Necro's game clears and mindless musings

[jtucci31]

You forgot a "Good"...A copy of Super Star Soldier in the PC Engine craft's huey slot.

Whaaaaaat? When do they show that? I need to replay this game, it's great! I love the music in this game, adds to the cutsey-vibe

Watch the intro.

Just popped it back in, I saw it. Just plain text, but still pretty cool nonetheless

[Necromancer]

You forgot a "Good"...A copy of Super Star Soldier in the PC Engine craft's huey slot.

Indeed.  There's a lot of nice references in the game, like the huey weapon upgrade icons and pce shuttle and sgx motherships in the ending. 

[Black Tiger]

Lots of great special effects and parallax as well.

I don't like the chip tunes for boss battles. If they were going to switch from redbook in stages to chip tunes for bosses, then the chip tunes should have been both great compositions and featured good use of sound.

[Mathius]

You forgot a "Good"...A copy of Super Star Soldier in the PC Engine craft's huey slot.

Indeed.  There's a lot of nice references in the game, like the huey weapon upgrade icons and pce shuttle and sgx motherships in the ending. 

I was gonna mention those but wasn't sure if I wanted to spoil it for teh newcomers. The SGX ship was my favorite!

[Necromancer]

Clear #59 - Mine Sweeper



It's just Mine Sweeper, but it's a surprisingly good port considering it's from Pack-In-Video.  It goes well beyond what you'll find in the Windows game (play and edit modes are analogous to the original), including both The Voyage and Cook's Quest modes for more depth.  The former is 210 maps spread over 10 progressively larger and more treacherous maps at each of 7 battle sites and 3 centuries; the latter is a much shorter adventure where you lead cute little Cook through a trap laden cave, looking for eggs to make an omelette.

The Good: the above mentioned play style variety; decent and well varied muzak (see below); nicely done static intermission screens showing naval scenes; and quick and easy controls.

The Bad: no mouse support; 210 stages for The Voyage is overkill; and while the tunes are pleasant, there's only one song for each century of The Voyage, meaning you'll listen to one song for hours (not including the short little map success and failure tunes).

The Ugly: Accidentally hitting both Run and Select when you haven't been writing down the passwords. 

[Mathius]

^^Why do some games that really really need to use the backup RAM that's right there in the CD-ROM2 attachment refuse to do so? With hundreds of levels the devs should've known better.

[esteban]

^^Why do some games that really really need to use the backup RAM that's right there in the CD-ROM2 attachment refuse to do so? With hundreds of levels the devs should've known better.

When Cook makes an omelette, he was bound to break some eggs. 

[Mathius]

^^Why do some games that really really need to use the backup RAM that's right there in the CD-ROM2 attachment refuse to do so? With hundreds of levels the devs should've known better.

When Cook makes an omelette, he was bound to break some eggs. 

Nice one!

[Necromancer]

Clear #60 - Boxy Boy



A fun puzzler with a weird stage layout, where you must beat the first 100 levels to 'win' and unlock the second set, which you must then beat to unlock the final 50 levels.

The Good: it automatically saves progress and uses real words for passwords (good if you can't save); lots and lots o' puzzles, which get quite tricksy as the game progresses; handy 'rewind' button for when you make a mistake; no time limit; and the tunes are quite nice.

The Bad: The scenery isn't exactly bad, but it's very bland and changes little between countries; I'm not a fan of the fake endings, preferring that they just offered a difficulty selector from the title screen; and there's no reward for beating the complete game, instead showing you the same ending three times.

The Ugly: NA

[esteban]

I assume this has been posted in that other thread, too

[grolt]

Never really reading the manuals growing up, I always used to play the game without even knowing about the rewind function.  Passed the time, I guess!  The puzzles definitely are challenging, and the further you make it the more handy that rewind function becomes.  There are many games today that actively feature a rewind feature (I can think of Forza Horizon 2 and Rare Replay for recent games I've played), but it certainly was forward thinking back then.  Can anyone think of any games that predated this that used such a feature?  BOXYBOY was one of the first games I had growing up so I have a soft spot for it, but I've never finished it, let alone slogged through the other two endings.  You are more man than I, Necro.

[Necromancer]

I assume this has been posted in that other thread, too

If you mean Bardo's clear 'em all thread, no.  I started playing B.B. nearly a month ago, so this clear doesn't qualify.

[esteban]

I assume this has been posted in that other thread, too

If you mean Bardo's clear 'em all thread, no.  I started playing B.B. nearly a month ago, so this clear doesn't qualify.

Aha! That means if I start playing Boxyboy tonight...

[Necromancer]

Clear #61 - Alzadick: Summer Carnival '92



Easiest clear evah? 

The Good: multiple gameplay options (more than just the regular 2 and 5 minute modes anyway), good tunes, nice parallax areas in the background, and a well varied group of enemies.

The Bad: the backgrounds are mostly blandly colored and repetitive, limited weapon system, and the story mode is so short on actual story that it's almost embarrassing.

The Ugly: the bland one page intro and success pages of story mode.  It would've been so much better had they made it one story with two 'stages' and added a couple little cut scenes and credit roll.

[Necromancer]

Clear #62 - Super Air Zonk



A cute shewty that's pretty good in its own right, but it pales in comparison to its predecessor in most every way.

The Good: colorful backgrounds that don't suffer from repeat like those in Air Zonk, cool and different music (the game over tune is great), a well varied mix of baddies and zany bosses to blast, a neat stage select screen (sadly only for the first four stages), and you get more control options for how your rescued friend helps out.

The Bad: very little parallax, not much weapon variation, slow pacing, and you can't pick which helper you get.

The Ugly: NA