Tendo City

Meant to post this two days ago, but my computer crashed and killed the post and I didn't bother. But I will now. :)

I got a SNES two days ago... it was in the local indepentant game store for $40 and I couldn't resist. :) Also got a second controller ($5) and five games... Mario World and Mario Kart for $13 each and Super Street Fighter II, Hyper Zone, and Super R-Type for $5 each. Yup... there are a few other games there I also want (Tetris Attack, Stunt Race FX, Super Return of the Jedi, and Mario Allstars...)... not nearly everything though, so I guess I'll have to eventually use ebay or something (and overpay)... oh well. But yeah, it's cool... (sure, I played many of these games as recently as last year before I got rid of my roms, but it's always better with the real thing...)

Um, Mario World is easy as remembered, while Mario Kart is frusteratingly hard. But probably better than Mario Kart 64... though I would rather have F-Zero. :)

It's always great to get some old games you never played... well not ALWAYS, like ET for Atari...

Get Chrono Trigger if at all possible. Also, Earthbound and Super Mario RPG. Maybe some DKC games too.

http://search.ebay.com/chrono-trigger-sn...ageZsearch

Chrono Trigger isn't cheap, but isn't quite as ridiculously expensive as advertised...

What do I want? I don't know, a lot of games... like with every console, there's that long list of games I want and then the shorter list of ones I'll actually end up getting... but there are a few I really need to get, like Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, F-Zero, and Super Turrican, to name a few... Yoshi's Island? Yes. Star Fox? Maybe... I don't know. It hasn't aged well... DKC? Um... maybe... if they were cheap. Their biggest selling point was the graphics, after all... the actual gameplay is pretty normal stuff. And not as good as Mario games.

Super Metroid
Final Fantasy
Kirby's Dream Course [mini-golf!]
Yoshi's Island
Super Mario RPG
Secret of Evermore
Donkey Kong Country
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
Actraiser

That's a good place to start.

Watch out, folks! He might go even crazier next and actually update his screen resolution!

Sorry, not going to happen. :) ... well maybe if I got a really big monitor, but at 17", no.

Quote:Kirby's Dream Course [mini-golf!]

Yes... maybe the Kirby platformers too, but this one most of the three. :)

Quote:Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past

Have it for GBA...

Quote:Secret of Evermore

Bad replacement for SD3, but maybe worth getting...

Quote:Actraiser

Yeah, an interesting game, too bad ActRaiser 2 dropped the strategy part...

Quote:Super Metroid

Maybe... I know it's great, but ... well one question I guess, does it have a good map? :) Classic Metroid is almost unplayable unless you play it with a walkthrough the whole way because it is so confusing and has a map, and that also made me not want to even touch Metroid 2...

Quote:does it have a good map?

Good enough.

The map is the same quality you can expect from the later 2D Metroid games, so yes it's good.

Secret of Evermore. Certainly it's better than popular opinion would admit, but the main reason it's so maligned is because it was in fact the "replacement" for SD3, and that carries a lot of resentment...

The DKC games advertised the graphics, but they were good games in their own right as well. Don't pay attention to Gamespy's idiotic "worst games ever" list. Anyone who can say DKC was "overrated" is a liar. :D The sequels didn't innovate though, at least not all that much. That's the main problem. Still, you should get at least one of them.

As for Yoshi's Island, get the GBA version. The SNES version is an awesome game. The GBA version captures it almost perfectly (except for the "touch fuzzy" effect not being fully converted, but that only matters for a few parts of like two levels). Other than that, it is portable and adds 6 new levels that are very fun in their own right. I'd recommend that over the SNES version, but that's just me.

Star Fox original didn't age well in some ways. It's still a fun game, but yeah SF64 outdoes it. If you are going for a collection though, go for it.

In the end though, there's always the Revolution :D.

Quote:The map is the same quality you can expect from the later 2D Metroid games, so yes it's good.

The Metroid games are good, but annoying because of how nonlinear and unexplained everything is (yes, even Fusion had a lot of that...)... it's not bad I guess, it just makes the games hard and kind of frusterating. I like knowing what I'm supposed to be doing (or intentionally not doing anything that really has a point, for games that are fun to replay even though you've beaten them or something like that)...

Quote:Secret of Evermore. Certainly it's better than popular opinion would admit, but the main reason it's so maligned is because it was in fact the "replacement" for SD3, and that carries a lot of resentment...

Given how incredible SD3 is (having played the translated rom), it's deserved...

Quote:The DKC games advertised the graphics, but they were good games in their own right as well. Don't pay attention to Gamespy's idiotic "worst games ever" list. Anyone who can say DKC was "overrated" is a liar. The sequels didn't innovate though, at least not all that much. That's the main problem. Still, you should get at least one of them.

I have DK Land for GB so I know the style... and it's fun, but not innovative or so incredible that I'm going to go to great lengths to get them. Maybe one sometime though.

Quote:As for Yoshi's Island, get the GBA version. The SNES version is an awesome game. The GBA version captures it almost perfectly (except for the "touch fuzzy" effect not being fully converted, but that only matters for a few parts of like two levels). Other than that, it is portable and adds 6 new levels that are very fun in their own right. I'd recommend that over the SNES version, but that's just me.

But the GBA version costs more (still $30-plus) and isn't fullscreen...

On that note, I want a Super Game Boy. Why? No, not just for the fact that it adds borders and special color schemes in like a dozen of my original GB games, but because with a SGB (and like those borders not with a GB Player) you can play 4-player Bomberman GB on your SNES... that'd be nice. :)

Quote:Star Fox original didn't age well in some ways. It's still a fun game, but yeah SF64 outdoes it. If you are going for a collection though, go for it.

I played it a little, the graphics are one thing (one could call them "stylized"), but the very bad framerate and, worse, lack of a targetting cursor doom it... it makes it so hard to aim... oh, and 3d shooters controlled with dpads just don't work that well.

Quote:In the end though, there's always the Revolution .

Yes, but that's just emulated games on a not-the-original controller, so it's just not the same...

Yoshi's Island isn't full screen, but it's close enough that it won't affect anything, and the extra levels are worth it to me.

Regarding Metroid, your main complaint is actually what most people like about the series. When I play it, I'm not really trying to get from point a to point b. I'm trying to explore everything and see if something happens when I do "this".

Star Fox does have pretty bad frame rates. When it first came out, I didn't notice them, as even the PC games with that "level" of 3D had pretty poor frame rates on our computer.

Donkey Kong Land is good, but it isn't nearly as good as the DKC games.

I have a Super Game Boy. Nice little thing to have, and unfortunatly the Gameboy Player lacks SGB support for those old GB games, so they play in normal GB mode (excepting whatever color schemes you apply as the game starts up). So, I still have the old thing. Yes, 4 player support in two Bomberman games via the SNES and it's multitap is great, considering that way you only need one copy of the game. I can think of only one game that actually went so far as to use the full capabilities of the Super Nintendo (well not FULL, but average SNES game quality mode) using the SGB. That was Space Invaders. That little game has two modes, misleadingly named. "SGB mode" is just the GB game with standard SGB support, meaning full color pallette for the game and a special border. "Arcade mode" should probably be called "SNES mode". It drops the letter boxing completely and is actually a super nintendo game included right inside the GB cart. The second you pick that mode the SGB goes into SNES mode and says "space invaders are invading your SNES". Soon enough, you have a scaling rotating logo showing up and SNES quality graphics and sound as you... play space invaders... And yeah, it has 2-player support using the SNES controllers. I really would have liked to see that mode used a lot more. It had a lot of potential. I can see Megaman V or Donkey Kong or any of the other SGB games with an SNES version of the game right on the cart if you play it on a SGB. Well, it's not like what we got was that bad, it's just that it's missed potential. It is still nice to have full color in a game like Megaman V. Well, actually that one isn't as full as it could be. Megaman is always blue and while all the levels have their own color pallettes, those pallettes are limited to 4 colors. Pokemon pretty much wussed out on the color support. Sure, it had SOMETHING, but it was kinda cheesy how the entire world shifted color based on the region you just walked into. At least all the pokemon had their own color pallettes during battle that didn't have to be "shared". So, pikachu was always yellow and squirtle was always blue and so on. Still, missed potential all over.

Criticism aside, it's absence is noted by people like me in things like the GBA and the Gameboy player. I understand why mind you. The GBA isn't powerful enough to fully render ALL the things an SNES would do. I mean, technically it's more powerful, but some things are different and it would have to emulate them. Anyway, even a borderless SGB mode seemed to be out of the question... Well, I'm pretty sure the next GB will be powerful enough to fairly easily add in SGB support. I'm also pretty sure they still won't do it... Sure a lot of games supported it in it's time, but enough people really have no idea about it that they can easily get away with not worrying about it... Plus, they would have to ditch the border (not that that's any real absence) and space invader's SNES mode is probably out of the question when missing a full TV resultion screen. Still, if Nintendo really wants to make it clear they know their own history, that next generation Gameboy will have that suppport. That would be adorable :D.

Quote:considering that way you only need one copy of the game. I

Actually, Bomberman GB doesn't support the link cable, ONLY the SGB, for multiplayer... on a GB all you can do is play the battle mode single player with a password.

Quote:Regarding Metroid, your main complaint is actually what most people like about the series. When I play it, I'm not really trying to get from point a to point b. I'm trying to explore everything and see if something happens when I do "this".

I don't mind some nonlinearity, but I want clues and stuff... Prime did good with the map that told you where to go, without that it'd be hopeless... as for that approach, it just seems like it'd be wasting so much time. Unless you really love wandering around that game with no point, it'd get frusterating pretty fast I'd imagine...

Oh, as for Fusion, it might have always told you where to go, but it didn't tell you how to get there, so there was still a pretty high level of challenge in figuring out the puzzles... but you actually knew where to be, which made it better. Maybe it doesn't have to be THAT linear, in the 'only letting you go there' thing some parts of the game have, but you need something. Metroid 1 and its utter lack of help isn't okay anymore... (of course, Metroid is far from the only game back then that did this stuff... *thinks of the four heart containers on the world map in Zelda 1*)

Quote:Star Fox does have pretty bad frame rates. When it first came out, I didn't notice them, as even the PC games with that "level" of 3D had pretty poor frame rates on our computer.

Back then it was pretty impressive to just have the 3d... framerates were a bonus that were often sacrificed in favor of graphics.

Quote:Yoshi's Island isn't full screen, but it's close enough that it won't affect anything, and the extra levels are worth it to me.

I don't care much about the portability, so the only question would be if the extra levels are worth the extra expense...

Quote:Donkey Kong Land is good, but it isn't nearly as good as the DKC games.

Same gameplay though...

Quote:I can think of only one game that actually went so far as to use the full capabilities of the Super Nintendo (well not FULL, but average SNES game quality mode) using the SGB. That was Space Invaders.

I've heard about that before, but don't have that game and honestly probably wouldn't get it... I mean Space Invaders was good years ago, but paying for it? Why? There are so many space games that are so much better, and if you really want to play it the PC has five billion freeware clones of the thing lying around...

Quote:Criticism aside, it's absence is noted by people like me in things like the GBA and the Gameboy player. I understand why mind you. The GBA isn't powerful enough to fully render ALL the things an SNES would do. I mean, technically it's more powerful, but some things are different and it would have to emulate them. Anyway, even a borderless SGB mode seemed to be out of the question... Well, I'm pretty sure the next GB will be powerful enough to fairly easily add in SGB support. I'm also pretty sure they still won't do it... Sure a lot of games supported it in it's time, but enough people really have no idea about it that they can easily get away with not worrying about it... Plus, they would have to ditch the border (not that that's any real absence) and space invader's SNES mode is probably out of the question when missing a full TV resultion screen. Still, if Nintendo really wants to make it clear they know their own history, that next generation Gameboy will have that suppport. That would be adorable .

But... um... there is no reason other than laziness (and hoping no one would notice) to leave SGB support out of the GB Player. It's stupid to have to buy two GB adaptors just to be able to use the features you should be able to use in one... the GC is far, far more than capable of emulating whatever the SGB does that the GBA for some odd reason can't do (though because the GBA is far more powerful than the SNES, I'd expect it to be able to do everything...)... those game-specific borders and pallettes were cool looking and it's really too bad that they dropped them in the Player... well pallettes I can see since GBC/A games don't use different palletes, but wouldn't it be cool if GBA games also had unique backgrounds that they ran instead of the defaults you have to use with the Player? :)

Oh yeah, and I have 26 original GB games, and eight to ten of them support the SGB in some way, either as 'SGB Enhanced' or with internal palletes that the SGB uses on them (like SML2 I think)...

A Black Falcon Wrote:I know it's great, but ... well one question I guess, does it have a good map? :) Classic Metroid is almost unplayable unless you play it with a walkthrough the whole way because it is so confusing and has a map, and that also made me not want to even touch Metroid 2...

You are dead to me.

Concerning SD3 and SoE, I've played both (the former on an emulator, independently translated) and SD3 is something of a drag. The class-change system is cool, but that's pretty much all it's got going for it. It's whack-a-baddy for hours on end with tiny bits and pieces of a storyline popping up from time to time - the storyline btw seems really deep and detailed, but never really gets going - and when the plot does pan out, it's a big disappointment (for lack of spoilers). I guess it leads you to think there's more to the story than "bad guy wants to destroy the world; you are the hero of legend who will stop it" when there really isn't.

SoE with its dozens of different weapons and alchemy spells, and the whole trading system, gives a feeling of open-endedness that's more functional than SD3's turns out to be. The storyline and its conclusion are more satisfying as well IMO.

Yeah, just like the GBC the SGB also had a huge number of "default" pallettes it would apply to popular Gameboy games that didnt' have SGB support already. They were just 4 colors applied across the entire game (though you could adjust them mid-game any time you wanted to, like I did so I could get all the dungeons looking nifty keen in LA), so it wasn't anywhere close to SGB support, but it was something.

Wario vs Bomberman actually supports both SGB based multiplayer and standard GB link cable multiplayer, so you can use whatever you have on you at the time. Plus, that game is fun. I didn't think Wario would actually fit in so well in a Bomberman game.

If you really have found Yoshi's Island for a lot cheaper than it's being sold in stores right now for GBA (though, I think you can also find the used GBA cart for sale easily enough), then hey go for it.

Space Invaders is not worth buying unless you see it for sale for like a dollar like I did. I just figured it was worth a dollar to see "full SGB support".

On Metroid, no really, I highly recommend changing the entire way you play that game. Exploring for it's own sake yields progress as well as letting you have fun wandering about. Or not, there are the limited few that simply don't enjoy that old game. I will say that yes, the lack of a mapping system in that game combined with the similar appearence of so many tunnels can get you lost. For me, it took many hours of exploring to really have a good sense of "where I was" and what the region I was in looked like. Now I can easily beat the game within the required time to see that Samus is in fact some sort of human woman. Not really a shocker these days, and honestly I can't see how that would have been such a big surprise back in "the day". Seriously, everyone talks about how there had never been a female hero until that game, but that is a bold faced LIE.

Quote:You are dead to me!

I think lazy's going to give you the kiss of death or something... Or just out and out kill you, those crazy mafiati...

Samus Aran is the first video game heroine

I'm pretty sure Ice Climber came first. Well, okay Nana was a co-star but the point remains that she was a female and the one doing the work of rescuing... um... climbing a mountain and killing random creatures on the way...

Anyway, there's your first female game star, er, co-star.

Ice Climber was released a year before Metroid according to GameFAQs so Nana was the first unless there was some obscure game before 1985 that we don't know about.

As for games to recommend for ABF, most of them have been covered, but I have to emphasize getting Yoshi's Island. The game was pretty innovative for it's time, a lot of fun, and also pretty challenging. And it is pretty funny that the reason most people like Metroid is what you don't like about it. I will say it is a bit easier to get your bearings in Super Metroid than it was in the original, but you'll still find yourself getting lost a lot. Also, if you like the Castlevania series I'd recommend Super Castlevania. It is a bit dated if you compare it to the more recent GBA games, but if you can get it cheap I'd definitely recommend it.

It's pointless to argue this, but Ice Climbers is not a story of a hero or heroine that triumphs evil unless you look at it in the same context as Donkey Kong. Metroid was about a woman who defeated evil on a planet called Zebes. Not scrolling levels of various degrees of difficulty in a cartoon environment that is more akin to a puzzle game, but an actual planet to explore which included such game mechanics as aqcuiring power ups and upgrades in a realistic role playing and action environment.

Nana is the first female video game character, but not the first heroine. And besides, while Nana is described in the story to be the sister, she was only a color swapped character who acted as an extenmsion to Popo. In essense Nana and Popo are one character.

Ms. Pac Man.

I think that fall under the same category as Nana from Ice Climbers.

Quote:Concerning SD3 and SoE, I've played both (the former on an emulator, independently translated) and SD3 is something of a drag. The class-change system is cool, but that's pretty much all it's got going for it. It's whack-a-baddy for hours on end with tiny bits and pieces of a storyline popping up from time to time - the storyline btw seems really deep and detailed, but never really gets going - and when the plot does pan out, it's a big disappointment (for lack of spoilers). I guess it leads you to think there's more to the story than "bad guy wants to destroy the world; you are the hero of legend who will stop it" when there really isn't.

But it has six characters, and you choose one as the primary and two others as the secondaries, and the story changes some with each party... giving you some control over what happens and giving it replay value. And I thought the story was pretty good... sure, not the most complex one ever, but good.

Quote:Yeah, just like the GBC the SGB also had a huge number of "default" pallettes it would apply to popular Gameboy games that didnt' have SGB support already. They were just 4 colors applied across the entire game (though you could adjust them mid-game any time you wanted to, like I did so I could get all the dungeons looking nifty keen in LA), so it wasn't anywhere close to SGB support, but it was something.

Sure, but that's nothing special, because the GBC and GBA do that...

Quote:On Metroid, no really, I highly recommend changing the entire way you play that game. Exploring for it's own sake yields progress as well as letting you have fun wandering about. Or not, there are the limited few that simply don't enjoy that old game. I will say that yes, the lack of a mapping system in that game combined with the similar appearence of so many tunnels can get you lost. For me, it took many hours of exploring to really have a good sense of "where I was" and what the region I was in looked like. Now I can easily beat the game within the required time to see that Samus is in fact some sort of human woman. Not really a shocker these days, and honestly I can't see how that would have been such a big surprise back in "the day". Seriously, everyone talks about how there had never been a female hero until that game, but that is a bold faced LIE.

Yeah, of course there were female main characters before that, but have biases/expectations, and "action game hero" wasn't one people expected female characters to be I guess...

Metroid... between the horrible save system where you always start in the same place (playing it on Prime) and the very confusing design that forces random wandering, the only way you can play is to wander around until you accidentally bump into the next area... which works, if you want to spend that much time in the game... I got bored/frusterated well before finishing the game, myself. I did finish Fusion of course, but that's more modern... though some of the puzzles were definitely not easy.

As for the linearity thing, we've talked about this here before, and my opinion hasn't changed... I don't mind non-linearity, but I appreicate some concept of what I'm supposed to be doing, and don't mind nonlinearity in most cases... well non-linear stories are great, but that's a different question since a game with a good non-linear story will have structure and all, it'll just have a nicely varied branching structure. That is good. :) I just have some problems with stuff like Metroid of the Elder Scrolls games... it's not that I want them to be completely linear, but that I like knowing what I'm supposed to be doing (and in TES having clearly level-appropriate places to be...)...

Oh, and you can also tie the 'I like games with stories' thing to this... though some genres don't need stories, so sometimes it's invalid... um, yeah, it's complex... but no game has ever been hurt by having a good story (and the less linear your game the harder it is to have a good story). :)

Oh, just wanted to mention one other thing again... Metroid Prime. Good, well designed game... I didn't finish it, not even close, but that's because it's hard, not because I got lost... the map that tells you where to go is really helpful and the levels are linear enough that you're usually not completely lost about where to look, though it's definitely hard at times (but it's supposed to be!)... and I also like the story presentation in that game, of course. Making the player make an effort to get the story is not a bad thing by any means.

... I guess I'm just trying to say that it varies from case to case... and Metroid is a good game, though I'm not sure I'd think about playing it without that map on Gamefaqs...

Quote:Ms. Pac Man.

Well, then how about games where you play a character whose gender is not specified? You know, like most text-based adventure games and stuff like that... you play someone who is generally supposed to be "you" or someone like you in that situation. But if you're only talking about characters specifically mentioned as female, as opposed to games where you play "you" or games where you create characters or either gender (and/or various races), and add the stipulation that it's got to be a heroine and not just "one of the playable characters", then Ms. Pac-Man is probably a pretty good choice (though I bet something out there was earlier).

Quote:As for games to recommend for ABF, most of them have been covered, but I have to emphasize getting Yoshi's Island. The game was pretty innovative for it's time, a lot of fun, and also pretty challenging. And it is pretty funny that the reason most people like Metroid is what you don't like about it. I will say it is a bit easier to get your bearings in Super Metroid than it was in the original, but you'll still find yourself getting lost a lot. Also, if you like the Castlevania series I'd recommend Super Castlevania. It is a bit dated if you compare it to the more recent GBA games, but if you can get it cheap I'd definitely recommend it.

Yeah, I've played Super Castlevania IV, a friend has it, and it's pretty good... I don't have any Castlevania games (for any platform), though, so one of the GBA games might have precidence. I don't know, they are completely different kinds of games...

The story in SD3 is not "good". Character development is restricted to "omfg he's a werewolf/ninja/knight and he wants revenge!!11". Those storyline choices you speak of? They're all the same. Play the game with all the characters and you'll see. But oh you say, the characters must face different enemies! the storylines must be different! Not so. All the enemies are massively one dimensional and are all, without exception, deus ex machinae for the Mana Beast to rise. They have no other actual purpose or desire. You have to fight two of them at the end depending on your character. Maybe they captured your sister or killed your brother back at the beginning. Big whoop.

When I played it I couldn't believe it was made by the same guys who created Magus, probably the most ambiguous hero/villain ever in video games.

Evermore on the other hand has a weird and intriguing storyline, and when you get to the bottom of it you get a genuine surprise (I was surprised anyway). It's not anywhere near as deep as games like CT or even Earthbound, but those are like the epic novels of SNES RPGing. Evermore is more like a slightly above-average sci-fi/mystery novel. SD3 is like... a cheap episode of Dragonball or something.

Okay so Samus was the first "serious" heroine, but yeah, I can't believe I forgot Ms. Pacman. Well, that one isn't even human...

Still, no one ever says Samus with that qualifier. They always just argue in the general terms of her being the first female hero. (Is it really needed to say heroine?)

Quote:I didn't finish it, not even close, but that's because it's hard,

It's not THAT hard, if you want hard play MP2. The only hard part in MP1 really, was the final boss. Took me about 5 or 6 times to finally win.

I finally got around to playing MP2 even though I've had it for almost a year now (please don't verbally assault me), and I didn't think it was much harder than the first Prime until I got to the boost ball boss. That boss was almost as hard as the final boss in the first Prime. I'm dreading what the rest of the game will be like if there are bosses harder than the boost ball boss.

He's an ass just try to grab as many Light Gun extensions as possible before fighting him and time which spire is destroyed as each one holds 100 energy.

Lazy how do I beat Ridley in Metroid 2: Return of Samus in under 7 minutes?

First turn the power off on your Gameboy, then insert either Metroid: Zero Mission, Metroid 4: Fusion or NES Classics Series: Metroid and turn the power back on. Ridley is the commander or general to the Space Pirates and is not on SR388 at any time in Return of Samus.

If playing Zero Mission: As soon as the fight starts, shoot the smaller fireballs that are headed straight for you and wait for Ridley to fly a little higher. Get under him and move in unison with him while aiming straight up and unloading all your super or normal missles. You might need to try this a few times to get the timing right, but if you stay in unison his tail or foot cant hurt you and he cant grab you with his claws. He'll eventually shoot out some larger fireballs that can be destoyed and leave behind ammo and energy if you need them, but I can kill him without getting hurt once using this method.

If playing Fusion: (with Diffusion Missles or Charge Beam) stand in the right hand corner and fire away, when he swoops down to grab you, turn in to a ball and go all the way left. When he's done charging at you, go back to the right of the screen and continue firing. (Glitched Method) Let Ridley grab you at the start of the fight, if you're lucky you can aim yourself to the left and Ridley will drop you in an alcove where he can no longer hurt you, but you can continue to fire at him.

If playing Metroid Classic: (with Ice Beam) Shoot his fireballs and at mid-level and then stand on one and unleash as many missles as possible. When the fireballs unfreeze he should be close to death so either freezae them again or just pelt him. (with Wave Beam) Jump in to the lava with Varia Suit and get directly beneath Ridley, aim and shoot. No pain method: Use your morphball on the rigvht platform, the fireballs wont hit you in morphball form. When he's done firing them drop down and pelt him, as soon as he starts his fireballs again, get on the right platform and morph.

Quote:(Is it really needed to say heroine?)

No, it's not... note how at the Academy Awards it's "best female actor" not "best actress". The former is the past convention, but I think it's changing somewhat...

Quote:Okay so Samus was the first "serious" heroine, but yeah, I can't believe I forgot Ms. Pacman. Well, that one isn't even human...

Still, no one ever says Samus with that qualifier. They always just argue in the general terms of her being the first female hero.

Look... Samus was NOT the first female videogame character, or first female character who was the hero of a videogame. What she might be is the first female videogame character whose game was extremely popular... but it just wouldn't be true to say Metroid was first. Ms. Pac-Man does count, like it or not... Ice Climbers kinda since it's two characters and the female one is secondary. But other games back then starred female characters too... some interactive fiction games surely did (though most are "you are you, the undefined person playing the game" (or as the (fantastic 1997 graphic adventure) Zork Grand Inquisitor calls it, AFGNCAAP... 'Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally-Ambiguous Adventure Person'. :)) some present you with a character...)

Ms. Pac-Man should be plenty, but if you want more examples...
http://www.classicgaming.com/reviews/nam...apcom2.htm (third one down)
or how about this... http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/showt...hp?t=26213

Quote:Evermore on the other hand has a weird and intriguing storyline, and when you get to the bottom of it you get a genuine surprise (I was surprised anyway). It's not anywhere near as deep as games like CT or even Earthbound, but those are like the epic novels of SNES RPGing. Evermore is more like a slightly above-average sci-fi/mystery novel. SD3 is like... a cheap episode of Dragonball or something.

Every good game has people who dislike it, I guess you're one of them for SD3...

Quote:It's not THAT hard, if you want hard play MP2. The only hard part in MP1 really, was the final boss. Took me about 5 or 6 times to finally win.

I never beat the stupid snow boss (the final boss of the snow area)... only got passed him when a friend did it for me and even then I never went back to actually continue the game after that...

Quote:note how at the Academy Awards it's "best female actor" not "best actress".

What? No it isn't!

Quote:What? No it isn't!

It is in some awards shows then. I know I've seen it used.

Well there ya go. They did end up doing that after all.

Well, that settles it...

What are you responding to DJ?

Quote:It is in some awards shows then. I know I've seen it used.

Maybe, but it's not the Academy Awards. I went to their site and looked.

If you can find it ABF, I'd recommend picking up Final Fantasy IV and Shadowrun. Both are probably going to be hard to find but both very fun games.

Though if you have a PS/PS2 you can pick up Final Fantasy Chronicles to play FFIV, but the original is better (no load times) and the mis-translated dialogue is a little funny.

I got Super Return of the Jedi (like the GB game I've had for almost ten years but even better... :)) and Tetris Attack...

Quote:Maybe, but it's not the Academy Awards. I went to their site and looked.

Yeah, yeah, but some do, so does it matter that much that that one doesn't?

Well, the Academy Awards ARE the biggest, but otherwise not really.

Quote:Wario vs Bomberman actually supports both SGB based multiplayer and standard GB link cable multiplayer, so you can use whatever you have on you at the time. Plus, that game is fun. I didn't think Wario would actually fit in so well in a Bomberman game.

Odd, considering that Bomberman GB is supposed to be improved over Wario vs. Bomberman considering that WvB is the first GB Bomberman (or second?), and Bomberman GB was the next one... why would the sequel remove a major feature like link cable support?

I can't answer that :D.

I can say this. EM has not played FFIV for PS1 :D.

Don't get me wrong. If he's played ANY of the other ports of SNES RPGs Squeenix has done he would have every reason to expect little from FFIV. It would be the logical conclusion, except that Square USA actually went out of their way when it came time to finally bring that game to the US.

The load times are gone. I don't even mean they are very low. They don't exist because the ENTIRE game of FFIV is loaded into memory (sans music) from the very start. So, everything is just as seamless, as far as load times, as the SNES version. Okay, not everything. As I said, the music is not all dumped into memory. So, it just loads the music track as the game requires. Most of the time, the music tracks load just when they are needed. The only issue is the end of battle music, which don't have any transition scenes to cover up it's loading. But, that's noticable but not annoying.

Oh yes, saving takes way too long. That's the only issue. The save system is odd in that it saves 4 save slots into 2 memory card blocks. It always updates that single save file each time completely, so in other words saving takes a while. Use memo save which is instant, but remember to save "fer reals" when you are done.

Anyway, the emulation is actually pretty good. The speed of special effects in battle is about what I remember them as on the SNES. The only issue is the washed out sound effects (not music).

Now then, you may have noticed that there ARE in fact issues. I'll also add that the FMVs suck compaired to the ones made for other games. So why get this version? Because it's BETTER! :D No really, it's not just the translation (way better than EM would infer, and it includes the "you spoony bard!" line, the thing is a lot of stuff was out and out not even talked about or censored in the original). If you read a differences list, then it's all good, who cares right? Okay, another thing is that the SNES version is easier. Not that much easier actually. So what else? There are about a BILLION things removed from the SNES game! Okay, that should get your attention. That is THE reason to get the PS1 version over the SNES version every single time. From the very start the characters have all sorts of "new" abilities (old really, but new to us in America), like Dark Wave, a move that drains HP from Cecil to attack the enemies en masse. It's very useful. Tellah has an ability to randomly cast magic spells (before his memory comes back). There are a number of extra items and equipment as well. The enemies also have some extra abilities. All in all, the game feels a lot "fuller" in the PS1 version. The SNES version is still a good game, but it really feels incomplete after you've played the PS1 version. It's just not as fun and the main reason is because you don't have as many crazygonuts options in battle, nor do the enemies.

Star Ocean: The Second Story for PSX had virtually no load times... one second max, I'd say (on a PSone)... and it has rendered backgrounds and sprite-based characters. FFIV too? So it IS possible... so what happened to Chrono Trigger?

I had thought about this post when I was at work. Truth be told, the SNES still reigns as my favorite console of all-time. Thank God i kept it and all the games I accumulated over the years.

If someone ever asked "Why keep all those old games? You never play them anyway... why not sell them and get money or something?" My answer would be "but that would be stupid... I might want to play them again sometime, and I can't do that if I sell them!" And, of course "I'd far rather buy up the old games other people foolishly sell". :) Which I do.

Chrono Trigger... Here's what I understand. All reviews of the Japanese version of CT for PS1 (oh and, the load times on a PSOne model PS and the older models are the same, they didn't speed it up sadly) state that the load times are instant. However, the US version is not instant in the least! What happened indeed...

As far as I can tell, from looking at the disk they actually store the ROM of CT right there for access. I actually played that in a super nintendo emulator and it really is the ROM. The only issue is it is the Japanese ROM. So, here's my hypothesis. I submit that when translating the game, the translators never actually found out that it is the ROM the system uses in order to play the game and the disk basically is coded to replace parts of the ROM when needed, like for the PS save system or when an FMV is supposed to play. In translating, a LOT more alterations need to be done to that old ROM, this time language related. So, every single time the game is "loading", it's actually actively patching the Japanese text with English text before showing that area/menu/battle. This might take time because the system has to go to that folder with the patch data on the disk. What I predict from this is that if they just replaced the Japanese ROM on the disk with the English ROM, most of the translating would already be done and they would only need to translate the added stuff like the save menu and the bonus section and so on.

So, the only way to test this, and I mentioned as much to OB1, is to actually burn a copy of the PS1 game, only replace that ROM file with an english ROM. It does have to be binary, meaning a direct unaltered straight rip of the cartridge. Further though, if we use the American disk, it is still replacing the already English text on this new ROM with the patch data's text. So, we'd need to use the Japanese disk which does not do this replacing.

This is all hypothetical though...

Anyone willing to help me with this wins a loadtime free version of CT on PS1 :D.

As for me, while I really would enjoy doing this just because it would be fun to experiment in it, it isn't too urgent simply because I still own the SNES version and don't plan on giving it up specifically for this reason.

Oh right, you've said that before but I forgot... :)

Recommendations for SNES:

Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy II (IV)
Final Fantasy III (VI)
Super Mario RPG
Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 (maybe also 3)
Super Mario World 1 and 2
Super Mario Kart
Kirby Super Star (and maybe KDL3)
Link to the Past

And a few others. Those are musts though.

Don't forget about Earthbound, Yoshi's Island, and Super Metroid!

Super Mario World 2 = Yoshi's Island

But yeah, Earthbound and Super Metroid are good too. (I knew I'd leave a few off. In fact, I had to edit my post to add Link to the Past.)

You can see what I have (on my quite complete gameslist in my sig)... the only games I've seen, considered, and not bought were NHL '96 and Scooby-Doo Mysteries. Which just didn't seem worth the money. (Doom for SNES certainly isn't, I'm not interested enough in basketball to want College Slam or Hangtime or Live or whatever when I got Jam TE, Ken Griffey Jr's Winning Run... I want a baseball game with the real players... and that's about it.)

Yeah, I need some RPGs, Kirby games, Yoshi's Island, etc...