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Post by Xeogred on Aug 28, 2021 17:14:00 GMT -5
1h21m, scored 3-4 special stage treasures.
And my Ristar replay is finally in the tank. It's been so long, when I played the Game Gear version within the last few years at some point, I thought its last stage gimmick with the crystals powering up the teleporters was exclusive to that version! But nope, it's here too. It's weird I recall the final stage (the tower) more than some of the last few though. Maybe just because it has such a cool graphical set and that awesome boss intro theme.
This is definitely a must play for the Genesis and fully illustrates what the platform had over the SNES in ways. The jammin' punchy music and razor sharp colors, it's got that Sonic 16bit sexiness to the max. I can't get enough of how cool the backgrounds look in these things.
Ristar always feels comparable to my feelings on Kirby's Adventure for the NES. These are such cool and unique colorful adventures that any platformer fan should play. I know Kirby spawned into a massive franchise in comparison but I still think the NES Adventure game was the best.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 29, 2021 21:42:40 GMT -5
I guess that counts as a win - Sega Rally Championship finished in Championship mode, although only fifth place. Just finishing is a challenge, though. You've got three courses you need to get through before you run out of time, and your timer values carry over. I literally crossed the line with a slight amount of drift left over from the timer expiring and my car stalling out. It's a pretty good effort from Sega, too. The physics feel somewhat realistic, and you have to get used to the dirt vs. asphalt surfaces. But it's also very, very short. Compared to the later Gran Turismo, it's incredibly slight, and there's just no contest when you put in Gran Turismo 2, which has an insane amount of content. I'd absolutely have felt ripped off with this little content in 1995. So I have to ding it a bit here and give it a 7/10. Worth a play for a bit, but there's just no legs to it.
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Post by Ex on Aug 31, 2021 0:32:53 GMT -5
Title: Sonic RushPlatform: Nintendo DS Region release played: USA Year of release: 2005 Developer: Sega + Dimps Publisher: Sega Graphics: 3/5 Audio: 3/5 Challenge: 3/5 Fun factor: 2/5 Quick Thoughts: Sonic Rush is a 2D side-scrolling platformer in the traditional Sonic fashion. Many of the folks behind the Sonic Advance games returned for Rush. Unfortunately the polish and charm of the Advance games was absent in Rush. Interesting locomotive functions don't make up for really bad cutscenes, asinine level design, and super annoying bosses. Sonic Rush technically accomplished its mission, but it's far from a polished and consistently fun Sonic game. +The 2D/3D hybrid engine runs well. +Lots of interesting motive functions built into the stages. +Occasionally exhibits convincing sense of speed. +Some of the music tracks get you pumped. +Technically impressive given it was a 2005 DS release. -Frequently bad level design full of momentum killing stops, constantly reversing directions, and blind pitfalls. -Tedious drawn out gimmicky bosses (plus Tails audibly whining as you fight them). -Terrible plot told by terribly plodding cutscenes. -The overworld map transversal is pointless time wasting fluff. -Long ass stages make this game take a long ass time to beat. Yep this was the "congrats" screen I got. How rewarding! Ex's time to beat: 3 hours 30 minutes Ex's rating: 5/10- That's gonna wrap this theme up for me folks, here's what I beat:Mystic Defender (GEN) 7/10 Sonic Advance (GBA) 7/10 Sonic Advance 2 (GBA) 8/10 Sonic Advance 3 (GBA) 8/10 Sonic Rush (DS) 5/10 Spellcaster (SMS) 7/10
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 12, 2021 15:54:24 GMT -5
Got around to beating this myself. 1h15m for me.
Definitely fun and I love the original Genesis Sonic formula. But I'd probably even take the SMS games over this one.
Even after seeing Ex go through these and looking up that the special stages are some hidden warp thing and knowing he didn't find any... neither did I. Never totally went out of my way to fully explore the levels too much or anything, but even with this in the back of my mind, I never found a single one myself. Jeeze! The bonus warp rings were never too hard to find in the other games that had those.
Sounds like 2-3 were better, so I'll look forward to playing those.
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Post by Ex on Sept 12, 2021 20:19:21 GMT -5
XeogredThe first SA was only "so-so" for me. SA2 and SA3 are much better. But I never found any of the Chaos Emerald stages in those either. The Advance series made the acquisition of Chaos Emeralds too cryptic.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 12, 2021 20:24:02 GMT -5
Yeah, seems like a lame excuse for some forced replay value. In the other Sonic games it's fun to at least get to experience some of the bonus stages along the way, even if you're not trying too hard to find all the Emerald's in one go. That always takes practice. But this wants you to completely master the levels one by one or something.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 13, 2021 17:19:34 GMT -5
+Cream makes short work of bosses. -Game's a cakewalk with Cream.
Ex's rating: 8/10 Just beat it...
Not a chance in Emerald Hell this is even near an 8/10 for me. I'll give it a 5/10. I guess playing as Cream makes this dramatically different. Now I dare you to beat this as Sonic. Frustrating beyond belief.
- Zone 5 completely sucks, death pits everywhere and I had to randomly discover the "boost up" maneuver to progress at one part - One stupid boss gimmick that I never liked, TERRIBLE - The double tap forward maneuver in these GBA games is beyond annoying. 9 times out of 10 it accidentally gets me hit or killed. I can't be this 8bitdo Pro 2's nice d-pad or anything either, that was just stupid control scheme idea. - One boss had ONE HIT KILLS even with rings!? - Death pits everywhere
Better music and graphics, but this was a chore to get through. If you can play as Cream from the start in SA3 maybe I'll consider that (assuming she makes that one better too). Otherwise I don't even know if I want to play it at this point.
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Post by Ex on Sept 13, 2021 18:08:07 GMT -5
I guess playing as Cream makes this dramatically different. It does, my review said as such: "What isn't better, are the chase-style auto-scrolling bosses that make up 95% of the boss encounters. The developers realized this so they gave us Cream, a rabbit that can fly and has a projectile attack.""Cream makes short work of bosses.""Game's a cakewalk with Cream."🤷♂️ No thanks. I realized all that early on, hence I used... SA2 with Cream = 🍰 , SA2 with anybody else = 💩 You can't. But I beat SA3 with Sonic. It was no big deal. With SA3 the developers realized bosses should be beatable by all characters within reason.
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Post by Xeogred on Sept 13, 2021 18:12:59 GMT -5
I didn't want to start over after rescuing Cream. Pretty lame you can't change characters on that fancy overworld map. A first for a traditional Sonic, so that seems like a weird waste.
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Post by Ex on Sept 13, 2021 18:14:53 GMT -5
I agree it's annoying you have to start over to play as Cream. It's also annoying that the bosses were designed to be damned near intolerable with anybody else. That said, I still loved the graphics, music, and most of the zone designs.
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