Topic: Episode 255: La Troisième Saison

[Retro Deckades]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, fellas, but I'm not so sure I remember seeing any indication that the forthcoming 3DS Virtual Console release of Bionic Commando was any but the original Game Boy release and not "Elite Forces" for the Game Boy Color.

[Jonnyboy117]

I played a couple hours of Terranigma via emulator about ten years go, and it didn't hook me like Illusion of Gaia. However, that's hardly an ideal setting, and I would love to have another shot at it.

[Crimm]

One observation that I assuredly wont remember to make this week: I find that games like Enslaved are exhausting to marathon. My objective was to knock out the game today and tomorrow, but after two hours I feel exhausted. I can play mentally taxing games, like strategy and puzzle titles, for untold hours. However, these games that require a lot of quick reaction wear me out much more quickly.


MLB network - naptime

[Chocobo_Rider]

My Life as a Dark Lord is longer

I wasn't sure if downloadables were being included in the discussion.

@ broodwars

Painfully, familiar, yes. =)

[NWR_insanolord]

Hey Crimm, if you like baseball so much how do you not own a PS3? The MLB 2K series has been **** ever since it started on the Dreamcast 10 years ago, while the Sony-exclusive The Show series is almost as good as MVP '05, the greatest baseball game ever.

[roykoopa64]

Axelay!!!! whooooo 

I looove Illusion of Gaia, and I'm so happy I still have my cartridge. Jonny's discussion makes me want to pop it in right now and play it again!

[Crimm]

I actually got to play The Show and did not enjoy the controls in the slightest. I find the controls of the last two iterations in the 2K series to be far more compelling. Pitching and hitting felt like you were completely in control, rather than just pressing buttons at the right time.

[NWR_insanolord]

Did you play this year's The Show? They re-did the controls to be all analog. I love the new pitching meter, whereas it used to be what I hated most about the series. To me it strikes a good balance between the old-school meter and the abstract nature of 2K's stuff, and the game surrounding it is just so much better.

[Chad Sexington]

If I ever played Breath of Fire II, would I need to play the original Breath of Fire first?

Should I just read the wiki for it or something?

[Sundoulos]

Breath of Fire games make passing references to the history in the other games, but each story is self-contained.

Breath of Fire II had gloriously terrible box art, which most likely prompted me to pass it up when looking for games to rent or buy during the SNES era.

[Crimm]

I did try The Show's take on the 2K games, it's better than buttons but I still like the 2K one better. That said, I don't need more than one baseball game a generation.


Also, I did figure out how to package players the right way to trigger major trades that turn games into beatdowns.


As for the Breath of Fire II/Breath of Fire - I'd say those two are more connected than the others but you could start with II quite easily. There is a scene in BoFII that would lose a little meaning without BoF but it's not a major issue. It's sort of like reaching the end of Lufia 2 if you saw the beginning of Lufia 1. Mostly irrelevant to your ability to enjoy the game, but still pretty cool.

[KDR_11k]

Since Super R-Type is pretty much R-Type II you can get a proper arcade port of it on XBLA in the R-Type Dimensions package.

[lolmonade]

Fun episode.
 
I enjoyed Turtles in Time immensely, and understand why it's on the top 20.  There are just so many good games on the Super Nintendo that it would have been more reasonable task to make an essential 50 instead of 20. 
 
Part of what makes me love Turtles in Time so much is that I played the NES Turtles Arcade games first and was disappointed with it, but then Turtles in Time was such a great improvement.  Now, if only someone would release The Simpsons arcade game...
 
I'll probably be laughed out of the forums for this, but my top 20 definitely would have included Super Ghouls N Ghosts...

[NWR_Neal]

I've got to come in here and give James an old Jonesian "you're categorically wrong." I keep up with the 2K series through demos, and I detest it to the very core. Meanwhile, The Show is the only baseball game that lives up to the legacy of MVP 2005 (the best baseball game ever made).

[KDR_11k]

BTW, the 0.9 multiplier for pound prices isn't based on the dollar but the Euro. The pound prices match the Euro prices, that's why DSi points cost more than Wii points.

[Yoshidious]

Since Super R-Type is pretty much R-Type II you can get a proper arcade port of it on XBLA in the R-Type Dimensions package.

I used to think that Super R-Type was just a port of R-Type II with an extra level tacked on the front, but having played R-Type II a couple of years ago there are further differences. For instance, the water levels have completely different bosses in each game, and the typical R-Type giant battleship stage involves multiple smaller battleships in the arcade game, while on SNES it's one giant ship more like the one in the original game. I still prefer R-Type III over both versions.

I'll probably be laughed out of the forums for this, but my top 20 definitely would have included Super Ghouls N Ghosts...

I'm a big fan of Super Ghouls'n Ghosts of course, which is why the closing music for this episode was taken from the game's credit sequence--I thought it would be a nice choice because apparently a lot of people wouldn't have heard that particular song before!

BTW, the 0.9 multiplier for pound prices isn't based on the dollar but the Euro. The pound prices match the Euro prices, that's why DSi points cost more than Wii points.

Obviously the UK prices are directly derived from the Euro prices since all of Europe shares the same eShop. However, the nominal prices on the European eShop are generally 1:1 with the prices listed in North America, so the 0.9 rate still applies from USD to GBP. And when I, a British person, am discussing eShop pricing with my three colleagues in the United States, the natural tendency is to speak in terms of pounds and dollars rather than  the euro.


And yes, DSi points/eShop credit cost more in pounds because those price structures were implemented after the financial crisis caused the pound to lose a significant chunk of its value against the Euro--when the Wii launched in Dec 06 the pound was worth 1.5 euro, by 2009 that figure was down to about 1.1.

[NWR_insanolord]

I did try The Show's take on the 2K games, it's better than buttons but I still like the 2K one better. That said, I don't need more than one baseball game a generation.

I'll grant you that having different analog motions for different types of pitches is pretty cool. Too bad the game is terrible.

Luckily for us, next year is the final year of 2K's MLB exclusivity, and they've made it pretty clear they're not happy with it, paving the way for the end of exclusivity, and, God willing, MVP Baseball 2013.

[TJ Spyke]

There is nothing stopping EA Sports from doing MVP Baseball, the last one was college baseball (which I guess didn't sell as well as they hoped since that was several years ago and they haven't made a new one).

[gojira]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, fellas, but I'm not so sure I remember seeing any indication that the forthcoming 3DS Virtual Console release of Bionic Commando was any but the original Game Boy release and not "Elite Forces" for the Game Boy Color.

I don't know if it's bad news.  Sure Elite Forces is great, but the GB version is quite good too.

[NWR_insanolord]

There is nothing stopping EA Sports from doing MVP Baseball, the last one was college baseball (which I guess didn't sell as well as they hoped since that was several years ago and they haven't made a new one).

You just refuted your own point so I didn't have to, so +1 to you.

[Crimm]

Pitching in 2K is fantastic once you get used to it. It is the first baseball game where I felt like a bad pitch was decidedly my own fault

[NWR_insanolord]

Like I said, the pitching is awesome. If I could use those mechanics in The Show I totally would. But outside of the pitching, The Show is vastly superior to 2K in pretty much every conceivable way. The way 2K has handled the series is a testament to why these exclusivity deals are bad for the games. Madden lacks ambition too, but at least it's still a well-made game.

[Crimm]

2k10 is regarded as a much better game than any of its predecessors.


I also got it for something like $15. New.

[NWR_insanolord]

Having played 2K9 extensively, I should hope 2K10 was better. The series is improving, but not nearly fast enough. It seems like they're just content to concede the PS3 market to The Show knowing that if you want a baseball game for 360 or Wii you have no other choice.

I'm kind of surprised that given how bad 2K's Wii MLB games have been Nintendo never took Pennant Chase Baseball off the shelf, dusted it off, threw some Wii features at it and released it.

[Crimm]

Oh God, 2k10 Wii was supposed to be an ugly mess and for the DS it was a Hindenburgian disaster. The 360 version was competent, which really shows where they put their efforts.