Jonnas Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 (edited) I remember playing A Bug's Life on the PS1 Yeah, it's awfully clunky I only played the first couple of levels, anyway. With older licensed games, their limited budget means the result will always be somewhat generic, and their limited knowledge of the source material means they will always take some creative liberties here and there. Sometimes it worked, and mostly, it didn't! Edited July 30 by Jonnas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 Pokémon Stadium JP release: 30th April 1999 NA release: 6th March 2000 PAL release: 23rd March 2000 (AU), 7th April 2000 (EU) Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: 90% One of my strangest gaming choices as a kid was picking Pokémon Stadium. I enjoyed the show, but I wasn’t a fan of the Game Boy games. The problem with Stadium is that it’s mainly a companion piece for Red, Blue and Yellow, so your experience is hampered by not having them. For this playthrough, I did try using a save file I found online, but it didn’t have that many high level Pokémon (although it did have a surfing Raichu). One thing I did enjoy was the minigames. There are only nine (with a few duds), but you can have a lot of fun with friends. The Lickitung one especially is great, where you have to eat the most sushi. For the tournaments, you can borrow rental Pokémon from the game – choosing any of the first 149 Pokémon (Mewtwo and Mew can be unlocked, too). However, these aren’t as powerful as the ones trained by yourself, and you can’t modify their abilities. The battles themselves feature 3D models of all the Pokémon, and they’re all wonderfully animated, along with their moves (although the Pokémon don’t directly hit each other). It was a great way to see the Pokémon you trained on your TV, especially so if you and a friend both have the Game Boy games, as it provides an easy way to select your team. Stadium also allowes you to play the Game Boy games directly on your TV, too. I do find it odd that Nintendo never released a “Game Boy Player” to work with the Transfer Pak. As a companion piece to Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow, Stadium is a wonderful bit of software. Without the Game Boy game, however, and the game is much more difficult due to the rental Pokémon not being as good. Quote But it’s not just seeing the Pokémon brought vividly to life that makes Pokémon Stadium such a joy – it’s watching them take part in the gut-tightening battles that unfold on screen. On the Game Boy, the various fighting moves looked as cute and harmless as the monsters themselves – in glorious 3D, they’re truly frightening. Giant balls of electricity sparkle, hissing beams of pure ice are thrown around the arena, fire roars across the screen, and eerie light shows play behind Pokémon as they execute hypnotic attacks. - Mark Green, N64 Magazine #41 Remake or remaster? With the Pokémon games now being on Switch, the features of this should be part of the main games. Official Ways to get the game There is no way to buy a new copy of Pokémon Stadium, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak. It should also be noted that it has no Game Boy compatibility, so you’re stuck with the rental Pokémon. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen-i Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 (edited) 30 minutes ago, Cube said: With the Pokémon games now being on Switch, the features of this should be part of the main games. That's a weird thing to say. Because a lot of said features were implemented in some way in the mainline games. Obviously, seeing battles in 3D is a given these days, but the other stuff was there at some point. The Stadium and Gym Leader Castle modes were merged together in Generation 5 in the form of the PWT (Pokémon World Tournament). A knockout tourney that restricted you to 3 level 50 Pokémon as you face off against every Gym Leader and Champion to date. Hell, the idea of fights against AI with excellent teams dates as far back as the Game Boy Colour with Crystal's Battle Tower. Even minigames that feature your Pokémon were in the DS remakes of Gold and Silver in the Pokéathelon. A series of touch screen action-based games you could play with friends. That said, the irony here is that all those neat things the mainline series got from Stadium have been slowly phased out over time. Even the main Stadium mode replacement (Battle Tower) didn't show up in the latest games. And that bums me out. Edited July 30 by Glen-i 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 48 minutes ago, Glen-i said: That's a weird thing to say. Because a lot of said features were implemented in some way in the mainline games. Obviously, seeing battles in 3D is a given these days, but the other stuff was there at some point. The "should" was more because I don't know that much about the features of the mainline games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEVILMURRAY Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 19 hours ago, Cube said: The browns and greys make it looks more like Antz. It wishes. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dcubed Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 (edited) Quote I dofind it odd that Nintendo never released a “Game Boy Player” to work with the Transfer Pak. Reason why is because the data transfer rate is ridiculously slow (you’re talking about 15.6KB per second). The Stadium games only use the Transfer Pak for accessing and copying save data from the cartridges; the actual Game Boy ROM data resides on the Pokémon Stadium cartridge itself. So those lengthy loading times you see are just for accessing save data alone; just imagine how slow it’d be at loading the actual ROM! That being said? You’ve given me a nice segue to talk about a neat little piece of development hardware that was available to devs and media outlets at around this time in 1999, that just so happens to provide the functionality you’re looking for… Presenting.. the Wideboy 64! Ultra Gameboy! This little doohickey was basically the N64 equivalent of the Super Gameboy and was made by Intelligent Systems for use by game developers/publishers and by media outlets for video, screenshot and demo purposes. If you ever saw a trailer for a GBC game, or a screenshot in a mag? Chances are that it came from one of these devices. A revised version was later released called the Wideboy AGB which, surprise surprise, was the GBA equivalent of the original Wideboy 64. It too ran on the N64 and worked in much the same way (and since it was a GBA, could also play GB/GBC games). Up until all the way to 2003? These pieces of rare development hardware were the only way you could play GBC or GBA games on your telly. Edited July 30 by Dcubed 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowserBasher Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 4 hours ago, Cube said: One thing I did enjoy was the minigames. There are only nine (with a few duds), but you can have a lot of fun with friends. As @Glen-i, @Dcubed, @S.C.G and I have done on a few occasions when we play N64 NSO games online. They can be fun in short bursts but we never usually do more than one set. Greatest moment so far was all four of us drawing on the Ekans ring toss game. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 45 minutes ago, Dcubed said: These pieces of rare development hardware were the only way you could play GBC or GBA games on your telly. Incorrect. TVs at the time were hefty enough you could play the portable consoles while sat on them. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted July 31 Author Share Posted July 31 Ken Griffey Jr.’s Slugfest NA release: 10th May 1999 JP release: N/A PAL release: N/A Developer: Angel Publisher: Nintendo N64 Magazine Score: N/A This is the second Ken Griffey Jr. game form Angel Studios and Nintendo. While Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr. wasn’t very good, it at least had some unique aspects, with a more arcade-like gameplay that was extremely quick. Slugfest, however, is just a boring, average baseball game with the same tropes already established – including the perfect CPU players. I really don’t have anything to say with this one, as it’s the most average and boring baseball game so far. It would be so much better if this was a game about actual slugs having a party. Remake or remaster? There are better baseball games to focus on. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Ken Griffey Jr.’s Slugfest 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted August 1 Author Share Posted August 1 Hot Wheels Turbo Racing EU release: 11th May 1999 NA release: 31st August 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Stormfront Publisher: EA N64 Magazine Score: 61% Not long after Micro Machines comes another toy car racing game in the form of Hot Wheels. The games themselves, however, are completely different, with Hot Wheels getting a more 3D behind the car perspective and being heavily focused on stunts. Each track in the game has a lot of jumps, and while in the air your car spins wildly as you turn the analogue stick (and you can hold R to also to barrel rolls). Better stunts will give you more boost, which will let you go faster. The handling feels pretty great, and you can to a lot of spins in a single jump (it reminded me a bit of Excite Truck). There are also items you can pick up for additional boosts and effects. Instead of going for the “racing around you home angle” that Micro Machines (and the latest Hot Wheels game) do, it instead has Hot Wheels track segments in various American-inspired locations. It comes across like you’re playing inside the environments created for the old commercials for the toys. There aren’t many tracks, but they do have alternate routes and shortcuts – some of them simply skipping loops in the track. There is one standout track called Helicrash which has a really nice section where you go up a steep ramp, and have to come back down to get to another route. Hot Wheels Turbo Racing is a lot of fun to begin with, but without many tracks, it does wear off fairly quickly. It’s a nice little distraction, but as a full game it would be quite disappointing. Fun (I've decided to add a casual rating system) Quote Unfortunately, stunts are simply a case of pushing the analogue stick up, down or sideways, with none of the intricacy of similar systems in Wave Race and 1080° Snowboarding. And most of the tracks are so narrow that winning a race is merely a matter – à la Extreme G – of bouncing off walls until you reach the finish line. - Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #36 Remake or remaster? Perhaps some tracks inspired by these ones in the new game? Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Hot Wheels Turbo Racing 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dcubed Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 Plenty more racers still to come and all. N64 is to racing games what NeoGeo and TG16 are to fighting games and shmups respectively. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted August 2 Author Share Posted August 2 Star Wars Episode 1: Racer NA release: 18th May 1999 EU release: 4th June 1999 JP release: 21st July 1999 Developer: LucasArts Publisher: LucasArts N64 Magazine Score: 88% Star Wars: Episode 1 was a massive success, despite being viewed as a poor film. The podracing scene was well liked, with some great designs and amazing sounds. Really, LucasArts could have just rushed something cheap and easy – just copy another future racer, use various Star Wars locations we’ve already seen – and made a ton of money with a podracing video game, but they actually went to a ton of effort with it, and it shows in the final product. For this playthrough, I played the remastered version for modern consoles. It’s the same game, it just runs smoother. The developers of Episode 1: Racer clearly analysed every aspect of the film sequence to work out some mechanics that would suit the game, which also has the bonus effect of helping the game feel unique. You need to charge up your boost by holding forward, then press the boost button, which lasts until you let go of the accelerator, hit something or your engine overheats and bursts into flames. As you take damage, your steering will be affected (due to one engine going slower), so you’ll need to repair, which slows down your podracer, although you can time this just after a boost or during a jump, so planning when to repair is important. I do think it might be faster in some instances to crash and respawn than to repair severely damaged engines, though. The handling is incredibly smooth in the game, navigating small sections feels amazing, especially with the sense of speed the game provides. Crashes felt like my own mistakes and every slight tilt of the analogue stick is important. With the exception of Tatooine, each planet in the game is brand new, but each one captures the feel of the Star Wars universe extremely well. Each planet has multiple tracks that share portions, but the unique sections feel distinct enough that it works really well. There is one track in particular that is extremely difficult – Abyss. This features a long, narrow section with turns and if you miss, you end up on a lower part of the track. If this happens, you’ve lost as that route is so much slower. I never managed it as Anakin, but choosing another racer (there’s a lot in the game) and slowing down a bit and I was able to sort it. The game is also nice and friendly in that you pick individual races to do, rather than having to do a tournament in one go. My biggest issue with Episode 1: Racer are the vehicle upgrades, as the system doesn’t feel fully complete. You can but new parts from Watto or damaged parts from the junkyard. As you race, these get more damaged, but a pit droid will fix one part. You can have a total of four pit droids, so if you buy more than four types of parts, they’ll get damaged and your stats will decrease. Which means you can’t really improve in more than four categories. Repairs (and damage) also only happen in races you haven’t come first in. On top of that, you can only earn money once per race, so if you want to buy the best parts once you’ve finished the game, you need to plan ahead by buying junk parts, racing to fix them and selling them as you go through the game – it’s a strange system. But it’s only a minor issue, and upgrading in four areas (I did turning, acceleration, speed and cooling) is more than enough, so once you realise that, it doesn’t hamper the experience. Episode 1: Racer is an immense amount of fun and it’s a shame that Star Wars games have never been able to capture the feel of this in future podracing games (Racer Revenge) and minigames (Star Wars Kinect). Fave Quote The rounded architecture in the cities, the dusty colours, the seedy bars and alien wide boys in the cut scenes put all similar games to shame in terms of creating a spine-tingling atmosphere, and the pod craft really do look the business – although you probably wouldn’t want to strap yourself into one. - Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #30 Remake or remaster? The remaster makes the game run a lot nicer and in higher resolution, but it would be nice to have options to resolve the issues with parts. Still, this game deserved a proper sequel – take the same gameplay, add some new nicely designed tracks and don’t try to mess it up too much. Official ways to get the game. The remaster is available on Switch, PS4/5 and Xbox One/Series. The original PC version is available on GoG and Steam, however this can crash a lot on modern operating systems and does not support widescreen, higher resolutions or modern controllers. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted August 3 Author Share Posted August 3 Last Legion UX JP release: 28th May 1999 PAL release: N/A NA release: N/A Developer: Yuke’s Publisher: Hudson N64 Magazine Score: 60% The world was formed 4,500 years ago and was split into the continents of Earth, Fire, Wind and Water (no Heart). To help create peace, large mechs caused Legions were made. Unfortunately, nobody realised that these powerful creations could also be used for war, and one faction wanted to take over the world. They do this by going back in time 4,500 years (which turns out to not be when the world was formed) to find Power Stones. It’s up to one lone Legion pilot to follow them back to stop them. The setup of Last Legion UX is similar to most fighting games, with a few bits of text in between them: it’s a series of 1 on 1 fights. The arenas in this are quite nice 3D arenas, but the concept is still the same. The mechs themselves look a bit strange – they don’t look that much bigger than a human (and don’t feel large), but supposedly there’s enough room for multiple people inside them. The HUD has a handy radar which shows you the location, distance and height of your opponent, and the game definitely needs it. Moving and jumping around feels really stiff and clunky, yet at the same time it’s immensely easy to avoid attacks, as attacking is even clunkier. It makes the entire game feel very stiff and slow, and the fights are overly long and tedious. I really did not have much fun with this in the slightest, and the game feels like it wants to be made for twice as many buttons and sticks as the N64 controller (or any controller) offers. Fine Quote Arcade fans will doubtless remember Virtual On, Sega’s innovative anime mecha battle arcade machine, which turned off as many casual players as it won devotees among the hardcore gaming elite. Well, Last Legion UX is Hudson’s attempt to recreate the slightly confusing action on the N64, and as you’ve probably guessed, it isn’t entirely successful. - Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #33 Remake or remaster? This doesn’t really offer anything unique. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Last Legion UX. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WackerJr Posted August 4 Share Posted August 4 22 hours ago, Cube said: The world was formed 4,500 years ago and was split into the continents of Earth, Fire, Wind and Water (no Heart). Recognition for that fantastic reference! 😂👏🏻 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted August 4 Author Share Posted August 4 Superman: The New Superman Adventures NA release: 28th May 1999 PAL release: 23rd July 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Titus Publisher: Titus N64 Magazine Score: 14% Superman: The New Superman Adventures (or The New Superman Aventures, according to the back of the US box) is commonly referred to as just Superman 64, and is one of the worst games of all time, according to everything I’ve ever read about the game – all because of broken flying and flying through rings. The developers, Titus, were dealt a rotten hand. After they got the license, Warner Bros became a nuisance to deal with. The developer’s plans for the game were constantly overturned, including the main idea of an open world that Superman would protect, allowing for him to damage buildings, which would affect the city. The developers were told that Superman couldn’t hurt anyone or damage anything, so the virtual world idea had to be made, and so much time was waiting for approval that there was little time to develop. Everyone talks about the rings and the flying controls, so I’ll begin with that. And, frankly, I think most people trying out the game are trying to make it seem worse. If you hold down the accelerate button, you’ll travel too fast to turn well, but with regular taps, I found flying to work rather well, and I actually began enjoying the ring stages once I got used to it. Press the R button and you’ll very quickly stop and if you press up/down while not moving forward, you’ll move directly up or down. I actually think they did a decent job of capturing Superman’s movement – it’s just a shame the flying isn’t used for much more than the rings. N64 magazine said that that there was no way to stop flying, and I have no idea what they’re talking about. The big problems with the ring levels are how many there are (with some taking upwards of 6-7 minutes) and how checkpoints work in the game. After each ring segment is a short action sequence – stop cars, beat up baddies, destroy robots, stop tornadoes – but it starts immediately, and the timer (which can be as short as 20 seconds) starts counting down as soon as the text appears. This wouldn’t be too bad if you just restarted form there – but you have to go back to the previous ring segment and do that again (save states really help). Sadly, the immense amount of fog really makes the world empty, so there’s not much to look at. It’s a shame because there is a single open world, and some of the building designs do look quite interesting – the game is based on Superman: The Animated Series so uses that style – but you can’t see them from further than 5 metres away. Still, the rings and objectives are only half of the game, the rest are actual levels, with a set of challenges in between each one. The controls for Superman on-foot are rather slow and clunky, with tank-based controls to make it more of a pain. The first level is quite simple, but you do have to return to the start after getting a key for no good reason. The boss fight in this level is probably the toughest in the game, and you have to rescue some workers from an underwater tunnel. The Lexcorp level is one where just just keep going forward, pushing buttons and getting keycards. The enemies in the game are either “dark shadows” (presumably a restriction so Superman isn’t hitting people that look too human). There are some rooms with nice reflections and others that look dreadful. Then its off to a warehouse to rescue Lois Lane. I spent ages flying around because I coudn’t find where to use a keycard – turns out it was hidden in an alcove, hidden by the black fog that indoor areas have. After you rescue Lois Lane, she walks around a corner and gets captured – and this happens multiple times until you can finally escort her. She starts off running and then slows down when enemies start appearing – and if you get too far away, one will spawn next to her. If either one of you die, the game’s checkpoint system rears its ugly head again and you have to start from the very beginning of the level. The Daily Planet’s underground car park is by far the worst level. It’s a colossal maze (much harder than the “Solve My Maze” rings) and so much of it look the same, so it’s incredibly easy to get lost. I found myself spending most of the time flying around the same corridors again and again, and it definitely didn’t help when I picked up a tank and was thrust out of the game’s map into another section. You have to find Jimmy, grab a keycard (which isn’t there if you look before finding Jimmy), go back to Jimmy and then find a bomb. Then it’s off to find Darkseid. Incidentally, I got so lost on the way to Darkseid that I approached him from behind and used laser eyes to take him down before he could do anything. Star Labs, on the other hand, is fairly straightforward in terms of structure. You need to find a scientist, stop water from rising and trap Parasite in a forcefield (a Superman villain I am unfamiliar with, but seemingly Superman can’t harm him). There’s a long corridor that’s makes going back and forth a pain, but this level is alright. After some more rings, Lex traps Superman in a subway tunnel. This is a very long tunnel, with a lot of enemies. Turns out you can ignore most enemies as the objective is to fly all the way to the end of the tunnel where an explosion will trap Superman. So you have to fly all the way to the start where another explosion will happen. You then have to fly to a station (which is near the other end of the tunnel) and beat up some enemies to escape. Although this level has one intriguing oddity. On the way back to the station after the second explosion, Superman will encounter an old man who says he knows the way out, and says you can freeze him to protect him when needed. It’s a big pain to protect him and he walks extremely slow (you can push him from behind). When you get to the station, a cutscene will happen and – as the camera has moved away from the man, an enemy will spawn and attack him while you can’t do anything. Using save states I managed to time it so I could rescue him, and he just casually walks through the “Exit” doors (that Superman can’t use). When he gets round the corner, an enemy spawns and kills him. I can only guess that this was the original method of finishing the level, then the developers thought it was to annoying, changed it but forgot to remove him. The final level is on Brainiac’s ship. This game does the annoying thing where it locks the final level away from lower difficulties (luckily, there’s a skip level cheat to skip to it). The objective is to collect a load of data discs These discs are oddly extremely highly detailed and look higher detailed than most 2D objects in 3D N64 games (or, indeed, any of the graphics in this game). Getting around the level isn’t too bad, although the discs only appear on at a time, some open doors and other doors require you pushing buttons, so progressing is just flying where you previously were. After breaking the virtual world and pushing some ice cubes of your friends across a lightning generator, then finding some bombs to blow up the ship. The end of the level is a window that literally says “the end”. You then get a cutscene saying that you escaped the virtual world, but Lex is still out there in the real world. And that’s Superman 64. It’s definitely a bad game, but it really doesn’t deserve its reputation as the worst game ever. The flying is pretty good once you get used to it, and it really isn’t as buggy as I was expecting. The checkpoint system is atrocious, but then it was a pretty normal thing for games back then. Superman 64 has some interesting elements, it attempts to do what it can with the license, even with severe restrictions. I honestly prefer a game that’s a little bit wonky to one that’s just flat out boring. In the end, I found myself both enjoying the game because I was laughing at it, and at times genuinely having fun with the game. And isn’t enjoyment all that matters in the end? Fun Quote There’s only a select band of games that can stagger you into silence with their utter ineptitude and Superman is one of them. From promising beginnings (i.e. there’s no spelling mistakes on the title screen), the game quickly descends into astonishing crapness with a first level amalgamation of Pilotwings’ ring contest, and three mind-blowingly awful sub games. - Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #31 Remake or remaster? It will never happen, but a remaster with fog removed and things smoothed out would actually be interesting to see. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Superman: The New Adventures 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dcubed Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 Honestly? I've played far worse games than Superman 64, which sits comfortably into the category of "So bad it's kind of enjoyable?" It's fun in the sense that watching a trainwreck is fun and it's certainly not boring (a far worse crime to commit). I doubt that it's the worst game on the N64, let alone of all time. Haunted Castle makes Superman 64 look like a masterpiece in comparison. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 Maybe I'm a bit late to the party here but can't help but wonder why these aren't articles on the main site as well as forum posts? 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted August 5 Author Share Posted August 5 1 hour ago, Shorty said: Maybe I'm a bit late to the party here but can't help but wonder why these aren't articles on the main site as well as forum posts? 😄 I feel like a daily post would clog up the site with too much stuff about an old console (any slower would take forever), and I'm not entirely sure about the use of screenshots from emulated or fan made versions for a more "official" kind of post. Although I've just considered the possibility of doing a weekly post with seven games to solve one of those problems. Probably a bit late to do it for this (unless I backdate, depends how easy it is to copy things over), but I could definitely look into doing weekly main site articles for GameCube games. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 Let me know if you want to, I can help out. They don't have to even go into the homepage news feed if you're worried about that, or they can be added as their own feature etc. Funny I was thinking about Superman 64 the other day. It's obvious why it was so disappointing back in the day when people were hoping for something bigger and better, and we've still never had a good Superman game... which is pretty wild. But with so much less shovelware coming out in those days I guess it was just an easy target. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WackerJr Posted August 5 Share Posted August 5 If it is something that isn’t too time-consuming then having it as a site feature sounds a good idea, and deserving with all the effort going into this! I’m no expert on it, but being on the main site means it has a better chance of reaching a wider audience too, is that right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted August 6 Author Share Posted August 6 I'll look into catching up on the main site (although I've moved sorting it to private messages). Super Real Mahjong VS JP release: May 1999 (Arcade) PAL release: N/A JP release: N/A Developer: Visco, Seta Publisher: Seta N64 Magazine Score: N/A A mahjong game for the Aleck 64 arcade system. This is part of a series that started in 1987 and is still getting the occasional release – including a recent compilation on Switch of most of the numbered titles (so not including this one). As this was an arcade cabinet, it used a long line of lettered keys to select tiles, instead of using a D-pad, so it’s quite quick to use. That said, I have no idea what the rules are for this two-player variant of mahjong, plus calling out specific combinations is done via buttons rather than being automatic, so you can’t just try to get sets until the game notices that you’ve won. Still, for people that know mahjong, it’s probably a good thing. However, this isn’t just regular mahjong, it’s strip mahjong. Your opponents are all anime girls (who were popular enough to get their own anime show) and if you win, you get an animation of them stripping for you. This arcade system certainly had plenty of nudity. ? Remake or remaster? As said, there’s a collection of most games. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Super Real Mahjong VS. The VS game might be based on P5, which is in the Switch compilation, but I don’t know for sure – either way, it’s mahjong with some anime boobs. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drahkon Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 11 minutes ago, Cube said: However, this isn’t just regular mahjong, it’s strip mahjong. Oh yeah...Super Real Mahjong 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted August 6 Author Share Posted August 6 Fighting Force 64 NA release: 1st June 1999 PAL release: December 1999 JP release: N/A Developer: Core Publisher: Crave N64 Magazine Score: 26% Some bad games are broken messes that have some interesting elements or features, other bad games are just badly designed and immensely boring, which I think is much worst. Fighting Force is one of those. Fighting Force was initially pitched to Sega as Streets of Rage 4, but Sega declined as they had their own plans for the franchise (which fell apart and Street of Rage 4 didn’t happen until 25 years after 3). The developers, Core Design (best known for Tomb Raider) took the concept and turned it into a new game, Fighting Force. An N64 version was planned and cancelled, but Crave then got publishing rights to finish it off. At the start of Fighting Force, you’ll be on a street but realise that it’s really just a small box. You’ll use a small amount of basic moves to beat up enemies. These enemies will run towards you and punch, kick or block (and very, very occasionally, throw something at you from off camera). After you defeat them, more will appear. You’ll then get to move onto the next “room”, do the same and then it’s the end of the level. And with that, you’ve experienced the vast majority of the game. Fighting games like this are often repetitive by nature, but they do things to help with it. One is a good amount of starting moves, which this lacks, and another is enemy variety. Though Fighting Force, you’ll encounter enemies that look different, but they all use the same very basic moves, with the only difference being their health bar and how often they block. There is one level that does have some enemy types, which consist of an enemy with an eclectic fist. These act the same as normal, except their punches knock you down (and are perfectly timed with how long your character takes to stand up, so you can be stuck in a cycle for a while). The other one is some lab experiment, which is a metal-looking man and their health regenerates. There are some bosses, most are just an enemy with a longer health bar. One has more unique attack and you can’t get close to him. Instead, you have to pick up barrels and throw them at him, which is a nightmare with the terrible camera and how much he moves. And if he shoots you, you’ll drop the barrel, and sometimes they’ll glitch out after this so you can’t pick them up again. The levels themselves are just really dull, each consisting of 1-3 square rooms. The game doesn’t flow like classic racing games, and the music is more like background elevator music than anything to make you feel like fighting. This game is short (you can replay for different routes) and yet feels like an immense slog. There’s no smooth and enjoyable fighting of 2D fighting games, just slow, clunky tedium. When the enemies at the start and at the end are the same, you’ve experienced everything within 5 minutes. Worst Quote It works like this: a group of four baddies burst through a door and head for your fighter. You then have two choices: stand stock still and watch the confused enemies wave their firsts from a distance, or perform one of your five (five!) moves – any of which is all but certain to floor your opponents immediately – kill the bad guys, then start all over again as another identical gang appears. And so on for 20 levels. - Mark Green, N64 Magazine #37 Remake or remaster? There’s nothing interesting about this one. Official ways to get the game. Ports of the Fighting Force games are due to be released in 2025, with minimal improvements. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dcubed Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 I’m starting to get the feeling that the Aleck 64 logo is meant to be an S&M collar rather than a dog collar with all the soft core porn running on the thing… 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted August 7 Author Share Posted August 7 Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers NA release: 9th June 1999 PAL release: July 1999 JP release: 13th August 1999 Developer: TNS, Infinite Ventures Publisher: Kemco N64 Magazine Score: 43% The Shadowgate series is rather strange. While they all have a strong focus on puzzles, they like to be different styles. The original was a point and click adventure that was heavy on text, with a small window to show what you were seeing. The sequel, Beyond Shadowgate on the TurboGrafx CD was in a style much closer to Monkey Island. There’s also a VR game that’s much more action orientated. A remake of Shadowgate kept the original style, just in higher detail, while a new version of Beyond Shadowgate is being developed in the 8-bit style of the remaster, using original design documents but ignoring the TurboGrafx version. Shadowgate 64 is still a point & click style adventure, but with a fully explorable 3D environment and controls similar to first person shooter games. You play as a halfling in a fantasy land, as your caravan gets attacked and you get thrown into a prison, where it’s up to you to figure out a way out before being given a grand task. The lore in all the books you can find is great, many of which you’ll need to read for the puzzles, but the environment itself is rather drab, mainly consisting of small, generic rooms. It’s a shame as a bit of colour and some grander looking places would have massively helped the atmosphere. The puzzles are rather mixed. The biggest problem is a complete lack of HUD. While this looks nice, it also means that nothing is ever highlighted, so one major difficulty is simply finding objects. In once of the many instances I looked up a guide, it turned out that there was a key behind a pillar. Even knowing that, it was difficult to find, as it just looked like part of the floor texture – and I’m seeing it much clearer than anyone would have done when the game came out. There are times you also need to be very precise with your aiming, as you may be slightly off and get a “nothing important is here” kind of message and dismiss the object as background scenery. On top of that, there are a ton of objects that are never used. Other puzzles are trial and error, and a lot of objects are nowhere near where they’re actually used. Some stuff you collect early on isn’t used until the very end of the game. Thankfully, there seems to be no point in the game where you’re completely screwed, you can always explore previous places to find what items you need (although sometimes it’s just a case of grabbing everything and trying it. There’s also a really annoying maze sections with lots of buttons, and having to walk back the way you came because it suddenly goes somewhere different. There are things to like about Shadowgate, and it seems like it would be a good game for fans of the point & click adventures where you just have to find every object on every thing you can interact with (although the lack of HUD means you have to try everything, as you don’t know what you can interact with), but it really needed a bit more to help with the atmosphere of the game, to make it feel more alive. Fine Quote Sigh. We follow this game for months and months in RPG News, and then all we get is a game worthy of the pitiful score you’ve already peeked at in the bottom corner of this page. And the reason for this? Shadowgate seems to believe that the player will enjoy a significant amount of time trudging up and down endless, indistinguishable grey and brown corridors. Very slowly. Whilst scouring and picking up every object in every room. Shadowgate is, simply, very dull. - Jes Bickham, N64 Magazine #31 Remake or remaster? A remastered version would be make the game nicer to play, increasing walking speed, adding more detail and colour and some HUD and hints. Official ways to get the game. There is no official way to get Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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