Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts

I think the first Phoenix Wright is consistently good, whereas the second has higher highs and lower lows. I've just finished the third case in the third game, and I believe I'm about to start a rollercoaster of a ride with the last couple of cases - but so far I think that, out of the three, this game's logic is generally a lot more consistent and understandable!

Yes that is the plan

Well I hope it works! In retrospect I don't think it's so surprising that you haven't played it: you like your wordy games 'artsier'. The AAs are, despite all their text, unashamedly gamey.

Rum wrote:

...so far I think that, out of the three, this game's logic is generally a lot more consistent and understandable!

I did laugh when the fifth case of game 1 introduced the principles of Evidence Law - principles that the series ignores entirely everywhere apart from in that one case.

All gaming connoisseurs know that the best order to play the Ace Attorney games is as follows:

• Kuru Kuru Kururin
  
• and the rest
  

~



I’ve been fed enough film tie-ins on handheld systems to know that they’re almost always worth avoiding. Yet two things convinced me to give TMNT a go. The first one had stuck out to me for years: I’d remembered that Nintendo Gamer Magazine had surprisingly rated it as one of the best games on the system. In several of their issues, they rank it in their GBA top 25. The quote from one issue I dug out says “What, really? YES! This forgotten wonder is even better than SNES’s Turtles In Time”. That’s a very bold statement there. The recent announcement of TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge was the second thing that urged me to give this a try. It seemed like a good time.

First things first: no, this isn’t better than SNES’s Turtles In Time. It lacks that game’s style, flair and especially it’s outstanding soundtrack. That said, it’s still a neat side-scrolling brawler. To my surprise, TMNT immediately reminded me of Scott Pilgram: The Game. The way TMNT is animated was strikingly familiar yet one-of-a-kind, and the way you chain your attacks and juggle your enemies was something I’d only ever seen in Scott Pilgram before. Right enough, it turns out that the two games were developed by the same team.

I never saw the film it’s based on so all it’s efforts to follow the plot fell flat with me. Likewise, I don’t really remember enough about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated cartoon to really tell when the game was trying to pay fan service. All the same, when judged as a straightforward retro side-scrolling brawler, it holds up pretty well. This would have certainly been a standout title in a time when the last good side-scrolling brawlers were from the ‘90s, and the next good ones wouldn’t be until the 2010s. 7/10.

I remember GNamer saying it was half-decent so I'm happy to learn it holds up.

I’m well-acquainted with 90% of the WWF/WWE games by this point, being able to seperate the Here Comes The Pains from the WrestleMania Steel Cage Challenges. That said, WWE Survivor Series on the GBA wasn’t something I knew much about. With illusions of WWF Superstars on the original Game Boy though, I thought it could be decent.

Starting with the positives, it’s a nicely animated game that’s stuffed with high-quality sprite work. It’s a good-sounding game as well. I’m always entertained by 16-bit renditions of wrestler’s themes too, and it’s no different on GBA than it was with the Mega Drive and SNES games. Furthermore, the game’s Story Mode gives the player a focal point, with the emphasis being on having entertaining matches in order to make progression through your wrestler’s career. However, it’s really just window dressing. While the AI might tell you that it’s ‘entertained’, you definitely wouldn’t be.

Aye, WWE Survivor Series just isn’t very satisfying to play. The sluggish and unresponsive controls don’t help make it particularly accessible, and the shallow move pool and dumb AI contribute to the boredom in a big way. There’s very little to discern one wrestler from another either - it doesn’t matter if you’re 7 foot Undertaker or reknowned short-arse Rey Mysterio, they’ve all got the same speed, same height and same posture. It’s lazy stuff, and putting this all together makes me think that Natsume (!) didn’t spend too much time developing it. 

Just skip it. WWE Survivor Series is one of the more missable WWE games there’s been. It's not Gobbledy Gooker bad, but this game were an actual Survivor Series moment it would have been the one where Vladimir Kozlov fought for the WWE Championship. Ugh. 4/10.

Yeah I had Survivor Series on GBA and it was a pile of arse. All the gameplay of a GameBoy game dressed up behind some GBA visuals. You're better off getting one of them miniature rings and some wrestlers, and re-enacting matches that way. Don't judge me...

Spoiler:

I had this one when I was wee:



Without having any grasp of money, I thought I was getting six big action figures and a big ring for fifteen quid - a bargain when they were usually a tenner each. I was gutted when my Dad brought this home from work, I thought it was tiny and pish! Still, I'd be more gutted if I received that one there, with Jinder Mahal at the commentators table.

~




A retro review of a retro compilation, here’s my thoughts on the four-game Pac-Man Collection from 2001.

Firstly is a port of the original 1981 Pac-Man arcade game. At this stage, there’s nothing else to say about plain old Pac-Man: you’re either arsed with it or you’re not. 

Then there’s 1987’s Pac-Mania, an isometric 3D update of the classic template. It introduces a few new abilities such as jumping , as well as different coloured bonus pellets and a couple of new ghosts with new behaviours. I think this is an excellent game and a superb port - and it’s where that outstanding Block Town theme from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U comes from. 

Pac-Attack from 1993 was Pac-Man’s first new game in a few years. It’s a falling block puzzler that reminds me a bit of Columns, but with elements of Dr. Mario thrown in. The game’s only unique twist is Pac-Man himself, who you drop onto the grid to eat up and clear ghosts. Otherwise, it’s not a particularly compulsive puzzler, becoming duller as you play on. That said, while it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny as its own standalone thing, it’s a nice change of pace on collections such as this. 

Pac-Man Arrangement is a pretty gimmicky 1996 update of Pac-Man, but an exciting one nevertheless. It’s a fluid and fast-paced remix that I suppose you could regard as the spiritual predecessor to Pac-Man Championship Edition. Cracking stuff. 

Aye. Cracking stuff indeed. 8/10.

Swinging for low-hanging fruit, I played through Pop Idol on the Game Boy Advance. In my defence, it was £3 delivered and CIB, and I’d originally planned on playing it for that Bum Wee Poo reviews thread. I didn’t use it for that though, because it’s truthfully not that bad. Don’t be mistaken - it’s not good. But is it better than, say, Fire Emblem or Monster Hunter? I’m not usually one to make such comments, but yes.

After you’ve chosen your singer’s gender, hairstyle and clothes, you work your way through various eliminator heats like in the Pop Idol competition. There’s no microphone support or any of that bollocks, so you ‘sing’ the ‘songs’ by appearing on a stage and completing a little rhythm game each time. In this little rhythm game, a circle forms around your avatar’s body, and all you do is press either the A, B, or A and B buttons while an icon loops over them in beat with whatever snippet of whatever popular pop song you’ve chosen. The accuracy of your button-pressing and timing affects your performance, and after the song is over you get critiqued by three judges. I recognise Simon Cowell, but the other two could be any dick really. It's definitely nor Ant & Dec, and there's no Will Young or Michelle McManus either. While those are criticisms that could also be levelled at Breath of the Wild and Grand Theft Auto V, their absence stings just that little bit more here in Pop Idol.

Hilariously, Pop Idol makes a complete and utter horse’s arse of the audio. Seeing as that’s the focal point of the game, it’s definitely an issue. The track list isn’t bad or anything and the control is fine for what’s needed from it, but everything just sounds terrible. That’s understandable to a point - I’m no software and sound engineer or anything, but compressing this amount of speech and music into a GBA cartridge can’t have been straightforward. But why try in the first place? Pop Idol fits the Game Boy Advance about as well as I fit into my primary school blazer.

Being honest, this isn’t much of a computer game: it’s glorified Pop Idol merchandise. Unless you’re very randy for Simon Cowell or you absolutely need to play a game that takes half an hour to finish, you can safely carry on with your life without having played Pop Idol on the GBA. 3/10.

Cappa, you know the icebergs are melting, right? Why'd'ya put yourself through this?

I suspect he is very randy for Simon Cowell.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Pop Idol fits the Game Boy Advance about as well as I fit into my primary school blazer.

I misread this as 'into my primary school teacher' for a moment. I... I prefer your version.

Cappa wrote:

It's definitely not Ant & Dec, and there's no Will Young or Michelle McManus either. While those are criticisms that could also be levelled at Breath of the Wild and Grand Theft Auto V, their absence stings just that little bit more here in Pop Idol.

I lol'ed at this.

These games are as you say, merchandise if anything. You don't really see this sort of thing in 2021 - imagine Masked Singer on Switch.

gjones wrote:

Cappa wrote:

It's definitely not Ant & Dec, and there's no Will Young or Michelle McManus either. While those are criticisms that could also be levelled at Breath of the Wild and Grand Theft Auto V, their absence stings just that little bit more here in Pop Idol.

I lol'ed at this.

These games are as you say, merchandise if anything. You don't really see this sort of thing in 2021 - imagine Masked Singer on Switch.

I am so here for Masked Singer on Switch! Bring on Shovel Knight dressed as an Ostritch or Super Meat Boy as a sentient Spork. Who do I contact to make this happen!

I completed Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge on the GBA. It’s a long-forgotten spin-off of the first Banjo-Kazooie, but made to fit better with the limited hardware and it’s utterly hopeless 3D capabilities. Navigating the impossible challenges that would’ve come with porting Banjo-Kazooie directly to the GBA, Grunty’s Revenge instead adopts a overhead camera view and uses prerendered character models. It all looks quite nice, faithfully transplanting the aesthetics of the two Banjo games on the N64 on the humble Game Boy Advance.

It’s equally successful in how accurate it sounds and controls as well. It’s quite charming to hear 32-bit versions of the memorable Spiral Mountain and Treasure Trove Cove themes, and all your gibberish “GGGnnuuuGH-HUHHH”, “BREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” and “DDDDuuuuOOOOOWWWWWW” sound effects are here and well-replicated as well. Grunty’s Revenge makes clever use of the buttons available on the GBA too. You’re dealing with fewer of them than you were on the N64, but the way you input your actions is familiar enough as to not be confusing or indeed any sort of trouble. There’s actually a bunch of new levels here too, such as a farmyard and a harbour. Sure, they’re familiar platformer themes, but they fit with the Banjo characters, the humour and Mumbo Jumbo’s transformations.

All things considered, it’s an ambitious and admirable effort. Yet it’s just not terribly fresh or exciting, and that’s what knackers the whole thing. Grunty’s Revenge is quite a linear, sedate and short game that goes a bit too heavy on the collectables and repeats it’s boss battles and minigames a bit too often. Truthfully, if it weren’t a Banjo-Kazooie game, I think it would have totally ignored rather than merely ‘long-forgotten’.

If you’re a fan of the Banjo-Kazooie games then there’s no harm in seeking this out, it’s still quite a neat little game. However, if you don’t have that connection with those old Banjo-Kazooie games then it’s hardly a GBA must-play. 6/10.

Yes. I never finished Grunty's Revenge, but I did think when playing it that the only reason it got the praise it did was because of Banjo. It felt quite ordinary. 6/10 feels right.

Also: odd to see THQ's name on a Banjo box. Did Rare palm it off to them?

I did finish it, but as I recall it only took a couple of hours. I remember it being competent enough, as you say, but not as good as some of the gaming mags claimed it was. I guess that was just because it was a Banjo-Kazooie title and people were jizzy over the prospect of a sequel to the N64 games.

Aw, I've got to admit still being quite fond of Grunty's Revenge. Can barely remember it, mind! But it still seems really impressive considering the first generation of GBA stuff still looked like the SNES.

Ooh - speaking of which

How many regular Kirby games are there? I believe at last count eleventy billion. Up until recently, though, I'd only played 3, having been warned off them originally by Total! magazine. But Kirby's Adventure on the NES was quite an epic. For some reason, I also ended up playing Kirby and the Crystal Sharts on the N64, which again I kind-of enjoyed, but could already see that the series doesn't really like putting a lot of effort in; the only reason the other game was Kirby's Epic Yarn was basically the fuzzy art style.

Kirby's Dream Land 3, if played in one pass from start to finish, could easily be judged as I have every other outing on the DS / 3DS / FM Towns Marty - really it's the same thing each time, and it'd be in 6/10 yawn-o-fare. However, it's got 2 things going for it: Firstly, the Yoshi's Island-esque crayon art style, which works just as well - particularly things like Kirby's interactions with his animal buddies (Nago the bobcat is wonderful). Secondly, each level's progress marker is highlighted with an image - this isn't just a preview of the style of the level, but a clue to a hidden task, which must be completed to get the 100% proper ending; it could be to find a secret route and pick up a lost character to take back to their mum, or carving away at a set of blocks to match the shape of a similarly blocky chap, or just finishing the level with a specific animal buddy, because their girlfriend's waiting for them at the exit. It adds a cerebral aspect to the game which doesn't seem to exist in subsequent releases.

If anything should get an HD re-release, it should be this; like the Wind Waker before it, it might look cartoony, but that cartoon could look extra special, given some extra fidelity.

8.5/10

Aw.  I've not played any of the older Kirbies, including Super Star, but I do like the idea of the puzzly bit.



Continuing my walk back through the Ace Attorney games from the previous page we reach this, the black sheep of the original trilogy.  I definitely felt more fondly towards AA1 this time around - does that fondness extend to AA2?  Well, it's not as bad as Apollo Justice, I'll give it that.

Case 1 I've always had a decent amount of time for: as tutorials go it's pretty entertaining, and your first foe is a horrible little creep who gets what's coming to them.  Case 2 I found more bearable this time too, with a strong locked room mystery.  Even Ini Miney wasn't as bad on the second viewing, once you know what's going on with her.

Case 3 is still utter shit.

It's a dreadfully paced slog of a thing, with barely a redeeming character among its supporting cast.  I could quite happily have seen Regina, Max, Ben, and 90% of Moe all sentenced to death for crimes against good writing.  I kind of expected that, though, and went in with a walkthrough to speed through it as quickly as possible.  What was less expected was that case 4, sadly, doesn't hold up so well on replay.  Apart from the killer/guilty party, the rest of the supporting cast is pretty weak - and without the tension that comes from not knowing how things are going to pan out, the trial itself feels pretty ridiculous.  I can still appreciate what was originally great drama, but it definitely doesn't have the same effect second time around.

Franziska should be interesting but every time she started going on about 'foolish fools' I rolled my eyes so hard they risked falling out, and it's ridiculous that she isn't done for GBH.  Pearl is cute enough until Mia possesses her, leading to some utterly unnecessary and slightly disturbing fanservice.  Oh yes, and Edgeworth's gone and everybody makes a big deal about how he's apparently dead BUT HE'S ON THE BOX ART. I will say, though, that I'd forgotten just how good the Magatama was.  It lends an actual gameplay element to the investigation phase that's much appreciated.

So, that's Justice for All: perhaps not quite as flawed as I remembered it, but considering how good the games around it are, still galling in its relative mediocrity.  That said, a mediocre early-days Ace Attorney is still a decent game - just a decent game with a very duff case.  Makes me grateful for the brevity of Rakugo Fun Times in AA6. 7/10, just

Every time I replay the series, I forget the magatama wasn't in the first game.

As well as the psych-locks spicing up the investigation phase, it also handily confirms that Phoenix isn't getting anyone off the hook for a murder they actually did.

I visited the Ise grand shrine during my first golden week, the main shrine for Amaterasu and like one of the oldest, most significant spots in Shinto, and I bought a Jade magatama which I've worn every day for three years.

Buskalilly wrote:

As well as the psych-locks spicing up the investigation phase, it also handily confirms that Phoenix isn't getting anyone off the hook for a murder they actually did.

Agreed.

Case 4 spoilers:

It does show up the gimmicks from later games something rotten though. If AA7 does focus on Athena, she needs a way to bring the Mood Matrix (which I otherwise like) outside court. Or maybe she could team up with the older Pearl?

I'm just in shock Balla played a retro game.

Should've been here for the previous page then Mas.

Yep I'm going on a bit of a DS adventure binge. First Ghost Trick ( ), now the Ace Attornies to whet my appetite for TGAAC (ha, as if it needs whetting), then probably the Hotel Dusks. Like Mario 3D World, playing the games with another person adds a new aspect to them.

Nice, like I said in the TOH Discord the DS & Wii era I sort of missed and I know a lot of the good Wii games either been ported, bettered (MKWii to MK8) or use the motion controls.

The same could be said for DS due to the dual screens and one being touch, but these Visual Novel-type games could really do with ports as I would like to play Ghost Trick but not paying £50+ for a DS game for instance.

Jimbob wrote:

Kirby's Dream Land 3

8.5/10

I definitely liked Grunty's Revenge more than Kirby's Dream Land 3 - to me, that's the one Kirby console game that really shows "it doesn't like to put the effort in". Hopefully you make time to play Kirby Fun Pak if you've not done so already.

~



Banjo-Pilot is the other Banjo-Kazooie game on the Game Boy Advance, and it’s RareWare’s third stab at making their own mascot kart racer (after the superlative Diddy Kong Racing and the disappointing Mickey’s Speedway USA on the N64). Sadly, this is worse than both of those.

In its defence, it’s not a plane crash of a game, not at all. Banjo-Pilot plays well enough, it’s reasonably fast and it clearly pushes the GBA from a technical point of view. Yet nothing else really stands out. The characters, the power-ups, the sounds and especially the track design are all pretty flat and uninspired. Structurally, it doesn’t do anything new or different whatsoever. The gameplay can best be described as just okay. Even flying about in a biplane doesn’t really change things up as you’re still just following a set track, just with invisible walls surrounding it.

I’m struggling here. This is as by-the-numbers a game as I’ve finished in a while, and it’s exactly like you’d imagine it is. An unremarkable 5/10.