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Hey guys! I'm really busy with revision and homework and stuff so I can't really talk, so here's my recent room tour:
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Amount Paid:
Psychic Detective Vol 4 (J) 0.99
Sega Classics Arcade/Sherlock Holmes (U) 0.50
Corpse Killer (E) (No manual) 16.86
Formula 1: Beyond the Limit (E) 4.99
Total Paid: 794.00
(long time in a while to see an integer money value)
The recent acquisition of my Hori Fighting Stick has gotten me in a very arcadey kind of mood. I've been going through various genres that I tend to associate with the feel of an arcade stick. That being said, don't be shocked if the Game Boy Player Land blog becomes a bit flooded with these sort of random rundowns of stray games. First up: Shmups.
Now I should note that different people tend to classify genres differently. It tends to be a personal thing. Shmup, or slang for "shoot 'em up" (as anyone who frequents this website is well aware) is described by the all-knowing Wikipedia as a game in which "the player controls a lone character, often a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks." This is actually exactly how I tend to think of Shmups. Others consider something like Contra to be part of the genre. But in my head -- no spaceship, no Shmup. Contra and the likes are Run-N-Guns, which many consider to be a sub-genre of Shmups, but again -- no spaceship, man. So to me those two genres are millions of miles apart. That's just me.
Also, I think it's important to point out that this is not meant to be any sort of comprehensive list, or Best Of, or anything like that. Ultimately, it just touches upon games that I've actually had experience with.
 
Gradius Galaxies seems like a good place to start. I mean look, right there in the title... it says Gradius, so it must be good. Right? Well, sadly that's just not the case. Sadly, Galaxies has a lot going for it, but manages to drop the ball. The graphics are certainly top-notch, but the huge downfall is the control. Unfortunately, control is pretty much the most important aspect of whether a Shmup will be playable or not. And Gradius Galaxies is damn-near unplayable as far as I'm concerned. You see, the ship is terribly terribly slow. I mean really slow. I mean if you're at the top of the screen and you hold the down button expect to really wait a while to make it to the bottom of the screen. In a genre that prides itself on pandemonium, this kind of snail's-pace just doesn't cut it.
 
Invader seems to be a somewhat overlooked GBA exclusive from 2002. And it's pretty much everything I want out of a Shmup. It's brightly colored with crazy robotic bugs and explosions. It's got lots of power-ups, a fantastic ambient-techno soundtrack and vocoder voices. It's really hard, but not infuriating. This is a game I cannot praise enough. Though it's rare that I see it mentioned when discussing GBA Shmups, ultimately I think it will earn a certain cult-status. In my eyes it's like the Ikaruga of the Game Boy Advance.
 
Iridion II tends to be the first game anybody ever mentions when discussing Shmups released for the Game Boy Advance. And with good reason. In reality Iridion II -- which is somewhat confusingly the sequel to Iridion 3D -- is a fantastic game. It's got a great control scheme, and stunningly innovative graphics. To be fair, this game and Invader are certainly a tough call as far as which is my favorite GBA Shmup. I've actually never played Iridion 3D but from what I can tell it portrays its ship from an over-the-shoulder perspective like Space Harrier or Star Fox. Though those are two games I love, I generally flock more towards traditional vertical or horizontal shooters.
 
R-Type III: The Third Lightning is such a frustrating release to me. Take a look at those pictures and you can see that this is a game with gorgeous graphics. They certainly are on par, and maybe surpass the SNES version. However my major plight with this game -- and it's the same problem I had with the previous Game Boy and Game Boy Color R-Type games -- is that the ship is just too big for the screen which results in incredibly difficult maneuvering. Your ship is just so long that it works as a detriment, making even simple movements result in crashing into something. This is a real letdown considering just how great the game looks. I've heard that some fans really love the Game Boy releases, so who know; maybe this game is for you. But I just couldn't get over this flaw in any of the Game Boy entries in the series.
Besides these, there's a supposedly near-perfect port of the SNES classic Phalanx that I would love to track down. Similarly there's the Japan-only release of Darius R which I'd love to get my hands on. But you tell me, what GBA Shmups am I missing out on? And more importantly, which should I avoid?
What's that? You say its April 20th? OK, it is a little late for the RFG Thanks for March, I guess the zombie brain eating earlier this month left me a little forgetful. But late is still better than never, right?
March was another great month for RFG and its members. There were 2,352 total submissions;1,037 page edits; 358 image submissions; and 525 title additions. Many of you helped us to gather all these wonderful bits of information. But five of you stood out of the crowd and made over 100 submissions alone. Those members were Paully3433, Izret101, Link41, ApolloBoy, and Madir. Rounding out the top ten submitters were ga5ket, Duke.Togo, NES_Rules, Shadow Kisuragi, and Pop Culture Portal.
But as always, many of those submissions wouldn't go anywhere without our team of reviewers. In March, with well over 100 approvals, the top reviewers were Izret101 and ApolloBoy.
Now let's see if we can April even better! We're getting very close to 55,000 scans and 30,000 screenshots in the database. Maybe we can do it in April, if you've got a scanner and/or a way to capture screenshots; get to it and make some submissions. You will be helping out RFGeneration, its members and the countless others that use us as a resource for their collecting needs. Plus, its always neat to have your name and/or a picture of one of your games forever immortalized on the Internet!
Finally, I'd like to announce the promotions of Izret101 and Paully3433! Because of their continued contributions, they have been promoted to DB Editor and DB Reviewer, respectively.
Well there was no update last week because I finally took a vacation to Cancun... what a blast that was, but that is another story.
This week I woke up very early and hit up the big flea market in my area, and then picked up a few friends and drove to the TooManyGames expo.
Found a few great deals at the flea market.
First stop I purchased 10 nintendo games with the holder.
Was asking $2 each, I purchased them all for $10.
Received: Skate or Die, R.C. ProAM, Rad Racer, Othello, Marble Madness, 1942, Top Gun, John Elways Quarterback, TMNT Arcade Game, Spy Hunter.
From another stand picked up the Final Fantasy XII strategy guide for $2. Can anyone shed any light why it says "Not For Sale" on the back though? So I am not entirely sure.
Another Pickup was Frogger 2 and Crash 2 Mint In Box, and Pac Man World CIB for $3 Each.
Last Pickup of the flea market was Mega Man X4 for the PS1 in a Sega Rally Case, NHL 99 CIB, VR Gold 97 CIB, Boxing CIB, Powerboat Racing CIB, Wild 9 Disk Only, and Dark Stone CIB all for $5.
After this was the TooManyGames Expo.
I probably wont be going back to that next year. I honestly dont feel it was even worth the 2 hour drive it took me to get there.
The expo was 1 medium sized room. In that room there were about 7 different places selling all sorts of video games from every system, one had imports. 5 out of the 7 places the prices were extremely overpriced, even what I could purchase a copy off ebay for. (I am a cheapassgamer at heart and will never pay retail for a game)
One of the places had decent prices, and 1 had good prices.
There were a few vendors selling shirts, a video game art stand (which was very cool), and a place selling food.... hot dogs and cookies lol.
On the other size of the room they had about 10 tvs hooked up to 10 different systems you could try out, and a few tournaments starting up.
There was also a dance club type room where they were playing techno remixes of old nintendo tunes... but everybody was just standing around, and there were about 5 people dressed like star wars characters on the dance floor playing light saber.
Was kind of just expecting everything to be bigger and better. Brought $500 with me looking to spend and only spent $70... oh well.
Here is the merchandise:
For the Gamecube I purchased Bomberman Generation and Metroid Prime for $5 each, CIB.
For the Xbox I purchased Doom 3 and Munch's Oddysee for $5 each, CIB.
For the NES I purchased Shigen the Ruler, The Ultimate Stuntman, and Caveman Games, all 3 for $10.
I also Purchased Zelda for the SNES CIB with everything it originally included for $35. I was most excited about this purchase. Speaking of an example of the prices, this same game at a different stand they wanted $75 for.
The last purchase is while I was talking to the artist selling video game art for quite awhile and while I was leaving he said he brought a few games to sell and asked if i wanted to check them out, I said definitely and he sold me SNES: Super Mario World, Super Mario All Stars, Aladdin, StarFox, N64: Diddy Kong Racing, and Jaguar: Iron Soldier. 6 games for $5. Sweet.
The Enchanted Arms Special Edition I purchased at the Gamestop by the Airport after getting back from Cancun for a little under $10.
The above blurry cellphone picture is of my gaming setup -- I'm playing Super Street Fighter II Turbo, if you're curious. I've been asked many times to show it off, so here it is in tiny cellphone pixelated format. The reason for showing it off now is because I wanted to celebrate with you, dear Game Boy Player Land blog readers, my newly acquired holy grail -- the Hori Fighting Stick.
 
 
Yes the Hori Fighting Stick is an arcade stick that I've wanted for quite some time. So it's kind of a big deal that I finally have it. For a while I was content to seek out an easier-to-find alternative. And trust me, I tried. However it wasn't until I got my Hori Game Boy Player Controller that I knew that nothing was going to substitute the quality of Hori.
At any rate, here's a bit of a rundown of the others that I tried...
 
My first Gamecube arcade stick was the Soul Calibur II stick that Nuby Tech released when Soul Calibur II came out. The stick was actually made to work universally with Gamecube, XBox and PS2 which is actually a pretty cool feature if you have multiple consoles. The stick certainly looks rather cool with its Soul Calibur graphics, and it's a pretty sturdy build. As cool as the stick looks on display, I wasn't that impressed with it functionally. The stick itself can only be described as clunky, and the buttons seemed to stick at times. It isn't a horrible controller, but it's not the most fluid either.
 
Next I tried the Wii Shaft, which despite its name is actually a Gamecube controller. The stick is made by a third party manufacturer and is pretty easy to find at an affordable price online. It's a compact design which is nice. However, this stick was far worse than the Nuby. Though the buttons were a little nicer to press, the stick on the other hand was so loose that if offers almost no accurate control at all. This one I'd stay away from unless you're desperate.
 
The Hori stick comes in two flavors, the more common Soul Calibur II version (left) and the more generic Fighting Stick (right). Other than the Soul Calibur graphic they are the same exact thing. The Hori stick is incredibly durable, with a good weight to it. The stick itself clicks like many real arcade cabs, and the buttons feel just as accurate. This is the kind of stick I was hoping for since I first became a Cube enthusiast.
I personally use mine almost entirely for games on the Game Boy Player which means that only four of the six buttons are used in any one game. Of course thanks to the Z-Button menu, the layout can be reconfigured however you prefer. If you are planning on using this stick for Gamecube games then certainly it's important to point out the lack of a C-Stick. But if you're a hardcore Game Boy Player like myself, then this stick is pretty much the best thing you could pair your Cube with. Trust me. I figured that out the hard way.
Normally my blogs contain humorous little diatribes or reflective thoughts on gaming and collecting in general. However, I feel the very pressing need to make a PSA to the gaming and collecting community at large:
Sellers, PLEASE start checking your games for 'disc rot'.
YES, it exists. I've bought half a dozen games this year alone, online, that had this problem upon arrival, including Panzer Dragoon Saga and several Turbo CD games.
What is disc rot?
Well, first let's explain what it is not: an indication of someone handling the game poorly. Unless there is a scratch on the top layer of the disc that ends up appearing similar to disc rot (a tiny nick on the label can look similar), the problems are separate and unrelated. For some of the games I purchased, the seller felt cheated because of the claim that there were no scratches or problems with the disc and that it was well taken care of. Disc rot damage is typically unrelated to how well one takes care of the disc.
Continue reading An important note to Video Game Sellers and Buyers
Like many collectors, I sometimes browse Ebay listings of cheap Game Boy carts in an effort to stumble upon something awesome. And one night the cover above caught my eye. I had completely forgotten about Spider-Man 2, but I knew the instant that I saw it that I had owned the game when I was younger. And how could I have not? Look at that cover! It has Carnage on it! And yet strangely as hard as I tried, I just could not recollect the game itself. I did a quick Google Image Search, and nothing jogged my memory. I could see the game was published by LJN who had been responsible for several games I have fond memories of, so I figured it was worth tracking down.
When the game arrived I tossed it into my Game Advance SP and within about two minutes I remembered Spider-Man 2 with a vengeance. Yes friends, this game is terrible. It is so unbelievably hard that I doubt anybody has ever had the skill patience to even make it past the first level. I know I never did when I was younger (and I was way more skillful patient when I was younger).
 
The game begins in an abandoned warehouse. You exit out a window and there's the Hobgoblin. Then he hits you with a pumpkin-bomb, you fall off the side of the building, quickly run out of webs while trying to make your way back up to the Hobgoblin and eventually somebody kills you or you just shut the game off in disgust. Seriously. That's everything that happens in this game. I mean, it's possible that there are other levels after this one. But I'm not sure they're needed, because this scenario is going to play out every time.
And yet what's really strange about this game is that I have no urge to get rid of it. I've gotten rid of far better games than this simply because I never felt like playing them. Perhaps there's a part of me that wants to hang on to the nostalgia associated with a game that infuriated the child version of myself nearly 20 years ago. Or maybe I'm just a masochist.
The Ring: Terror's Realm
Yeah, it's been a little while since I updated this. I apologize about that. So to herald my triumphant return to discussing the joys of horror gaming, I present you with a title so horrific and so foul that I must beseech you, nay, get down on my knees and beg you never, ever, ever to even consider playing it!
No, seriously, this game is terrible. Not only do I enjoy horror, I also can enjoy a horribly made game from time to time. I believe it's something to do with an almost kitsch value to it that makes it unique and allows me to laugh at it. The Ring: Terror's Realm did its best to go above and beyond anything I had ever experienced. I have beaten the title, and I can honestly claim that it is not only a bad game, it is the WORST game I have ever played. And I own Pit-Fighter for the Super Nintendo.
But I suppose an explanation is in order. The Ring: Terror's Realm is a Dreamcast game based upon the Ringu property, albeit an extremely loose take on it. The game follows Meg Rainman as she starts work at the Center for Disease Control following the death of her boyfriend Robert, who was also a CDC employee. Once at work, she begins exploring and investigating a strange computer program called RING, which apparently leads her into a strange and horrific virtual world where mankind battles it out in abandoned buildings against strange monsters.
I'm sorry, did I say monsters? I mean gorillas, cat things, and strange goblin-looking critters of various colors. And when I say abandoned buildings, I mean the CDC building. Yes, that is a bit of a spoiler, but you don't really want to play this game, so don't worry about it. The monsters don't really do much beyond running up and attacking you, which they have a nasty habit of doing at a rate that will prevent you from getting a round off if they get too close. They also randomly float in the air and drop down on top of you...I think that was more of a bug that never got resolved when the game was created. At least I hope it was.
To fight these critters, Meg has an arsenal of various weapons she will acquire, all fitted with laser sights, so you can aim at critters across the room, if you can see them with the fixed cameras and if they're standing upright. Perhaps the greatest point in the game's favor, at least in my opinion, is that Meg's also not a total pushover. She can fight while unarmed, knocking the monsters away or kicking them, which is especially useful on the cat creatures.
And then there's the graphics...
...but I won't be too critical of them. I feel its appearance is out of place for a Dreamcast title, but we are retro gamers. Games don't have to look spectacular for us to enjoy them. Just understand that people look blocky and move in unnatural means, and the textures are bland and repetitive. And creature movement isn't any better. There are some nifty mechanics with enemies having a difficult time detecting you in the dark, but it rarely comes into play.
As for the sound, there's only a handful of musical tracks, and these usually consist of five, maybe six notes in a sequence before repeating. It quickly becomes nauseatingly repetitive, and the creature sounds feel off. The voice acting is also some of the absolute worst, with the random friend who appears in the intro video earning my choice as the worst actor ever. The only saving grace is the sound at the starting menu of the game, where confirmations reward the player with the most satisfying squishing sounds I've ever heard. I broke into peals of laughter every time I heard them.
And finally there's the story exposition. Or the lack thereof.
You will need a guide for this game, or a lot of free time, because very rarely are you told what you are supposed to do next. Characters sometimes speak in broken English and conversation always comes off as stilted and disjointed. There's also little in the way of true character development, and most seems to be there solely to fill a stereotype or perform a nameless role. Characters will sometimes fly off the handle for no real reason in an unexpected emotional outburst. It makes for some tough going.
If you're really interested in seeing some gameplay, here's a video. You'll have to skip to about the 1:00 minute mark to get past their intro, but if you want a good laugh, check it out:
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One of my highest collecting priorities these days is tracking down all the games I remember spending the most time with when I was younger. What this means is that although certainly classic games like Super Mario Bros. 3 or A Link To The Past are high on that list, they also rub elbows with games that another collector may have never played -- or even thought twice about playing. Friends, I present you with one such game: Robocop.
Released in 1990 and developed by Ocean, Robocop was based on the ultra-violent film classic of the same name. Due mainly to the limitations of the Game Boy hardware, the game isn't nearly as blood-soaked as the film, but it is a surprisingly competent release which is saying a lot for a movie-licensed 8-bit game.
 
The game is mainly a side-scroller in which you patrol the mean streets of Detroit. There are a load of scumbags out there looking to take you down, and for an incredibly strong cyborg you can die pretty easily. And unfortunately the controls can feel a bit clunky. For instance when you duck down, you have to manually push Up to stand up again. However, this and the rather limited height of Robocop's jumps actually help to make him feel a bit more robotic and heavy. Perhaps this was unintended, or perhaps it was brilliant design. Either way, it works in a strange way.
What's really interesting about the game are the mid-levels. Each one offers some kind of change-of-pace to the usual shoot-everything side-scrolling levels. For instance, you may find yourself reconstructing the face of a wanted criminal via the police computer systems. Or maybe you'll be using a scope to disrupt a hostage situation in the first-person perspective. There's definitely a lot of variety to the level layouts. And in no shocking surprise for many early Game Boy releases, Robocop gets really hard really quickly. Though there are only ten levels total, I've never beat the game myself. And yet, the difficulty never really stops it from being fun either.
There are a surprising number of Game Boy sequels including a crossover with the Terminator, and even eventual Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance releases. But I can't speak about any of them from experience. All I can say is that either nostalgia has skewed things way out of perspective, or Robocop is one hell of a fun game.
Got two new systems and a few new games recently, so I thought I'd post my revised set up and let you guys peek inside the drawers. Take a look.
This is my updated full set up, with the drawers open so you can see. The image on the TV is actually my custom health warning screen for the Wii, my Wii is hacked to have a custom theme too, I'll post specifics on that in another post.
This is a close up of my stack of most played systems. Notice the Playstation nestled between the NES and N64! That's new. That's the box my copy of Ocarina of Time came in. I thought I was getting the original case, but whatev, I got the game, that's what matters most.
This is the right side drawer, just some gamecube controllers, games, and various accessories.
This is the left side. My other new addition, a first gen Sega Genesis and Sonic 2, 3, and Sonic and Knuckles. No hook ups or controllers yet, but I'll get those later. Some SNES games, just A Link to the Past and Sim City 1, no SNES yet, but I figured I'd snag those as I play those on emulators alot. My 64 games and NES games on the right. My mom has a labler, so I label my N64 games on the top for easier sorting. Almost forgot to mention the Gameboy Color there next to the Sega.
So that's it for now, Makin' good progress or what?
Every wonder what it would be like to have RPG elements added to a wrestling game? Wonder no more, Hybrid Heaven shows you that it can be awesome!!
Continue reading Unloved #11: Hybrid Heaven
Jamie Woodhouse may not be a household name, but he's certainly an interesting fellow: a game designer who dropped out of college (his major was designing games) so that he could just get on with designing games. His major claim to fame is a puzzle-platformer called Qwak; a title in the vein of Bubble Bobble, Parasol Stars, or other similar deceivingly cutesy games from a simpler time in gaming history. Though it was initially released on the BBC Micro in 1989, Qwak would eventually be ported to Acorn Electron, Amiga, Amiga CD32, and in 2006 Game Boy Advance. But what's special about the Game Boy Advance release is that Jamie decided to release the damn thing himself. By this time he had had enough experience designing GBA games to just make this his own pet project and sell the homebrew carts, xeroxed instructions and downloadable printable boxes right on his website. However, here's a bit of a breakdown of all the GBA titles that Jamie has had a hand in creating.
 
Simon is a port of the old handheld electronics game. Y'know, there's four buttons -- each a different color. They light up and play a note in random order and you have to play it back. Sort of a precursor to the rhythm games we have today. The GBA version is exactly that. Although it may trigger some nostalgia and perhaps even boost your memory (I have no scientific data to back that up), it's not incredibly engrossing either.
 
A port of the board game Scrabble Junior was a similar upgrade of a childhood favorite. This conversion bodes much better than Simon as it's far easier to get sucked into. It's also a perfect match for a handheld, as it's the kind of game that you can easily kill some spare time with.
 
Next was a port of the 1979 arcade classic, Lunar Lander. The GBA version is an extremely faithful recreation. And trust me, it's just as hard as ever. Retro-fans of the original will certainly be thrilled with the attention to detail, though newcomers may find the vector graphics to sort of sell the GBA's video output a bit short.
 
Lego Racers 2 is possibly the most ambitious GBA release that Jamie developed. On the surface it's an average 2D racer reminiscent of Super Mario Kart. But what's interesting is the story mode, which adds Grand Theft Auto-ish missions and even statistical elements of an RPG. It's certainly an interesting mix of high- and low-action genres.
 
In 2006 Jamie decided to independently port his masterpiece, Qwak to the GBA. This version is fantastic. It seems almost like it was meant to live on the portable console with it's bright colors bursting out of its dark backgrounds and the condensed Donkey Kong-like levels. And much like the 1994 Game Boy release of DK, the levels just keep on coming, delivering hours of challenging game time. This cart is a must-have for GBA puzzle fans. And although the Game Boy officially "died" sometime in 2007, perhaps there's hope that independent developers could continue to breath new life into the fan favorite console.
Check out the rest of Jamie Woodhouse's portfolio, and beg him to port his other games to GBA here: http://www.jamiewoodhouse.co.uk
About two weeks have gone by since my last post, but I finally have new systems, one of which I'm very excited for. Took a trip to a local Goodwill as many of you have suggested, and I'm glad I did. Scored two systems and 3 games. I found an original Playstation for 5 bucks, no cords, controllers or games, but I'll get those elsewhere. The next thing I'm very excited for, a first generation Sega Genisis with the power cord (no RF cord yet)! It has no controllers, but again, I'll get them eventually. A little more digging and I found Sonic The Hedghog 2 and 3 and Sonic and Knuckles, arguably the best games for the system. Even though I can't play them, I'm very satisfied with my findings, there's another Goodwill in my town, I'll check it out when I get a chance.
I finally got a working copy of Snatcher on Sega CD this week (I've owned the import Playstation version for a long time but can't read Japanese) and went through it mostly in one sitting.
Wow.
It is quite remarkable, coming from someone who went through the entirety of American Metal Gear games first, to go back and see what is essentially the prototype CD-ROM narrative of Hideo's work. Every major facet Hideo is known for is present in Snatcher, and since both the man's ideas and the technology were both so relatively new at the time, to go back and review it seems to almost distill what makes a Kojima project into its very essence.
The heavy clash of anime and western influences. The repeated fourth-wall breaks and humor. The obsession with humanizing technology while showing the isolating effects. The noir style. The jazz overtones in the drama scenes. The overcooked dialogue and emoting. The crazy plotting and pacing. The stretched out to ridiculousness monologues. The romantic entanglements and hero worship. Humanity needs a savior from outside of humanity mantras. Tons of hidden or easy-to-miss easter eggs and secrets. Walking robots.
***MGS3 and Snatcher spoilers ahead alerts !!!***
Heck, huge chunks of Metal Gear Solid 3, my personal favorite of that series, seems lifted right out of Snatcher, including Cold War east-west tensions, genetic manipulation, father/son legacy issues with elements of patricide, secret government WMDs that fell into private hands, impossible resurrections, double agents, I could go on and on. I was amazed over and over at the copied elements.
The technical elements were very similar in many ways as well. Both Snatcher and every MGS title were known to push technological limits of the hardware at the time; while Snatcher doesn't expand the Sega CD into new territory like the MGS games did with Sony's hardware, the use of the then new CD storage was put to justified use.
Snatcher has lots of voice-overs, CD-quality music, a rather lengthy story, and it's own in-game accessible historical database of game fiction to dig into. It was one of the first Sega CD games that simply could not have been as engrossing on a cart.
It also has almost no gameplay. And I love it for that.
What?
When I wrote earlier that I went though all the American Metal Gear games, that's true, from a certain point of view. I myself completed MGS and over half of MGS2. But the gameplay mechanics began to really frustrate me in 2, feeling overly complicated and unintuitive. All the immersive factors in the world are lost to me when after four hours of play I still fumble with the controls. I don't know exactly why. But I played MSG 3 and 4 and felt the same way.
Thankfully, my buddy Arkyst is a real MGS nut and doesn't have the same hang ups, so he took me through all of MGS 2,3, and 4 and even showed me all of the little tricks and secrets. I love those games, I just can't play them well.
But Snatcher is a different animal all-together. The closest it comes to a traditional video game is the arcade-like shooting scenes, where you use the d-pad and select a quadrant (the screen is divided into a 3 X 3 grid) and press a button to shoot. They get fast-paced, but out of an eight hour experience there are perhaps around half a dozen times you do this (and few other times the game requires you to shoot once or twice.)
The rest of the gameplay is simply selecting from menus, using the look and investigate commands on the same selections of each area repeatedly. It may sound boring, but it turns the experience into more of an interactive graphic novel, or better yet an electronic choose-your-own-adventure book. The story is good enough (and the voice acting and writing tolerable enough) that you want to solve the mystery, and the game's universe consistent and well thought out enough that everything makes sense in the context of the well developed background. Most things in Snatcher reach around to get full circle in a way that even good novels often miss the mark, not to mention the hack job that often passes for a video game narrative.
Unlike MGS 2 and up, I could play Snatcher, and it almost never got in the way. That is, until the very end, in which the shooting sequence took a Mount Everest sized spike in difficulty that saw me getting out the Genesis Justifier light gun to get past, as the d-pad went from passable to yeah-right. This end bit was admittedly a klaxon in a symphony. There has to be a better way to ratchet up the tension at the end.
For a game that requires little more than for you to stay awake and occasionally solve an obtuse puzzle for 98% of the time, you are suddenly expected to have cat-like reflexes for the rest of the 2% of gameplay. Imagine getting through a Zelda game, reaching Ganon, and suddenly you have to play through a Battletoads 3rd stage hyperbike scene with no recourse in order to see the ending. That's comparatively what Snatcher pulled, and while I finished it, it was jarring.
Nonetheless, overall it was a refreshing experience, and now I desperately want to go through the spiritual-successor follow up, Policenauts. Unfortunately that never made it over here in the States, and I'm not sure I'm brave enough to try a patch method. Ah, who am I kidding. One day I'll try.
Snatcher was a great experience that made me briefly re-evaluate what a game is, and somewhat surprised me (even more so than the MGS games) into remembering that for all the critics of cut-scenes over gameplay, everyone's understanding of interactivity is a little different. I enjoyed 'playing' Snatcher more than the MGS games not because it controlled better, but because the 'gameplay' fit like a glove for the format (until the very end) and I could sit back and enjoy it instead of being hampered by gameplay choices that I might not overcome. I doubt I'd have ever experienced the rest of the MGS saga if it weren't for Arkyst (I put many, many hours into MGS 4, I really tried) and it would be a shame if that happened to Snatcher as well.
So, even though it is still pricey, I HIGHLY recommend Snatcher if:
a) you are a Hideo Kojima fan and want to see how much his early stuff fits in with the rest
b) you like Blade Runner (of which the story is 85% derivative of)
c) you are a fan of Cyber Punk and Sci-Fi
d) you enjoy the type of gameplay found in the likes of Hotel Dusk, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, and the Carmen Sandiego series
e) you want to see a game that really needed an M rating for violence, blood and gore (if only for a few scenes)
f) you are collecting Sega CD games and want something to flush the taste of 'Lawnmower Man' down
g) you want to see an inventive and eclectic puzzle design (seriously, the Oleen puzzle was nifty after you recheck your inventory and know what it wants, but the extra letter at the end of the real answer made it a bit too unnecessarily abstract for me.)
h) you want to see a club in a video game that contains people dressed up like the Contra guys, Goeman, Dracula, Simon Belmont, and Sparkster (that scene was so cool!)
i) Dude, you should number lists if they're gonna hit 'I'
j) Seriously, you made it to 'J'?
But enough talk. Have at you!
(Yes, I know the difference between Hideo and IGA. But both the title and end references are from Konami and the title fit. Hush.)
If you've been following this blog at all then you're probably aware of the Together Retro game club that I follow that's curated by the folks over at http://www.racketboy.com. The game for March was the original Phantasy Star, a game that I never got the chance to play prior. Thankfully a cart containing the first three games of the series was released for the GBA in 2002. Though I did have a Sega Master System years ago, I didn't adopt it until around the time that the Genesis was released and toy stores threw Master Systems into a bargain bin. Unfortunately, Phantasy Star was never one of the games that found its way into the same bins. I do remember trying Phantasy Star II on the Genesis for a short time, but the entire series was one that I was always aware of -- and mildly interested in -- but just never found myself curious enough to give it a go. And I had no idea just what I was missing out on.
 
What immediately became apparent to me was that Phantasy Star was a game that was far ahead of its time, bearing in mind that its contemporaries were Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior on the NES. Of course those two titles tend to epitomize what we think of as 8-bit RPG classics -- and they're the first two RPG's I ever played myself -- they actually come off as quite shallow in comparison to Phantasy Star.
The game begins with our main character, Alis as she slowly ventures out from one little town and grinds (for at least an hour!) until she can venture to the next. Pretty basic stuff. But over time you will pick up three more varied characters to add to your party and explore not only the planet that you started out on -- but two others as well!
 
Indeed the world of Phantasy Star soon becomes amazingly large and complex. There are deserts and tundras; robots and slimes; hovercrafts and landrovers! There's elements of Star Wars, Dune, and Greek Mythology. It was truly a game that was ambitious in its scope in every department -- be it the story, visuals, or music.
Unfortunately, one such ambition also leads to the games one true detriment -- its absolutely brutal-to-navigate 3D dungeons. My understanding is that upon its initial release in 1988, the Master System cartridge of Phantasy Star sold for $80. To put that it into perspective, it cost nearly as much as the Master System itself. I suppose that perhaps the 3D dungeons were a way to force the player to stretch a lot more gameplay out of the already enormous game, forcing you to eventually resort to making your own maps (or if you're playing it today instead of 1988 simply finding some online, which is exactly what I resorted to midway through my own playthrough). Of course as frustrating as the dungeons may be, they are certainly interesting and well... ballsy for a game of its time.
 
After spending the month grinding, and exploring and cussing my way through Phantasy Star, I can firmly say that the series has gained a new fan.
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