Monthly Retro Game Club

[Nelemania]

@GigaDeathNullGolem

oh wow you should def check out thief if you dont mind aged graphics and some gameplay… the first Thief was such a pleasure to play a few years ago (fully playthrough for the first time) Really did like the story and aesthetic of it. The whole series was worthwhile… And if you want more… The Dark Mod

I have it already installed and I will try to play it to the end credits this month. I also checked the Dark Mod website and put it in my favorites, but I guess I would play the other Thief games first if I get hooked. Thank you very much for pointing me to this, it looks very promising!

The Indiana Jones game is also installed and awaiting me. I might rewatch the movies too for the whole experience.

I still haven’t decided finally for the RTS one, I might read a bit first about the genre in general. Because I have already so much on my plate for this month, it will have to wait for a bit. I will probably ask around again when I make my final decision between a handful of options that I have. Dawn of War 2 is a game that I own (even multiple versions) so it is a strong contender.

I wish everyone a happy Retro Game Club month of June!
Let the old treasures shine again!

[BMO]

Good morning all. Although I didn’t get a chance to post a poll, I am borrowing one title from the suggestions above. I also have a title out of left field but I think people might understand why I’ve chosen it given a little movie that drops this weekend. Regardless, happy retro gaming!

June Retro Games

Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis (WinPC, MAC, Linux, Wii)

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is a point-and-click adventure game developed and published by LucasArts and originally released on June 1, 1992, for Amiga, DOS and Macintosh. Almost a year later, it was reissued on CD-ROM as an enhanced “talkie” edition with full voice acting and digitized sound effects. The seventh game to use the script language SCUMM, Fate of Atlantis has the player explore environments and interact with objects and characters by using commands constructed with predetermined verbs. It features three unique paths to select, influencing story development, gameplay and puzzles.

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Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (SNES, Genesis/Megadrive)

Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Mega Drive/Genesis, developed by Software Creations and published by Acclaim Entertainment and its subsidiary LJN in 1994. The game, based on the comic book story arc of the same name, features numerous heroes, including Spider-Man, Venom, and their allies from the Marvel Comics fictional universe like Captain America, Black Cat, Iron Fist, Cloak and Dagger, Deathlok, Morbius and Firestar, all teaming up to battle an onslaught of villains led by Carnage, including Shriek, Doppelganger, Demogoblin and Carrion.

The first prints of the game for the Super NES and Genesis were sold in red-colored cartridges. Later prints came in standard-colored cartridges. It was followed up by a sequel titled Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety.

The game received mixed reviews upon its release, but in later years, reviews have been more positive and it is regarded as one of the better Spider-Man games in the 16-bit era.

[BMO]

I am still mulling over selecting ALttP and/or The Minish Cap for one of the coming months, but I thought maybe it best to allow some breathing room between TotK and other Zelda games.

[GigaDeathNullGolem]

@BMO

published by Acclaim Entertainment and its subsidiary LJN in 1994

BMO did it and finally dropped the notorious LJN. The based on movie/franchise pipeline (and usually quite poor or even awful) hits Retro Club!

I’m just too curious to check out this recommendation to let it slide by.

[BMO]

My understanding is that this game has experienced a bit of a rennaisannce so I’m curious to find out myself.

[shinespark]

I’m still wrapping up on Psychonauts 2, but I’m excited to finally check out Indiana Jones! Having 3 entirely separate paths through the game (a social route, a logical route, and a pugilist route) was a really novel idea at the time, and is almost unheard of in today’s environment of ballooning game dev costs. For myself, I’m gonna try the social path!

Also, glancing at the game’s listing on Steam, it looks like the modern release defaults to using a lousy midi version of the soundtrack and sfx. But apparently there’s a workaround to enable the fuller MT-32 sound by running the Steam release through ScummVM, as outlined in this helpful review.

(I’ve never tried an LJN game on account of their reputation, but I suppose it couldn’t hurt to see if the legends are true…)

[GigaDeathNullGolem]

@BMO

Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage Game Box Art991×716 108 KB

Just finished this. I felt bad giving up so easy and just dropping it. Was OK, was short. Not a terrible LJN Conversion cause it controls fine/plays ok/works as a game fine and it all seems pretty true to it’s lore material and doesnt do any weird things with it (Unlike say… gosh Total Recall sure comes to mind!). by any means but its just a mediocre 2.5D beat 'em up imo. Also I think that terrible second level is slightly easier on the SNES version… but it could just be that after playing the whole thing on genesis into the late game difficulty, the second level didn’t seem as hard when playing it again. I wasn’t planning to play with anyone, but I was also a little disappointed this didn’t have a two-player mode. Feels like a bad choice. The later game would have been so much easier with a helping hand

Which version are you RetroGrouvers playing? Which do you like more? These two ports are really close, more so than most SNES/MD ports… Who beat this game legit? (Its pretty hard in the last half)

[BMO]

I’ve read that this is an instance where the SNES version is much better. I’ll try both to see for myself.

Not to nitpick wouldn’t it be a 2D brawler rather than 2.5D? I think of 2.5D as 2D games with either pre- or love-rendered 3D models instead of 2D sprites.

[Reset_Tears]

Giga may be referring to how you can walk not only left and right, but also into the foreground and background a tad (as the camera view is tilted somewhat to give a view of the path you’re on). The term I think works best for this is “belt-scroll beat-em-up.” (Terms like that or simply “belt action” were used in Japan – think of sushi conveyor belts and whatnot.) Stuff like Kunio-kun, Double Dragon, Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Simpsons, Ninja Turtles, X-Men, and so on used this style. I think this is the style most people think of right away for beat-em-up (or brawler) in general, since it was so popular.

For games where you’re restricted to a single 2D plane of movement – like in Kung-Fu Master, Ninja Warriors, and Splatterhouse – I often see those simply called a side-scrolling beat-em-up, but “single-plane beat-em-up” would be more specific. For these there is often a lot of overlap with 2D hack-and-slash or other variations of 2D (side-scrolling) action games, so it can be debatable what counts as a beat-em-up (think things like Strider or Shinobi).

[BMO]

This is what I was thinking, that the reference may be due to the use of multiple planes to create the illusion of there being an Z axis when you’re really moving along Y with perspective used to simulate depth.

[GigaDeathNullGolem]

@Reset_Tears

The term I think works best for this is “belt-scroll beat-em-up.” (Terms like that or simply “belt action” were used in Japan – think of sushi conveyor belts and whatnot.) Stuff like Kunio-kun, Double Dragon, Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Simpsons, Ninja Turtles, X-Men, and so on used this style. I think this is the style most people think of right away for beat-em-up (or brawler) in general, since it was so popular.

LOL sushi belt brawler. Thank you for dropping this lore. and yes you explained what I meant by 2.5D

time to spawn a new genre… with a new sushi roll I call Magnum Shot! (combines 2.5D Brawling with fast paced platform shooting… I dont know if i’ve actually come across in the wild a game that was in fact equally both (and did not lean towards platform shooting or the fighting, but some are close such as Batman)

There are however a few games that are third person shooters and 3D Fighting/brawlers (Oni comes to mind, doing both competently)

Compare this concept of a sushi belt fighter with that of the Walking Shooter where you slowly advance to the left or right in the same way as you would a brawler. I thought the term for that actually was ‘walking shooter’ but walking shooter is inclusive of everything from top down to platform shooting.

There are some other oddities: check out these two games I found looking at ‘vertical fighting’
Riding Fight

“A Front View Speed-Action Game”

Clearly, this one is doing a lot of things that are pretty unusual. it’s like a behind-the-back shooter but its a brawler…

And then there are literally games that dont let you scroll left to right but only bottom to top (usually not the other way around) Both fighting and shooting games… they are usually top down perspective (top down shooters, such as Ikari Warriors)

[shinespark]

Finished Fate of Atlantis, I mostly didn’t like it. The pixel backdrops are lovely, the overall atmosphere feels right, and there’s some fun banter with your partner, but the puzzles are pretty dire even for the genre. Especially in the back half, you can feel the game desperately padding out its runtime with tons of pixel hunting, obtuse logic, and backtracking that turn the whole experience into a slog.

Still cool to finally play it myself like 25 years after watching my uncle stumble his way through it, but of the LucasArts adventures I’ve played it’s easily my least favorite.

[NIQ_m2]

I just defeated The Minish Cap for my first time; it was quite an experience

[BMO]

Anyone interested in making Super Mario RPG one of our choices in the coming months before the remake drops? I haven’t played it since I was in high school, so I’d be down to replay it before playing the remake.

[BMO]

Hi all,

I’m with @Reset_Tears and agree with the suggestion that Crusader of Centy could be one of our July titles since it’s available on Nintendo Online. It’s considered Sega’s Zelda, and I have always wanted to play it.

That means we have two potential candidates so far, with Crusader of Centy and Super Mario RPG. Does anyone have any thoughts or want to nominate anything else?

[Reset_Tears]

Since those are both RPGs, it might be worth splitting them up (e.g. one in July, the other in August).

For other game options, I am thinking of going through all the Game Gear games added to Sonic Origins (Plus). If I were to suggest one title there for discussion, I’ve always found the spinoff Tails’ Adventure the most interesting of the bunch. Basically a slower-paced metroidvania(ish) with a focus on using a wide array of items to get through stages, rather than platforming.

[BMO]

I’m of two minds. One was that I considered they are both RPG/Adventure games and people might not have time for both, so that’s why I am open to suggestions. But, on the other hand, I know not everyone plays both so it gives people choices. But ultimately, I think you’re right.

[georgeypoorgey]

Are there any easy ways to play Super Mario RPG? I own the game and a still-working SNES, but setting all that stuff up on a modern TV seems like a pain in the tuchus

[WerqKween]

Wii Virtual Console is how I did, but… that’s not helpful. “Any way you can?”

[BMO]

I would say emulation is your best friend here. I’m willing to forego Super Mario RPG for now if people have a hard time accessing it. We could go with both of @Reset_Tears suggestions.