRear · Jun 27, 2016

Startropics.

I rented this when I was a kid and hated it. Tried it again recently and really enjoyed it.

Tastes have definitely changed.

HornheaDD · Jun 27, 2016

FilthyRear said:
Startropics.

I rented this when I was a kid and hated it. Tried it again recently and really enjoyed it.

Tastes have definitely changed.

I beat this (finally) a few months ago. I remember playing it as a kid and really digging it but I never finished it. After beating it, I started Star Tropics 2, but didn't get too far into it before playing something else.

Gentlegamer · Jun 27, 2016

I finally completed Crystalis for NES recently, and it is awesome from start to finish.

The only flaw that comes to mind is how enemies are immune to elements requiring you to constantly switch swords.

Makes me wish SNK had done more games like it, action-adventure/rpg.

The "I finally played [classic game] and here are my thoughts on it" thread

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