blasphemous is the only tradcath media that doesn’t entirely suck
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Really been trying to eloquently word a longer post/thread along these lines. That after fighting with “why is my hobby the dumbest thing on earth” for 20 years, now with my extremely limited free time: Video Games.
Which is to say movies, reading, youtube. None do as much for my mental health as playing some stupid video game for 2 hours before sleep.
The act of play…is good. I needed to stop looking at the particular pieces and look at the action. It fixes my brain for the next day.
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Yakuza 3 showing kiryu as a responsible parent is fucking me up because I know he just abandons all these kids by the next game (and the next and the next and the next.) Come on kiryu.
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been playing with my recently-received 32X and can say that while it hasn’t been a complete and total revelation it also has not been the worst-case scenario wherein i hate every game and it really is just that bad.
i think what mostly strikes me about the…expansion? console? add on?..is that i can feel its untapped potential just oozing out of different aspects of each game. in that sense, it reminds me of the Virtual Boy, which was the other soon-to-be-failed thing i asked for on my birthday instead of a 32X when i was a kid.
Virtua Racing Deluxe - it’s definitely an upgrade over the Genesis version, but the fact that the track is built in front of you as you race in first-person mode means that first-person mode is not particularly functional. this isn’t a 60FPS experience, but i think for the time, it was definitely the best-feeling VR you’d be able to get. having the options for stock or prototype cars is also a fun addition. a trend with some of these 32X games is they feel like the ultimate Genesis-style home conversion, and that’s basically what this game is. worth playing for novelty or if you just like the feeling of Genesis home ports.
Virtua Fighter - i think this plays better than VRD, overall, and if you don’t mind things being not as smooth (literally and figuratively) as the arcade version, then this one stacks up well. characters look like lifeless marionettes when they get knocked out, which adds an “it” factor. if the apocalypse happens and the only version of Virtua Fighter you can get running is this one, it would honestly be fine - frankly, you’d be grateful. also you can play as Dural.
Darxide - i feel like every console generation there is always someone/some team that decides they want to remake asteroids. this is what Darxide is, but with the addition of 3D graphics. you can fly in third or first person perspectives and everything handles surprisingly well. again, not a 60FPS experience, but it runs smoothly enough to feel good - at least as good as Star Fox, but probably a little better. i was honestly kind of surprised by how much fun i had with this one.
Knuckles Chaotix - such a mystifying game. it’s so unfinished and yet it feels like it contains endless universes inside of it. it’s like if the SaGa team decided to make a Sonic the Hedgehog game. the colors really pop and have great contrast, and i love that each zone has different times of day to experience it with. forcing you to play a crane game to get your second character in between ever level is an extremely strange choice and i honestly don’t get what they were thinking. like i’m happy they left it in and the game would not be as weird without it, but it’s still kind of perplexing. i think if this one had more time in the oven and maybe more love, we’d look at it as one of the best 16(32?)-bit Sonic games ever made. the music is some great FM synth lounge stuff - nothing is as in your face as other Sonics, but it doesn’t have to be. i mean why get psyched up when the enemies are mostly just chillin??
Star Wars Arcade - this feels like the killer app of the system. i’d never played this before because i thought if you’ve played one Star Wars Arcade, you’d played them all. not so - this one adds so much to the original, it’s what we’d call a full-fledged remake or remaster today, i guess. if you prefer silky-smooth vector graphics to raster (i mean…who doesn’t?) then you will still prefer the actual Arcade version, but in terms of added modes, added ships, new dialogue, cut scenes, etc., they really went all out for this one.
Cosmic Carnage - one of the other trends with 32X games is that they’re often pretty weird. when i say “weird,” what i mean is that you see ideas that no one else would bother trying, which maybe is indicative of which developers Sega was able to scrounge up for this thing. anyway, it’s an alien fighting game, but in addition to choosing an alien, you also choose head, body and leg armor which drastically alters their appearances and even aspects of their moveset. it’s better than Eternal Champions, and it plays better than you’d think it would. i probably could have had fun with this as a kid during the fighting game boom, but now it mostly retains interest for me through sheer novelty. i like playing as silver Dr. Manhattan.
Tempo - eh. i dunno. it’s a Japanese platformer but it plays like a European or American one, if you know what i mean. it’s not really my thing, but i might give it a bit more time just to see if something really sticks out to me. the animation and colors are amazing, obviously, and the little rap-song on the title screen is borderline endearing.
R.B.I. Baseball 95 - i feel like R.B.I. Baseballs with a year instead of a sequential number are rare, so that drew me to this. it’s definitely just a very-nice-looking game in the series, so if you enjoy the NES games, then just imagine one with very-smoothly-animated pixel graphics. i don’t think i’ll ever have the patience to play a full round, but the 3 innings i played through were fun.
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure - garbage. the original wasn’t very good and this one is worse, somehow.
Blackthorne - i never gave this game a shot and i’m happy i waited for the 32X version, because it rules. it really does feel like a 90s Blizzard game, despite having no genre resemblance to the games they became famous for or the ones i played on my own PC. the game uses a password system, and you receive passwords every half a dozen or so screens, which really gives the game a unique feel, as though a search action game had been given individual levels to wander through. Demons of Asteborg does something similar, but instead of medieval sword fighting, we have uh…bad-ass 90s biker guy with a shotgun.
Primal Rage - awful, just awful. maybe it’s better than the other home ports, i can’t remember. PR is one of those games i remember enjoying as a kid in the arcade that i now just cannot see any value in. it offers nothing to a modern player that can’t be garnered by just looking at screenshots.
Mortal Kombat II - i expected a lot from this one and maybe expected too much. i would say this one would be the definitive 90s home port of the game, but the sound mixing is horrible and all the sound effects and shouts are way too loud, which makes playing this one around other people super embarrassing if they can’t find the humor in it.
Spider-Man: Web of Fire - the single-most expensive 32X game out there right now. you can pick up a cartridge by itself for $800 right now on eBay, or if you want a box and manual, you can get it for $2,000. if you’re an idiot who likes a box of plastic and a grade on the outside of your CIB game, you can pay $20,000 for it. i at first thought this was going to be a bad FMV game, but as it turns out, it’s an action platformer. the backgrounds are pretty neat and intriguing (skies filled with lasers) for a Spider-Man game, and the web swinging and slinging and punching all feels competent. the music is hilarious - they really go for that “metal scraping against metal” effect that the Genesis soundchip was capable of producing. they use it as the lead instrument, at least, in the first few stages, so i can’t say if it improves later on. anyway, the game is actually pretty good for a Marvel game from the 90s - maybe on the same level as X-Men 2 on the Genesis or something like that. i sort of doubt this one will hold my interest long enough for me to keep playing it past stage 1-2, but stranger things have happened. the game is honestly better than i could have expected, but it’s still pretty mediocre.
Brutal: Above the Claw - every version of Brutal i have ever played is one of the worst experiences of my game-playing life, and this version is no different. who kept giving these people money to keep making this game over and over? well, in this case, Sega did. if the 32X had received ports of Pit Fighter and some of those digitized 3DO fighters, it truly could have been the kingdom of mediocre 90s fighters. that said, i can’t stop thinking about how good Samurai Shodown would have been on this thing.
Golf Magazine: 36 Great Holes Starring Fred Couples - i love great holes, and 36 is more than i could have asked for, frankly. it’s a solid golf game with some varied course landscapes. Fred Couples was right - these holes really are great. thanks, Fred.
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition - good. plays like a better version of the Genesis game, but it’s still a 90s home port of NBA Jam, which means it’s not as good as the arcade.
Kolibri - this game is FUN. i can’t say that every game i’ve enjoyed and played is fun, but Kolibri is. it starts off feeling like Echo the Dolphin, but then immediately becomes like a beautiful humming bird pointillism Fantasy Zone. even my fiancée, when she saw me playing this, said “doesn’t this look too good for this thing? why does it look this good?” i agreed, and a single tear fell down my cheek.
edit:
oops, i forgot to talk about the bonafied genuine copy of Doom i received with my 32X.
Doom - Doom is Doom, but this one is a little slow. if you can tolerate the game on SNES, you might be able to swing it here. HOWEVER
some good samaritans made a hack of this Doom that improves it in every way, including framerate and speed issues. so mostly, your enjoyment of this port will come down to how depraved and beautiful it feels to you to play Doom on a Genesis controller
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What character(s)? have you been playing?
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Zetterburn in base cast, Gawr Gura in workshop
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Yeah I liked Zetterburn. Plays a lot like PM wolf. I did not play the game when it had a big modding scene. Looks wild.
I was a Kragg player because I really like his rock.
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it sounds like you’re unaware that 32x star wars arcade is a port of sega’s 1993 game that ran on model 1, not atari’s 1983 game
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oh! you’re right! not unaware, just more like “completely forgot that was a thing”
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection (PS4)
Emulation seems solid, up to Digital Eclipse’s usual. Being able to remove NES slowdown and flicker is good.
The extensive gallery (“Turtles’ Lair”) is nice, as is having the Japanese versions of the games.
Leonardo’s attacks cause him to do a really annoying neutral jump in the original TMNT arcade version–that was wisely removed in the SNES version.
SNES Tournament Fighters does feel like an actual fighting game, but also kinda slow and punishing. For my actual play of it I’ll have to mess with the speed and difficulty options.
Credit limits in the console versions… The collection’s “Extra Lives” enhancement says it gives you up to 10 credits in the games’ option menus…but I didn’t see that option appear in SNES Tournament Fighters when I turned the enhancement on.
The Anime/Comic color option (“Comic” is slightly less bright colors) in some of the SNES/GEN games is kinda funny.
GEN Tournament Fighters feels real bad. Real bad. Feels like Eternal Champions, which is NOT GOOD. = o The NES Tournament Fighters feels (and kinda looks) a lot better. (The NES one did come out a while later than the other two, curiously enough; think I read it was the last Konami NES game.)
The first NES game (platformer) really blows. : P Well, just not my thing. I’m not into most platformers, I suppose. The two NES beat-em-ups seem really good though. The first hallway is DEFINITELY longer in the NES version of the arcade game! ; D
First GB game feels good, second and third look and feel progressively worse. = o
Gripes:
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Can’t remap the R1 (pause menu) and L1 (rewind) buttons; this is a huge no-no, especially for FIGHTING GAMES where you might want to be able to set attacks on any of the EIGHT FACE BUTTONS on your ARCADE STICK. Sheesh! Hopefully they’ll fix this in an update…but probably not. Argh.
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No in-game most lists for two of the three fighting games (the SNES one has pause menu access to an old strategy guide showing the moves).
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I think that first Game Boy game, Fall of the Foot Clan, is almost a best-case scenario for an incredibly early and simple beat-em-up. Dead-easy, but just a little bit of platforming and outstanding sound design really makes it pleasant. That crunchy mechanical sound for each kill plays so nicely against the music.
It’s basically the Game Boy’s Altered Beast, huh?
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I think it was the first game I ever finished, definitely one of the first few
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I started FFVIII and the junction system is scratching my ‘bucking trends’ itch whilst also being despicably hat on a hat. Liking it so far but you bet I’m turning that gunblade thing to Auto. Renzokukens be damned.
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I would agree except that I don’t think I’ve liked any version of Altered Beast. = o
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I’m playing Resident Evil Village and they keep injuring Ethan’s hands because I assume that is the most horrifying thing they can do with the first person perspective. I am currently at the castle.
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Playing Banished again. There’s something incredibly relaxing about planting neat rows of wheat fields and arranging little groups of stone houses for your villagers. Might dip into the mods this time around.
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Prince of Persia was tuffffff. Had yet to reckon with the implications of the time limit when I first posted !!! but here’s the kind of action puzzle platforming gauntlet I don’t mind speed running over and over (cuz in terms of scope it’s still pretty short) learning what potions I wanted to skip and when to blow past certain guys instead of fencing (and getting down the rhythm of each engagement in order to flip positions with them - put away my sword - and run!) Jaffar went down pretty easy. idk that I can explain in words what my fingers knew by that point, parrying his thrusts with a twirl of the sword and striking aggressively in rhythmic succession til he went down…it sure looked convincing. A+ game. Contemplated continuing my A+ game streak in a similar vein with ICO or what I assume will be an A+ game, Out of this World, but…
I became mentally blocked by A+ness, and a little depressed the past few days and idk how exactly but I’m sure that contributed to firing up Jet Force Gemini but I’m into it. Beat it back in the day and gotta say, the controls still work for me (I have the “modernised” Rare Replay version but I’m sticking with N64 (<> C Buttons to strafe, ^ C Button to Jump, Analog stick to aim and Z Trigger to fire) the characters are Good Slippery so you can glide 'em through the (mostly) big open levels in these satisfyingly zippy arcs while splatting bugs (with solid aim assist) and doing so in over the shoulder “scope” mode (now add holding R Trigger into the button juggling mix) is even more exciting, feels like an off rails runaway Sin & Punishment at times. Aiming grenade tosses kinda blows though or else I need more practice.
Really don’t remember how intricate the enemy formations get later on but I hope they get creative (while also not getting too punishing with the footwork demanded by level design at the same time (the area where a cluster of flying enemies drops in while I’m on some rather thin walkways over lava has me a little worried, I wanna slip and zip around the place!) but mostly yeah this game’s a blast. So far. I know about the Tribals. Trying to collect as many on the first run of each level as possible but there’s some DK64 character-swapping backtracking bullshit of course (with unskippable cutscenes >_<) Rareware as hell (while the art design doesn’t quite grab me, very impressively technically, long draw distances, low framerates of course but in a wonderfully woozy kinda way and look at those colours in the Tribals gif, some nice colours…and reflections!) and as long as I’m vibing with this, you better believe I’m gonna try and collect 300 ant heads to unlock Mr. Pants Mode (which was part of the reason why I was thinking about this game, toying with the idea of writing about rareware.com circa 97-2002 and the metaverse they (mostly Leigh Loveday) created there and how the Your Sinclair-style interactions with fans created this avuncular British cult of whimsical passive aggressiveness that has all but dissolved into the ether and yet still wafts like the ghost of a whiff through the internet every now and then and idk if “the kids” these days even know about the furnace of utter foolishness in which the diehard Rare Fandom was forged or if anyone should even care? probably not. but it might be fun to try and trick people into thinking: maybe!)
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dissolved into the ether nothing
we were blessed with a Mr. Pants game
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they didn’t even put him on Rare Replay tho : (
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I am rolling around at present with a Viking, White Mage, Ranger, and Black Belt —and ho-boy!-- this is a lot of fun. Curious if I will ever replace white mage with a healer of another kind, it’s by far the highest level job across my entire party now.
I just killed Goldord.
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