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Dcubed

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Posts posted by Dcubed

  3. Posted

    8 minutes ago, RedShell said:

    Not sure if it’s still the case, but they used to add new unlocks/achievements with each update and DLC which would lower your achievement percentage, a lot of people were complaining about that though so it might be done differently now. Personally it never bothered me much and I actually looked forward to unlocking the new ones each time, but obviously some people just want to reach the end and be done with the game.

    "Base Game Completion" is treated somewhat seperately from everything that was added after version 1.0 (it's not a seperate achievement list, but the game acknowledges the completion of all of the original achievements seperate from completing everything else; and also gives a particular noteworthy reward who I'm sure you're already well familiar with ;)).

  4. Posted · Edited by Dcubed

    ... yeah, pretty much exactly what most of us predicted would happen ended up happening.

    It's remarkable how such massive and established companies keep missing the bleeding obvious time and time again.

  5. Posted · Edited by Dcubed

    Konami were pretty much the only Japanese publisher that really gave the N64 some proper 3rd party support.  While most of their non ISS and Goemon efforts didn't turn out all that great, they certainly weren't for lack of trying.

    Here's something you might be surprised by... combing through the credits as seen on Mobigames, not a single person who worked on NBA In The Zone 98 on the N64 had previously worked on any of the prior NBA In The Zone games that were released on the PS1; and stranger still? Looking at the credits for the PS1 version? Not a single person who worked on that game had worked on any of Konami's other two basketball series that predated NBA In The Zone (Double Dribble and Run & Gun).

    Konami have always been a very strange company.  You'd think that they would've wanted to tap into the institutional knowledge that they had already built from their previous basketball games, but nope.  This isn't even all that out of character for them.  As I previously explained in my Your Gaming Diary writeup for my playthrough of Castlevania Dracula X for SNES, Konami would often just throw everything out and start from scratch with staff who were completely new to a given established series.  It's no wonder that the company was so dysfunctional and it's no small miracle that it actually did manage to put out so many stone cold classics throughout the 80s to early 2000s.

    • Like 2

  6. Posted

    6 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    With any type of game with rogue elements its really about just finding a weapon and setup that suits you best. There will be a lot of trial and error until you find what works for you and your play style.

    I fired it up yesterday and enjoyed what I played but did question just what I would get out of it. I liked that there was an in game achievement system as it would give me something to work towards should I decide to buy it. Is there even an end to the game or is it just a question of surviving as long as you can and that's it?

    There is certainly a defined "end", which I won't spoil, but there's a seemingly endless amount of post-game content and DLC that continues to trickle in on a regular basis.

    Completing all of the achievements and unlocking everything (as well as completing every task checkmark) is what people use to define "100% completion" in this game, and that'll take you a very long time to pull off.

    • Thanks 1

  8. Posted · Edited by Dcubed

    Fun fact.  This game was released on the smallest, cheapest and nastiest N64 cart ever made available (just 4MB/32mbit; the same size as the DKC games on SNES); with the publisher even having the sheer gall to eschew on-cart memory for saves on top of it’s utterly puny ROM size, requiring the purchase and use of the notoriously flimsy N64 Controller Pak if you wanted to save.  It is as slight and miserly as N64 games get.

    9 hours ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

    I had Robotron 64 on the Playstation, if you stand in a corner and fire diagonally outwards, you'll be near untouchable.

    You mean Robotron 32 X, PlayStation ain’t got no 64bits! Those extra 32 bits make it a totes different game you fool! :p

    13 hours ago, Cube said:

    I’m quite surprised that there has been no XBLA style update for Robotron. It’s still a well respected name and an update could be great, potentially having new styles plus including options for the previous three: 2048, X and 64.

    There was, it was called Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved ;)

    • Like 1
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  9. Posted

    5 hours ago, RedShell said:

    Decided to give this a whirl on Switch, seems like a very solid port. :cool:
    It's crazy how different it is when you're just starting out though. The difficultly level in this game is completely inverted, it's actually a lot more challenging at the beginning than at the end. :heh:

    Yeah, port is rock solid.  That being said…

    4 hours ago, Glen-i said:

    Well, yeah. The mindset goes from "How the hell do I survive!?" to "What do I need to make the framerate go as low as possible?"

    … this is true.  This game has the good kind of slowdown when you get to late-stage play, the kind where it’s just massively satisfying when you bring the system to its knees as you unleash pure rainbow vomit across the screen :laughing:

    • Like 1

  10. Posted · Edited by Dcubed

    I don’t actually want better graphics, I just want the same graphics we have now with better performance/higher resolution.

    The thing I really want more than anything else though is some new & interesting control input/communication/screen gimmicks; or at least the return of some of the hardware innovations we lost with Switch (dual screens, stereoscopic 3D, Streetpass, IR Pointer, Active Stylus, cameras, microphones etc).  I miss the wacky hardware and interesting gameplay possibilities we used to have in the Wii/DS/3DS/Wii U eras.

    • Like 1
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  11. Posted

    I fear for the price tag… considering the current rate of price inflation on all electronics, and the fact that we’ve seen the first ever console price increase post launch with the current PS5? This is gonna get ugly…

    $699+/£599.99+ is quite possible…

  13. Posted · Edited by Dcubed

    It's amazing just how much the original Mario Golf would just utterly blow this game out of the water hazard just a year and a half later.

    I mean, it's not even like this game actually appeared all that dated for its time.  Contemporary releases on other platforms like PGA Tour 98, Everybody's Golf 1 & 2 and Actua Golf all used a similar presentation style, with 2D billboard sprites for your character and rather simple looking 3D graphics.  Likewise, Golf games being based on a single course were also commonplace.  And it's not like T&E Soft were strangers to the genre, in fact, they were perhaps THE most prolific golf game developer of all time (You may in fact know them as the developers of Nintendo Touch Golf on the Nintendo DS!).  Mario Golf on the N64 was just that far ahead of everything else at the time.

    God bless you Camelot :D

    • Like 2

  14. Posted

    20 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

    I think I have an inkling on what one you're talking about (Don't tell me, I'll make it clear which one I think it is when we get to it) and if I'm right, then we're not friends anymore.

    Because I think it's the single biggest improvement evolution has ever given a starter Pokémon.

    Yeah... I think I know too...

    Anyway, Chesnaught deserves better, so does Delphox; like, come on! There's nothing wrong with them!

    Actually Greninja deserves better too.  Leave the poor thing alone Sakurai!

  16. Posted · Edited by Dcubed

    This game gets a really unfair bum rap, usually being reviewed for what it isn't (A straightforward sequel to Yoshi's Island) rather than what it is (A score attack focused action platformer).

    For better or worse, it's a very experimental game; with some outright strange level design and gameplay structure.  It was probably the wrong game at the wrong time, and I don't just mean that because it's Nintendo's one and only sprite-based game released for their shiny new polygon pushing 3D powerhouse; but because it was seen as a slight game when Nintendo desperately needed a sprawling and meaty adventure title to impress their early 1998 audiences (it only squeaks into 1997 in Japan on a pure technicality).

    When playing this game, you can tell that it was viewed by its developers as a bit of a game design playground of sorts, it's gameplay structure is outright bizzare, with its stages not even having a defined ending; only being completed whenever Yoshi has had his fill of fruit (though there are always exactly 30 melons to find; eat melons only for the best score!).  Even the basic controls can be described as experimental, with a lot of focus being placed on what the N64's analog stick can bring to the table with very fine and granular movement and aiming controls (the d-pad goes completely unused here), while the enemy designs and level gimmicks come across as drug fuelled nightmare spawn... I mean...

    8IFJiLt.jpeg

    Just LOOK at this menagerie of monstrous designs

    ...:shakehead:shakehead:shakeheadUGH!!:shakehead:shakehead:shakehead

    This bizzaro world concept also spreads to the music too, as Kazumi Totaka decided to coke up and thrust out some... experimental stuff...

    ... oh shit! That's a fan mashup, how did that one slip in there!? Lemme try that one again...

    ... some smooth Wave Race 64 vibes goin' on with that last one there... I see what you did Totaka ;)

    Anyway.  I can dig Yoshi's Story.  It's a weird game that came out at an unfortunate time, where people wanted something grander and more contemporary, but I still have a soft spot for it :)

    If I do have any critisism to level at this game, it's that it doesn't have a huge amount of depth as a score attack game.  There's a simple and obvious critical path to achieving a perfect score (eat 30 melons) and once you've done that? The game is clocked; there's no further capacity to chase higher scores.  It's still enjoyable despite this, but there isn't much longevity as a pure score-attack game.  Its DS follow-up (Yoshi's Touch N' Go) would end up being a far more compelling pure score-attack game, probably in response to the scoring limitations seen in its N64 predecessor.

    Despite the above, the game still stands out as being totally unique, both within the N64's library and within Nintendo's catalogue as a whole.  And despite its gameplay structure never making a return, it would ironically end up being perhaps the most influential game within the entire Yoshi series (indeed, it's the game that turned what was once considered to be "Super Mario World 2" into its own entire franchise!)

    • Like 2
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  17. Posted · Edited by Dcubed

    I remember that diorama from back in the day!

    I also remember it being crazy expensive and well out of reach for younger me... so this bundle is actually not a bad deal.

    When they announced that they were remastering this game, I didn't expect them to remaster the diorama as well :p

    • Haha 1

  19. Posted · Edited by Dcubed

    This is the best that FIFA ever got... but don't take my word for it, these are the words of Bruce McMillan, the series' executive producer over at EA...

    https://www.timeextension.com/features/the-making-of-fifa-road-to-world-cup-98-the-greatest-fifa-of-all-time

    Time Extension did a great interview with some of the game's original developers just a few weeks ago, well worth a read.

    But still.  Even at FIFA's very best, it still doesn't hold a candle to ISS64/98/2000 ;)

    • Like 2

  22. Posted

    26 minutes ago, Ike said:

    Now we know what games are coming until June.

    We can assume Pokémon Legends is coming January if it follows the previous games reveal - release cycle. Or maybe they are aiming for before Christmas since they don't have a companion game this time? Edit: forgot they said 2025 already.

    Professor Layton is scheduled for next year too, still for the Switch, unless that is cross gen (or banking on backwards compatibility?).

    I'm guessing that's the ticket here.  Nothing we've seen from the in-game footage so far looks unachievable on the current Switch.

  23. Posted

    3 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    With Paper Mario: TTYD  and Luigi's Mansion 2 now being dated (Pyoro was spot on again), I imagine that's Nintendo done for the first half of the year.

    • Another Code: Recollection
    • Mario vs Donkey Kong
    • Endless Ocean
    • Paper Mario: TTYD 
    • Princess Peach: Showtime!
    • Luigi's Mansion 2

    Not a bad line up for the first 6 months, especially when you consider this will no doubt be the console's final year.

    True, but you do have to consider that 4/6 of those games are remakes.

    We're definitely coming near to the end now and it shows in the lineup.

    And I suspect that the second half will be every bit as remake/remaster heavy as the first, if not moreso... surely Nintendo wouldn't want to waste Metroid Prime 4 as a current Switch exclusive at this point!?

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