I am using my Retron 5 to play this footage off the cart.
For a while there, I was trying to perfect this game to the point where I
had all the enemie placements in the first couple of levels memorized. I
wouldn't even take a hit till the boss battle at the docks, which I
could never beat for some reason. As you can see, my memory of enemy
placements has long-since eroded.
For Master System owners looking for a Castlevania style fineness-style
game, Shinobi is one of the few I have played. If you are more
methodical in your gaming, this is the SMS game for you. This or
Kenseiden which I am extra terrible at.
I say, this is definitely a
must-play for SMS owners. Fantastic arcade port.
The Retron 5 appears to be using the FM sound by default, and I am not
sure if you can change it. I just know that the music and sound effects
sound differently on my Master system consoles.
To play Master System games on the Retron 5, you can use the Power Base
Converter, or you can buy Retron's own cart that allows you to play SMS,
SMS Card games, and, the reason I bought it, Game Gear games. None of
my Game Gears have working screens anymore.
And if you are interested in picking up a Retron 5, and want to help my
channel out a bit, consider using my affiliate links to purchase the
Retron 5
To my own shame, I
recently came to the realization that I have never actually sat down
and played through the original Quake despite owning both the PC and
Saturn versions of the game for just under fifteen years of my life.
I first encountered Quake on the N64 of all things, not owning a PC
growing up, I was left to PC hand-me-down console ports of PC games.
I rented Quake 64 for a weekend, and I'm pretty sure I cheated to
beat the game. Three dollars, for three days of rental, I didn't have
time to waste with pesky things like playing through the entire game.
I know I have played
through the different episodes of this game over the years as Quake,
along with Quake II, and the original Unreal were always the first
three games I would install on any new computer I owned, but it
wasn't until this week that I finally sat down, and played all the
way through the remastered version of Quake, episode to episode, and
level to level, and I was really blown away at the deepening level of
complexity the design takes as you delve deeper into Quake.
Twisting winding levels
with an eclectic mixture of enemies and themes that have no
continuation from one level to the next, yet still all come together
to make a game that that expanded the horizons of what we thought was
possible in games, and, looking back, shows a level of complexity and
attention to design that most modern games would be exorbitantly
better if they would siphon even a minute fraction of in their bland,
too-careful-to-take-risks, design formulas.
While most modern games
are focus-grouped to design mediocrity, Quake was born in a time
where developers would grab innovation by the nethers, and run with
it. I'm just going to make a quick mention of Quake's bigger effects
like the advent of 3D Accelerators (the coveted Voodoo cards for GL
Quake); the advent of online gameplay; and containing the source code
on the disk for easy access, pushing mod making into the mainstream,
going beyond what PC gamers were already experimenting with by making
custom Doom Wads.
If you could sum up the
coolest time to be a gamer (that exciting jump from the 2D era to the
3D era) since the advent of gaming with just one game, sorry Nintendo
fanboys, it's not super Mario 64, it's Quake. Not that Doom, Mario,
and all the other early 3D titles didn't play their part, but,
without exaggeration, I could credit Quake for being THAT GAME that
shaped gaming into what it is today more than any other early 3D
game.
For my first official
playthrough, I used the recently released Quake Remastered, which brings the game to the Kex Engine, and updates the graphics, allowing
for up to 4K, and also includes the expansion packs to the game,
which I have never played, and a new expansion by Machinehead games
called Dimension of the Machine.
Quake is a deep mixture of
well designed levels, fast paced movement and gameplay, and beefy
weapons that hit hard to take down the hodge podge of enemies the
game throws your way. As you delve deeper into each episode, you are
presented with more, stronger weapons to take on the more, stronger
enemies.
The best part of the Quake
experience, for me, if the feeling you get while playing it. Your
character, retroactively named Ranger due to a character in Quake
III, is a walking tank, taking down hordes of bullet sponge enemies;
the weapons hit hard, and Quake offers the usual doom-assortment
arsenal with the Nail-gun replacing chain gun, in order to promote
the Trent Reznor connection with the game; and the fast, fluid
movement gives the player a feeling of complete freedom of movement
that is a feature in oldschool shooters that is virtually unmatched
by modern shooters.
Combine the freedom of
moment and beefy arsenal with intricately designed levels, filled
with tons of hidden areas, and surprise enemies waiting to pop out
at you at any moment, adding an air of uneasiness, maybe horror, if
you will, making you pee yourself a little when coming face to face
with a chainsaw welding ogre from a room you already cleared, and you
have a shooter combination that is the showcase for why we love
so-called boomer shooters.
A plethora of enemies to
dispatch, complete freedom of movement, and extensively designed
levels, this is why we love old shooters. Story, no story, the fast,
frenetic gameplay in these shooters compels you forward better than
any story line ever could.
Retro shooters showcase
substance over style, gameplay over fluff, and level design over the
same tired story designs. These games were born in a time where
developers took chances, and gameplay and design took precedent, and
in the brave new world of fully 3D gaming, having only their previous
work on Doom to go off of when id made this game, Quake, is
rightfully the seen as the king of all boomer shooters.
I'm not really going in
depth with this review as even younger gamers know about Quake, but I
will say this, as far as remasters go, I fully recommend this Quake
Remaster to PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and soon to be Series X, and
PS5 owners. It's cheap, updates the visuals, comes with the
expansions, and even has cross-platform online play so PC gamers can
smash console gamers who only have controllers.
As for the online play
with the remaster, it doesn't appear to be actual Quake Online, but a
new online which features the cross platform play. This is a good
thing for newbies, like me, actually. You see, my one quake online
experience came via a source port, and the game ended up being a 1 v
1 game, and not only did I get unmercifully murdered, I got murdered
by a guy who knew exactly where I was going to spawn next. Die,
re-spawn just to die, then re-spawn just to die, he was always there
with the lightning gun.
I've put may hours into
Quake II online, and am a painfully mediocre player at best, but
Quake 1's online deathmatch has always been an intimidating prospect
for me. I am more likely to jump onto Quake II's online, terrifying
Rail gun and all. I'm not sure why the original's death-matches seem
more intimidating to me than Quake II, or even Quake III's are, but
they just always have been.
Perhaps I should just get
over it, grab a source port, and take my licking like a man, but
having a separated online experience for the remaster is a good idea
to me, and not just because I am so bad at this game that I still
lose using keyboard and mouse verses controllers, but because it
separates newcomers from players who have been playing this game
online for 25 years....unless they grab a copy of the remaster that
is. Which they should, honestly.
I got a little caught up looking for a secret area that I know is around
there somewhere, but forgot exactly where.
Anyway, irregardless of how you feel on the subject matter, Spiritual
Warfare is an excellent Zelda Clone. In fact, it's one of the best Zelda
clones I have played on the NES.
It's a strange game, taking place in
urban centers instead of fantasy lands.
It uses a password system instead of a battery save, and the world is,
surprisingly large, complex, and well designed. The controls are spot
on, and The Sword of the Spirit, once you acquire it, makes the master
sword look like chump. It shoots swords, collects items, and explodes
like a bomb. Link done been outclassed.
Honestly, fun game. Zelda meets Bible Trivia, and my favorite Wisdom
Tree game. Even better than Super Noah's Ark 3D which I own via Steam.
I don't care who you are, I love Doom 3. It's not just because I once
paid almost 2 grand for a PC that could play it, I have always found it
to be a super intense, white-knuckle shooter.
I do have BFG Edition on the PS3, but have yet to play it. I am one of
the few that thought the flashlight mechanic in the original was
brilliant. Yes, obvious gameplay mechanic gimmick to show off the real
time lighting effects of id Tech 4, but man, does it add to the intense
atmosphere of the game. Dark, spooky, and gritty in-your-face gunplay.
I
do agree that the weapon sound effects aren't great in the original,
but the weapons are effective.
Spooky surprises lie around every corner of the game, and new enemies
are always introduced in epic fashion.
When it comes to First Person
Shooters in the post Half Life era, Doom 3 is one of my favorites from
this era of shooters. I love this, I would say, often misunderstood era
in FPS games. That post-Half Life, pre-CoD era/early 7th gen console
era.
Doom 3 is a product of it's era, and definitely has deep HL inspirations
in it's design.
I know people say it's a good game, but not a good Doom
game, but I disagree. While the game doesn't throw hordes of enemies
your way like classic Doom, it does have a deepening, and worsening
sense of Doom as you play further. It's gunplay, despite the weak
sounds, can be just as intense as classic Doom at times.
Graphically, sure, the details haven't held up perfectly, and you can
load a mod, or change the display settings through console commands to
get it to display at modern resolutions, but the lighting and atmosphere
are still amazing to look at and feel to this day.
One day, I will play through BFG Edition, and will play it with an open
mind, but ruining the flashlight mechanic ruins the intensity of the
game for me, feel free to disagree.
The Bottom Line: I love this game. It's still one of my favorite
shooters, and the lighting and atmosphere, intense gunplay, and solid
mechanics make this game hold up to this day.
This
is a gameplay sample for the Build-Enging running Ion Fury, a retro
throwback shooter running on a retro engine.
I just got this game a couple of days ago, and my first time playing it
was yesterday. So far, I'm really enjoying this game. As you can tell, I
don't know where many of the secrets are as of yet, and my actual save
is only on the second level of the game.
I
am playing it on the second from hardest difficulty, but I keep dying a
lot. For my own personal playthrough, I may set the difficulty a little
lower for my first playthrough. I know, swallow my pride, but learn the
game before setting it to a higher difficulty.
As
far as retro throwbacks go, this is a really good one. I guess part of
it is, it's running on the infamous Build Engine which powered games
like Blood, and Duke 3D. This one is already my favorite retro throwback
I have played so far, because it maintains the fast, in-your-face
gameplay, fun gunplay with hordes of enemies to dispatch, and
intricately designed levels to explore. I love it when devs give you a
level, and say, "Have fun." There are some scripted elements here and
there, but the overall feel so far is, you as the player, are open to
explore however you choose.
My
first impressions Ion Fury is that it is fast, well designed, and a
whole lot of fun. If my opinion changes as I get further into the game,
I'll let you know. However, so far, so good.
My only real complaint is there is little indication when you are
getting hit, and in the midst of battle, I don't look down at my life
bar often. I tend to die a lot, because I didn't know I was low health.
However, that's not a big complaint, and I just need to stop being a
noob.
I decided to give Daikatana a try mostly because a fellow YouTuber, who I respect a lot did an entire "Lets Play" series of this game called "I Love Daikatana." That YouTuber is Elbryan42, and he's been on this site for as long as I can remember. His name is Rob, and he's a really good guy. He hasn't uploaded for a few years now, I hope you're still around, and doing well Rob.
Check out his Channel Here: https://www.youtube.com/user/elbryan42
He does amazing playthroughs of games, 100 percent runs, and always has. I'm talking very methodical, thorough, immaculate runs of each game he has in the playlists.
Now on to Daikatana:
I've been playing this game off and one for about a month, and only just recently was able to beat the bridge scene. I haven't even been able to make it to the infamous A.I. controlled teammates as of yet. The swamp level, though it has grown on me a little, is definitely a weak starting point of the game.
That being said, I have still found myself enjoying parts of the game already. I am ready to get past the opening scene, and see more of what the game has to offer.
I've heard the advise is to put in cheats, and skip to the second episode, which is the most enjoyable episode from what I've read, but I'm going to play this legit the first time.
I'm also going to put off downloading the fam-made 1.3 patch which fixes a lot of bugs in the game. I'll play it legit the first time through, and then explore the patch later on.
Those of you who have played this game, what do you think of it? Do you think it's over-hyped garbage, do you think, "Meh, it's alright," or do you too love Daikatana?
John Romero should open a sandwich shop, and advertise it with "John Romero is About to Make You a Sandwich!"
Just a spotlight video covering 3D remakes from the Atari Age of gaming. Or, basically, mostly Atari IP's and some early 80's arcade games. I forgot a couple of games, so I can always make another video on 3D remakes on the PS1, time and focus permitting.
And yeah Dude, it's the 90's bro, and we too kool for old games.
