SNES vs. Genesis: A Battle for the Ages! [Part 1 is over, platformers coming up next]

[A Black Falcon]

If I were doing some kind of SNES vs. NES comparison, then yes I would make the note that Yoshi's Island looks better than SMB3 because such a statement is RELEVANT to the discussion.

This gets back to what you were saying on page one, doesn't it... and my response is the same, you're looking at classic games in the wrong light, I think. What you're doing, somehow saying that platform is irrelevant, is stupid. Platform is relevant and central.

I mean, yes, of course you can say that the SNES games have better graphics, they do. But there should at least be something about how that's just because the system is more powerful.

I'm not using a Genesis controller, I'm using an Xbox360 controller. But apparently none of the emulators I have are properly set up to use a controller like that and so they ignore diagonals.

Edit: Okay, I found one that works right.

Good... and it makes those games more fun, doesn't it? Does it increase your opinions of either Hard Corps or Mercs?

Also, Xbox 360 controllers almost all have terrible d-pads... it's one of the worst controllers imaginable for 2d games...

Sorry, but I just don't see the appeal.

Really? You know, it wasn't just me who loved Rolling Thunder. The first game was a popular arcade game with a lot of fans in the late '80s... and for good reason, the graphics were good, with good use of color. The gameplay is also unique, sort of like Elevator Action perhaps, but massively improved in every way. The somewhat "stealthy", slower-paced game where you have to carefully make each move correctly, be in the right place, and check all the doors is interesting, and the fact that you died from one bullet made it tougher and really made you want to learn the levels. Each kind of enemy has a specific weapon type and can to some degree be predicted when seen. It's a memorization game, like many shmups. :) Memorize which doors have hidden guns behind them, memorize which ones will have enemies come out of them, etc... describing it like that it also reminds me of Shinobi 1 (Arcade/NES/SMS) and Shadow Dancer (Genesis), which also have a lot of those qualities and I also love.

The second game is basically the first one, but with better graphics, more variety of level settings, and two player simultaneous. I don't know if I like it better than the first one, the first one's the classic while the second is just an improvement on it, but it's certainly a great game for anyone who likes Rolling Thunder. Obviously people who didn't like the first game won't like it at all, though, it's very similar.

Pocky and Rocky 1 and 2

Great games, among the better almost-shmups around.

Have you played the other Kiki Kaikai/Pocky & Rocky games? First there's the arcade game, which was released in Japan on the arcades, Famicom Disk System, and TurboGrafx (PC Engine) on HuCard, and finally in the US in Taito Legends 2 for the PS2 (and Xbox, if you import that version from Europe). Graphically it looks nowhere near as good as the SNES games, and it's hard, but it's pretty fun, and it's interesting to see the origin of the series. It has multiplayer, but alternating only even in the arcades.

Next after that were the two SNES games. Both are of course great. Then the series went dormant, only returning once, for Pocky & Rocky With Becky for the Game Boy Advance. It's decent, but not as good as the SNES games I think. It has no multiplayer though, I think, though you do have a companion if I remember right.

Finally, there was going to be another game, but it was cancelled around the time that Square bought Taito, I believe. The developers ended up releasing the game on their own with a color palette (and sometimes even graphical) change to make the characters and backgrounds look "different" as Heavenly Guardian for the PS2 and Wii. It's a fun game, a bit better on Wii because of the precise aiming controls, but the evil save system really brings the game down. You can't save your progress, you see -- you have to play the whole extremely difficult game through in one sitting. Once you do THAT though, THEN you unlock the level select... jerks! As if many people are going to do that, with how hard the game is... the levels are huge, there are lots of enemies, and the bosses are very difficult... I've had it for PS2 for some time, and have only gotten to the boss of level 2. You do unlock bosses in boss-attack mode after beating them, but that's it.

Oh, there is a 2 player simultaneous mode, but the "save" system is the same as in the one player game, and the level select options are separate for each so beating it with two people won't unlock the 1p level select for you. Awesome.

The 2d graphics are nice, but the difficulty, frustration, and lack of real saving really do hurt it.

Legend of the Mystical Ninja

The N64 Goemon games are both fantastic, but this first SNES title is pretty good too (there had been NES games of course, but only in Japan; those are now translated. Theo there SNES games, however, are not -- there are three more that hopefully will eventually get translations!)... everything about it except for the 32-character passwords is great.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I think the other three SNES Goemon games all have battery save? Awesome that we only saw the one crippled with an awful save system... play it in emulation (as you did) where that problem can be avoided. :)

Magic Sword

I just got this game a few weeks ago, and it is indeed pretty good. It's not great, the gameplay is pretty simple, but it's fun and challenging, and I do like it. The various helpers are interesting, the graphics are pretty good, and gameplay is fun. There is slowdown though of course, as usual on the SNES. Also it doesn't have a two player mode like the original arcade version does. Still, pretty good game.

Wild Guns

Agreed, this is an amazing game... it's really, really good! Great graphics, good music, great shooting gameplay, and more. It's like something like Cabal, perhaps, but better. It's really too bad that the game is SNES exclusive and fairly expensive (Look it up on EBay... this game isn't cheap.), because it's something a lot more people should play.

The Firemen and E.V.O. are games I haven't played more than a few minutes of and really can't say anything about.