Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts

I've been waiting for a hefty price drop on the Castlevania Advance collection for seemingly ages. I have to admit that I much prefer the older style Castlevania games though, I've tried Circle of the Moon and Aria of Sorrow before and they didn't really keep me interested. I'm open-minded enough to try them again though.

~

Last wrestling review for a while.



From all the way back from pro wrestling’s supposed 1998 glory days, I played through WCW Nitro on the PSone. I never had this before finding a cheap copy in G-Force ( ) several years ago. I‘d just tried a OPSM demo, read some honking N64 Magazine reviews where they ripped the pi sh and left it at that for twenty-five years.

If memory serves me right, WCW Nitro came out several months after WCW/NWO World Tour did on the N64. When it was new, World Tour was wrestling’s greatest ever videogame. That’s because it had a massive variety of moves, dozens of unique playable characters, smooth performance and a degree of realism that the WWF games had always lacked. It was a winning formula, acting as a platform on which bonafide N64 belters like WCW/NWO Revenge and WWF No Mercy could develop. That was the famous and much-missed AKI engine at work. WCW Nitro, for some reason, uses a wholly different engine that goes in a totally different direction. Consequently, it ends up being an infinitely less successful game because of it.

Apart from its WCW Thunder sequel, there’s no wrestling game that’s ever played liked WCW Nitro does. Alas, that’s because it’s utter rubbish. Slow, robotic and predictable, there’s no diversity at all between each wrestler’s power and agility or in the moves you can perform with them. This makes gameplay really boring, and makes the wrestlers feel exactly like a bunch of palette swaps from Mortal Kombat, except Lex Lugar is Scorpion and Randy Savage is Reptile (and Glacier is Sub Zero, natch). Barring finishers, lacking a bespoke moveset for each wrestler means that you quickly fall into a set way of playing the game, and quickly work out a reliable way to win irrespective of who you control or who you compete against. The difficulty options barely matter either, as the AI is impressively idiotic. I learned that you can just kick your AI opponent into a corner, continue booting them until their energy bar is depleted and then go for the pin – repeat that ten times and hey presto you’re the WCW Heavyweight Champion.

I can’t imagine a non-wrestling fan having a worse time with a PlayStation game. It’s a badly limited, ugly and clunky load of cobblers. And yet on the other side of the coin, I think it’s well worth checking out if you’ve ever been a wrestling fan. WCW Nitro’s one saving grace is its presentation: all the settings, commentary, music and particularly the personalities that made WCW so successful for that brief window in the late 1990s are presented here with aplomb. The FMV intros on the character select screen are – quite rightly – what the game is best known for:



Terrible, terrible gameplay though. 4/10.

Those FMVs are brilliant, it's sad we won't ever get that kind of cheese from a wrestling game again, definitely a product of its time.

Much like Balla on Castlevania not sure to put here or last game finished, as I played


On Switch via NSO+

Said briefly elsewhere on the forum that I was enjoying Fusion a lot, as I just feel Metroidvanias work better in 2D than 3D and was fun watching some Mando S3 whilst playing this on my Switch in handheld mode.

Why I liked was the parts of the story are told to you instead of just finding lore, the boss fights and the art-style which I do think GBA hold up in general. Thanks to the Switch, I have now finished three Metroid games, bring on Other M Zero Mission which I'm guessing will build on what's here in Fusion?

It's what you've been yearning for: write-ups for old Nintendo 64 games that I mostly typed up in 2020~!



N64 Magazine said: “A real stinker of a Wipeout clone with pop-up, cheating opponents and terrible controls”. 10% in Issue 17, 0/5 in Issue 59.
C&VG Magazine said: “Nintendo should stop tarnishing it’s reputation with titles like this”. 1/5 in Issue 198.

“We love video games! Apart from AeroGauge”.

It received one of the most famous ‘bad’ N64 Magazine reviews back in 1998, yet it’s something that you can see got its fair share of acclaim elsewhere - I'm sure one of the jobber magazines gave it 86% or something. I don’t fully understand that perspective if I’m honest.

That said, I’d probably give AeroGauge a 10% score for originality. There’s this story about an international racing organisation starting up a new league with flying machines, where companies are invited to build a racecraft and sponsor a driver. It’s trying to be F-Zero X and the same time it’s trying to be Ridge Racer Type 4, and while in all fairness it supersedes both of those it’s told in a way that doesn’t affect the gameplay whatsoever. Speaking of which, in its gameplay AeroGuage just another bland futuristic racer with absolutely no pizazz and absolutely no distinguishable personality. There’s hee-haw that’s dynamic or creative in the way that AeroGauge plays.

AeroGauge has plenty of negatives to point out. The worst aspect of AeroGauge is unquestionably it’s AI, which cheats worse than treesmurf did in that Mario Strikers league we had. Basically, the speed in which the AI racers boost off the starting line makes them utterly impossible to catch. You actually can’t win in AeroGuage, I’m certain of it. I legitimately think that AeroGauge is an unfinishable game because of the AI. I had to illegitimately finish it here with a Xploder 64 cheat cartridge. Not that there’s much to finish, mind you; there’s only four courses and a couple of difficulty levels in a basic championship structure. You can actually play everything even if you finish last in each race. It’s accessibly inaccessible, if that at all makes sense.

Another criticism you could level at AeroGauge is the atrocious fogging and pop-up. It needs to be seen to be believed, it might be the worst on the N64 (and, remember, just about every game on the N64 has atrocious fogging anyway). That said, this might have been designed by choice. I think it’s this fogging and pop-up that let’s AeroGuage run as smoothly as it does. Pulling the same trick F-Zero X did later in 1998, everything moves and speeds along quite nicely and pretty responsively, almost fairly impressively. On that same vein I think the graphics and the track design aren’t bad at all either, and there's some very decent tunes here as well.

I felt duty-bound to play AeroGauge because of the “apart from AeroGauge” bit that’s the first thing you see on any GNamer Forum browser search. It’s not something I was excited about playing, and it wasn’t something I was excited about while playing it. It’s not a horrible game though, I’ve played many that are worse. Sorry to disappoint, but AeroGauge doesn’t really deserve an N64 Magazine-style baw-bootin’. 4/10.

Acht, it must be the NTSC review I remember where the reviewer talked about shooting the developer in the head. You wouldn't get away with that nowadays (and justifiably so), but it was hilarious to tiny Balla at the time.

Less hilarious is this review. Only a 4/10? What are we going to put in the search engine text now!?

...never mind. Got it.

The N64 was dreadful for fighters, especially after the SNES and compared to Tekken and Soul Edge on the Playstation, so I think people would take whatever they could get.

I know not 3D like Tekken 3 but the Saturn was the place for top-tier fighters like Street Fighter II Alpha, X-Men Children of the Atom, KoF 95, Virtua Fighter and way more

There’s so many fighters on the N64 too, they make up a big fraction of the whole console’s library. Loads of them are really similar to Mortal Kombat 4 too – it would be hard to tell the difference between it, Xena Warrior Princess, Mace: The Dark Age, Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. and so on if it weren’t for the fact that there’s occasionally a guy who pops up and yells “TOASTY!”.

Saturn might have been the place, but it didn’t even have a place round here. I’ve got no memories at all of seeing anything other than SEGA and EA Sports Saturn games in the shops, nobody was heading to Comet at the industrial estate in Kilmarnock to get Darkstalkers 3. I was well covered for fighters with the PlayStation. Tekken, Soul Blade, Bloody Roar and Dead or Alive were all class!

I know I played the ones on Saturn much later, but it was of the few genres that I did pick games up on and had a grand time with.

Uh, I think you're all forgetting about a little game called G.A.S.P. Fighters' Nextream? Huh? Hello.

I liked Mortal Kombat 4 at the time, mainly as it was a fun addition to the multiplayer weekends I'd have with friends in my early teens. A fighting game where you had weapons that could be dropped, and the opponent could then pick it up and use it felt novel back in 1999, but I imagine it all feels fairly primitive nowadays. The biggest thing for me was the atmosphere of it - it was all rather sinister and spooky compared to the more cartoonish 2D games. It started down that path of ultra-violent fatalities that hit harder in 3D. 5/10 is probably correct.

Jimbob wrote:

Uh, I think you're all forgetting about a little game called G.A.S.P. Fighters' Nextream? Huh? Hello.

I struggle to think of another instance when such a good company made such a rubbish game. It’s inexplicably bad.

On the topic of N64 fighters with a spooky and sinister atmosphere, I’d seen that PIKO Interactive are now the licensor for Dark Rift and that it's been re-released for PC. Look forward to that coming out on the Switch eShop for £14.99, in somehow worse condition performance-wise than its original version. What a time to be alive.

Ah man, I think I need to download one of these, I've been itching to play some form of Puzzle Bobble for a while, it's such an easy to play classic. I did download that Puzzle Bobble 3D they made not long ago and have tried to play it a few times but it's absolute mince, doesn't translate to 3D in the slightest.

Oooh, much like Smurf, that's given me a real hankering.
We encountered a Bust-a-Move machine at a campsite on holiday in Wales, and by the end of the year my grandmother and I had both bought copies for our respective playstations. I know there are plenty of knock-offs but I want the music and the vibes from those days . . . I may check out that version on Switch.

I should have updated that write-up before posting it - since I typed that there's been a two-in-one port of the Saturn versions of those games put onto the eShop. For some reason ININ Games recently added the SNES version of the original Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move game to the eShop for £6.99. WORTH £7 I'm sure but these days it's the sort of thing I'd reasonably expect on the SNES Online app.

If you've got a Bust-A-Move hankering I'd recommending giving the Puzzle Bobble Everywhere demo a go - the full game just came out a few days ago but the trial lets you play it's online modes.

Trying something different here...



N64 Magazine said: “Not quite the Namco debut we were hoping for”. 68% in Issue 11, ⅕ in Issue 59.

What is it? This is Famista 64, Namco’s debut N64 game and a sequel in a long-running baseball game series that doesn’t ever seem to have left Japan. I read that it didn’t sell well because the N64 already had an overabundance of baseball games by the time it released in 1997. Therefore the developer and publisher alike lost trust and confidence in the console, and Famista 64 proved to be Namco’s last all-new N64 title.

Is it any good? Amazingly, yes! Before I got Famista 64 I thought that the NeoGeo’s Baseball Stars 2 was the only good baseball game in existence, but I found lots to like about what I played here. True, it’s not the most accessible Japan-only game I’ve played, but I fluffed my way through the menus and settings to at least get my games on the field. In matches Famista 64 is actually pretty straightforward, with one button controls and gameplay that doesn’t needlessly change baseball’s rules.

Worth emulating? I quite like this, and I recommend giving it a go. The N64 often gets a hard time over its sheer volume of sports games, but I think a decent chunk of them have aged decently well. Many are unfairly recognised by retro gamers as filler, and this is another one.






N64 Magazine said: “The N64’s finest golf game lacks any redeeming features whatsoever”. 58% in Issue 1, 0/5 in Issue 59.

What is it? Eikou No St. Andrews, a golf simulator where The Old Course of St Andrew’s link’s eighteen holes are the only ones in the whole game.

Is it any good? I think there’s a decent game in here somewhere, but it struggles underneath some very difficult controls. The issue comes from hitting your ball precisely. You can only do accurate shots by swinging for the ball at the same time as a little red indicator becomes it’s smallest. On my first tee I hit my ball less than four yards, then smacked it out of bounds and then hit it into what the game called an “unplayable” position. Thinking about it I’ve never played a golf game that’s controlled like Eikou No St. Andrews before. The only thing I can even loosely compare it to is Pokemon Let’s Go of all things.

Worth emulating? For the novelty of playing a Japan-only N64 game that’s set ninety-two miles from my house, sure. For any other reason, no.






N64 Magazine said: …nothing at all!

What is it? Saikyo Habu Shogi, or, in other worlds, “Japanese Chess”. It was the N64’s third launch title in Japan, and a game so badly ignored next to Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 that I’ve read stories about shops giving it away. New, sealed and unplayed copies are supposedly still in abundance.

Is it any good? It’s utterly impenetrable to me. All the menu and in-game text is in Japanese, and even so I’ve got no clue how to play Shogi. I tried learning the rules through playing a few rounds of Shogi on 51 Worldwide Games on Switch, but this N64 game doesn’t have any in-game tutorials or guides.

Worth emulating? Even for intrigue’s sake, it’s not. What a strange game to release alongside a new console though. Who’d buy a board game simulator alongside their shiny new hardware?






N64 Magazine said: “Konami prove their footballing dominance with a magical soccer sim”. 89% in Issue 1, ⅗ in Issue 59.

What is it? Here’s Jikkyou J-League Perfect Striker, an earlier version of what we’d recognise as International Superstar Soccer 64, but with a J-League license and no sign of Scottish international players such as “Roberto”, “Gallach” and “Wyatt”.

Is it any good? ISS 64 is my favourite football game of all time, and playing an earlier version of it is strangely illuminating. It provides me with context I suppose, and a better understanding of the changes and updates that were made when it came to Europe under it’s new International Superstar Soccer guise in 1997. They’re not too dissimilar all told, and so for that reason the answer to the question “is it any good” is a resounding ‘yes’.

Worth emulating? It’s a fantastically playable kickabout whatever way you play it, but here you’re missing that fabulous ISS 64 commentary. There’s no “IT’S A LONG SHOT!” or “Fresh bluuuuuuuuuuuuuud is coming in” here, sadly.






N64 Magazine said: “Fun but goes on a bit and, obviously, guarantees minority audiences”. 79% in Issue 12, ⅘ in Issue 59.

What is it? Lastly is 64 de Hakken! Tamagotchi Minna de Tamagotchi World, a four-player board game that pre-dates Mario Party. As well as taking turns, moving round the board and playing minigames, you also need to care for your Tamagotchi throughout gameplay. Making sure they’re happy, clean and well-fed seems to make your pet evolve, just like in the virtual reality keychain.

Is it any good? It’s certainly energetic, memorable and very Japanese, but good perhaps isn’t the word to describe it. It’s quite hard and it doesn’t make much sense. Right enough, everything’s in it’s native language, but even if it were translated into English I still don’t think I’d understand what’s going on.

Worth emulating? Give it a go, even if only to say “what the flying fuck was that?”.

I've been meaning to learn Shogi (through 51 Worldwide games, not an obscure N64 title) for a while now.

That Tamagotchi game actually sounds interesting. Played online or across multiple Switches, a game that required you to take care o f your virtual pet while also using it in minigames and that could be a laugh.

Keep up the good work Cappa

masofdas wrote:

Keep up the good work Cappa

Seconding this - I read every one of these write-ups and enjoy the trip down memory lane each time. I'm not sure I ever played the N64 Bust-a-Move games, and didn't really buy into the PS2 one with the baby on the cover. Maybe I was spoilt by the best version: Beehive Bedlam with a Sky remote.

Shogi is the one of the few parts of Japanese culture I've not got the patience for, which is a shame as it's in every Yakuza game.

I'd like to Third this and say you're doing the lord's work Cappa. Back in the day, we would've lapped up any of the Konami footy games, even if they were based around the J-League, I reckon.

Cheers for these nice words. It’s not so much ‘doing the Lord’s work’ as it is ‘not being that busy at work’. When my appointments don’t show up or I’ve got all my admin done, I’ve got all the time in the world to scribble some notes on Saikyo Habu Shogi. Beehive Bedlam needs it's own thread though, top game for top shaggers.

I’ve still got all the N64 reviews I typed in lockdown too. Such as:



N64 Magazine said: “Why Nintendo put their name to this appalling sequel is a mystery of Area 51 proportions”. 38% in Issue 20, 0/5 in Issue 59.
64 Magazine said: “A sequel that’s nearly as bad as the original!”. 23% in Issue 18.

After ploughing through Cruis’n USA on one sunny lockdown evening, I decided to play it’s balder and fatter son, Cruis’n World. This still got its arse smacked by critics, and I don’t think it’s even got that endearing crapness that Cruis’n USA does. World isn’t the catastrophe that the magazines in 1998 were telling you it was, but it doesn’t improve on things like a good sequel should. It’s similarly structured to Cruis’n USA, with added cars and tracks from across global locations such as England, India and, er, The Moon. It looked out of date on release, and for a N64 sequel that they originally charged forty quid for I’d have expected more depth to the gameplay. But to be fair it’s an arcade experience, and it’s a fairly smooth port of what I assume was a decidedly average game in the first place. Playing it through for the first time in 2020 was just okay, and I don’t think another three years would have changed my mood and thoughts about it. 5/10.



N64 Magazine said: ...amazingly, I can’t find it in any Club 64 Directory. I vaguely remember that they gave it 20% or something.
Nintendo Official Magazine said: "Off road in chunk trucks. Rubbish”. 68% in Issue 96.
64 Magazine said: “Based on Cruis’n USA, and nearly as bad!”. 27% in Issue 17.

I’ll throw my review of Off Road Challenge in here too, as it’s not likely you’ve got any memories of it. Actually, it’s much likelier that you’ve never even heard of it. You’ll perhaps know of its prequel though, the famed and acclaimed Super Off Road on the NES and SNES. That’s a damn good game that needs to come to Nintendo Switch Online. Anyway, Off Road Challenge ditches that game’s isometric view, and instead is essentially Cruis’n with big trucks on dirt roads. After Cruis’n USA and Cruis’n World, that’s a very simple game engine that’s being trotted out for a third time on N64, though at least Off Road Challenge tries to jazz things up with ramps, tricks, nitro boosts and shortcuts. It keeps Super Off Road’s progression system where you spend your winnings to upgrade your truck, but otherwise, it’s a typical Midway arcade racer.

Truthfully, it wouldn’t have felt out of place as a launch title on PlayStation or SEGA Saturn - and even then folk would have probably thought it was foosty auld pish next to Ridge Racer and Daytona USA. In 1998 and put next to proper cutting-edge stuff like Gran Turismo and Colin McRae Rally, the magazines certainly weren’t impressed. I think they were unfair in this case though. While not as good as Super Off Road or it’s own sequel Off Road Thunder, I think Off Road Challenge is good, mindless fun. With box art and graphics like that, I think there was no danger that anybody would have been buying it new for £50, but for a weekend rental it would have more than sufficed. I sort of feel like I missed out because of the reviews of the time - the gameplay shines through its rough exterior. 7/10.

Much like Metroid Fusion, an older game ported to a new system but with no real new features (you got rewinds etc) that I feel Killzone even though playing on PS5 fits here.

This isn't the first time I've played Killzone Liberation, though it is the first time I've finished it, I think? Because this is on PSN does have trophies now (got the platinum) which are for the first four chapters of the game and so are the challenge trophies.

Yet there's a fifth chapter (same a fifth chapter of challenges), so after I "finished" the game based on trophies I had a wee google and Chapter 5 was DLC, why I say I can't remember if I finished or not as I may have only played Chapter's 1-4 and never saw the credits etc as they aren't on the UMD.

Still very odd that this version on PSN has the DLC for the campaign and challenges (no MP stuff) yet trophies are for the base game, I'm curious why they did this.

The game itself is really fun, and sort like a more action MGS with the top-down view it uses on the PSP compared to an FPS, which could have been done and the face buttons to aim like in Coded Arms. And you can duck behind cover, try to sneak behind enemies, fight mechs and even a tank with grenades, all in an okay story the links up to Killzone 2.