jayextee - Tumblr blog

jayextee · 9 days

Text

Monster World IV (1994)

So y'know, I did review the remake of this a short while ago and decided it'd be criminal if I didn't actually ever complete the original version. So here I am, today a better person; probably; for having done so. My pristine lack of a criminal record intact.

Said review covers basically my feelings about the game; it's fine, enough, but dungeons being essentially double-length kinda dulls the excitement somewhat. And the ice pyramid is way longer than it needs to be, in spite of its rather excellent logic puzzles with the statues. And so on, so forth, so what?

Well this here original's probably a better game than the remake. "Probably" -- not being able to save anywhere reveals that perhaps the old sage who saves game is maybe a little too infrequent, and having to manually select and use inventory items instead of the remake applying some context-sensitive semiautomation is, well, it's an inconvenience until it isn't and death occurs because OG blue pepelegoo doesn't do it for you. Also you can only hold one of those, but really the game is kinda balanced so that you don't really need the stockpile the remake version allows?

Speaking of which, I could swear that bosses were a bit less slapdash and hope-for-the-best in the original? Maybe I got familiar with them in playing the remake. I don't know.

Largely the same game, but with ever-more charming art and colours, I'd elevate this half a point over what I scored the remake.

4/5

0 notes

jayextee · 17 days

Text

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap

(including Dragon's Curse/Adventure Island)

So, apart from the Brazilian release Turma da Mônica em: O Resgate, I believe I've played through every version of this game now. Spoilers, they're all 5/5 bangers.

In essence, one of the OG MetroidVania games before the genre was codified, in its year of release 1989 this was absolutely amazing and truly made me have no regrets growing up as a SEGA kid. I believe I've waxed lyrical in my review of the 2017 remake, so I won't gush too much. Heh. So instead, some notes about the three main versions before that.

The original Master System version needs no introduction. It's a solid romp, probably the best game for the system. Looks great, sounds great (with PSG or FM sound!), and is a nice 2-3 hour distraction when I need it. No notes.

The PC Engine version, known either as Dragon's Curse or Adventure Island (confusingly, given the series' spaghetti-ball of a lineage) is a fair enough game. Because it's the Master System version. Kinda. Apart from some changes to Lizard and Piranha Man, plus Lion Man being replaced with Tiger Man, you'd be hard-pressed to see any difference between the two outside maybe one or two recoloured skies. But I assure you, there's more shading on almost every visual element here.

This may sound like a diss, but despite it not really 'feeling' like PC Engine fare it's still good. It does run at a full 60fps though; double the other two versions here.

My initial impressions of the Game Gear version were basically to the tune of 'oh dear, oh dear me'. I wasn't impressed. Rather than redraw a whole game's worth of assets to compensate for the smaller screen real-estate, the game is instead crunched to a tiny space with simplified layouts in places. Combat is tougher as a result of the reduced visibility, but it's nothing that can't be adapted to. Oh, but I'd have killed for a camera that looks ahead in the player's facing direction. Alas.

However, as I played further, stubbornly due to my want to play all the versions of this childhood favourite, I started to notice changes that really improved things on a fundamental level.

For starters, the 'charm point' system is gone (buy what you want, when you want! As long as you've got the rubies, uh, coins), as with the 2017 remake. Unlike that version, however, the charm stones have been replaced with teleportation gems that serve to return the player to the main village on use. And there's plenty of them; perhaps a quality-of-life measure with the Game Gear's poor battery life in mind? Either way, it's welcome -- even if the lack of 'home' doors post-boss was initially sorta confusing.

But. Also. Due to the game essentially having a small-scale redesign to accommodate the crunched screen, certain areas have a particular new 'flavour' to them. It's now impossible to accidentally stumble into the lava canyon area before you've access to Piranha Man's swimming now, for example. There are a few interesting screens in the final dungeon as well, and the pyramid's key is now in the sphinx at its far side. Et cetera, and so on, and so forth.

Actually that made this version totally worth playing through, and I think it remiss to not have paid homage to some of the changes in the 2017 version. Ah well. Had it a look-ahead camera I'd actually call this tiny handheld version the definitive one of the pre-remake versions. But it's not to be.

Either way, I told ya. Three absolute banger versions of a great game.

5/5

2 notes · View notes

jayextee · 19 days

Text

pov u dropped ur lunch and they r looking at the wreckage

7K notes · View notes

jayextee · 20 days

Text

I don't draw Jet often but I like him a lottt

5K notes · View notes

jayextee · 24 days

Text

シャイニング・ザ・ホーリィアーク Shining the Holy Ark (SAT, 1996)

2K notes · View notes

jayextee · 25 days

Text

Apparently the Labyrinth of No End theme *does* exist in SMS Monster World III. It was just never used! LISTEN TO WHAT I PERSONALLY WAS ROBBED OF. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_scUpaM4RI

Wonder Boy in Monster World (Master System)

Aw, look. It's cute! Often whenever I play a SEGA Master System version of a Megadrive game around my partner, he says humorously-condescendingly "it's trying!" and, well. Often I see that.

Way back in the early 2000's when I had a stint of SMS game collection, this one remained something of an enigma to me for the most part. I loved the Megadrive original, so coming to a pared-down experience initially left a bad taste in my mouth. Sure, it looked pretty similar - but at what cost? Collision boxes seemed to be janky as hell, music restarted whenever entering not just a new area but a new sub-area or room. No, I can't. And I didn't, until I sold my collection because a poor unemployed undiagnosed autistic sometimes needs to do crazy things like that when money's tough.

Cue recent times and I have somehow ended up on one of my yearly Wonder Boy kicks and, yes, okay. There's this version I never really gave a chance so now is the time. After all, I'd happened on some YouTube comments somewhere that had people celebrating this cherished part of their childhood -- and who am I of all people to argue with childhoods?

So it turns out my past self wasn't wrong, the collisions on these things are absolutely abysmal. Oftentimes I'd even trade damage with enemies in a bizarre rhythm of I attack > they die > my attack animation finished > I take damage. Doesn't help that the sword graphic never differs from that 3 inch butter knife you start the game with on the Megadrive version, it's kinda difficult to call.

But that's not all! I'd had an inkling that some stuff would be missing from this version because, well, it is for a lesser console than the mighty GOAT itself the Megadrive. Warning bells in the first dungeon as there's no fairy companion to help out, and the boss doesn't have miniature versions of itself as minions. It just kinda shuffles back and forth in a set distance range, making it incredibly easy to find the extremes of this range and beat it damage-free.

That's far from the only omission. No ladder boots, trident can't spin, certain background tunes are missing (muh precious Labyrinth of No End amongst them!), no riddle of the Sphinx because he's replaced with the Tyrant Dragon; and to that end the volcano section is completely and utterly missing!

Ice area has no dungeon, just straight to the boss, sky castle isn't a labyrinth and the final dungeon only rushes two bosses in the boss rush. To say there's only half the content here would be a touch unfair, but there's definitely less than half of the experience. This isn't Wonder Boy in Monster World, it's a digest version with a lot of the best bits snipped out; leaving naught but a callow, whimpering, spineless husk of what once was. Curious about this? Play the Megadrive version. Finished that and still curious? Play the Megadrive version again.

The Master System has three great Wonder Boy games, which are some of the best games for the system. And then, it has this insult.

2/5

2 notes · View notes

jayextee · 25 days

Text

Shining the Holy Ark

Unfinished business, now finished. I didn't beat this back in the day, you see.

Okay, so, in a pre-Final Fantasy VII 1990's I used to love RPGs; what little of them we saw here in the UK anyway. Most of the fare for the SEGA consoles either began with 'Shining' or 'Phantasy' and, well, that's what RPGs were to me. It took a while to eventually respect Square's seventh not-entirely-'final' opus on my own terms, but hoooo boy did the hype put me off the genre. For a bit.

Going back to a game like Shining the Holy Ark though, makes it incredibly easy to see why FFVII broke apart the very continents and reshaped the landscape of the role-playing genre forever. Because what we had beforehand was, well, this.

It's not bad, really it isn't. It's just, well, very traditional. Very very. If you'd played Shining in the Darkness recently and someone told you there was a sequel for SEGA Saturn in much the same vein, your most-conservative guess as to what it would look and feel like would be this game. So, well, if you like SitD it's all well and good. If not? Nothing here to change your mind, I'm afraid -- it's all grid-based (kinda, some places deviate a tiny bit from that) dungeon (kinda, there are forests and caves and outdoor areas and even a mansion) crawler (kinda, you can double-tap forward to run) fare from beginning to end. Bit O' grind, too. Like parent, like child. I guess.

I'm doing it a little disservice there though, because I think the game actually is kinda charming. The plot is interesting enough even if delivered a little awkwardly. The visuals do as best they can given the gridlike constraints, with the Saturn even throwing around a whole ton of those forbidden translucencies it apparently couldn't do.

And it sounds lovely, too. In fact everything about this game is relatively solid, nothing doesn't work; but there's nothing too spicy about it all either. Turn-based combat's pretty standard with no elemental play or much in the way of high strategy beyond making sure all your characters are healthy enough to take the hits whilst delivering their own most-powerful attacks in return.

I feel like I should mention at some point the occasional puzzle; some of these are devious in a great way! Midway through the game there are two deity statues between whom seven gems with different values should be shared equally; and you're not directly told what those values are, only their relation to the other gems. Not wanting to guide dangit the solution, I had the paper and pens out to solve it myself. And I did! And it was great! I feel like more of that and less grindy combat in labyrinths, could've elevated this game from 'good' to 'great'.

In all, Shining in the Darkness is a nice experience. The kind of thing that we were all happy with until Cloud and Tifa and company went and pissed all over the place, but also the kind of thing that doesn't quite hit the same since all of that happened.

A traditional, if grindy, ride with few highs. Worth playing, barely. 3.5/5

0 notes

jayextee · 27 days

Photo

I wanna know what happened to this, as the demo kicked ass and I want a full version for my Steam Deck so I can back-to-back it with the Triple Trouble remake for a GOOD time.

‘Sonic Chaos - Turquoise Hill’ (2018) by @AStartShow (Demo) A fan game and re-imagining of the original, in the style of 'Sonic Mania’ https://sonicfangameshq.com/forums/showcase/sonic-chaos-turquoise-hill-demo.228/

65 notes · View notes

jayextee · 28 days

Photo

Been playing this lately after beating the remake. This original version's actually the better of the two IMO.

Prayer ‘Monster World IV’ SEGA Mega Drive

85 notes · View notes

jayextee · 1 month