Last Retro Game You Played? What Retro Game Are You Currently Playing?

I did. (Hated some of those purple coin stars, especially the ones where you have to go upside a moving platform, and that bloody horrendous one with Bee Mario over Sea Slide.) I even 200%ed it, if that's the right way of looking at it.

I never did 200% SMG2 though. The Perfect Run, or whatever it was called, kept killing me on the very last bit as I stressed out. Still: we can all argue about which is better until the cows come home, but SMG2 postgame >> SMG1 postgame, not a doubt there.

I did manage to completely complete them Galaxy games - I sort of regret not going back and doing it again, with the pressure off (don't ask me why my brain thinks that way!)

I get it. The Galaxy games were in that league of "this is so good, why would I play other games". I 100%ed but not quite the second, I think. I should go back . . .

I 100%'d Galaxy. I think I 100%'d Galaxy 2 as well but I'm not quite sure - did like Galaxy 2 a lot since I loved Galaxy so much, but I definitely had less enthusiasm for that game.

As for what I'm currently playing, I'm alternating between a few Fire Emblem games. The original on the NES, Fire Emblem GBA (FE7) and New Mystery of the Emblem on the DS. Pretty familiar with the NES original since I played the fairly faithful DS remake, and have played FE7 a few times, this time on Hector Hard Mode which I don't think I've seen through before, but it's my first time playing New Mystery and I've been having a lot of fun with it.

While I appreciate Shadow Dragon's more faithful approach in remaking FE1, I like how New Mystery takes the same aesthetic but mixes everything up a bit. New mechanics, side chapters, an avatar character, more characters with more of the FE1 characters returning ("everyone is here"), support conversations. It's like a proto-Awakening, though more my kind of Fire Emblem. Can't say every change is good but it's refreshing.

I did a bloody hard NES game, using my old-school patience for bullshit*. It took about 10 hours and I save-stated the heck out of it. Not even I have the patience to start from the beginning of this nonsense each time. Not sure why it's "revered" as a "classic". 5/10.

*I didn't get the "best" ending - you only get that if you reach the secret levels, and you only get to those if you pick up all the secret tile-y things. Sometimes they're hidden behind blocks. Sometimes they will be hidden by blocks, as long as you make the blocks first. This started off as an arcade game for heaven's sake.

Never got the appeal around Solomon's Key either. I remember NGamer Magazine getting a stauner when it was announced that the NES version was coming out on the Wii Virtual Console. Can't think why. It's maybe the most okayish game I've ever played.

I played it for about ten minutes on Virtual Console and felt much the same. I had more fun with NES Tennis and that's one of the worst Virtual Console purchases I made.

Did you know? In some parts of East London, NES Tennis is rhyming slang for Les Dennis.

Where can I subscribe to Did You Know Gaming as narrated by The Cappuccino Kid?

Recently I've been playing a lot of Donkey Kong Country 2 and Final Fantasy III (DS). The former because I already played through DKC1 a few years back with a friend and felt like checking out the sequel now, and the latter because I was sitting in bed and wanted a cosy RPG to play and had forgotten I was playing through one already (DQVIII).

DKC2 is awesome and I've been enjoying it the farther I've gotten but the frustrations have also steadily mounted. Like a lot of old games the saving system isn't great and serves to pad out the game. Generally I think having to replay a level you've already beaten is just bad, as a penalty, especially as some of them are slow or have a gimmick that outstays its welcome. The save system here isn't the worst by any means but I've happily used save states between each level, while I've used the free saves as a backup in case something goes wrong.

FFIII DS is as great as I remember it being. I think I only stopped playing it as a kid because I got stuck at one point and then forgot about the game, but now I can easily access a guide at any point I won't have that issue if it arises. The only big issue I have with the game is the low res. The art style is charming but the game is a bit painful to look at. You can zoom in to mitigate this and get a clearer look but that reduces your field of view. I should have just played the PSP version but I'm too far in now.

The PSP and Steam versions of FFIII Remake also allow you to access the bonus content which you unlocked through the MogNet mail system on the DS. I think it's impossible to do so now on DS, so I think you miss out on some weapons, bosses and jobs as a result. Still, the game itself is a cracker and is one of my favourite Final Fantasy games. The job system is great fun and keeps the battles feeling fresh as you progress, which is sometimes difficult if you've just got the one class to worry about in other JRPGs.

Ah, I have good memories of FFIIIDS, especially the music. Eureka anyone? Or the Crystal Tower? (Late game musical spoilers, natch.)

Good to hear you guys like FFIII a lot as well. Only learned about the bonus content later so is a bit of a shame I'll miss out on that. And yeah, guess it's expected for final fantasy games, but the music is really good. Love the battle theme.

Finished off DKC2 the other night. Despite some gripes with it, I think it's very solid all around. Mostly very good level design, the visuals are still a treat and the music is also something else.

Bramble Blast is a belter, sure enough. I don't have the same fondness for Aquatic Ambience that the Internet does though.

YAY Kriken! DKC2's a good'n (although I think the graphics work out better in the original)
BOO Balla! (Not really boo, it's just an opinion) Aquatic Ambience is amazing.

Apart from anything else I think DK water themes have been done better since.

I did like that one. Although I do remember, at the time, waiting for it to evolve into Aquatic Ambiance properly!

Just me that thinks DKC 2 is really overrated? I've played over four platformers, and that's the one where I don't enjoy the visual style, I don't enjoy the level design, I don't enjoy the challenge...I don't even really enjoy the tunes. 

Wait what that's the best DKC game.

I've gave it a fair whack (I've got the SNES cart, I bought it new on GBA and I've rebought it on 3DS Virtual Console), but nut: it's definitely not the best DKC. The new ones from the 2010s shite on the SNES ones, quite frankly. 

Good map music though. 

Definitely agree with Cappa that the modern DKC games have made me not want to return to the originals. The DKC games are certainly charming, but the heaviness of Donkey Kong has never felt like a good fit for platforming. It's like you're dragging him through a level with weak puppet strings. At least with the modern games you don't have to look at the ugly fake-3D models. They always creeped me out.

Rayman definitely feels nicer to control than heavy old DK, but Cappa's darn wrong about the tunes. DKCTF in particular, not that that's retro of course.

I remember that map music from the Game Boy version I had! Good times.

See I didn't play DKC2 to the mid 2000's and found it to be great playing as Diddy and Dixie, that it's not really nostglia like for some.

Not played much of the newer ones though.

I finished Aventures of Lolo on the ol' NES Switch thingy. I remember Zero doing a video of it and singing its praises. Yeah, I enjoyed it - it's a charming puzzle game with a gentle difficulty curve (*glares at Baba is You*). I'm glad I didn't pay £40 in 1991 money for it back then, but I'm glad I played it now. The Nintendo online subscription is a bargain, doods.

Uh-oh it's me again. I actually finished NES Metroid this time. Mainly due to the state saving at the last bit. It's not Mother Brain that's the killer in that game, it's the bloomin' lag. Ninja Gaiden next, and the getting knocked off a platform by a flying thing you couldn't avoid. Does anyone just run out of energy in that game?