thunderjolt

[thunderjolt]

batman: return of the joker (nes)

this game is not quite to the standard of the first game in terms of gameplay. the new, different mechanics are fine (although they maybe feel less "batman") but the level design is routinely unfair, requiring the player to ploddingly inch forward to not get shot by just-offscreen traps and enemies that are impossible to react to, and even sometimes force you to take a hit when you know they're coming.

what makes this game worth playing is the presentation. the first batman was already a looker, but this game is on a whole 'nother level. it nearly doesn't feel like an NES game. large, detailed sprites, minimal slowdown and flicker, parallax scrolling up the wazoo and in general tons of visual tricks that are all a delight to see play out. also, the soundtrack is once again excellent, living up to even the first game's lofty standards.

[thunderjolt]

batman (nes)

here's one that's been on the bucket list since childhood. sunsoft's batman was one of the few good nes games i owned as a kid, and i was always terrible at it. as an adult, it's a fun (but tough!) evening.

this game is pretty much peak NES. it has superb controls, clever and challenging level design, stunning graphics and incredible music. basically what sunsoft is known for. comes highly recommended!

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prey (2017)

i beat this one a while ago, but never got around to making a post about it. i think it's pretty good. it was my first real dive into a proper immersive sim and i really appreciated the game's art design and worldbuilding. i also liked the often-derided combat, which i felt let me play in the way i want. it would overall just be a "pretty good" experience if it weren't for the last hour and a half or so, which is just super intense and enthralling.

i think i do indeed like this style of game, i hope to play more of em soon

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arzette: the jewel of faramore

here's a release from back in february i was anticipating but had to skip, because february releases were insane. but i'm glad i got around to it! mostly.

arzette is not really stellar as just a game. its gameplay is strictly "serviceable." very simple 2d platforming with very simple combat and extremely simple boss fights. the game involves a lot of backtracking and fetch questing, which while fine for me, would probably be far more grating for other people.

still, it's worth a playthrough. the runtime is very short at just 3 hours, and the cd-i style cutscenes (animated by many YTP legends) are truly fun. one thing i really respect about this game is just how earnest its love for the cd-i games is. it dutifully recreates the best possible version of their gameplay (for better or for worse) and while the goofy tone is always present, the story is never pure parody. it attempts to have real character moments, real emotion, and honestly they mostly work! there's even a little bit there thematically about the merit of retreading the past.

overall, it's a game that i'm glad exists. i was very charmed by it and the gameplay was serviceable enough to keep my attention. the credits tease that "arzette will return," and they have my interest, especially if the developer can make something with properly exciting gameplay next time.

arzette: the jewel of faramore is, as of writing, in a summer games done quick humble bundle for $20 with several other excellent games. it's also available standalone on steam, discounted to $13.99, again as of writing.

[thunderjolt]

paper mario: the thousand year door (switch)

hey have you guys heard of this paper mario the thousand year door game? it's pretty good LOL.

everything that's good about thousand year door has already been talked to death about on the internet. everything that's bad about it has also been talked to death about. really there's not that much to say. this game is a masterclass in about 5 million things, and it is constantly coming up with something new and wonderful and creative to delight you with. it's one of my favorite games of all time and this remake is an excellent way to play it.

i was worried that the remake wouldn't have any value, but honestly the dynamic soundtrack and reworked translation add just enough to the game to justify a remake in my opinion. i still wish the remake had a bit more of an identity of its own or had more to say about the game, but it could have been much worse.

i really don't have more to say. my thoughts on this game are not new or novel. it's good, play it (or play the gamecube one)

[thunderjolt]

the first 3 of them mega man game boy games

i'm bunching these together because i don't really have especially lengthy thoughts about them. these games are all decent, and i think they pretty much get better linearly.

mega man: dr. wily's revenge has some really dickish level design but is overall fine

mega man ii is kinda scuffed, really weird, and really easy but has quite a lot of neat ideas going on regardless

mega man iii is a totally solid time, a fun take on the games it's based on

none of these are exactly masterpieces, though they all helped to lay the groundwork for game boy's iv and v, which are both super excellent.

[thunderjolt]

new ghostbusters ii

this one's been on my list for a while. new ghostbusters ii was developed by hal laboratory and it's completely adorable, but it's also a really fun time! it has a gentle but demanding enough difficulty curve and some fun setpieces.

i would like to go back and play with a friend, though, because the partner ai is pretty bad. they have, literally, one job; track the enemy currently being proton beam'd, and they routinely screw it up, leading to frustrating deaths that feel like they could've been avoided.

overall, a fun time. i recommend! i played the NES version, by the by.

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little nemo: the dream master

i loved this game! i played it as a young kid and was never able to beat it, but as an adult it's not so bad (there are some annoying parts though)

the soundtrack is excellent, it's maybe capcom's most visually stunning NES title, and it does so much with its structure and level design in its short runtime. truly a game bursting with creativity. i think this one is a little overlooked compared to capcom's other releases on the system, so you owe it to yourself to seek it out.

It's Gaming!

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gargoyle's quest 2

this one is pretty good also. pretty much retreads the first game, makes a lot of improvements but i think the controls are less snappy here and there's a lot more level design that feels really unfair, including pixel perfect jumps and forced hits. feels like the game may have been a little rushed and needed more fine tuning, but still a good time and worth a play.

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gargoyle's quest

this is a game i tried to play a lot as a kid, but i could never get very far. as an adult, it's not so hard. i don't have a tremendous amount to say about this one - it's very fun and largely prevents fair and interesting challenges with its unique platforming mechanics. the rpg-lite stuff is pretty minor but overall fun, although the random encounters did get grating. It's A Good Game.

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strider (2014)

immediately after playing the nes game, i thought to myself: "hey! there's another exploratory strider game and it's been burning a hole in my steam library for 10 years!" well, i finally got around to it. strider 2014 is an interesting beast. overall, i think it's decent.

metroidvanias are a genre i'm very particular about. i think there are a few main pillars: map design, exploration, backtracking, movement, and combat. why don't we run through each real quick, in order of how impressed i was by them.

movement: the movement in strider is excellent. there are many ways to optimize it and tons of little tricks to use. you don't start the game feeling slow or useless either: this game starts you off with essentially the full moveset from strider 2, making you feel fast and powerful from the jump and only increasing your potency from there. the seamless transitions between most screens also result in traversal feeling super smooth. it's not frictionless though, and the movement does require player skill and input to get the most out of. definitely a highlight.

combat: this is really intertwined with movement. as i said earlier, this game starts you off super strong, and you just get stronger. that feeling of mowing through armies of dudes with just one giant laser sword is palpable here. yet still, the game doesn't play itself; you'll need the requisite amount of finesse and quick thinking to get through quickly, but the game gives you the tools to do so, and as you develop that skill it just becomes more and more satisfying

backtracking: some metroidvanias don't have room design i find conducive to backtracking. many of the games on the "-vania" side have enemies that simply require too much time and attention to defeat. personally, i believe that after a certain point in a metroidvania, rooms of enemies earlier in the game should be dispatched without much thought. this is the case in strider, and the game is better for it. you will still struggle with enemies that match the part of the game you're in, but otherwise getting back through areas is smooth thanks to smart upgrade design.

exploration: this is where i think things get a little weaker. the rewards for exploration in this game are there, but they are relatively few in number and don't really inspire curiosity. a problem a lot of people seem to have with super metroid is that its secrets tend to only reward the player with say, a paltry missile tank for their efforts. i don't really have an issue with that, though. even if the reward doesn't stack up, a map littered with little puzzle boxes to pique the player's interest and test their mechanical skills or knowledge is far better than one without. sadly, this game is just lacking in things that make the player interested in the world, and it's a shame.

map design: it's boring. this is what really kills an otherwise strong game for me. both the map (as in the world the player traverses) and the map (as in the thing that guides the player) are poorly designed in my opinion. the game world is not interconnected in an organic or satisfying way, and largely feels like a disjointed assortment of linear challenge rooms. this problem is patched up by fast travel points across the map, to hide the fact that you're mostly good in straight lines, but it's far from a solution. the map itself gives you extremely precise information on the layout and terrain of the world, where you can go to get rewards with your new upgrades, and a huge arrow with a number telling you your exact distance from the next objective. the game never respects the player's intelligence long enough to let them explore the map themselves, possibly because the developers knew they didn't have anything interesting. it's a real shame.

so overall, a mixed bag. i think the game is pretty fun overall, and it goes pretty cheap, so if you're in the mood to slash some shit up as a ninja in a metroidvania package, you could do worse.

[thunderjolt]

strider (nes)

one thing you'll notice about this stretch of games: they're all by capcom! i've been on a kick, what can i say.

anyways, this game is... weird. i honestly kind of like it, but it's objectively put together pretty poorly. extremely unintuitive physics and collision detection with flailing, imprecise combat should make for a disaster, but there's the heart of a good game beating here.

the level design is solid here, with several different areas, each large and fun to explore, with many solid platforming challenges. the game takes a sort of proto-metroidvania structural approach, with a progressive series of keys needed to open new doors to explore different parts of each level. i think it works overall, though some levels do feel more like straight lines with a key at the end than anything.

strider's broken physics and combat make it a hard game to love, but i think they're also a charm point. i enjoy learning the rules of unintuitive or obtuse movement systems like this, and once you explore deeper, there's genuinely a lot of interesting little bits of movement tech that are fun here, even if they are still the result of spaghetti code.

i probably wouldn't recommend this one overall, especially as your first strider, but those with a high jank tolerance might just find a gem in the rough here.

[thunderjolt]

the return

yeah, i'm thinking i'm back.

i had really horrible writer's block for the past couple years, coming to a head early last year when i failed to put out my pokémon scarlet and violet post. a lot of it had to do with tying up a lot of self-worth in my ability to write. but i've been able to find a healthier outlook on writing and i think i'd like to start sharing my thoughts again.

some things may change: i usually write about each game i complete, but i've been more ready to just outright drop games lately if i'm not having the best time. i may make posts about these experiences if i really don't think i'll go back around and finish them.

i may also do slightly more "blog-style" posting on occasion to talk about certain multiplayer or "forever" games i'm enjoying.

for right now though, i'll be posting my quick thoughts on the last few games i played in a series of posts over the next few days. i hope you'll enjoy.

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gg aleste

i didn't expect to be writing this so soon! while nearing the end of my musha aleste 1cc journey (post coming soon, i hope), i booted up gg aleste for fun and... accidentally 1CC'd it on like, my third try.

overall, i think it's a very fun and cute little shmup. the small screen size actually makes for a lot of quite tricky bullet and enemy patterns, but the abundant extends couples with the generous powerup system and the sheer strength of some of said powerups keeps it on the low end of difficulty. definitely a chill game i can see myself revisit. compile shmups are always a blast in my book.

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have played through SV twice, post incoming. realistically will drop in like april considering my pace on the legends post and my slight writer's block

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pokémon blue

boy this blog's dusty... lot of bad brain and etc been keeping me down - working on it. well, you can always count on a pokémon post from me. i recently had the strong urge to replay RB and guess what: it's still fucking good! i cover a lot of this in my FRLG post, but as time goes on i appreciate kanto's structure as a region built around actual dungeons more and more. a lot more goes into decision-making both in and out of battle when you have to go through long dungeons where returning to a pokémon center isn't trivial. i'm also starting to be more of a believer that giving pokémon limited STAB options as in gen 1 is actually pretty cool and has a lot of merit (though it's probably for the best that they moved away from that). red and blue are such an excellent glitch playground too, there's so many little things you can do to sequence break or take advantage of mechanical quirks or get pokémon early and it's something i've always really enjoyed messing with in my playthroughs.

FRLG is probably still the better playthrough overall - despite being an ostensibly more accessible remake, it's easily the more challenging game, and i think the QoL it provides is all really nice and makes a lot of the game's more frustrating sections go a lot smoother. still, the originals are a very good time if you're a fan of kanto, and i honestly think you're missing out if you haven't played them. Gen 1 Is Good

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My writers block & executive dysfunction and frankly most things are horrifically bad rn so this may not get out for some time

have beaten shredder's revenge multiple times now, stalling on the post because i wanna get some more playthroughs in with different difficulties and player counts