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[Jiggy]

Eleven weeks and counting here; nothing since River City Ransom, which itself was already a gift to me. (But I would have bought it anyway.) Prior to this eleven-week gap, my longest drought had been four weeks. Four.

What RPGs and platformers in the VC would you guys recommend?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8722404&postcount=15780

Let's see.

Platformer: Donkey Kong Country 2 or DoReMi Fantasy.
RPG: Landstalker*.
RPG platformer: Wonder Boy in Monster World, or The Dynastic Hero. Same game with a different skin; TDH has a much more beatable last boss and CD-quality music, while WB has a more appealing main character and has the style of music that one would expect from a very good Genesis soundtrack.


*Or keep holding out for Earthbound, Shining Force II, Ys Book I & II, and others that are on the way--we think, eventually, maybe. Possibly. :/




Edit: Oh, huh, I hadn't posted in here for a couple of days. Catching up...

1) I want to clarify that I didn't mention Final Fantasy Mystic Quest because I have anything against it. For $8, I'd actually consider it; FFMQ has some pretty awesome music, the idea of enemy sprites degenerating with lower health was cool, puzzles were decent, and the storyline was (if nothing else) non-intrusive. (Now if only the battle system had any elements resembling complexity, the lack of storyline presence would be a bigger plus.) But whatever the case, I was just saying that nobody's really heavily calling for its release on VC, and that's exactly why I wouldn't be surprised to see S-E release it. They may just want to pretend it never happened, though.

2) Like others, I wouldn't mind more Neo Geo games if they were the ones that have great acclaim and can't be found on retail collections. Sengoku 3, Twinkle Star Sprites, or Pulstar, for example.

3)

On that note, I'm surprised to see people who can still find it in themselves to be disappointed at all by the Wii-kly Update. One would think we'd be used to this by now.I know I am.

Well, Virtual Console has an awesome 2006 and 2007 to back it up, and even January-March this year were nice. I don't know if I have enough energy to get disappointed anymore per se, but I don't have any hope for most other aspects of the gaming industry today catering to my interest.

(As for WiiWare, nothing to get disappointed about since we're talking about new titles and quality games can't exactly be created on a weekly basis. That said, it has like half a dozen excellent-looking or excellent-sounding games on the way. Not that I'll necessarily buy them all, but off the top of my head there's Bomberman, Alien Crush, Shantae, Adventure Island, World of Goo, and of course Mega Man 9.)

 

[gwiz210]

holy crap when are we getting mario rpg?

 

[kassatsu]

holy crap when are we getting mario rpg?

Maybe they are saving it for e3. Reggie will announce it is available for download and this thread will erupt with posts of joy!

 

[HUELEN10]

Maybe they are saving it for e3. Reggie will announce it is available for download and this thread will erupt with posts of joy!

That is.....

If the GAF's servers don't implode first.
:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

 

[gwiz210]

That is.....

If the GAF's servers don't implode first.
:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Back in 06 (before I was a member, I think) the servers broke down on all 3 conferences. Last year I believe it was just on Microsoft's.

 

[AdventureRacing]

Huh? That makes no sense... Dark Legacy was Legends with slightly better graphics, twice as many levels, and twice as many characters. The gameplay was pretty much exactly the same. What was there to dislike? The rebalanced experience system that gives you less XP for weaker enemies as you level up past them, so that instead of being able to level up consistently everywhere you need to go to the next area to level up best (or find a Black Death and steal a level from it with the halo)? That you can't see your character stats ingame, unlike Legends on N64, can't sell every item in your inventory in GC Dark Legacy, again unlike Legends on N64, and Dark Legacy for GC crashes sometimes? Annoying points, but they don't hurt it that much. Oh, and there was the new bonus level system too... unlike Legends on N64 where it saves how many coins you've gotten in bonus levels so if you get half of them in one try when you get back the next time you only need to get the other half, in Dark Legacy you need to get every coin in the level in one try or you need to start all over... it makes unlocking the bonus characters MUCH harder and more frustrating.

... Yeah, half of those are bad changes. But even so, the base gameplay is the exact same Gauntlet Legends fun, so I would say Dark Legacy is better than the original. Some of the new levels and areas are really cool...

To be honest it was probably one of those situations where i let my nostalgia for the original get in the way of my enjoyment of the sequel.

I still own it, i should probably go back and play through it again.

 

[KeeSomething]

I still have the Clayfighter 63 1/3 Cart. IS Clayfighter Extreme the Blockbuster exclusive that had the full roster of characters that they originally cut from the 63 1/3 release like the hand, the dog , the statue of liberty, the three kids atop each other or is it something else? The Snes clayfighters were better, hope we see those.

It's called Clay Fighter: Sculpter's Cut. I got it off of eBay, but I enjoy 63 1/3 a little more. And yes, the SNES Clayerfighter is better.

Fighter's Destiny, Flying Dragon, Mace: The Dark Age, etc...

I love Flying Dragon. It has its flaws, but I find the SD mode to be one of the funnest fighters around. Very underrated N64 gem.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Just got around to buying my second batch of Wii points, last time was last August. This time I got Paper Mario.

I was in the mood for 2D platformers and have been for a while (coughWarioLandcoughMegaman) but have been meaning to get Paper Mario for a loooong time, like since the N64. :lol Figured I should start at the first game.

Good idea?

 

[FFantasyFX]

Just got around to buying my second batch of Wii points, last time was last August. This time I got Paper Mario. Good idea?

Paper Mario is on my personal top ten Best Games of All-Time list. I could very well not be playing videogames anymore if it wasn't for Paper Mario. Very good place to start. Thousand Year Door isn't quite as good, but still very well done & worth the time. Super Mario RPG is vastly overrated and will cause much gnashing of teeth when people realize it isn't as good as they thought it was. Haven't had chance to play either Mario & Luigi game yet - probably should pick up the first one.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

3) Well, Virtual Console has an awesome 2006 and 2007 to back it up, and even January-March this year were nice. I don't know if I have enough energy to get disappointed anymore per se, but I don't have any hope for most other aspects of the gaming industry today catering to my interest.

(As for WiiWare, nothing to get disappointed about since we're talking about new titles and quality games can't exactly be created on a weekly basis. That said, it has like half a dozen excellent-looking or excellent-sounding games on the way. Not that I'll necessarily buy them all, but off the top of my head there's Bomberman, Alien Crush, Shantae, Adventure Island, World of Goo, and of course Mega Man 9.)

I agree, although the blow has been softened for me(for reasons I won't say here, because...well, because). But I have come to terms that the Virtual Console is trickling to a slow halt. But I will continue to support it, as I will continue to buy the games that I want as they are released.

 

[Ranger X]

Just got around to buying my second batch of Wii points, last time was last August. This time I got Paper Mario.

I was in the mood for 2D platformers and have been for a while (coughWarioLandcoughMegaman) but have been meaning to get Paper Mario for a loooong time, like since the N64. :lol Figured I should start at the first game.

Good idea?

I will tell you a secret:

Spoiler

it's still the best game in the series.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Fighter's Destiny was an awesome fighting game. I really loved the point system and reversal system. Unfortunately Genki crafted a really awesome engine but simultaneously created some of the worst character designs ever. Also it had pretty generic and low-budget production value. The best fighting games always have remarkable flair along with the solid fighting engine.

 

[Iam Canadian]

Yes, by this time, the "Wii-kly" update being disappointing has become more or less inevitable and I don't even bother getting my hopes up. However, I will continue to buy new games that interest me as they come.

Although as of now, even that is mostly hypothetical, as nothing that looks worthy of purchasing to me has come out since River City Ransom and Mega Turrican, as I said. And that's a shame, since, like Jiggy, the VC is one of the very few aspects of gaming that interests me right now, along with the DS, WiiWare and XBLA. For the VC to suck is a bigger blow to someone like me, because the VC is a bigger part of gaming for me than it is for most people. But it's gotten to the point where I really just don't care anymore. I just don't have the energy to spend on multi-paragraph dissertations on why the VC sucks now because...well, I don't care enough anymore.

Come on, Earthbound...oh, who am I kidding? D:

 

[A Black Falcon]

To be honest it was probably one of those situations where i let my nostalgia for the original get in the way of my enjoyment of the sequel.

I still own it, i should probably go back and play through it again.

Well, it does in part depend on which version of Legends you're talking about, and which version of Dark Legacy. I just tried the DC version of Legends a bit last night, and despite being as addictive as every Legends/Dark Legacy version, it's really not worth touching if you also have the N64 cart... the graphics are only minimally better, sound is pretty much the same, the levels are redesigned (not better, just a little different), but most critically, as I said, you can't save items.

Really, if you've played the game with item saving -- N64 Legends or GC/Xbox Dark Legacy -- it's impossible to go back to the ones without it -- both arcade versions, PSX/DC Legends, and PS2 Dark Legacy... being able to keep your items and use them when you choose really does make a big difference.

N64 Legends also has by far the best interface in any version of the series -- you can view your stats at any time! In the others you can only view them at the end of the stage when you level up (or not), but in the N64 you can view them anytime. You can also save bonus tokens on the N64, so it's easy to unlock the hidden characters as long as you just get to the stages (fail to get 50? Oh well, the ones you got were saved, next time you only need a few.), while in most other versions you need to get every token in the bonus stage in order to unlock the hidden character in question. That's harder and much more frustrating. But anyway, I still love Legends and Dark Legacy... I might play the DC version anyway, even though it's not as good, just to see the differences in level design...

It's called Clay Fighter: Sculpter's Cut. I got it off of eBay, but I enjoy 63 1/3 a little more. And yes, the SNES Clayerfighter is better.


I love Flying Dragon. It has its flaws, but I find the SD mode to be one of the funnest fighters around. Very underrated N64 gem.

I only got Flying Dragon last week, actually. I'd been looking for it for some time since a friend said it was good, but only just found a copy... and yeah, it is good. Definitely not perfect (why are there no win quotes or story text of any kind in Virtual Hiryu mode?), but the base fighting game is solid. SD mode is definitely the better of the two... but yes, it's definitely a good game. 47 blocks of memory card space is a lot, though... I'll NEVER understand how those "256KB" N64 controller paks fill up even faster than 128KB PSX or Dreamcast memory cards do, or why so many games use more blocks of memory than their PSX or DC counterparts! Was it bad design on Nintendo's part, or really lazy programming on the part of a lot of third parties? Either way, it's annoying. I have five controller paks and an X4 card, and they're all mostly full... sure I have like 90 games now, but a lot of them save to cartridge. In comparison, I have like 55 PSX games and four memory cards is all I need... oh well.

As for Clayfighter, yeah, Sculptor's Cut was the improved, later release of 63 1/3. It had four new characters, but removed some game system elements like 63 1/3's Killer Instinct-style combo system (if anyone ever used it in the first place). I haven't played it, but it sounds minimally better... it's kind of rare, though, because it was rental only. And besides, minimally better than awful is still awful.

Fighter's Destiny was an awesome fighting game. I really loved the point system and reversal system. Unfortunately Genki crafted a really awesome engine but simultaneously created some of the worst character designs ever. Also it had pretty generic and low-budget production value. The best fighting games always have remarkable flair along with the solid fighting engine.

Indeed, Fighter's Destiny (and its sequel Fighter Destiny 2; yes, there isn't a "'s" in the sequel's name, for some copyright reason I think) is a very unique game. The points system is completely different from any other fighting game I've played before... it's something any fighting game fan should definitely play, poor character design or not.

And plus, it has on-cart saving, something of a rarity in third party N64 games.

(Midway's N64 fighting games just don't save, avoiding a need for either controller paks or oncart saving... spin the dpad several times every time on the Mace bootup text screen to unlock those hidden characters! So worth it though, the War Mech is so, so awesome...)

 

[evilromero]

Midway was definitely one of the strongest 3rd party developers on the system (part of the Dream Team if I remember correctly). Surely they could program some virtual memory pak that would download along with the game. It might take up additional space but it seems possible.

 

[sfog]

Given that several Neo-Geo games already have emulated memory card support (Baseball Stars 2, Burning Fight, Magician Lord, Metal Slug, Top Hunter), there really isn't any good reason why the N64 emulator doesn't have it. I think it comes down to Nintendo's lack of required effort, since none of the Nintendo published or developed N64 games (with the sole exception of Waialae Country Club) require it.

 

[A Black Falcon]

Midway was definitely one of the strongest 3rd party developers on the system (part of the Dream Team if I remember correctly). Surely they could program some virtual memory pak that would download along with the game. It might take up additional space but it seems possible.

Yeah, they were on the Dream Team (as Williams, but the same company).

And indeed, a bunch of my favorite N64 games were from Midway -- the three Rush games, Gauntlet Legends, Hydro Thunder, Mace (one of Midway's best fighting games ever, really), Cruis'n... and they published Top Gear Rally, Body Harvest, Wipeout 64, etc... Rush 2049, Gauntlet Legends, Wipeout 64, and Hydro Thunder I particularly love. I played those four games so much... I could mention NBA Hangtime and Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey too, among others... but aside from Body Harvest and the Cruis'n games, yeah, they all either have no saving (the fighting games) or require controller paks.

But no, that is no barrier. All N64 emulators for PC worth mentioning have controller pak support via virtual memory cards. Nintendo could easily implement it if they cared. The same goes for lightgun and SNES Mouse support and the N64 Rumble Pack.

Nintendo just doesn't care.

Given that several Neo-Geo games already have emulated memory card support (Baseball Stars 2, Burning Fight, Magician Lord, Metal Slug, Top Hunter), there really isn't any good reason why the N64 emulator doesn't have it. I think it comes down to Nintendo's lack of required effort, since none of the Nintendo published or developed N64 games (with the sole exception of Waialae Country Club) require it.

I'm sure that's the reason... only third-party games required it. Still, first-party games like Mario Kart 64, Wave Race 64, and Excitebike 64 did support it, so that's not completely an excuse. And that's no excuse at all for the lack of rumble support, particularly.

 

[sfog]

The lack of rumble (at least for GC controllers, anyway) really doesn't make any sense, particularly since the N64 emulations in both the Zelda Collection and OoT/MQ supported it.

And before anyone gets excited about the ClayFighter 63 1/3 ESRB rating potentially opening the floodgate for more 3rd party N64 games, remember that it has no save feature at all, so the lack of Controller Pak support wouldn't affect it.

 

[Dash Kappei]

The lack of rumble (at least for GC controllers, anyway) really doesn't make any sense, particularly since the N64 emulations in both the Zelda Collection and OoT/MQ supported it.

I know, I didn't think it was going to be a big deal at first, since I've always chose to play GCN with the Wavebird instead of the wired controller with rumble. Then I dl VC's Star Fox 64 and fuck it, IT IS a big deal, I want my 1000 points back :-/

It would be ironic if the homebrew's emu supported rumble.

 

[Capndrake]

EU VC update:

-Ninja Commando (NG) (Note that this is not the awful Ninja Combat, Commando is actually pretty good)
-Art of Fighting 2 (NG)

 

[FFantasyFX]

EU VC update:

-Ninja Commando (NG) (Note that this is not the awful Ninja Combat, Commando is actually pretty good)
-Art of Fighting 2 (NG)

Hmmm . . . that's it? I guess NoA called up NoE and requested they stop making their North American counterparts look so bad. :lol Sorry PAL gamers. :-(

 

[fisheyes]

So we're back to the equivalent of one game a week? Well, we had a semi-ok run.

 

[Iam Canadian]

Two games in a week is the equivalent of one game a week?

Wait, what?

 

[Somnid]

Two games in a week is the equivalent of one game a week?

Wait, what?

Europe switches between Wiiware and VC every week so this is all they get for 2 weeks.

In other news: Mega Man is coming, I guess sometime this month since that's when Japan is.

 

[A Black Falcon]

The lack of rumble (at least for GC controllers, anyway) really doesn't make any sense, particularly since the N64 emulations in both the Zelda Collection and OoT/MQ supported it.

"Nintendo just doesn't care" really is the answer, even when it's totally nonsensical as it is here. The GC controller has rumble! As you say, OoT on GC had rumble! Why in the world doesn't the WiiVC N64 have rumble? It's so stupid!

Maybe even worse is the design of the classic controller, something I've complained about many times before. It's so awful for N64 games... shoehorning a six face button controller onto a four face button controller does NOT work.

For the best proof in any game currently available on the VC: Download Cruis'n USA and try to unlock the four hidden cars (that is, four of the eight cars in the game). The only way to do it is by using a cheat code.

Which is IMPOSSIBLE TO EXECUTE thanks to the CC and GC controller mapping setups which, of course, you cannot change.

And before anyone gets excited about the ClayFighter 63 1/3 ESRB rating potentially opening the floodgate for more 3rd party N64 games, remember that it has no save feature at all, so the lack of Controller Pak support wouldn't affect it.

Those Midway fighting games (Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Mortal Kombat 4, War Gods, Mace: The Dark Age, Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.) would be fine, though, because none of those have saving either...

War Gods is absolutely horrible (entertainingly horrible perhaps, but horrible), and Bio Freaks doesn't sound any good either though I haven't played it, but Mace is good, and MKT and MK4 are okay, for MK fans (which I am not one of, though I don't hate the series either).

It would be ironic if the homebrew's emu supported rumble.

PC N64 emulators support rumble, so I'd imagine a homebrew Wii emulator would too. The same goes for controller pak support.

Oh, and Ninja Commando is a pretty good game. Good shooter.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Sudden Flying Dragon 64 love? GAF gladdens my heart yet again.

One of the greatest fighters ever and one I hope will show up on VC so I can finally retire my cart. That I even got the game at all was pretty much insane. The game had been out for nigh 2 years and was almost toally unknown to me. One bored day I was flipping through my, at the time, massive collection of gaming mags and saw a full page ad for a game I'd never heard of that looked crazy good. So I thought, "Well, let's try."

Went to a TRU and found the N64 section...nada. I was feeling let down. On a whim I showed a clerk the ad for the game in general and told them the name....15 minutes later they emerged from the back room with a box covered in dust and badly scratched up---that box was Flying Dragon 64. Apparently as per the clerk, that store had gotten a copy in somewhere back when it came out, never sold it, so it wound up in the back stock room when some newer stuff hit. Somewhere in that time, it fell behind the shelf and there it sat while nobody bothered to touch it since it wasn't really hurting anything.

Handed me the game, rang it up, and it was $15 less than the default sticker price. Score.

Probably my most elated game purchase moment ever.

I've clocked in well over 300 hours with the game in SD mode...and much less in Virtual. I had gotten pretty well ahold of every single character save the Judo girl because I simply could never pull off her shit crazy joint manipulation extended moves.

There is no more evil a boss in a fighting game than what this game can make you go through with Shin Ryumaou. Whoever thought of that was more evil and cheap than the makers of the original One Must Fall 2097 for PC.

Random trivia: They actually touched up the game a bit for the US release....Jp original didn't even have quite the "backgrounds" that the US release saw. Of course, the glitches...bugs...and locilization issues kinda rendered that moot but a good time by all.

Power Points ftw! (and Suzaku Sky Dance...damn that was so cool...)

 

[Capndrake]

Japanese update next week:

-Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (SFC)
-Shining Force II (MD)
-Darius Plus (PCE)

 

[Conrad Link]

Thracia 776 is so hot.

I'm all hot right now.

Mmm.

 

[crowphoenix]

I'd buy FE if I was in Japan in a heart beat. I wonder what that'll do to the ebay prices, as of last year when I saw it at a convention, the game was going for 200 dollars.

 

[cartman414]

Japanese update next week:

-Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (SFC)
-Shining Force II (MD)
-Darius Plus (PCE)

Awesome week there. Darius + is notable for having an enhanced mode when run on a SuperGrafx. Not that that would likely show up on the VC version though.

 

[crowphoenix]

Wait...

Japanese update next week:

-Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (SFC)
-Shining Force II (MD)
-Darius Plus (PCE)

-Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (SFC)
-Shining Force II (MD)
-Darius Plus (PCE)

-Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (SFC)
-Shining Force II (MD)

-Shining Force II (MD)

-Shining Force II

II

Want! NAOW!

 

[Ranger X]

Man i wish i was Japanese. Powerfull update there.

 

[fresquito]

I just downloaded Art of Fighting 2. I simply had to, I couldn't resist it. It's one of the marking games of my youth. I spent so much time in the arcades with this game.

Now, after playing it for a while, I can say that it's stand the test of time... somehow. Now, one thing I forgot is how much I hate this Tenjim. I remember hating it with all my soul playing at the arcades. And you know, nothing's changed ever sice :-/

 

[MoxManiac]

Japanese update next week:

-Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (SFC)
-Shining Force II (MD)
-Darius Plus (PCE)

Fucking hell. Anyone who is complaining about us complaining about NoA's incompetence can shut up now. Japan is getting updates like this while we get stuck with wiiware shovelware #7382 and random occasional neogeo game.

 

[Ranger X]

Fucking hell. Anyone who is complaining about us complaining about NoA's incompetence can shut up now. Japan is getting updates like this while we get stuck with wiiware shovelware #7382 and random occasional neogeo game.

Just you wait for next week NOA with Mighty Bomb Jack and Bejewel Wiiware

 

[crowphoenix]

Just you wait for next week NOA with Mighty Bomb Jack and Bejewel Wiiware

Next week, I may cry bitter, bitter tears.

 

[The Lamonster]

Just you wait for next week NOA with Mighty Bomb Jack and Bejewel Wiiware

I hope it's Mega Man and Mega Man 2

 

[Ranger X]

I hope it's Mega Man and Mega Man 2

It would be too good of an update for America man

 

[Somnid]

VC-PCE hasn't updated for the US. I wonder if the TG16 games are delayed a bit or if the site is not updating regularly for the US.

 

[..pakbeka..]

has super mario rpg been released in japan yet? that's one of the few snes games I'd buy in a heart beat (the other being Super Metroid, which I already bought)

 

[Dash Kappei]

Japanese update next week:

-Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (SFC)
-Shining Force II (MD)
-Darius Plus (PCE)

WOW, just WOW. O_O

I guess FE DS insn't a FE:T776 remake then?

 

[Stumpokapow]

I guess FE DS insn't a FE:T776 remake then?

uh, no. It's a remake of FE1, like they said from the beginning.

 

[d+pad]

God, I wish I knew Japanese and had a Japanese Wii. The updates on that side of the pond sadden me as a North American Wii owner. Oh, well, at least some of us (them) are being treated well.

 

[sfog]

has super mario rpg been released in japan yet?

Yep, it came out there on June 24th, 2008.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Holy shit! Thracia 776 is my very first Fire Emblem. Good times, man, good times! I love that game to pieces. While I may have played Chrono Trigger 13x, I'm bored of the game now. I've easily played Thracia 776 20x and would still gladly go back to play it again.

 

[Hive]

Isn't Thracia the FE that costs hundreds of dollars to buy in Japan? It's one of the most rare games out there~ Japanese gamers are probably flipping at this news

 

[Cow Mengde]

I bought the cart used in Chinatown for 60 bucks back in 2000 or so. I think it was 2001.

 

[Jiggy]

I'd potentially* buy all three of those games showing in Japan. ;_; I realize NOA wouldn't want to translate Fire Emblem unless they could re-release it on DS or something (which would be just wonderful by me, mind you; I prefer FE to be portable), but Shining Force II makes me weep** and I'm sure Darius Plus wouldn't need much if any translation.

*As far as space shooters go, Darius never really caught my eye--the powerup system looks a little bland. Can anyone vouch for it in spite of that?
*Well, not literally.



But, whatever the case, I for one am quiveringly ecstatic that NOA has slowed down VC releases in order to grant more prominence to WiiWare, so that such luminaries as Magnetica and SPOGS Racing and Major League Eating might have a chance at selling a few extra copies and justifying their enormous development costs.

...Oh, except that's actually not the case at all, because Super Mario Bros. 3, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and a host of other best-selling classics are still available, still frequently show up on the opening page of the Wii Shop Channel where they can't help but be noticed, and are still competing with every new WiiWare release. So, as usual, I think the slowdown has created no gain other than a first-week boost for games that don't really deserve sales (because they can be played freely online or are horrendous shovelware), and yet is still creating the loss of preventing quality gaming from showing up.

Hurrah, sirrah.

 

[d+pad]

^^^ :lol

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Shining Force II needs to be on the US VC yesterday. Sure I own the cart but uh...I'd like to sell it and make a few bucks.

Personally I think SF2 is one of the best SRPGs out there. I could never get into the Fire Emblem games because the penalty for death is just way too steep but IMO SF2 nails it.

One thing that works about the game is the AI. There's a hidden cheat menu you can access in SF2 and one of the options available allows you to make every battle player vs player(as opposed to player vs cpu) Aside from making the game easy peasy it also leads me to assume that the programmers compiled all of these various possibilities from their pvp games for the main campaign, making sure that every encounter is not exactly the same everytime you play through the game.

This is important to note because many of the encounters in SF1 feel very scripted. The monsters tend to make the same moves no matter what the hell your guys are doing. I've even had monsters just walk right by my guys without attacking just to go to wherever they "need" to be. Jeanne D'arc does this as well and I find it positively maddening. It's no wonder the English lost the Hundred Years War when they're so stupid that they miss key attacking opportunities just to go stand in some particular corner

To add to that the game is quite simply quite a few steps harder than SF1. The exp caps(where exp gained from attacks drops to 1) much faster and the enemies hit a bit harder. The levels are also a bit more balanced so that one of your guys doesn't suddenly get 28 hp, 10 STR, and 23 DEF in a single levelup, thus completely destroying any challenge the map might have had. As a bonus completely broken characters like Domingo(serious a flying character that can cast spells? Ridiculous) are gone entirely, making the game way more balanced. There's also four difficulty settings just in case you need that extra challenge(normal is the easiest setting heh)

SF2 does practically everything else better than SF1 as well, whether it's music, graphics, controls(seriously, they even sped up the cursor that passes between turns...it's almost painfully slow when you go back to SF1) etc upon etc upon etc.

The SF1 remake for the GBA...well that was a mess. Rather than include the improvements SF2 added or maybe even dabbling with the additions SF3 brought to table they actually manage to make the game EASIER! A couple of brandnew characters were added and one of them is a princess or something who wields a club...she has something like 3525326326262y7574 DEF and can 1 or 2 shot most enemies, plus she gets +100 to every stat whenever she levels(And you get her less than halfway through the game). The only way to actually make the game somewhat challenging is to finish it and on the next playthrough the monsters get slight stat boosts(which go up with every subsequent playthrough of the game).

Anyway I've played through SF2 like four or so times..I really love it. Maybe one day I'll actually get around to playing through the SF3 trilogy. Since most of the game is icon-based anyway it's not like I need to know much Japanese to get through it.