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Thread: Awesome games people should know about!

  1. #46
    Fei Gone Wrong Polnareff's Avatar
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    Well, I found a game today. Remember Me by Dontnod Entertainment. The game got crapped on by critics, if I remember right. But, despite some small flaws, it's a fun game.

    The basic premise is that you are a lady named Nilin who has most of her memory wiped by a company that is producing an item called a Sensen, which is supposed to help you relive your best memories. But it's all a coverup for what's really going on: people playing God and stealing/erasing people's memories.

    Nilin, after a long struggle, starts to get her powers back so that she can try to not only rally people for her team, but gain all her lost memories back as well.

    The game is one part fighting, one part platforming, and one part memory rewriting. The fighting is top-notch although at first it will seem repetitive. You customize your combos with these items called Pressens that you get when you level up. Each Pressen, depending on which slot you adhere it to, gives you a different attack, and some will restore your life upon hit, or restore your focus gauge. Your focus gauge is used to string together powerful attacks, and when it runs out, it gets a timer over it. This timer can go back to normal in about a minute, or, if you have a focus restoring Pressen, just use the combo that contains it and it'll knock about 20 seconds off the timer.

    The catch with Pressens? You have to do the specific combo, with the right timing. You can't just mash buttons or they won't work. Scratch that, you CAN mash buttons to win fights, but it makes them last longer and you won't get the bonuses.

    There's also the memory overload feature, which also restores the focus gauge. It's as it sounds, she reaches into the opponent's neck and overloads their memory so that they die.

    Now, this memory rewriting thing..... it basically works as an interactive cutscene. You can rewind or fast forward through, checking for things to activate or mess around with to screw with the person's memories. The first one involved a woman who was trying to kill Nilin. The objective was to rewrite her memory to make it so that her husband was killed by the doctor who was treating him. I could explain more about why she was trying to kill Nilin, but it'd be a spoiler, and it's also very subtly shown why she was trying to kill her (without actually mentioning why) when you watch the scene. After you activate the different triggers to make him kill the woman's husband, the story changes and the woman joins your cause. Personally, I think this mechanic is kinda cool. It's scripted, but it's never been seen before in any game I've ever played.

    Should mention the platforming too. This aspect was one of the ones that got crapped on. I can't see why, since it's basically like Assassin's Creed + Yaiba (if anyone has played Yaiba). The controls for it work just fine, and shimmying around and jumping from pole to pole is actually pretty fun.

    I think it's a pretty cool game so far. Bought it for 12 bucks, and haven't regretted it yet.
    Xenogears is the tragic story of how your whole life can take a crappy turn, just because you happened to see a lady in a wedding dress before her wedding.

    This boy is crackin' up, this boy has broken down
    This boy is crackin' up, this boy has broke down

  2. #47

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    Quote Originally Posted by Necronopticous View Post
    I died. A lot. T_T
    I suspect I could have a lot of fun with the game once I got it down, though. Is there any value to killing off people? I may have randomly executed some happy folks for no reason. <.<



    I've never heard of Remember Me, but from what you said and what I saw on Youtube, it looks pretty spiffy.




    Anyway, I've got another game to share. Prepare le hints! >_< /

    1) It's a PC game
    2) It started as a DOS game
    3) Involves worms with weapons
    4) And ninja rope
    5) And real time combat

    Think you know it?
    Let's see what it is!

    Liero - Joosa Riekkinen - 1998 - (Does 'Explosions' count as a genre?)


    I love artillery games, and some of my fondest PC memories come from the hours I spent playing Gorillas and Tank Wars with friends. The latter was actually the game I was considering putting here, but, in all honesty, Team 17's Worms series is such a superior experience that I couldn't find a reason to drop Tank Wars here, and everyone knows about Worms Armageddon already, so I couldn't put it here either! D:

    Then I remembered Liero.

    The game certainly drew a lot of inspiration from Worms, perhaps even a bit TOO much, which is why I often feel the title is completely ignored and passed over. To be sure, the DOS days were full of second rate imitations, but Liero is not such a game; Liero is a fully realized title on its own, and, despite its appearance, is not a simple Worms knock off.

    The first and most obvious difference between the two is that Liero plays out in real time, with both players constantly on the move and navigating the stages. This also means that the artillery system in the Worms series has been ditched as well, since there is never a solid opportunity to gauge distance and factor in shot power and wind, though aiming is still done in roughly the same manner. Instead, weapons in Liero have a fixed power they always shoot at and dodging is always an important consideration.

    Additionally, players do not start with the same general weapon set and pick up additional armaments via random drops like in Worms. Instead, players have five weapon slots they cycle through that are initially populated either randomly or manually before the game begins. Weapon (and health) packages do still appear in stages, but instead of adding to your weapons pile they replace whatever weapon you have equipped, so more consideration is in order when collecting them than in the Worms series. After all, who wants to replace a nuke with a dirt ball?

    Ammo is also not a consideration Liero, and weapons are instead balanced by a variable reload timer after a clip is spent, with more powerful weapons like nukes taking much longer to reload than, say, a pistol. Finding the time to reload powerful weapons you've picked up provides an interesting vulnerability twist to the game not present in the Worms series, since they either have something or they don't in those titles.

    Ninja rope and destructible terrain are also present in the title, and both operate roughly as expected. For whatever reason, Ninja Rope can grab onto damn near ANYTHING in Liero, including the edges of the screen and other players, which makes it a bit more powerful than in the Worm's series, if that is at all possible. It's also unlimited and unexpiring with no impact firing, so I like to stick myself to the upper edges of a stage and bob around while firing at people. This gets amusingly silly as matches drag on and roughly 80% of the stage ends up a vacuous, blood stained hole due to collateral damage, so you are just bouncing around on a pixel of dirt shooting spiked balls at people (because I like covering the floor in pointy death. >: D).


    All of these elements combine to make an amazingly fun game, and if you happen to enjoy the worms series, or Soldat, Liero is completely worth your time and attention. It's a bit odd getting used to playing multiplayer with a single keyboard, but it is easy enough to overcome, and the game is SUPER small and easy to find (and free), so go pick it up. That is, unless a game like this is super unappealing to you, then you probably shouldn't. Either way, although it isn't as polished as Worms Armaggedon, Liero is totally . . .
    an awesome game you should know about.


    Also, if you do find the game appeals to you and you'd like to get a bit more out of the title, the game has an absolutely awesome fanbase who picked up work on the project after the original developer left it. They've made tons of awesome mods for the game, and even a few expanded source ports and sequels of sorts. My personal favorite of the bunch is OpenLieroX, which is a stand-alone game I fully recommend that comes packaged with a ton of fun stages, crazy weapon packs, silly skins, and netplay.



    I don't know much about the project's current status, or even how well it plays online since I usually stick with LAN games, but it's everything the original Liero was and more. There's even an option to play in the original stage with the original weapon pack, as I recall, though I do believe one of the weapons was removed for whatever reason. (Guided missile, maybe? I really can't remember).
    Last edited by Rez09; 01-30-2015 at 05:11 PM.

  3. #48

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    Up next, another one of my favorite multiplayer games of all time (though people seem iffy about giving it a fair shot). For the hints:

    1) It's an NES game
    2) Developed by Technos
    3) It's a hockey game
    4) Part of a long and diverse series
    5) Cheerleaders vs. football team all day! >_< /

    Have any guesses?
    Let's see that title!

    Ike Ike! Nekketsu Hackey-bu - Technos / Technos - 1992 - Hockey




    Where to even begin with this title. I'd say it's like NBA Jam is to most basketball games, but even that wouldn't be doing this title justice. Where NBA Jam had half-court dunks, Ike Ike has players flying through the air like helicopters; where NBA Jam had players with high-accuracy 'on-fire' shots, Ike Ike has teddy bears jump kicking goalies in the face; where NBA Jam allowed pushing to steal the ball, Ike Ike allows full on SUPLEXING to steal the puck.


    ezgif-1491211641.gif
    (SUUUUUUUUUUUPLEX!)

    Of course, not all teams have each of these abilities -- that would be silly. Instead there are 8 teams to pick from in multiplayer, most of which have their own unique identity based around another sport, and each has distinctive abilities they bring to the rink. The baseball team, for instance, uses bats instead of hockey sticks and can smash pucks in the air (where they end up surprisingly often, actually. :o) like a baseball, sending it flying across the stage, and the Kendo team can shoot blade beams while jumping. Additionally, each team also has a special shot its players can perform by charging their slap shots, like the cheerleaders' previously mentioned teddy bear, which sends players flying as it hops to the enemy goal, or the football players' shot that shoots straight up in the air and knocks out the goalie (unless they time their catch properly) when it falls back down. This adds a great, arcadey diversity to the game that sets it apart from other hockey titles and makes it a lot more interesting, especially once a person settles on a team they really like.


    It isn't just the teams adding spice to the title either, as there are several rinks to select from that have special properties as well, each of which are encountered while progressing through single player mode or available right off the bat to select in multiplayer. There's the normal no frills arena and an improved version of it used for the championship games, one with bouncy walls, one with tiny ice chunks that send the puck ricocheting all over the place, and one laden with land mines -- though why the other four exist with the last one available I'll never know. I mean, who would ever want to play Hockey without explosives?

    The game has quite a bit of depth to it as well, though silly team powers and land mines might lead one to believe otherwise. For one, almost everything in the game is timing based, especially when it comes to stopping pucks with the goalie and performing special shots. This means that mindless mashing will only get you so far, but it is also extremely easy to get a feel for most of the commands as long as you practice a bit. This can be a bit annoying when blocking special shots though, as you need to know the height to block at as well as the timing and messing up means a free goal for the opposing team, but at the same time setting up power shots can be risky and properly blocking it both gives you control of the puck and they likely lost health charging the puck. It's just too bad I still haven't figured out how to pass properly yet.

    Untitled3.png
    (I hope that pass knows where it's going, because I sure as hell don't.)

    Unfortunately, for all the talking up I can do for this game it is still a sports title, and if you hold absolutely no love for the genre there is only so much the game can offer you. On the other hand, if you are open to sports games consider giving this title a chance. Technos did pretty well with their sports lineup, their most famous entry being Super Dodgeball, and Ike Ike! is unlike any other hockey game I've tried and is a complete blast to play with three other lighthearted people. It's silly, it's fast, it's arcadey, and it is absolutely . . .

    an awesome game you should know about



    Last edited by Rez09; 01-31-2015 at 09:44 PM.

  4. #49

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    Well, it's been a while, but I thought of four more awesome games to throw out, two for the SNES and two for the Genesis. So let's skip everything else and get those hints out! \ ^_^ /


    For the first title:

    1) It's a side-scrolling shooter on the Genesis, released by Technosoft in '92
    2) It's the fourth entry in the series and the last released in the SNES/MD generation
    3) You select between four stages at the start of the game
    4) You can swap between weapons and upgrade them on the fly, but you lose / downgrade whatever weapon you had selected when you die.

    Think you know it?
    Let's see what it is!



    Lightening Force / Thunder Force IV - Technosoft / Technosoft - 1992 - Side-scrolling shooter




    Sometimes it surprises me how much enjoyment I manage to get from a genre I am so unbelievably bad at, and this game is no exception. Despite it being rather 'easy', from what I've been told anyway, I've still yet to beat it, but that doesn't change how much I enjoy the title.

    The first thing that ALWAYS strikes me about this title is how pretty it is, especially since it incorporates a GREAT parallax scrolling effect in the background that makes everything stand out more.



    (Sooooo pretty. Q_Q)

    The second is the extreme vertical freedom you have in most stages, as you can (usually) move up and down roughly two to three screens worth of space, allowing you more freedom to avoid enemies and attacks (sometimes).

    There's also the game's unique weapon system, where, instead of having a single weapon that gets replaced when you find new pickups, all of your weapons are stored in a bar you can freely cycle through to get the best weapon for the job at hand. Each weapon also levels and degrades independently of each other, so you rarely find yourself completely underpowered for an area after death.



    (Level 2 first and second weapon, level 1 third, you get the idea. )

    I have been told in the past that LF/TF IV is inferior to the third title, but, having played both, I just never managed to enjoy the third game as much, despite their similar mechanics. Anyway, if you have a Genesis/Mega Drive and are open to side-scrolling shooters, give this game a look. The Thunder Force series in general is quite solid, this being my favorite entry in the series, and while it will never be as well known as R-Type or Gradius, or even Darius, it still remains . . .
    an awesome game you should know about




    For the second gameu:

    1) It's a Genesis / Megadrive port of an arcade title
    2) It's developed by Namco
    3) It's a vertical shooter
    4) It's inspired by Greek mythology
    5) There's a lady-type person trapped behind a wall, yo! :o

    Got a guess?
    What's behind that spoiler tag!


    Phelios - Namco / Namco - 1990 - Vertical Shooter



    Who loves Greek mythology? Rez loves Greek mythology! Is it true? Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes it's truuu-oooo~ I do, I do, I dooo-oooo~~ And that's why, when I saw this game in a local pawn shop as a kid, I knew I had to own it. I got to ride Pegasus, I got to fight Medusa and a giant harpy, Artemis needed saving -- it was awesome! I mean, the whole affair is crazy inaccurate from a mythological standpoint, but I didn't really care. Turns out I still really don't.

    From a mechanical point of view, Phelios isn't anything particularly special outside of the material it drew inspiration from. You fly around on Pegasus and fire energy shots from your sword at things you don't like, collecting occasional powerups that heal you or give you temporary weapon powerups, like a pretty sweet wave shot and Gradius-style Options.


    (Pewpewpewpew!)

    You also have a much appreciated health bar, greatly alleviating the annoyance of one-hit kills so present in the genre, though colliding with solid objects will still instantly kill you (as I recall). There's also the ability to charge your shots, which fills up the sword on the right and drastically increases the damage you deal, not to mention allows your shots to pierce multiple (weaker) enemies.


    But really, nice as these mechanics are, it's the setting that really makes the game. I loved the feeling of chasing down the 'big bad' and fighting famous mythological monsters, from Medusa to Gryphons to the titan Typhon himself at the end of the game. I also really love the first stage, flying over Greece and into a giant temple. The game even attempted to insert a bit of narrative into the experience that I appreciate, with each stage ending with Typhon being a jerk or Artemis urging you on, providing a little bit of story to the game, minor though it may be. Typhon has quite the fetish it seems as well.




    It culminates in a particularly interesting way in the final stage, where you have to collect pieces to upgrade your sword so you are strong enough to face Typhon, something I've never seen in another shooter (EDIT: Though R-Type Final and III have story-ish final boss fights). Your final weapon is all kinds of crazy too, replacing your normal charge shot with a crazy plamsa deathball. Which, of course, I used a Game Genie to give myself at the start of the game, because I'm terrible at shooters and it made me feel like the God Apollo probably should be.

    So in closing, if vertical shooters are more your fare than horizontal ones like Thunder Force IV, Phelios might be an interesting title to pick up. It's solid mechanically, though it offers relatively little that could be considered new to the genre, and it's a lot of fun playing through the mythology-inspired world. I wouldn't put it on par with Star Soldier or Recca (neither of which are Genesis titles, I suppose. <.<), but Phelios is still . . .
    an awesome game you should know about



    Game numbah 3!

    1) It's an SNES game developed by Manfred Trenz (Turrican) for the Super Famicom
    2) Mixes on foot and spaceship side-scrolling shooting
    3) Like Thunder Force, you can cycle between multiple weapons with their own levels
    4) Your character reminds me of the Doom-guy when on foot
    5) The (non-reproduction) game is rather pricey

    What could it beeeee now~~
    *Drumroll*

    Rendering Ranger:R2 - Rainbow Arts / Virgin Interactive - 1995 - Side-Scrolling Shooter




    This is a game I consistently find on lists of overpriced games that are simply not worth the entrance fee, and, for the most part, I can generally agree with that, especially if you are a collector after an in-box copy and avoiding reproduction carts. Fortunately, however, I ran into this title through emulation without knowing ANYTHING about it, so I went in without the title needing to prove anything to me and was actually quite satisfied with it. The game is challenging while being fully completable, the weapons are (almost) all useful in their own circumstances, the game sounds great, and the flying stages are a lot of fun, while the foot stages are decent enough (though never exceptional).

    Looking at the title itself, the game is split between two modes, on-foot and flying side-scrolling shooters, as you fend off a robot invasion. Most mechanics are shared between the two modes, and you power up your weapons like most space-based shooters, collecting variously colored icons to get new weapons and power up the ones you have. Much like Thunder Force, you can swap between the weapons you own at any point and each has important special properties to it, like ricocheting bullets or spread fire, and death only reduces the power of the weapon you are currently using. Each weapon also comes with a unique smart bomb that regenerates over time -- one weapon, for instance, shoots a high-powered laser beam that continually damages enemies within it, while another shoots a quick shockwave.


    (Boooooomba!)

    You also have a healthbar like in Phelios and can take several hits without dying, instagib pits on foot excepting, and you can additionally get a shield from collecting health pickups while at max health. This gives you a lot of tankiness in the game, which is always appreciated when you play as poorly as I do, especially because, despite how much effective health you will have between the bar and shields, running headlong into danger WILL get you killed and there are NO continues in this game -- you've got five lives and they damn well better carry you to victory.

    Well, unless you are like me and hunt for secrets everywhere and find a bunch more. Which you then promptly lose because you can't play space shooters for trout. ._. Also, does anyone else think your character looks like the Doom guy? Anyone?


    (Maybe I'm just insane.)

    The first two stages take place on foot, but once you start the third stage the game turns into what feels almost like a Thunder Force clone, which is all kinds of acceptable to me, and it alternates off and on from there. As I said before, all of the mechanics from the foot stages are present in the flying ones, from the smart bombs to the healthbar and shields, but a rather unique mechanic comes in with the ability to change the direction you are facing. You'll always be moving forward, but you can turn around and fire behind you, which becomes very important in later stages (the second to last area in particular) when enemies come from all sides.

    The game looks and plays GREAT during these flying sections, and some of my favorite Shmup stages ever are in this game -- stage 7 in particular, though stage 3 and 6 are great as well. These stages have a great mix of mechanics, music, graphics, and difficulty I just adore.



    In the end, R2 isn't an amazing title, and as I said before it certainly isn't worth its price tag, but I found it to be an enjoyable experience overall, and if you enjoy either gameplay type the game presents, I'd can only recommend that you give this one a try. It is a satisfying experience to complete, and though far from the best the SNES has to offer, it is still . . .
    an awesome game you should know about




    Annnnnnd finally, game number 4!

    1) It's a side-scrolling shooter from Konami on the SNES
    2) Octopuses may be involved
    3) Excessive silliness is most DEFINITELY involved
    4) It's the fourth game in its series
    5) That's the way~~ (uh-huh uh-huh) I like it~~

    What'chu think?
    That's exactly what it is!

    Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius - Konami / Konami - 1995 - Side-Scrolling Shooter



    Man must never underestimate the Konami.

    Never. ._.

    While I do enjoy the Gradius series to some degree, Gradius II in particular, Konami was never a company who's shmups I had much love for -- I much prefer Irem's R-Type series and Tehnosoft's Thunder Force. I'd even tried out one of the earlier Parodius titles on the . . . NES I believe, but it was still rather 'meh'. Imagine my surprise when I loaded this gem up one day and found something to rival R-Type III for my favorite shooter on the SNES.

    If you are unaware, the Parodius series is a silly cross-over spin-off of the Gradius series, where you take control of various Konami characters flying through funny stages, collecting sometimes ridiculous powerups, and fighting (to put it lightly) amusing bosses. You know, kind of like this:



    On top of these features, each character has a different weapon loadout, so using the Octopus isn't the same as using, say, the neutered cat, who, to my amusement, throws homing balls everywhere.

    The best part of this game, though, is the announcer. This is one of the SNES games that has voice samples in it that sound great. This man is SOOO hype for anything I do, like sometimes he goes nuts for no reason as I'm flying through empty space and I'm all:
    favicon.png

    It's not an important feature, especially since I have NO idea what he is saying/yelling, but it adds some seriously amusing flavor to the game and is a great addition.

    Unfortunately, that's about all I have to say about this entry, but that's not because of poor quality, more that the game is really just a BETTER Gradius. It follows all of the same rules, collecting powerups to move the upgrade bar to which upgrade you want and then activating the bar, with missiles and lasers and ripple beams and shields and whatnot. If you are a Gradius fan, play this game; if you are a side-scrolling shmup fan, play this game; if you are looking for something quirky to play, play this game! I really like all four entries on this list today, but I think this is easily the best of the group, and it is most definitely . . .
    an awesome game you should know about!

    Last edited by Rez09; 02-24-2015 at 09:33 AM.

  5. #50
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    Games I like that aren't very well known and haven't been mentioned already:

    Rez, Child of Eden, Battlezone.

    I could post videos, but at least for the two first games, videos don't really do the games justice, as a big part of it is the feel you get from it while actually playing, and the feedback the game gives to you, which includes heavy vibration usage.

    Rez and Child of eden are musical shooters (technically, i guess), with awesome music and really trippy graphics. They are unfortunately very short so it's hard to justify buying them unless you find them pretty cheap.

    Battlezone is a RTS/FPS hybrid set to an alternate history space race. Basically, the cold war was actually a hot war, and it took place in space.
    Last edited by Mirage; 02-24-2015 at 02:25 PM.
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  6. #51
    Crazy Scot. Cid's Knight Shauna's Avatar
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    Battlezone is awesome.

  7. #52

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mirage View Post
    Games I like that aren't very well known and haven't been mentioned already:

    Rez, Child of Eden, Battlezone.
    Rez was a really interesting game, and I loved how the tracks 'evolved' as you played, though I do agree it was rather short. It always reminds me a bit of Vib Ribbon, both using that wire look and being music focused, though that's where the similarities end. I've never heard of Child of Eden though, so I'mma have to check it out.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mirage
    Battlezone is a RTS/FPS hybrid set to an alternate history space race. Basically, the cold war was actually a hot war, and it took place in space.
    On this day I learned there was a remake of Battlezone. :o

  8. #53
    tech spirit
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    It's not as much a remake as it is just having the rights to the name and using it for a different and completely unrelated game.

    Child of eden is essentially Rez' sequel. Gameplay is roughly the same.
    everything is wrapped in gray
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    can you hear me in the void?

  9. #54

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    Now for one of my favorite games EVAH!

    1) It's a PSP game released by Capcom 2006
    2) It's a remake
    3) Involves a super fighting robot
    4) Isn't Maverick Hunter X

    Think you got it?
    You probably do. :)

    Mega Man Powered Up - Capcom / Capcom - 2006 - Side-Scrolling Platformer



    You know what game doesn't get a lot of love? The original Mega Man. I mean, sure, most people acknowledge that it was a decent title, but no one seems to speak especially highly of it, and (almost) everyone also seems to agree that every sequel it had was superior to it. Well, eventually Capcom noticed that too and decided to give the title some love in '06 with this update, and I am absolutely THRILLED that they did. From new stages to new bosses, this is a remake where absolutely EVERYTHING was done right, and, assuming you are a Mega Man fan, this is one of THE must have titles for the PSP.

    So what did they change? Well, the first and most glaring change is the graphical style. Instead of sticking with a 2D style, Capcom decided on a rather cute 2.5D SD look for the game. This seems to be the most controversial decision the game made, from what I can tell, and I do know some people who were displeased with it, but I actually liked it quite a bit and never felt it in any way hindered the game. It gave the title a fresh graphical feel that fit both the series and the lighthearted feel Capcom was shooting for perfectly, and I feel the SD look aged better than the similar non-SD style used in Maverick Hunter X.



    (My head is 50% of my body mass. I approve of this.)

    Along with the graphics, Capcom also decided to make some applaudable tweaks to the game's bosses, both in the addition of two new ones and changes to the old ones. Regarding the former, the original Mega Man was the only game in the classic series with six robot masters instead of eight, so weaknesses were changed up a bit and Time Man and Oil Man were added into the game. Oil Man's stage includes flammable oil similar to that seen in MM6 that you can also slip in, while Time Man's stage has pendulums and treadmills, and both bosses are about on par with the original six.

    Regarding the changes to the original Robot Masters, all bosses in the game now have both dialogue and personalities, as well as new 'super' moves on higher difficulties. This means there's even more flavor and definition to the original bosses, which is a pretty spiffy addition, especially the personalities given to Fire and Elec Man.


    JUSTICE.png
    (FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!)

    They also weren't content to simply add these elements to the game, nooo, for the first (and only) time in the franchise Capcom also made every Robot Master a playable character as well, with their own special properties, like Fireman's head getting doused in water and losing his projectile, and special paths through stages, like ElecMan's ability to move certain blocks in several stages. It was such a great feature and one Capcom didn't half-ass in the least (although they easily could have). And, of course, fan favorites Protoman and Roll are playable as well, with Roll having tons of cute outfits, like a witch and Arthur from Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, to pick from.



    (Hitting people with the box of chocolate if mah favorite. )

    This, of course, highlights another great attribute of the game, because you don't start with all of these things unlocked. In fact, at the start of the game what you have is super basic -- just Rockman and a new introduction stage to play through. Everything else you have to earn -- bosses from beating them with just your buster, Proto from completing challenge mode, stage creation kits from Robot Master only paths through stages, ect. The game is LOADED with tons of bonus content and unlockables like these, and there is even an awesome stage creation mode that you can share and receive stages with!

    In all honesty I could just keep rambling on about this game, but the bottom line is that if you have a PSP and even just like Mega Man, you should pick this game up. It is easily among the best MM titles ever created and is absolutely
    an awesome game you should know about


    Justice2.png
    (I am the terror that toasts in the night!)



  10. #55

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    This next title is one I imagine almost everyone either doesn't know about or overlooked, but I'mma throw out hints all the same.

    1) It's a Genesis title from 1995
    2) It shares its name with an SNES title, though both are completely different games
    3) It's a licensed title based on a famous Hanna-Barbera property

    Think you got it?
    Let's find out!

    Scooby-Doo Mystery - Illusions Gaming Company / Acclaim - 1995 - Point & Click Adventure



    You know what's amazing? Somehow nostalgia has nothing to do with me liking this title. I didn't even know it existed until I randomly picked it up a few years back, and like anyone in their right mind I expected it to be absolute garbage (especially once I saw the intro cutscene. X_X). It's a good thing I have that whole "game over or 15 minute rule", because this title is actually quite good, at least when considering its limitations.

    The first thing this game does right is departing from its expected genre, opting for a very SCUMM-esque point and click style instead of some kind of misguided platforming mishap like most other Scooby Doo titles do.




    This lends itself exceptionally well to the source material, as exploring locations and stumbling onto clues feels natural and it allows a lot of dialogue to be inserted without it feeling like the pace of the game is being ruined. The D-Pad is a poor replacement for a mouse, but it never hinders things. The developers even managed to fit some of the series' staples, like the multiple doorway chases, into the game, which I was definitely not expecting.





    The second thing the title does right is that it includes two mysteries on the cartridge, a haunted ski lodge and a haunted carnival, instead of just making a longer, single story. This keeps things moving along in both stories and prevents either from feeling artificially inflated (beyond normal adventure game fare), while only having two allowed the developer to fit adequate content into both. The game is fairly short in spite of this, especially when you know what you are doing, but it's still satisfyingly lengthy the first time around without a guide (that said, don't use a guide for this unless you get really stuck; the game's not too bad outside of a few select moments and a walkthrough really kills the experience ).

    Anyway, there isn't much else to say about the title, other than that I wish I had gotten it as a kid, but if you are interested in a solid Point and Click for the Genesis, or a good Scooby Doo game, check this one out. My only warning is that there are some extremely well known problems with the game's audio when emulating it, so if the intro music sounds like this you might want to swap your emulator, but other than that the game is worth the couple of hours it takes to play through. Though the title isn't the best adventure game available for consoles of the era, especially with Snatcher, Secret of Monkey Island, and Famicom Detective Club floating around, it's still fun and remains . . .
    an awesome game you should know about!


    Last edited by Rez09; 02-27-2015 at 03:42 PM.

  11. #56

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    I've played some of these, including Scooby Doo.

    Has nobody mentioned Legend of Dragoon yet? I still have it with the colored discs. According to my friend it's worth a lot, but I don't plan on ever selling it. I wish they'd come out with a sequel for it though I know that'll never happen T_T

  12. #57

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    I don't think anyone HAS mentioned LoD yet! :o

    And I feel your pain waiting for that sequel; I especially want a prequel. The Dragon Campaign sounded super interesting and I'd love to be able to play through it, even knowing how it turns out beforehand.

  13. #58

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    Alrighty, two more.

    First up is a classic from ye olden days of gaming:

    1) It's a port of an arcade game for the Atari 2600
    2) Best played with 4 players
    3) Uses the 'paddle' controller
    4) Breakout wishes it was this good.
    favicon.png

    What could it beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?
    Let's find out! \ ^_^ /

    Warlords - Atari / Atari - 1981 - 4-player breakout-pong



    I LOVE the Atari 2600. Seriously, easily one of my top 5 consoles, and games like Warlords are the reason why. Despite how utterly basic it is, I have never had as much fun with a multiplayer game as I have had playing this with friends.


    The premise is extremely simple: use the paddle to direct the ball into the walls of the enemy's castle, smashing them down so you can hit the king inside. Being an Atari 2600 game, there are additional options controllable with switches on the console that change the game mechanics as well, such as switching between slow and high ball speed (a 'fireball' and 'lighting bolt', as I recall ), and you can pick between sticky or ricochet shields. Personally, I'm all about sticky shields and lightning bolts, as fully controllable, high-speed death is where it's at. >: D

    But I'mma let you in on a secret here, the real magic of this game has almost nothing to do with its mechanics at all (which are great, by the by), noooooo, it's a completely meta thing here that makes this one so good. You see, deep down, people are kind of assholes, and this game really brings that out in people. And I don't mean in a violent outburst kind of way, I mean that when you find yourself three rounds ahead and two short of victory, you suddenly notice that subtle alliance blue and purple seem to have formed against you. And when you bring it up to yellow that, maybe, it might be wise to form an alliance, you can't help but notice his bottom wall is missing, and you can get that ball up there ever so quickly . . .

    The game is absolutely perfect arcadey multiplayer, and if you happen to have any interest in the 2600 this is a title you definitely need to play. If you aren't a person with interest in the console, but still like fast paced competitive multiplayer games, you may still enjoy the title on a newer platform, as an updated version was released on PSN/XBLA a while back that might be worth looking into. Those releases added a few new mechanics, to my understanding, but the basic formula is the same. The game certainly isn't for everyone, as is the case with many 2600 releases, but I'll always love it and, in my mind, it remains . . .
    an awesome game you should know about!





    For the second game . . .

    1) It's another Breakout-style game
    2) You can play as a knight, a mage, a mermaid, a robot, or an owlman
    3) It supports 4-players
    4) It has a story mode and bosses!
    Got a guess?
    Lesee what it is

    Firestriker - Axes Art Amuse / DTMC - 1993 - Breakout Done Better


    So, funny story, and I may be completely alone on this, but, uh, I . . . hate Breakout. I have always found the titles, and clones like Arkanoid, utterly boring and tedious. Fortunately, it's an easily fixed formula, as Atari demonstrated with the previously mentioned Warlords, and Axes Art Amuse, despite the terribad boxart, did again with Firestriker.


    In the game you control a knight (at the start) that can freely move around a stage and you swing your sword to shoot the ball into breakable blocks and monsters. At the bottom of the screen is a gap, usually with destructable blocks covering it, that you die if the ball falls through. To help defend against that you have a mage you can move with L/R or a friend can control with the second controller (not that they have to stay down there ). You can also gain power shots that launch the ball straight up, regardless of its previous trajectory or your position, and deal additional damage to terrain and potentially get the ball out of the screen.

    This is important because, in another much appreciated departure from Breakout, your goal is no longer to destroy every block in a stage. Instead, stages end when you shoot the ball out of the top of the screen, which often requires you to clear a path through blocks and monsters in the area. Sometimes there are gates you need to open as well, or, in several stages, you instead have to use the ball to kill a boss.


    There's even a storyline to the game, though it is quite basic, and as you progress through it you traverse a world map and unlock additional characters, each with different speed and hitstrength properties (thought I think player 2 is always stuck as the mage). Personally, I love the robot, though he is super slow and harder to use than other characters -- an unfortunate trait that carries over to multiplayer.


    Speaking of which, the multiplayer is a pretty cool mix of game modes, feeling like either a mad spinning death match or something more like a soccer game, depending on the map you pick. All of the characters are selectable from the get-go and powershot pickups randomly appear on the map. It's never as good as Warlords, but it's still fun and one of the relatively few four-player games for the system.



    Overall, the game is a great take on Breakout, and I really think more people need to give this one a try. It certainly isn't perfect, but the new things it tries work more than they don't, and at the very least the simple story, bosses, and unlockable characters make it a more engaging title. If you are a Breakout fan, or just looking for something new to try on the SNES, give this one a try. It's not the best, but it is . . .

    an awesome game you should know about
    Last edited by Rez09; 03-02-2015 at 07:07 AM.

  14. #59

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    This one enough people seem to know of, but no one ever says anything about it so maybe not . . .

    1) It's a PC game
    2) It's a 4x game set in space
    3) Second in a series of three
    4) Space amoebas and dragons! D:
    5) I can frame other races when I spy on people.

    My hints suck.
    Any ideas?

    Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares - SimTex / MicroProse - 1996 - Turn-based 4X



    There have been some pretty great offerings in the space 4x genre, and everyone has their own favorites. Some of my friends are solidly behind Alpha Centauri, some behind Sins of Solar Empire (which some people debate is a 4X game), and a few are behind the Galactic Civ series, but Master of Orion II is still my favorite. There's something about the depth its simple exterior holds I love, from my diplomatic options to the leaders I can hire for my systems and fleets, to the sheer customization I have over my ship designs, to taking over other races and breeding them for ideal tasks. This game is on one of my flashdrives and is one of the only PC games that goes with me pretty much everywhere I go.

    Starting the game, there are 13 unique races to pick from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as the option to make a custom race with player selected bonuses and penalties. Not all of the races are equal, of course, so the game isn't perfectly balanced, but seeing that I always play as the Darlocks, who are generally considered one of the worst races in the game, and do well enough, the gap is never insurmountable. It's a lot of fun learning what each race can do and how to play them. Spying is also super satisfying in this game, even if it usually ends up with people quite unhappy (see also: at war) with you, but that's fine because then you can just use your spies to sabotage their defenses.



    <3

    Most of the game plays out on three screens: a spacemap where you can see the placement of all of the systems (though the details of them are hidden to you unless you send a ship to explore them), colony screens where you can assign what is being built and what people are doing, and war screens for combat. There's also diplomacy, ship design, and research screens to manage, but significantly less time is spent in those.



    As you juggle your research, production, and economy you spread across the galaxy reaching for one of several victory conditions: eliminating all other races, being voted galaxy leader, or taking out a 14th race that periodically invades and menaces the galaxy. You can also uncover the Orion star system the game is named after, which contains an excellent planet defended by a powerful guardian that must be defeated to claim it, also netting you a special ship and bonus technologies in the process. Though not required for victory, the Orion system is almost always extremely helpful in taking control of the game.


    (pewpewpew)

    I'm not especially great at explaining why I like games, or even why they are good, but I know what I enjoy and this game is awesome. It is extremely basic to look at now, and it takes some time to learn, but there is plenty of depth to the experience and I've always felt everything was done right in the title. The game can be picked up (with the first game as well) on GoG for 6 USD, and it's hard to go wrong for that price, especially if you enjoy 4x games. It was actually one of (if not the) first games I got on the site, and you should grab it too because MoO2 is absolutely . . .
    an awesome game you should know about!



  15. #60

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    Here's an entry that's a good deal newer than most of what I've been recommending:

    Trapt - Paon / Tecmo - 2005 - Strategic murder funbox. O_oa



    Actually, this is more a recommendation for the entire Deception series, I just chose Trapt because I think it is the most approachable of the bunch. The whole series is fun and unique though, so any entry you can pick up, save the original I suppose, is worth looking into.

    So, what are the Deception games? Generally speaking, in these games you take control of an 'unarmed' character residing in a building while waves of attackers are sent in to kill you. You defend yourself by placing various kinds of damage dealing traps and killing them first, your arsenal ranging from the basics like push walls and giant boulders that drop from the ceiling to more complex things like vacuum floors and giant bladed yo-yos.

    (And this thing)

    Traps are broken into three groups based on where they are placed in the room -- either the ceiling, the walls, or the floor -- and are triggered with a corresponding button. You place said traps from a separate menu that shows a top-down grid of the room you are in, and each trap shows its effect range and direction (when applicable), so you can line up combos, which is actually where a TON of the fun in the game comes from. You can drop a vase on someone's head, for instance, then have them stumble into your spear wall, then fling them into the air with a springboard and onto an electric chair or fire pit. You can get some really spiffy combos if you are inventive enough, and the game rewards you for it too, giving you bonus money for longer combos using different traps.


    And what is that money for? Well, that depends from game to game, and there can be more than one type of currency for you to collect, but in the case of Trapt money can be used to unlock new rooms in the mansion / castle, new outfits, and in the development of new traps. Trap development follows an invisible flow chart of sorts, so you often need to spread your research out a bit to get better versions of the stuff you like, but that also means you'll constantly have lots of nifty other traps to try out.


    You'll also want to mix up your arsenal a bit to deal with different types of enemies, as they come in various classes with immunity/resistances to certain trap types. More nimble enemies are particularly difficult to hit with floor traps, for instance, and big guys basically ignore push walls. Trapt also introduces what can be considered 'mega' traps to the series, which are special, large stage traps that require special actions to trigger and give a significant amount of bonus money. These can be rather difficult to trigger, not to mention find in the first place, but they always feel rewarding when you finally DO manage to pull them off.


    While I don't consider Trapt the best in the series, I do consider it probably the easiest title for a new player to get into, as the first title plays a lot differently and the second and third feel a bit clunky, not to mention it was available on PSN last I knew and so is easy to get ahold of.

    There's also fifth game in the series, Deception IV, that came out for the PS3 not too long ago that might be worth looking into, but I haven't played it yet and despise how fanservicey it decided to get with the armor breaking mechanic. Still, it looks solid from everything I've seen and the series' pedigree is good, so . . . it might be worth checking out instead.

    That aside, Trapt is a surprisingly fun game with a lot to unlock and tons of fun to be had with spiffy traps, and if you are looking for something new to play that you may not have encountered before, give this title (or any other title in its franchise) a shot. It certainly isn't the best game around, but it is . . .

    an awesome game you should know about!



    Last edited by Rez09; 03-08-2015 at 04:24 PM.

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