The Retrogaming Thread! [8-bit/16-bit/32-bit/64-bit]

[slamsoze]

Cool to know about Raiden's backstory between 2 and 3. It makes sense indeed that he was absent, at least from a lore point of view. I'd say us diehards just would have wanted him back all the same tho !

Weren't they actually Sonya and Kano chained in that stage, anyway? I might recall badly as well tho. Loved those little touches anyway lol. I still remember Cyrax trapped in the sand in one of MK3 stages.. used to give so much life and mistery to the backgrounds.

By the way I also remember a(nother) crazy comic about MK I used to read as a kid.. this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_(Malibu_Comics)
it wasn't official lore and plot wise it was as incoherent and confusing as the games or probably even more.. but man it was a super cool read and totally, seriously nailed the MK spirit right. The last number that closed all the saga was such an epic that in my heart is togheter with many DC or Marvel classics I've read (noticing by the Wiki that critics destroyed it and reception was poor.. changes nothing to me ).



The final pumping up theme!

Yes i think you are correct,Sonya and Kano were the captives. Maybe a similar stage were it was Raiden statue, or petrified, memory cant help me..

There was additionally a Panini like album, here in Greece, accompanying the games release, and despite the classic terrible Greek translation/localisation (as usual), there were a lot of helpful info, that were not in game, the album stickers were covering a mix and match of all OG trilogy.

IIRC Raidens absence was covered in mystery, something about missing in action somewhere in the Outworld, or something similar that our child mind could not understand back then.

 

[slamsoze]

Since we share a lot common interest in super heroes, comics, etc, my possibly biggest pain, is the non-release in West of Super Robo Taisen series, or i think Super Robot Wars in English.

It is a series of tactical RPG games, from 1992 until today, but all in Japanese. It includes almost every Super Robot (Mecha) of our childhood, Gundam, Getter Robot, Mazinger, Grendizer, Voltron , Voltes V, etc ,etc, crazy rosters in each version, same we never got a westernisation of any of those.

Even if i am not big fan of tactical RPGs, this one i would love to play one, just for the protagonists!

 

[millossobek]

Did any of you guys play "The Magic of Scheherazade" for the NES? I think this is one of the most underrated games for the console. It's kind of like Zelda in the sense that it is a top down world and has dungeons and castles, but the comparison ends there. First of all, I loved the Arabic setting, very unusual for the time, also the game itself had nice RPG elements such as experience, choose class, and one of the coolest things about the game is that you could actually change class mid game with only a few coins. It also featured a mix of action and turn based battles, which was awesome. I loved this game, and it holds up well today, it definitely has fun gameplay, challenging mazes, a good sense of humor, I thought it had all the elements of a classic adventure game.

 

[millossobek]

Man I really wish these JLeague Soccer games for the SNES had translation patches, something tells me I'd really enjoy these games with fully licensed JLeague! Gameplay looks surprisingly solid too! I am actually quite impressed by the chanting too, and the overall fluidity, not usually present for football games of this generation.

 

[slamsoze]

Another KONAMI old master piece.. TMNT IV: Turtles in time (SNES).

Only pain in the arshe ,the enemies do not have visible HP bar.

 

[millossobek]

Another KONAMI old master piece.. TMNT IV: Turtles in time (SNES).

Only pain in the arshe ,the enemies do not have visible HP bar.

I loved Turtles in Time, it is one of the best beat em ups on SNES, along with the classic final fights! I remember when I was a kid I was so glad when I was finally able to go past the "Prehistoric" stage haha which was hard. I loved the different bosses, the number of moves you could pull off, and the stages, very very good game.. Donatello all the way!

This one was also very good, known as TMNT 2 The Arcade Game and overlooked.. Did you ever play it?? I think it has some of the great qualities of Turtles in Time, and not many people know about it!

 

[slamsoze]

I loved Turtles in Time, it is one of the best beat em ups on SNES, along with the classic final fights! I remember when I was a kid I was so glad when I was finally able to go past the "Prehistoric" stage haha which was hard. I loved the different bosses, the number of moves you could pull off, and the stages, very very good game.. Donatello all the way!

This one was also very good, known as TMNT 2 The Arcade Game and overlooked.. Did you ever play it?? I think it has some of the great qualities of Turtles in Time, and not many people know about it!

What a memory dude. Yes , before i purchased SNES, i had an imitation console, a poor mans console, the box was a clone of SNES accompanied with a light gun, and it had 999,999 games!!!

Well the games were actually 10~15 NES games, and the rest were variations,. Bootlegs and modded games, speedhacks, difficulty hacks of the same games. This games was one of them, IIrC we used to play Co-op with my cousin.

Well the most fun part was, that there were also cartridges for that counterfeit consoles!!! of course the cost was much much lower in comparison to OG SNES and Mega Drive.

 

[millossobek]

Hahahaha so awesome! I remember way before I played SNES, I used to have these famicom games which were 50-in-1, 100-in-1, etc.. And since I had a NES, I had to purchase an adapter to play these famicom games!



This is where I discovered so many games like Yie-Ar Kung Fu, Ice Climber, Balloon Adventure, Excitebike among so many others. Haha.. You pretty much had 2 variations. One where you had 50-100 games (which were mostly older Famicom titles, like 1984-1986) of simpler games which were still so fun, or you also had 4-in-1 which for example, had Contra, Double Dragon, Adventure Island, and Duck Tales, hahaha! So many memories.. Here in South America all of these games were imported I think straight from China, and they also had hacked versions. Lot of hours of fun.

 

[slamsoze]

Hahahaha so awesome! I remember way before I played SNES, I used to have these famicom games which were 50-in-1, 100-in-1, etc.. And since I had a NES, I had to purchase an adapter to play these famicom games!

View attachment 133002View attachment 133003View attachment 133004View attachment 133005

This is where I discovered so many games like Yie-Ar Kung Fu, Ice Climber, Balloon Adventure, Excitebike among so many others. Haha.. You pretty much had 2 variations. One where you had 50-100 games (which were mostly older Famicom titles, like 1984-1986) of simpler games which were still so fun, or you also had 4-in-1 which for example, had Contra, Double Dragon, Adventure Island, and Duck Tales, hahaha! So many memories.. Here in South America all of these games were imported I think straight from China, and they also had hacked versions. Lot of hours of fun.

Same here in Greece. This 76in1 cartridge was what used for

It was fun that if the game was fake bomberman, it was standalone cartridge. Of it was lesser known games, it could be 100bgames in 1!!!

Back at the days, as a kid i used to have much respect, cause it was my first full-Color console.

Andvyes my core was sikilar, i think the name was Super Action Set, and it had Mario Bros 1, Dr. Mario, Tetris, Exciteback, Galaga or Galaxian, Duck hunt, Gunman, the KumgFu game, a strange fighting game, etc.

I remember a variation of Mario near the end, No 999,99something, it was starting you straight from last castle, permanent sprint, and the spitting flames of Bowser, basically the whole stage was on speed up. Also another variation, you could jump as lomg as you press the button, so in normal stages, you actually flied all the stage until the flag, but in Castle bosses, i dont remember if Bowser was killed once you flied over his room, or the game was just staying stucked.

In this fake set, thete was an awesome game I remember now, can't recall the name, but it was with tanks, top down view, 1p or 2p, it was stages like mazes of brick wall, red brick blocks could be destroyed by shooting them and cement brick blocks were indestructible or needed more shots to break.

The most amazing was, it had a "map builder" were you could create your own maxe of bricks and play.

If anyone knows which game it is, you're welcome....

 

[vialli82]

I think i posted it, the Arcade version of TNMT you could've play at 4 players, it was a big Arcade machine : i don't know if it's possible with the snes add-on to play with 4 players...

Otherwhise, about Mortal Kombat, the thing is i played all in Arcade before it was out the 1st i discovered it on an Arcade + Casino place.
The 2 months before but not too much i remember (perhaps a year for some, like Street Fighter II, but many games i played on fairground, they stayed 15 days every 4 months, with at least 4 "caravan" plenty of Arcade cabinet)

The 3, never really played, i think i gotten a PS1 at that time and sold my Snes, like for many games on 1995-96 etc. i played at friends house.
But the conversion wasn't that good in comparison to MK II. And more than all, aswell as MK1 was a basic game more a "concept" than a game with a solid gameplay, the II transformed it. Also more fun and 90's vibes, Friendship, Babality, 3 stages Fatality, 2 Fatalities by personnage...

One game i played a lot with a friend, was that one, it looks like a melting pot but it was total fun

Mortal Kombat Trilogy, with the "One Button fatality" 😁
Simple to do, Hold Up L1/R1/L2/R2/ on "option".

MORTAL KOMBAT TRILOGY PS1



No joke, that was the game i played the most since i got my Raspberry with Recalbox on PS1 lol.
After that it became bad until the 9 who was a remake of the 1/2/3 (4 on MK 10, but with different characters)

Another game that was confusing for player :

SAMURAI SHODOWN
Snes vs Megadrive.


Megadrive Version


Pro: bigger sprite, like arcade
Blood (or it's on Sega CD only > but that one don't have the referee who trow you stuffs like bomb, apple etc.)
Overall looking much more close to the arcade (Important Pro > why people preferred it that snes)

Con:
no de-zoom, like in the arcade, so area restricted.
Some missing move important, like the big sword attack from Haomaru got the similar move as when he's crouched and gives a big sword attack...
No "Earthquake" character (neither on Sega CD)


Snes Version


Pro: all players got all moves
The full area is playable, with option to de-zoom
Colors were pretty well represented
Earthquakes

Con
Big con > way too small sprites (they should have found a compromise with average sprite even with less area "explorable")
Also the screen was globally smaller, as Megadrive got a bigger resolution.
You feel like a port, even if gameplay and details in graphisms were close to the arcade, the feeling was less.

Pro and Con : Sound and musics were good, but some were reworked and not looking like the original

Conclusion: you feel more like you play the real thing on Megadrive. Even with less color and the area "locked", and Earthquakes was too big for the roster.
No one played against him, but his stage is awesome graphically.
Gameplay in Snes was more like the arcade, but not the visual and feeling. Sad. So Megadrive or Mega-CD (with all animations and better colors, but no referee whatever) wins to me. Cooler to play on Sega. But still super fun on Snes. Personnally, right now, i play on Snes only.


ART OF FIGHTING SNES



NOTE about Zoom/De-Zoom : Art of Fighting on Snes got Zoom/Dezoom on this game and they got big enough sprites, the port was very good, like Fatal Fury 1 and 2 Special (practically identical in every moves to the Neo Geo). BTW the 2 is to forgot, that's why they made a "special" on NEO GEO.
Issue we got in Europe : the game was 50 FPS instead of 60 FPS.... So slower
One pro on Megadrive : i think the scenes between and talking were similar to the arcade without censure. Or something like that.

FATAL FURY 1 SNES (i think the same here with zoom didn't watched, i remember)




FATAL FURY SPECIAL (Fatal Fury 2 revamped) SNES (same here with zoom like i've mentionned above)



On Megadrive not, and special moves way easier to do (not like in arcade, snes was closer to it) and also important for gameplay: on the first, there's no button to jump on the background, so less attack opportunities. But MEGA-CD Fatal Fury special and Snes version are both super good. With better sound on CD of course.

 

[slamsoze]

Found it. "Tank 1990".
What a game, playable even today!!!

 

[slamsoze]

@vialli82 I remember on MAME32 i have played an SNK fightimg game, it had a huge crossover roster from KoF, Art Of Fighting, Fatal Fury, etc.. One ofnthe biggest I have seen in fighting games. Have you played it? It is from the last pure 2D fighting games, before jumpnto 2,5D. Very poished colorful sprites.

 

[vialli82]

Sorry it wasn't posted intentionnally i clicked on the "ENTER" buttton lol, the post wasn't finished yet. There's things mispositionned (i talk about Art of Fighting on Fatal Fury post etc.)

 

[vialli82]

@vialli82 I remember on MAME32 i have played an SNK fightimg game, it had a huge crossover roster from KoF, Art Of Fighting, Fatal Fury, etc.. One ofnthe biggest I have seen in fighting games. Have you played it? It is from the last pure 2D fighting games, before jumpnto 2,5D. Very poished colorful sprites.

There's Garou's : Mark of Wolves (which is the very last Fatal Fury), Capcom vs SNK, and SNK vs Capcom (normal, Pro, and the 2)
Otherwhise, It's a version of KOF modded. There's a lot of it, until 2004 i think. Don't remember what was the latest, the 2000 or 2002 i think (or 2002 is a mod)

BTW, there was a super KOF on PS3, the latest they've done on 2D. Don't remember the name, but i played it like crazy. Was a big fan of KOF, more than SF (as KOF got characters more "like mangas" and more specially designed)

 

[vialli82]

Same here in Greece. This 76in1 cartridge was what used for

Got one shared by a friend for Gamegear only, same amount of game i think, like around 70-75.
There was MKII talking about it. Only 2 stages. Well to me, those 6 buttons games should never have been released on those console, i tried it's unplayable lol.

 

[Madmac79]

I loved Turtles in Time, it is one of the best beat em ups on SNES, along with the classic final fights! I remember when I was a kid I was so glad when I was finally able to go past the "Prehistoric" stage haha which was hard. I loved the different bosses, the number of moves you could pull off, and the stages, very very good game.. Donatello all the way!

This one was also very good, known as TMNT 2 The Arcade Game and overlooked.. Did you ever play it?? I think it has some of the great qualities of Turtles in Time, and not many people know about it!

Used to play this at a friend's home. Classic.

Played some good chunk of this as well:



it was a cult among us at elementary school cause only a kid used to have and "had" to often loan it around and it was pretty fun between the open map and the scrolling action. But, now that I think about it - it was somehow easy to obtain cult status at the times, cause for some reason some game was completely unobtainable and only a child out of a whole classroom used to have it.

this game is another good example:



wasn't a masterpiece I think.. but the fact I could only had it in loan (and that I loved Ghostbusters as a franchise) made it felt like one lol.

 

[crustcyb]

As usual, I'm always late to this awesome thread 😩 So my apologies.

An alternative basketball i love, besides NBA Jam, it is not on SNES/Genesis but arcade only, the Street Hoop by Dataeast for NeoGeo.

Aka Street Slam

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Slam

I have it on MAME and now on mobile, although it is unplayable for touchscreen.

Before all these ones (NBA Jam, Street Hoop/Slam and whatnot) there was "Punk Shot" by KONAMI. For 1990 (4 years before the first NBA Jam), it's a pretty impressive game. You should really try it if you haven't, mate.

The first real VS games, way before Street Fighter :

KARATE CHAMP

Damn. I played this game to a PULP at an arcade close to my parents during my childhood (between '86 and '88). My late dad (R.I.P.) would get MAD that it took a while for me to put this one down, since he probably gave me just a couple quarters and they'd last forever, since I learned a "cheat move" from one of the more grown up kids in the arcade, which is the "back flip --> front flip --> lunge punch". You can go through all but the later stages with this "move", then the CPU just gets too fast, and it doesn't work anymore. Try it out!

Absolutely LOVED (still do, play them occasionally on MAME) these ones too: "Mat Mania"(known as "Exciting Hour" in Japan) and "Ring King" ("King of Boxer" in Japan)

 

[crustcyb]

@slamsoze

I BLASPHEMOUSLY forgot to mention "Arch Rivals" (THE spiritual predecessor of Punk Shot AND yes, NBA Jam). My deepest and sincere apologies, mate.

 

[slamsoze]

@crustcyb amazing game, with real fighting mechanisms!!!
When I revisit all those titles, I feel amazed and sad at the same time.

Amazed cause, in that era, almost any game that you see with KoNAMI title in the beginning, is for sure a quality certificate for a masterpiece.

Sad looking at the low state, modern KONAMI has reached.
_______________________________________

Well after some research i did recently cause of this thread, i found for the first time some bootlegs that i never knew.

1st for the lovers of Mario Land, an SNES "remaster" of the game, if get it correct is a fanmade ROM ,but with NDS graphics for some damn reason!! Really fascinating,i can't find words....



2nd two transferred titles from PSX to SNES , with many limitations of course, extra chip in cartridge to handle the extra load!?
If I understood correct the documentation, the extra chip inside the cartridge did all the hard work of graphics and animations, while the SNES did only the bypass management and the colouring of the images, and even this by pushing the hardware off its limits.

Of course as i have played the PSX and Dreamcast, Arcade versions, I would be crazy to not prefer the proper and polished/smooth versions , over this, but from a collector's and emotional perspective, it is good to check them.

Also the games are in the end of the console's life cycle, so it is just a pure demonstration, where the limits of SNES hardware are and how far you can push it.

Street Fighter Alpha SNES version



Street Fighter VS X-Men SNES
This is is one is even more poor implementation. The fps is terrible, and the background stage is all static, in order to be processable by SNES.



Finally a crazy Sega Genesis bootleg finding, a game that basically uses sprites from various fighting games, like X-Men, Dragonball, Street Fighter. you can play as Michael Jordan!!, SSJ Goku, Cyclops, Ryu, Muhammad Ali!!
As it's unlicensed, M. Jordan appears as Joden and Cyclops of X-Men as Cycl., eyc

This looks more like a well polished MUGEN game, for those who know.

 

[millossobek]

Finally a crazy Sega Genesis bootleg finding, a game that basically uses sprites from various fighting games, like Xmen, Dragonball, Street Fighter. you can play as Michael Jordan!!, SSJ Goku, Cyclops, Ryu, Muhammad Ali!!
As it's unlicensed, M. Jordan appears as Joden and Cyclops of X-Men as Cycl.

As a HUGE Jordan and 90's Bulls fan here, I will definitely pick this one up! Playing as MJ in a fighting game is way beyond!

Speaking of Jordan, here's one of the most original games I played ever, so unique! Chicago is invaded by zombies, ghouls, and other creatures, and MJ comes to the rescue, armed with a basketball 🏀 Sounds a little out there, but it's actually a really fun game, with great level design and challenging enemies. I enjoyed it a lot.

Michael Jordan: Chaos In the Windy City!!

 

[Madmac79]

As a HUGE Jordan and 90's Bulls fan here, I will definitely pick this one up! Playing as MJ in a fighting game is way beyond!

Speaking of Jordan, here's one of the most original games I played ever, so unique! Chicago is invaded by zombies, ghouls, and other creatures, and MJ comes to the rescue, armed with a basketball 🏀 Sounds a little out there, but it's actually a really fun game, with great level design and challenging enemies. I enjoyed it a lot.

Seems like legit fun, although I want to know what they were smoking when they came out with a similar idea , better not tell Konami or a Zombie mode with Messi killing undeads with a soccer ball and football tricks might be their next "great" idea.

@slamsoze man Mario Land looks awesome. All the other fighting games are nice jobs as well, except from SF vs X-Men of course (man the memories, loved all the Street Fighter/Capcom/Marvel mashups).. but I'm fascinated too by the concept of pushing an hardware to his maximum limit. Great that they tried anyway!

 

[vialli82]

Street Fighter Alpha 2, like Yoshi Island, got both teh Super FX 2. Like there's a "prototype" version of Star Fox/Wings 2 using that processor.
Damn, they could have done tons of games with that chip, in 2D you could've made miracles.

Knowing that in fact Snes was conceived with 2 special system, when Megadrive needed chip "apart" for certain game which costed much more money if i remember.

Snes was more or less twice slower (!) than the Megadrive, but was conceived differently: if you check inside the port, 2 mini stuffs right and left for chip regarding speed and special stuffs. The console was conceived to receive chip from the developers, i remember capcom got his ship, some others like i don't know, Midway too.

And also the unknown system i talked before, the "fast rom", well, a system to make the rom (games in files format) readed way faster, so no more slowdown like you got in many Capcom games ...
The big issue is that concepters wasn't aware of that "fast rom" system! Only 30-32 games used it.
Got no idea about "why" at all they weren't aware of that, perhaps it was hard to convert or + cost to transform it on a fastrom to make the game running overally faster? I don't know. But for example i tried F-Zero in Fastrom and damn, it's ultra fluid.


Megadrive was conceived to be fast, really fast and powerfull cpu multi-functions, and some others components for all effects that could be reproduced with imagination, manually with "maths", and i think got more background possible in the same time or one stuff like this, without chips.

While snes got already some intern chip regarding Zoom, Rotation, and mode 7, but wasn't that faster than a simple NES (no joke : you can verify).
Some guys have even reproduced the Mode 7 on Megadrive on youtube, wasn't impossible but yes to program.
Well to be honest, sometimes i liked more the Outrun or others racing games without Mode 7 than the super flat pixelated mode 7 on some games...


About Mode 7, some reproduced it way better with variation in width with tricks (well, chips incorporated in the cartridge), while some used that mode to create a full flat map.
Example, perhaps the only one with Off Road the Baja on Snes : using a chip for "modifing" the mode 7. closer to the arcade. Still pixellated and more demanding in terms of power for the Snes so slower, but impressive utilisation.

 

[millossobek]

Street Fighter Alpha SNES version

I actually thought this one was pretty well done, the gameplay seemed smooth to me and not THAT different from the PSX version. Never tried the Marvel vs Capcom one on SNES, but Alpha was decent, although I always thought the peak of the SNES Street Fighter installments was Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting, which was an updated version of Champion Edition. This one included the four boss characters, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison. I think this was the best one in terms of gameplay, the most balanced.. When The New Challengers came out (with Deejay, Fei Long, Cammy, and T. Hawk), I thought they unbalanced the game quite a bit, especially by making Guile too weak. Turbo Hyper Fighting was to me, the best SF2 for the era. The balance between the characters was just right!

 

[shumway]

I owned a NES as well, it was my first concole ever and played it to death.

Like today I digged most of my time into sports titles like Konami Hyper Soccer, Tennis, NES Ice Hockey (the one mentioned before in this thread) NES Open Tournament Golf, Formula 1 etc.

One game besides to the sports titels I really loved was Sid Meier’s Pirates!

I remember some looong christmas days waiting for christmas gift giving and some even longer christmas nights sitting in my room playing this. There was a real map included in the game box, lying next to me on the floor helping me to navigate. Good old memories.







Shame I sold my console and all the games...

 

[ThomasGOAL]

 

[millossobek]

This is another awesome game, quite underlooked I think. Jackal for NES! You play as a 4-man combat Jeep trying to rescue your army companions behind enemy lines, armed with a machine gun, a grenade launcher upgradeable to missiles. Love the simplicity. So action packed and challenging, I remember playing hours and hours of this, I think it is based on an arcade version but the NES game was the one I played. Konami had some great great games in the late 80's/early 90's, and also one other noteworthy aspect of this game is the soundtrack, which I thought was badass, and a VERY cool intro (check the video, the intro theme song stayed with me throughout the years). Great, great game, one of my favorites.

 

[millossobek]

Samurai Shodown is definitely my favorite fighting saga of all time. Good thing that @vialli82 mentioned it.
I love everything that has to do with medieval asian history and settings, and not only that, but this saga in itself is a classic.
Great soundtrack in all installments, and the SNES version was no exception!
Featuring my favorite character in any fighting game, Yagyu Jubei

"Nobody Can Be my Equal, Wah Hah Hah Haaah!!" What a badass

 

[slamsoze]

Samurai Shodown is definitely my favorite fighting saga of all time. Good thing that @vialli82 mentioned it.
I love everything that has to do with medieval asian history and settings, and not only that, but this saga in itself is a classic.
Great soundtrack in all installments, and the SNES version was no exception!
Featuring my favorite character in any fighting game, Yagyu Jubei

"Nobody Can Be my Equal, Wah Hah Hah Haaah!!" What a badass

Nice shot. And i had the false assumption that it was SEGA Megadrive "exclusive"..

 

[slamsoze]

Did you guys ever play "The Legend of The Mystical Ninja?"

Known in Japan as "Ganbare Goemon", I believe only one version was released outside of Japan, but the sequels, Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shogun Magginesu, Ganbare Goemon 3: Shishijyūrokubei no Karakuri Manji Katame, and Ganbare Goemon Kirakira Douchū: Boku ga Dancer ni Natta Wake were released in Japan, and I believe there are translations out there for English!

This game is so awesome, it's kind of hard to explain, you just have to play it! It is deeply based on Japanese mythology and legends, and it is full of humor, quirky interesting characters etc. I love medieval asian settings, they are perhaps my favorite worlds ever, so this is right up my alley! It's kind of an RPG, kind of a platformer, 100% entertaining and unique, it is one of the best 16 games out there! Check this saga out bros!

Found an English translation for Goemon 2.

https://www.romhacking.net/translations/5353/

 

[millossobek]

Awesome bro!!!!! Great job looking for this.. Already downloading.