Friday, 26 August 2016

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (NES)

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers NES title screenChip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers NES title screen
Developer:Capcom|Release Date:1991 (90 in Japan and NA)|Systems:NES

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.

Friday, 19 August 2016

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (PC) - Guest Post

Today on Super Adventures, I dragged my old friend mecha-neko back and made him write another guest post for you! We used to get a first person shooter a month out of him, now we get one every two years. It's fine though, he added more words to make up for it.

'sup.

Developer:GSC Game World|Release Date:2007|Systems:Windows

I'm guest poster mecha-neko and today I'm going to tell you all about a game I'm not too familiar with called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. I played it once, a hundred years ago, but my memories are hazy. It's the perfect time for me to stalk once again!

(Since I've got a brand new GeForce 9600 GT! graphics card, these images are presented in super high-res. Click to make 'em big.)

Saturday, 13 August 2016

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (GBA)

Splinter Cell title screen game boy advanceSplinter Cell title screen game boy advance
Developer:Gameloft Srl|Release Date:2003|Systems:Game Boy Advance, N-Gage

This week on Super Adventures I'm finally taking a look at a Splinter Cell game! Just not the one you want.

GBA Splinter Cell came out around five months after the Xbox original and I don't see a subtitle on it so I'm presuming it follows the same plot. But have they turned it into an isometric action game or a platformer? It's a mystery.

I don't dislike sneaking around in games but I do hate it when failing stealth leads to absolute disaster, so even though I've played a lot of the Splinter Cells I didn't play them very long. All I remember about them now is nice looking shadows and a man on the radio yelling at me for ruining everything. But I played them long enough to know that the generic funky spy music coming out of this GBA game right now isn't normal. Tom Clancy games are supposed to be about serious people on serious business! Not that I'm complaining, it's nice that it's cheered up a bit since its console days.

Alright I'll give it a couple of levels, sharing my thoughts as I go, and once I've played enough to satisfy my curiosity I'll finish off with a block of words that looks very similar to a review.

Thursday, 4 August 2016

Comix Zone (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Comix Zone title screenComix Zone title screen
Developer:Sega Technical Institute|Release Date:1995|Systems:Genesis/Mega Drive, GBA, Windows

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a game that was requested roughly... I'm guessing four years ago. I got to it eventually, that's the important thing.

I don't know why I've been putting off playing Comix Zone for so long, but I'm thinking the fact that it's bastard hard might have something to do with it. I didn't want to start it up, get my ass kicked, and quit on the first level. Not for this game, it's far too pretty for that.

The game was ported across to systems like PC and GBA, then later emulated on others, but it's mainly known as being Mega Drive/Genesis game released towards the end of its days. The concept actually came from an Amiga demo video from 1992 called "Joe Pencil Trapped in the Comix Zone", but Amiga owners never got to play the final game! An Amiga version would've bombed in '95 though, and the Mega Drive didn't exactly rake in the cash either. I guess it was just bad timing, releasing such a two dimensional game at the point where everyone was going crazy over polygons.

Tuesday, 26 July 2016

Super Adventures Top 50 Games So Far (Not really)

This week on Super Adventures I've decided to do something different and come up with a list of the top 50 games on my humble website so far! I'm up to about 1110 games on the site, so there's plenty to choose from at this point.

But I've been doing this for five years without giving out any scores and I can't remember what half the games are like any more, so ordering them based on my opinion of their quality would be a: impossible and b: boring. Plus knowing me there'd be a lot of modern games up at the top, mostly about shooting things in first person or shooting things in a sandbox, and that list would impress exactly no one.

So instead I've let you folks pick the games for me, using the laziest method available: checking their view counts. Basically this means that it'll be a list of the games that have done abnormally well on search engines or gotten linked on forums, with older posts having a huge unfair advantage. It also means that the list is entirely pointless, but at least it won't be predictable! And this way if Zelda, Skyrim and Dark Souls don't make the top ten, you've got no one to blame but yourselves.

I get to post some pictures and show off some games, you get a glimpse at what I'm seeing behind the scenes, it all works out for everybody!

Monday, 25 July 2016

Animorphs (GBC) - Guest Post

This week on Super Adventures, legendary guest poster mecha-neko returns out of nowhere to show off a Game Boy Color game about people who turn into animals going around catching animals so that they have more animals to turn into, or something.


Animorphs Game Boy Color title screen
Developer:Runny-Fun|Release Date:2000|Systems:Game Boy Color

What's up, docs? I'm guest poster mecha-neko who is a cat. You're tuned into Super Adventures in Gaming, where I'm gonna play Animorphs, an RPG on the Game Boy Color.

Be warned that this post contains flashing animations, and gratuitous images of a cheap cash-in title based on a kids book.

Sunday, 17 July 2016

Breach & Clear: DEADline (PC)

Breach & Clear Deadline title menu screen
Developer:Mighty Rabbit|Release Date:2015|Systems:Win, Linux, Mac

This month on Super Adventures, I'm playing Unity 5-powered special forces sequel Breach & Clear: nnLINԷ. Uh, I mean Breach & Clear: DEADline, or perhaps just Breach & Clear: Deadline; I'm getting conflicting information on that and as usual the logo's in all caps so it's no use.

As the name hints, this is the follow up to tactical counter-terrorism game Breach & Clear, though I'm sure it has very little to do with tactical counter-terrorism game Deadline, and I'm doubly certainly there's no connection to "authentic hotel maintenance simulation" Breach & Clean. I can detect a little Call of Duty influence though, as the game's gone from modern warfare straight to... hnng... zombies.

Zombies man, it's always the fucking zombies. Why is it never wizards? Breach & Clear & Dragons: Origins, it could totally work!

I'm coming into this entirely blind, as I've never seen the game, I didn't play it in Early Access, and I know next to nothing about it. In fact I went to do my normal research, looking for some stuff to write up here, and it seems that neither Wikipedia or MobyGames have an entry for it. So if you've ever wanted to add a game to either site and leave a semi-permanent mark on history, now's your big chance!

But one thing I do know about the game, and this is something you should definitely be aware of, is that a friend of mine worked on it. So I can't promise I'll be entirely fair in my assessment of the game. But this site's about showing games off as much as it is about my opinions, and I can still do that while being biased. So if you decide to carry on reading, keep repeating to yourself "This guy's predisposed to be nice to the game," in your head the whole time, and then ignore all my conclusions.

(Click any screenshot to expand it to twice its current size!)

Semi-Random Game Box

Princess Natasha: Student - Secret Agent - Princess (GBA)
Win, Lose or Draw (MS-DOS) - Guest Post
Down Load (TurboGrafx-16)