Monday 31 December 2012

Super AiG Screenshots of the Year: 2012

It's been exactly a year since the last time I did this and this time around I had over 6000 pictures from 205 games to pick from (I'm starting to seriously rethink how many screenshots I take). Anyway, these are what I consider to be be the very best and worst (mostly the worst) images from the last 12 months of Super Adventures.

Click any of the game titles to read the original post!

Saturday 29 December 2012

Necromantics (MS-DOS)

Necromantics dos title screenNecromantics dos title screen
I think it's supposed to be Necromantics, not Necromantics. No vampire love story in this one.

I'm certain I played this game years ago, but I only have the vaguest memory of it. Something about an invisible wizard with white gloves. I couldn't even remember the name, I just saw the box sitting in a shop the other day and thought 'YES, THAT IS THE MISSING PIECE OF MY PAST!'. So I'm eager to find out what it actually is.

Friday 28 December 2012

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden - Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa (PC)

Whoa, is this playing the actual Space Jam theme?

With Magical Realms of Tír na nÓg: Escape from Necron 7 - Revenge of Cuchulainn: The Official Game of the Movie - Chapter 2 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa uh... Barkley 2 getting kickstarted, I thought it'd be a good time to finally play Barkley 1 and find out what the hell a 'Hoopz Barkley' actually is.

I know I swore a sacred oath to never play an RPG Maker game for the site, but this is an exception; mostly because it was actually made in GameMaker, just like Hotline Miami.

Tuesday 25 December 2012

Beyond Good & Evil (PC)

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 7:

Beyond Good and Evil PC title screen
The last game on my Christmas list this year is Beyond Good & Evil, which wasn't quite as critically acclaimed as the other games I've played this week (and definitely didn't sell as well), but people seem to want me to play it, so I did.

I'm sick with a cold right now though and miserable so I'm likely going to be harsher on this than it deserves, especially after all the trouble I had to go through to get the PC version running right, setting CPU affinities, disabling hardware vertex whatevers etc. Plus it doesn't even support a controller on PC so I needed to set up joy2key to get around that. I'm in the mood to rant about something basically.

(Click the pics to view them big.)

Monday 24 December 2012

Shenmue (Dreamcast) - Guest Post

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 6:

Ray wants to see 'the most well known and highly rated video games ever made, games that people may actually give a shit about.'

Shenmue Dreamcast title screen
It's time to dust off the Dreamcast and hit the 'mue.

This is quite a long post with lots of pictures. It's Shenmue, for heaven's sake!

Sunday 23 December 2012

Chrono Trigger (SNES)

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 5:

Chrono Trigger Super Nintendo Title ScreenChrono Trigger Super Nintendo Title Screen
Here's one you might have heard of. Today I'm checking out Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo, considered by many to be one of the best RPGs on the system. I've got no strong feelings about it though myself, mostly because I can barely remember anything about it.

Saturday 22 December 2012

Metal Gear Solid (PSX)

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 4:

Metal Gear Solid Title Screen playstationMetal Gear Solid Title Screen playstation
At last, I'm playing a Metal Gear game people might actually care about! This was the third in the main franchise, released eight years after Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, but the first to really get mainstream attention, at least in the West.

Along Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and Thief: The Dark Project, this was a big part of the '98 stealth game revolution that helped establish the genre and inspire countless other games. Therefore it is DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for all those shitty forced stealth levels that started to pop up halfway through otherwise decent action games, in the same way that Shenmue can be blamed for the curse of QTE. You opened up Pandora's box Snake!

Friday 21 December 2012

Dragon Age: Origins (PC)

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 3:

Today I'm taking a look at Dragon Age: Origins, Bioware's spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate RPG series. Also known as 'the good one' after Dragon Age II did its best to slay the franchise when it was barely a hatchling.

Though to be honest, despite that game's obviously rushed development time, endlessly reused environments, and a story that falls apart way before the end, I actually kind of like DA2. Sure I often wondered why I was walking around the same warehouse slaying the same mages for the fifteenth time, when it was obvious that nothing I did mattered and that no one in the grimdark crapsack city I was trapped in was worth saving, but holy shit that game had nice menus. I could sit scrolling through my inventory and assigning skill points for hours.

Anyway like I said, this is supposed to be the good one, so I'm expecting a little more from it.

Thursday 20 December 2012

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 2:

Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time title screen logo
It took me forever to decide what shot to use from this title screen sequence.

Okay it's taken me a decade or so to get around to it, but today I'm finally going to have a look at Ocarina of Time, the fifth game in the main Legend of Zelda series. Actually to be honest I did play this back in the day, though not for long. It didn't exactly win me over then, but I think it's about time I gave it a second chance.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

Final Fantasy VII (PSX)

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 1:

Last Christmas I spent a week playing through every Christmassy game I could find, and it turns out that they're generally ultra obscure and a bit crap (huge shock). So this year I've decided to do the opposite, and play some of the most well known and highly rated video games ever made, games that people may actually give a shit about. For the next seven days there'll be no obscure Amiga exclusives, no movie adaptations, no ZX Spectrum screenshots, and definitely no Christmas games.

Final Fantasy 7 title screen playstationFinal Fantasy 7 title screen playstation
There seemed to be a large Final Fantasy VII sized hole in the site, so I thought I'd get I'd get that sorted out now, rather than put it off any longer. Yeah I know that there's is actually no possible way to say anything new about this game, as the internet is saturated with every fact and opinion in every possible way you can phrase them, but I've never let that stop me before.

I have actually played this already, but fortunately I'm blessed with a terrible memory so it should be as if I'm seeing it all for the first time.

Monday 17 December 2012

Superfrog (Amiga)

Superfrog title screenSuperfrog title screen
Today I'm taking a look at classic Amiga platformer Superfrog, made by classic Amiga developer Team17. You may remember them from such games as Worms, Worms United, Worms 2, Worms Armageddon, Worms World Party, Worms 3D, Worms Blast, Worms Forts, Worms 4: Mayhem, Worms: Open Warfare, Worms: Open Warfare 2, Worms: A Space Oddity, Worms 2: Armageddon, Worms Reloaded, Worms: Battle Islands, Worms: Ultimate Mayhem, Worms: Revolution...

I have to admit, this isn't my first attempt at the game, as I used to play this when I was young. But I was even worse at games back then than I am now, so I probably didn't even make it past the first world.

Wednesday 12 December 2012

E. V. O. Search for Eden (SNES)

E.V.O. Search for Eden title screen.E.V.O. Search for Eden title screen.
Okay, here's another one off the requested games list: E.V.O. Search for Eden, on the Super Nintendo, by Almanic. I have no idea what E.V.O. actually stands for, but I'm going to make a wild guess and say it probably stands for... absolutely nothing.

I've actually played this before a few years back, but fortunately I barely remember a thing about it, so it should all be new to me.

Monday 10 December 2012

Saints Row: The Third (PC)

Today I'm taking a look at sandbox gangsta shooter, Saints Row: The Third, released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC way back in 2011. Because I feel like it.

I've barely seen anything of the first two Saints games, but I've played the Grand Theft Auto games so I have a few suspicions on how this is going to play out. Lots of shooting, driving around in cars, shooting while driving around in cars, and prostitutes. With guns.

Click the screenshots to see the full size images, which are in an ancient resolution I'm afraid.

Friday 7 December 2012

Dynasty Warriors Advance (GBA)

Dynasty Warriors Advance title screenDynasty Warriors Advance title screen
Alright, today I'm going to see what Dynasty Warriors Advance is, because the internet asked me to.

I have actually played a lot of the main Dynasty Warriors games on consoles, and they're typically about running around on a field slicing through hundreds of rubbish soldiers to an anachronistic rock soundtrack. And this... isn't going to be like that, because it's a handheld game and the hardware just isn't up to it. But at least I can confirm that it does have the correct music, at least on the title screen. Plus it even sounds fairly decent for a GBA game.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space (PC)

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space title screenStrange Adventures in Infinite Space title screen
Today on SAIG I'm going to find out what the hell SAIS is. Something to do with space, I imagine.

You can get the game for yourself completely free at the developer's website for Mac and PC, though you may have some trouble getting it to run on Windows 7 or later. I know I did.

Monday 3 December 2012

Jewel Master (Genesis/Mega Drive) - Guest Post

Hi folks, I'm back!

Jewel Master Genesis Title Screen
We haven't had any Genesis games in a while, so I'm going to ease back into things by vegging out in front of an Altered Beast-'em-up called Jewel Master.

Semi-Random Game Box