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Post by toei on Mar 4, 2019 14:24:57 GMT -5
Yeah, the flying sequence is insane. Nothing else is all that hard, though. I've never been pushed into a pit by any enemy, though. The battle system definitely has a stop-and-go feel to it, since you have to stop when you shoot. I really got into the rhythm of it when I played it. I'm surprised you didn't complain more about the pyramid. Didn't you hate the final level in Revenge of Shinobi? Because the pyramid is waaaay worse (though I liked it, personally).
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Post by Sarge on Mar 4, 2019 16:30:50 GMT -5
I did mention the pyramid! Strangely, though, I didn't find it quite as bad, mainly because it felt like there was a rhyme and reason to the layout. There was a way to logically run through the area without too much trouble, and I could generally remember which doors I'd been to in progression and note the dead ends (of which there were entire areas that were dead ends). But the door maze in RoS just killed me, for whatever reason. It didn't feel terribly logical in the routing. It could also be that I was quite exhausted, and wasn't keeping the mental map in my head properly. Don't get me wrong, though, the pyramid was still obnoxious.
(I also cheated [!] and went back for some missed items... I got close to the end, and was like, I have to be missing something, so I checked a guide. Always break the breakable blocks; that's where the armor pieces are hiding. I have a feeling that the game can be beaten without those items, though.)
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Post by toei on Mar 4, 2019 21:35:19 GMT -5
I did mention the pyramid! Strangely, though, I didn't find it quite as bad, mainly because it felt like there was a rhyme and reason to the layout. There was a way to logically run through the area without too much trouble, and I could generally remember which doors I'd been to in progression and note the dead ends (of which there were entire areas that were dead ends). But the door maze in RoS just killed me, for whatever reason. It didn't feel terribly logical in the routing. It could also be that I was quite exhausted, and wasn't keeping the mental map in my head properly. Don't get me wrong, though, the pyramid was still obnoxious. (I also cheated [!] and went back for some missed items... I got close to the end, and was like, I have to be missing something, so I checked a guide. Always break the breakable blocks; that's where the armor pieces are hiding. I have a feeling that the game can be beaten without those items, though.) Must be it, because you'll progress through the RoS maze easily if you check every door systematically, and it's about 1/10th the size. There aren't even that many doors that are wrong to take, and the different areas are much easier to distinguish. Seriously, it's not a big deal.
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Post by Sarge on Mar 4, 2019 21:44:20 GMT -5
A'ight, folks, let's talk about Ninja Gaiden. I thought about going through all the iterations of the game, but being that it's a Master System month, we all know which version I'm talking about.
So apparently Sega got their hands on the property and released it in 1992. That means this one came after the NES trilogy. It incorporates elements from that, like the hanging from overhead ledges. You also get the wall jump, although it works a lot differently here: you don't cling, you just bounce off the wall as long as you're holding the jump button. You also get several attack abilities, most of which are recognizable from the NES game, although you also get some useful homing fireballs.
The early going is very easy. Most enemies only do one damage, and there are copious life restoratives. Eventually, though, you start running into some areas where enemies are just plain evil and start knocking you down pits. Particularly egregious are when flames spawn in and home in on your location. You've got two options when that happens: run like the dickens and hope that you get them off screen, or hit A and B together to perform a clear-all attack. As far as I can tell, other abilities don't harm them. Of course, this attack drains a chunk of your health, I think something like 5-6 bars.
The last area really throws some crazy jumps at you as well. You get some disappearing platforms which are no fun for a while. And those freaking hawks are back, and they move crazy fast. Thankfully, they don't do three damage like the NES game.
Talking about speed, Ryu moves extremely quickly in this game. He can really cover some ground, especially with his jumps. The NES version is more like speedy Castlevania, but I'm not sure what the closest comparison is here. Uh... Super Mario Land's long jumps? Dunno. Anyway, it also means that Ryu's controls feel a bit squirrelly and loose. Since the game tends toward the forgiving side, this usually won't cause issues, but towards the end, when the platforming challenges ramp up, it can feel a bit frustrating.
Oh, and the last boss takes quite a bit of skill if you don't cheese him. Those homing fireballs are useful, but owing to either my ROM being a bit goofy or the emulator not handling it properly, I found that I had infinite ninpo magic. I have no idea, and probably need to test in another emulator to see what's going on. But that means I also played very sparingly with magic because I didn't want to "cheat", and that also meant taking down the last boss without using said homing fireballs. And I did, but it probably took me a good 20-30 shots at it. You've got to bounce off the walls at the right time, both for attacking and staying out of his way. If you need to take a hit, make sure it's the projectiles and not direct contact, as he takes off two bars of health.
Graphically, the sprites are surprisingly small, but there's a lot of color here, and things look rather clean and easy to parse. I think the NES games look better from an aesthetic standpoint, but this doesn't look bad. Sound design doesn't hold a candle, though, to the driving beats of the NES version. It would be hard to replicate that even if the FM Unit were used.
Honestly, I didn't like it very much last night because I got so frustrated with the latter areas, but I've warmed on it considerably in hindsight. While I feel the NES game is still much superior, this is a good game, so it gets a 7/10 from me.
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Post by Sarge on Mar 4, 2019 21:46:57 GMT -5
Must be it, because you'll progress through the RoS maze easily if you check every door systematically, and it's about 1/10th the size. There aren't even that many doors that are wrong to take, and the different areas are much easier to distinguish. Seriously, it's not a big deal. I suspect you're right. I really should keep some paper close by for stuff like this, when I'm too tired to really keep everything straight in my head. I usually have a pretty good ability to keep things mapped out close enough to work (heck, I got through Phantasy Star II's dungeons without a map), so it really shouldn't have given me such issues. I will revisit the game some time and see if things have changed.
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Post by Ex on Mar 4, 2019 23:08:16 GMT -5
Sarge laying down the informative reviews, good job man! - And I beat my first Master System game for this month: 9. Sonic the Hedgehog | Master System | 1991"Sonic the Hedgehog" is a Master System platformer developed and published by SEGA in 1991. Although it shares the same name and base concept as the Genesis version, the Master System iteration is unique. It features exclusive level layouts and an entirely different design ethos. Eschewing the speedy running sections of the Genesis version entirely, the Master System solely focuses on slow and tricky platforming. That puts the Master System version's stage designs more in line with "Sonic CD" than "Sonic the Hedgehog 2". You won't see Sonic dashing through any loops here, instead he'll be scaling platforms and avoiding pitfalls. Chaos Emeralds are hidden in the levels, rather than gained through bonus stages. Bonus stages instead provide extra continues and lives. Also the Master System "Sonic the Hedgehog" is considerably more difficult than its 16-bit version. For example when Sonic gets hit, he only explodes one ring out, no matter how many he's carrying (likely a sprite limitation). That makes it far harder for the player to grab a safety ring. Plus there are no checkpoints in the level at all. Also every boss fight sees Sonic fighting with no rings whatsoever. If Robotnik hits Sonic, he's just dead! +Above average graphics for an 8-bit platformer.
+Enjoyable OST. +Fun bonus stages.
+Exclusive level designs.
+Captures some of the feel of the real deal.
-Wonky hit boxes makes avoiding enemies a guessing game.
-Controls are not always responsive.
-Only one safety ring pops out no matter how many are carried.
-Enemies are small and barely move.
-Underwater physics are terribad. I would recommend "Sonic the Hedgehog" on Master System to stalwart Sonic fans. I'm talking about people who've beaten the 16-bit "Sonic" games many times, and just want to play something "new". It is interesting to see zone concepts that didn't exist in the Genesis version for example. I would also recommend this version to fans of "Sonic CD", as the level designs here are slow and methodical similar to that series entry. Unfortunately the Master System version never lets Sonic run very fast or very far (actually Robotnik outruns Sonic a few times here). While I wouldn't consider the Master System version of "Sonic the Hedgehog" to be anywhere near as good as the Genesis version, it's still an above average platformer in its own right. I'm sure this game made more than a few Brazilian kids' Christmas mornings brighter.
Ex's time to beat: 55 minutes Ex's rating: 6/10
- I'll likely hit up "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" on Master System next.
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Post by toei on Mar 5, 2019 4:16:24 GMT -5
Graphically, the sprites are surprisingly small, but there's a lot of color here, and things look rather clean and easy to parse. I think the NES games look better from an aesthetic standpoint, but this doesn't look bad. Sound design doesn't hold a candle, though, to the driving beats of the NES version. It would be hard to replicate that even if the FM Unit were used. Honestly, I didn't like it very much last night because I got so frustrated with the latter areas, but I've warmed on it considerably in hindsight. While I feel the NES game is still much superior, this is a good game, so it gets a 7/10 from me. While I agree that it's not an amazing game, your pro-NES bias might be showing here. The sprites are the same size as the NES games, and the NES games are honestly pretty ugly outside of the cutscenes. At least the SMS game has proper colors. It would be hard to replicate driving beats with the FM unit? Percussion and bass are literally what FM sound is good at, while the NES isn't known for those at all. They're just different compositions. SIMS weren't known to have any great composers. Also, literally all the frustrating moments and game design choices are straight from the NES games, except there are objectively fewer of them on SMS. Maybe they don't bother you as much in the NES trilogy because you're so used to running through these games that you mostly know them by heart? There's a part in NG NES so aggravating that the only way I could reliably get past it was to back up a bit to make an enemy de-spawn, something that would be impossible if NG didn't have one of the worst spawning logic of any game ever. As a matter of act, so much of the difficulty of that game is learning how to deal with the stupid, crazy ways in which enemies spawn and respawn. I probably wouldn't give NG SMS a higher score than you did - in fact, it's probably a 6 to me, and I clearly prefer both Danan and Spellcaster - but NG3 is probably that too, at best, and NG1... I'd better not rate it.
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Post by Ex on Mar 5, 2019 10:32:33 GMT -5
It would be hard to replicate driving beats with the FM unit? Percussion and bass are literally what FM sound is good at Well the FM unit is only a legitimate stance for Japanese Master System consoles. We have to remember the western models didn't have FM to work with. And Sarge has mentioned a few times he's not a fan of the Master System's PSG SN76489 (the actual SMS chip was a SN76489 clone but close enough). I'm personally a fan of the sound of the SMS PSG, but undoubtedly biased as I grew up with it. The fact that SEGA removed the additional FM chip from western SMS models is a true shame however. FM does work much better to produce percussion and base tones than pure PSG does. As such western SMS models were singing with half their vocal cords disabled as it were. All that said, I personally think SMS NG's OST is really good, considering it only had the PSG to work with (there was no Japanese release utilizing the FM chip): Pretty good percussion and rhythm there, all things considering. Edit: I also agree with toei that NG SMS has good graphics, but that's all subjective I guess.
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Post by toei on Mar 5, 2019 10:47:19 GMT -5
To be fair, Sega didn't remove the FM Unit from the American and European models; those Western models were actually released before the FM Unit. They just never upgraded them the way they did with Japanese Master Systems later.
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Post by Ex on Mar 5, 2019 10:59:23 GMT -5
To be fair, Sega didn't remove the FM Unit from the American and European models; those Western models were actually released before the FM Unit. They just never upgraded them the way they did with Japanese Master Systems later. Yeah that's a more accurate way to describe the outcome. I should have said, "SEGA neglected the FM unit in later western production models that could have utilized it." Actually the SMS had a surprising number of variations. Anybody ever own one of these?:
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