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Post by Ex on Jan 22, 2021 23:21:57 GMT -5
Someday I gotta send you my old PlayStation. It definitely reads burned discs (I used cheap CD-Rs and PS-X-Change liberally with it), it's just been sitting in a plastic tupperware box in my closet for eons.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 22, 2021 23:36:46 GMT -5
I have two, so don't sweat it too much! I generally use my PS2 these days, anyway. Speaking of which, that's where I need to do some research about running burned games... although one of these days I may just bite the bullet and get an xStation. There's also Popstarter, which can load off USB/HDD/Samba, but it's not 100% compatible. Pretty high, though. The real answer may be when the PSX MiSTer core releases. I've got a huge memory card, and a good deal of it will be devoted to PSX.
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Post by Ex on Jan 23, 2021 0:17:18 GMT -5
Fair enough man, a PSX MiSTer sounds rad. For me these days, I tend to play short PS1 action games via PC emulation, and longer PS1 RPGs via PSP. So an actual PlayStation console isn't of personal interest anymore.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 23, 2021 0:22:06 GMT -5
Well, that's the other thing - PSX emulation is in a really good spot compared to Dreamcast/Saturn/N64. There are some truly top-tier options for emulating the system, both through official and unofficial means. (Seriously, Sony's PSP version is nearly perfect outside of a few oddball games that don't play nice.)
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Post by Ex on Jan 23, 2021 2:33:10 GMT -5
I've got 20 hours invested in Spiral Chaos now. I think I'm about 2/3rds through it at this point. More ridiculous perhaps not safe for your jobby screenshots: ..and the grind continues...
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Post by Sarge on Jan 23, 2021 21:28:11 GMT -5
Alright, knocked out the arcade version of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. It starts out so promising! It looks really good, has a dash attack, and combat feels solid enough. But it starts to fall apart pretty quickly. Enemies are very spongy, and on top of that, your default combo has a reach that is just a tad shorter than your enemies, so you're going to be constantly popped out of combos unless you're advancing all the time during said combo. And even that isn't foolproof. But even with those flaws, it would have been at least a 6/10. No, it's the stupid hit detection on bosses that is infuriating. There is no consistency on when you can hit, when you get hit (other than often), and the last boss in particular is well-nigh unapproachable from any direction. You can be in a position where you should hit, but no, it whiffs air and you get punished, usually with an entire life bar. Some bosses will knock you down and keep you down - no recovery mercy for you! I watched the penultimate boss team combo me into oblivion several times, and the last boss has a grab move that takes over half your life, which she used several times once to knock me down, and again just as I was getting up with no time to dodge. It's honestly pure BS, and you can't do the same tactics to her. It takes what should have been a 6/10 or a 6.5 down into 4/10, maybe 4.5/10 territory. I expect cheapness from bosses, but not like this. Just a few tweaks and this would actually be great. EDIT: Geez, just looked up a video, and apparently the correct move is to bait an attack, then stun-lock her in an infinite combo. Whee! (Even with that, NintendoComplete points out just how bad the balancing is as I did above. Playing "legitimately" basically guarantees you'll be bleeding quarters.)
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Post by anayo on Jan 23, 2021 21:44:58 GMT -5
For this month’s anime theme I got out my N64 and beat Pokemon Snap.
I originally received this game as a gift for either my 9th or 10th birthday. Pokemon was my world at that age, so it enthralled me to no end. But for some reason when I got older I came to view Pokemon Snap as a silly piece of merchandise created just to cash in on a craze. Customarily I go back and beat my favorite N64 titles every few years or so, like Mario, Zelda, and Goldeneye. But I went almost two decades without touching Pokemon snap again. I wasn't quite sure what awaited me when I replayed it.
This game is way better than I remember! Armed with a camera, you enter an on-rails Disneyland ride into various habitats full of Pokemon where you must photograph them. N64 graphics tend not to age gracefully, but all the Pokemon on display are quite detailed for the standards of the time, prancing about with lively character animation. At the end of the ride, you choose which photos you’d like to present to Professor Oak, then he scores them based on criteria like: - whether the Pokemon is centered in the frame - how close the Pokemon is to the camera - whether the Pokemon is performing a special move - whether there are other Pokemon of the same species also in the frame
Going back and trying to re-shoot already-submitted Pokemon to get a higher score is addictive and lends Pokemon Snap an arcade-like feeling. I guess it’s like a light gun game where you don’t kill anybody. In later stages, Professor Oak grants you items you can use to interact with the environment and create otherwise inaccessible photo opportunities. The concept itself is unique, I daresay genre defying. Nothing comes to mind when I try to think of anything that plays quite like Pokemon Snap. My only complaint is that it’s too short. I seem to remember beating this mere days after receiving it as a kid and feeling somewhat disappointed by its brevity. At least the replay value is high. For me this was a fascinating stroll down memory lane. For everyone else, this is still a charming and unique N64 exclusive which I recommend checking out.
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Post by Ex on Jan 23, 2021 22:20:18 GMT -5
Glad you gave the game a fair chance Sarge. I certainly liked it more than you did, perhaps because of the nice graphics and cute girls. I don't remember having the difficulty issues you described when I beat it. However, I beat the game co-op, so I'm sure that helped.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 23, 2021 22:46:27 GMT -5
I think what is likely going on is that the boss mostly has invincibility unless you hit them directly after they attack. I might need to test this theory, but the video I saw appears to be so. And yeah, I can imagine it feels more fair with more people.
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Post by Ex on Jan 23, 2021 23:48:19 GMT -5
The concept itself is unique, I daresay genre defying. Nothing comes to mind when I try to think of anything that plays quite like Pokemon Snap. I'm always glad to see someone on HRG play an off-the-wall genre entry. (BTW there's a sequel coming for Switch.) The basic gameplay concept that Pokemon Snap uses wasn't a completely original idea, though. Photography games like Dinosaur Safari (PC 1996) and Gekibo: Gekisha Boy (1992 PCE) preceded it. In the years since, there have been a fair amount of similar photography games released. One of the most notable is Afrika (2009 PS3). All that said, Pokemon Snap focused on accessibility and fun, with a fair amount of polish, so I'm sure it holds up as you say.
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