Played phantom hourglass all day. This game is way fun.
It's the only Zelda game I stopped playing and never bothered touching again.
Well, save for the NES games...
Well, save for the NES games...
Archived M2K2 Forum
Dood Trigger™
I still want to make a big post talking about these childhood NES classics (and "classics") I've been playing, but I wanted to rant about one of them now. It's The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants for the NES. Giant wall of text below.
On to Bart vs. the World, which I'm pretty sure isn't any better... and yet... I'm kinda excited to see how bad this is.
So last night I finished Bart vs. the Space Mutants for the first time in my life. This is a big deal for me as I used to play this frequently back then with my friends. But wow, this is a really bad game. And it's frustrating that this game is bad because it has so many cool ideas.
I love how varied and interactive the levels are. They're full of secrets and different things to do, they always keep things fresh with a new item to use and a decent variety of obstacles, and even though there are no continues, the game is packed with extra lives everywhere, so you always have good reason to explore these levels and get everything. The first and third levels are very fun with all the shops and mini-games you can enter, while the final level is a surprisingly relaxing fetch quest. The second and fourth levels are more focused on pure platforming, and that's where things get ugly.
The main problem with this game is that it is the worst possible kind of platformer, the one where you're required to make a lot of precision jumps with poor distance references, inconsistent collision and terrible controls. It's not bad enough that Bart's traction makes Luigi jealous, you need to press B and A simultaneously for the high jump, and the jump button is what makes you run fast. Holy crap, it makes that little sense. Add to that platforms you can't possibly know where they begin or end (that stupid dinosaur...) and a permanent game over after you lose all your lives to one jump, and you get one of the most infuriating platformers out there.
I'm glad I finally beat this, but man, why did they have to go out of their way to ruin it? Would it have been such an insult to copy Mario's controls that they felt they had to reinvent the genre? You need to work even to pause the game, because (I swear I'm not kidding) pausing is an inventory item just like any other that you have to scroll to, one by one!
I love how varied and interactive the levels are. They're full of secrets and different things to do, they always keep things fresh with a new item to use and a decent variety of obstacles, and even though there are no continues, the game is packed with extra lives everywhere, so you always have good reason to explore these levels and get everything. The first and third levels are very fun with all the shops and mini-games you can enter, while the final level is a surprisingly relaxing fetch quest. The second and fourth levels are more focused on pure platforming, and that's where things get ugly.
The main problem with this game is that it is the worst possible kind of platformer, the one where you're required to make a lot of precision jumps with poor distance references, inconsistent collision and terrible controls. It's not bad enough that Bart's traction makes Luigi jealous, you need to press B and A simultaneously for the high jump, and the jump button is what makes you run fast. Holy crap, it makes that little sense. Add to that platforms you can't possibly know where they begin or end (that stupid dinosaur...) and a permanent game over after you lose all your lives to one jump, and you get one of the most infuriating platformers out there.
I'm glad I finally beat this, but man, why did they have to go out of their way to ruin it? Would it have been such an insult to copy Mario's controls that they felt they had to reinvent the genre? You need to work even to pause the game, because (I swear I'm not kidding) pausing is an inventory item just like any other that you have to scroll to, one by one!
On to Bart vs. the World, which I'm pretty sure isn't any better... and yet... I'm kinda excited to see how bad this is.
Dood Trigger™
Yeah, it's just really bad.
That said, I had an okay time with World just now. Still a poor game, but I guess I was expecting all the awful things about it and that made it easier to adapt. First I got the bad ending, then I got salty at how lame that was and finished the game again with all the Krusty items. I know I've beaten this game as a kid, but definitely not with the best ending.
With the exception of the secret final level, which was quite creative, I don't find the levels here as interesting as in Space Mutants. But on the plus side (and what a giant plus this is) they're not nearly as difficult, at least coming from the first game. Bartman is a cool addition (and I like how they seem to always place one in the more annoying stages), so is the ability to throw stuff at enemies. Not complaining about being able to take 5 hits before death either.
Like Space Mutants, however, I'm just so frustrated at the controls all the time. Too bad 'cause there are still some cool stuff here.
I think the only good Simpsons game I've played still is the arcade beat-'em-up...
That said, I had an okay time with World just now. Still a poor game, but I guess I was expecting all the awful things about it and that made it easier to adapt. First I got the bad ending, then I got salty at how lame that was and finished the game again with all the Krusty items. I know I've beaten this game as a kid, but definitely not with the best ending.
With the exception of the secret final level, which was quite creative, I don't find the levels here as interesting as in Space Mutants. But on the plus side (and what a giant plus this is) they're not nearly as difficult, at least coming from the first game. Bartman is a cool addition (and I like how they seem to always place one in the more annoying stages), so is the ability to throw stuff at enemies. Not complaining about being able to take 5 hits before death either.
Like Space Mutants, however, I'm just so frustrated at the controls all the time. Too bad 'cause there are still some cool stuff here.
I think the only good Simpsons game I've played still is the arcade beat-'em-up...
Sweet Jesus, playing PH and can't get Neptoona or the last 2 gold ship parts. I've never had any trouble getting Neptoona before, so this is odd. Getting all gold ship parts is incredibly hard. Imagine farming for 8 unique crissaegrims, and each schmoo takes 90 seconds to kill. I've changed the date on my 3DS like 200 times, played the arrow mini-game like 300 times. I have a shit ton of every other ship part, including the other 6 gold ones, but the gold wheel and gold hull elude me.
Thank goodness I've been smoking F all day otherwise this would be too boring.
Thank goodness I've been smoking F all day otherwise this would be too boring.
Dood Trigger™
Just finished TMNT1 for the NES. First time ever for me.
In all these years of frustration, I've seen this game beaten by other people several times, so I knew a lot of the tricks. Still a damn brutal game. My personal best when I was little was getting to the Technodrome boss. Now I finally beat the whole thing.
I farmed the OP scroll sub-weapon in stage 3 about a billion times. I love that about this game, how you can re-enter buildings and items will respawn. Wish that were true with captive Turtles as well... I lost Donatello twice before stage 5, which anyone who's played this must know is literally a death wish. Somehow I survived and I found and rescued him both times. And the Technodrome appeared behind the first door I checked, got super lucky. Sadly the hallway of doom before Shredder absolutely crushed me, even with scrolls.
I was on my last continue when I finally made it to Shredder alive, with no scrolls and all four Turtles on Excruciatingly Annoying Beeping mode. I was already accepting my game over when I figured I'd see if there was an easy strat that would allow me to survive exactly zero hits from Shredder. And I stumbled upon this vid.
Flawless strategy. Thank you very much, kind sir, you just helped me finish the first videogame I ever had. :) And I still regret not picking TMNT2 at Toys R Us, even though I got it like a week later... >_> But as painful as parts of this game are, I actually wouldn't mind replaying it sometime.
In all these years of frustration, I've seen this game beaten by other people several times, so I knew a lot of the tricks. Still a damn brutal game. My personal best when I was little was getting to the Technodrome boss. Now I finally beat the whole thing.
I farmed the OP scroll sub-weapon in stage 3 about a billion times. I love that about this game, how you can re-enter buildings and items will respawn. Wish that were true with captive Turtles as well... I lost Donatello twice before stage 5, which anyone who's played this must know is literally a death wish. Somehow I survived and I found and rescued him both times. And the Technodrome appeared behind the first door I checked, got super lucky. Sadly the hallway of doom before Shredder absolutely crushed me, even with scrolls.
I was on my last continue when I finally made it to Shredder alive, with no scrolls and all four Turtles on Excruciatingly Annoying Beeping mode. I was already accepting my game over when I figured I'd see if there was an easy strat that would allow me to survive exactly zero hits from Shredder. And I stumbled upon this vid.
Flawless strategy. Thank you very much, kind sir, you just helped me finish the first videogame I ever had. :) And I still regret not picking TMNT2 at Toys R Us, even though I got it like a week later... >_> But as painful as parts of this game are, I actually wouldn't mind replaying it sometime.