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Post by toei on Jan 7, 2018 22:06:57 GMT -5
The 12th Chapter track does stand out from the rest, though I find the sounds it uses less striking than the Otogi track. The others use a lot of the same sort of nervous strings you typically hear in thrillers or horror movies, and some would even fit into the sort of big budget movies where things begin to fall apart at the end and the heroes have to hang on to avoid being dragged into a tornado or portal or whatever other nonsense. I find that these strings and the other classical instruments they use make them sound more pompous and corny than actually scary or tense. You mentioned Silent Hill before; as far as I can remember, it sticks to modern instruments, off-beat electronic music and strange ambient sounds, which I think works better for that sort of game.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 7, 2018 23:25:10 GMT -5
Man, I love that Wild Arms 2 second disc intro track. I used to queue up that video constantly back in the day.
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 11, 2018 19:57:03 GMT -5
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Post by chibby on Jan 12, 2018 18:11:48 GMT -5
I don't know how often I actually sit down and put this on, but whenever the subject of video game soundtracks comes up, there is one that clearly reigns supreme in my mind. Comix Zonewww.youtube.com/watch?v=0qrNooDw_JU&index=13&list=PLirSddeMOYZ5YS7NRwBRzm3bt07Sl3O3l (I made this selection at random, but I would say that any of the tunes are worth your time). This game gets some hate for being too repetitious and having unresponsive controls, but let me tell you I never thought anything was cooler when I first played it (I think I was either just before double digits or just entering my early teens). I feel like someone put the 90's into a blender and poured it into this game, and the grunge inspired soundtrack couldn't be a more perfect fit. The composer, Howard Drossin, actually put a legit grunge band (named Roadkill, after in-game sidekick) together and recorded these with some ridiculous, Smashing-Pumpkins-style lyrics too, but the Genesis version can't be beat. One of the cool features is that the individual pages (the levels were set up as pages of a comic book) could get a bit long, so the soundtrack would switch to a slightly altered variation on the original theme at certain points to keep it fresh. I never get tired of it. I'm seeing a lot of love here for the Streets of Rage OST and I support it. Finally, I've lurked around for about an hour or so and I'm still not sure if this forum expects its members to formally introduce themselves or something, but just in case I'm Chibby. I've been an IRL friend of Anayo's since maybe 2003? He recommended this place and I thought it sounded like a good time.
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Post by toei on Jan 12, 2018 21:21:55 GMT -5
Really? I never heard one complaint about Comix Zone's controls before, just that it was too hard (and I guess you could complain about the lack of a 2-player mode, since it's a beat-'em-up.) I wasn't any good at it in the 90s, but I finally went back and beat it two years ago. It's a really solid game, and you're right about the music. There wasn't much like it outside of maybe some Road Rash tunes (remember the 3do version even had Soundgarden songs). There's no introduction thread here. It's still a very new forum with just an handful of regulars, but there's already some interesting discussions going on. I'm looking forward to seeing it grow, so hopefully you stick around!
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Post by Ex on Jan 12, 2018 21:29:21 GMT -5
Finally, I've lurked around for about an hour or so and I'm still not sure if this forum expects its members to formally introduce themselves or something, but just in case I'm Chibby. This forum does not expect members to introduce themselves, but doing so of their own free will is A-OK. My forum numbers are showing me lots of guest lurkers, and I'm always glad when any of them decide to join the HRG club. I think it's great that you have decided to register at Hardcore Retro Gaming, Chibby! I'm looking forward to you engaging in retro gaming conversations with the rest of us. As for Comix Zone, I agree it has nice aesthetics and above average audio. I'm not a big fan of its game design, but I can definitely appreciate its ambition.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 12, 2018 23:42:26 GMT -5
Welcome, Chibby! Good to have you here. And yes, the Comix Zone soundtrack is sweet. The Genesis gets a bad rap for its soundchip, deservedly so in some instances, but boy, some of those composers could make it sing. I have a lot more appreciation for it than I used to.
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Post by anayo on Jan 16, 2018 12:54:22 GMT -5
I've totally fallen in love with the soundtrack for "Rusty", a Japan-only PC-98 game that's trying it's best to be Castlevania, except with a scantily clad anime chick as the star. This wakes up so many great Sega Genesis memories for me, from back when games sounded like rubber band funk and twangy synth guitars. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw-aLgCMhEw
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Post by Ex on Jan 16, 2018 13:45:23 GMT -5
I've totally fallen in love with the soundtrack for "Rusty", a Japan-only PC-98 game that's trying it's best to be Castlevania, except with a scantily clad anime chick as the star. This wakes up so many great Sega Genesis memories for me, from back when games sounded like rubber band funk and twangy synth guitars. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw-aLgCMhEwYes, Rusty is a decent Castlevania-like with an outstanding synthesized OST. I beat it myself back in 2016. This was my review: Rusty is a platformer developed by C-Lab in 1993, for the Japan exclusive computer PC-98. (At the time of this writing, I don't think an English version or translation of Rusty exists.) Although Rusty is commonly accused of being a "Castlevania clone", the game does differentiate itself in some significant ways. As a matter of fact, I have to believe that Konami took some ideas from Rusty for their later installments of Castlevania published post-Rusty.
One way that Rusty stands out, is that is full of cinematic cutscenes, often long ones, with quite detailed graphics. Granted many of these scenes are ecchi oriented in nature, they still obviously convey a detailed plot. Unfortunately I can't read Japanese, so I have no idea what the plot is really about. But I think it's safe to say, that our green haired heroine (Rusty Sprinkle) is on a quest to save young ladies captured by a vampire, while slaying legions of his undead minions and eventually the vampire himself.
Gameplay primarily consists of standard jump and whip action, as seen in Castlevania. You've got your secondary magic items, and the ability to whip-and-swing Indiana Jones style. However there's one big difference between Rusty and Castlevania. Rusty's levels are often (but not always) very large and recursive, almost maze-like at times. This is compounded by the fact that Rusty requires finding hidden keys to proceed through these oft-labyrinthine layouts. It's not fun to reach the end of a stage only to discover you missed a key halfway though, and now you've got to backtrack and search for it. To make matters even more difficult, there's a timer, and if you run out of time before you find that missing key, you die. Whereas the timers in Castlevania games were just a means to score more points, in Rusty the timer is your second greatest nemesis.
What's your greatest nemesis? The unpredictable and stilted jump mechanics. It's difficult to describe in words, but let me just say that jumping correctly in Rusty is not something you can ever take for granted. As one example; you will die a LOT due to trying to simply jump off a rope over spikes, and having the game's wonky jump physics arbitrarily decide if it wants to let you do that or not. Eventually this inconsistent jumping aspect made me rage, primarily in the clock tower area with an auto-scrolling screen, filled with ropes, hidden keys, and spikes galore.
And while we're on the subject of difficulty, I'll be quite sincere. For me Rusty was far more difficult than any Castlevania I've ever beaten before. And folks I've beaten a LOT of Castlevania games. The main challenge is due to the unpredictable jump mechanics, trying to find hidden keys before the timer expires, and getting hit by enemies that appear out of nowhere and fly through walls to hit you. Indeed if you are a Castlevania veteran and want a raw challenge, you'll find it in Rusty. With limited lives and a villainous timer, restarting stages is something you'll do often. Granted you get infinite continues per stage, but trust me, these stages are often long and complex, and redoing them over and over gets tiresome. But at least Rusty's levels are well varied, with modulated pacing, and plenty of surprises.
Why put up with the difficulty? Because Rusty is a pretty game with an AMAZING soundtrack. Yes the graphics are above average for 1993, but I can't stress how awesome the OST is. Rusty had three different composers and they utilized the PC-98's sound hardware to its maximum potential. Also beating a stage reveals the saved hostages in revealing sexy poses. You know, if you're into that sort of thing. Best of all, if you're a Castlevania fan, this is like playing a long lost Castlevania entry, albeit a sadistic one. If you don't mind a little backlash from Rusty's whip, you'll have a good time. Unfortunately when I beat Rusty, it didn't yet have an English fan translation. But it does now: www.romhacking.net/translations/2997/
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Post by anayo on Jan 17, 2018 17:57:09 GMT -5
I finally got Rusty working on my XBOX. It was such a pain in the ass. First of all, I really wanted this game on my original XBOX. I'm against having emulators on my computer cause it gives me a cluttered feeling. In my view that stuff belongs on a TV, not on the laptop I use for web browsing, email, school, and so on. The only PC-98 emulator for XBOX in existence Neko ProjectX. As far as I can tell it's nowhere to be found on a major emulation website. The only result google gives is this forum post where Neko Project X's creator posted this "zippy share" link to download version 0.8. I don't know what he uploaded, but it doesn't work on my XBOX. Launching it just takes me to a black screen of death I can't escape without power cycling my XBOX. I knew emulating PC-98 on XBOX was possible, because a youtuber posted a video of himself playing Rusty on Neko Project X version 0.7. So I thought, "Maybe version 0.8 is FUBAR and I should try version 0.7." This lead me to another thread with a dead link labeled "download version 0.7". Further ahead in the thread someone asks, "Why can't I download version 0.7 anymore?" and the creator responds, "I took it down because I released version 0.8, and that version is better." The only way I could find a working build of the emulator was by randomly clicking on a video where a guy is explaining in Spanish how to get Neko Project X working. He includes a link to some other build of Neko Project X v 0.8 which is inexplicably 2 megabytes larger than the one uploaded by the software's creator. It also inexplicably works on my XBOX. This is probably the biggest wild goose chase I've ever embarked on to get an obscure old 16-bit video game working.
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