koifish

On 4/25/2024 at 8:38 AM, Floating Platforms said:

Brain Drain is one of the more frustrating games I've ever played.  Few games so far have legitimately made me rage but this is now one of them.  I'm in the 130-150 stretch and what pushed me over the edge was this one level where the game will not only freeze your cursor for a couple seconds, but will also swap pieces randomly on you. So you can put something in its proper place and while you're waiting for the game to let you move again, it is swapping things once or twice and negating what you just did or making it worse. Absolutely infuriating. This game stopped being a puzzle game about 50 levels ago when it introduced these gimmicks. I'm no longer solving rotating puzzles, I am now actively fighting against the game.

I miss bowling, but I can't go back to it yet because of my challenge numbering system and the amount of progress I've made on saved videos. I need to finish this dumpster fire out first before bowling can lull me to sleep again.

You're around the point where I gave up. Hard to believe the game still has 100 more levels to clear after that.

On 4/18/2024 at 7:41 AM, Floating Platforms said:

I have a question about Brain Drain for anyone who's gotten pretty far or beaten it.

Last night, I beat Rookie mode. Then I went to Student and it started me on level 20. I got to level 110 and was ready to stop for the night since this game is BS.  However, I decided to try Genius to see how obnoxious it would be and it started me on level 50.

I'm pretty sure that level 50 through 70 (the first password) were the same as Student. So, do I really need to play Student at all? Does the game really have you backtracking for no good reason? Also, does anyone know how many levels in Student? I thought it would stop at 100. My guess now is 150, but that would mean Genius forces you to play 100 levels again if you're doing them all.

IIRC the different levels determine where you start in the sequence. Pretty sure genius starts after 50, but you go until 250; Student IIRC ends earlier than that. And yes, Brain Drain IS indeed BS.

I'm giving myself one more chance to see how it goes, but I suspect there is no way I end up beating Big Hurt Baseball. The games just run too long and I don't have enough long, uninterrupted stretches of time. I think I will stick with the others though.

Qix is humbling me; 500k might be the toughest challenge I've yet attempted for a GB contest. It really shows me how good this game is, that you can do so many different things in it and challenge it in so many ways. I really really really hate the qix though, that little string bastard is a PITA!!!!

Altered Space going well now that I have ortho paper, though I am noticing not every screen is the same size, and i think they use that, because on the first level you find two rooms that, if graphing where every room is equal size, would be right on top of each other. I doubt they intentionally built non-euclidean maps, and so I figure the sizes are such that they would fit. Either way, it hasn't been a big issue yet; I will see on later maps if it gets worse. Pretty fun to play a brit isometric platformer on GB. Makes a lot of sense given the shared Z80 heritage of the GB and the Speccy.

Dirty Racing is really fun but I haven't had time yet. Still want to get back to it when I can.

I won't need to be good at games to play turn-based stuff, so I'm saving turn-based games for when I'm too old for dexterity games. That means most every RPG, especially on PC as I have little time put into them. A few notables, like Wiz 1, Fallout 1, but almost nothing else.

PC in general is a blind spot. I have played almost no PC games. A few different FPS and some indie games from the 2000's (cave story, la-mulana) and that's it. Still on my list for eventual play.

Related, have never played an RTS. I don't know what to do with that genre, too many entries and I can't figure where to start.

7 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

We should restart the debate of what the word "modern" means while we're at it 

ha ha, for me the it's 21st century. Exceptions exist, but fair to note; Academics point out how hard it is to put definite caps on the end of an era in music and art history, hardly surprising it is not agreed on in games.

also, GET OFF MY LAWN YOU NEWFANGLED GAMES!

Not my favorite Mario (that's probably 1 or 64) but it's very good. I'd say it was important but I don't have a need to go back. I've played it to death, if anything I'd probably pick up 3 as I haven't put much time into it.

21 hours ago, RH said:

Well, Nintendo cut off the their online services on Monday, I think, for the 3DS and the Wii U.  There might have been a rush of people dragging their heals, wanting a units, so they could buy one and download some DLC.

I'm pretty sure the ability to make eShop purchases ended last May, so it wouldn't be that.

21 hours ago, Brickman said:

The 3DS has always sort of held its value or only dipped if a new model came out. The limited editions have always fetched a high price too. I missed the SNES version and it never came down in price.

It was also released in 2011 and had an amazing library so I can see people now wanting to revisit it and they may have sold their 3DS.

Maybe it's having a boost because it's the "last" true portable, but to see even 2011 models approaching used switch prices in some instances is still pretty wild to me.

33 minutes ago, G-type said:

If everyone hates it so much then how did it win?

12 hours ago, scaryice said:

Next week's question: When it comes to simulation games, what comes to mind?

Koei stuff?. It all depends on what people consider simulation to be. I saw some people mentioning strategy rpgs like Famicom Wars and Fire Emblem, and some people mentioning sports games.

Super Mario Bros will be on there as an accurate portrayal of plumbing.

Aaaaaaaand it's sonic.

I have been looking at offloading some 3DS systems and I am shocked at the prices that are being fetched. The Black Friday New 3DS models are moving at 300+ USD easily? Certain LEs are fetching 500-800 USD? Even common variants of New series systems are moving at high prices, considering it's now "last year's model". Even original 3DS models are selling at high prices, on par with what I see for used switch lites. What's causing this? I don't understand why the prices are so high. I get why software is low, since it's still easy to find and easier to pirate, but the hardware seems all out of wack.

7 minutes ago, Floating Platforms said:

Anyway, Monday I'll jump on Adventure Island 2 then start Brain Drain.

Next two to add to my soft dibs - Ninja Boy & Madden 95

Adventure Island 2 is fun! Good luck with Brain Drain, that game is a killer.

Can offer Ninja Boy help if requested.

22 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Not a bad list, can't blame that spread.  Star Luster is a little surprising, I own this one and it's a lot of fun despite its age it is fairly unique and plays well.  It's interesting to see Nintendo's own fighter Joy Mech Fight got in high on the list that's a solid little fighting game that plays surprisingly well, almost feels like it has some early Custom Robo dna to it given how that one works out between the fights.  Rampart is a good good call, that game Konami made really shames the US release in comparison, it's not the same title, check it out.  I've been meaning to scoop that one up, just have not yet as I had it years ago.

Joymech is not entirely surprising; It came out 3 years after super famicom and 5 years after mega drive, 6 years after pc-engine and after the CD add-ons. In fact, you could get a 3DO or Neo Geo by that time, and a PlayStation or Saturn the year after. Probably hidden gem for that alone; Nobody was paying attention anymore.

I always wanted to see an attempt at joymech fight for game boy; I bet it could have been incredible, though you would need a big cartridge storage space for those days.

21 hours ago, Sumez said:

...yeah it just plays completely differently 

right, it's like saying Rage is the same as Doom because they put E1M1 in there.

Mine is the DSi XL, not the Lite, but thank you for that website. The listings there are varied, but the most recent was over 800, so that gives me some idea I suppose.

I have a Metallic Rose Nintendo DSi XL I want to sell. It's brand-new and sealed, never been opened. US system. What do you figure it's worth? I see new sealed DSi XL in various colors sell for around 400-800 USD, but I haven't seen any Metallic Rose units sell in a while. Is it in the same ballpark?

11 hours ago, scaryice said:

 

Star Luster is a common cart, I think it sold well. But the interest in games like that has fallen off so much, that maybe now it seems like a hidden gem to its fans.

That makes sense, like how people today might forget about black box games that I liked a lot, like Kung Fu and Clu Clu Land.

19 hours ago, scaryice said:

This week's results:

Question #37 (3/28-4/4) - When it comes to "hidden gems", what game comes to mind?

1	Minelvaton Saga	2.5
2	Just Breed	2.3
3	Lagrange Point	2.0
4	Metal Slader Glory	1.9
5	Joy Mech Fight	1.8
6	Time Twist	1.3
7	Mendel Palace	1.2
8	Metal Max	1.1
9	King of Kings	1.1
10	Gimmick	1.1
11	Sweet Home	1.0
12	Cocoron	1.0
13	Spy vs Spy	0.9
13	Dark Lord	0.9
15	Crystalis	0.9
16	Zanac	0.9
17	Keru Naguuru	0.8
17	Star Luster	0.8
19	Rampart	0.7
20	Radia Senki	0.7

 

Fascinating results! A very divided poll, with the winning entry only getting 2.5%, easily the lowest of any poll so far. Lots of rpgs up and down the top 20. I haven't played Minelvaton Saga, but it's an action rpg similar to Ys. I can testify that Metal Max is fun one, though (unlike Radia Senki, that game is trash). The quality of the games here is pretty good, with stuff like Gimmick and Crystalis among the best on the system for me.

 

 

Next week's question: When it comes to "4 character titles" what game comes to mind?

Poll #18 was 5 character titles, poll #33 was 3 character titles, so I guess this was gonna happen at some point. Xevious, Mappy, and Seicross were among the answers on Twitter.

Good list, many of these were late releases and so people likely didn't play them as much. Time Twist was FDS-only, and I don't think it was ever re-released (probably because of the imagery), so that makes sense. Never heard of Minelvaton Saga, but I may have to check it out. Star Luster surprises me a bit, because it's an earlier Namco game, but maybe not many bought it. Those who played it should seriously play Star Raiders though; It's superior to its copycat.

I just don't see the point in comparison. Donkey Kong GB is entirely different. The only similarity is the characters and the first four stages. I could understand if it was like Dr Mario where the NES and GB games were released simultaneously and were the same game on different systems, not when it's almost 15 years later and really only includes the first four as a footnote. For Metroid/Icarus, they're completely different games, aside from the same characters.

Maybe it's my bad, so I'll ask for clarity; Is the point of the thread to simply examine two games that happen to have the same name and same characters as another console game from the same series? If that's the goal then I'll drop my point, because I thought it was to talk about GB games released that were more or less multi-plat releases with other platforms, like Dr. Mario, Battle of Olympus, Jurassic Park, etc. Just feels strange to me to compare things like Metroid 1 and 2 because they're entirely different besides surface level similarities.

On 3/31/2024 at 3:19 PM, Gaia Gensouki said:

That's the problem with every best of list that is decided by majority vote. You will always see the usual suspects up there and it ends up being super boring. That's why I usually prefer more individual lists that sometimes have some surprising games on there.

lol of course, who can forget GameFAQs character battles that inevitably put Zelda characters against Final Fantasy characters every time?

what happened to sonic 3 featuring knuckles from the knuckle may chuckle series?

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

If Sonic 2 wins we riot

getting flashbacks of Dave Matthews Band winning a Twitter "Best Rock Band Ever" tournament.

looking at finally clearing some long wait games. In Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball I'm currently up 1-0 in the first round of the ALDS over the damned Yankees. I'm a terrible hitter, or my team sucks at hitting (coincidentally I'm playing as Cleveland who lost the world series in the season this game simulates). Luckily most opponent hits here are pop flies or weak infield hits. The hardest part is that the game just takes a long time, and if you quit mid-game it counts as a loss. I think I can do it this time however.

Also going through Altered Space. Got a map going though I'm going to transfer it to orthographic paper soon for better clarity.

Been playing Qix since yesterday and I'm hooked. Why didn't anybody tell me the GB version was so good?! Looks like Nintendo did it in-house if I understand the title screen. 500k gonna be tough but I'll try. It's really fun to trap the evil squiggle.

Lastly, gonna try for Racing Days. Does anyone know if dirty racing has a save feature? Thought it would but I didn't see any way to save or continue. Overall a fun game though, so far anyway. Not sure why I hadn't seen it mentioned on GB lists before. Too easy?

I'm only posting to say that bloodlines got robbed