What I’m Playing Right Now #08

October 24, 2024 by Leave a comment

Super C for the NES might be delayed until tomorrow. That’s because we’re starting work on Camp Bloodbrook right now. The first of two installments of Vice Versus related to Camp Bloodbrook will hit today or tomorrow at The Pinball Chick. In my household, dueling is one of the biggest attractions to pinball for us. We’re not just playing pinball, but trying to defeat each-other. Angela especially puts a LOT of stock in pinball as a competitive sport. “It’s not just about how a table shoots, but how fun it is to watch people besides myself shoot the table.” So, we’re spinning off that discussion into its own feature at the Pinball Chick. So, what AM I playing?

First impressions on Camp Bloodbrook: Yep, it’s a Dolby pin. Lots of amazing shots, but no consideration for how demoralizing houseballs are. I’m going to guess what happens in the above clip was unintentional. I’m also going to guess that Zen Studios is over the “normal physics.” Much like Xena: Warrior Princess, Camp Bloodbrook’s “normal physics” games are atrocious, but I really think this is a whole new level of atrocious. The bounces are so weird and random. The speed is. The gravity itself is. The ball is so floaty and its reaction to solid surfaces is so unnatural. So, how about this, Zen Studios: instead of this ridiculous two physics system you have, how about dump one and focus all efforts on the other? Because having to develop tables for two completely different forms of physics, IE reality itself is unreasonable. It feels like tables are always compromised by one physics or the other.

HJBT1171

Can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp.

“Normal” physics have no value anymore except sucking resources that could be spent optimizing one version of the table. You can’t even say normal physics acts as a trainer for novice players. What is it training, exactly? Because the physics are so different that the angles themselves change based on the physics. Muscle memory that works on one set of physics doesn’t on the other. Normal physics seems completely detached from reality, and it’s certainly not the easy mode. Not when “normal physics” has completely baseless rejections on ramps to the degree it does. Realistic physics, depending on the table, are killing it. Maybe your designers will be able to bring out tables faster, with less need for patchwork, if there’s only one universal set of physics. Maybe it’ll also eliminate the expectation that new tables won’t fully work as intended until patches arrive well after the fact. With that note, Princess Bride was patched today as well, so our final ratings for that should be hitting soon as well.

UPDATE: Only the “realistic physics” have the straight down the drain problem with the locker seen above. We’re likely to vote that Camp Bloodbrook is OUT OF ORDER until this is fixed. On the other hand, I became the Xbox World Champion of Classic – Normal Physics. #2 all time at the time, but it’s already fallen to #3. Still champion of Xbox though.

PJJS6330

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What I’m Playing Right Now #07

October 24, 2024 by Leave a comment

This part lasts about two seconds. UP OR DOWN? OMG! I can’t deci.. it’s over. Back to running in a straight line.

It wasn’t until after I hit publish on the review of the Super Contra coin-op that I stopped and thought “did platforming even matter?” In the side-scrolling stages, you’re mostly running along the ground. Sure, you might go up a hill or two, and later in the game the path zig zags a little. But, you’re mostly just jogging. Since the jumping is ineffective towards dodging most bullets (nowhere near as effective as ducking), Super Contra feels like a game of just brute force and nothing more.

So, what AM I playing?

The Super C NES review hits later today. Let’s face it: the coin-op side of the Contra equation was never going to be the highlights of the marathon. The best thing I can say about both is that I’m happy with how the reviews turned out, and I’m happy I never have to play either ever again. Well, assuming Konami doesn’t get it together and realize they’re in a position to do a prestige collection of their classic games. Which, in fairness, Contra Anniversary Collection sort of was. It offered US, European, and Japanese ROMs and a “bonus book” that really isn’t that interesting. There’s also two games I’d consider to be “missing.” Did the MSX game belong in the set? Yes. Does the set hurt for its absence? Not really. Contra NES alone is worth the $20 asking price, in my opinion. It’s not just any game. It’s one of the greatest games ever made, and I suspect you’ll get enjoyment out of other games in the set. Hell, I’ve still got the 16-bit Contra games left, and the Game Boy games, the second of which (1) was made by Factor 5 (2) uses the Super Game Boy and (3) also isn’t in Contra Anniversary Collection. That’s the other missing game, and it makes even less logical sense to skip it. Game Boy was a global platform, unlike the MSX. It’s critically acclaimed, too. Some decisions I will never understand.

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What’s I’m Playing Right Now #06

October 23, 2024 by 1 Comment

I think my first post-Twitter week is going swimmingly. I’m pretty happy with the Contra reviews. They’re tougher to write-up than you’d think. Legendary games, bad or good, are tricky reviews. You don’t want to state the obvious too much. I assume people read me because they want to hear someone else’s perspective on games, and that’s why I try to at least look for little things that stand out that my readers might not have thought about. Like with Contra on the NES, the gap between weapons pick-ups might be the game’s secret sauce. Everyone loves the variety of guns. That’s the self-evident part. Nobody needs to hear that from me. My job is to figure out “why is it that way?” And after playing through it, I came to the conclusion that if the game wasn’t generous with them, I don’t think people would talk about Contra today. I think it’s the amount of opportunities for upgrades that made the game what it is. For all its flaws, even the coin-op is generous with guns, a semi-rarity in arcades.

Smash TV has some of the weirdest item drop pacing in gaming. Actually, change that. Smash TV is more stingy with its usage and not the drop rate itself. Speaking of which, I’m holding out on doing a Midway Arcade Treasures review. I really did think we’d have a release for current platforms by now. I was almost certain it was going to happen, and it hasn’t yet. The only one currently for sale is a previous-gen version called Midway Arcade Origins, which I found to have mediocre emulation and options. I’m really crossing my fingers for Atari and Digital Eclipse to secure the rights for a Midway version of the Gold Master Series. Digital Eclipse has worked on these licenses in the past and presumably has the contacts to do it again on the grandest scale of all. I think it’ll happen in 2025. I hope so. It would be one of the greatest collections of games in history.

This is something indie developers making action games should consider. In almost any arcade-like action game, the first level and/or the first life will always have upgrades early. That’s the hook of the game, not all that different from how slot machines are rigged to make players think they came close to winning. Even bad games tend to drop good power-ups early. But, once the player is hooked, a lot of games scale back the opportunities for those upgrades. Some do it far too much. Darius II had this problem (read Taito Milestones II: The Definitive Review for my full review on Darius II). And Darius II is a very good game. It’s also one of the rare novelty coin-ops that withstands the test of time (if you consider ultra-widescreen to be a novelty, which it certainly was in 1989). But Darius II was so stingy with power-ups that it’s practically miserly. That’s literally the only thing that held it back from all-timer status. Why are games like Gradius or Life Force/Salamander all-time classics but Darius is on the fringe as a very good and very popular B-lister? Item drops. I really think that’s all. Action movies don’t front-load all the action scenes at the start of the film, then do all the boring parts for the rest of the run time. When making your games, bring the goods early, and keep bringing ’em. Fun matters more than challenge, and if you need to be Scrooge-like with your items, you’re doing challenge wrong anyway.

So, what AM I playing?

Super Contra is coming later today or early Thursday, and the NES version will follow soon after. I have no clue why Super Contra’s reputation is buried to the degree it is. Actually, I do. No UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A START for it. What if they had done that? Would Super C on the NES have been as big, or bigger, than Contra? Do you think anyone at Konami stares at the ceiling at night thinking “we could have been Call of Duty big if we hadn’t taken that code away?” Hell, it has a lives code. Just not THAT lives code. The famous one. The one that rolls off the tip of your tongue, and I think it hurt Super C. You can’t rule it out, because nobody really thinks Super Contra/Super C suck. If replacing the memorable third person stuff with top-down stuff isn’t the reason it slipped into oblivion, maybe it’s because gaming’s most famous code isn’t there. What a horrible thought.

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What I’m Playing Right Now #05

October 22, 2024 by Leave a comment

Hey everybody! Well, this IS a blog and I’m going to start treating it like such. That means more updates. So, what AM I playing?

In a time before patches..

Xena: Warrior Princess is the next review coming to IGC Wednesday. What a turnaround this table has made. Upon release, it was unplayable, with some of the most mind boggling rejections in Pinball FX. Now, if you play Xena today in the standard physics mode, we’d still consider that build to be OUT OF ORDER. Don’t play it. Don’t base your opinion of Xena on it. It still has nonsense rejections where a flush shot right on line will still reject. Check to make sure you’re playing with realistic physics. Because, with those physics, Xena is saved. It’s not perfect yet. They should continue to patch it. But, following a patch, Xena’s excellence has been revealed. This is a FANTASTIC table by Anna Lengyel, who is getting her first ever MASTERPIECE ratings with this pin from Oscar and me. Yep, I went there. Angela, Jordi, and Sasha think we’ve lost our mind. They think it’s REALLY good, but not upper-echelon good. Xena is going to win an award. The only question is what’s the margin? That post is coming to Indie Gamer Chick and The Pinball Chick shortly.

Yo uh Adrian, where’s uh, you know, my royalty check?

It’s Super Contra time, and this time around, I’m starting with the coin-op, THEN doing the NES game. Even though I’ve played through both versions once, when Contra Anniversary Collection came out, I really don’t remember much about them. That’s an ominous sign. I’m not going to do any other version of Super C besides the arcade and NES. I also have this:

That’s Contra Force. It’s not even a real Contra game (it started life as a non-Contra game called Arc Hound) and it never came out in Japan. That’s ominous, but I’m reviewing it. And, I have a weird NES Super Contra bootleg that James Rolfe fans might recognize (and I only say that because he’s listed on the Wikipedia page for Super Contra) that I’ve had a few people ask me to look at it. It’s called Super Contra.. 8? WTF? Needless to say, I’m not close to finished with Contra. Oh, and what about the SNES game? One of the downsides to taking down my Twitter was all my #IGCvSNES stuff is gone. But, the big games I will redo as proper IGC reviews. Contra III will be part of this marathon. Don’t worry, Sega fans. Hard Corps will be too.

And this will go last, if at all. Seriously WTF? (Contra “8”)

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What I’m Playing Right Now #03

October 21, 2024 by 16 Comments

Hey everyone! Contra did pretty good, and THANK YOU for that! The first review after the shut-down was always going to be the toughest, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. I suspect more Contra is coming today. Wait, I can’t tease this. It’s literally called “What I’m Playing Right Now.”

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So, yea, I’m playing the arcade version of Contra. I think I’m probably going to marathon a few of the early Contras. At the very least, I’ll be doing Super C (NES), Super Contra (arcade), and Contra Force (NES). The one thing I didn’t bring up about Contra on the NES is the arcade situation. That it was one of the first home games that outshines the coin-op. Which it did. Easily, handily, and embarrassingly. The review of the arcade game will talk about all the ways how, and why. The Contra arcade review should hit later today.

New York Liberty, huh? About f*cking time. The 2024 WNBA Finals will go down as the best five game series in sports history, male or female. All but game two was absolutely riveting. TWO overtime games, including the deciding game that looked like the Liberty started the game remembering they’re the New York Liberty and incapable of winning anything of substance. The Lynx were making them look foolish. And then suddenly, the Lynx were the ones that threw away both the game and the championship. In fact, they did it multiple times in a single game. So awkward watching because you know the Minnesota players will be staring at their ceilings thinking of ALL those opportunities they gave up, and hopefully they know that it wasn’t the refs. Do I think the officiating was straight down the line? Nah. 25 to 8 on free throw attempts? Jesus, that’s horrendous. Even if Minnesota was making dumb mistakes.. and they WERE.. this was one of those “one team gets all the ticky-tack foul call” games that feels like it gives the losing team an out to avoid reflecting on anything. But, refs can’t make a difference unless you do your part, and Lynx were bricking wide-open shots all night, including a wide-open trey that would have been the greatest shot in WNBA history to end regulation. In overtime, Minnesota got 2 points. And the.. I can’t believe I’m typing this.. WNBA Champion New York Liberty, got 7. And the coach blamed the ref and not the fact that her team of shooters forgot how to shoot.

Next year, they’re bumping the WNBA Finals to seven games. I really wish they wouldn’t. Maybe the popularity is going up because the amount of games isn’t overwhelming to fans. Do you know what the best part of watching the WNBA is? Nobody has to say “clear my schedule for the next two weeks. The finals are on!” Sigh. Go Valkyries.

Dodgers/Yankees, huh? Hasn’t happened since 1981, but as the 12th Yankees-Dodgers World Series, it’s still the most played World Series even after a 43 year gap. That really tells you how dominant the two teams used to be, huh? I don’t think this will be as good as the WNBA Finals. I’ll take the Dodgers in a gentleman’s sweep. 4 to 1.

See ya later today for more Contra action.

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