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Post by Xeogred on Jul 8, 2021 21:25:31 GMT -5
Watch anayo actually hates it. |
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Post by anayo on Jul 9, 2021 5:26:27 GMT -5
I just beat Donkey Kong Country, but I am not a newcomer to this game. DKC was a huge deal in the 90’s. I used to see it everywhere - at in-store demos, at other kids’ houses, even at a daycare where my parents used to drop me off after school. I didn’t have my own SNES back then, but I did have Donkey Kong Land for the Gameboy. The Gameboy version used an 8-bit adaptation of the SNES version’s soundtrack. So, this play through’s soundscape took me back to being 5 years old playing my Gameboy. Usually I’m team Sega Genesis when it comes to 16-bit era console music, but DKC’s tunes almost made me have second thoughts. I can’t think of a better sounding SNES title than DKC. When DKC came out, we weren’t inundated with CGI like we are now, so it was a huge deal that DKC’s visuals looked like 3D renderings. DKC’s graphics may not be state of the art anymore, but they have “vintage CGI” charm and look downright remarkable by SNES standards. It reminds me of how I felt when I first saw Flashback for the Sega Genesis. However DKC doesn’t just phone it in with novel technology. It’s also full of charming animation and appealing characters. The creatures inhabiting Donkey Kong Country are just fun to look at, driving home the principle that good art direction doesn’t age. I caught myself thinking, “I can see how this was the handiwork of the people who would go on to make Banjo Kazooie.” DKC’s core gameplay is that of a mascot platformer. If I had to choose another entry from the genre reminding me most of DKC, I’d go with Super Mario Bros 1. This is because DKC is mechanically simple, but it rearranges its substituent elements in incrementally complicated ways with a gauntlet of reflex tests comprising the core challenge. Video games revolving around kinetic challenges are my favorite, so DKC is perfect for me. DKC is also full of shiny secrets and “risk-reward” propositions to encourage replay value. DKC’s payoff for virtually all bonuses is extra lives, which may sound simplistic but is actually fine because the game turns into a murder factory later. In the same way that Super Mario Bros. 1 made me feel like a poor person desperately scrounging up every spare coin because I needed every last extra life I could find, DKC had me doing the same thing with its bananas. I made several attempts to beat DKC over the years, usually puttering out around the ice world due to a steep difficulty spike. But this time I stood my ground and prevailed. I’m glad I took the time to beat it. This is a classic SNES title in the truest sense of the word. |
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 9, 2021 9:28:47 GMT -5
I got DKC for Christmas in 1994, it definitely blew me away along with my friends. I remember thinking goodness, the Sega Genesis is pathetic in comparison! (in reality, it has equally as awesome looking games haha. I just had my bias). The 4th/ice world is definitely a sudden difficulty spike. I remember getting up to there the first day I got it. I think the extra tricky thing about this world, is the large gap between the last save point. The previous save point in world 3 has a tough water level, then the boss. Then you have to go several levels in world 4 and I think you get to Funky Kong before another save point? So you can fly back to another world and save but that wasn't always the most obvious thing to do for a 5 year old like myself heh. I still think it holds up graphically, even sharpened up. Seems like some people think it's ugly now. I'll attest that the hit detection might be a little weird now, it's hard to gauge exactly where edges are when you'll fall off or land, but this game is so deep in my DNA by this point, it's something I can blast through in a single sitting pretty swiftly now. I've even wondered if this would be one I'd like to speedrun or further master. Most say DKC2 is the best, but as you can see anayo we have some varied opinions on the trilogy here. I'll be really curious to hear if you hit up the sequels someday and how they fair for you. I think I've come to like DKC3 more than DKC2 in recent years. But overall, the original is still my favorite. You actually get to be DK himself, it's chalk full of some of the best music front to back, and I love how bright and "lush" its enviros are. It could just be nostalgia, but the first game just feels more iconic and leaves a bigger impression on me. It's a gorgeous and fun game with zero fluff. |
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Post by Ex on Jul 9, 2021 9:58:52 GMT -5
the game turns into a murder factory later Now I'd really be interested in your opinion of DKC2. I got DKC for Christmas in 1994, it definitely blew me away along with my friends That's cool that despite our age gaps we got DKC at the same time. I remember my step-mother at the time walked by and saw me playing the game, I was in an underwater area, and she was blown away. This woman didn't care about video games at all, but even she was taken back by the pre-rendered, well animated graphics. The only thing I remember being disappointed about, was I beat DKC within two evenings, and the game was over quickly for me. One of those rare times where I wanted a game to be longer than it was. But I had a lot more free time back then, nowadays that 4-6 hour playtime would be plenty for me. |
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Post by anayo on Jul 9, 2021 11:24:58 GMT -5
I’m glad you all remember how stunning DKC was when it came out, too. I feel as though it was one of those things you just had to be around to understand. I even kinda noticed other video games trying to imitate that “CGI sprite” style, like Vectorman and certain parts of Earthworm Jim II. That’s exactly why I kept quitting before. And it’s not the last time DKC makes you beat 4 difficult stages in a row with no save point. They do it again in the next world. If you had asked me how I felt about DKC’s graphics in 2011 I’d have probably thought they were ugly but for some reason I find outdated CGI to be charming now. Maybe now it’s old enough to be cool again. I’m thinking along the lines of the vintage cgi subreddit. I think there was only one situation where a hitbox felt weird and unfair to me but it was so fleeting I can’t even remember where it was. DKC's hit detection felt fine to me. I’ll play that when I do a deep dive of the SNES’s library. Actually I own the whole trilogy on SNES. I mainly cleared DKC because this week my Pentium III PC was inaccessible, but my Nintendo Switch was on hand. |
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Post by anayo on Jul 18, 2021 6:22:58 GMT -5
2c) Warcraft II: Beyond The Dark Portal (human campaign)
26) The Operative: No One Lives Forever
27) Star Wars Rogue Squadron 3D
28a) Warcraft III (Human Campaign)
29) Descent
30) Quake Mission Pack No. 1 Scourge of Armagon
31) Moto Racer
32) Sin
Detailed thoughts and impressions coming soon.
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Post by anayo on Jul 18, 2021 12:30:17 GMT -5
2c) Warcraft II: Beyond The Dark Portal (human campaign) 26) The Operative: No One Lives Forever 27) Star Wars Rogue Squadron 3D 28a) Warcraft III (Human Campaign) 29) Descent 30) Quake Mission Pack No. 1 Scourge of Armagon 31) Moto Racer
32) Sin- Sin has good sound effects. - Sin has good graphics for a game from 1998. - When you shoot bad guys in the face they cry, “Aaahh my eyes!” then they shoot blindly hoping to hit you. What I really think about Sin:Sin believes itself to be cool. This conviction is unwavering and absolute, like someone with a faith they will never recant. Why does Sin believe itself to be cool? That’s because the main hero’s name is “Blade” and his employer is called “Hardcorps”, which are cool words that cool people use. Blade also has a radio buddy; Kid Vid from the Burger King Kids’ Club after he grew up to be a computer hacker. Everybody knows he’s cool because he wears sunglasses.   Sin knows it’s cool because the villain is a pouty-lipped, top-heavy babe named Elexis.  Elexis is so cool that the NPCs in this one waiting room have a PC gaming magazine with the whole entire front cover dedicated to her. Uh-oh, Lara Croft better watch out! Elexis is so cool that someone wrote “Romero to be Elexis’s bitch.” on this cork board. Uh-oh, John Romero and Daikatana better watch out! Sin knows it’s cool because the plot revolves around a conspiracy to mutate human victims into cyborgs. This is a totally original idea and doesn’t remind me of Quake II’s Strogg at all. Sin is so realistic and detailed, that sometimes doors, lockers, and even cabinets would pinch and damage me when I stood in their way while they were opening. Sin knows it’s cool because one time I ran out of ammo during a boss fight and couldn’t replenish with any pickups. So after dying 20 times, I finally resorted to jungle-gymning over a piece of scenery where I wasn’t supposed to go, climbing above the boss’s head, and punching him in the skull over and over while he tried to melee attack where I would have been if I had been six feet farther down. Sin knows it’s cool because you replenish health by eating pizza and drinking soda. I hope that almost 25 years later the creators of Sin are still cool badass people who wear sunglasses, smoke cigarettes, say "damn" (and don't even get in trouble for saying it!), and listen to cool people music.
Summary:
My ranking of Windows 98-era 3D accelerated FPS games so far looks like this: 1) Half Life Opposing Force (reason: it's a Valve game) 2) Soldier of Fortune (reason: Soldier of Fortune has more technical polish than Sin. Sin often felt as though it was creaking under its own weight, but Soldier of Fortune never felt that way.) 3) Sin 4) No One Lives Forever (reason: NOLF wore it's welcome and made me wish it would end. But Sin ended exactly when I wanted it to.) 5) Quake 2 (reason: Quake 2's setting bored me. Sin was full out of outdated, tryhard cringe, but at the absurdity of it all had unintended entertainment value. I experienced a lot of emotions while playing Sin but boredom wasn't one of them.) 6) Unreal (reason: Unreal made me want to throw my PC out the window) |
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Post by Ex on Jul 19, 2021 9:03:34 GMT -5
Well anayo, you certainly enjoyed SiN more than I did. Kudos to you for finishing it. I didn't even bother to finish the game. Although, I did bother to finish SiN Episodes: Emergence, but I didn't enjoy it either. 1) Half Life Opposing Force 2) Soldier of Fortune 3) Sin 4) No One Lives Forever 5) Quake 2 6) Unreal From that list, I agree that 1, 2, 4, and 5 are all great games. Unreal was technically impressive in its day, but I thought it had awful level design and I never finished it ( Unreal Tournament was great though). In the realm of "Windows 98 FPS games", I'm still interested in your opinions of System Shock 2, Kingpin, and Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force. |
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Post by anayo on Jul 19, 2021 10:05:41 GMT -5
In case it didn't come through in my sarcastic review I liked Sin the same way I like watching 90's action movies with 30% Rotten Tomatoes ratings. Sin is bad, but it has no idea that it's bad, and that makes it funny to me. But one Sin game was enough and I don't want to play any more of them. I guess that makes it similar to Descent. 1) Half Life Opposing Force 2) Soldier of Fortune 3) Sin 4) No One Lives Forever 5) Quake 2 6) Unreal From that list, I agree that 1, 2, 4, and 5 are all great games. Unreal was technically impressive in its day, but I thought it had awful level design and I never finished it ( Unreal Tournament was great though). In the realm of "Windows 98 FPS games", I'm still interested in your opinions of System Shock 2, Kingpin, and Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force. Unreal gave me a migraine. I get that it looked spectacular in its day but I just didn't enjoy actually playing it. As for System Shock 2, I have that installed on my old PC and fully intend to play it. |
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Post by Ex on Jul 19, 2021 10:29:33 GMT -5
As for System Shock 2, I have that installed on my old PC and fully intend to play it. Cool. On HRG, Xeogred and myself are fans of the game. I'm not sure if anyone else here has played it though. Here's some gameplay from the other two: |
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