The Retro Games Thread

[crashmatt]

I've been meaning to make this post for a while now but after a recent rummage in my loft I've taken some pictures of some of my gaming collection.

The purpose of the tread is to show your old games and consoles anything really up to PlayStation 2, original xbox and Game Cube.

Show is your pick up any bargains or just discuss your old games. Anyhow to kick thinks off these are my Mega drive Games (sadly I sold my old console with a large collection many years ago) I've just picked these up over time.

Next up is my Saturn collection which im trying to add to at the moment

My Dreamcast Collection (id like to add a few titles to this)

Next Up is the Working designs Lunar Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue complete, both pretty rare these days
And the Grandia 3 Collection on PS2, this was an import and includes the soundtrack and the game

I have a load of PS2 games as well but didn't have time to dig these out.

 

[HWR]

I have a collection of retro games but it's all digital aside from some PS2 games and a few N64 games, one being a boxed copy of Goldeneye. Thanks to the PSN store and Nintendo's virtual console I've had the chance to play a lot of great titles in the best possible quality.
Also have a SNES classic pre-ordered so there's that too. I'll show it off when (if) it arrives

Great thread idea btw love a bit of retro gaming

 

[Professor Irony]

Wouldn't call myself a serious collector, but I've got a few bits people might be interested in.

Snatcher cost me more than I care to remember, but I truly love it. Some day I'll need to get a justifier light gun for the full experience. Also X is still my favourite Metal Slug, even though 3 is more sophisticated in every way. I think what does it for me is that you end up putting aside your differences with the enemy soldiers to join forces against the aliens instead.

Got some more things as well, but I'll need to dig them out first.

Next Up is the Working designs Lunar Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue complete, both pretty rare these days

Shinji face. Shinji face everywhere.

 

[Patient-X]

I still think to this day that Goldeneye 4 player split screen was/is one of the best multi-player games ever.

 

[Professor Irony]

Rise from your grave, thread and rescue my daughter.

After talking to Neil T. about Disney tie-in games in the general thread the other day, it crossed my mind that maybe we ought to have a dedicated thread for retro games, and figured maybe we could broaden this one into a more general space for musings and thoughts on what people are playing.

Having watched @Arbalest playing The Messenger recently, I took a notion to go back and replay Revenge of Shinobi, partly as I don't remember ever getting further than the airplane level when I was a kid, so I've put a good few hours into that lately. It still holds up very well; the sprites are big and chunky, the levels are varied and there's a nice rhythm to the combat that feels distinctive to the series.

I've been able to get a bit further in, but like with so many games of that era, there's no password system or even a level skip, so having to go through all the prior levels every time to get back to where I left off is becoming a bit of a grind, and I'm not sure if I'll stick with it for much longer though.

One thing that does keep me coming back, however, is the music. Although not hugely prolific, Yuzo Koshiro's music for games in this era was always amazing, and a big part of what's driven me to keep trying to get further into the Revenge is just to hear what the next level will sound like.

Koshiro did a live gig in Paris in 2018 and, dear god, what I would not have given to be at that.

Video should be timestamped, but Shinobi theme at 1:00:27

 

[Dai]

Streets of Rage had great music, and it turns out it works surprisingly well with an orchestra:

Last year's Streets of Rage 4 was an excellent sequel, finally beating SoR2 to become the new high water mark for brawlers IMO.

The Shinobi games have aged well, with Shinobi 3 still being especially slick. There was a time when I could almost 1CC Shadow Dancer, but I could never beat that final boss.

I bought a Switch last year, mainly for the massive amount of retro games available on it. It's particularly good for vert shmups, since you can rotate the screen. Most of Psikyo's output is available on there, loads from Namco, Capcom, Sega, Konami, the never-ending Arcade Archives series, plus some overlooked classics like Psyvariar. It's just a shame there's nothing from Cave or Raizing.

 

[Professor Irony]

Hah! Damn, that's amazing - Dreamer is my favourite SOR2 track, so hearing the orchestral version was quite something.

I hear a lot of good things about Shinobi 3, but like so many other games unfortunately, the cartridge seems to be crazily expensive now. I'll probably pick up the steam version once I've given up on finished Revenge.

 

[Dai]

I hear a lot of good things about Shinobi 3, but like so many other games unfortunately, the cartridge seems to be crazily expensive now. I'll probably pick up the steam version once I've given up on finished Revenge.

I haven't owned a Megadrive since 1995, so all the old Sega games I own are via various ports. I think Shinobi 3 has been included on every version of the Megadrive Collection, which I end up rebuying each generation. I've had it on PS2, PS3, and Switch. The current version is especially good because it includes plenty of filters for replicating the look of a CRT.

Every time I buy a new copy of the Megadrive collection, I try to play Phantasy Star IV, but I never get more than an hour or two into it before I lose interest. The encounter rate is ridiculous, and the story just doesn't grab me the way Final Fantasy games of that era still do. It doesn't help that the names of spells and abilities are so esoteric, and aren't explained anywhere in-game, so I have to refer to a wiki on my phone constantly.

 

[Neil.T]

After talking to Neil T. about Disney tie-in games in the general thread the other day, it crossed my mind that maybe we ought to have a dedicated thread for retro games, and figured maybe we could broaden this one into a more general space for musings and thoughts on what people are playing.

That sounds like a great idea. Maybe I can have a moan about my time spent playing Ninja Gaiden on the NES Mini a few weeks ago. It was so f**king HAAAARD towards the end!!!

(Sorry. )

 

[Professor Irony]

Ah, Ninja Gaiden - I've hovered around picking that one up a few times recently, but never taken the plunge. I remember briefly playing it in a shop once when I was a kid and not being able to get to grips with the movement, I kept getting stuck to walls when I didn't mean to...

 

[awadama]

When I was in school, I wrote something about getting a Ninja Gaiden game as a gift (in one of those “what did you do on the weekend?” writing things) and the teacher took marks off me and tried to claim it should be “Ninja Garden”.

I’ve still never forgiven her.

 

[Neil.T]

Ah, Ninja Gaiden - I've hovered around picking that one up a few times recently, but never taken the plunge.

I don't think I could really recommend it to you in good conscience, Prof: the last boss is...

It's in three phases, and put it this way: the second one has its own YouTube video with advice on how to tackle it. Frankly, I only managed it by using the NES Mini's built-in save state function to grind away at it, hit by hit. (Now I know why the console's controller cable is so bloody short: Nintendo must have anticipated you having to sit right next to the thing and repeatedly reset it as you need to keep returning to your last save state!)

To make it worse, if you get game over during any phase of the boss, you get sent all the way back to the beginning of the long final stage. (Nah, save state again, thanks.)

Most of the "challenge" in the game stems from the awfully coded enemy spawning points; sometimes you only have to turn your character around and the enemy you just defeated instantly respawns. In one level, as soon as you step back from the edge of this particular platform to get a run-up for a jump you need to make, you trigger a spawning point positioned halfway across the jump and an enemy spawns and falls off the bottom of the screen repeatedly. Elsewhere there's another spawning point that creates a flying enemy, again part of the way across a jump. The game plays like the developers actively embraced the badness as a part of it.

I remember briefly playing it in a shop once when I was a kid and not being able to get to grips with the movement, I kept getting stuck to walls when I didn't mean to...

Hah, you too?? I'd wondered if that was just me being cack-handed.
Yeah, the wall-jumping mechanics sometimes end up as another of the game's frustrations.

I take it you've got a working NES, then? I saw your copy of Mega Man 2 earlier in the thread.

the teacher took marks off me and tried to claim it should be “Ninja Garden”.

I’ve still never forgiven her.

If it makes you feel any better, in primary 1 I once wrote about something from a Saturday morning kids' programme and had to go to the teacher to ask how to spell "millennium".

She had no idea!

 

[RadFemHedonist]

@crashmatt I read that as "History of Grandma" for a sec

I'm not much of a gamer to begin with but I did buy Ookami HD from the PS3 store recently and it was nice though frustrating cuz I'm not good at gaming. I also tried playing Ico (the prequel to Shadow of the Colossus) and it was interesting but too much of a challenge for me as well. I have vaguely fond memories of beating the stuffing out of rival fighters in old fighting games like probably Street Fighter or Tekken or something XP

 

[Professor Irony]

Hmm, sounds like Ninja Garden Gaiden might not be one to go to great lengths for, in that case. I was mostly just interested because I knew it had a cult following, I don’t actually know much about the game otherwise.

I take it you've got a working NES, then? I saw your copy of Mega Man 2 earlier in the thread.

I do indeed! I still buy carts for it occasionally, but I’m not a hardcore collector or anything, it’s usually just stuff I remember reading about when I was a kid or otherwise still kick myself for not buying at the time.

The last thing I bought for it was Snake’s Revenge, the US-produced Metal Gear sequel made without Kojima’s involvement. It’s not a patch on the official Metal Gear 2, but it’s still very playable, even if the side-scrolling sections are irritating at best. I also managed to buy it without having to pay an astronomical price; dear knows what you’d pay for the actual Metal Gear at the moment.



Amusingly, the cut scene art for Snake in this one seems to be modelled on Arnie in Commando, rather than Michael Biehn as he was in the original game or Mel Gibson in the official sequel. This obviously bothered someone, as apparently there’s a rom hack to change his portrait to better match the PlayStation era art!

 

[Neil.T]

Hmm, sounds like Ninja Garden Gaiden might not be one to go to great lengths for, in that case.

I didn't mind taking a crack at it since it's included on the NES Mini, but I certainly wouldn't have wanted to actually pay for it on cartridge.

That's just my own take on it, but... yeah.

I do indeed! I still buy carts for it occasionally, but I’m not a hardcore collector or anything, it’s usually just stuff I remember reading about when I was a kid or otherwise still kick myself for not buying at the time.

Excellent. I'm the same, really. One of the big ones, for me, that I picked up last year in that regard is Tetris Attack for the SNES. (It's Puzzle League/Panel de Pon with a Yoshi's Island respray.) I've fancied that game for years, so it's great to finally have a copy. Now I just need to actually get half-decent at playing it.

What machines do you still have up and running, Prof? I've got my NES, SNES, N64, a Game Boy and a Super Game Boy adaptor cartridge for the SNES that I've had since the Nineties, and then last year I added the NES and SNES Minis, a Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance SP. I was also lucky enough to buy a couple of (unopened!) Game & Watch Mini Classics (Donkey Kong Jr. and Mario's Cement Factory) to add to the other two I already had (Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros.). They're neat little things.

I've always been a Nintendo fan.

I've got a Sega Master System and PlayStations 1 and 2 in storage as well, though.

 

[Professor Irony]

Oh nice! I remember Tetris Attack - I think a friend of mine had it, although I don't remember ever playing it, unfortunately.

Most of my collection is in storage at the moment too, but I've got my Mega Drive (with Mega CD) and NES set up for now. Don't think I ever really had any strong bias for either Sega or Nintendo though, I was fortunate enough to know people with consoles from each side, so spent plenty of time playing both. Saying that, it's probably the SNES I have the fondest memory of, just because it was the first time I really encountered RPGs to any great extent.

 

[Vashdaman]

Wouldn't call myself a serious collector, but I've got a few bits people might be interested in.

A connoisseur! I would agree with you on Metal Slug 2 and especially X being the best in the series. I adore MS3 too and it's probably the peak of the series visually, but 2 and X are the real highpoints and the ones that made me fall in love with the series. I remember years ago reading a hilariously negative Retro Gamer article where the author lambasted every game in series apart from 2 and X, but I couldn't entirely disagree. Still, what a game!

And Snatcher! Ah I still need to play that to completion one day. I too paid ridiculous money for it years ago, but never quite finished it for some reason, great game though. I even got my copy (I think the disk) signed by Kojima himself at some MGS game launch signing event. I sold it though, and I'm pretty sure for less than I actually bought it for haha.

 

[Professor Irony]

I totally get that about MS3 - it adds a lot, with branching paths in the levels and some really imaginitive visuals, but it feels kind of needlessly difficult compared to 2/X?

But yeah, weirdly, I don't think I ever finished Snatcher either. I got very close to the end, but those shooting segments are a real pain to do with the pad and there's a late game one that just seems to go on and on. I'm curious about how the original PC-88 version would play with the keyboard; it looks like the little grid that the enemies pop up in is matched to the number pad, so presumably you just hit the number key that matches where the enemy is. Seems like it would be faster than trying to use the d-pad.

That is gutting if a signed copy sold for less than you paid for it originally though...

 

[Vashdaman]

Yeah I agree with you on MS3 upping the difficulty too much, and for me 2 just has the most iconic classic levels too, but that may be partly because it was the first one I played. I really miss these kinds of exquisitely animated pixel art 2D games, I suppose there must be some small indy companies still making stuff like this? But I haven't seen any in years. Similarly I shed tears looking at the trailers for the new King of Fighters game (as decent as I'm sure it looks for what it is) when thinking a decade ago we got KOF13 one of the most lovingly animated 2D fighters ever made. But I understand it just isn't economically viable anymore.

To be honest I don't mind having sold my signed Snatcher for less. I never feel comfortable charging the kinds of horrible prices for those kinds of things that I may have paid myself, so I think most times I've sold something on I usually list it for a little less than what I bought it for. I only hope someone who loves it gets it.

 

[Professor Irony]

Happened to spot this on my travels the other night, thought it might be of interest to @Neil.T

I didn’t realise the Magical Quest sequels had simultaneous 2-player modes, that’s quite impressive.