Thursday 31 January 2013

Final Fantasy (NES) - Replay

Super Adventures in Gaming Replay 2013 - Game 2

Final Fantasy NES Title ScreenFinal Fantasy NES Title Screen
This is a pretty terrible choice of game for me to replay really, considering that I didn't play it myself the first time around and the original guest post by Ocean is actually fine. Plus the game isn't exactly photogenic enough to be worth showing off a second time. Not that the art's bad, it's just that it's an 8-bit NES game and even at their best they don't tend to be eye candy.

This didn't even reach the West until 1990, well into the 16-bit era, so it must have looked pretty basic to Westerners even at the time. In fact the game didn't get a European release until 2003 as part of the Final Fantasy Origins compilation on the PlayStation. The first FF game released over here was actually Final Fantasy VII, which hit shops a full decade after the franchise began in Japan.

Uh, what was I even talking about again? Whatever, here's a quick absurdly long look at the original Final Fantasy on the NES.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

QuackShot (Genesis/Mega Drive) - Replay

Super Adventures in Gaming Replay 2013 - Game 1

I'm sure it can seem sometimes that as a writer and a gamer I'm basically flawless, but even I occasionally make mistakes. Like this one time I made a game blog and wrote a whole lot of terrible posts for it. And as Super Adventures reaches its second birthday, it just so happens that this is the time of year when the shame gets too much for me and I have to go back and do something about it.

So I'm going to take a look back at the site's past, at all my shitty posts that suck ass, and pick a few more of the really terrible ones to replay. It's second chance week again!

QuackShot starring Donald Duck title screenQuackShot starring Donald Duck title screen
First up is Disney's QuackShot, a slightly Indiana Jones inspired platformer released on the Genesis/Mega Drive in 1991. I gave this about ten minutes to win me over first time around, then quit on the first level because... you know, I'm reading the post again now and I can't even tell why I stopped playing. Apparently I didn't even put in enough effort to figure out that pressing start opens up my inventory, or that I could press up on the d-pad to climb ladders. Bloody hell, man.

Sadly I can't go back in time and punch myself, but I can at least give the game another chance now. Consider this post my sincere apology.

Monday 28 January 2013

Little Big Adventure / Relentless (MS-DOS)

Little Big Adventure Relentless title screen dos pc
Today I'm taking a quick look at Little Big Adventure, released as Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure outside of Europe (no relation to Little Big Planet... probably), as the internet asked me to. The internet even bought me a copy to make absolutely sure that I played it and made it a priority. If I was a paranoid man I'd suspect the internet was scheming to make me suffer (again), but I'm sure this will actually be a perfectly enjoyable and not at all frustrating experience!

The game was originally released for DOS CD-ROM, then it got a floppy disk version, and two years later it was ported across to the PlayStation. But I'm playing the PC CD version because it's what I've got.

Friday 25 January 2013

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Silent Hill (PSX)

Silent Hill Playstation title screenSilent Hill Playstation title screen
It occurs to me I've been getting a bit too comfortable with my genres lately. I'm trying to explore the whole weird and wonderful world of video games here, but I've ended up with a site full of first person shooters, RPGs and platformers instead.

So today I'm finally getting around to another requested game: the original Silent Hill on the original PlayStation, one of the original survival horror games. Honestly I'm not expecting to like this much as survival horror isn't really my thing, but I will try to give it a fair shot. You can all laugh at me as I get hopelessly lost and fail to solve basic puzzles.

I suppose I should "start" the "game" then.

Monday 21 January 2013

UFO: Enemy Unknown / X-COM: UFO Defense (Amiga)

UFO Enemy Unknown Amiga title screenUFO Enemy Unknown Amiga title screen
It took me way too long to get around to this one. UFO: Enemy Unknown is the original XCOM game, a genuine classic, renamed to X-COM: UFO Defense in North America presumably because they wanted to sell it to the X-Files audience, which was huge at the time.

It was originally released for DOS, then ported across to Amiga, CD32 and PlayStation. As far as I can tell, the PC version runs fastest and looks the best, though they're all basically the same thing with similar graphics and music. But I'm playing the Amiga AGA version instead, because sometimes I do crazy things for no reason!

Friday 18 January 2013

Marko's Magic Football (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Marko's Magic Football Sega Mega Drive Genesis Title ScreenMarko's Magic Football Sega Mega Drive Genesis Title Screen
Alright, today I'm going to find out what Marko's Magic Football is. It was released in the US simply as Marko, because I guess 'Marko's Magic Soccer Ball' just wasn't working for them as a title.

I'll forgive you if you haven't heard of this one before, as the game's so obscure that even the developers were apparently unaware it'd ever been released. Well okay VGJunk's heard of it, but his site's practically a shrine to the esoteric, so if anything that just proves my point. (Like I can talk...)

The game came out on the Genesis/Mega Drive, Mega CD, SNES and Game Gear, and I'll be playing the Mega Drive version, which I'm guessing came first.

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Resident Evil - Director's Cut (PSX)

I was actually thinking about trying out Silent Hill today, but then it occurred to me it would probably be better if I had some perspective first, something to compare it to. So instead I decided to go back a few years further and play the true progenitor of the 3D survival horror genre. The game that started it all.

Monday 14 January 2013

The Aquatic Games (Amiga) - Guest Post

It's been ages since I've played an Amiga game! (Can't imagine why that would be.)

The Aquatic Games Starring James Pond and the Aquabats Amiga Title ScreenThe Aquatic Games Starring James Pond and the Aquabats Amiga Title Screen
After all those 'orrible 3D Bond games last year, I'm sure you're dying to see a colourful, sprite-filled James Pond romp instead!

Friday 11 January 2013

The Curse of Monkey Island (PC)

The Curse of Monkey Island titleThe Curse of Monkey Island title
Curse of Monkey Island is the third in the legendary point and click adventure series, released six years after the previous game. Which was a bloody long gap, considering the first two came out a year apart.

This had new designers, a radically different art style, and voice acting for the first time. And since the original creator, Ron Gilbert, had left LucasArts, the new team had to come up with their own take on the series. Which was all a bit worrying to the fans, especially as the new guys would have to resolve Monkey Island 2's now famous mindfuck of an ending, which I'm going to spoil for you after the next picture. You have been warned.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six (GBC)

Spider-Man 2 the Sinister Six Game Boy Color title screenSpider-Man 2 the Sinister Six Game Boy Color title screen
Well that just looks nasty. It's like they took the title screen from a PlayStation game and tried to shove it into the Game Boy Color. Can't complain about the music though.

In hindsight I probably should have played this for the site nearer to Christmas, when Amazing Spider-Man's 700th and final issue hit shops (and made a lot of people unhappy), but sadly extremely obvious ideas often take a fortnight to work their way into my brain.

Monday 7 January 2013

Pepsiman (PSX)

Pepsiman title screen playstation
Hey it's an advertising mascot game, I don't think I've played one of these since Cool Spot last May. I doubt this one's going to be a platformer though.

Pepsiman was the star of a series of Japanese Pepsi commercials (youtube link) aired back in the latter half of the 90s. He's basically some kind of CGI Pepsi can avatar superhero who races across the world to save people suffering from cola withdrawal... by breathing cans of Pepsi into their hands. Or something. Poor Pepsiman never made an appearance outside of Japan though, and neither did this game.

Somehow I get the feeling this post is going to be wall to wall product placement, so enter with caution. If you find yourself getting a sudden urge to empty out your fridge and fill it with Pepsi cans, you should probably take a ten minute break. The screenshots will still be here when you come back.

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Bad Rats: The Rats' Revenge (PC)

The first game I'm checking out in 2013 is physics puzzler Bat Rats! I'm bringing in the new year in style. I don't know much about this, except that it's got a bit of a reputation for being slightly sub-par and that it ended up in my Steam library over Christmas thanks to a generous friend.

Thank you generous friend! (You bastard.)

Semi-Random Game Box