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[Timu]

I don't understand this TMNT 1 praise...for a lot of things it does right it does quite a bit wrong, annoying, or frustrating. It's mediocre at best. There are many, many NES games I would play over it, though I would pick TMNT 1 over most LJN games.

And I would take a well made beat em up like TMNT 2 and 3(since it's one of my fav genres) over a flawed and frustrating platformer any day like TMNT 1(and platformers are my number 1 fav genre so that says something).

 

[davidwhangchoi]

I don't understand this TMNT 1 praise...for a lot of things it does right it does quite a bit wrong, annoying, or frustrating. It's mediocre at best. There are many, many NES games I would play over it, though I would pick TMNT 1 over most LJN games.

And I would take a well made beat em up like TMNT 2 and 3(since it's one of my fav genres) over a flawed and frustrating platformer any day like TMNT 1(and platformers are my number 1 fav genre so that says something).

it's probably nostalgia, i was so excited for the nes debut.. a whole bunch of friends got together everyday after school to tackle it. with a goonies 2 feel with some catchy tunes, i thought it was a winner.

we all took turns and were pissed when someone killed off Donatello. This and Blaster Master were our games to beat. (battle toads wasn't out yet)

 

[Timu]

it's probably nostalgia, i was so excited for the nes debut.. a whole bunch of friends got together everyday after school to tackle it. with a goonies 2 feel with some catchy tunes, i thought it was a winner.

we all took turns and were pissed when someone killed off Donatello. This and Blaster Master were our games to beat. (battle toads wasn't out yet)

That has to be it...I played it in the 2000s so I wasn't there at the time to understand the fuss over it. Though I did play this one before TMNT 2 and 3.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

That has to be it...I played it in the 2000s so I wasn't there at the time to understand the fuss over it. Though I did play this one before TMNT 2 and 3.

makes sense.... if i played it now i'd prob pick some other games as better. that's what makes these retro games so fun... brings back good memories =) TMNT was a craze, everyone was wearing TMNT buttons, shirts at the time;p

 

[Timu]

makes sense.... if i played it now i'd prob pick some other games as better. that's what makes these retro games so fun... brings back good memories =) TMNT was a craze, everyone was wearing TMNT buttons, shirts at the time;p

It didn't help that the 1st TMNT game I ever played was the arcade one, and then I played the arcade version of Turtles in Time and finally moved to the console games afterwards, starting with SNES and then the NES ones years later.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

It didn't help that the 1st TMNT game I ever played was the arcade one, and then I played the arcade version of Turtles in Time and finally moved to the console games afterwards, starting with SNES and then the NES ones years later.

wow, you went from both arcade games --> 16 bit perfect port of turtles in time--> 8 bit 1st release.., 16 bit sorta spoiled the experience. i think EGM gave that a perfect 9,9,9,9 =) i don't think i would've been able to look back after that..

that arcade machine was hot (the first one) spamming that jump+attack move
heheh

 

[A Black Falcon]

TMNT II (and especially III) are better games, but the first game is easily the most ambitious of the bunch.

How is making yet another bad platform-action game, something the NES has scores of, "ambitious"? I don't think it really does anything that other games didn't do earlier and better, after all. Overworld maps? Many are better-designed than the often-annoying ones in TMNT. The presence of useless trap levels which serve only to drain your health until you know which stages to avoid? This is a negative, not a positive, and NES games have lots of stuff like that anyway. Random enemies that have nothing to do with the license and aren't all that well drawn? Lots of that on the system too. Bad level designs throughout? That's common for sure. TMNT isn't all that ambitious, it's just poorly designed. Sure, they were trying to do something more than just a basic walk-to-the-right platformer, but it doesn't work.

The beat 'em ups are just as ambitious within their genre. They just are actually competent games, which counts for a lot. The first arcade game was a big deal! I'm sure it cost more to develop than TMNT for the NES, it's got way better graphics and sound, more interesting level designs than many of its predecessors in the genre, four characters, etc. And then TMNT III for the NES improved on the genre's formula in a lot of really interesting ways; for a beat 'em up, TMNT III is a quite ambitious game. How many beat 'em ups have level maps anywhere near as interesting or complex as TMNT III? Very few! They put more effort into the game than most beat 'em up developers did on their levels. There are more moves you can do than in some beat 'em ups of the day, too. They are ambitious games. And

I agree with Black Falcon, TMNT 3 is one of the best. It has some of my fav bosses and fav music as well. I also agree with him on the 1st TMNT game, though I like it a tad more due to the music.

I haven't played enough of the NES version to remember the soundtrack; I have played it before, but not as much as the PC version I got, and we didn't have a sound card until '95 so I played the game with the musicless PC Speaker audio (though the game does have Adlib support, you need a sound card for that)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvLJeps0zis This video review of the PC version does a nice job pointing out the ways that the PC port is bad compared to the NES original (though he doesn't mention that the PC version lets you save, something you can't do on the NES), so that is probably part of why I dislike the game so much... though what I've played of the NES version isn't much better. The level designs and basic gameplay are bad on any system.

 

[Huggers]

In defence of Ninja Turtles. Firstly it has great music. It allows you to switch Turtles on the fly and you have to use them tactically (Admittedly Donatello mainly but you NEED to learn the others). It has cool cut scenes and story line. The swimming section is incredibly easy once you know the route. You get a real mix of settings, from rooftops to sewers to the Foots base to the Technodrome. Randomising the location of the last level is clever and really, you get to drive the party wagon. It has some weird enemies sure, but it also gets a lot of the enemies into the game, Bebop and Rocksteady, Mousers, the technodrome, Shredder. Plus you get to rescue April and Splinter. The game crams a lot in and is kinda ambitious. get your head around the weird jumping system and using the different turtles and it's very playable

 

[Seven Force]

Maybe ambitious wasn't the right word, but I do find TMNT 1's design approach interesting, even if it's a terribly designed game in the end. Agreed on TMNT III, though. There's only so much an NES developer could have done in regards to map design for a beat em up, but Manhattan Project keeps things fresh enough throughout to keep it from getting too stale.

 

[TeaJay]

I never got into TMNT 1, but even pretty well-loved TMNT 2 feels like a bit of a chore for me. It would be a lot better if the characters would walk just a bit faster. And since the special doesn't draw any energy, it's probably a bit too good not to use it constantly.

We did never get Manhattan project here in Europe but I have it on Famicom and it's pretty good. Although nowadays f I want to play Turtles, I play Turtles in Time, can't beat that one.

 

[D.Lo]

I wasn't at that point even claiming TMNT1 was the better game, but that it was strange to call it boring compared to the ultra-orthodox beat em up sequels.

In defence of Ninja Turtles. Firstly it has great music. It allows you to switch Turtles on the fly and you have to use them tactically (Admittedly Donatello mainly but you NEED to learn the others). It has cool cut scenes and story line. The swimming section is incredibly easy once you know the route. You get a real mix of settings, from rooftops to sewers to the Foots base to the Technodrome. Randomising the location of the last level is clever and really, you get to drive the party wagon. It has some weird enemies sure, but it also gets a lot of the enemies into the game, Bebop and Rocksteady, Mousers, the technodrome, Shredder. Plus you get to rescue April and Splinter. The game crams a lot in and is kinda ambitious. get your head around the weird jumping system and using the different turtles and it's very playable

Agreed. It's an adventure. It's rough like many adventures of that era.

 

[Tanoomba]

TMNT1 did have its good points. As has been mentioned, the soundtrack was great and the open world was a neat idea, even if it ended up working against the game by forcing trial-and-error to find where you had to go. It also tried to infuse a bit of variety in the form of the underwater stage (which honestly is not as bad as most people remember it). The fact that you could rescue turtles you lost was cool, even if the execution was lacking. The game as a whole was just too frustrating and obtuse for its own good, though. I never finished it and I doubt I ever will.

TMNT2 obviously couldn't faithfully recreate the arcade experience, but what it did it did really well. The fact that they added a couple of levels not present in the arcade was a nice consolation prize for the downgrade in every other department. And, of course, TMNT3 built upon that by maximizing what it could get from the NES's technical limitations. In some ways I find games like TMNT3 to be more impressive than modern big-budget games, simply because the developers had to be really creative and clever to make the most of extremely limited tech. Nowadays, for all intents and purposes current technology allows for developers to create pretty much anything they could possibly imagine. The fact that NES developers had to work within such severe limitations and still managed to create some truly outstanding games just blows me away.

 

[G-Fex]

I like TMNT 3 a lot a LOT A LOT.

However I think TMNT 1 is great, I know someone who is very good at it and I'd like to learn it myself, just to see how it is to play through the game casually. It does have a lot going for it it's not the most polished like say I don't know, bionic commando or Batman.

But it's very much the original tmnt game that really hasn't be replicated..everything up to now has just been regular old beat em ups with the exception of great ones like TMNT 3, The original arcade game and Turtles in time SNES.

In defence of Ninja Turtles. Firstly it has great music. It allows you to switch Turtles on the fly and you have to use them tactically (Admittedly Donatello mainly but you NEED to learn the others). It has cool cut scenes and story line. The swimming section is incredibly easy once you know the route. You get a real mix of settings, from rooftops to sewers to the Foots base to the Technodrome. Randomising the location of the last level is clever and really, you get to drive the party wagon. It has some weird enemies sure, but it also gets a lot of the enemies into the game, Bebop and Rocksteady, Mousers, the technodrome, Shredder. Plus you get to rescue April and Splinter. The game crams a lot in and is kinda ambitious. get your head around the weird jumping system and using the different turtles and it's very playable

Pretty much all this.

 

[Timu]

In defence of Ninja Turtles. Firstly it has great music. It allows you to switch Turtles on the fly and you have to use them tactically (Admittedly Donatello mainly but you NEED to learn the others). It has cool cut scenes and story line. The swimming section is incredibly easy once you know the route. You get a real mix of settings, from rooftops to sewers to the Foots base to the Technodrome. Randomising the location of the last level is clever and really, you get to drive the party wagon. It has some weird enemies sure, but it also gets a lot of the enemies into the game, Bebop and Rocksteady, Mousers, the technodrome, Shredder. Plus you get to rescue April and Splinter. The game crams a lot in and is kinda ambitious. get your head around the weird jumping system and using the different turtles and it's very playable

Ralph and Mikey are near useless without sub weapons, otherwise fair point.

 

[Timu]

I think Double Dragon 2 is a good example of a game with perfect difficulty. It's a good challenge, but has great controls and is largely not unfair.

Heaps of NES games are hard because they are completely busted. The best games are the ones that are challenging but solid. Eg Contra and Super Contra, Batman, Castlevania etc.

Hardest thing about Double Dragon 2 are the platforming sections. Otherwise it's not that brutally hard though it has it's moments.

Contra and Super C are awesome at their difficulty, not easy to get through it quickly, not hard enough to be nearly impossible. And best of, no death is possible even in less than a month of playing them.

Batman is a tough game, definitely if you don't want to die in it. Might require farming.

Castlevania has stiff jumping and enemies do a lot of damage, otherwise with practice you can get through it after several tries.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

speaking of difficulty: anyone ever beat Deadly Towers?

that game drove me nuts.

 

[Timu]

speaking of difficulty: anyone ever beat Deadly Towers?

that game drove me nuts.

Haven't played it yet.=O

 

[G-Fex]

Castlevania is great. But even though I know how to play that one just fine, I do prefer Castlevania 3, it plays so much more better.

I think just maybe, CV3 might be my favorite NES game...

 

[Timu]

Castlevania is great. But even though I know how to play that one just fine, I do prefer Castlevania 3, it plays so much more better.

I think just maybe, CV3 might be my favorite NES game...

Yeah, but isn't it the hardest Castlevania NES game?

 

[G-Fex]

Yeah, but isn't it the hardest Castlevania NES game?

Yeah of course. It's 3 times longer than Castlevania 1, and I plan to get good at it.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

Haven't played it yet.=O

i just checked and gamefaqs ranked it as #2 hardest nes adventure game all time. i played it for hours at a time as a kid but that game broke me.

castlevanias were challenging but within grasp.

 

[A Black Falcon]

I wasn't at that point even claiming TMNT1 was the better game, but that it was strange to call it boring compared to the ultra-orthodox beat em up sequels.

It is not at all strange to call a great game much less boring than a bad one... and "ultra-orthodox"? No, there's no other console beat 'em up that generation with levels as interesting as those in TMNT III! That's not orthodox.

Agreed. It's an adventure. It's rough like many adventures of that era.

The better ones are a lot better than TMNT, though.

TMNT1 did have its good points. As has been mentioned, the soundtrack was great and the open world was a neat idea, even if it ended up working against the game by forcing trial-and-error to find where you had to go. It also tried to infuse a bit of variety in the form of the underwater stage (which honestly is not as bad as most people remember it). The fact that you could rescue turtles you lost was cool, even if the execution was lacking. The game as a whole was just too frustrating and obtuse for its own good, though. I never finished it and I doubt I ever will.

TMNT2 obviously couldn't faithfully recreate the arcade experience, but what it did it did really well. The fact that they added a couple of levels not present in the arcade was a nice consolation prize for the downgrade in every other department. And, of course, TMNT3 built upon that by maximizing what it could get from the NES's technical limitations. In some ways I find games like TMNT3 to be more impressive than modern big-budget games, simply because the developers had to be really creative and clever to make the most of extremely limited tech. Nowadays, for all intents and purposes current technology allows for developers to create pretty much anything they could possibly imagine. The fact that NES developers had to work within such severe limitations and still managed to create some truly outstanding games just blows me away.

There is some truth to this, yeah... though modern systems do have their limits too, it's so much harder and more expensive to push them that few games will actually push the limits of the hardware; only the big-budget stuff really can for the most part, often. It's sad how the steady increase of game budgets has drained so much variety out of the industry. Yeah, you have indie games, but those don't push modern hardware. At their budgets they can't.

But besides that, it's definitely really awesome when you see someone pushing a limited system really hard, yeah.

 

[RadarScope1]

I'm eyeing an AV FC on eBay. Need some advice. Can anyone who has an eye for these things tell me if you think this looks discolored at all? The light in these pics makes it hard to tell...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351574315397?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[davidwhangchoi]

I'm eyeing an AV FC on eBay. Need some advice. Can anyone who has an eye for these things tell me if you think this looks discolored at all? The light in these pics makes it hard to tell...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351574315397?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

in contrast to these photos:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-AV...b&pid=100005&rk=2&rkt=6&sd=351574315397&rt=nc

the pictures (1st pic) themselves look a bit yellowed:
just be careful bc the seller is using the same photos for other auctions so it could be a stock photo for all the auctions (not the actual item)

 

[I am Christina Aguilera]

Did they ease up on that policy eventually? Because there is definitely an English-language Monster World IV on there and that definitely did not see a physical release beforehand.

Sega/M2's Virtual Console efforts on the Wii (and the 3DS to some extent as well) were really something of an outlier with all of the things that Nintendo let them pull off.

To wit:

• The release of a completed-in-the-1980s-but-unreleased English language arcade version of a game in Wonder Boy in Monster Land
• A brand new 2010s English translation of a 1990s Japan-only game in Monster World IV
• Added motion control in Virtual Console Arcade in Super Hang-On and Space Harrier
• Online versus support added from scratch in a Virtual Console Arcade title in Puyo Puyo
• Online versus support in a Genesis Virtual Console title, adapted from the original cartridge's X-Band support, in the Genesis version of Super Street Fighter II
• Support for lock-on functionality in Sonic & Knuckles -- to my knowledge, there was no other Virtual Console title that recognized and interacted with other Wii Shop Channel purchases
• Some compatible Master System Virtual Console titles had a sub-menu that allowed you to switch on FM soundcard compatibility (something that was never previously available outside of the Japanese Mark III)

Suffice it to say, it seems like Nintendo, Sega, and M2 either have a really cozy relationship, or all involved parties just recognize how talented M2 is with emulation and let them have their way with adding features when the titles show up from them that way. Monster World IV and Monster Land were two of the last Wii VC releases before the service finally just tapered off to later Neo-Geo games, so Nintendo may have just been feeling particularly lenient with those.

Total tangent from the thread, but I really, really like the Sega/M2 VC/3D Classics releases. Always some of the best bang for the buck on either service.

TMNT was always so boring, especially compared to 2 and/or the actual arcade version

it wasn't even worth exploring because it was so boring (rhyming up in heah)

Double Dragon 2 was pretty difficult since you didn't get any continues once you lost your set of lives.. I guess you have to be pretty good to say it's average for you, though I do tend to agree that you can win easier after playing several times and knowing what to expect ;3

I feel like it's often forgotten that DD2 on the NES has a set, albeit tricky, of three continue codes. You have to enter the right code for the level that you're on at the time, and you have a limited amount of time to enter it before you're reset to the "Game Select" screen, so you need to prepare in advance and be quick, but it DOES have continues available.

 

[Seven Force]

Sega/M2's Virtual Console efforts on the Wii (and the 3DS to some extent as well) were really something of an outlier with all of the things that Nintendo let them pull off.

To wit:

• The release of a completed-in-the-1980s-but-unreleased English language arcade version of a game in Wonder Boy in Monster Land
• A brand new 2010s English translation of a 1990s Japan-only game in Monster World IV
• Added motion control in Virtual Console Arcade in Super Hang-On and Space Harrier
• Online versus support added from scratch in a Virtual Console Arcade title in Puyo Puyo
• Online versus support in a Genesis Virtual Console title, adapted from the original cartridge's X-Band support, in the Genesis version of Super Street Fighter II
• Support for lock-on functionality in Sonic & Knuckles -- to my knowledge, there was no other Virtual Console title that recognized and interacted with other Wii Shop Channel purchases
• Some compatible Master System Virtual Console titles had a sub-menu that allowed you to switch on FM soundcard compatibility (something that was never previously available outside of the Japanese Mark III)

Suffice it to say, it seems like Nintendo, Sega, and M2 either have a really cozy relationship, or all involved parties just recognize how talented M2 is with emulation and let them have their way with adding features when the titles show up from them that way. Monster World IV and Monster Land were two of the last Wii VC releases before the service finally just tapered off to later Neo-Geo games, so Nintendo may have just been feeling particularly lenient with those.

Total tangent from the thread, but I really, really like the Sega/M2 VC/3D Classics releases. Always some of the best bang for the buck on either service.

I believe they were also the first (and only?) to implement a bugfix for a Virtual Console game (Phantasy Star IV's Level 99 Glitch).

I am so, so glad M2 exists.

 

[A Black Falcon]

I think that each hardware manufacturer may have had some authority over what is allowed on their platform, on VC? So Sega or Hudson could decide what releases for their consoles, but NES or SNES releases had to follow Nintendo's rules. And Sega had easier rules for sure. For a third-party example of this, how Interplay released Boogerman and Clayfighters on VC... the Genesis versions only, not SNES. This meant no Clayfighter 2 or either N64 Clayfighter game, only the Genesis version of the first one.

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Holy Diver is a tough game.

 

[Huggers]

Ralph and Mikey are near useless without sub weapons, otherwise fair point.

Raph is okay. Just had terrible reach but you need to use him at some points. Mikey is close to useless other than as a sacrificial lamb when you know you're going to take some hits.

Just thought of something else that's cool about this game and needs using to your advantage. When any of the turtles gets to half their life or below, their attacks do double damage. It turns them all into way more efficient characters. Leo is lethal on half life

In my playthrough I mention the other turtles games are probably preferable but the more I think about it the more I think the first is the best.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

Raph is okay. Just had terrible reach but you need to use him at some points. Mikey is close to useless other than as a sacrificial lamb when you know you're going to take some hits.

Just thought of something else that's cool about this game and needs using to your advantage. When any of the turtles gets to half their life or below, their attacks do double damage. It turns them all into way more efficient characters. Leo is lethal on half life

In my playthrough I mention the other turtles games are probably preferable but the more I think about it the more I think the first is the best.

i have the ost stuck in my head as i read this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEA8cievfUE

 

[I am Christina Aguilera]

I think that each hardware manufacturer may have had some authority over what is allowed on their platform, on VC? So Sega or Hudson could decide what releases for their consoles, but NES or SNES releases had to follow Nintendo's rules. And Sega had easier rules for sure. For a third-party example of this, how Interplay released Boogerman and Clayfighters on VC... the Genesis versions only, not SNES. This meant no Clayfighter 2 or either N64 Clayfighter game, only the Genesis version of the first one.

I think in the case of stuff like the Earthworm Jim games only getting Genesis releases on VC that the rationale might have been the publisher favoring the version of the game that would have been available to play on the stock Wii Remote, without the buyer potentially needing to drop another $20+ on a Classic Controller to actually be able to start and play the game. Fewer customer service calls and fewer refunds for people that skipped right past the controller information screens on the Shop Channel without reading them.

Spoiler

Doesn't mean that any Genesis fighting game isn't still going to be blazing hot garbage trying to play in 3-button mode on a Wii Remote with the A button next to the D-pad, but still...

 

[D.Lo]

I think in the case of stuff like the Earthworm Jim games only getting Genesis releases on VC that the rationale might have been the publisher favoring the version of the game that would have been available to play on the stock Wii Remote, without the buyer potentially needing to drop another $20+ on a Classic Controller to actually be able to start and play the game. Fewer customer service calls and fewer refunds for people that skipped right past the controller information screens on the Shop Channel without reading them.

Spoiler

Doesn't mean that any Genesis fighting game isn't still going to be blazing hot garbage trying to play in 3-button mode on a Wii Remote with the A button next to the D-pad, but still...

That's a really good point actually.

Damn shame too, SNES versions are better in most cases, eg Earthworm Jim 2.

 

[elmalloc]

What's the best way to get HDMI out of the SNES?

I have a few hi-def NES modded HDMI, and they look beautiful on modern HDTVs that have minimal input lag.

Would like to get back into SNES gaming, noticed some SCART to HDMI cables - is that the best route?

 

[D.Lo]

What's the best way to get HDMI out of the SNES?

I have a few hi-def NES modded HDMI, and they look beautiful on modern HDTVs that have minimal input lag.

Would like to get back into SNES gaming, noticed some SCART to HDMI cables - is that the best route?

No, cheap scart to HDMI adapters all suck. Read this thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=630556

 

[OnPoint]

All this talk about certain publishers having more control than others over what they could do with their Virtual Console releases really breaks my heart considering just how awful the PAL-on-NTSC sound of the Ufouria OST is. That they were prepared and able to put a proper-sounding version out just figures. What we got a god damned auditory trainwreck. That game deserved so much better.

Re: TMNT. The original Ultra Games (Konami) TMNT has a special place in my heart, but it is fraught with bad design decisions. Someday I'm going to sit down and play through it with a guide so I can actually see it through. There's just too much bullshit you need to avoid and I don't have the time to figure it out anymore. As a kid, I could make it to the rooftops after the dam. I believe once I made it to Metalhead (He's in the game right? I could be misremembering, it's been over 20 years). That said, TMNT2 and TMNT3 are better games in so far as they're at least clear on what you're supposed to do and immediately playable, if a little cheap.

 

[ToastyFrog]

The most hateful part of TMNT was the randomized location of the Technodrome. I rented and beat the game back in the day, which involved replaying the early areas until I had them down to a science. It was super frustrating to have a perfect no-death run derailed because I picked the wrong location to hunt for the thing.

I don't remember much about the final stage of the game besides a long, ridiculously brutal hallway and Shredder's instant-kill gun, both of which I could only overcome by cheesing through them with a full stock of scrolls.

 

[Mega]

TMNT wasn't perfect, but how was it so flawed? Because there are some tough jumps and buildings whose main purpose are to distract and kill you? Those all seem like very deliberate design, not a misstep. The way I see it, the game misdirects you into going the wrong way on purpose, just like in the underwater level where you can get turned around and miss a bomb before the timer runs out. The Foot Clan are supposed to be a dispersed super-criminal organization and difficult to root out. They're trying to wear you down so you never reach them, either because you get worn down to the point of death, can't overcome their traps and obstacles or you get lost (and die). This is superior to the TMNT 2/3 approach of stopping you by simply bombarding you with waves of enemy grunts. FYI: I played TMNT2 before this one and while I do generally enjoy 2/3 more, I see strong merits in what the first NES game did.

When I played this game as a kid, I wasn't thinking "oh that's a bad stage decision by the developers." I thought "okay that whole place was a bit of a diversion, maybe I won't go there next time. There's a turtle rescue over there but I may take damage attempting it (a rescue in enemy territory being dangerous? gasp), that pizza over there is a Foot death trap - avoid, this path is safer and quicker than that other one," etc. To a pretty decent extent, you can control and scale the game's difficulty and outright avoid certain dangers. The game's glaring issue are the sections that require tight platforming, such as the sewers with enemies who knock you into the water and out of the building... and those parts are few and specific enough that one can handily overcome them with some practice.

We complain about boring linearity and stuff like the easier Zeldas literally pointing you to the villain AND having the ultimate weapon to kill the boss a few rooms away. I think this game was a refreshing take. You had to find April. You had to find Splinter. I always liked the surprise element of searching for and finding the Technodrome (except maybe when it was literally the last hiding spot!), because it underlines that you are actively looking for your elusive enemies and their mobile hideout. You're not going to them in a straight line with radar precision. I liked that my turtles were as well-equipped with strong sub-weapons for the later stages as I made them be, decreasing the difficult if I wished to do so.

A Black Falcon, if you played TMNT on PC then you played a vastly inferior version to the NES original... which explains your comments about the graphics being bad. The PC port looks so much worse than the NES game and if the summary below is even partially true, then you really can't judge the game based on that nasty port.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/tmnt/tmnt2.htm

Despite the increase of power in the hardware, the DOS port was rushed out to capitalize on holiday season as well as the upcoming arcade game announced by Konami, so the result is a game that actually looks and plays worse than the NES version. The biggest problem is the speed and the ramped up difficulty. Yes, they made the game harder by doubling the amount of energy taken from you when hit. Enemies also pop out of nowhere with absolutely no warning, which is also worsened by awkward scrolling speeds. But worst of all, and the one little detail that makes this particular version of the game legendary, is the changes in level design. For the most part, each area is copied from the NES version wholesale, leading each section to look familiar for those who played it before. In one of the sewer sections of Wall Street, there is a small gap in the NES version where a short jump must be performed in order to cross over and avoid the sewer water. In the DOS version, this same gap is now larger, and the ceiling is lower, making the game impossible. There is no way to cross over, none whatsoever. The only way to pass over is to use a password to skip the entire level. Getting to the gap is hard enough in itself, but once you reach it, it's game over. Due to being rushed out, this glaring and fatal game flaw was left intact, and for that alone it's probably the worst port of all the different ones in existence. Graphically the game looks more cartoony than the NES, with more detail but worse proportioned sprites, and while the music is mostly intact, it sounds far from as good as the 2A03 sound chip.

 

[OnPoint]

We could go back and forth about the design of TMNT all day. I simply just don't enjoy how most of the open world is a diversion. Opinions on that may vary. My absolute biggest problem with TMNT was the fact that 2/4 of your characters are practically useless, and that healing items/1ups were insanely difficult to come by. I think the game has some great ideas, but there's enough wrong that it crosses the border into unfun territory for me.

 

[Tanoomba]

So no more love for SMB3?

I played through it on NES and up to world 8 on the SNES and was once again impressed with the many things that make it brilliant. Here are just a few examples:

- The elusive Treasure Ship was always a pleasant surprise when it appeared.

- Each world (except world 8) has a secret White Mushroom House you can trigger by getting a minimum number of coins on specific levels. The rewards (P-Wing, Anchor or Cloud) are items I never use and just clutter up my inventory, but there is satisfaction in triggering them!

- We all know about the warp whistle you can get by ducking on the white block for several seconds in level 1-3, but you can actually duck into the background of any level that has those white blocks. In most cases it's just gimmicky, but there are some spots where you can pull of neat tricks.

- Beating any of the pre-Bowser bosses with the Tanooki Suit, Frog Suit, or Hammer Bros. Suit will get you a different thank you message from the king.

- The "Memory Game" you trigger every time you accumulate over 80,000 points has 8 permutations, so once you do them enough you start to recognize the patterns and greatly increase your chances of stocking up on items.

- When playing 2 players, you can force your partner into a competitive version of the original Mario Bros. This can lead to real-world fights, so be careful.

- The statue form of the Tanooki Suit can destroy Piranha Plants, Spinys, and several otherwise-invincible enemies, such as those rotating flashy white circles, Lava Bubbles, and the engine flames. The Hammer Bros. Suit can protect you from fireballs if you duck and your hammers can kill Boo Buddies and Thwomps, making some castles significantly easier.

Of course, no game is perfect. In retrospect it's almost ridiculous that Mario 3 didn't have a game save feature. Also, although Mario games have a reputation for being relatively easy, there are some levels that are not only difficult but require obtuse and cryptic actions in order to clear. These are some of my favorite levels now, but when I was kid they seemed a little unfair. Still, it did so much so right that it's an undeniable masterpiece of gaming.



Also, can anyone clarify the procedure for recommending next month's game? Every time I try I get linked to a closed thread saying the game has already been chosen.

 

[OnPoint]

So no more love for SMB3?

...

Also, can anyone clarify the procedure for recommending next month's game? Every time I try I get linked to a closed thread saying the game has already been chosen.

I just moved, but I'm super close to being able to sit down finally and play a bunch of it. My game room is almost set up. I kinda can't wait.

As for the choosing next month's game situation, I'm going to have to redo the process. I'll update you guys as soon as I have it up.

That said, make some nominations and I'll get a voting link together!

 

[Tanoomba]

That said, make some nominations and I'll get a voting link together!

Hmmm, I've got a ton of suggestions, but at the risk of repeating them all every month I'll stick to one at a time.

My suggestion (if it meets the requirements) is Pinball Quest, a super-charming and ambitious pinball game with minor RPG elements.

 

[OnPoint]

I'll nominate ol' vanilla Kung Fu.

 

[RoryDropkick]

I nominate Rygar.

 

[OnPoint]

For this month we'll cap it at 5 and start voting once they're all there. Right now it's

1. Pinball Quest
2. Kung Fu
3. Rygar
4. ????
5. ?????

 

[I am Christina Aguilera]

All this talk about certain publishers having more control than others over what they could do with their Virtual Console releases really breaks my heart considering just how awful the PAL-on-NTSC sound of the Ufouria OST is. That they were prepared and able to put a proper-sounding version out just figures. What we got a god damned auditory trainwreck. That game deserved so much better.

Ah, I was mistaken, it wasn't the unreleased NTSC version of Ufouria that Nintendo rejected, it was going to be the Japanese NTSC "Hebereke" version of the game (with the different protagonists) with the PAL Ufouria English translation wedged into it. It sounds like the decision was ultimately some combination of Nintendo not approving code that wasn't previously released, online fan demand for the release to use the Ufouria characters instead, and Sunsoft's people in Japan wanting to use the PAL release in North America.

I'll remind everyone that Nintendo's Kung Fu port of Irem's arcade Kung Fu Master was one of the games, along with Excitebike, that Miyamoto has expressed in an Iwata Asks as being instrumental in R&D4/EAD cutting their teeth on making a scrolling game in the lead-up to making Super Mario Bros., so while it's an incredibly simplistic game, there is some SMB1 DNA in there somewhere.

Have you guys done Little Ninja Brothers yet?

 

[theSlacker]

In honor of recent discussion, I nominate TMNT. :3

Spoiler

Or Wizards and Warriors.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

I nominate Rygar.

classic=)

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I'll nominate Street Fighter 2010.

 

[OnPoint]

Well, there we have it!

1. Pinball Quest
2. Kung Fu
3. Rygar
4. TMNT
5. Street Fighter 2010

 

[TeaJay]

I'll vote for Rygar, since it's the only one of these games I own currently. (or rather Argos no Senshi)