i definitely played r-type 3 at some point because "lava maze" gave me a vague ptsd feeling but i am certain i never beat it and i know i was playing it on an emulator with save states
(tbf shmup difficulty isn't really my jam to throw myself against in the first place)
SNES Favorite 75
Re: SNES Favorite 75
40. Knights of the Round
It's weird to me that you can just tack on an exp/leveling system to a beat 'em up and suddenly I'll like it more.
Knights of the Round is, as the name implies, a game about Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Well, specifically, Lancelot and Percival. It's a port of an arcade game released in 1991 by Capcom. that should tell you what you need to know about the quality of the gameplay. Capcom was then at the top of their game.
Knights is a bit more than just Finalfight with a leveling system smushed into it. There's a bit more depth to the gameplay due to the addition of a "block" action each of the three playable characters is given. Time your blocks right and you'll become briefly invulnerable and force an opening in your opponent. This is actually crucial against certain bosses. The whole system is actually sort of like a Dark Souls dodge roll, time your blocks right and you'll get to deal damage without taking any in return, mistime them and suffer. It's a nice tactical addition to a formulaic gameplay loop.
As far as the three Knights go, Lancelot is the fast but weak one, Percival is the strong but slow one, and Arthur is somewhere in the middle. As you play you'll get exp from kills and treasure, causing you to power up your stats and change appearance. Arthur begins the game in leather armor and ends it in golden, shining plate. Lancelot beefs up until he becomes such a long haired prettyboy that you will start calling yourself Guinevere. Percival refuses to put on a shirt no matter how much he levels.
The enemies range from Bird Man to Tall Man. Who can forget Tall Man? I still talk about Tall Man.
Do I recommend this game:
It's a fun afternoon, especially if you play with a friend in 2p co-op. There's nothing, like, special about this game, but it's a solid entry in a genre that used to command respect and is now relegated to the same bin as Adventure Games. You know, that bin where every once in a while a developer will take a crack at making a new one and every nerd our age gets excited.
It's weird to me that you can just tack on an exp/leveling system to a beat 'em up and suddenly I'll like it more.
Knights of the Round is, as the name implies, a game about Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Well, specifically, Lancelot and Percival. It's a port of an arcade game released in 1991 by Capcom. that should tell you what you need to know about the quality of the gameplay. Capcom was then at the top of their game.
Knights is a bit more than just Finalfight with a leveling system smushed into it. There's a bit more depth to the gameplay due to the addition of a "block" action each of the three playable characters is given. Time your blocks right and you'll become briefly invulnerable and force an opening in your opponent. This is actually crucial against certain bosses. The whole system is actually sort of like a Dark Souls dodge roll, time your blocks right and you'll get to deal damage without taking any in return, mistime them and suffer. It's a nice tactical addition to a formulaic gameplay loop.
As far as the three Knights go, Lancelot is the fast but weak one, Percival is the strong but slow one, and Arthur is somewhere in the middle. As you play you'll get exp from kills and treasure, causing you to power up your stats and change appearance. Arthur begins the game in leather armor and ends it in golden, shining plate. Lancelot beefs up until he becomes such a long haired prettyboy that you will start calling yourself Guinevere. Percival refuses to put on a shirt no matter how much he levels.
The enemies range from Bird Man to Tall Man. Who can forget Tall Man? I still talk about Tall Man.
Do I recommend this game:
It's a fun afternoon, especially if you play with a friend in 2p co-op. There's nothing, like, special about this game, but it's a solid entry in a genre that used to command respect and is now relegated to the same bin as Adventure Games. You know, that bin where every once in a while a developer will take a crack at making a new one and every nerd our age gets excited.
Re: SNES Favorite 75
39. X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse
As far as I'm concerned, this is the only game where you can play as Wolverine and stab a guy right in the chest until he dies while also playing as Psylocke and pause the game right as she does her sweep.
Best described as a "2D beat em up", this is a surprisingly tough game that allows you to play as five of our favorite 90s era X-Men: Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, Gambit, and Psylocke's thighs. So you've got all your bases covered as far as sexual interest goes: Boring, Bad Boy, Furry, Fuckboi, and Everything Wrong With How Comic Books Depict Women.
Each character is given an intro stage for you to play through, then, after completing all five, you are allowed to pick your character for each stage from then on. The levels are designed so each character can get through them, but certain characters have advantages based on the stage design. Beast can cling to and walk on ceilings, Cyclops has brute power with his eyebeam, Wolverine can climb up walls with his claws and is fast and powerful, Gambit sucks and Psylocke sucks even worse. I usually never play either character again after completing their intro levels.
The enemies range from "standard mook" to Sentinel to Cameo X-Men bad guy, culminating in a battle against Apocalypse himself. Except whoops, actually the REAL villain was Magneto?!?!
Sorry, spoilers. The real villain was pointing your ass and tits at the camera at the same time until your back breaks.
All jokes aside, this is a pretty great little game. It's tough but not impossible and it's always fun to blow up robots as your favorite mutant.
Do I recommend this game:
A time capsule back to the 90s era of X-Men that isn't the TV show. If you've always wanted to throw exploding playing cards at a giant robot, this is your game.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the only game where you can play as Wolverine and stab a guy right in the chest until he dies while also playing as Psylocke and pause the game right as she does her sweep.
Best described as a "2D beat em up", this is a surprisingly tough game that allows you to play as five of our favorite 90s era X-Men: Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, Gambit, and Psylocke's thighs. So you've got all your bases covered as far as sexual interest goes: Boring, Bad Boy, Furry, Fuckboi, and Everything Wrong With How Comic Books Depict Women.
Each character is given an intro stage for you to play through, then, after completing all five, you are allowed to pick your character for each stage from then on. The levels are designed so each character can get through them, but certain characters have advantages based on the stage design. Beast can cling to and walk on ceilings, Cyclops has brute power with his eyebeam, Wolverine can climb up walls with his claws and is fast and powerful, Gambit sucks and Psylocke sucks even worse. I usually never play either character again after completing their intro levels.
The enemies range from "standard mook" to Sentinel to Cameo X-Men bad guy, culminating in a battle against Apocalypse himself. Except whoops, actually the REAL villain was Magneto?!?!
Sorry, spoilers. The real villain was pointing your ass and tits at the camera at the same time until your back breaks.
All jokes aside, this is a pretty great little game. It's tough but not impossible and it's always fun to blow up robots as your favorite mutant.
Do I recommend this game:
A time capsule back to the 90s era of X-Men that isn't the TV show. If you've always wanted to throw exploding playing cards at a giant robot, this is your game.
Re: SNES Favorite 75
Friday wrote:
Wow that is straight-up the X-Men #1 cover.
I sure hope Jim Lee got a royalty cheAHHHHAHAHAHAHA I'm just kidding. Marvel, pay an artist for reusing his work? I kill me.
Re: SNES Favorite 75
Thad, if Marvel had to pay all its artists then we wouldn't have as much quality Marvel comics and then my spice addiction would be in danger
Re: SNES Favorite 75
pisa katto
pisa katto
pisa katto
Re: SNES Favorite 75
Friday wrote:Thad, if Marvel had to pay all its artists then we wouldn't have as much quality Marvel comics and then my spice addiction would be in danger
At least Jim Lee doesn't need the money*. But, y'know, it's not like Marvel only stiffs people who can afford it.
* Jim Lee may legitimately be the most financially-successful artist in the history of American comics. Like, without looking it up, I figure it's probably either him or Peter Laird, right? Assuming we're limiting it to comic books. If we include newspaper strips it's obviously Jim Davis.
Re: SNES Favorite 75
Welp, only ten games left to talk about. Weird, I know, since the next game is number 38, which means the list ends at 29. But it turns out that 28 SNES games made it onto my top 100 all time videogame list, so I've already talked about them!
So that means that the remaining games on this list are sort of the top ten of the rejects!
Which means they're all great games! They just had to be cut. Gotta make room somehow!
Alright, lets get into the final stretch.
38. TMNT: Turtles in Time
This is it, folks. The cream of the Turtle Crop. Shredder, eat your heart out, because this is the best TMNT game ever made.
Okay, okay. I haven't played Shredder's Revenge yet. Someone who has (and has played Turtles in Time) can weigh in on which is the superior beat 'em up specimen. But that shit ain't SNES anyway. TiT (hee hee) is 100% for sure the best Turtles game of the era.
What is there to say? TiT takes everything good about TMNT 2 and cranks it up to 11. Each turtle has different strengths and weaknesses, and while I'm sure there's a best Turtle for speedrunning or whatever, in casual play they all seemed fairly balanced. The stages are fun and varied. The bosses are great. It's bright, colorful and in your face. Mechanically, it might be the best Beat 'em up on the SNES. I like Finalfight more, but even I have to admit that it's a bit outdated compared to TiT.
Krang, Giant Krang, Shredder, Baxter, Pirate Bebop and Pirate Rocksteady, they're all here and they want to turn you into Soup. It's up to your to timehop your way to victory. The controls are vice-tight and the sound design is crisp and sharp. TiT delivers on all fronts.
Do I recommend this game:
Easy yes. It's a pick up and play masterpiece. Has a co-op mode so you can play with your friends or your kid. Pizza Time has never been so fun.
So that means that the remaining games on this list are sort of the top ten of the rejects!
Which means they're all great games! They just had to be cut. Gotta make room somehow!
Alright, lets get into the final stretch.
38. TMNT: Turtles in Time
This is it, folks. The cream of the Turtle Crop. Shredder, eat your heart out, because this is the best TMNT game ever made.
Okay, okay. I haven't played Shredder's Revenge yet. Someone who has (and has played Turtles in Time) can weigh in on which is the superior beat 'em up specimen. But that shit ain't SNES anyway. TiT (hee hee) is 100% for sure the best Turtles game of the era.
What is there to say? TiT takes everything good about TMNT 2 and cranks it up to 11. Each turtle has different strengths and weaknesses, and while I'm sure there's a best Turtle for speedrunning or whatever, in casual play they all seemed fairly balanced. The stages are fun and varied. The bosses are great. It's bright, colorful and in your face. Mechanically, it might be the best Beat 'em up on the SNES. I like Finalfight more, but even I have to admit that it's a bit outdated compared to TiT.
Krang, Giant Krang, Shredder, Baxter, Pirate Bebop and Pirate Rocksteady, they're all here and they want to turn you into Soup. It's up to your to timehop your way to victory. The controls are vice-tight and the sound design is crisp and sharp. TiT delivers on all fronts.
Do I recommend this game:
Easy yes. It's a pick up and play masterpiece. Has a co-op mode so you can play with your friends or your kid. Pizza Time has never been so fun.
Re: SNES Favorite 75
37. Donkey Kong Country
DKC is a very special game. And no, I don't mean because of the revolutionary graphics. Though I don't mean not because of them either.
Every single track in this game absolutely slaps like you could not believe. I could have picked any of them for the above video, I picked the one that probably was the most exceptional in terms of how different it is compared to most video game music. David Wise is a goddamn legend.
Some people like to pick on DKC nowadays, pointing out the flaws. Mostly they talk about the sometimes unfair difficulty. They talk about enemies appearing on the screen and slamming into you faster than you can react, they talk about the minecart levels, they talk about Blackout Basement, they talk about Snow Barrel Blast.
(Okay, I'll give them that last one.)
And yeah, I get it. DKC isn't perfect. I don't care. I react to criticism of DKC the same way I react to criticism of RDR2, or Elden Ring, or Bloodborne, or Final Fantasy Tactics. When you aim that high, when you aim for art, I don't really give a shit that it's annoying that such and such boss is too hard or this weapon is bad or this weapon is too good or it's annoying to have to feed your horse all the time. I'm not saying that your critique is wrong or invalid, and in fact I basically agree with like 95% of them. I just. Don't care. I choose to experience the arc of the shot that the developer fired. I want to walk that arc as it rises to it's highest point and then follow it down to the end. You can nitpick the time travel mechanics in Back to the Future as plot holes if you want, and you'd be right, but you'd still be missing the point and the fun and the experience of those movies.
Turtles in Time, the previous entry, is a great video game. And I mean, it's art too. But it's not on the same level as DKC. DKC has a soul. It's got tone, and atmosphere. It's got mood music. It's got that god damn fucking monkey that endlessly throw barrels at you.
And all of that is not to say that DKC isn't a great game, because it is. The platforming is fun and inventive, if a little on the "Rareware" side of difficulty. Each stage has a fresh and new gimmick. Not all of them work 100%, but it keeps things interesting. There's a billion secrets to uncover if you want to 101% the game. Cranky Kong is the OG gamer who I have to consciously fight against turning into every year as I get older.
Riding Rambi around is rad. Riding En Guarde around is rad. The frog is okay, I guess. And there's an ostrich also for some reason.
As you progress through Donkey Kong's island paradise, you gradually find yourself in more and more hostile environments until you arrive at the grimy, run down and oil-soaked industrial wasteland of Kremlin Industries. And I cannot for one second bring myself to believe that this wasn't an intentional anti-corporate message. The juxtaposition of how beautiful the jungles and snowy mountains are compared to the intentionally ugly as fuck industrial area cannot be an accident. The boss of the zone? A fucking barrel of oil. The ultimate symbol of greed, capitalistic horror, and decay.
You think I'm shitting you? That it's too obvious to be an intentional message and this is just a fun game about monkeys jumping on crocodiles? Well, guess what buddy:
Do I recommend this game:
Absolutely. It's a classic of the era.
DKC is a very special game. And no, I don't mean because of the revolutionary graphics. Though I don't mean not because of them either.
Every single track in this game absolutely slaps like you could not believe. I could have picked any of them for the above video, I picked the one that probably was the most exceptional in terms of how different it is compared to most video game music. David Wise is a goddamn legend.
Some people like to pick on DKC nowadays, pointing out the flaws. Mostly they talk about the sometimes unfair difficulty. They talk about enemies appearing on the screen and slamming into you faster than you can react, they talk about the minecart levels, they talk about Blackout Basement, they talk about Snow Barrel Blast.
(Okay, I'll give them that last one.)
And yeah, I get it. DKC isn't perfect. I don't care. I react to criticism of DKC the same way I react to criticism of RDR2, or Elden Ring, or Bloodborne, or Final Fantasy Tactics. When you aim that high, when you aim for art, I don't really give a shit that it's annoying that such and such boss is too hard or this weapon is bad or this weapon is too good or it's annoying to have to feed your horse all the time. I'm not saying that your critique is wrong or invalid, and in fact I basically agree with like 95% of them. I just. Don't care. I choose to experience the arc of the shot that the developer fired. I want to walk that arc as it rises to it's highest point and then follow it down to the end. You can nitpick the time travel mechanics in Back to the Future as plot holes if you want, and you'd be right, but you'd still be missing the point and the fun and the experience of those movies.
Turtles in Time, the previous entry, is a great video game. And I mean, it's art too. But it's not on the same level as DKC. DKC has a soul. It's got tone, and atmosphere. It's got mood music. It's got that god damn fucking monkey that endlessly throw barrels at you.
And all of that is not to say that DKC isn't a great game, because it is. The platforming is fun and inventive, if a little on the "Rareware" side of difficulty. Each stage has a fresh and new gimmick. Not all of them work 100%, but it keeps things interesting. There's a billion secrets to uncover if you want to 101% the game. Cranky Kong is the OG gamer who I have to consciously fight against turning into every year as I get older.
Riding Rambi around is rad. Riding En Guarde around is rad. The frog is okay, I guess. And there's an ostrich also for some reason.
As you progress through Donkey Kong's island paradise, you gradually find yourself in more and more hostile environments until you arrive at the grimy, run down and oil-soaked industrial wasteland of Kremlin Industries. And I cannot for one second bring myself to believe that this wasn't an intentional anti-corporate message. The juxtaposition of how beautiful the jungles and snowy mountains are compared to the intentionally ugly as fuck industrial area cannot be an accident. The boss of the zone? A fucking barrel of oil. The ultimate symbol of greed, capitalistic horror, and decay.
You think I'm shitting you? That it's too obvious to be an intentional message and this is just a fun game about monkeys jumping on crocodiles? Well, guess what buddy:
Do I recommend this game:
Absolutely. It's a classic of the era.
Re: SNES Favorite 75
I was remembering Knights of the Round kicked ass and then I realized I don't think I've ever played Knights of the Round and was instead thinking of The King of Dragons. If I had a nickle for every fantasy beat-em-up on the SNES with a level up system made by Capcom, etc etc.
Friday wrote:38. TMNT: Turtles in Time
-
nosimpleway
- Posts: 4662
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:31 pm
Re: SNES Favorite 75
I am largely indifferent to beat-em-ups and missed Turtles in Time when it was new, but I know that Shredder's Revenge has you rampaging through the city streets in the second level and they very wisely named that level "Big Apple: 3 P.M."
So I'm absolutely certain that the devteam for SR gets it.
So I'm absolutely certain that the devteam for SR gets it.
Re: SNES Favorite 75
I haven't sunk nearly as many hours into Shredder's Revenge as Turtles in Time, but it's got a wonderful, varied set of stages, it's stuffed to the brim with fan service but in, like, a way that makes for clever and creative design choices rather than just Memberberries. Like, one stage is a mall and it ends in an arcade and you fight Tempestra and she summons Tokka and Rahzar.
It's also got the original 4 TMNT VAs (though, disappointingly, not the original Splinter or April) and you can play as Casey Jones. I've never gotten 6 people together in my living room to play but I've gotten up to 4 plus two Internet randos, and the 6-player mode is exactly the glorious chaos you'd expect.
On a related note: TMNT 3 for the NES is underrated. It's one of those late-in-the-console-lifecycle games that nobody played and if they did they probably weren't impressed by its technical wizardry because the next gen was already out. I only played it once on release, rented it and beat it over a weekend, and only recently tried it again on the Cowabunga Collection, but it's really good. Konami at a time when they'd really mastered NES development; the graphics and animations are extremely impressive for the hardware and in particular I love the variety of Looney Tunes-style animations where you get burned, frozen, crushed, flattened, etc. by various weapons and obstacles. It's the TMNT 2 engine reused for an original game that's a better fit for the hardware, and they did a really stellar job with it.
(Haven't replayed Hyperstone Heist yet. Rented that one a few times; never could beat the sucker on Hard. That one's the Genesis answer to Turtles in Time; it reuses the graphics, mechanics, and some of the locations and bosses but it's an original game. IIRC it's pretty good too; no Turtles in Time but a decent enough game in its own right.)
It's also got the original 4 TMNT VAs (though, disappointingly, not the original Splinter or April) and you can play as Casey Jones. I've never gotten 6 people together in my living room to play but I've gotten up to 4 plus two Internet randos, and the 6-player mode is exactly the glorious chaos you'd expect.
On a related note: TMNT 3 for the NES is underrated. It's one of those late-in-the-console-lifecycle games that nobody played and if they did they probably weren't impressed by its technical wizardry because the next gen was already out. I only played it once on release, rented it and beat it over a weekend, and only recently tried it again on the Cowabunga Collection, but it's really good. Konami at a time when they'd really mastered NES development; the graphics and animations are extremely impressive for the hardware and in particular I love the variety of Looney Tunes-style animations where you get burned, frozen, crushed, flattened, etc. by various weapons and obstacles. It's the TMNT 2 engine reused for an original game that's a better fit for the hardware, and they did a really stellar job with it.
(Haven't replayed Hyperstone Heist yet. Rented that one a few times; never could beat the sucker on Hard. That one's the Genesis answer to Turtles in Time; it reuses the graphics, mechanics, and some of the locations and bosses but it's an original game. IIRC it's pretty good too; no Turtles in Time but a decent enough game in its own right.)
Re: SNES Favorite 75
36. Dragon Quest 6
Often overlooked even by DQ fans, which is a shame. I can understand it though, it's the one that's the least, uh, distinctive.
You've got DQ1, which literally revolutionized and canonized JRPGs are we know them. Then DQ2 adds in multiple party members. Then DQ3 adds a buildable party and is just flat out one of the best RPGs ever made, certainly for its time. Then DQ4 comes along and is more story focused, with the innovative and fresh chapter system. Then DQ5... well, we'll get to 5. Then DQ7 comes along and is this absolute beast of a game with a combatless opener and a unique structure, and DQ8 comes along and is one of the best RPGs ever made, and etc etc.
Sitting in the middle of that is DQ6, doing really nothing new.
Which isn't to say it's bad! It's actually really good!
It's a little unfair to say it does nothing new. It does have a nice slow burn story reveal, with a twist. There's a "real" world and a "dream" world and you can swap between them. Meeting your dream self (or is it your real self?) is a recurring event. Sometimes it can lead to funny outcomes. Early on in the game, you're sent to a bustling trade town full of traders to pick up some shit for your festival. Much, much later in the game, you stumble into a slum where all the people who lived in that successful commercial hub scratch out a living. The people in the slum are the real ones, and they dream simply of having a normal life with money. Man, I know that feel.
There is, perhaps unfortunately, not a whole lot more to say about DQ6. It's quietly competent, and that's why it tends to slip under the radar for most RPG fans. It's a much better game than 7th Saga, but 7th Saga is weird and stands out due to its difficulty and weirdness. DQ6 is solid. It's dependable. It's not overly hard nor easy. The characters are mostly boring but not awful. The overall plot is somewhat interesting, but only somewhat. You get the idea.
Do I recommend this game:
As usual when recommending DQ games, I basically feel like everyone who would like the game has already played it. DQ games require grinding (to one degree or another) and that is a big turn off to a lot of people. So, if you're a DQ fan but have never got around to playing 6, then yeah, give it a shot. Otherwise, you probably want to stick with your modern RPGs or whatever you're into.
Often overlooked even by DQ fans, which is a shame. I can understand it though, it's the one that's the least, uh, distinctive.
You've got DQ1, which literally revolutionized and canonized JRPGs are we know them. Then DQ2 adds in multiple party members. Then DQ3 adds a buildable party and is just flat out one of the best RPGs ever made, certainly for its time. Then DQ4 comes along and is more story focused, with the innovative and fresh chapter system. Then DQ5... well, we'll get to 5. Then DQ7 comes along and is this absolute beast of a game with a combatless opener and a unique structure, and DQ8 comes along and is one of the best RPGs ever made, and etc etc.
Sitting in the middle of that is DQ6, doing really nothing new.
Which isn't to say it's bad! It's actually really good!
It's a little unfair to say it does nothing new. It does have a nice slow burn story reveal, with a twist. There's a "real" world and a "dream" world and you can swap between them. Meeting your dream self (or is it your real self?) is a recurring event. Sometimes it can lead to funny outcomes. Early on in the game, you're sent to a bustling trade town full of traders to pick up some shit for your festival. Much, much later in the game, you stumble into a slum where all the people who lived in that successful commercial hub scratch out a living. The people in the slum are the real ones, and they dream simply of having a normal life with money. Man, I know that feel.
There is, perhaps unfortunately, not a whole lot more to say about DQ6. It's quietly competent, and that's why it tends to slip under the radar for most RPG fans. It's a much better game than 7th Saga, but 7th Saga is weird and stands out due to its difficulty and weirdness. DQ6 is solid. It's dependable. It's not overly hard nor easy. The characters are mostly boring but not awful. The overall plot is somewhat interesting, but only somewhat. You get the idea.
Do I recommend this game:
As usual when recommending DQ games, I basically feel like everyone who would like the game has already played it. DQ games require grinding (to one degree or another) and that is a big turn off to a lot of people. So, if you're a DQ fan but have never got around to playing 6, then yeah, give it a shot. Otherwise, you probably want to stick with your modern RPGs or whatever you're into.
-
nosimpleway
- Posts: 4662
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:31 pm
Re: SNES Favorite 75
Friday wrote:36. Dragon Quest 6
I just played this for the first time a little while back. Impressions are in the Whatcha Playin' thread if anyone wants to trawl back and read those, but mostly:
When you boot the game, the introductory cutscene has the hero Gohan and two other PCs, Android 18 and a guy who probably looks like somebody out of Dragon Ball but I don't know who. You're on a cliffside hyping yourself up to take on the Fiendlord. You walk up to a precipice, and Android 18 pulls out an ocarina to summon a dragon, who flies you to the castle.
"Oh, cool," you might say. "I bet that ocarina is important, and that dragon is important, and I find out exactly what/who they are over the course of the game.
You do not. You later find yourself on the same cliff, in the company of the same people, hyping yourself to take on the same Fiendlord. Android 18 pulls the ocarina out of nowhere in particular, you fly on dragonback to the dungeon, and neither the instrument of dragon-summoning nor the dragon is ever mentioned again.
Re: SNES Favorite 75
34. Live A Live
Whether or not you actually enjoy this game as a game, you are forced to recognize it for what it pushed forward in game design and storytelling. In my experience, this amazing gem of a game is very and hit and miss with people. It's ostensibly a JRPG, but only in the very loosest sense of the term. It uses the framework of a JPRG to tell a story.
And for what its worth, I think this is a story that could only have been told through a videogame format. I don't know if Live a Live is the only game on this list that has that distinction, but it's the one that jumps to my mind. As much as I love RDR2, I have to admit it would probably work just as well as a HBO longform TV series, maybe 2-3 seasons long.
For those of you unfamiliar with the game, it opens with a character select screen, where you will eventually play out every character's scenario. They are disconnected in both theme and time. One is a near future sci-fi adventure, one is a about a cave man, one is set in a western town where you play as the lone drifter who wanders into town to defend it against a gang of vile bandits, and one is set in the far future where you play as a robot and has no combat at all.
Oh, sorry, did I say each scenario was disconnected from the others? Whoops, they actually all do have one thing in common.
Once you've cleared each scenario, a new scenario opens up. Finally a traditional fantasy setting, where you play as a Knight setting out to defeat the Dark Lord. And, well, things don't go exactly as planned.
In the final chapter, all the characters are playable and you have to create a team to take down the Ultimate Threat to Everything. Make sure you put the robot for heals and the gunslinger drifter for dps on your team.
Live a Live is a very weird and different game. I'm not surprised that it was never released stateside back in the day, and I honestly don't think it would have done well if it had been. It requires a pretty mature mind to enjoy this game.
As for me, I was sold the moment I realized there was a western themed level.
The combat is semi-tactical, where each battle takes place on a grid where you and the enemies take turns moving around and attacking. Think sort of a very simplified FFT. Positioning is more important than the typical heal and hit dynamic. Enemies (and you) have powerful attacks that can only come out of the character at specific angles or ranges, so getting into the proper position (and avoiding enemy kill zones) is of the utmost importance.
As much as I respect and enjoy this game, it has its share of faults. You don't aim this high and this off the beaten path without running into some problems, after all. But in the end, I think Live a Live is an important piece of work that showed what the medium was capable of.
Do I recommend this game:
Yes, but be aware that it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Don't be surprised if you bounce off.
Whether or not you actually enjoy this game as a game, you are forced to recognize it for what it pushed forward in game design and storytelling. In my experience, this amazing gem of a game is very and hit and miss with people. It's ostensibly a JRPG, but only in the very loosest sense of the term. It uses the framework of a JPRG to tell a story.
And for what its worth, I think this is a story that could only have been told through a videogame format. I don't know if Live a Live is the only game on this list that has that distinction, but it's the one that jumps to my mind. As much as I love RDR2, I have to admit it would probably work just as well as a HBO longform TV series, maybe 2-3 seasons long.
For those of you unfamiliar with the game, it opens with a character select screen, where you will eventually play out every character's scenario. They are disconnected in both theme and time. One is a near future sci-fi adventure, one is a about a cave man, one is set in a western town where you play as the lone drifter who wanders into town to defend it against a gang of vile bandits, and one is set in the far future where you play as a robot and has no combat at all.
Oh, sorry, did I say each scenario was disconnected from the others? Whoops, they actually all do have one thing in common.
Once you've cleared each scenario, a new scenario opens up. Finally a traditional fantasy setting, where you play as a Knight setting out to defeat the Dark Lord. And, well, things don't go exactly as planned.
In the final chapter, all the characters are playable and you have to create a team to take down the Ultimate Threat to Everything. Make sure you put the robot for heals and the gunslinger drifter for dps on your team.
Live a Live is a very weird and different game. I'm not surprised that it was never released stateside back in the day, and I honestly don't think it would have done well if it had been. It requires a pretty mature mind to enjoy this game.
As for me, I was sold the moment I realized there was a western themed level.
The combat is semi-tactical, where each battle takes place on a grid where you and the enemies take turns moving around and attacking. Think sort of a very simplified FFT. Positioning is more important than the typical heal and hit dynamic. Enemies (and you) have powerful attacks that can only come out of the character at specific angles or ranges, so getting into the proper position (and avoiding enemy kill zones) is of the utmost importance.
As much as I respect and enjoy this game, it has its share of faults. You don't aim this high and this off the beaten path without running into some problems, after all. But in the end, I think Live a Live is an important piece of work that showed what the medium was capable of.
Do I recommend this game:
Yes, but be aware that it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Don't be surprised if you bounce off.
-
nosimpleway
- Posts: 4662
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:31 pm
Re: SNES Favorite 75
Friday wrote:Whoops, they actually all do have one thing in common.
Yeah... poor Watanabe.
Re: SNES Favorite 75
Friday wrote:34. Live A Live
The PC version is currently marked down to $30 in the Steam Spring Sale, for those interested.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests