Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts

Haha, I just used a Crystal Shards track for the "music you like from a game you don't like" day in the music thread. Your review sounds pretty spot on - I never found it compelling enough to persist with all the way through, but it's not a bad game. Power Paintbrush is the only Kirby game I actually have beaten!

It's not the most exciting Kirby game and "compelling" is never a word you'd use to describe it, but I was in the mood for something a bit more direct and accessible after a couple of more complicated games I'll review soon. I thought it was just about distinct enough to recommend for a Wii U download, but aye, £160 for a non-mint copy is mental.

I'm guessing it's so pricey because nobody bought it, and maybe because they never produced that many copies. Kirby wasn't that big of a deal here, and coming out right at the arse-end of the N64's run, I don't remember ever seeing it in the shops until I bought my own copy years later.

Well, that answers "What the hell does Cappa's Pokémon Go name mean?".

I remember Rakuga Kids! It's the sort of game I'd probably have picked up now if it, or something like it, came out on Switch and got the same reception. Not so discerning at age tiny, alas. Beartank's snot bubble!

I wanna play Kenan and Kel's Little League Coaching now...

Buskalilly wrote:

Well, that answers "What the hell does Cappa's Pokémon Go name mean?".

That's right! A pupil in the school I work in sussed out that I was the Pokemon Go player who'd hoard all the gyms near the main street, so I swapped the username out of embarrassment to be called after a twenty-two year old N64 that I'm pretty sure nobody who didn't read N64 Magazine has ever heard of.

Balladeer wrote:

I remember Rakuga Kids!  It's the sort of game I'd probably have picked up now if it, or something like it, came out on Switch and got the same reception.  Not so discerning at age tiny, alas.  Beartank's snot bubble!

This would have been ripe for a Virtual Console re-release, but it uses a memory card and I don't think the programmers worked out how to emulate that. 

Jimbob wrote:

I wanna play Kenan and Kel's Little League Coaching now...

Everything Kenan and Kel did was class. Except Good Burger, that was shite.

~




N64 Magazine said: “Fantastic sub-Wave Race water racer”. 84% in Issue 39, ⅘ in Issue 59.
Nintendo Official Magazine said: “Thrash fast boats around well designed courses”. 89% in Issue 96

I played Hydro Thunder from start to finish over the course of a few evenings. Appropriately enough for a boat racing game, I remember getting this in the post and it was completely soaking from inside it’s box. I don’t want to think about why. Anyway, I’ve played this loads and already knew what I made of it, so I was happy revisiting it once again.

It’s yet another Midway arcade racer! This time, you steer nine different boats over twelve different courses, which are split up with three ‘easy’ tracks (where you only need to finish third or better), three ‘medium’ tracks (finish second or first to advance) and three ‘hard’ tracks (where only winning will do) before unlocking the final ‘bonus’ tracks. Showing it’s arcade roots, you race against the clock as well as some really aggressive AI. Hydro Thunder is quite punishing, and victory relies on you nailing every jump, taking every shortcut and hitting all the boosts. It can make for some really exciting races though, so it’s a welcome challenge. It's all very simple to control and to get your head round too, but it did take me a few goes - it wasn’t a game I could just rattle through in one sitting.

I’m full of praise for this excellent game. Hydro Thunder has some brilliant track design, uniquely set on the likes of a melting Arctic Circle, on the flooded canals of Venice and in a post-apocalyptic New York City. These tracks are detailed, highly imaginative and are loaded with memorable set-pieces. It’s a very characterful game too, with lots of amusing speech from water police who chase you down for speeding and passengers on the cruise ships that you can wallop and send flying. The physics are genuinely funny, but make total sense in a game as mad, bombastic and OTT as Hydro Thunder is.

It’s not very long-lived, but I think what’s here is massively good fun. The only real drawback is that there’s a better port widely available elsewhere. Simply put, the Dreamcast version is faster, more detailed, more colourful, louder and just feels better to play. I don’t doubt that it’s one of the very best games on that system, but all credit to the developer for giving it a good go with the N64 port. 

You could also argue that it’s a bit straightforward for a home release. There’s no Time Trail or Practice modes, it’s presented as a pure arcade experience. That might not be your sort of thing, but it’s fine for me, and it’s no issue whatsoever for a twenty-one year old cartridge that costs about as much as a Pret lunch.

There’s an absolutely superb, backwards-compatible sequel on Xbox 360/One/Series X called Hydro Thunder Hurricane, and that’s probably on Game Pass. Ignore what other jobby Microsoft have released in the last decade, that’s the Xbox Game of the Year for the last ten. Microsoft own the license for the Hydro Thunder series now, it's all theirs. I think they should be pumping out Hydro Thunder games every other year, because they’ll never get boring and they'll always have an audience. This first Hydro Thunder is quality too, and though it’s not quite as good as Wave Race 64, it’s not quite the same thing either. It deserves its own attention, and your attention. 8/10.

I reme[we know you do - everybody] Anyway, high praise. I never got on with the arcade racer recipe: I liked to lie to myself that I was facing off against real opponents, not CPUs, and the fact that you got chucked out when you couldn't beat the clock and your opponents didn't smashed that in the face for me. Even I think that's an odd immersion-breakpoint, but there you go. HT wasn't for me then, but I'm glad it was for you.

I loved Rakuga Kids. The character design was completely unique and with special moves like delivering a pizza to the opponent and running them over on the scooter, or shoving them in a lift and sending it down a hundred floors - genuinely laugh out loud moments. It's a shame that it's stuck on the N64, you'd think it would have been put out on the PlayStation too.

I need to give Hydro Thunder a blast, Cappa is the 360 version the Dreamcast title? I've heard a lot of praise over the years for the game but seem to recall it getting decent reviews, rather than glowing ones. By decent, I of course refer to an 8/10

Nah, it's a full-blown sequel. I'm probably a lot more enthusiastic about arcade racers than most people, but I think you'd enjoy it a lot.

Virtua Fighter 5 (2007)

Beat the Arcade mode on VF5 which turns out, is a lot harder than the Quest mode. My weakness in Street Fighter is Ryu and in Virtua Fighter it's Akira. His attacks just catch you and he'll end up juggling you, genuinely despise the character. I took Vanessa through to face Dural (who is a naked statue in this!) and had my arse handed to me. And then the credits rolled! You only get one chance on the final boss, yet I've used at least ten continues trying to get past your mate Akira - what gives? Either way, I'll inevitably try taking the other characters through Arcade mode. Despite struggling with Vanessa, I stopped trying to mix my punches and kicks which would get blocked, and instead stood far back and picked certain moves to use at certain times. It was actually a bit like playing Dark Souls, trying to work out the correct distance and what moves I could use to "break" something like a spinning kick animation. I've always tried to like the Virtua Fighter games because they are playable, charming games but this might be the first time I've ever enjoyed discovering the systems that sit underneath.

9/10



Outrun Online Arcade (2009)

I was looking through my Xbox 360 purchase history (for digital games) as I kept stumbling across games that had "Download again" but I had no recollection of ever buying them. Stuff like Mirrors Edge and Saints Row IV which I should really play. But I saw Outrun Online Arcade on there and thought "hang on! I thought that wasn't available!". Turns out it can still be downloaded if purchased previously, which made me a very happy bunny. Downloaded it and had a few games, and while the online mode is defunct, most of the single player content is there from Outrun 2. Plus there's a new mode that lets you race all 15 levels back-to-back! More importantly perhaps, it's the only OutRun game that was released in HD, and it looks beautiful! I can't wait to jump back in - having it on the hard drive and not having to put an old Xbox disc in is amazing

11/10

That's good about Outrun as most of the time if something leaves eg Scott Pilgrim that's it unless I had it installed in the first place. Which of course haven't from trading in my 360 towards the WiiU back in 2012.

Good stuff. 

I've got five Virtua Fighter games across five different consoles, but I've never got on with any of them. That's maybe because I've not put the same amount of effort into "discovering the systems that sit underneath" that you have. I'm not sure I've ever thought of them as "charming", but there's an obvious playability there that I should pay more attention to (except with Virtua Fighter 2 on the Mega Drive, that's legitimately awful).

One day, we'll look back on that OutRun Online Arcade review and wonder 'was 11/10 too low?'. Best arcade racer ever; makes Hydro Thunder and the rest look like Virtua Fighter 2 on the Mega Drive.

These games aren't for me, but Cappa's posts about them are.

GJones wrote:

It was actually a bit like playing Dark Souls, trying to work out the correct distance and what moves I could use to "break" something like a spinning kick animation. I've always tried to like the Virtua Fighter games because they are playable, charming games but this might be the first time I've ever enjoyed discovering the systems that sit underneath.

I've seen this Souls comparison from some others in the fighting game community before and the more I thought about it the more I realised it was spot on. It's also one of the reasons I've been giving the genre more of a go again in the last year or so, and it's been great fun though I've still to find one that I want to dive deep into in the same way as a Souls game.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Good stuff. 

I've got five Virtua Fighter games across five different consoles, but I've never got on with any of them. That's maybe because I've not put the same amount of effort into "discovering the systems that sit underneath" that you have. I'm not sure I've ever thought of them as "charming", but there's an obvious playability there that I should pay more attention to (except with Virtua Fighter 2 on the Mega Drive, that's legitimately awful).

One day, we'll look back on that OutRun Online Arcade review and wonder 'was 11/10 too low?'. Best arcade racer ever; makes Hydro Thunder and the rest look like Virtua Fighter 2 on the Mega Drive.

A damning indictment indeed, considering how poor an arcade racer Virtua Fighter 2 on the Mega Drive is You're not wrong though, VF2 plays like the characters are wading through treacle. Charming probably isn't the right word, but that SEGA polish and "chunkiness" was what I was trying to capture.

The_Jaster wrote:

I've seen this Souls comparison from some others in the fighting game community before and the more I thought about it the more I realised it was spot on. It's also one of the reasons I've been giving the genre more of a go again in the last year or so, and it's been great fun though I've still to find one that I want to dive deep into in the same way as a Souls game.

The only problem I'm having is 1v1 fighters are so quick that by the time I've noticed they have gone for a low kick to get through my high block, I've lost half my health bar.

What a game for your 5000th post, looking back I can't disagree with anything besides maybe preferring SM64 myself (although I've not played it since an early age unlike Mario so who knows which I'd prefer now). It's an all time classic though and I'll always remember it as one of the games that made me love the medium as much as I do today.

Which one is which in the picture

Does make me want to go back and play some Banjo even if it's continuing with Nuts & Bolts

Congratulations on wasting at least 10k seconds of your life on this place!  A worthy Kid from a To Rose indeed.

I was always a bigger fan of SM64, but that's because B-K was too hard in places for my idiot small-child brain (and my idiot-er smaller-child sister kindly deleted my save file when I'd reached Click Clock Wood).  That doesn't mean I couldn't recognise quality when my idiot small-child eyes saw it, though.  It was obviously a brilliant title with a soundtrack that remains up there with the greats. 'Arguably'?  Is there anyone who'd argue there's a better soundtrack on the machine who's not an utter fool?

Top review, and a top picture.

Basically, once again, you are correct. (Uh, maybe I like Mario 64 better technically, but it's essentially a decision between two 10/10s, it don't matter). I like everything you mention - I even love Mad Monster Mansion; maybe because it was the spoopy purple adventure world that all others copied. I also loved being in a few sequential study periods in 6th Form where we all devolved into making BK character noises at each other for about 5 minutes straight.

It's an outstanding game right enough. Playing through it was a joy - it's still utterly fantastic. Banjo, Super Mario 64 and F-Zero X are probably the only three N64 games I'd award a 10/10.

~


N64 Magazine said: “Proves to be an immensely enjoyable deathmatch-based shooter”. 87% in Issue 35, ⅘ in Issue 55.
Nintendo Official Magazine said: “Easy to control, with loadsa levels. Monsters to make you poo your pants!” 93% in Issue 96. 

I completed Turok: Rage Wars, an overlooked multiplayer-centric first-person-shooter that’s still exclusive to the N64. Iguana Entertainment put this into development in response to what they felt was a disappointing multiplayer mode in Turok 2. I’d forgotten that there was even a multiplayer mode in Turok 2, which I guess goes to show how little of an impression that made on me. Similarly, I’ve owned this cartridge for well over a decade, but I don’t remember plugging it in, if I even did at all. Going through these N64 games, I knew I’d simply have to play a Turok game. The first two are modernised on current gen systems and there’s no point jumping in at the third one, so this unfamiliar spin-off was the obvious choice for me.

Following the trends set by the day’s popular FPSs (Quake III and Unreal Tournament spring to mind as clear inspirations), the single player seems to only be here to prepare you for the multiplayer. Playing this during the middle of lockdown, I was hardly asking my folks if they’re wanting a few rounds of Turok: Rage Wars to while away a couple of hours, so I just toughed out several of the single player Trail scenarios and called it at that. 

Looking back, I had a pretty decent time with Turok: Rage Wars. Truthfully, it’s nothing special gameplay-wise, with your standardised Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture The Flag modes making up three of the four battle types. The other is Monkey, which turns one player into a monkey and has everybody else chasing it for frags. At least the first three work well. The weapons are the best part of any Turok game, and there’s a strong variety of melee weapons, guns and explosives in Rage Wars. A neat touch is that you can customise your weapons before each round, and begin a match with whatever weapons you’ve unlocked in the Trail modes. You can unlock cheats and alternative costumes for your characters as well, but it’s nothing particularly novel or noteworthy these days to be honest. Even back in the day, it probably wouldn’t have been enough to justify splashing out full price. Maybe that’s why I remember this being proper bargain-basement, two-year-old-FIFA cheap everywhere.

I’d have to assume that playing the Trials campaign in co-op or playing the deathmatch modes with four players would move the excitement level up a few notches. In single player, there's nothing about Turok: Rage Wars would make you pish yourself with excitement - or shite yourself in terror, Nintendo Official Magazine - as it’s mostly similar and predictable. Nonetheless, it was a fast and fairly enjoyable way for me to spend a couple of hours. Quake II is undoubtedly the better N64 game though, and then, you know, Fortnite and all that. 6/10.

So, the main question here is: has a video game ever made you "poo your pants"?

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

So, the main question here is: has a video game ever made you "poo your pants"?

Yep. Pokemon Sword.

Spoiler:

Geoff Capes would have shite up his back if he drank that amount of Monster! You made yourself shite yourself, not Pokémon Sword!

Geoff Capes would presumably then have torn the bed in half.

I avoid games that would make me 'poo my pants' - I'm not a fan of jump scares. I think they're cheap bad tricks that mediocre horror media uses when it can't build a slow burn. (I don't like slow burn psychological horror either, but I can appreciate what it's doing!)

Also: Jesus Christ NOM. That combined with use of terms like 'loadsa' is basically the reason I look back on that publication the way I do. What's the Trail 'campaign' like in Rage Wars? Is it just, 'here's a bunch of multiplayer matches with bots, fill your boots'?