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1376

Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27: Mega Man 3 - Official Discussion Thread

« on: May 01, 2013, 01:59:25 PM »

Is it just me or is the slowdown REALLY bad in this game?  I remember it being a frequent thing in NES games, but never to this degree.  I just tried defeating the 2nd Dark Master in the Spark Man level (I believe it's Quick Man?) using the Snake Search weapon and between all the snakes and Quick Man's boomerangs, the entire battle was in slow motion.

I'm playing on 3DS, so I'm not sure if this was always a problem with the original cart or if it's an emulation issue.

Do you think Nintendo should actively try to fix these problems when they release older games on the virtual console or would you rather play the games exactly like you remember them, warts and all?

Mega Man 3 is easily the most unstable game in the NES game line, featuring many framerate chugs and points where the sprite flicker is somehow WORSE than it is when fighting the Mecha Dragon. The 'father' of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune, sites the game's rushed nature. If you read Mega Man Official Complete Works [published by Canada based UDON entertainment], Interviews with Inafune on Mega Man 3 states that the project supervisor on the first two Mega Man games left Capcom and the man the company put in his place really didn't GET Mega Man. This management issue also caused the head planner to quit, and Inafune was forced to take a lot more responsibility on Mega Man 3 than he had on the previous games, and the last couple of months of the project were some of the most stressful he had ever gone through on a Mega Man related project.

"I knew that if we had more time to polish (Mega Man 3), we could do a lot of things better, make it a better game, but the company said we needed to release it. The whole environment behind what went into the production of the game is what I least favored. Numbers one and two - I really wanted to make those games; I was so excited about them. Number three- it just turned very different" - Keiji Inafune, Nintendo Power issue 220.

BONUS FUN FACT: Doc Robots' name is actually a pun in Japan that was poorly localized! The word 'dokuro' means skull, so if you said 'dokurobotto'.. uh... yeah, I think you get where I'm going with this. ^_^;;

1377

Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27: Mega Man 3 - Official Discussion Thread

« on: May 01, 2013, 04:14:59 AM »

Maybe it's a sign of me getting older, but I am finding that I don't have the patience to learn some of the old platformers like I used to.  I've started a few times before committing to Snake Man as a start point.  I got to the point where you're on the sky pillars, and twice in a row got hit mid air, being knocked into an insta-death pit. 

I'll second Grantimus' comments that being forced to start a stage all over because you run out of lives is a bit too punishing for a game that hinges on you memorizing enemy patterns to effectively counter them. 

This kind of game is something that as a kid I probably would have played hours on end, taking the time to complete the game by trial-and-error.  Hell, I did that with the original Mega Man.  But I can't seem to make much progress before encountering an entire new enemy that whittles my health away to nothing. 

When I'm playing something like Demon's souls, it provides a considerable level of challenge while also conditioning you to learn enemy patterns, utilizing proper tactics, and punishing you appropriately for doing something you know you shouldn't have after the fact. 

My biggest problem with this game is that I don't feel like there are any lessons learned when you make a mistake in this game, other than "lol, shoulda seen that coming".

-----
As a fun side note, here is Title Intro to the Megaman Anniversary Collection I played on GC.  Was a very WTF moment every time I loaded it up.

I'd like to say that the brilliant thing about these Mega Man games is that Mega Man has a very specific way he handles that's incredibly tight and precise  if you think of the game as being on a grid, he can jump a distance of 3 tile blocks horizontally and 2 blocks vertically  upwards and has quite the fast fall to it. taping the D-pad lightly lets you take a pixel worth of a step to orient Mega Man, the disappearing blocks go on a sorta 2 second timer and generally have a specific rhythm  to them, etc.

I find that getting used to these facts as well as knowing that the game usually presents it's new enemies and such in a manner that invokes that iterative gameplay are the main things that get me through a Mega Man game. My first run through of Mega Man 9 [a game that does unfortunately incorporate that "I Wanna Be The Guy" mentality of pretty much having newbie traps that will require more level memorization than exercising  any sort of twitch reflex or such] took about 3 and a half hours because I kept in mind how Mega Man handles and was able to pick up on patterns quick. I did much the same for the likes of Mega Man 10, Mega Man X Street Fighter, and the good Romhacks I played such as Rockman 4 Minus Infinity.

As a random plug, I CANNOT RECOMMEND ROCKMAN 4 MI ENOUGH. IF YOU HAVEN'T HAD ENOUGH MEGA MAN AFTER THIS RETROACTIVE, GO TO https://sites.google.com/site/rockman4mi/home. Rockman 4 MI is a hack of Mega Man 4 that is absolutely over the top and fun. some of the rules have changed, such as Mega Man's invulnerability period and knockback being shortened, rush's functions being changed [PROTIP: Use Rush Search whenever possible!], and all the robot master weapons have been redesigned to be very, VERY powerful. it's a good time, and I managed to beat it the first time without getting a game over or abusing save states [that being said, the game does feed you 1-ups like candy.]

1378

Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27: Mega Man 3 - Official Discussion Thread

« on: April 30, 2013, 01:51:25 AM »

My old friend AussieBen posted this link on Twitter, and I had to share it here due to the perfect timing.

http://www.themmnetwork.com/2012/12/02/a-fantastic-mega-man-3-arrangement-for-chiptune-lovers/

It's a hacked version of MM3 with a new arrangement to use Konami's sound chip that has three extra audio channels (the one in Japan's version of Castlevania 3). It sounds unbelievably awesome, yet still totally 8-bit and totally Mega Man.

Actually, Johnny, it's not so much a hacked game as it is that RushJet1 did up an arranged soundtrack in Famitracker and then basically edited the video together by splicing in sound effect rips along with his tracks [the one he did for Wily 4 was impressively timed out to be in time with the music, considering that he used counter melodies and base lines from the robot master's stage.]

Yes, RushJet1 did a fine job. especially love how he's got the Mega Man 1 Wily boss riff in there for the wily castle boss music since that castle recycles boss concepts from that game in spades. Also love that he did the Wily Marine fortress theme from Rockman World 3/Mega Man III on Gameboy.

I'm glad someone linked that, though. I was thinking about doing so on Wednesday when everything was wrapping up, as it also proves to be a very skillful playthrough that doesn't use Energy Tanks and goes Buster Only on all bosses Except Gamma. Take note on how he seems to struggle the most on the poorly designed Doc Robot bosses. >_> it's a good basis for my argument that they are a really bad addition to this game. I could then springboard off and say that tooting the nostalgia horn doesn't work since you only faced them in the previous game. Doc Robots are a rehash in the worst way possible, and I'm very glad that the closest they ever get to trying to do them again is the Wily Memory unit out of Mega Man 10, which by comparison is actually an excellent boss battle because the Memory units are still the same size as the Robot Masters in question and still manage to replicate the attack pattern without introducing any poorly thought out variables.

But yeah. Rushjet1 is pretty awesome. seriously, check out his other videos. And Danooct1. And all the other awesome people out there that do awesome Famitracker stuff.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27: Mega Man 3 - Official Discussion Thread

« on: April 28, 2013, 02:54:25 PM »

Ooooooooooooh, here we go. I promised you folks back in the poll thread that I had a LOT to say about this game, and indeed I do. I'm not sure if I should break my separate talking points into different posts or not. I shall do so at one of the Moderator's requests if my filibuster is one that impedes accessibility to the information herein or the thread in general.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let us begin!


http://puu.sh/2IQKx.png < See that right there? that little jittery bit of misplaced pixels just above Shadow Man's window on the stage select screen? THAT right there made me think for years and years and YEARS that there was something wrong with my copy of Mega Man 3. that the game at any moment could go to a mess of garbage graphics and nonsense pixels all over the place. I thought something happened to my copy and I needed to get a new one.

Only, the same thing happened. Heck, even the ROM i'm using to capture screens for my posts here have this very minor graphical glitch, but it really sets the tone for how barely functioning Capcom allowed this game to be shipped out in, and how stressful of a development cycle it must have been for Mr. Inafune, who at the time was forced to ship out a game that while it stood on a proven engine and has some cool ideas, also suffers from many of these cool ideas being half-baked, ill advised, or the potential in an idea just not being realized properly. Mega Man 3 is my third least favorite classic series game next to Mega Man 7 and Rockman & Forte [not counting spinoffs, the game boy games, Wily Wars, the abominable DOS games, the Game Gear Mega Man V port, Or Rockman & Forte 2: Challenge from the future for the Wonderswan]

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Level design is a chief reason that the Mega Man series receives the accolades that it does. Levels are usually intuitive and promote some of the most brilliant examples of iterative learning in a video game. to this effect, they actually do a pretty good job of that by usually placing Hammer Joes in spots where you won't get hit by their hammer at first and you can clearly see their eye color change before they toss it, telling you something is up. There are instances of really, REALLY badly designed levels in this game, though. Things are pretty hunkey dorey outside the bugged out platforms form Snake Man's level that will push you into the abyss if you're standing on the pipe as it spawns them, or the really obnoxious placement of a hammer Joe just at a spot that requires Rush coil to get up to in Hard Man's stage, but those are small potatoes in comparison to the real horror of the Doc Robot stages.

Doc Robot was a good idea in concept. bring back 8 enemies that resonate with those who picked up our huge smash hit game as a set of bosses to face after you beat the new set of robot masters! because we know that the player has toughed it out through the robot master stages already, we can make these stages more difficult and put in more instances of mandatory use of the travel items and weapons! It all sounds great, but the truth to the matter is is that they recycle stage themes from the Robot Master stages, which starts to set in the only instance I can think of in the classic series where fatigue ever really set in from having to play through stages that use similar tile sets, enemies, and the same music from Spark, Shadow, Needle, and Gemini Man's stages. add in the fact that because there are 2 bosses to these stages with stretches of stage in between each boss, these stages are long. they also don't have very many checkpoints. THERE ARE NO CHECKPOINTS BETWEEN THE BEGINNING OF A DOC ROBOT STAGE AND THE FIRST DOC ROBOT IN SAID STAGE.

They even put in the little boss gates, which are usually an indicator of "Hey, here's a checkpoint before you fight a boss!" but this is all terrible lies that were never properly put into the game. Doc Robots themselves are terrible to fight as well. the beauty of the Mega Man series is that not only does a robot master tend to have a weakness to a weapon, these weapons usually tend to be something that is particularly situated to fighting that particular Robot Master. there are good examples of this in Mega Man 3, like Hard Knuckle being good for hitting a target that's only vulnerable while it's completely immobile like Top Man, or Search snakes being well suited to fighting Gemini Man, a robot master who only jumps when he's made a complete run to the walls of his boss arena. The point is that Mega Man 2 bosses were designed for Mega Man 2 boss arenas with Mega Man 2 weapons. Doc Robots are huge in comparison to the robots they are mimicking. This becomes a HUGE problem in fights like Flash Doc, Air Doc, and Quick Doc where strategies that previously worked in Mega Man 2 no longer work because it's nigh impossible to clear them with a jump or stand in a tiny nook of the room where they land from a jump to get in a few quick and easy hits.

There are no checkpoints between the beginning of a level and the first Doc Robot of a Doc Robot stage.

Compounding this further are a couple of the Rush Jet required segments of these stages. Particularly, the Air Doc and Crash Doc stage where immediately after the frustrating Air Doc Fight where you discover the easy way to beat Air Man is gone because Doc Robot is such a fatty, you get greeted with a weapon energy capsule, the annoying Parasyu enemies from Shadow Man's stage, Yambows, and a very, VERY long expanse of bottomless pit. you're likely weak from fighting Air Doc, not aware of the walking in pits cheat unless you have Nintendo Power/internet, and probably not aware of how the heck to exploit Rush Jet's horrible design flaw that makes it the most broken version of Rush in -ANY- Mega Man game. the weapon energy doesn't respawn, so I hope you can make it in one go, or you're gonna have to farm Yambows for weapon energy, which aren't exactly the most ideal enemy to do that from. the inexcusable laziness of not providing at last an easier enemy to farm that has a higher drop rate of weapon energy here is inexcusable, and the lack of health after Air Doc is equally kinda devastating. It makes it a real slog and a chore. especially if you're not particularly well versed in Crash Doc's reactive attack pattern. Long story short, the Wily Castle is a REAL breath of fresh air in spite of being laden with recycled boss battles too [yay, we get to fight another Devil and another Clone like in the original Mega Man!] here from all the slowdown-laden, overly long Doc Robot Stages where you somehow have to figure out how to beat Quick Doc with the worst weapon in the game.
______________________________________________________________________________________

"But wait, Clex!" you say. "Quick Doc isn't weak to the Top Spin!" you cry! That's absolutely correct! you know why? Because Top Spin is actually one of the BETTER weapons in Mega Man 3 when applied correctly.

TOP SPIN:
it's a robot master weapon that takes skill and finesse, yes... but it's essentially like the Instant Shield from Sonic 3 and Knuckles. it's energy efficient and takes out a lot of the regular enemies in the air in a fairly efficient manner. yes, you can lose all your weapon energy for it as it only drains weapon energy when you successfully connect with an enemy. Mega Man will also get pushed away from said enemy if you don't have any directional input held, and thus you can kinda harmlessly bounce off of incoming enemies and kill them at the same time with a well timed Top Spin.

GEMINI LASER:
Absolutley terrible. does about the same damage as a regular buster shot  to most enemies and you can only have one of these slow moving projectiles on screen at once. doesn't go through walls because it rebounds off of them, making it take even LONGER to get your one shot off screen. also, you can't switch weapons while there's a Gemini Laser on screen! if you miss, you are totally defenseless! JOY!

SPARK SHOT:
Also pretty bad for similar reasons to the Gemini Laser. it's not very damaging, and when you use it to stun an enemy, you can't hit them again OR switch weapons. it's kinda handy for freezing Bikky at the peak of it's jump or Returning Monking, but otherwise, it's pretty useless except as a boss weakness weapon.

HARD KNUCKLE:
This might as well be a melee punch because there's very VERY few enemies that this is worth using on. it freezes Mega Man whenever he fires it, it travels through the air slow with a bit of directional input allowed, and hits hard if you manage to hit with it. I'd say it's kinda good for mini-boss type enemies if Needle Cannon or the buster didn't outclass it in raw DPS and rate of fire. it works best when you get up in the enemy's face and fire it. also good I guess for the first half of the Gamma fight.

SHADOW BLADE:
Let's nerf the Metal Blade! yeah, this one doesn't impress me too much because of the rate of fire thing I've been talking about. it'd be a lot more useful if you could shoot it at the downward angles you could for the metal blade or if it could pass through enemies to hit 'em twice.

NEEDLE CANNON:
Buster replacement, ho! Now this is what I'm talking about! it may not fire totally straight, but Needle Cannon is a wonderful way to butter through enemies if you're not good at mashin' the B-button with the buster. I suggest prioritizing Needle Man because he gives the two most broken weapons in the game.

MAGNET MISSILE:
This one's all right, I guess. outstrips the Shadow Blade in taking out enemies above and below you as it shoots out a projectile that will shoot up or down when it detects an enemy it can hit. at only 14 shots, it's kinda costly for the pittance of damage it does to some aerial enemies in comparison to Top Spin, but it takes a lot less spot-on accuracy to use Magnet Missiles, so it's a preference thing.

SEARCH SNAKE:
One of the best weapons in Mega Man 8 Bit Deathmatch is also an improved version of the Bubble Lead from Mega Man 2. does decent damage, has similar rate of fire to the buster with 3 shots on screen at a time, and climbs the terrain. overall, I like the little guys a lot, and I actually would suggest using these to kill Gamma's second form over Top Spin if you're inexperienced with Top Spin.

RUSH COIL:
Ah, yes. Robot's best friend was an idea introduced in this game, and to give it a push, many bits of level design are clearly meant to try and get you to use the red pooch as much as possible. Mega Man 3's required bits of level that have Rush Coil are an interesting idea that potentially dooms you to energy farming if you use too much and die before a checkpoint. still, It has to count for something that Rush Coil is a movement utility that lets you fire, unlike the previous Magnet beams and  items the series had up to this point.

RUSH MARINE:
Cool idea on paper, not very useful in practice. if you have Rush Jet, use it instead.

RUSH JET:
More unbalanced than Metal Blades. You heard me right. This game's version of Rush Jet is pretty much a god-tier Mega Man item. fill enemies on the screen no matter where they are with Buster lead, AND trivialize any and all platforming challenges with it's ability to move any direction without hindrance. FUN FACT! Rush Jet does not consume it's weapon energy if Mega Man's Feet are not touching it. this means most of the time you 'ride' rush jet, you should actually be riding it like you're a newb playing your first fighting game and doing nothing but jumps.  http://puu.sh/2ISl3.png seriously, I think you can get like... 3 minutes of flight out of Rush jet by just hopping on it all the time.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Speaking of new series additions, there's a couple of other big ones that Mega Man 3 brought to the table... namely, the Slide and Protoman.

The Slide is about the best idea in Mega Man 3. it provides two VERY much needed things to Mega Man in giving him a way to move a bit faster from his usual plodding jog, and away to shrink his hit box in a way that can't be abused like a duck and promotes using good timing to dodge the telegraphed attacks of the Robot Masters.

Proto Man, however... as much as I LOVE Blues and his Racer X-esque qualities, I can't help but feel he's a very half-baked idea. that could have been SO much more grandiose than what we actually got. there's actually another series that had an NES entry that did this kind of character in a way that was great.

http://www.meta-knight.com/info/gameinfo/2.jpg

Before this handsome fellow was toppin' the tiers at Super Smash Bros. Brawl Tournaments, he was a menacing mini-boss type situation that would show up unexpectedly to either lend Kirby a hand or challenge and test him. We never actually got to see Meta Knight's actual fighting abilities through the course of the game, only that he wielded a sword and had a very similar body type to Kirby. It built this tension as he threw his minion waves at Kirby, which were enemies you wouldn't normally face through normal levels, and you had to figure out how to get through the mall.

Picture this, if you will; Proto Man has been challenging Mega Man as a mini-boss, but uses various different robots to challenge him and test his abilities rather than doing it himself. that is saved for the actual Break Man battle that serves as a pretty pointless stop-gap between the Doc Robot and Wily stages in the current game.

This last Proto Man fight is pointless as you've faced far tougher challenges in the Doc Robot stages, and literally nothing changes about Proto Man in this fight other than the arena and his appearance. But if you hadn't fought him before and found out he has a similar Skill set to Mega Man, but one thing even better; He can Charge up his Buster shots and Fire them at you in a large burst!

Dr. Wily's Revenge was already in development when this game came out for the NES, and in that you fought a new rival enemy that gave you one last power for the Wily fortress... And Proto Man as of late has always been shown to be the one with the chargeable buster and have that unstable reactor that gives him such power that he won't let Dr. Light replace. How wicked would it have been if the Mega Buster was your prize for beating Break Man before the wily stages? oh well.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

There's a few other little attentions to Detail I could note, like talking about how you can get Weapons and Rush adapters early because of the poor implementation of the menu screen, or how there always seems to be this weird colored flicker when ever there's horizontal scrolling or how you can enable odd Debug codes by holding button combos on Controller 2 [I used to do that with my feet when I was a kid.] or wacky other bits of trivia and such, but I feel that this post shall have to suffice for now.

I'd like to congratulate those who managed to brave this word soup. As I said before, I can edit this post and split the various points of it into individual posts if need be, Dr. Metts.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 116: Running to the Goal

« on: April 18, 2013, 08:18:15 PM »

4 for 5, with Etrian Oddesy being the one I missed. I'll tell you, I nearly missed the second one, but Wood Man's Mega Man Soccer theme gave it away. that being said, that was honestly the first SNES game in that series I had played. heck, it might have been the first Capcom game I played for the SNES, which is all sorts of WTF when you consider that game's reputation.

Also, the third song used for game one is one of my favorite tunes on that system, period. heck, that's one of the best GAMES for that system, period. certainly the best one before Pokemon came out.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27 Poll: Epic Mega Man Showdown

« on: April 17, 2013, 08:35:06 PM »

I prefer Mega Man 2, but I voted for Mega Man 3 because I feel it has more to discuss. Since the creator feels it's a failure due to having to rush it a bit, the game is the roughest of the NES Mega Man games.

THIS.

Yeah, Inafune doesn't feel so good about Mega Man 3, and quite frankly, neither do I at some points. not saying Mega Man 3 is bad, because god knows it kicks ass and people love it more than Mega Man 2, but I feel that Mega Man 3's failings are the most GLARING of the Mega Man games made for the NES outside of maybe like... Wily and Light's Rockboard, but nobody in their right mind has sat through that Fortune Street/Monopoly knockoff long enough for me to go into discussion about THAT game. @_@;;

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27 Poll: Epic Mega Man Showdown

« on: April 16, 2013, 02:44:15 PM »

thank you for suggesting all this stuff. I did listen to 103 at some point  after I heard how untrusted Mr. Jones was as far as hosting the show. that Super Metroid episode sounds like it will be a real treat. Heck, getting to hear the dulcet tones of Mr. Greg Leahy is a treat all in itself.

1383

Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27 Poll: Epic Mega Man Showdown

« on: April 16, 2013, 04:23:44 AM »

You must have missed those weeks: They already did Mario World. 2 weeks worth, in fact.

I didn't start coming around these parts until one day when I was looking for 3DS videos and I found Neal's  stuff on the NWR youtube channel. the first time I had even heard about Retroactive I remember was for the Ogre Battle 64 episode. I was listening to the RFN Backlog at one point from the begining, but I think I fell off of my regimine of NWR Podcast binge at some point and never got back on. I'll go check those out though. should be a treat.

1384

Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27 Poll: Epic Mega Man Showdown

« on: April 15, 2013, 11:40:54 PM »

I should say, that it's not the members of the podcast (or even the participants in the forums) that I'm worried about. I don't doubt that the RFN crew will find something interesting to say about these games.
 
Unfortunately, however, I am one of those people who have had this debate, as Clex put it, 'beaten to a dead and bloody pulp' through years of podcasts, retrospectives, countdowns, forums, blogs etc. I fear I won't be able to contribute much beyond a blank stare and drool. If you're lucky I might find it within me to tell the story of how I nearly beat Mega Man 2 before I realised you could switch weapons, but beyond that I don't have much to say that hasn't been said a million times before.
 
 

I understand that, it's like if Retroactive took a look at Super Mario World or something... that being said, I'm prepared to talk all sorts of good things like why the Top Spin is actually a pretty decent weapon or strange and fun bugs or properties of Robot Master Weapons that people may not know about or just... all sorts of knowledge.

Just because -we- are privy to this knowledge doesn't mean that we cannot help in the proliferation of it... heck, we could end up learning something surprising that we didn't know, and that excites me, even if I shouldn't be holding my breath for such things to happen. Even so, I'm excited also to spread this kind of info, and I really do believe you could help, Pixpix.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27 Poll: Epic Mega Man Showdown

« on: April 15, 2013, 05:51:34 PM »

It's been forever since I've played either and I'm not sure I ever beat them.
Poll be damned, I'm gonna play BOTH! 

Now THAT'S the spirit. I will admit that if you go to the right corners of the internet, this debate has been beaten to a dead and bloody pulp, but not everyone here is going to be instantly familiar with the age old argument outside of what the RFN crew already discussed. I have a lot to say on both of these games, and I've already started playing both of them today to get ready for this.

Heck, if you're interested and once we get the proper thread under way for whatever wins, I'm willing to schedule a stream and play through them again live to share my personal experience with both of these illustrious Capcom titles.

1386

Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27 Poll: Epic Mega Man Showdown

« on: April 14, 2013, 11:39:03 PM »

I easily think Mega Man 2 is better than Mega Man 3, plain and simple. I'm gonna be holding back a more detailed  wall of text for the thread, because like many, MANY other nerds out there on the information superhighway, I eat, Drink and excrete Mega Man. I'm the kind of person who is so enraptured with the classic series that I will play ROM Hacks [Seriously folks, play Rockman 4 Minus Infinity. it is pure delicious fun juice and plays fairly differently than any other Mega Man game but in an incredibly good way] and quite frankly, a nice chillaxe run through Mega Man 2 or one of the later NES titles like Mega Man 6 is a form of catharsis for me after a particularly bad day.

That being said, I probably have more to talk about with Mega Man 3 than I do with Mega Man 2, because I feel that Mega Man 3 has far more glaring flaws in comparison to the second game.

Either way, I win this poll though. Seriously, Ys?!? that's like... the one game on that last retroactive that I didn't have a lot to say about. >_>;;

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 115: Nintendoweissbier

« on: March 01, 2013, 09:08:25 PM »

Awww, yeah. 4 for 5!

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TalkBack / Re: Japan eShop Round-Up (02/20/2013)

« on: February 20, 2013, 05:52:33 PM »

DAMN good week for Japan's VC. I'd be over Mystery of the Emblem for 30 cents like a hobo on a hand sandwich. you add to that Life Force and one of Konami's hidden gems that I'd wish would get more fanfare than being a simple http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Getsu_Fuhma http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Ryu_Kokki Yugioh Card References, or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu2Q7ivk36E a silly Easter egg-ish DLC episode for a pretty cool Castlevania game. Seriously, they could have reinvented Getsufu Maden as a competitor to Onimusha in the early 2000's or re-purposed the sword cutting mechanics of Metal Gear Rising and made a totally bad ass demon hunting samurai game re-imagining of this classic or... or...!


*ahems* Sorry, I let my nerd slip out there. I'd also like you folks to keep in mind that I'm in the weird camp who thinks Konami is long overdue to put out a new Konami Wai Wai World or Parodius. at least then there'd be a newer Mystical Ninja game becides the kinda weird DS game.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #26 Poll

« on: February 18, 2013, 04:21:10 AM »

This was a darned hard call for me. a couple of these games I'm close to and have a lot to say about [namely Rondo of Blood or Zoda's Revenge], and I wouldn't mind playing any of these other entries, but I think that of these, I'm most interested in giving Super Rotom Adventures [I nicknamed my Rotom Pulseman] a shot, as I do like some of Gamefreak's other stuff like Drill Dozer, so I've been curious about it for quite some time.

1390

TalkBack / Re: RFN RetroActive LIVE: Majora's Mask

« on: January 26, 2013, 05:32:24 PM »

Grrrrr! My parents literally just called me and told me there's a family function I'm obligated to go to. this happens EVERY time you guys Livestream and it's starting to piss me off. >:C

*ahems* I'll see if there's SOME way of me listening in, but it was really a shame. I had a LOT to talk to you guys about during this retro-active.I wanted to ask you guys if any of you were familiar with the BEN Drowned Creepypasta and talk so much about my personal experiences with this one but... *sighs* -_-

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TalkBack / Re: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse Revealed

« on: November 06, 2012, 10:03:21 PM »

I would like to join in with the folks banging their debit cards against their monitors in frustration that they can't have them magically send money to Matt Bozon's personal account. I will say that I wasn't expecting this so soon! <3

1392

TalkBack / Re: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate Rises from the Grave with New Trailer and Details

« on: October 31, 2012, 04:49:08 PM »

Trailers for a game have never ever left me feeling so... mixed before. X_X before I let loose my opinions here, let me lay out two very important facts so that one can understand where I come from.

1.) I -LOVE- Castlevania. I love classic stiff platforming think before you leap action games that doesn't afraid to put you in your place. I love the high contrast 8-bit graphics that made up the NES games and the quirky feeling of beating the meat out of a wall that you desperately want because you are in a heightened panic for ANYTHING to give you that little bit of health you need to push on. I also love Metroidvania, with the castle's intimate interconnectedness and the leveling up and just crazy variables on how you could go about playing these games. I love Ayame Kojima's take on gothic portraits and how they gradually felt more comfortable applying a couple of anime tropes to what was up until that point something very much grounded in trying to invoke the imagery and feel of Hammer's horror films and the Universal studios classics. Hell, I even like some of the 3D stuff that other people think is crap and enjoying where the designers were going with their failed experiments of games.

2.) I really could not get into Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. I love me some Patrick Stewart and I love me some Castlevania, and I thought that Konami was on to something I'd really like by handing it to a western studio that isn't afraid to take some risks. I understand Lords of Shadow was a competent game that Frankensteins together bits and pieces of successful games and as a result is something that plays okay,b ut I don't really like having to sit there and wail on a single guy and abuse a parry for that long. I don't like uncharted's style of platforming that's not so much platforming as it is snapping from one ledge to the next in a stream of very scripted feeling ledge climbing events. I don't like that as far as I played into the game (Which was well on my way to the second lord before I traded the game in) that you didn't have bats or crows trying to impede your platforming and that there wasn't some whipping involved with that. Gabe felt weak and pathetic most of where I played through, where he was constantly crutched on having to try and keep combo streaks going to keep magic dropping because only when he's using magic does he feel any sort of powerful and potent!

What burns me the most though about the whole ordeal is the presentational stuff. at it's SHITTIEST (See: Haunted Castle for the Arcade, Castlevania Patchislot, etc.) Castlevania has a pumpin' and memorable soundtrack. Even Harmony of Dissonance, which people complain has a bad soundtrack has quite a few tunes that stay with me and I daresay I do listen to on my spare time. Castlevania Lords of Shadow is filled with cliche' Lord of the Rings wannabe fare that is forgettable at best. I have nothing against orchestral score, but the composition just is NOT there. Even the sorta music box-y Vampire Killer tune is just... really, REALLY underwhelming. Speaking of which, it kinda stinks that they got rid of the Vampire Killer whip in exchange for a really gimmick-y Dante's Inferno looking weapon... and for that matter rebooting all the lore. they really, REALLY didn't need to do that. sure, there was a bit of bloat setting in, but there were still stories to be told and such! Even the graphics kinda bother me, once again invoking more Lord of the Rings in my opinion then something distinctly Castlevania.


HOOH! Okay, now we can get to my opinions of Castlevania: Double-stuffed Oreo of Titles.

The census on Castlevania is that 2D is good and that the 3D is the cancer that kills. I'd be inclined to disagree, but the proof is in the pudding. That being said, there are some things I see in these LoS:MoF trailers that REALLY alarm me, such as them feeling the need to ape the stiff and unessesary combat scheme from Lords of shadow. the combat and the platforming seem to be two very seperate things, and that fighting things is going to be very painstaking. If it wasn't for the whip swinging parts, I'd almost feel like I'd have to congratulate MercurySteam on FINALLY making a sequel to Prince of Persia. The Music from trailers so far has also not been too encouraging to get the kind of composition that will keep me listening for time and time again, and I find it kinda insulting that they feel the need to attach names to characters that don't need to be there for this reboot, ESPECIALLY Alucard considering the whole nature of what happens at the end of Lords of Shadow. I also kinda cringed at them trying to take a certain classic one liner at the end of that trailer.

That being said, I AM happy to see things like the more prominent focus on the castle and it's gothic scenery, the Metroidvania style map on the bottom screen, and most of all, seeing some of the classic Sub-weapons like the Cross Boomerang and the Axe return. That, and I think Mercurysteam as developers do appreciate the lineage of what they're working with, otherwise we wouldn't get lines like "BUT ENOUGH TALK, HAVE AT YOU!" or the thing that was at the end of the E3 trailer with that... thing with the cleaver smashing Fleamen. Heck, seeing FLEAMEN instead of random goblins in a sun-soaked swamp  has me stoked! (Imagine that; I'm stoked for fleamen.) Here's hoping for some vertical climbs up a clocktower with Medusa heads and Axe Armors impeding your way. =3

1393

Nintendo Gaming / Re: La Mulana is F***ed up!

« on: October 26, 2012, 06:45:12 AM »

the idea behind Caltrops is that you get on a platform way above him as the little gargoyle guys are opening his eyes. if he's getting ready to fire the laser, you get out of the way. if he pops his eye out, then you're in prime position to deliver some Axe-y justice!

Another tip I'll give you is if you have the [spiler] RandC.exe + Mekuri.EXE program combo, it'll increase the damage on all your weapons becides the whips, while if you have LaMulana.EXE + Move.EXE loaded, it will double your power and make it so that the Mace whip's attack is almost as much as a PISTOL BULLET'S.  The Axe's stand-alone damage is actually a little under half of a single pistol bullet shot.

1394

Nintendo Gaming / Re: La Mulana is F***ed up!

« on: October 24, 2012, 07:50:48 PM »

Beating one of the 8 main bosses opens up doors that are accessable via the bronze mirror. the one that connects the Masoleium of the giants and the Graveyard of the Giants is to the left of the grail point in the Masoleium.

I originally approached La Mulana in 2007 when the original hit the PC as freeware, and the understanding that I came to is that the game does in some way, shape, or form provide the very vague hints of what you need to do and you do have to sniff around sometimes to figure out what in the heck a puzzle did... What I'm getting at is that the 3 Japanese guys who made the original are folks who kinda celebrated being able to go on the internet and share the secrets of the MSX Home computer classics they used to play back in the day like the MSX Version of Castlevania [VERY different from the NES version] or Knightmare 2: The Maze of Galleous. being that La Mulana is a game you can only get through the internet, they wanted to make a game that would simultaneously make the individual feel very accomplished and then in turn also make whatever community cropped up around their game feel that same sense of accomplishment by banding together to crack the secrets of ruins that really feel like they could be something that no human being has yet to successfully explore and come back to tell the tale.

I digress, though. Caltrops or Rolling Shuriken are an excelent way to deal with Viy. spears are also a decent option. also, now that you beat Viy, you should go back down by the base of the waterfall on the surface and investigate, KDR.

1395

Nintendo Gaming / Re: La Mulana is F***ed up!

« on: October 24, 2012, 03:04:49 AM »

You kids... I had no clue anybody was posting in this thread still!

Is La Mulana a sadistic game? Yes.

Is La Mulana an obtuse game? Yes

Is La Mulana a Memorization fest like I wanna be the Guy? Unless you are speedrunning, NO

KDR, I will send you a note shortly offering the same service that I did for Pixelated Pixies.

I also cannot stress enough; YOU SHOULD BE SAVING BOSS FIGHTS UNTIL YOU ARE WELL ENOUGH EQUIPPED FOR THEM! yes, there are quite a few mini-bosses that the answer is Shuriken or the Axe you get from the temple of the moon after you get some other items. I've actually tested it; in this remake, if you stumble your way about into a few things and know some things about the game mechanics, it is possible to get all but 2 of the Sacred Orbs and some of the best weapons in the game with only Sakit defeated. for a significantly more normal run, that's obviously not the case.

I'd also like to throw out a couple of suggestions at stuff you could do to help you out, KDR. I'll hide it all behind spoilers if you don't wanna hear it; You really want the bronze mirror now that you've beaten Ellmac. this treasure is in the Temple of the sun, but you will need to go down by where you got the spring in the sky's ank jewel, and whip some stuff that is corking up the spring. there's a stone platform intercrossed with a chain holding the blug you need to break, and then you need to whip the pulley mechanism on the screen above. then you're going to need the birth seal from the surface to solve a puzzle in the temple of the sun and go into the CHamber of extinction, where after you light things up by shooting some flares into the lanterns, you'll see a mural of a little shield-like thing. whip that some and that will open up the chest in the room in the temple of the sun adjacent to the Chamber of Extinction Entrance. that will net you the Bronze Mirror, unto which you'll learn the reason why some of the grail points don't have a warp point; you see, La Mulana is effectivley double the size you thought it was. each area has a paralell and opposite area called the Backside, and you need a piece of software to grail warp to the backside (This made more sense in the roiginal because you'd pause the game and hit 0 through 9 on the keypad to warp, and so they needed a way to switch you from warping to the first 10 areas and then other 9 that are on the backside) At any rate, your backside Warp program is called Future Development company. it's found in the Graveyard of the Giants, which is the backside equivalent of the Masoleum of the Giants, and is located just outside of the entrace to the tower of the ruinf rom Graveyard of the Giants.

hoo! That's some infodump! ^____^ Feels good to talk some more La Mulana!

1396

TalkBack / Re: 3rd Annual NWR Live Podcast Telethon for Child's Play

« on: October 24, 2012, 02:01:21 AM »

This is gonna be a craaaaazy Saturday. I'll be Fresh off of the premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's Season 3 premiere and shunning listening to the usual livestream of the podcast I listen to for that fandom in order to be here and rooting for you guys! Hopefully I'll ahve scrounged up a little something to donate as well.

1397

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 112: Platform Ascot

« on: October 16, 2012, 01:46:16 PM »

Thank you for setting the record straight with that. I had thought I heard that Super Mario World 2's graphical style was reactionary and not what happened there, TJ Spyke. I guess now I'm more upset at the marketing guys buying into Rare's pre-rendered kool-aid.

1398

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 112: Platform Ascot

« on: October 16, 2012, 02:48:41 AM »

I 1/5'd on my first Radio trivia I've been able to post on. I'm usually much better. the one game I got was mainly because I am an obsessive Konami nut who loves his Parodius and Gambare Goemon ... I'm seriously surprised the Metal Gear didn't give that first one away.

the second game is something that interests me a bit because I'm of the opinion that Donkey Kong Country is a middling game at best and a frustrating game at worst. I don't think the visuals of the series aged well either. I still respect the series for what it did though, and my favorite game of all time as a result probably would not have the breathtaking visual style that it does had it not been for Mr. Miyamoto's butthurt over the visuals of this particular series. Seeing that scrunched into a Game Boy title in all of it's pea green and poor refresh rate glory would be an amazing just to see how in the cocoanuts do they handle annoying crap like the barrel cannon dreck.

1399

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 310: Relax, It's Only Surgery

« on: October 15, 2012, 09:34:13 PM »

@KDR_11k

this remake of La Mulana does have some traps that I think were specifically designed so that they'd throw players of the original off, such as the instant death crush on the ceiling in that part you were describing not being in the original. it's also worth noting that the Grapple Claw in the original used to not control nearly as well since UP was the jump button and Up was the cling to wall with grapple claw button, so you'd have to do this weird thing where you'd push away from the wall and double tap Up in order to push away from the wall... mmm, GOOD TIMES! <3

Also, it's worth mentioning that having Mirai.EXE, AKA Future Development Company allows for Grail warps to the Backside areas

@Pixelated Pixies

I'm sorry to hear you feel you're getting too old for a game that offers that sort of trial and error type difficult gameplay and that your Treck through La Mulana has ended prematurely. I'm going to send a note in an effort to get in better contact with you, because you do seem to have interesting and respectable opinions on what I've seen you discuss, and being able to talk with you about these issues mano a mano sounds fun!

1400

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 310: Relax, It's Only Surgery

« on: October 14, 2012, 04:32:27 AM »

I have a few things to say about this episode!

1.) It is an amazing thing what you can find when you take a shot in the dark at random Shovelware. Most of the time it's so weighed down it's own mediocrity that renders the experience unmemorable on most accounts, and those games are the worst for me more than something that is just this Katamari-style wrecking ball of bad elements that all got glued to a ball and sent out in hopes that it'll become some star that some curious geek or aliens will stare at and enjoy in the radiant glow of it's awfulness. For bringing us just a slice of this with Crazy Hunter, I must award +1 internets to James Jones by performing his Civic duty as a game reviewer.

2.) YES, LA MULANA HAS FINALLY CLICKED! I was REALLY afraid that nobody around this website would really get and understand the vastly enjoyable undertaking that that game has to offer. there is some basic complexity and obtuseness you have to dig through to get to the very open-ended Metroidvania within that offers many rewards for diving in and chipping away ad it gradually, like an archaeologist would chip and brush away at a relic of the past to clean it up without totally breaking it. Johnny, you are absolutely correct about the obesity coming more from the active resistance of the puzzles, which is only going to branch out further. there are some real stumpers, and there's no shame in looking up answers. there's even an item or two that you can end up messing up the puzzles to and locking yourself out of the item, but the game does give you warning to these.

I will say that this game DOES have an item or two of late game brutal difficulty, and... although I'm not sure if the US Wiiware version has this or not because it was DLC in the Japanese wiiware version, but I played the original's optinal super hard area, and let me tell you... you will BEG for that optional area in Cave Story by comparison. you will want to play Tubular in Super Mario World without picking up the baloon power-up. I didn't even BOTHER checking if the English Wiiware version of La-Mulana has this particular optional area because I DID NOT FEEL LIKE GOING THROUGH THAT 4 HOURS OF MY LIFE AGAIN!!!

3.) I really dug the chat on brand expectation factoring in to Critical review. It's really a grey area that's hard to call the shots in, and some of my least favorite games are at least somewhat functional entries into Franchises I have a prior expectation of that got marred by some really strange design choices that may not have ruined the game outright, but in stead betrayed customer by taking things in a direction that doesn't favor the original reason the consumer payed for the product.

I think that yes, these things SHOULD be mentioned in review, but also it should not detract from the review IF the game's genre-swap performs what it sets out to do in a favorable manner, and if the changes perform any detracting things to the formula. A great example of this happening in a positive light is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. SotN turns Castlevania on it's head by instead of the emphasis being on an action game that required a strategized plan of attack when approaching a situation due to dealing with stiff jump arc and slow whip and what sub-weapon you have at the time, you are dealing with something easy where the emphasis is on exploration. Some people may see Symphony of the Night's Cakewalk difficulty and lack of meaningful punishment for not properly memorizing boss patterns and such (since you can always brute force your way through a boss by loot grinding or leveling up) could be viewed as a negative to some in comparison to other games bearing that same branding.