Resident Evil 4: Ultimate HD Edition (PC) - Part 2

Good news, this week's Super Adventures has been extended with bonus content, as my quick look at Resident Evil 4 has turned out to be a little less quick than I expected. This is definitely the final part now though, and you can click this link to check out PART ONE.

Despite the title, Resident Evil 4 is actually the sixth mainline Resident Evil game... I think. The first three RE games started off on the PlayStation, then there was Code: Veronica, which launched on the Dreamcast first, and Resident Evil 0, which was a GameCube exclusive. So if you were an impatient RE fan who wanted to follow the story you needed a Sony console, a Sega console and a Nintendo console. Resident Evil 4 was announced as GameCube exclusive too but fortunately it went multiplatform with a PS2 release later that year, and I'm sure all the fans who bought a GameCube because of it eventually got over it. Especially as the GameCube original is apparently the better version.

The game did something else to annoy fans: switching genre to a third-person shooter. RE4 has a much more modern gameplay style and made a lot of people feel like the series would never return to the awkward survival horror gameplay they loved it for. Fortunately Capcom did eventually return to Resident Evil 2 and 3 and gave them big-budget remakes... to make them more like Resident Evil 4. Someone must have liked them though as they sold enough for Capcom to start working on Resident Evil 4's remake! Wait, hang on, what happened to the Code: Veronica remake?

Resident Evil 4: Ultimate HD Edition (PC) - Part 1

Developer:	Capcom Production Studio 4	|	Release Date:	2005	|	Systems:	GC, PS2, Wii, Win, iOS, Android, Zeebo
	HD Edition -		Release Date:	2011 (2014 PC)	|	Systems:	Win, X360, PS3, XBOne, PS4, Switch

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm going to be hating on another beloved Resident Evil game! Perhaps.

I mean there's no doubt that it's beloved, you can find the game on all kinds of top ten lists (often just behind Ocarina of Time), I just don't remember liking it much myself. Other people considered the innovative over-the-shoulder aiming to be a big step forward in third person shooters, but I was left wondering why I couldn't move and shoot at the same time like I could in Max Payne 2. I also remember finding the aiming to really awkward for some reason, maybe because I had to use a controller to do it. You've got to be accurate in a hurry and that's not an analogue stick's strength.

But I'm willing to give games a second chance... that's why I went back to it again right after beating Resident Evil 5. I played it up to the lake and got sick of it; it just seemed really awkward by comparison. But I'm willing to give games a third chance, especially if I haven't written about them yet.

Anyway I've already said too many words, but I have to mention that I'm playing the Ultimate HD Edition with the higher resolution visuals, on PC. I wish I could do my thing where I compare all the different versions, but have a glance up at the list of systems on the top right, there's about 10,000 of them! Windows actually got two ports and I don't even know what a Zeebo is! All I know is that the first PC port had... issues.

Breath of Fire II (SNES)

Developer:

Capcom

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Release Date:

JP: 1994, NA: 1995, EU: 1996

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Systems:

SNES, GBA

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Brerth of Fireo! Uh, Breath of Fire II!

I played the original Breath of Fire just over a year ago, so it's not really fresh in my memory, but I think I thought it was 'okay'. Not all that interesting, but okay. Nice graphics though.

I've already spotted one massive improvement that Breath of Fire II has over the first game, which is that is was actually made it to Europe fast enough to get released for the system it was created for. We didn't get to play first game over here until the Game Boy Advance port, which came out five and a half years after its own sequel. And it does seem to be a proper sequel this time, unlike the other games in the series, as Wikipedia tells me it takes place 500 years after the events of the original game.

I'm planning to at least go through the first few hours of the game, so there will be SPOILERS below this point, but not many. I just felt like I should give you fair warning, seeing as JRPGs have a lot of story in them. Here's my first spoiler: if you leave the title screen on for a while all you get is gameplay demos. I thought it might give me an secret intro, like the first game, but it did not.

Right, I'm going to press SJARJ and see what this is like.

Breath of Fire (SNES)

Developer:

Konami

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Release Date:

1994 (1993 in Japan)

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Systems:

SNES, GBA

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm taking a look at classic Super Nintendo RPG Breath of Fire! It was originally known as Breath of Fire: Ryu no Senshi in Japan, which translates to 'Dragon Warrior'. Though they couldn't call it that in the US because Enix had already claimed the name five years earlier when they used it for Dragon Quest. JRPGs are confusing.

I've seen a lot of Capcom games and I've seen a lot of JRPGs, but I can't think of many times I've seen a Capcom JRPG before. In fact I half expected to see Squaresoft's name appear when I started it up... and then it did, because they were the ones who localised it for North America. They never quite got around to releasing it in Europe though.

In fact the game didn't reach Europe until the Game Boy Advance port made its way here in 2001. I guess they'd grown a little more confident that the game would find an audience by that point, seeing as we'd bought enough copies of Breath of Fire II, Breath of Fire III and Breath of Fire IV. I was fairly sure that the game had to exist somewhere, as you don't typically make sequels without first making an original, but it's obscure enough for me. I've never played it before and I don't know anything about it. I'm expecting dragons though.

The game's likely going to have a story as well, and I'm going to go through the first few hours of it, taking screenshots, and whining about things as I go, so this article will contain SPOILERS. I won't be playing any longer than that though, because RPGs are like really long and I've got other things to do today.

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (NES)

Developer:

Capcom

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Release Date:

1991 (90 in Japan and NA)

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Systems:

NES

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Super Nintendo by playing a NES game!

Nah, not really. The SNES didn't come out where I live until 1992 so I've got nothing to celebrate yet. A NES game showing up on Super Adventures is kind of an event in itself though, because for whatever reason I haven't played one since way back in April. Of last year.

In the West this came out a few months after Super Mario Bros. 3 and a few months before the Super Nintendo, so I expect the developers likely knew what they were doing by this point (especially as it's made by Capcom!) But it's one of those games that's managed to slip by me entirely, so I've no idea what it's like or even what people think of it.

In fact I'm fairly sure I've never seen an episode of the Chip 'n Dale cartoon either, though if you showed me a picture of the characters I'd recognise it instantly. I'll even be able tell you which of them's Chip and which is Dale in a minute as the game starts off by asking me who I want to play as.

Resident Evil 5 (PC) - Part 2

Welcome to the epic finale of my two part Resident Evil 5 article. Usually I'll play a game for an hour or so before I turn it off; long enough to start forming an opinion without going crazy on spoilers. But this time I'll be jumping through all 10 hours of gameplay because there's no way I'm leaving out the boulder punch scene. It's truly a defining moment in video game history, as it's the moment Capcom defined Chris Redfield as being the Incredible Hulk.

Click this link if you want to return to where this all began: Part 1.

Resident Evil 5 (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

Capcom

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Release Date:

2009

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Systems:

Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

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The PC version of Resident Evil 5 doesn't use the hated Games for Windows Live any more! Well okay it does if you want it to, but a few months ago it also made the transition to Steamworks. So to celebrate, today on Super Adventures I'm going to give the game a few hours and write down some of the things that come into my head while I'm playing.

I might have mentioned once or twice in my Resident Evil 2 article last week that I'm not a huge fan of classic survival horror games, and I may have mentioned a few reasons for it too. I think the core of it though is that I've got no interest in being scared, and when you strip out the tension there's little left to enjoy in the mediocre combat, awkward camera angles, and endless backtracking.

Resident Evil 5 on the other hand has very little to do with survival horror, so we've always gotten on pretty well... I think. It's been half a decade since I played the game though so it could be that my memory lying to me again. I can't even remember if the sinister announcer is going to say "Resident Evil... 5" when I press start. Though he better had.

(Click screenshots for a significantly higher resolution image, though still nothing to brag about.)

Resident Evil 2 (PSX) - Part 2

Hello, this is the last page of my first impressions of the survival-horrifying Resident Evil 2 (aka. Biohazard 2).

Click this link to return to the streets of Raccoon City: Part one.

Resident Evil 2 (PSX) - Part 1

Developer:

Capcom

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Release Date:

1998

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Systems:

PlayStation, Windows, N64, Dreamcast, GameCube

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I don't like Resident Evil.

I mean I like the universe and the characters just fine, I just don't generally like the games. But it's been over two years since I last played one of them and the site's been survival horror free for almost as long, so today on Super Adventures I'm going to be taking a quick look at Hideki Kamiya's PlayStation masterpiece Resident Evil 2!

And there'll likely be whining under every screenshot. Whining and analysis.

To be honest, this just isn't really my genre. I get the theory behind using tank controls, limited saves, awkward camera angles and a tiny inventory to enhance the tension, but in all the games I've played it's mostly just increased my frustration. But I'm determined to at least pretend that I'm giving the game a fair shot, for as long as it takes for me to figure out if it's any different to the first game.

(This article contains screenshots of explicit violence and gore.)

Mega Man X4 (PSX)

Today on Super Adventures, because YOU demanded it, I'm taking a quick look at another Mega Man game! Last year I played the original Mega Man on the NES (plus a game claiming to be Mega Man for DOS), but I thought I'd skip the others and jump right ahead to the PlayStation era and the fourth of the Mega Man X spin-off series, mostly because I was asked to.

The first three Mega Man X games had been developed for the Super Nintendo, though X3 eventually found its way to PC and the shiny new PlayStation and Saturn systems. But by '97 the SNES had retired, so the series jumped to the fifth gen machines exclusively.

I was kind of surprised to see that Sony America let another childish low-tech antiquated 2D platformer slip out onto their edgy mature 3D game system, so I looked it up and it seems they weren't overly happy about it. It apparently took sustained pestering from Capcom before they relented and allowed the game to get a US release.

Mega Man (MS-DOS)

I couldn't play NES Mega Man without playing the DOS game too. It's an important piece of video game history.

Apparently this was pretty much entirely made by one guy and is a completely different game to the NES version, but hey it might be good.

Mega Man (NES)

No one's dying to see any screenshots of this game, but I had to get around to playing a Mega Man game sooner or later, and I decided to make it sooner.

Aladdin (SNES)

A.k.a. Disney's Aladdin (again). I hate it when companies give two entirely different games the same name.

I'm just hoping it's going to be easier than the Genesis/Mega Drive game, or at least more consistent about it. Hey I just noticed that this is by Capcom! Makers of games like... Super Ghouls'n Ghosts. Oh.

Super Ghouls'N Ghosts (SNES) - Replay

Super Adventures in Gaming Replay - Game 7

It's been nine months since I last played this game, if you can even call what I did 'playing'. I mostly just wandered into zombies. I doubt I even made it more than four screens into the first level.

But that was then.

I've played a lot of platformers since then. Games like Super Meat Boy, the Castlevania games, Ninja Gaiden, Shadow of the Beast... I must have gotten at least a little better at the damn things by now surely?

So okay Super Ghouls'n Ghosts, I'm ready for a rematch.

Demon's Crest (SNES) - Guest Post

GreatOldOne shows some screenshots of the start to the second sequel to classic Game Boy game 'Gargoyle's Quest'!

This is a spinoff of the incredibly awesome Ghosts 'N Goblins series starring one of the classic enemies from the series, a Red Arremer, the annoying flying red demons who love to swoop down and murder you as you struggle to do ANYTHING to them.

Adventures in the Magic Kingdom (NES)

I'm not optimistic about this one. Wait, it's a Disney game? Does that mean we're going to THE Magic Kingdom, Disneyland?

Super Ghouls'N Ghosts (SNES)

IMPORTANT ORANGE INFORMATION BOX
I took another look at the game later, which you can read about here: Super Ghouls'N Ghosts (SNES) - Replay.

Time for a special event.

Nothing obscure about this one, everyone knows it's probably one of the hardest games on the SNES. I'm not playing this out of curiosity, I'm playing this one to win.

Today I'm going to see if I can finish SUPER GHOULS 'N GHOSTS!

The Punisher (Arcade) - Guest Post

Guest post by Nintondo Man.

I predict punishing.