Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts

Ah yes, I remember N64 absolutely dumping on Backlash at the time. Was it Thunderfist that they liked the most? (It wasn't, there was something they gave 9/10 to and it wasn't a robot, but I just liked the idea of playing a cartwheeling Transformer.) Good to read that Cappa, I could swear I've seen that Blast Corps has been accused of ageing badly and it's nice to see a more glowing write-up for a game I have lots of nostalgia for... despite having never played.

Fuck me, that Cruis'n USA Main Theme is insane. It sounds like an old fella cracking one out on a rollercoaster. Presumably...

Blast Corps is a brilliant little game, one that I didn't play at the time but worked my way through at university when I dipped back into retro. It got really hard at the end so I never actually beat it, which you're right Cappa, is its main drawback. It's the one game on the Rare Replay that I would love to revisit but I'm not buying an Xbox for it. Seems like a straightforward title to bring back too (no licensing, basic design).

RARE Replay is all of Xbox, so XCLOUD is a option and no need to buy a Xbox.

Apart from visually, I don’t think Blast Corps has aged much. It’s still quite unique. I can’t think of anything to compare it to that might make it feel dated. It’s fresh in that sense.

~

Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts - Page 26 Chameleon-twist-cover.cover_large

N64 Magazine said: “Thrills and spills but it won’t take you long to finish. The multiplayer game is okay, mind”. 70% in Issue 10, ⅖ in Issue 59.
N64 Pro said: “A fine 3D platform game with a number of novel twists (ahem). Whilst lacking the polish of Mario 64, this is still an enjoyable experience”. 81% in Issue 17.

I’ve always thought that Chameleon Twist was due a comeback. I’m not suggesting that it warrants a full-blown PS5/XBSX remake, but I didn’t see why Sunsoft couldn’t have put this on Virtual Console – they were a quite prolific publisher on the Wii one especially. I regarded Chameleon Twist as the best short N64 game for a long time, as an excellent way to use two hours of my free time. That opinion is fifteen years old though, and I thought it would be worthwhile to reevaluate that stance.

Chameleon Twist is quite an odd and creative 3D platformer from the first year of the N64’s life. Maybe the most strikingly unusual thing about it is that the character on the cover clearly looks hee-haw like a chameleon. That’s because the game’s plot is about Davy the chameleon lizard getting transformed into an alien after following an Alice In Wonderland-like rabbit into their magical honeypot. For Davy to get home, you need to platform through six worlds and use his chameleon tongue to digest enemies, spit them out to hit bigger enemies and switches, swing around scenery like some kind of martian lapdancer or use it as a pole vault to hop onto higher ledges. ‘A’ jumps and ‘B’ uses all your tongue stuff, it’s controls are sensibly implemented. The ‘C’ buttons work your camera, and while it’s a little bit restrictive it doesn’t cause too many obstructions throughout the game’s short lifespan. Where it’s fixed and positioned can be a bit off at times though, and there’s a couple of sections where you’d wish it would shift so that you could better use your tongue and see how to get across the sequence.

Chameleon Twist isn’t really long, complicated or challenging enough to cause any frustration. And while no single aspect of it’s graphics, sound or even gameplay is particularly great, it still manages to be quite good fun. You’d have been scanted if you’d paid £50 for it off of the Woolworths shelf, but Chameleon Twist is a sub-£10 cartridge to get these days and I wouldn’t see it making life hard for any emulator either. Give it a shot, it’s not a bad example of an N64 3D platformer at all. 7/10.

I trust you that the game is alright, but that boxart is seriously half-arsed!

'We need something to put in the top half of the box. Any ideas?'
'I've got nothing.'
'Brilliant!'
'...what's brilliant?'

Even twenty-five years ago that boxart stood out as being a bit rubbish. I might need to put together a bad N64 boxart list sometime, as there’s loads of utter chuff once you look past Nintendo and Rare’s stuff.

Chameleon Twist is a nice enough game though. I can remember the afternoon when I started and finished it pretty well – it was a really sunny day when I supposed to be “working from home” during the first lockdown. Good memories. I think it would be ideal for Nintendo Switch Online too.

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N64 Magazine said: “As painful as a game where you have red hot needles shoved into your eyes. Very, very hard”. 24% in Issue 9, 0/5 in Issue 59.
64 Magazine said: “The second worst game on N64 after Carmageddon!”. 8% in Issue 8.

Clayfighter’s whole identity is in it’s title, using stop-motion claymation to parody the likes of Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct, though strictly for laughs. I guess what’s refreshing about Clayfighter 63 1/3 is that it doesn’t take itself seriously, nor does it have any pretentious backstory (Mortal Kombat, I’m looking at you and your otherworldly pish). Clayfighter 63 1/3 doesn’t try to be anything other than a fighting game, it’s just about fighters trying to be the best, that’s all. It tries to be quite a wacky and slapstick fighter, true, but if you were inclined to do so I suppose you could just play this like it was an Aardman Killer Instinct or something. With a good amount of variety to the characters and their movesets, I think Aardman Killer Instinct sounds quite appealing on paper. Don’t ever play Clayfighter 63 1/3 though, because it’s gash.

The combat is exceptionally boring. Clayfighter 63 1/3 moves slowly, the combos are visually unimpressive and annoying, and the damage meters are too big. My playthrough was maybe only about half an hour, but I was fatigued with Clayfighter 63 1/3 well before I reached its credits. The humour doesn’t carry it, as the speech samples are unclear, the characters are cheesy and unlikeable and the feeble jokes repeat themselves too quickly. It really, really wears thin. On another note, I’m perplexed as to why this looks so much duller and murkier than the first Clayfighter game on the Mega Drive. The game is totally drained of colour and vibrancy, and I don’t think those models look anything like clay either. With bland graphics, plodding music and an overall dimness, Clayfighter 63 1/3 gives off a strangely brooding mood that doesn’t fit the intended tone of the game. These days, it just looks old and tired. In many instances it’s comedy has aged very poorly too. There’s a number of lazy racial stereotypes here, such as the voodoo witch doctor and the sushi chef karate man. Thinking in a 'worst case scenario' kind of way, they act and talk exactly like you’d imagine, unfortunately. There’s no chance they’d be allowed to be in a game like this today. There’s probably no chance that a game like this would be made today either, because it’s just too shite.

The Clayfighter series started off badly and somehow got worse from there. The first one was an average fighter with a decent gimmick that stood out a tiny bit, and though the second one is similar, it all began to be a bit lame, one-note and wearisome. Clayfighter needed a reinvention for its own future, but it never came. As a result, this third one is just plainly rubbish, and a very bad fighting game that was well past it’s expiration date when it came out. It’s not in on its own joke, it is the joke: Clayfighter 63 1/3 is a laughable and loathsome waste of plastic. 2/10.

Didnt it have a special edition blockbuster edition, which is meant to be a tad better.

I really thought Clayfigher was going to be the solution to the over-seriousness of the fighter genre, but it got pretty shit pretty quickly.

A thing that didn't get quite as shit and not as quickly:
Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts - Page 26 Ristar_cover_EU

Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts - Page 26 Ristar_cover_EU

I played Ristar again, with less pressure to get on with something. It's a lot better than my first impression: the jumping/grabbing/climbing is better than Sonic the Hedgehog's whizzy approach - I could actually tell you what Ristar's levels were like. The bosses are original as well. The two gripes I have with it are down to the era it was created in: firstly, the sprites are bigger but the screen resolution isn't - leading to the 16-bit era's continuous problem of running into things before you can see them. This is also affected by the backgrounds, which are colourful, but it becomes very difficult to pick out background / foreground / hazards in a lot of places.
It's moved up a bit in my big ol' table of games, but the lad probably needs a reboot to show off the character's full potential.

I found myself unfairly comparing Ristar to modern platformers when I played it a little bit ago, I didn't hate it but came to the conclusion that I just played way too late. I'd definitely be up for seeing them do a reboot as well.

Fair to compare it to them if you'd be playing it or them now, no? Anyway, the weird star thing's probably overdue a remaster, or at least a Chip 'n' Dale film appearance.

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Finished off Metroid Fusion last night.
It wasn't my first time through, as I played it back in the day. It was fun and fast and well-suited to a handheld, and the much-maligned Too Much Talking was aleviated by being in a load of Kanji I couldn't read and therefore skipped. It is a little too directed overall, but once in the individual areas, exploration is as fun as ever.

Honestly, I really wish Super Metroid had been released on GBA and Metroid II had been remade that little earlier, as these 16-bit Metroids on a nice little handheld are just such a pleasant, chunky experience. I might try to pick up some of the Catlevanias for my Micro next, though I have an even more insane plan to celebrate another 35th Anniversary . . .

For now though: I can finally play Dread!

Balladeer wrote:: Fair to compare it to them if you'd be playing it or them now, no? Anyway, the weird star thing's probably overdue a remaster, or at least a Chip 'n' Dale film appearance.

Yes and no. I feel that if you are playing an old game for the first time you have to respect it was made with certain limitations that modern games don't have, so giving it some leeway and not comparing to new games is the fair thing to do.

Have you met Balla?

I played Ristar loads at the time, there was many-a-weekend where I’d rent it from the Blockbuster down the street. Maybe that’s why I don’t have those two gripes that Jimbob mentioned. I’ve played it so much that I can anticipate enemies and hazards, and I remember how to deal with them. It’s a game that I’ve gotten good at. The visuals, style and music really boost it for me too, I really like everything about Ristar. I think it’s one of the best games on the whole of the Mega Drive.

I’d rent Clayfighter from time to time from that same Blockbuster as well. I think it’s a game I really tried to like, and I’d like to enjoy it more than I actually do. It’s the sluggish and stiff gameplay that spoils the first one, but the second and third ones don’t sort that out. They somehow make it much worse, tearing away all of the original’s positive aspects. The second one is such a nothing game, and the last one (63 1/3) deservedly killed Clayfighter off.

Metroid Fusion was at the top of my ‘to play’ list until Dread was announced last year. I thought I was done with the series for a while after Dread, but the idea of a “pleasant, chunky (gaming) experience” sounds appealing. Being “too directed” might help me enjoy it more.

Jaster’s right about retro game comparisons. I’m experiencing that right now; I’m playing through Startropics on the NES for the first time, and you absolutely have to give something like that some fair leeway, and enjoy it in that forgiving, accepting frame of mind.

Fusion remains a gap in my playing. GBA-owning Balla didn't care for Metroid, while Wii U-owning Balla couldn't get past the age of the game. Actually that's not most of it, most of it was him/me secretly bricking it at the thought of meeting the SA-X. Embarrassed

The_Jaster wrote:

Balladeer wrote:: Fair to compare it to them if you'd be playing it or them now, no?

Yes and no. I feel that if you are playing an old game for the first time you have to respect it was made with certain limitations that modern games don't have, so giving it some leeway and not comparing to new games is the fair thing to do.

I guess that's the difference between considering it as a past-time and a work of art? When appraising how impressive it was then sure, it's only fair to give it that leeway; but if you're considering whether to play it against something else now, given that they're both available now and will both be taking up your precious time, a direct comparison seems not only fair but almost necessary!

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N64 Magazine said: “Reasonably priced take on the age-old Tetris theme, with water and mountains”. 74% in Issue 15, ⅗ in Issue 59.
TOTAL 64 said: “A breath of fresh air has hit the N64 and that fresh air is Wetrix, a totally original and completely addictive puzzle game”. 93% in Issue 17.

The last of my N64 chat for a while.

Here’s my thoughts on Wetrix, the water-themed puzzler that absolutely nobody liked when they first played it. I remember my first try of it. NOM gave away a free voucher for renting Wetrix, which of course I cut it out of the magazine took down to the local Blockbuster. I got it on a Saturday morning, with plans of a fun-filled weekend of addictive puzzle action in mind. However, I thought it was absolute dogshite. I gave it a couple more goes, but it wasn’t for happening. For a long while I considered it to be the worst N64 game I’d ever played. I ended up getting the PS2 sequel soon after the PS2 launched though, as it was only £15 when everything else was £40. That’s where I learned to play, enjoy and appreciate Wetrix. I was overdue diving back into the original one to see how it compares.

Wetrix is somewhat inspired by Tetris, in that you arrange blocky shapes onto a playfield. Blocky shapes don’t fall down a funnel like in Tetris though, but onto a flat square. You build on top of the flat square to create walls, mounds and wells. Once you’ve lain some channels down, water starts to fall from the sky. Your task is to capture the water in your channels and stop it from overflowing off of your built-upon playfield, which now acts as a dam. Basically, if you lose too much water, that’s game over. Wetrix frequently throws spanners into your works at the same time, like fireballs to evaporate your water, iceballs to freeze it, and torpedoes to blow up your blocks and make a hole in the ground. These can work in your favour though, helping to keep your water supply measured and under control. You’ve got to do that with your earth too though, as too much of it will cause an earthquake and almost certainly devastate your game. But when you’ve got the perfect balance of water and land, that’s when you can really rack up points, by creating small lakes for ducks and forming rainbows too. More of these is better, and multiplies your score when you evaporate your waters. I’ve done my best to explain it, but Wetrix is complex. Even the tutorial is tough at first.

This is not a beginner’s puzzle game. Blocks and elements drop quite quickly, and the mechanics are extra-challenging with the game going at such a brisk pace from the get-go. It at times feels like it’s design works against you too. The set camera causes problems with it’s isometric view, where it can be hard to see exactly where you’re positioning your blocks. You sometimes can’t fully see where you might have left any gaps too, and of course spillage creeps through those gaps and ultimately loses you your game. The N64’s analogue stick causes some bother as well, as while it’s fantastic for games where you need big, sweeping movements (platformers, sports games, racers, etc), it’s not delicate enough for the ultra-careful moves that Wetrix needs you to make. Yet when everything goes well and you begin to get good at the game, it can be quite a compelling time-waster.

The concept was clever enough (and the price was cheap enough) that Wetrix sold okay, and eventually got a remake on the Dreamcast, a demake on the Game Boy Color and then a full sequel for the PS2’s launch. The PS2 version – Aqua Aqua: Wetrix 2.0 – is a forgotten classic in my opinion, taking this core idea, injecting it with a lot more charm and just running wild with it’s mechanics. That’s possibly one of my top ten puzzle games ever, I think it’s magic. Wetrix on the Nintendo 64 is a humble beginning for that, and it’s good to see where Aqua Aqua took shape. So, while Wetrix wouldn’t likely ever become your new obsession, at least one version of it is worth investing your time in and learning how to play. 7/10.

A 93% from Total 64! Not even heard of that magazine, but all the same, that's a pant-wettingly good score. Your write-up has made me want to check out the sequel in particular - I wonder if this is the type of game you'd see on mobile phones now.

You’ll have definitely seen Total 64’s presence before. You know how there’s a picture of a grinning cartoon banana on the cover of WCW/NWO Revenge? That’s Total 64's ‘Top Banana!’ award, the same thing as N64 Magazine’s Star Game award, or NOM’s AWESOME!! Award.

I think Wetrix would be a monumental pain in the arse on a phone, there'd be no controller-less way to play that would be precise enough. It would make a grand addition to the Switch’s N64 Online service though, and if I’m not mistaken it’s one of these games that’s since been acquired by one of these publishers who re-releases old games.

Back with my Evercade bollocks, starting with Technos Arcade 1. I simply cannot be stopped.

Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts - Page 26 TechnosArcade1Feature

Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts - Page 26 TechnosArcade1Feature

typed all this before seeing that they didn't make an exclusive trailer, shower of shite!

As Technos Japan’s debut game, I guess Minky Monkey had to be included. For some unknown reason, you control this horrifying-looking tomato-looking bastart and follow a monkey’s instructions to move lemons, bananas and apples up and down vine plants. That’s while you’re trying to avoid the cheeky Minky Monkey who tries to bump the fruit for itself. This plays and controls kind of like Donkey Kong Jr, and while it’s not bad the fun can be measured in minutes. Meh

Mysterious Stones: Dr. John’s Adventure is Technos Japan’s entry into the Indiana Jones-em-up genre that boomed in popularity after Raiders of the Lost Ark. Searching for treasure and overcoming environmental traps is good fun, but it’s a difficult game, and the combat is painfully inexact. On balance though, it’s one of the more interesting and playable games on here. Thumbs Up!

Block Out is essentially an adaption of Tetris where you look down the pit instead of facing it side-on. Completing solid layers of cubes instead of single lines makes things more complex than Tetris. I enjoy this strategy, though Block Out’s primitive wire-frame geometry and weird colour-coordination makes it easy to become flummoxed. Things get a bit too fast a bit too quickly as well. In the end, I felt a bit annoyed about Block Out. It could have been brilliant, but it sadly isn’t. Meh

Double Dragon II: The Revenge is a deservedly well regarded and highly lauded brawler that’s still enjoyable nowadays. It’s a very different game from the similarly great NES version too, which is just swell. Thumbs Up!

Remember that ‘Your actual bottom 10/20/50’ thread that I made last year? I plonked Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone in at eighth on my bottom ten, and here it rears its ugly head again. I said that ‘I can’t think of a sequel that’s a bigger downgrade from Double Dragon II to this stinking rubbish heap’, and that’s still the way I feel. An absolutely appalling side-scrolling beat ‘em up, I feel sorry for the folk who were excitedly looking forward to this releasing in the arcades to follow on from its two excellent prequels. They’d have been properly gutted by how this turned out. As for me? I wasn’t doing much arcade gaming as a two-year-old in 1990, so I can just look back on Double Dragon 3 with the utter disdain it’s always deserved. Thumbs Down...

With its overbearing difficulty, repetitive gameplay and lack of variety, The Combatribes is no classic. Yet in freeplay mode and with save states, it’s a lot easier to enjoy its good qualities, especially it’s looks and sound. I’d never have sunk more than a few 10ps into The Combatribes if I’d seen it at my nearby amusements, yet in the context of this multi-game collection it fits well. Thumbs Up!

The confusingly-titled Battle Lane Vol. 5 ( there’s no Vol.1-4? ) has the same outline as SpyHunter, but it’s a much tougher and unfairer game. I think this is the sort of thing that arcade go’ers would have seen once, slotted a coin into out of curiousity, quickly found too hard, hit a swift Game Over screen and then walked away from, never to think about it ever again. Thumbs Down...

You’re never going to get the legendary WWF WrestleFest on one of those Evercade cartridges, but the next best thing is Techno’s Japan’s final unlicensed wrestling game, Mania Challenge. You can detect some of WWF WrestleFest’s DNA here, as there’s vague similarities with their character models and the way they’re both animated. Mania Challenge’s two-button gameplay is basic, but it’s not light years away from what Technos Japan would go on to develop later. As a rough draft of better wrestling games, Mania Challenge is decent. Thumbs Up!

Encompassing all the things they usually do, this might be the most typical example of an Evercade cartridge yet. Blaze Entertainment seem to be the masters at combining utter classics with utter toot, and then padding things out with a handful of low-wattage games that you’d struggle to really care about. Double Dragon II almost elevates Technos Arcade 1 above mediocrity on its own, but then stuff like Battle Lane Vol. 5 and Double Dragon 3 drag it right back down. It makes sense that they’re bundling Technos Arcade 1 with all versions of the Evercade Vs., because I think it’s a strangely unsellable collection on its own. 5/10.

I can't add much to that, Cappa.

I'm part of the VITA Island Game Club and last month because of all the PlayStation Plus stuff, they decided to play a PS1 Classic which is on VITA. Well, Metal Gear Solid won by a landslide and then came this month which I suggested a PSP a game from what's available on VITA.

As you may have guessed, this month ended up being

I've wanted to play PW for a while now, as it's the only mainline MGS game I've not played (Yet to play Rising as well) and this seemed the perfect excuse to do so. I played on my Series X via Backward Compatibly with the HD Collection, unfortunately it seems to be one of the few games that doesn't get any Series X benefits (maybe loads times because of the SSD) that I could have played it on PSP or my PS3 version.

As this is my first time playing, I can see why it would have been great on the PSP (not sure how I missed it) as you pick a mission which can take from 1min to 20mins that be great on the go. This also the basis of MGSV which has a similar mission structure, yet that it is on a larger scale.

Another difference to MGSV, is most of the cutscenes in PW are comic book strips in Yoji Shinkawa artsyle, that again feels it be great on a handheld (The Digital Graphic Novel, on PSP now makes even more sense to me) more so than a TV screen.

Yet when playing the game, I think it looks good still and plays well enough as sure aged a bit but doubt it would stop anyone playing it. Then of course, great music, VO and I found people online still which was a great help as I did the last mission of Chapter 5 with Voodoo something or other, to see the second ending of the game.

Now that I have played PW, I do feel it is a great game, yet I would rank the games of the series I've finished like this

1. Snake Eater
2. Guns of the Patriots
3. Metal Gear Solid
4. Metal Gear Solid V
5. Sons of Liberty
6. Twin Snakes
7. Peace Walker
8. Portable Ops
9. AC!D

Congrats on finally playing the real MGS5! The post game content is insane. I also recommend doing the Monster Hunter crossover content if you haven't already!

Maybe one day but got to play Horizon Forbidden West as I'm renting that, then be the 80ish hours Xenoblade 3.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:: With its overbearing difficulty, repetitive gameplay and lack of variety, The Combatribes is no classic. Yet in freeplay mode and with save states, it’s a lot easier to enjoy its good qualities, especially it’s looks and sound. I’d never have sunk more than a few 10ps into The Combatribes if I’d seen it at my nearby amusements, yet in the context of this multi-game collection it fits well.

Whenever someone brings up Combatribes, I think about the (other) games podcast I listen to, and their recollection of
this advert
appearing in magazines. Shifty

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