#Kusoge

[bison2winquote]

The noise Glover makes when he loses the ball, Glover [N64] (Interactive Studios)

[juxtyolo]

Later I'll post my "review and tier list system" [jtl] for visual novels with ratings greater than 3/10, but under this post I'll briefly comment on current and future #kusoge visual novels which are too shitty (hence the name) so they don't deserve a tier list.

[devileaterjaek]

DragonBall GT: Final Bout (PSX) Join our community on //Discord// Support me on //Ko-Fi//

[netmomplus]

Massive news for kusoge fans: Ancient Roman for PS1, the worst RPG on the entire console, has finally seen the release of an English patch. What a beautiful day, shout out to everyone who worked on it.

[devileater2]

[hardcore-gaming-101]

Gundam 0079: The War for Earth

Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the most influential anime series ever created, establishing many of the conventions of the mecha subgenre. In the forty-plus years of its existence, there have been dozens of series and spinoffs, but they generally boil down to political drama involving Earth and its space colonies, featuring a super powerful giant robot called a Gundam. Among the many, many video game tie-ins, one of the most unusual is this CD-ROM FMV title, a co-production between Japanese studio Bandai and American developer Presto Studios, the team behind The Journeyman Project titles. It was originally developed for the short-lived Apple Pippin platform, which Bandai was an ardent supporter of, but was also ported to Windows and Macintosh platforms, as well as the Japanese PlayStation.

Read more...

[kalina-c]

sunraku slf playing blood omen 2

[Bluesky thread by kalina2hu.bsky.social quote reskeeting herself. QRT:

PC ports vs the console originals from ps1 to maybe part of the seventh gen was like "pick two:

looks and sounds better but runs like hot dogshit

runs better but looks and sounds like hot dogshit

runs on your platform".

Thread:

This game is so damn kusoge lmao. The ps2 original is borderline unplayable because of periodic stuttering and stability issues but the pc combat is unplayable because it's missing a keybind option to make strafing and dodges work properly.

(Screenshots of the instruction manual telling you to use the separate Target Enemy buttons to switch enemy targets, next to a screenshot of the in-game options not having that keybind available.)

You're *supposed* to be able to circle dodge and strafe individual enemies exactly as you want while surrounded by 2-3 enemies but the pc version combines target switching into your left/right movement keys, the same ones you need to dodge unblockable attacks :U

This game is also so kusoge in a ludonarrative dissonance sense, rofl. Kain is supposed to be an amoral serial killer killing and eating every civilian who even helps him on his quest, but item duping means it's more optimal to let them all live.

(Quote reskeet of another thread on the item dupe glitch.)

The item chests that add to your life upgrade exp can be duplicated by even slight and accidental manipulation of check/save points and doing it even once or twice takes care of all your life upgrades, to the point that you *should* skip all civilians and even probably half of the enemy bodies as you progress through the game. There's an overflow bug that resets your max hp to 1 on the final final upgrade.

I think I should probably outright stop duplicating lore coffers already since doing so in every chapter is liable to take away my buffer for healing within 1-3 chapters of the end of the game.]

[lunaticobscurity]

there's a new post up at the world's greatest obscure videogames review blog, and today's subject is really, really bad! go and read about it~!

and please show your support by reblogging this post and maybe also subscribing on patreon to get early access to new posts, more screenshots of the games i cover, and exclusive extra posts :D

[archoneddzs15]

Sega Saturn - Death Crimson

Title: Death Crimson / デスクリムゾン

Developer/Publisher: Ecole Software Corporation

Release date: 9 August 1996

Catalogue No.: T-23202G

Genre: Light Gun Shooting

You may have seen Death Crimson 2 on the Dreamcast and maybe even Death Crimson OX, which is actually not too bad, but have you ever seen Death Crimson 1 on the Saturn? If not, then think yourself lucky because this is THE WORST looking Saturn game ever. Not only is it the worst looking game but also sounds and plays like shit. So much in fact that in Japan this game received the title of Kusosoft (Kusoge) which basically means Shit Game! But here is the odd thing. Death Crimson became so famous for being so shit that every copy of the original print sold out!!

These days Death Crimson is a highly regarded cult game for the Saturn with copies selling for over 10,000 yen at one point in time.  Anyway, the bottom line is that this game is pure completely awful. It's way too hard for a start. This is mainly due to poor collision detection, indistinguishable sprites and polygons and shear impossible targets.

Now I don't normally do this for games here but just check out a few of the screen shots. I thought this was a joke release first time I saw it.

As you can tell from the title screen, this game is just poor, and that CG monster has bugger all to do with the actual game! Don't forget to check out the in-game video from the link below. Then you'll see just how awful this game looks.

[everygame]

Atlantis No Nazo

Developed/Published by: Sunsoft Released: 17/04/1986 Completed: 01/02/2024 Completion: Finished it via the quickest route.

Everything changed for gaming in September 1985 with the release of Super Mario Bros. in Japan. The design hegemony of Xevious and The Tower of Druaga was no longer the only game in town, and now Japanese designers needed to do more than just make power-ups invisible or hide progression behind obscure actions (though they’ll still do that, even Nintendo just have.)

But Super Mario Bros., what’s the key feature that you can rip off to make sure your game is a success? Is it tight action? No, not that, I mean the original Super Mario Bros. isn’t that tight. Oh, I’ve got it!

It’s warps. Warp zones. Get as many of those in your game as possible and you’re sorted.

I joke, but this does seem to have been the mindset of Japanese game designers as soon as they were tasked with making the “next Super Mario Bros.” with 1986 seeing releases like Atlantis No Nazo, Mighty Bomb Jack, Milon’s Secret Castle and more, all of which make warping around a key feature. What’s interesting is how little research into warp zones as a game feature exists online. Being able to “skip” levels has existed since Atari’s “SkillStep” system with Tempest–does that count as a warp, or does a warp need to be found during gameplay? With what I have to hand here I seem forced to conclude that Super Mario Bros. was actually the first to do it–but I’m not sure if I’m fully convinced.

Anyway, hot out the gates in spring 1986 Sunsoft release (in their own words) “The Game That Surpassed Super Mario” Atlantis No Nazo, which translates as “The Mystery of Atlantis.” (Lotta mystery in April ‘86, I guess.) Featuring 100 levels that are explicitly called “zones” the player takes the role of Wynn, an amateur adventurer/casino developer (I assume) who heads to rescue his missing master from the recently re-emerged island of Atlantis with nothing but an infinite supply of dynamite that causes tiny, crappy explosions (slowly) and a weird floaty jump with next to no air control.

The first thing you’re going to notice about Atlantis No Nazo is it… well, it’s immediately crappy. The controls aren’t great, the graphics are weak even for the era (and never, at any point, feel “Atlantean”) and the level design has you bumping your head off the ceiling from literally the second level. I mean the second level–sorry, zone–is so immediately bad I wasn’t sure it was possible to complete–a monotonous trudge through what seems to be a loop of the same area avoiding snails that take an age to kill. When I finally saw that there is a door in it to the next zone, I was almost surprised.

The second thing you learn about Atlantis No Nazo is that unlike Super Mario Bros. you can’t just play it beginning to end. You quickly begin warping around, and if you’re just trying to beat it by playing as much of it as possible, to enjoy all that lovely ~content~ you are not playing it correctly at all. The goal of Atlantis No Nazo is to play as little of it as possible. You’re trying to find the most efficient way to the end of the game by learning which door gets you where and hoping each time it’s “really far through the game.”

The lessons of The Tower of Druaga remain vital here, because the quickest way through the game is to find all the hidden warps and doors. Throw yourself into the right pit? That’s a warp. Throw a bomb at the right place? That’s a warp. Kill yourself in the right position? You better believe that’s a warp.

Something like The Tower of Druaga has a kind of predictability, admittedly. You have to chew through the entire thing in order, so you know at X level, you need to do Y stupid thing. With Atlantis No Nazo… I almost pity the people who had to map this out, seven lives and no continues at a time. With a hundred levels and countless warps back and forward, any map of the game is a hilarious spaghetti, and there are so many amusingly cruel twists, like levels with no light (so you need to make sure you hit a level where you can get a lamp power-up from first) and levels that just throw you unavoidably to your death over and over–which I really want to believe are inspired by Jet Set Willy’s “Entrance to Hades” but probably aren’t.

As with The Tower of Druaga, I can’t really imagine anyone trying to brute force this game on their own, not least because the final level seems basically impossible without an invincibility power-up that requires you get to the end in one life. I’m sure at the time everyone just bought a guidebook, and once you have one to hand the game goes from “baffling spaghetti” to “execute your plan perfectly.”

The funny thing is, I had quite a bit of fun trying to do that. Don’t get me wrong. The controls are bad. But I became interested in trying to get the “smart bomb” power-up which requires playing level 2 literally perfectly, and I got into it. Of course, I found it hard because I hadn’t realised you could run past the snails when they were under their shells, but I still enjoyed the challenge, and then using that practice to get to the end of the game in one life via the path that takes less than ten levels… it was like signing up for one of those courses where you get to be a racecar driver for a day, but it’s actually a “be a speedrunner for a day” course. You’re never actually going to be a speedrunner, but it feels like you are, for a bit.

So, you know, I enjoyed Atlantis No Nazo once I “got” what you’re supposed to do with it (learn how to play it and then follow a guide book). I don’t think that’s actually… good, but it’s something!

Will I ever play it again? If this was an arcade game, now I know the path I’d definitely try and do it to show off. At home, I’m good.

Final Thought: Atlantis No Nazo is legendary enough to be the challenge in the first “real” episode of Game Center CX, and it was rather pleasant to give the episode a rewatch after finishing the game. You really shouldn’t bother playing this, but you should watch the episode, if you can find it!

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi! You can pick up a digital copy of exp. 2600, a zine featuring all-exclusive writing at my shop, or join as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.

[bison2winquote]

After Mr. Hyde loses a life, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [NES] (Advance Communication Co./ Toho/ Bandai)

[edgeyberzerker]

Edgey Plays Master's Fury - Kang Tae Kwon

[devileaterjaek]

DragonBall GT: Final Bout (PSX) Join our community on //Discord// Support me on //Ko-Fi//

[each-dustbin1]

And now my last Missing Link content post, for now at least, covering the 2 other most unfinished characters who are still better than Potemkin

Axl

And a bit of Testament

[harpgriffin]

Road Runner's Death Valley Rally Review??

Every day for the rest of this month, I'm going to post a review of the previous day's game from KusoGrande's Advent Calendar event. These are mostly not games I could ever finish, so this is more like an experience summary?

This game is awful in so many ways. It's a "go fast" platforming game that constantly punishes you for going fast. Movement uses ice physics - you're constantly sliding too far on momentum. Stopping is horrible. There are precision platforming sections you need to do as slowly as you can because your jump will just carry you right off the tiny platforms. Going fast on a nice roller coaster section? Good luck, you'll probably suddenly get stopped dead by a spiky object or enemy you can't see coming. There's health of course, so you can soak hits from Wile E. Coyote who is constantly interfering in all your blind jumps. And just to rub salt in the wound, every level has a timer! The music is discordant, and the sound design kind of mediocre generally. The art is okay, although it seems like platforms aren't quite the same length in art as they are in code. It's hard to tell with the wacky physics if it's that the hit box is off or just the controls.

[devileater2]