25th February 2011, 8:49 PM
I picked up Startropics 2 (with manual, I've been trying to make sure I get that these days), which seems like it'll be fun. They changed the walking mechanic so it's granulated instead of tiled, which I'm not sure works as well with how the stages are designed.
I also got Nightshade (this one's a complete package, box and all, and cheap). Nightshade, for those who aren't aware, is a rarity, a graphic adventure for the NES, and ONLY for the NES. On the one hand, this makes the controls more awkward than they should be, it really would be easier with a mouse (come to think of it, this is one of the rare games that would really benefit from the Power Glove of all things). The basic premise is very classic detective stuff. You're a private eye going by the name "Nightshade" who's wandering the mean and dirty streets of Metro City (no not that one) to stop a crime lord named Sutek, who killed the previous defender of the city. Aside from your standard point and click adventuring (picking up items, talking to people, exploring, puzzle solving), there's also some fighting and even a little platforming. It's hard to tell if the people you meet are friendly or not so much until you go up to them, and if they're an enemy you get into a 2D fighting game style sequence where you jump around and use Nightshade's only skill, hand to hand street fighting. The tone of the game is very tongue in cheek. All the dialog is pretty witty. One thing this game does that really should be copied is how it handles "dying". If you get beaten in battle or caught due to exploring the wrong place, instead of actually dying you're just caught by Sutek and put into a stereotypical death trap. Escape and you get to keep playing. The traps get harder and harder to solve and escape from as you keep dying, but it's just fun seeing what sorts of new clever death traps there are around the corner (they're all unique). I'm sure there's some limit, but it's very unique. The game even starts out in one of them, you're tied to a chair next to a bomb, a candle, and a wall. The obvious way out takes longer than you think, do something else to avoid the bomb and then use that obvious way out. So far it's very fun, and the visuals are quite impressive for an NES game. The biggest problems are the awkward cursor controls and the complete lack of any way to record your progress (no saves or passwords, rather inexcusable for an adventure game). This was made by Beam Software (published by Ultra, which was actually a front company for Konami, so yeah, storied history). Beam as you may know went on from here to make the much more famous Shadowrun for the SNES.
I also got Nightshade (this one's a complete package, box and all, and cheap). Nightshade, for those who aren't aware, is a rarity, a graphic adventure for the NES, and ONLY for the NES. On the one hand, this makes the controls more awkward than they should be, it really would be easier with a mouse (come to think of it, this is one of the rare games that would really benefit from the Power Glove of all things). The basic premise is very classic detective stuff. You're a private eye going by the name "Nightshade" who's wandering the mean and dirty streets of Metro City (no not that one) to stop a crime lord named Sutek, who killed the previous defender of the city. Aside from your standard point and click adventuring (picking up items, talking to people, exploring, puzzle solving), there's also some fighting and even a little platforming. It's hard to tell if the people you meet are friendly or not so much until you go up to them, and if they're an enemy you get into a 2D fighting game style sequence where you jump around and use Nightshade's only skill, hand to hand street fighting. The tone of the game is very tongue in cheek. All the dialog is pretty witty. One thing this game does that really should be copied is how it handles "dying". If you get beaten in battle or caught due to exploring the wrong place, instead of actually dying you're just caught by Sutek and put into a stereotypical death trap. Escape and you get to keep playing. The traps get harder and harder to solve and escape from as you keep dying, but it's just fun seeing what sorts of new clever death traps there are around the corner (they're all unique). I'm sure there's some limit, but it's very unique. The game even starts out in one of them, you're tied to a chair next to a bomb, a candle, and a wall. The obvious way out takes longer than you think, do something else to avoid the bomb and then use that obvious way out. So far it's very fun, and the visuals are quite impressive for an NES game. The biggest problems are the awkward cursor controls and the complete lack of any way to record your progress (no saves or passwords, rather inexcusable for an adventure game). This was made by Beam Software (published by Ultra, which was actually a front company for Konami, so yeah, storied history). Beam as you may know went on from here to make the much more famous Shadowrun for the SNES.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)