15th January 2016, 10:49 PM
(This post was last modified: 15th January 2016, 11:25 PM by A Black Falcon.)
Genesis
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Sonic the Hedgehog (normal ending, I only got five Chaos Emeralds) - So, I beat Sonic the Hedgehog today for the first time. I got the normal ending, I only got five Chaos Emeralds. Yes, crazily enough, even though I beat Sonics 2, 2 & Knuckles, and 3 & Knuckles all many years ago, I'd never beaten the original Sonic the Hedgehog... until today. It's a fantastic classic and I've always really loved it, but it's not easy and has limited continues, of course. I've gotten to the final boss several times before only to get Game Over there, but hadn't beaten it. But I played Ristar recently (got maybe halfway when I ran out of continues) and then Sonic 3 & Knuckles (got to the final boss, got Game Over there... argh!), and decided today to play Sonic 1. I was hoping that maybe I could beat it this time, but didn't really expect it... but then an hour-something later, I beat the game! Pretty awesome stuff. I did use two or three continues, but still had several more. The final boss is hard, and it's really obnoxious that you have no rings for the tough final fight, but this time I managed to beat it. Of course S3&K also has no rings in the final battle, annoyingly, that's why I didn't beat it. That final boss is harder than this one, too. Whoever decided that those final boss fights don't give you any rings didn't like the people playing the games, that's not right. Yes, it'd make the games easier, but it'd make them more fun too. These are great games, but they'd be slightly better with less cruel final bosses.
Anyway, I really love Sonic 1. Yes, after the first world the game is slower-paced than the later Sonic games, but I don't mind that; I love the second world in this game, slow-paced or no it's a lot of fun! Only the water levels are bad, the rest are really good. Honestly today Sonic 1 is probably a bit under-rated (it gets criticism for sure...), but it really is an exceptional game. It's not hard to see why the game was such a big hit back in the early '90s, it's one of the best platformers of the time, only beaten by stuff like its sequels and the probably-best-2d-platformer-ever Super Mario World. I'll have more to say about this one in not too long though, once I get to Sonic in my Genesis summaries thread.
It was kind of frustrating to not get all 6 emeralds, though. I had five (plus five continues) after the first five levels you can get them in... and then failed to get any more in the remaining five, even though I only needed one more. Argh! I'll give myself the failure to get to the bonus stage in either of the water-world levels, those are really tough. But I DID get to it twice in the other three levels of those five, only to somehow manage to similarly mess up both times, go flying, and end up in one of the exit zones in the corners. That 6th one isn't even that tough, I shouldn't have messed up twice like that. Ah well. I've never gotten all the chaos emeralds in a Sonic game in one run (the only time I did was in the PC version of S3&K, where I did it via saving and loading to go back and get them all that way, after you beat it and unlock level select), it'd have been cool to do it once. It was really awesome to actually beat the game though, so I don't mind too much.
Nintendo 3DS (eshop)
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BoxBoy - I finished the main game and saw the credits, but haven't played the postgame content yet, as you unlock some more levels after you get the ending. This game is a pretty good, though short. This game isn't super hard like the other 3DS platform-puzzle game from Nintendo I got recently, Crashmo (that game is almost too hard...), but it isn't easy; it's balanced just right. This is a simple game with B&W graphics, no 3D support, and puzzle-heavy platforming. You're a living box, and can create a snakelike chain of copies of yourself in order to solve puzzles and try to navigate stages. It starts easy, but gets pretty interesting as you progress. Each world introduces a new mechanic, and the levels in that world all use it, but you may or may not see it after that world, so the game is a bit gimmicky in a way. It feels like an endless tutorial, as you keep seeing new things to avoid all the way to the end. It's fun, though, and I like the many different obstacles you run into. I don't mind the concept of 'lots of different obstacles, with a set of levels for each one'. I'll definitely play through the postgame stages too. There's also a sequel, which recently released in Japan. It hasn't been announced for US release yet of course, but here's hoping that it actually gets localized (and Picross 3D too!). I'll get the sequel if we get it here, this is a good game.
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Sonic the Hedgehog (normal ending, I only got five Chaos Emeralds) - So, I beat Sonic the Hedgehog today for the first time. I got the normal ending, I only got five Chaos Emeralds. Yes, crazily enough, even though I beat Sonics 2, 2 & Knuckles, and 3 & Knuckles all many years ago, I'd never beaten the original Sonic the Hedgehog... until today. It's a fantastic classic and I've always really loved it, but it's not easy and has limited continues, of course. I've gotten to the final boss several times before only to get Game Over there, but hadn't beaten it. But I played Ristar recently (got maybe halfway when I ran out of continues) and then Sonic 3 & Knuckles (got to the final boss, got Game Over there... argh!), and decided today to play Sonic 1. I was hoping that maybe I could beat it this time, but didn't really expect it... but then an hour-something later, I beat the game! Pretty awesome stuff. I did use two or three continues, but still had several more. The final boss is hard, and it's really obnoxious that you have no rings for the tough final fight, but this time I managed to beat it. Of course S3&K also has no rings in the final battle, annoyingly, that's why I didn't beat it. That final boss is harder than this one, too. Whoever decided that those final boss fights don't give you any rings didn't like the people playing the games, that's not right. Yes, it'd make the games easier, but it'd make them more fun too. These are great games, but they'd be slightly better with less cruel final bosses.
Anyway, I really love Sonic 1. Yes, after the first world the game is slower-paced than the later Sonic games, but I don't mind that; I love the second world in this game, slow-paced or no it's a lot of fun! Only the water levels are bad, the rest are really good. Honestly today Sonic 1 is probably a bit under-rated (it gets criticism for sure...), but it really is an exceptional game. It's not hard to see why the game was such a big hit back in the early '90s, it's one of the best platformers of the time, only beaten by stuff like its sequels and the probably-best-2d-platformer-ever Super Mario World. I'll have more to say about this one in not too long though, once I get to Sonic in my Genesis summaries thread.
It was kind of frustrating to not get all 6 emeralds, though. I had five (plus five continues) after the first five levels you can get them in... and then failed to get any more in the remaining five, even though I only needed one more. Argh! I'll give myself the failure to get to the bonus stage in either of the water-world levels, those are really tough. But I DID get to it twice in the other three levels of those five, only to somehow manage to similarly mess up both times, go flying, and end up in one of the exit zones in the corners. That 6th one isn't even that tough, I shouldn't have messed up twice like that. Ah well. I've never gotten all the chaos emeralds in a Sonic game in one run (the only time I did was in the PC version of S3&K, where I did it via saving and loading to go back and get them all that way, after you beat it and unlock level select), it'd have been cool to do it once. It was really awesome to actually beat the game though, so I don't mind too much.
Nintendo 3DS (eshop)
--
BoxBoy - I finished the main game and saw the credits, but haven't played the postgame content yet, as you unlock some more levels after you get the ending. This game is a pretty good, though short. This game isn't super hard like the other 3DS platform-puzzle game from Nintendo I got recently, Crashmo (that game is almost too hard...), but it isn't easy; it's balanced just right. This is a simple game with B&W graphics, no 3D support, and puzzle-heavy platforming. You're a living box, and can create a snakelike chain of copies of yourself in order to solve puzzles and try to navigate stages. It starts easy, but gets pretty interesting as you progress. Each world introduces a new mechanic, and the levels in that world all use it, but you may or may not see it after that world, so the game is a bit gimmicky in a way. It feels like an endless tutorial, as you keep seeing new things to avoid all the way to the end. It's fun, though, and I like the many different obstacles you run into. I don't mind the concept of 'lots of different obstacles, with a set of levels for each one'. I'll definitely play through the postgame stages too. There's also a sequel, which recently released in Japan. It hasn't been announced for US release yet of course, but here's hoping that it actually gets localized (and Picross 3D too!). I'll get the sequel if we get it here, this is a good game.