Retro gems: From NES to the PS
 

RetroGems!

http://www.thedailycrate.com/wp-cont...-Punch-Out.gif


I decided to make a Videogame journal about retro videogames, this journal will focus on Nes, Snes, GBA and Ps titles (at least from my end) but i welcome any of you guys entries from other consoles, i chose these one because im not only gonna use this journal to share the retro gems i know but im hoping to find some decent some decent roms from you guys suggestions.

The cut off is N64 and Ps1 games.
that is to say, anything more advanced than that would not be accessible to me BUT if you must share a great retro gamecube game or Xbox game that is not a common title go ahead and do so but plz keep it to a minimum.

Keep in mind the criteria that the game you're talking about should be easily accessible through emulation also, NO PC GAMES!

im srry but this is a console journal, if you're into PC games i suggest KI's journal, they're not welcome here.

Obligatory "Donkey Kong Country 2 is the greatest 2D platformer ever made and you should play it" post

I'll start with a Snes/genesis sim game called Aerobiz supersonic

http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/9/9/4/46994_front.jpg
http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/9/9/4/46994_back.jpg

To my knowledge this the only snes/genesis airplane line sim management game out there and it's a good one too.

You have to manage your almost every aspect of owning an airline but the game does a good job of simplifying the tasks so that it never gets too complicated.

There's not alot of good sim games in the 16 bit era apart from Sim city and the ones that are remain obscure titles as this one or sim ants. This is the only airline sim management game ive ever played and honestly i thought it would suck which is why i was surprised when it didn't.

Never played that one although i hear it's alot of ppl's favorite one. i only played the 1st one.

Dragon Warrior Monsters is a ****ing excellent gameboy title. Similar to Pokemon but... I dare say... BETTER. The breeding doesn't just result in new stats, it sometimes results in a new monster entirely, and through many generations you can experience that titillating moment where the resulting offspring is a rare mystery (listed as ????) Until it hatches. Really awesome game, can't recommend it enough. Its predesssors, the Dragon Warrior games, are also excellent RPG's.

Gameplay entry straight from wiki:

The" game follows Terry as he attempts to save his sister. Instead of fighting in battle, Terry is able to recruit monsters into his party. When fighting random battles, Terry can set out meat, which may coax the monster into joining the party at the end of the battle. Terry can also breed two monsters, combining them into a new, stronger monster. Excess monsters can be placed on the Farm, a storage place for monsters. They can be picked up or dropped off and there is an option to put monsters at the farm to sleep, which allows them to maintain their wilderness level, but not grow in level. There can be 19 awake and 19 asleep monsters at any one time. A monster's wilderness level lowers as Terry trains them, which makes them more likely to participate in battle. By leaving monsters at the farm awake, they become more wild.

Just like in most RPGs, monsters are able to gain experience points and level up after battles. Each monsters' requirements for experience points to level up varies, depending on their plus number or even what monster family they belong to. When they level up, they gain stats and sometimes skills. All monsters can carry a maximum of eight skills; if a monster can gain more than eight skills you have the option of replacing old skills with new ones.

The player moves around to other worlds through warp gates which are located underneath the throne room. To access these gates, the player needs to defeat a certain class ranking. There are a certain number of areas in a world and at the last one, the player needs to defeat a boss. Some bosses in the game offer to join the player's party automatically, some have to be won over with meat, and some will not join at all. Other gates are hidden throughout Great Tree, such as one in the library that is only accessible after befriending over 100 different monsters.

In this game the player fights in the arena and goes through ranks that consists of three different battles that must be won before the player can advance to the next ranking. Each rank provides harder challenges: the higher the rank, the harder the monsters. The battles you able to start at are from Rank G and go to Rank D and later in the game you are able to go from Rank C to Rank A and then Rank S. These battles open up gates for the character to explore and are necessary to progress through the story.

Tiny Medals are scattered throughout different worlds randomly and are picked up by the player. In the game, there is a man who collects these medals, who is later revealed to be the king of Great Tree, and will give certain monster eggs for how many the player gives to him. Also, Foreign Masters may appear while in other worlds. These encounters with other trainers can result in battle. There are different types of trainers that will give or do something for the player if they are defeated. These trainers monsters may also join you if you give them meat.

The game also comes compatible with the PlayStation's i-mode adaptor, allowing players to upload monsters from the game onto the mobile phone version of Dragon Quest Monsters.[6]

BreedingEdit
After beating Class F in the Arena, the player can breed monsters if they are at level 10 or above at the Shrine of Starry Night, which is taken care of by the current Master Monster Tamer. Breeding requires one male and one female monster. The result of the breeding will be an egg, containing a level 1 monster which has characteristics of both parents, including skills and stats. The egg can then be left in the monster farm or hatched, which costs a small fee. The monster born will have a plus number next to it, the number generally signifying the greatness of the monster's stats, the higher being the better. It costs more money to hatch a monster with a higher plus number than one with no plus number. Also, the number beside the plus multiplied by two is added to the limit for the maximum level for the monster.

Once the Egg Evaluator is available for use, eggs can have the gender of the monster they're containing checked and changed. Both requires a small fee which is paid to the Egg Evaluator. The fee increases depending on the monster's plus number.

A monster that was created through breeding has much higher stats and many more abilities than a monster that was found in the wild, thus it is much harder to complete the game without breeding many generations. Breeding is also the only way to acquire certain monsters. Also, the monsters that bred to make the egg leave you."

If I don't see Chrono Trigger in this journal. I'm unsubscribing this sh*t.

Good entry @Carpe
i'll be checking that one out.

speaking of similar games to pokemon

Digimon world 3 (PS1)

http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/...95-box_dw3.png

I played this game on the recommendation of my Otaku friends and it was as good as they said.

Description :

You play as a child called Junior who enters an online virtual reality MMORPG called "Digimon Online", which is run by the "MAGAMI" corporation. A terrorist attack on the Internet traps Junior and his friends inside the game and he sets out to stop them with his Digimon partners. Unlike past Digimon World games, battles against wild Digimon are random and the battle system although turn-based is very different from Digimon World 2, a notable distinction is battles are one on one instead of three on three although you may tag in a different Digimon, battles also feature three types of digivolution; normal, Blast, and DNA digivolution.

And like Pokemon, your starter set is very important in this game

You get the option from 3 starter packs "Powerful" "Balanced" "Maniac"

I personally chose Maniac

http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/...nup_c_pack.jpg

Each of your 3 Digimon has 3 different evolutions you can achieve fairly quickly and you can get new digimons later but that's gonna take awhile that's why it's important to chose a starter pack that fit your needs.

Digimon or not this is just a good well made rpg game, it's one of those games you can roam anywhere pretty much from the start, like the pokemon games it gives you the freedom to go everywhere BUT unlike those games, you don't really need to talk to every Npc to progress and you dont need "cut" for silly obstacles, you can wherever you like and the story unfolds as you do, it's pretty great.

The only flaw i see in this game is that the evolutions are kinda just handed to you too quick.
you'll grind happily to get them but once you do the excitement is kinda over and getting new digimons aint that easy

Just gonna demand that you pick Ogre Battle back up. Oh, and I'll throw out my love to FFIIIV. First 3D rpg I ever played, and the graphics, intricate storyline, and great characters just blew my mind. The fact that the gameplay was like crack was a bonus. I've never gotten over it getting stolen in military school. One of my favorite games of all time, and I'm pretty sure I only ever got about halfway through.

No Batty, i ain't playing the Snes Ogre battle again. i rather play FF8.
I KNOW the Tactic/Battle Ogre franchise is good but the only ones i like is the Gba one and N64 one

You know, If you really like the Snes one you can talk about it yourself, in fact i encourage you to do that with any game i don't cover..

Im gonna cover FF8 though, also FF 5, 6, 7 & 9.

:p:

I'll get to Chrono in due time don't worry.

Can I get a list of suggested games that you've decided to cover/not cover? If you don't talk about DKC2 (which I still strongly recommend that you do) I'd be down to make a big post about it for this journal if that was fine with you

Unfortunately I don't have an SNES anymore, and my Chromebook is actually too weak to play emulators, or at least it plays them slow as ****, and I haven't played the game since high school, so that's not gonna work.

And how do you know you only like the GBA and N64 ones if you only ever played the SNES one years ago back when you were too young and dumb to appreciate it? The GBA one kinda sucks, anyway.

Here's one im currently playing

Uncharted waters: New horizons (Genesis)

it's a sequel to the 1st Uncharted waters which i never played

http://img.brothersoft.com/screensho...257908586.jpeg

Description :

"Like the original, UWNH is a Wide Open Sandbox with RPG Elements, offering you the world's entire oceans to explore. The trading and combat mechanics remain mostly the same with a few new tweaks, but the exploration mode of the game was completely revamped: you now gain fame not only by discovering remote ports, but by searching native villages for unique discoveries, ranging from geographical or cultural wonders to exotic plants and animals. You can then sell these discoveries to the highest bidder, as well as make maps of your voyages and sell them to cartographer guilds for a nifty profit."

This game was ported to the Snes too but im playing the Genesis version cause it's one of the few rpgs the Genesis had.

Most of us know a couple of Snes rpgs that were masterpieces for the time but few ppl ever mention Genesis rpgs.

The few ppl that do always mention Phantasy star or Shinning force cause let's be honest the Genesis wasn't exactly known for it's rpgs, but it has a few gems like Beyond Oasis and Shadowrun (my fav genesis game) and many others rpgs that ppl just didn't pay attention to.

Uncharted waters is one of those games and it's a shame cause it's a pretty good game but im gonna be honest, the graphics are quite awful

http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/5/2/...40479_2_10.jpg

It looks like a Nes rpg but aside from the graphics, it's a pretty good game.

At the beginning you get 6 characters to choose from each one fighting for a different contry and with a different story

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/ar...6094359528.jpg

i chose the last guy on the bottom right, the middle eastern looking one, His name is Ali Vezas

To my turkish delight, Ali starts the game in istanbul



His story is he is an orphan looking for his sister Stapha. by luck he gets his hands on a ship his friend Salim had and they decide to become merchants.

easy enough, right? WRONG! first you gotta repair the ship and ask the townfolks for start up money, you literally have to go through every shop in town with a schtick of "Sir, what if i told you i could tenfold your money with just 1 simple investment" :p:

Once you get the money though, it's time to ship out and start buying goods low and selling them high

http://s.uvlist.net/l/y2011/10/88804.jpg

That's pretty much the game, the only battles in the game are ship battles that play like a tactics rpg but in those battles there's a Duel option with a pretty cool system

http://s.uvlist.net/l/y2011/10/88805.jpg

This is the only hand-to-hand combat you'll see in the game.

overall it's a pretty good nautical rpg worthy of checking out

Going back to the Nes, here is a game my cousin had that was way beyond our heads.

Metal Gear (Nes)

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...Gear-NES-_.jpg

I remember liking this game but barely understanding it, Keep in mind i was like 8 and barely knew english, my cousin only had 3 Nes games, Mario 2, Centipede and this game. Given what i know now i had no idea how far the franchise was gonna go but i remember thinking it was just another war game like P.O.W or Ikari warriors

The more i played it though, the more i saw it was a completely different kinda war game. Even back then MG focused on stealth making this a weird Nes game for the time cause almost every war game for the Nes was either a beat'em up or a shoot'em up, tactical spyonage games weren't very popular.

http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/a/c/...49871_2_23.jpg

Even though the game dropped obvious hints like that my first instinct was to kill the guy.

That's what war games taught me to do, kill every enemy but you're actually supposed to play this game like you would the modern MG games.

All you start with is your cigarettes and an old version of your codec that makes the most annoying sound



Story wise i don't remember much of it but i replayed this game after the playstation MG game and i remember it being the usual MG story but even more basic.

it's about stoping Metal gear like always but in this game Metal gear was just a tank that was hard as sh*t.
To be honest, im not sure if MG was indeed a tank in the game but that's the only major boss the game has apart from Big boss

This game almost plays exactly like the ps1 MG, your rank goes up as you progress and you need different cards and gadgets to get into buildings

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NHNM4zPKD-...8NES%29_39.png

It's a fun game, i recommend it to fans of the MG series

Have you played Suikoden 2?

Lufia II is a legit pick.

Great game, Right?

i remember renting it at Blockbuster back when the Saturn and the Ps1 were taking over the market.
i played Lufia 2 as the Snes was becoming outdated and right away playing it i knew i found a gem.

i haven't replayed it since then but i remember the game being a superb rpg with great puzzle sections. i rented that game for like a month until i passed it.

Yup, that one i remember well, it's one of my favorite rpgs of all time.

Im gonna cover Suikoden 1 & 2 eventually unless someone does it first, i'd be kinda interested to see someone else cover it to compare notes.

How about some Sega Genesis?

Desert Strike was always my goto:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...f_Coverart.png

Play it here: Play Desert Strike – Return to the Gulf Online - Super Nintendo Games / Download Roms / Browser Flash Emulator

^ a classic.

One of the most iconic games the Genesis had.
I personally never liked it much but almost every kid i knew that owned a genesis had it.

Okay, time to cover a popular snes game for a change.

Legend of Zelda : A link to the past (Snes)

http://www.retronintendoreviews.com/...he-Past005.png

This is the first Zelda game i truly loved cause the Nintendo ones came out when i was too young to appreciate them, they were also alot harder this was the first Zelda that facilitated exploring the world by marking where you needed to go on your map.

See, Zelda 1 & 2 are not really hard games, what made them hard was the lack of orientation they gave you for exploring the world. Link to the past fixed that HOWEVER by doing so they had to dumb down and streamline the gameplay.

Those of you that played it know that although they gave you these map checkpoints, the game doesn't ruin your exploration experience.

Alot of ppl played Zelda 1 & 2 but not everybody passed it, a link to the past is the 1st Zelda where the game helps you enough to not let you get discouraged from passing it.

http://www.zeldaeternity.com/a-link-...mbcapacity.png



What makes this game great is it's visual and audio presentation, it perfectly captured and renewed the spirit of the Zelda games. It's a cute looking game, it feels very influenced by jrpg aesthetics and the world and the sprites are bright and colourful and a treat for the eyes.

Gameplay wise it never ceases to be fun.
you can pick this game up today and enjoy it and pass it in a couple of days.

You can't really do that with every Zelda title but this game managed to compress what makes Zelda great into a quaint adventure that although short remains satisfying.

Though im not the biggest Zelda fan i always tip my hat to how revolutionary this franchise has been. Good or bad there's no game like a Zelda game

I would rank the SNES RPGs as follows:

1) Final Fantasy VI
2) Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
3) Everything Else. Tons of good RPGS, it's just that the two above are top tier.

Lufia II's puzzles were great, yeah. The only thing it lacked a bit was on the soundtrack. The best part was when you got to the end, there was a section where you could enhance all of your weapons and armor in a certain area of the game. I no longer remember exactly how that went down, but at that time you didn't see many games doing that. Kind of similar to how they put that special dungeon in the Game Boy Advance version of Final Fantasy VI.

The only good RPG the Genesis had, or at least out of the ones I played, was Phantasy Star IV.

So many nostalgia feels in this thread already.

i didn't know the Gba port of FFIV had a secret dungeon, did you ever play Breath of fire 2? that game had a secret island where all the monster were huge and gave lots EXP.

i like when they add secret areas like that in rpgs.

lol aye, everyone gets nostalgic about the good old days but im trying to get ppl not to just remember the games they loved but to go and play the ones they never got to play.

I see ppl playing Cellphone games that force you to wait to play the game or charge you to not wait, and the games themselves are half assed and most times don't even have a story.

Rather than doing that i prefer emulating full well made games from past consoles.
You can download Kirby's dream land and have tons of fun without paying a single cent.

VI (6) did, not IV (4).

Yep. Great game. Kinda/sorta remember that island. Breath of Fire III for the PS1 was the last I played in that series.

I had thought about starting a journal with this very premise, spurned by the video-game music thread in the general section, but I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to put in the work on it. It's been ages since I played most of this stuff.

I'm not sure that's how the companies plan it. ;)

@ Black Francis
Good coverage of Zelda Link to the Past, I remember playing that on the SNES not long after it came out and it was the first Zelda game that I ever played and was instantly hooked on it.

It amazingly took them seven years to follow it up with The Ocarina of Time and the hype when that game came out was unbelievable.

Any MS-DOS or Windows 95 gamers in the group?
 

A curious question I'll throw out to everyone in the thread - I've searched MB but it doesn't look like there's been a thread dedicated to VGA PC gaming. Are there classic PC gamers among the MB ranks?

Fans of titles released by Sierra, Lucas Arts, ID, and Apogee shareware?

I'm talking about classic MS-DOS era titles:

Kings Quest
Space Quest
Wolf3D
Sid Meier's Civilization
Age of Empires
Prince of Persia
The Incredible Machine
the Commander Keen series (so many summers spent on this!)
Jazz Jackrabbit (a shameless but enjoyable Sonic rip-off)
Invasion of the Mutant Killer Space Bats of Doom
and the criminally-underrated The Neverhood?

http://i.imgur.com/K1izQYD.jpg

Now back to your regularly-scheduled NES classics.

@Aux-in

my bad, im horrible with Roman numbers :p:

For the most part i play more retro games than modern ones, i have a Ps3 with Gta 5, most of the AC's games, God of war, Farcry 3 & Blood dragon etc YET i rather play Demon crest for the Snes or a Gba pokemon game.

@Unknown soldier

Thnx. A Link to the past is my favorite Zelda game.



@Spaceboy

Srry dude, only console games on this journal.

I wanna mention though im a big fan of Civilization and Maniac mansion, Prince of persia was good too that's the first parkour game ive ever played.

Ouch that makes me feel old. The Prince of Persia I was speaking of was this baby from 1989... almost 20 years before the parkour game!

Yea, i was talking about that one too.

i played the Nes port of that game and back then that's the closest you were gonna get to a parkour game.

Running and climbing in that game felt really satisfying, the movement of the character was kind of a pain in the ass, i remember the game being all about the speed and momentum of the character, in some parts you had to slow down and watch out for trap tiles and in other parts you would have to run to jump over a huge gap you won't make unless you timed it perfectly.

After that there's the sword fight, 1 on 1 duel style.

Oh thank Christ. I was feeling too old for the room for a moment there.

I've retired my consoles but still enjoy the games thanks to the stupidly-massive Retro Legends Ultimate Classic Games Collection. XStick and MAME cabinet sold separately.

Sorry mate, I was too busy saving princesses that weren't even in my castle(s).

Back in my day, we didn't even have parkour. We didn't even know how to jump...

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@ Black Francis. Just to clarify, are you wanting other members to post content in this journal, or were you simply asking for suggested games in your OP?

Im asking for both, what i really want is for ppl to post the retro games they loved and would recommend. the more detailed the review the better.

This next game has been reviewed to death however it's too good of a game for me to not mention.

Final fantasy 7

http://www.thongtincongnghe.com/site...44394701-1.jpg



Arguably the best FF of the franchise and my personal favorite FF game, This game was a masterpiece for the time but we all know that so despite of me loving this game i wanna talk about the characters that try to be all deep but could basically be summed up to this.



To start, Cloud your main character is a bit of a mess. He's not really a hero or an anti hero he's more like a shell of a man. a very f*cked up man.
it's kinda refreshing playing with a f*cked up MC cause it adds introspective drama to the character but see, Cloud's problems are more interesting than him, at his core he only has a borrowed cool wanna be personality just like Sephirot who is tougher in Kingdom hearts than in his own f*ckin game.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-T..._by_VinhFX.jpg

He looks cool, doesn't he? sadly that's all he's good for cause in FF7 he's just eye candy. As a boss he's incredibly easy to beat. Remember the end battle when he summoned his supernova attack? remember how you thought "Holy sh*t im screwed" but how it actually did nothing!? this guy is all smoke and mirrors any decent players is way too op by the time you get to him, you could seriously beat this guy with Cait Sith, Yuffie and Aerith's corpse in your party, that's how menacing he is.

Apart from the weapons (who btw are exclusive to the american port) The real interesting villain in this game is the Shinra corporation who's suckin the life force of the planet for Mako energy.

That plot is actually cooler than Sephirot's crusade to Demi god status.
With Shinra as the main enemy this game would've had better steam punk feel

Idk about other players but my fav sections in this game were the Midgar and Junon sections because Shinra's influence made those sections have a steam punk vibe the game could've used more.

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2.../Ff7-junon.jpg

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...Ff7-midgar.jpg

Instead you get an open world that seems undeveloped and primitive, after you leave midgar you'll mostly be battling in caves and your usual rpg surroundings.

Imo this game would've been a flawless masterpiece if they had done a better job at contrasting the environments between a futuristic vibe and a mythical vibe. FF8 did a better job of doing this but i don't care what FF8 fanboys say FF7 is still a better game. Also Sephirot should be ALOT harder, im talking Ruby weapon hard cause that's the kinda boss this games deserves.

Final Fantasy VII is my all-time favourite adventure game as well. Sephiroth totally badass and the Shinra Corporation were just amazing, especially in the areas that they had helped to destroy. That sad sounding ambient music from the game was amazing as well.

Don't you wish sephirot had been alot harder? he was hard as hell in Kingdom hearts and really lived up to his bad ass stature but in FF7 he was too easy.

Speaking of, people need to just admit that Advent Children sucked, already. Lame villains, lame plot, boring character arc. It was just a CGI Matrix ripoff that wasn't even as good as the Matrix sequels. But it's FFIV, so all the tasteless fanboys have to pretend that it's awesome.

Not me, that movie killed my fanaticism for FF7 and im kinda grateful for it, it's a great game and story but they f*cked up alot of things about it fanboys don't want to recognise.

For a more positive and indepth review on the game i recommend this



Like i said before i started this game has been reviewed to death and blindly praised for nostalgic reasons but lets be honest, at the end it's just as flawed as every other iconic FF game, they never quite reached perfection.
(except for FF6) http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...ka_-_Laugh.gif