Retro Club - 8 & 16-bit puzzlers - The Bear and Badger

monkey

In desperation for something good, I quickly dipped into some Batman film games. I used to have Gameboy Batman on a pirated multicart. Wasn't awful but couldn't be arsed. SNES Batman Returns seemed like a bog standard scrolling brawler - CBA. SNES Batman Forever had some laughable photo capture, Mortal Kombat type sprite thing. Another stinker. PC Engine Batman is odd. A Bomberman-esque topdown maze thing. Didn't seem terrible. Might give that another go.

The one I really wanted to try was Game Gear Batman Returns which is supposed to be a reskinned Shinobi. But that rom wasn't loading.

Moot_Geeza

Die Hard Trilogy is three separate games. Sounds like you just selected DH1 (my least favourite of the three).

monkey

Ah.

monkey

It hasn't been a classic evening of gaming, all in all.

retroking1981

I never got the love for Die Hard Trilogy. The second game is a Virtua Cop style shooter, and the third the Taxi level you mentioned. The latter was a challenge on Gamesmaster which hyped it up somewhat.

You ever played Batman on NES? Was my favourite right up until Arkham Asylum. The Mega Drive game is meant to be decent too.

afgavinstan

Been playing this

It's decent fun! Certainly played worse.

Moot_Geeza

Ooh I did that this year. Or maybe last year.

Moot_Geeza

Moot_Geeza wrote:

38. Hook - Arcade (45mins)

It's been decades since I saw the film, which from memory was panned by pretty much everyone other than the kids it was aimed at, who mostly seemed to love it. The were a few movie tie-ins on various consoles, so fans had plenty to play after their cinema trips. Over the years I've tried Hook platformers (SNES, MS), a point & click adventure (Amiga - still bugs me that I got completely stuck fairly early on) and now a scrolling beat 'em up that I didn't know existed until I bought a hardback guide to the genre. It's....okay. A run move is nigh-on essential for me to fully enjoy random old school belt scrollers, and there isn't one, so it wasn't exactly an auspicious start. It didn't really get much better or worse either. A full 'meh' [2 out of 6] that doesn't feel like the devs were ever aiming for more than 3 out of 5 in the first place. Doubtlessly better with four players bangaranging through the stages, but the combat didn't hook me :eyes: It did make me think about how good a Prince of Thieves scrolling beat 'em up could have been though. Imagine a four to six player romp with proper bosses - bearded scimitar weilding jailer, Guy of Gisborne, Celtic Chieftain, Gobby executioner, the priest (who throws bags of coins and must be shepherded towards a window for a finisher), Mortianna (who can fly/see through walls), followed by the final battle against an ironically spoon-weilding sheriff (first phase weapon ofc - he then grabs a longsword as his entire health bar recharges, and tries to stab you with a dagger just before he dies). Now picture a playable roster of the following characters: Robin (all-rounder!), Marian (nippy!), Azeem (highest jump or something!) Little John (power!), Wulf (really nippy!), Friar Tuck (moar power!), then maybe Will Scarlet (backstabber extraordinaire!) and an unlockable Big Head mode Bryan Adams. Plus assist characters for team-up specials: Duncan (fires paintballs!), Brian Blessed (shouts GOD AND KING RICHARD while bulldozing through the screen banging coconuts together!) Marian's Lady-in-waiting (spearheads a hazardous conga line!), Bull (wallops enemies from downtown with an unexpected range attack!), Much Fanny (...he's on her shoulders?) and King Richard (tells women they look radiant before unapologetically slapping them in the face while smirking!*). Would pay all the monies and pledge to cover all the stretch goals.

*Removed from PAL release.

nick_md

Nes batman is fantastic and has one of the top tier 8bit soundtracks to boot. Got the cart but haven't fired up the old toaster in years now. Never didn't finish the last level either.

ALSO - I have an anbernic now because my wife actually scribbles things I mention down through the year so she can surprise me at Xmas. Amazing.

ALSO ALSO - True Lies is a bit gash, we did it a year or two back and it didn't live up to the hype from the time. Was quite samey iirc

Moot_Geeza

ANBERNIC_MD.

nick_md

The content I come for

monkey

retroking1981 wrote:

I never got the love for Die Hard Trilogy. The second game is a Virtua Cop style shooter, and the third the Taxi level you mentioned. The latter was a challenge on Gamesmaster which hyped it up somewhat.

You ever played Batman on NES? Was my favourite right up until Arkham Asylum. The Mega Drive game is meant to be decent too.

Yeah had the NES cart originally. It's great apart from the odd stupidly hard boss. Probably in the top 5 NES games. MD Batman was one YouTube threw up as worth looking at. Might give that a go.

Moot_Geeza

MD Adventures of Batman & Robin is worth a look too, if only to marvel at the technical wowness. It's almost a really good game too, just stupidly hard.

monkey

Also gave MD Alien 3 a quick bash. Retro was right, it stinks. The aliens come out of nowhere. You've got a scanner that's supposed to show them before they arrive on screen but it's mostly useless. You can glue your eyes on that, by the time you've seen the blip they're on you. I get what they're going for but it's no fun. It's like the thing on old games where off screen enemies shoot at you from nowhere but they've made a whole game out of it.

Still think the weapons are legit.

monkey

Moot_Geeza wrote:

MD Adventures of Batman & Robin is worth a look too, if only to marvel at the technical wowness. It's almost a really good game too, just stupidly hard.

Yeah done that. Great game if you've got cyborg reflexes.

EvilRedEye

Moot_Geeza wrote:

MD Adventures of Batman & Robin is worth a look too, if only to marvel at the technical wowness. It's almost a really good game too, just stupidly hard.

IIRC there are some ROM hacks available that fiddle with the difficulty.

Moot_Geeza

Sounds like a worthwhile project. It gets tough even with constant save states.

monkey

The romhack I've seen (but not tried) has Batman's weapons constantly charged up, which looks like it makes a big difference. I think I ended up using an infinite lives cheat when I played it. Save states were breaking up the flow too much even on the first level or two.

Scout

Gameboy Batman is one of my all timers. Still love it to this day.

Moot_Geeza

Minor shout for Batman Returns on Master System which is surprisingly good

ChopperByrne

Anyone mentioned T2: Judgement Day on C64?

Came on a cartridge instead of tape.

It's probably shite, but I loved it at the time.

Just listen to that synthy goodness for the intro theme.

Moot_Geeza

Yep, my neighbour had it. Looking at the vid I don't think I ever got past the bike level. That, Bart Vs the Space Mutants and Chuckie Egg are the only C64 games I ever really got to play.

afgavinstan

Chucked on the MD True Lies.

Deary me.

davyK

Anyone trying these today deserves everything they get.

That goes for those who bought any game on the strength of a licence at any time.

Moot_Geeza

Moved.

Moot_Geeza

Oh right yeah, Youtube shorts are shite.

Moot_Geeza

I need a fixer.

Moot_Geeza

Wow, three posts in the wrong thread.

afgavinstan

Scenes.

retroking1981

afgavinstan wrote:

Chucked on the MD True Lies.

Deary me.

Yep, fuck knows where the hidden gem status came from.

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