Hero-of-Time Posted December 14, 2014 Author Posted December 14, 2014 (edited) Jet Force Gemini is an AMAZING game! It WAS but it hasn't aged well at all. The frame rate is all over the place and the controls just aren't that comfortable anymore, due to being far too used to having two sticks when playing shooters. The soundtrack is still fantastic though. Speaking of JFG, Mizar still remains one of the hardest end bosses I have fought in any game. So much satisfaction was had after taking that big bug down. Edited December 15, 2014 by Hero-of-Time
lostmario Posted December 15, 2014 Posted December 15, 2014 Any chance of posting a photo your N64 console @Hero\-of\-Time? You've mentioned it before how you removed the case to spray it and never put it back on.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 15, 2014 Author Posted December 15, 2014 Any chance of posting a photo your N64 console @Hero\-of\-Time? You've mentioned it before how you removed the case to spray it and never put it back on. It's still in the attic. My N64 continues to look like it did in my original post.
lostmario Posted December 15, 2014 Posted December 15, 2014 It's still in the attic. My N64 continues to look like it did in my original post. Found it. That poor N64.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 15, 2014 Author Posted December 15, 2014 Found it. That poor N64. To be honest, it's been that long since I pulled it all apart I doubt I could put it all back together!
lostmario Posted December 15, 2014 Posted December 15, 2014 To be honest, it's been that long since I pulled it all apart I doubt I could put it all back together! You've just set yourself a challenge! Get it done (not tonight though)
Blade Posted December 16, 2014 Posted December 16, 2014 I don't think games on the N64 have aged that well. I remember a year or two ago I got mine out and played Goldeneye and OoT. The graphics look terrible and I found them almost unplayable. This compares to SNES games which I think have aged quite well.
Fierce_LiNk Posted December 16, 2014 Posted December 16, 2014 I don't think games on the N64 have aged that well. I remember a year or two ago I got mine out and played Goldeneye and OoT. The graphics look terrible and I found them almost unplayable. This compares to SNES games which I think have aged quite well. The answer to that is that the N64 was the first entry point by Nintendo into the 3D-era, whereas they had reached the pinnacle of the 2D-era with the SNES. Goldeneye in particular looks very rough now.
nekunando Posted December 16, 2014 Posted December 16, 2014 I don't think games on the N64 have aged that well. I remember a year or two ago I got mine out and played Goldeneye and OoT. The graphics look terrible and I found them almost unplayable. I think a part of it depends on how regularly you're playing games from that particular era. I find myself shifting between a multitude of consoles on a regular basis. One week I may be playing Punch-Out!! on Wii, the next I might be drowing myself in the glory of Wave Race 64 If you're playing with those sorts of graphics regularly enough, the transition between playing something modern and going back to an N64 or PS1 classic probably won't be quite so jarring It was a great time for me growing up with those games and I feel blessed to have been a part of the 2D to 3D transistion. It was magical and I was always in awe seeing what could be achieved under the limitations of the hardware. Whatever the case, you should be able to adjust to these older games if you give them a little time. I recently played Banjo Tooie, where the frame rate is consistently awful.. but it really didn't seem to bother me
Hero-of-Time Posted December 17, 2014 Author Posted December 17, 2014 It usually takes me 20 mins or so to adjust to the bluriness of the graphics, especially when coming off playing a HD machine. After that rough period I get used to it again. I also find it helps to play on a smaller screen. I got a portable CRT out of the attic to play through some of games earlier in the year and it looked much better than on a widescreen HD TV. Its a reason why I love the Vita as well. Playing PSOne games on a crisp handheld screen is amazing. You mentioned frame rate problems in Banjo Tooie. When playing DK64 they were rough as well. I'm playing through Conker at the moment and it's also a bit ropey. As I mentioned earlier, JFG also suffers from this problem. I guess RARE liked to push the hardware to its limits.
nekunando Posted December 17, 2014 Posted December 17, 2014 I guess RARE liked to push the hardware to its limits. I think they probably tried to push it too far, on occasions I felt, in particular, that Banjo Tooie was far too big for its own good. I much prefer the original in terms of size, level design and visual appeal!
Hero-of-Time Posted December 17, 2014 Author Posted December 17, 2014 I think they probably tried to push it too far, on occasions I felt, in particular, that Banjo Tooie was far too big for its own good. I much prefer the original in terms of size, level design and visual appeal! Yeah, Tooie never grabbed me the way that the original did. I rate the original as one of the best games on the N64. As you said, Tooie was just far too big for its own good. DK64 is a bit like that as well but I felt it was a little more structered than what Tooie was.
RedShell Posted December 17, 2014 Posted December 17, 2014 Jet Force Gemini is an AMAZING game!Loved that game. :awesome: It WAS but it hasn't aged well at all. The frame rate is all over the place and the controls just aren't that comfortable anymore, due to being far too used to having two sticks when playing shooters. The soundtrack is still fantastic though. Yeah, unbelievably epic soundtrack. And then of course there's this: I spent ages in the Big Bug Fun Club because of those... And the arcade machines. Oh man, I'm suddenly tempted to dig out my N64. Wonder how bad this game would look like on my new 42" LED TV.
Glen-i Posted December 17, 2014 Posted December 17, 2014 I felt, in particular, that Banjo Tooie was far too big for its own good. I much prefer the original in terms of size, level design and visual appeal! Yeah, Tooie never grabbed me the way that the original did. I rate the original as one of the best games on the N64. As you said, Tooie was just far too big for its own good. Huh... I prefer Tooie to Kazooie. I love the scale of the game and the darker tone (To an extent, it's still a Banjo game, so it's still funny). Also, Tooie had actual bosses. Kazooie had Gruntilda, which is a great fight and... um... that giant box? Honestly, short-sighted welding torch? Genius!
Grazza Posted December 17, 2014 Posted December 17, 2014 The answer to that is that the N64 was the first entry point by Nintendo into the 3D-era, whereas they had reached the pinnacle of the 2D-era with the SNES. I totally agree with your general point about SNES being great 2D and N64 being early 3D, but does anyone else think it's a shame the SNES is sometimes considered the peak of 2D? There was so much more to be had from sprite graphics, it's just that polygons became possible and so they started using them. I've been playing SNES games on Wii U Virtual Console a lot recently - Contra III, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (really enjoyed that one) - but I've seen so, so much better sprite work since (to clarify, I mean pixel art, not hand-drawn or Flash animation type 2D, which I'm not a huge fan of). Some of this amazing sprite work popped up in unexpected places (there's some brilliant sprite-scaling here and there in Dragon Quest VI on the DS). In short, I'd like to see sprites be considered an alternative-but-equal method of in-game graphics - one that very much needs modern hardware. Nintendo Sprite Division would be a good start. No need to worry about putting Metroid into 3D on handhelds - keep it 2D and keep using sprites!
Hero-of-Time Posted December 17, 2014 Author Posted December 17, 2014 Huh...I prefer Tooie to Kazooie. I love the scale of the game and the darker tone (To an extent, it's still a Banjo game, so it's still funny). Also, Tooie had actual bosses. Kazooie had Gruntilda, which is a great fight and... um... that giant box? Honestly, short-sighted welding torch? Genius! I found the whole thing to be disjointed and a massive hassle to play through. Yes, it retained Rares good humour and writing but it was lacking in the gameplay department for me. It just felt like they bit off more than they could chew. In comparison Kazooie felt like a much more focused and tighter experience. Certainly more memorable. There's s reason why the original is often debated about whether it's better than Mario 64, whereas the sequel never gets a mention.
Glen-i Posted December 17, 2014 Posted December 17, 2014 In comparison Kazooie felt like a much more focused and tighter experience. Certainly more memorable. There's s reason why the original is often debated about whether it's better than Mario 64, whereas the sequel never gets a mention. I still prefer Tooie. I never really knew that it was considered worse than the original. I guess my tastes are just odd. (Other M is still fun, even if it's silly)
Hero-of-Time Posted December 17, 2014 Author Posted December 17, 2014 I still prefer Tooie. I never really knew that it was considered worse than the original. I guess my tastes are just odd. (Other M is still fun, even if it's silly) Other M is great. I prefer it to the Prime games.
Glen-i Posted December 17, 2014 Posted December 17, 2014 Other M is great. I prefer it to the Prime games. Yeah, but it's safe to say the general consensus disagrees. I'm only just realising that I might be in the same kind of minority when it comes to the Banjo games.
Blade Posted December 18, 2014 Posted December 18, 2014 Other M is great. I prefer it to the Prime games. I've actually never picked Other M up. Loved the Prime games though.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 18, 2014 Author Posted December 18, 2014 So, I attempted to play Jet Force Gemini last night. I managed to last just over one hour before I had to turn it off. Bad graphics ( they were amazing at the time ) I can get away with but when a game controls like garbage I simply can't deal with it. My complaint last time was that there isn't a second stick to sort the camera out and I can't get over it. The only way to get the camera shifted is by hitting the R button. When walking around its fine but when in battle you need the ability to circle the camera around the player to see what's going on. Rare could have mapped the camera to the yellow arrow buttons but they used these for strafing. Attacking isn't that great either. When you aim with the R trigger the movement is far too fast and twitchy. There doesn't seem to be any way to alter the speed of the cursor on the screen. This, along with the camera, made it an absolute nightmare trying to find and then actually shoot and snipe the enemies. It's a real shame this hasn't aged well. I adored it as a youngster and loved the challenge it offered. Sadly this is one of those retro games that really needs an update for it to be playable. I'm really surprised that Microsoft haven't used the IP yet. Even an updated HD version for XBLA would be a great step forward. It's funny, I started Ratchet and Clank: Nexus yesterday, after trying to play this, and it's very similar in that you get various weapons and upgrades, travel to different worlds, shoot and strafe, return to previous worlds once you have upgrades and face off against giant bosses. Having a second analogue stick made everything much easier and smoother. I suppose it's not Rares fault, I mean they worked with what they had at the time. It wasn't all bad though, I did get a laugh at Jeff. You are in a grand space adventure, with giant insects and characters named Lupus and Mizar, only to find the king/tribe leader is called Jeff! Cracked me up.
Goron_3 Posted December 20, 2014 Posted December 20, 2014 It usually takes me 20 mins or so to adjust to the bluriness of the graphics, especially when coming off playing a HD machine. After that rough period I get used to it again. I also find it helps to play on a smaller screen. I got a portable CRT out of the attic to play through some of games earlier in the year and it looked much better than on a widescreen HD TV. Its a reason why I love the Vita as well. Playing PSOne games on a crisp handheld screen is amazing. You mentioned frame rate problems in Banjo Tooie. When playing DK64 they were rough as well. I'm playing through Conker at the moment and it's also a bit ropey. As I mentioned earlier, JFG also suffers from this problem. I guess RARE liked to push the hardware to its limits. Conker is, in my opinion, the most impressive game of the 90's in terms of how far it pushed the hardware. The graphics and audio are simply incredilble given that it's on an N64 and the fact that Conker has real-time dynamic shadows is simply incredible. Compare that to Mario 64..amazing. Oh, and it's funny as hell too. It's definitely in my top 10 of all time
Goafer Posted December 20, 2014 Posted December 20, 2014 Out of all of my retro consoles, I find the N64 the hardest to go back to. So much so that I only own one game for it and I forget what it is. I looked at the lineup for games that I want to play on it and I really can't find any. I'd like to play the Zeldas, but they're available on the Gamecube (I think that they both are anyway), so I'll just play them there. I already played Conker on the original Xbox, so that's another one I won't be buying/playing. As for the flagship games such as Mario 64 and Goldeneye: I didn't play them first time around, so I have no nostalgia associated with them. More modern games in the genres have since improved on them so much, so going back just feels a bit crap now. Basically, I have no reason to play them. It's a shame really. I hate having a console that I have no desire to play/build a collection for.
Happenstance Posted December 20, 2014 Posted December 20, 2014 To be honest I was never a big fan of the N64 even at the time. It was when I was drifting back to PC gaming and everything just seemed better there. I did love WWF Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy though. Those kept my N64 plugged in for a long time.
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