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Post by Sarge on Sept 4, 2019 11:56:47 GMT -5
I didn't play anything last night because I had a massive headache. Couldn't even stand to look at a screen. Went to bed early. (When I zonk at 8:20 PM, you know something's up.)
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Post by Ex on Sept 4, 2019 12:37:36 GMT -5
Damn dude that sucks, hope you feel better today.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 4, 2019 12:39:10 GMT -5
I am doing better, thankfully! Not sure what brought it on, honestly. I haven't had too many headaches as of late. Guess I was due.
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Post by Ex on Sept 4, 2019 17:24:09 GMT -5
I put a little time into NES Batman this afternoon. The game is even funner/better than I remembered. The last time I played this was back in 2004 I think. Before that, I had rented the game back in 1990 when I was eleven years old. I remember being very impressed with it back in 1990, but unable to beat Joker before the rental period was up (a weekend). I LOVE this game's noir atmosphere. The graphics are so intelligently done: For instance here you see the tiled background using sprites that fade into black in clever ways, to produce a tangible feeling of darkness enveloping the area. Also the way that the word "THEATRE" looks like it is wrapping around in a cylindrical fashion, it makes the background seem more 3D and less flat. And here the way the stairs fade upward to create the illusion of receding depth into the background, that is so damned smart. Plus the fantastic use of dithering on the columns (and the globes on the columns) to produce another three dimensional effect. Here we see vivid colors used in ways that feel alive and electric, without coming off as garish. The sparse bit of yellow in the bottom left, the varying colors of orange on the support beams, the strong green backdrop, the red hued platforms themselves. Just masterful work of colors that compliment each other, yet still holding true to the "enveloping darkness" aesthetic that is so masterfully woven through this game's visual design. Sunsoft were KINGS of the NES. I just don't understand what happened to the company after the 8-bit era. Lastly, speaking of Batman and ninjas: There are ninjas in this game! I mean, it was made in Japan... I'll absolutely be playing more of this tonight. Damn this game is great.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 4, 2019 21:00:22 GMT -5
Yes, glad it's not just me! 8-bit Sunsoft rocked.
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Post by Ex on Sept 4, 2019 23:53:35 GMT -5
Batman | NES | 1990 (released in 1989 in Japan)Alright, I beat it. I'm very glad this game has infinite continues. A few other tricks I used: There is a type of enemy throughout this game that continuously drops little robot mines. Every time I came across this type of enemy, I sat beneath it and grinded the robot drops for life and ammo. There are also some enemies that are easy to kill, where you can re-trigger their spawn, by walking away from where they spawn and then back again. Effectively grinding them for health and ammo drops. This is an oldschool trick we all use from time to time, and it works great in NES Batman. These jumping jerks to me where the most dangerous enemies in the game. To counter them, I realized that if you edged them just barely into the screen, their motion wouldn't activate yet, but you could still damage their hitbox. So I edged them a bit in, then shot them to death. Worked great.
Joker took me a few tries, thankfully you get a checkpoint right there at him. I figured out how to jump his shots, and to time avoiding the lightning blasts, then just punched him to death. Yeah, punching works best apparently. It wasn't as hard as I remembered it being. I mean, yeah, I can understand how when I was eleven years old Joker seemed impossible. But I don't understand how at twenty five years old I couldn't do it. Oh well, at forty I finally beat that smiling face inside out. Actually I was kinda shocked at the ending: I'm surprised Nintendo would allow a NES game to mention "murder" and "parents" in the same sentence, along with the word "devil" no less. Yeah I know it's from the movie's influence, but still. As puritanical as Nintendo was back in the NES days, this was surprising. Not to mention... Batman straight up kills Joker in the end of this game. Tosses him off a building to his doom. I haven't seen the movie in a lllooonnnggg time, but did this happen in the film? I thought Batman was supposed to never kill anybody, right? At least not before the grimdark modern Batman movies anyway. Once again though, I was surprised Nintendo was okay with a video game showing cold blooded murder like this. Anyway, NES Batman is excellent. Great graphics, great audio, super tight control, plenty of challenge, and that wall jump maneuver is just brilliantly implemented. This is a very rare example of a licensed 8-bit movie-to-video-game that doesn't suck. Now I wouldn't say this game is perfect, as there's a few things I'd change. And the level/boss designs seem pretty far removed from the source material at times. Nonetheless, thirty years past its initial release NES Batman still dances quite well in the pale pixel light. Ex's time to beat: 2 hours 15 minutes (including continues) Ex's rating: 8/10
Bonus info... Sunsoft left this item in the code, but never used it: Pretty sure it was going to be an extra life pick-up. I guess Sunsoft dropped the idea for unlimited continues instead. Also somebody made an amusing Ezio hack for this game: --- Edit: As for my next superhero game, it's another NES entry... and another Batman entry... and another Sunsoft entry. Yes you already guessed it.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 5, 2019 6:39:39 GMT -5
A definite classic, had a blast replaying that one last year myself. The sequel is pretty cool in its own way.
In the 1989 movie, Batman beats up Joker enough to weaken him a lot. Joker jumps off the building onto a helicopter rescue ladder, but then Batman shoots a wire that ties one of his legs up to a statue nearby. Joker struggles to hold onto the ladder and falls. So Batman is semi responsible, haha.
Now I wonder if someone can beat this one... was pretty tough when I tried playing it again a year ago or so. I grew up on it but I'm not sure if I ever beat it as a kid.
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Post by toei on Sept 5, 2019 7:25:48 GMT -5
I've tried to get into Batman Returns NES but it just kind of blows. It's got the loosest hit detection I've ever seen in a beat-'em-up and very little action. And like most NES games, it's just unnecessarily annoying at times. I honestly don't think anybody except Technos ever managed to make beat-'em-ups work on 8-bit consoles, not even Konami.
The SNES Batman Returns is good, though.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 5, 2019 9:52:13 GMT -5
Honestly, Batman Returns is a little like TMNT II: The Arcade Game. Wouldn't surprise me if they repurposed some of the assets. But yes, I've beaten it, and did so many times. I still have my cart, no surprise. I won't say it's the greatest beat-'em-up, but it also doesn't suck. If you've exhausted all the better options on the system ( Double Dragon, River City Ransom, Mighty Final Fight), then it's worth a go. I played a bit of The Death and Return of Superman, and... well, I won't say it's bad, but what I played through (the first two levels) wasn't great, either. The punch combos just feel off. Almost like they don't line up with what you're seeing on the screen or sound effects. It makes things feel a bit wrong. I don't know if the game has unlimited continues or not; it starts you over at the beginning of the stage when you lose all your lives. Ex : Great job beating it. Joker still gives me fits, but yeah, you can just eventually get lucky and punch him to death. If you get a good pattern, you can drop him pretty fast, but sometimes he'll screw you over. Oh, and Bats doesn't kill Joker in the movie, but he falls to his death. I honestly think with the color schemes in that game that purple Batman looks far better. Sunsoft really did choose carefully in that regard.
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Post by Ex on Sept 5, 2019 10:06:00 GMT -5
If you've exhausted all the better options on the system ( Double Dragon, River City Ransom, Mighty Final Fight) I think these NES beat 'em ups are great too:
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