The UKFF Retro Gaming Thread

[RedTwoster]

4 minutes ago, FLips said:

Bought myself a Mega Drive II today. Deeeep trouble.

Honestly, there's nothing better (in a gaming sense) than playing the Sonic games on the original console. And fuck the idea that the UK games are lesser because they're slower - I don't mind that at all! And I'll die on the hill of the slowed down Sonic 1 soundtrack being the best version!! I absolutely love my Mega Drive. 

[FLips]

Well nevermind that Rooster because it doesn’t even power on! CEX does it again!

EDIT: Ha! Get fucked CEX I’ll do it myself.

Edit 2:

So I have no idea what happened with it.

I popped into CEX on my way home as I was in the office for a change and had a nice early 3pm finish. I had an £18 credit note I was planning on getting The West Wing and The Wire with but alas I saw their last Mega Drive for £48 which like every other console is way more than it was last time I had one. Still the credit note brought it to £30 which was a little more palateable, and they sweetened the deal with a composite cable rather than a standard RF so that saved me a few quid too. A 6 button controller would have been the cherry on top but sadly it was a Mega Drive I black and grey 3 button. Overall a hodgepodge of bits but whatever.

I popped into an indie retro place I'm good mates with and they gave me a dodgy Mortal Kombat 3 knockoff cartridge someone left there, which I won't say no to as it was one of my childhood games. Waste of time with a 3 button pad though!
Popped to a mate's house to borrow a proper cartridge just in case before I go buying games for it too.

Got it home, and it wouldn't power on at all so I looked up Youtube tutorials and they all said the same thing, open it up and check the solder on the power input as it likely has been worn down. I opened it up (a lot easier to do than the PS1 and NES) and aside from being mucky everything looked to be in order so I closed it back up with the plan of trying my mate's power block to make sure a fuse in mine hadn't gone. As I finished putting it together though I instinctively pressed the power button and it felt cleaner and more responsive than before, so I thought whatever I'll check. Lo and behold the red lights came on now but the carts wouldn't load!

So I opened it back up again and used long tweezers to get hair and fluff and dust out the cartridge slot, then used alcohol and a toothbrush and cotton buds to give it all a good clean and put it back together again. Everything works now even the clearly knockoff MK3!

So I've just ordered a Mega Everdrive cart off AliExpress for £20 including postage to arrive within 5 days. It won't play CD or 32X but tbh who cares?

In less than a week I should have a Mega Drive with a full library for £50 which isn't bad at all. Desperately need a 6 button pad though.

Edited September 5 by FLips

[Scratch]

As a SNES owner, I used to subscribe to SuperPlay which was always an excellent and amusing read. I later subscribed to Edge until the amount of free time I had dropped in my 30s.

I was thinking the other day how I’d play the same game over and over as a kid. That was true from when I was allowed to buy new games for my Amstrad in the 80s for £1.99 and then continued into my Master System years.

My first cartridge was Shinobi which was double-hard, but the mix of the novelty of having a console, a cartridge game and the fact it cost a lot of money meant I figured out every single aspect of it and must’ve played through it scores of times.

Apart from the limited choice back then, I think a big aspect of the appetite to replay was that none of the games I had were bought with my own money, so everything I had was a gift of sorts. I think that made every game feel special and I do kind of miss that as an adult with a vast choice of formats and titles, mixed with the disposable income to buy what I like.

That said, I couldn’t tell you the last time I paid more than a few quid for a game. Astro Bot looks amazing, but £60? No thanks.

Edited September 6 by Scratch

[Jazzy G]

On 9/5/2024 at 2:57 PM, JLM said:

I still have a massive stack  of issues of Gamesmaster from the 90s in my garage. Can’t bring myself to chuck them.
 

I remember a Gamesmaster review of Dragonheart: Fire and Steel for the Saturn wherein the reviewer’s disdain was so palpable it has stuck with me to this day.
 

“Playing as sir Bowen, you hack and slash your way across a variety of levels in order to… to win the bloody speedboat, who cares, this is awful.” 

Really caught me off guard. 
 

Also remember a review of an F-Zero/Wipeout type game that ran at a silky smooth 60fps but had awful controls and the reviewer said “it moves like an absolute bastard but sadly handles like an absolute bastard.” Love that. 

I always used to leaf through the magazines and find the worst reviewed games, because they usually felt like they were the most creative and amusingly written ones. 

@RedTwoster@RedTwoster was it PlayStation World aka PSW? It had a bit of the "lad mag" about it.

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, Jazzy G said:

I always used to leaf through the magazines and find the worst reviewed games, because they usually felt like they were the most creative and amusingly written ones. 

@RedTwoster@RedTwoster was it PlayStation World aka PSW? It had a bit of the "lad mag" about it.

Were you meaning to @ @TildeGuy~!, here? Hope you find the magazine and that this helps, Tilde!

[TheHighlightReel]

On 9/5/2024 at 4:20 PM, TildeGuy~! said:

Absolute long shot but…

I remember going to Earls Court with some school friends (would have either been 2001 or 2002) for the PlayStation Experience(basically tons of consoles and TV’s where you could play all the new PS2 games coming soon) and being interviewed by a magazine asking for my opinion on some of the new games(I remember being hyped for the new Pro Evo and Onimusha 2)then a few months later someone came up to me at School telling me my interview was on a demo disc that came with said magazine. 

I have completely forgotten what the magazine was called but I’m pretty sure it was an unofficial PlayStation Mag, anyone have the smallest idea of what it could be?

Can’t help with the clip but was this the same event that Blazing Squad played Crossroads and Kieron Dyer did some kick ups in front of Lucy Pinder on stage for some reason? If so, every chance we might have played a game of whatever NHL was out at the time.

[FLips]

On 9/5/2024 at 4:20 PM, TildeGuy~! said:

Absolute long shot but…

I remember going to Earls Court with some school friends (would have either been 2001 or 2002) for the PlayStation Experience(basically tons of consoles and TV’s where you could play all the new PS2 games coming soon) and being interviewed by a magazine asking for my opinion on some of the new games(I remember being hyped for the new Pro Evo and Onimusha 2)then a few months later someone came up to me at School telling me my interview was on a demo disc that came with said magazine. 

I have completely forgotten what the magazine was called but I’m pretty sure it was an unofficial PlayStation Mag, anyone have the smallest idea of what it could be?

Could be this?

https://tsarchives.fandom.com/wiki/ECTS_2002_(PlayStation_Experience)

https://greatreporter.com/2003/09/03/fatality-playstation-experience-fails/

Based on the dates it very well could be this demo? Though I can’t seem to find the contents of it to verify.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276517718511?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=B0CDcu38S6u&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=gVqiMiaxRbe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[TildeGuy~!]

3 hours ago, TheHighlightReel said:

Can’t help with the clip but was this the same event that Blazing Squad played Crossroads and Kieron Dyer did some kick ups in front of Lucy Pinder on stage for some reason? If so, every chance we might have played a game of whatever NHL was out at the time.

Yep that exact same event, they had Kieron Dyer on stage playing This is Football and I took a pic with Leilani Dowding who was promoting Dance Dance Revolution.

[TildeGuy~!]

14 hours ago, FLips said:

Could be this?

https://tsarchives.fandom.com/wiki/ECTS_2002_(PlayStation_Experience)

https://greatreporter.com/2003/09/03/fatality-playstation-experience-fails/

Based on the dates it very well could be this demo? Though I can’t seem to find the contents of it to verify.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276517718511?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=B0CDcu38S6u&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=gVqiMiaxRbe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Thanks for the suggestions, it was definitely from a magazine though, been looking for quite some time.

I guess it’ll just be one of those Lost Media things for me though.

[DavidB6937]

I'm a simp for Dreamcast so I kinda want all this even if it's expensive. Curious about the other merch drops in future months based on the games too.

 

 

 

[FLips]

I gave up on Chrono Cross, it was just way too much for too little reward. The negatives just piled up and up and at it's core you had the makings of a really good game but with a battle system that took four Youtube tutorials to explain even the most basics aspects of, and an XP system that didn't reward you for playing.

Beautiful game with a really lovely soundtrack, but the actual gameplay, the bread and butter, amounted to nothing. I invested more time than I should have but sadly was overcame.

After a little research I ended up getting Dragon Quest VII to fill the PS1 JRPG gap and I'm enjoying that so far. It's apparently a huge game at over 100 hours, and looks incredibly dated, but nearly everywhere said the time investment is worth it. It's the 2nd best selling PS1 game in Japan just behind FFVII and the 20th worldwide which is impressive considering PAL never got a release, just NA and Japan. They actually delayed the release of FFIX to not compete with it!

If you've ever played a DQ game you know the general idea. Unnamed Hero protagonist, boisterous sidekicks, all the music, bells and whistles are the same. It's your brass tacks JRPG for better or worse. This one apparently has a very fun and impressive job system and a story to die for, so excited to commit to it. Hopefully it sticks the landing for me, my only criticisms so far being a wonky camera and though I don't mind it yet, there is zero hand holding. I can see myself getting lost sooner rather than later.

On the Megadrive front I wasn't happy with the way it looked so I got myself a fancy scart cable that arrived today. I can already notice a sharper image, whiter whites and clearer sound. It's hard to get too excited about it though as I gave my mate his game back so all I have to test is the notoriously ugly port of MK3. My rom cart should be here this week so I'm excited to try better games on it.
I was really underwhelmed with the blur and the dullness so hopefully this provides a better experience.

[RedTwoster]

On 9/11/2024 at 5:51 PM, FLips said:

After a little research I ended up getting Dragon Quest VII to fill the PS1 JRPG gap and I'm enjoying that so far. It's apparently a huge game at over 100 hours, and looks incredibly dated, but nearly everywhere said the time investment is worth it. It's the 2nd best selling PS1 game in Japan just behind FFVII and the 20th worldwide which is impressive considering PAL never got a release, just NA and Japan. They actually delayed the release of FFIX to not compete with it!

I played the 3DS version of this, which has a lot of quality of life improvements. I actually really enjoyed it at first, but there came a point where I just felt fed up of it. I’d invested so much time in it by that point that I felt obliged to complete it, and I did - but it’s a game that would be much more fondly remembered if it was half the length that it is.

I’d highly recommend DQV - the DS version ideally - which is just so innovative, introducing so many cool concepts which were completely new to the genre. 

I’m really looking forward to you getting round to Live-a-Live too, to see if you love it as much as I did. 

[FLips]

My Everdrive Cart turned up for the Mega Drive and as you'll have noticed from my lack of posts about it, it's because it works and I've been real effin busy with it. Here's a roundup of the games I've so far played and (mostly) completed on it.

Streets of Rage 2 got completed pretty quickly on it. It's a lot easier than I remember it being, and boy does that soundtrack still hold up. I miss the speedier movement from Streets of Rage 3, sometimes you feel a little sluggish but bare-knuckling your way through the alphabet soup of Signals is as satisfying now as it ever was. Still looks stunning too.
I gave Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi 3 a go but as my outings with them usually go I got fed up log jumping in Revenge and got bored on the alien levels of 3. The ideal game would be Revenge with 3's movement.

Daffy Duck in Hollywood got completed and it's a so-so game. You collect dynamite to blow open walls to the next area, 3 strikes and you're out. 18 levels so not a big one, but one of the classic cases of "you didn't collect all the items so go try again" endings. Worth playing for the soundtrack alone, and it's got lovely big sprites.

Terminator and Terminator 2 Judgement Day are a one-two combo of good and bad. Terminator is still one of my favourite games on the system, the perfect pick up and play in 15 minutes games. Amazing soundtrack by Matt Furniss who did Daffy Duck and while the rose tint is on for the gameplay, it's definitely not bad by any means. If you're like me and get killed on the last level every time, don't worry because 10 minutes later and you'll be back there.
T2 on the other hand is a dud, but not as bad as it's reputation would have you believe. This is the side scroller, not the arcade shooter. It takes a lot to get around it's shortcomings, including learning how to bunny hop around the place or you're so sluggish you may as well lay flat on the ground. I wouldn't go as far as to suggest it, but I'm not going to sit and tell you it's the worst or anything.

Gunstar Heroes was first up to bat when my mate came over and we had a blast doing co-op on that. There's still some ideas in this ahead of their time, including the slightly frustrating but technically impressive board game level. One of those games where Easy mode is too easy but Normal mode is too hard. Worth a play any day of the week though, especially with a friend.
Next up on the 2 player run was TMNT Hyperstone Heist which is the Mega Drive's answer to Turtles in Time. It's not as good as the SNES counterpart, but we learned that as we went on with quite a few of the games we played. This isn't the fanboy speaking as I grew up in a Sega household but the SNES really does outperform the Mega Drive in pretty much every department. But I digress. Hyperstone Heist is OK. It's worth playing just for the experience alone as it's got bits of Turtles in Time mashed into it including music and level mechanics, but all the levels are different and unique. It's a totally different frankenstein game made up of random parts and it's not bad at all.

To round off the beat-em-ups we played Captain America and The Avengers. It's the worst version of an average arcade game. Some of the music is ok but going from Streets of Rage 2, to TNMT, to this was a real eye opener. Tell you what though, I enjoyed it more than The Punisher which is another absolutely ravaged port of an OK arcade game (which coincidentally just got released in one of those Marvel vs Capcom collection). Looks ugly and there's no oomph to the gameplay at all.

Super Street Fighter 2 is another one where we longed for the SNES version. Perfectly functional but it looks and especially sounds like shit. I don't know how we ever coped. The Sega pad just isn't as good as the SNES for accurate inputs either but we still had a bit of fun with it. Next up was Mortal Kombat 3 which I will die on the hill of never being very good. I wouldn't say there was a Mortal Kombat with truly good gameplay until 9 which is quite the streak for a franchise. No denying it's place in 90s gaming culture though. We played Eternal Champions right after and both agreed it was way better.

We played a game called UltraCore we'd never heard of, which looks to have been a Turrican-style game by Psygnosis planned for the Amiga, Atari ST and Sega CD which was cancelled at the last minute. It's ended up getting 2019 limited release on modern consoles but also importantly on the original Mega Drive hardware which is what we played and it's actually pretty fantastic. The Psygnosis Amiga era style is full force but uncharacteristically it's very playable and not too difficult. Certainly look into this if you like Turrican. I won't say it leaves as lasting an impression but it's no slouch.

We completed World of Illusion Starring Mickey and Donald which is still a hoot to get through. Despite both owning it as kids and playing it more than we can remember, we still ended up saying parts of the game on this run through we'd never seen. Just a gorgeous platformer with some of the truest co-op gameplay of the era.

Lethal Enforcers was a unique run and gun we didn't get on with. Some fun ideas on paper but difficult to a fault. Felt like Metal Slug without the subtletly.

Back onto solo stuff I gave Robocop vs Terminator another go and it's still a good wholesome gorefest run and gun. I still remembered the secret lives room from the Mega Drive thread so got me some 1-ups which proved to be my downfall twice when two seperate bosses ended up softlocking me and I had to repeatedly kill myself. ED-209 was up first and he drops his gun turret midway through the fight. I died after picking it up and you cannot defeat him with your pistol so I was boned. Later a Terminator did the same gimmick and I ended up just switching it off. A feature of this era of games, I suppose.
Speaking of which Shadow of the Beast II was as successfull as ever. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the series but what a collection of badly made games. Truly awful game design. No wonder they put so much effort into the Game Over screens.
Ren and Stimpy: Stimpy's Invention pleasantly surprised me with how playable it is. It almost handles like a Super Smash Bros game with directional inputs changing your attacks and jumps, and the ability to switch characters is inspired. It opens with the Log song Sega logo, Powdered Toast Man saves you from pits and when you collect items you shout either HAPPY or JOY. As a big fan of the show I really enjoyed this. It's not Sonic or anything but I completed it without too much fuss and I had fun along the way.

---

Next up on the agenda for the Mega Drive is next month looking to get a 60hz switch fitted. As much as the games hold up there's absolutely no getting around how bad they play on a PAL system. Awful multicoloured borders where the screen doesn't fit right, slowed down gameplay, slowed down music. It was a different time I suppose as it never bothered me as a kid but there's no getting around it now. 60hz games play full screen at the right speed so it's a no brainer.

Still a hell of a console.

 

 

 

[Jazzy G]

@FLipsthere's a great fan translated ROM of Bare Knuckle 3 out there that shows us what we could have had if it wasn't for Sega of America deciding the game was too easy, the plot was too controversial and Axel looked too gay in the colours he'd been wearing throughout the game. It's criminally overlooked. Still not a patch on 2, but leaps and bounds ahead if "Streets Of Rage 3"

A friend has been playing the Paper Mario Thousand Year Door remake on Switch, so I had a look at the original using the N64 stuff on the Switch Online. It's alright. I hear people saying subsequent games never lived up to this one. My timing is awful with the button presses to either do more damage or block enemy attacks, but I'll keep going and hopefully it'll click for me. It's a fun enough diversion between Brotato runs. 

[RedTwoster]

16 minutes ago, Jazzy G said:

A friend has been playing the Paper Mario Thousand Year Door remake on Switch, so I had a look at the original using the N64 stuff on the Switch Online. It's alright. I hear people saying subsequent games never lived up to this one.

I completed the first Paper Mario on Switch online, and although I enjoyed it, I thought Super Mario RPG was a much better game. I always had it in my mind - based on my memories of the GameCube version - that TTYD was a superior game, but again, I think Super Mario is far better. It’s possibly a reflection on the lack of free time I have these days compared to the early 2000s, but some of the dungeons in TTYD felt long; an issue that was even more problematic based on the limited number of items you can carry (15) - this meant, in some later dungeons, I’d run out of health items and be forced to leave, to return to a town to buy some more in order to face the boss. In the final dungeon there’s no quick way of doing that before facing a boss gauntlet, so I just gave up on the game and watched the ending on YouTube. It’s still a fun game with a good sense of humour to it, but some quality of life improvements as far as item carrying goes would have gone a long way during that final stretch.

(Although, having said that, I completed the GameCube version back in the day so maybe I was just ill prepared, or I’ve regressed as a gamer)

Edited Tuesday at 08:17 AM by RedTwoster