I've started building my own collection tracking site

[AirVillain | 490]

You must actively HATE Double Dragon II to not have it on NES... so what's the story Gloves, why do you hate it so much!?  

Jokes. Great work Gloves. Neat write ups too. 

[Gloves | 11,790]

Just now, AirVillain said:

You must actively HATE Double Dragon II to not have it on NES... so what's the story Gloves, why do you hate it so much!?  

Jokes. Great work Gloves. Neat write ups too. 

Thanks lol. I honestly am not huge on beat-em-ups in general. I have the first DD cuz we played it for the NES Contest and I got gud at it and had fun so I bought a copy. I don't have anything else in the series cuz I don't have the same attachment to them.

[AirVillain | 490]

11 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Thanks lol. I honestly am not huge on beat-em-ups in general. I have the first DD cuz we played it for the NES Contest and I got gud at it and had fun so I bought a copy. I don't have anything else in the series cuz I don't have the same attachment to them.

I see, I see.... I guess just never considered a world where someone who liked NES would not like DD2.... but here we are. This is 2022. Anything is possible.  

[Gloves | 11,790]

Just now, AirVillain said:

I see, I see.... I guess just never considered a world where someone who liked NES would not like DD2.... but here we are. This is 2022. Anything is possible.  

I don't really like the NES all that much!

[AirVillain | 490]

1 minute ago, Gloves said:

I don't really like the NES all that much!

[Sumez | 2,963]

1 hour ago, AirVillain said:

I see, I see.... I guess just never considered a world where someone who liked NES would not like DD2.... but here we are. This is 2022. Anything is possible.  

I'm pretty big on the NES, and I'm working on a massive NES top 100 list. DD2 is on it, but it's way at the bottom, and that's kind of mostly just due to respect for the game and the clout it has in circles who know what they are talking about when it comes to the genre... Which means it's bound to drop out if it doesn't manage to click with me in the future.

The idea of having separate buttons for left/right attacks is novel, but it never really serves any purpose in the game, and I see no indication that it wouldn't have worked as well with a traditional control scheme.
What's worse though, with the limited button count on the NES controller, that makes performing all your various moves super cumbersome. There's that weird timing aspect where you push the button and then push it again at exactly the right time - and being able to pull this off consistently is incredibly important. Expect to waste a ton of life on the final boss every time you miss the window.

And that timing aspect just never clicked with me at all. I can do it when messing around and practicing, but in the heat of a battle it becomes a confusing abstraction to me, that makes controlling the characters annoying rather than enjoyable. I don't think that should ever happen in a video game.

 

Mighty Final Fight, however... 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Sumez

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

I don't really like the NES all that much!

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I won't be getting much sleep tonight... 

[AirVillain | 490]

19 hours ago, Sumez said:

I'm pretty big on the NES, and I'm working on a massive NES top 100 list. DD2 is on it, but it's way at the bottom, and that's kind of mostly just due to respect for the game and the clout it has in circles who know what they are talking about when it comes to the genre... Which means it's bound to drop out if it doesn't manage to click with me in the future.

The idea of having separate buttons for left/right attacks is novel, but it never really serves any purpose in the game, and I see no indication that it wouldn't have worked as well with a traditional control scheme.
What's worse though, with the limited button count on the NES controller, that makes performing all your various moves super cumbersome. There's that weird timing aspect where you push the button and then push it again at exactly the right time - and being able to pull this off consistently is incredibly important. Expect to waste a ton of life on the final boss every time you miss the window.

And that timing aspect just never clicked with me at all. I can do it when messing around and practicing, but in the heat of a battle it becomes a confusing abstraction to me, that makes controlling the characters annoying rather than enjoyable. I don't think that should ever happen in a video game.

 

Mighty Final Fight, however... 

Not to derail Gloves' Collection thread, but maybe this will entice him to give the game (DD2) another shot.... and this needs to be addressed. 

I genuinely could likely not find 100 GOOD NES games.... And you're putting DD2 at the bottom of it "out of respect"?? The fuck are we talking about here? 

Yeah man, Mighty Final Fight is sweet, but it also came out in '93, and it's only 1 player. Where DD2 is '89 and you can, of course, smash on dudes with your best friend/brother/sibling as god himself intended. 

Where is Mighty Final Fight on the List? Is Double Dragon on the list? I assume it's stupid to ask if DD3 is because if 2 isn't, I would assume there's no chance in hell 3 is on there. 

Okay... the controls.... The directional attacks DO serve a purpose. They allow you to attack guys coming at you from behind without turning around.

The alternative is what? A always being forward Punch and B always being a backwards kick? Then it's the same thing except when you're facing left, you'd still be doing a backwards kick. I get it,  you could make an argument to do that.... BUT.... I feel as though having the attack be consistent no matter which direction you are facing allows you to focus on the enemies and not focus so much on the buttons and what direction you are facing.

You basically have to not think about them and just rock it. You attack the same direction no matter which way you are facing. Once you follow that simple rule, it's actually used properly it's very helpful. 

Also, once you start changing the directions of the attacks, you mess with the special attacks. I mean.... I'm rethinking my whole Double Dragon reality as I type this. Of course, I wouldn't change the buttons as I've grown to love them and they feel so comfortable... But I suppose you're correct. 

I guess if you left the moves the same when you have them in the headlock position, it's possible to "not need" the directional attacks.

They are so ingrained into my brain that I think it would be weird to play without them. I will never change.

Once you get over the somewhat steep learning curve for the move set, I think the controls are perfect. 

Are you talking about the timing for the tornado kick? At the apex/peak of your jump hit the button and you'll get it every time. You can do it. 

The uppercut (while you're standing up) is key to use as well, especially when fighting bosses. I've beaten the Shadow Boss plenty of times with the "hyper uppercut" /rising/one knee/stand-up uppercut. It's an essential move for beating the game with relative ease.  (you have to hit the attack button when you see yourself kneeling to get up. Once you see your knee, you need to hit the button)

It's awesome when you nail the Hyper Uppercut or Tornado Kick on the final boss and you get the slow-motion cut of him flying into the air. 

 

 

19 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I won't be getting much sleep tonight... 

That one hit Dr. Morbis right in the feels. 

Hope you got some rest and recover. It's a lot to handle, I know. I'm here for you. 

Edited July 27, 2022 by AirVillain
Added bit about learning curve.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

3 hours ago, AirVillain said:

That one hit Dr. Morbis right in the feels.

Hope you got some rest and recover. It's a lot to handle, I know. I'm here for you. 

This one hurt more:

3 hours ago, AirVillain said:

I genuinely could likely not find 100 GOOD NES games....

Just another evening of staring up at the stars, I guess...

[Sumez | 2,963]

4 hours ago, AirVillain said:

I genuinely could likely not find 100 GOOD NES games...

You need to look harder!  There's a ton of great stuff. Putting it near the bottom places it around the same level as Little Nemo, Spartan X2, and the Flintstones games. Obviously other people like it more, but like I said I have a hard time appreciating it at all, so it's a high placement for me.

4 hours ago, AirVillain said:

Okay... the controls.... The directional attacks DO serve a purpose. They allow you to attack guys coming at you from behind without turning around.

Well this is pretty much my point.  "Turning around" isn't an action as much as it's holding a direction as you push the attack button. To me, doing that is so intuitive that I'll most likely be doing it anyway, so I don't really see what's being saved compared to the sacrifice of 50% of the face buttons.
(that said, DD1 also has a way to attack behind you without turning around, and it's accidentally super OP)

4 hours ago, AirVillain said:

The alternative is what? A always being forward Punch and B always being a backwards kick? Then it's the same thing except when you're facing left, you'd still be doing a backwards kick. I get it,  you could make an argument to do that.... BUT.... I feel as though having the attack be consistent no matter which direction you are facing allows you to focus on the enemies and not focus so much on the buttons and what direction you are facing.

I would have prefered that yes, but like I said, I'm not sure what the purpose of the backwards kick is. I'd rather have a dedicated jump button that could be used in combination with the other button to pull off those moves that instead require the awkward timed inputs (such as the uppercuts). Hell, even the A+B to jump thing is incredibly uncomfortable.

4 hours ago, AirVillain said:

Once you get over the somewhat steep learning curve for the move set, I think the controls are perfect. 

"Perfect" seems farfetched to me, but I don't doubt it's essential to enjoying the game. Like I said, I realise the game is probably better than I give it credit for.
I should note that I've also only played the Japanese version of the game, since the enemy AI is supposedly busted in the western releases.

[AirVillain | 490]

12 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

This one hurt more:

Just another evening of staring up at the stars, I guess...

Haha, sorry.... just being sarcastic. .  (More info below )

 

 

10 hours ago, Sumez said:

You need to look harder!  There's a ton of great stuff. Putting it near the bottom places it around the same level as Little Nemo, Spartan X2, and the Flintstones games. Obviously other people like it more, but like I said I have a hard time appreciating it at all, so it's a high placement for me.

Well this is pretty much my point.  "Turning around" isn't an action as much as it's holding a direction as you push the attack button. To me, doing that is so intuitive that I'll most likely be doing it anyway, so I don't really see what's being saved compared to the sacrifice of 50% of the face buttons.
(that said, DD1 also has a way to attack behind you without turning around, and it's accidentally super OP)

I would have prefered that yes, but like I said, I'm not sure what the purpose of the backwards kick is. I'd rather have a dedicated jump button that could be used in combination with the other button to pull off those moves that instead require the awkward timed inputs (such as the uppercuts). Hell, even the A+B to jump thing is incredibly uncomfortable.

"Perfect" seems farfetched to me, but I don't doubt it's essential to enjoying the game. Like I said, I realise the game is probably better than I give it credit for.
I should note that I've also only played the Japanese version of the game, since the enemy AI is supposedly busted in the western releases.

Oof.... "look harder"...??? Haha... I BEEN lookin' son! 

I mean... there are certain types of games (*Coughs* RPG's) that I don't like so I wouldn't include them as others would. Like Zelda, Final Fantasy, etc. 

But yeah.... I mean.... "good" games, okay. You could find 100 good games. GREAT games, not so much.  

It's cool, place it where you wish. That's the fun of it being YOUR list. Just was curious if 1 or 3 would be on there, or what it would be close to.

Back to DD....

Again, I think the function of the constant attack buttons is allow a player to simply attack in a direction, no matter which way they were facing. You could make an argument to make the punch and kick buttons constant, then fine, but to have a dedicated jump button doesn't make sense. 

Yeah, in DD there's a "Back" attack, but it happens AUTOMATICALLY when there's a guy behind you, doesn't it? And when you have full hearts? 

In terms of DD2, IF you have a dedicated jump button, A for example, then B becomes the attack.... okay, so you have ONE button for two attacks, the punch and back kick. What then?

See my point?

This is why it's necessary to have the A+B jump. It takes a bit to get used to (the learning curve) but you can tell if you're a little off with the timing because you will hear an attack sound as you jump. Once you can jump without hearing that sound and ONLY hearing the jump sound, you're on track. 

Also... in terms of you saying "I'm not sure what the purpose of the backwards kick is.".... do you not use the back kick when you play this game? One kick, headlock, face smashes, throw/punt. The punch takes three punches to get an enemy to bend over.... I mean, you know this. 

That's interesting about the Japanese version.   What the difference in the AI for the enemies? Haha, what's busted about them in the NTSC release? 

Edited July 27, 2022 by AirVillain

[Gloves | 11,790]

Couple o' quickie updates to my site and figured I'd share cuz why not:

1. Updated the Price Check feature to go to ebay.com instead of ebay.ca. I deal with Americans for the most part and there's no denying that the USA is the primary hub for sales, so there's a much clearer picture on recent valuation on that site compared to the Canada site.
2. Added a "Last updated" line item to games.
3. Added a quick review for Shadow of Mordor, which I just beat tonight: Link!
4. I also somewhat recently added a little icon for Asia and PAL region games, so they're quicker to identify in the lists.

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

10 hours ago, Gloves said:

Couple o' quickie updates to my site and figured I'd share cuz why not:

1. Updated the Price Check feature to go to ebay.com instead of ebay.ca. I deal with Americans for the most part and there's no denying that the USA is the primary hub for sales, so there's a much clearer picture on recent valuation on that site compared to the Canada site.
2. Added a "Last updated" line item to games.
3. Added a quick review for Shadow of Mordor, which I just beat tonight: Link!
4. I also somewhat recently added a little icon for Asia and PAL region games, so they're quicker to identify in the lists.

Did you also change the Glog to be sorted by most recent? I feel like last time I went it was all out of order. All you need now is to show your games by console or at least be able to filter them that way! One big giant list of games is killing my OCD lol

It really does look great though. I love the simplicity of it

edit: I’m dumb, the systems page lists the games associated with it. I though that page was for an inventory of consoles you have haha

Edited January 8, 2023 by a3quit4s

[fcgamer | 4,727]

On 7/26/2022 at 12:23 PM, Gloves said:

I don't really like the NES all that much!

I agree, NES sucks. About half the library is turds for NA exclusively, and then throw in any stinkers that made it over from Japan...

Famicom has a much much better library.

[fcgamer | 4,727]

On 7/27/2022 at 1:51 PM, Sumez said:

You need to look harder!  There's a ton of great stuff. Putting it near the bottom places it around the same level as Little Nemo, Spartan X2, and the Flintstones games. Obviously other people like it more, but like I said I have a hard time appreciating it at all, so it's a high placement for me.

Spartan X2 was never released on the NES and Little Nemo kicks ass. 

I think you'd better get off whatever you're smoking.

[Gloves | 11,790]

4 hours ago, a3quit4s said:

Did you also change the Glog to be sorted by most recent? I feel like last time I went it was all out of order. All you need now is to show your games by console or at least be able to filter them that way! One big giant list of games is killing my OCD lol

It really does look great though. I love the simplicity of it

edit: I’m dumb, the systems page lists the games associated with it. I though that page was for an inventory of consoles you have haha

Yeah I fixed the sorting, it was set to pull ordered by last update, rather than first published. 

[inasuma | 1,203]

I've also recently updated my tracking website. Now folks can subscribe to a newsletter (for new blog posts mainly).

https://www.afew.games/

All that's needed is an email. I have it set up so I send out newsletters manually for now, but eventually it would be nice to send out biweekly emails *if* I've written anything new since the last newsletter. I can't really be bothered to do that at the moment but at least mailchimp's marketing API was super easy to implement with next js. lol

[Gloves | 11,790]

9 minutes ago, inasuma said:

I've also recently updated my tracking website. Now folks can subscribe to a newsletter (for new blog posts mainly).

https://www.afew.games/

All that's needed is an email. I have it set up so I send out newsletters manually for now, but eventually it would be nice to send out biweekly emails *if* I've written anything new since the last newsletter. I can't really be bothered to do that at the moment but at least mailchimp's marketing API was super easy to implement with next js. lol

What you're looking to do would be pretty simple with a Lambda function on AWS. I assume based on having set up the rest of this though that you already know that and motivation is the issue.

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

8 minutes ago, Gloves said:

What you're looking to do would be pretty simple with a Lambda function on AWS. I assume based on having set up the rest of this though that you already know that and motivation is the issue.

Lambda and SNS 

[Gloves | 11,790]

4 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Lambda and SNS 

They already have Mailchimp set up, may as well use the API.

[inasuma | 1,203]

21 minutes ago, Gloves said:

What you're looking to do would be pretty simple with a Lambda function on AWS. I assume based on having set up the rest of this though that you already know that and motivation is the issue.

actually that's not far off from what i did. i used a netlify function via next pages api. i try to avoid aws generally just because i've used it so few times and i'm not confident with it. haha

Edited January 8, 2023 by inasuma

[Gloves | 11,790]

3 minutes ago, inasuma said:

actually that's not far off from what i did. i used a lamda on netlify via next pages api endpoints. i try to avoid aws generally just because i've used it so few times and i'm not confident with it. haha

I can show you sometime if you like - Netlify Functions uses Lambda under the hood, and if you use Lambda + EventBridge you can basically set up a cron job to run every XTime. You could check for any new blog posts with a publish date within the last two weeks and if so, send notice. 

It'd be nice if Netlify could add more functionality to Netlify Functions like scheduled functions, to my knowledge they've yet to add that feature (I use Netlify regularly).

EDIT: Looks like it's in beta!

Scheduled Functions | Netlify Docs

[inasuma | 1,203]

2 minutes ago, Gloves said:

I can show you sometime if you like - Netlify Functions uses Lambda under the hood, and if you use Lambda + EventBridge you can basically set up a cron job to run every XTime. You could check for any new blog posts with a publish date within the last two weeks and if so, send notice. 

It'd be nice if Netlify could add more functionality to Netlify Functions like scheduled functions, to my knowledge they've yet to add that feature (I use Netlify regularly).

EDIT: Looks like it's in beta!

Scheduled Functions | Netlify Docs

ooooh shit i might take you up on that. i'm glad scheduled functions are a thing. i guess i know what i'll be doing next

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

3 hours ago, Gloves said:

They already have Mailchimp set up, may as well use the API.

Easier to use the AWS native tools since IAM is built in and no auth issues using the external api

edit: mailchimp probably has a lot more functionality on their side though plus his email list is probably already there, no need to re-validate all emails for SNS but could just whitelist a domain. Please schedule at least 17 meetings to argue lol

Edited January 8, 2023 by a3quit4s

[inasuma | 1,203]

1 hour ago, a3quit4s said:

Easier to use the AWS native tools since IAM is built in and no auth issues using the external api

edit: mailchimp probably has a lot more functionality on their side though plus his email list is probably already there, no need to re-validate all emails for SNS but could just whitelist a domain. Please schedule at least 17 meetings to argue lol

Yeah I mean to be clear I didn’t really do any sort of competitive analysis. lol just went with what worked