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Remember back in the 80s and 90s, when you didn’t have a moment’s access to hundreds or maybe thousands of games? Remember when your ‘game library’ wasn’t above double-digits? When your decision to rent a game on a weekend was REALLY tough, because if it sucked, well… holy poo poo, you’re in for a terrible time? Welcome to the Retro Goon Gaming Club! Weekly rentals! No late fees! Buy your own popcorn! This thread is for us goons who are almost paralyzed by choice. Do we play the best game from the NES? What about that super popular game on SNES that we just ‘haven’t gotten around to yet’? What’s the deeeaaaaal with that Genesis platformer everyone loves? Be paralyzed no more! Every week, usually starting on Friday night (EST), I’ll be posting a new game (sometimes two) that we’ll all be discussing and/or playing. This will hopefully inspire us all to focus on one or two titles at a time, instead of booting up our collection of choice and just sitting there for 16 minutes before deciding that we’re just going to play Mappy. Again.  There aren’t many hard and fast rules for this thread, so here are some guidelines... - We’re mainly going to stick to 8 and 16 bit games, as they are both numerous and also extremely easy to acquire, one way or another - On the topic of acquiring them, while I will be generally sticking with games that are available in retro collections (NES Online, SNES Online, NES Mini, SNES Mini, Genesis/Megadrive Classics, and various other compilations and ‘mini’ consoles), if you have to emulate them, or if you’ve got a Retropie-whatever set up, that’s fine. I don’t want to get into  territory, so it’s kind of a ‘just don’t mention where you got it’ sort of thing. No one cares that you downloaded Tetris 2. Keep in mind that, yes, I just might bring up a game that’s NOT on one of these services. Again, no one cares, don’t make a big deal out of it. So, you can certainly talk emulators, though. Some good recommendations are Launchbox (PC), OpenEmu [OS X], and, of course, RetroArch (will run on almost every platform).univbee posted:fwiw for people who are going to play the ROM in funky ways, SNES9X on both the original Wii and 2DS/original 3DS worked fine for me with this game at least through the first level (no sound skipping). It may not be 1:1 with the original hardware but it seems on par with the how game runs on a native SNES, so if that's all you got for super-lazy play they should be fine choices. univbee posted:On a more general level here is some advice I'll give for people who want to play these games on a lazier device than a PC (e.g. something hooked up to your TV with a controller) (Thanks to univbee for that awesome info!  ) - Discussion isn’t totally limited to the game or games up on tap, but the purpose here is to get us more or less focused on the game or games we’re playing that given week. If you have to go out on a tangent and huge thread derail, it’s way better if it pertains to a previous game we’ve had featured. Discussion doesn’t have to end after we’ve returned it, but be mindful that the majority of us will likely have moved on. - I’ll usually double-up games if they’re really simple, if there’s not much discussion to be had, or if at least one of them is flat-out bad. In other words, Urban Champion isn’t getting a solo starring credit  - I initially thought that I’d play up the whole ‘we’re pretending to rent games’ thing more, but that might be too much. That being said, if you want to do it, if you want to RP as your 90s self, complete with sugar rushes, and lamenting on having to ‘bring the game back’ when it’s due, by all means, go ahead. Discussions of rental stores from your past is both welcomed and encouraged. - Have fun and don’t get all goony (in a bad way). If all you want to do is make a huge post detailing all of your memories of the game we’re discussing, as always, go hog wild! From page 19, the best little anecdote from COOL CORN: COOL CORN posted:I don't have much to add about Ninja Gaiden And a follow up... COOL CORN posted:I found it  ---- Other threads you might be interested in: Game Boy Game Club: More than just Tetris! Doom WAD club The Early FPS Megathread - lol at not owning several retail versions of doom2.wad  This is a really good thread!The Pinball Megathread (Physical and Virtual) (general discussion) Retro Gaming Megathread: Finally Got Waterworld for Virtual Boy (general discussion) RENTAL ACCOUNT HISTORY: Week 1-and-a-bit (Sept 9th-20th): Star Fox Week 2 (Sept 13th - Sept 20th): Wrecking Crew Week 3 (Sept 20th - Sept 27th): Altered Beast / Golden Axe Week 4 (Sep 27th - Oct 4th): Toejam & Earl Week 5 (Oct 4th - Oct 11th): The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Week 6 (Oct 11th - Oct 18th): Pilotwings Week 7 (Oct 18th - Week 8 (Nov 1st - Nov 8th): Shining Force Week 9 (Nov 8th - Nov 15th): Super Metroid Week 10 (Nov 15th - Nov 22nd): Kirby's Adventure / The Adventure of Lolo Week 11 (Nov 22nd - Nov 29th): Columns / NES Open Tournament Golf Week 12 (Nov 29th - Dec 6th): Super Mario Kart Week 13 (Dec 6th - Dec 13th): Punch-Out!! Week 14 (Dec 13th - Dec 20th): Ninja Gaiden Week 15 (Dec 20th - Jan 10th): Super Mario World / Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Week 16 (Jan 10th - Jan 24th): Beyond Oasis / Kid Icarus Week 17 (Mar 8th - Mar 13th): Star Fox 2 Season 2: The Return! Week 18 (Mar 29th - Apr 8th, extra long week to get back into the swing of things): Super Mario 64 Week 19 (April 8th - April 15th): F Zero X Week 20 (April 18th - April 23rd): The Ignition Factor Week 21 (April 24th - May 1st): Shining Force 2 Week 22 (May 2nd - May 8th): The greatest game ever made OP to be updated with links to posts about each game, and with images and info and stuff. Rupert Buttermilk fucked around with this message at 12:43 on May 2, 2022 |
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Sep 9, 2019 18:42
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Gonna ground floor this with some choice Star Fox memories. My brother got stupidly good at the game, effectively 100%ing it (getting a 100% score on all stages and all difficulties), doing the black hole extra, and also beating the game explicitly after getting all his team members shot down. I also remember someone more recently (like 10ish years ago) who thought the game was rear end and couldn't believe it lacked textures and had such a bad framerate, not really away of just how dire processing power was back then and how even getting that much was a miracle of software engineering.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:07
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Took me years as a kid to beat the Dancing Interceptor in Star Fox. I could never make it past like, Stage 4 of any given route when the game came out. I remember how incredible the soundtrack to this game was and being disappointed for years that Nintendo never bothered to take any of it and put it in future games, unless I'm mistaken. It seems like the Star Fox 64 aesthetics were the benchmark going forward but I'd love if a new Star Fox took a stronger influence from the cold urgency and brooding sound of the SNES game. The mothership sequence in Level 3 is still such an incredible moment in any SNES game when you see it for the first time. From the way it pulls up amongst a fire fight, the long corridor obstacle course, then finally the music fading into silence leaving you with just the cold swirling sound of the vacuum inside the core. It's just such an intense finale to a barrage of poo poo you have to go through in that area, a true masterpiece in level design.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:16
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I might break out my hacked 2DS to play this this week, will be easier once the 20th rolls around with the Switch Lite.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:25
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To give context to Star Fox's 3D prowess at the time, it was released in early 1993. The other major 3D polygonal games at the time would've been Virtua Racing, which was released in the fall of 1992 in the arcades, and Alone in the Dark for MS-DOS in some parts of Europe in 1992, then the rest of the world by 1993. The idea of doing a 3D game on a home console, let alone the SNES, was mind-blowing. The 3DO and Atari Jaguar were both out by the end of 1993 and they could do 3D as well, but the price tags on those (and quality of the games) weren't very attractive.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:26
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I played StarFox so much on SNES as a kid that I drew my own version of the world map and the paths you could take. I had little check mark boxes next to every level ( 3 for Venom ). I ONCE got to or through Meridia(?) The volcano planet at the end of the hardest path, but never ever beat it on the hardest difficulty as a child. Still haven't I think actually. Unfortunately the sheet of paper I drew on is LONG lost to time and moving out years ago.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:27
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Mercury Crusader posted:To give context to Star Fox's 3D prowess at the time, it was released in early 1993. The other major 3D polygonal games at the time would've been Virtua Racing, which was released in the fall of 1992 in the arcades, and Alone in the Dark for MS-DOS in some parts of Europe in 1992, then the rest of the world by 1993. The idea of doing a 3D game on a home console, let alone the SNES, was mind-blowing. The 3DO and Atari Jaguar were both out by the end of 1993 and they could do 3D as well, but the price tags on those (and quality of the games) weren't very attractive. Star Fox was the most sophisticated true 3D game that was accessible to most home users until like 1996 when the Playstation was properly out. I don't remember the cart holding any sort of significant price premium the way the Genesis Virtua Racing did (probably helped that Star Fox was produced in big numbers), either, so you could go from owning no gaming stuff other than a TV, to owning a console with a 3D game that wouldn't be outdone sub-$399 for at least 3 years for like $159 or $169, some such price.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:31
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Jesus you all have already gotten me hyped up to play a game that was never really on my list of 'must plays'. Thread success! Of course, I was a Genesis kid after the NES, so I was also doing a bit of feigning indifference when friends would talk SNES. Just fyi, I'll try and make an actual Star Fox info post later on.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:42
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I wrote up a little technical thing that's excessive, feel free to use it. Star Fox (also known as StarWing in Europe) Consoles on which it's legally available Super NES / Super Famicom (physical cartridge only) SNES Classic (one of the built-in games, as well as the only official source of its previously-unreleased sequel, Star Fox 2) Switch (digital only. This is the Super NES version via Nintendo Switch Online game subscription, weekly internet check-in required) "Grey Market" availability Any device capable of running Super NES games/ROMs with a SuperFX chip. Examples include hacked systems in the 3DS family, a hacked Wii with a Classic Controller, a Raspberry Pi-based device, or any PC running any OS (at least 400 MHz for full speed, so a non-issue by today's standards). Some ancient copier devices may be able to run it if an alternate SuperFX game is connected to the system, although Star Fox is by far the most common SuperFX game so this is unlikely to be a situation you'd run into. Flash cart compatibility: SD2SNES only, due to SuperFX chip SNES cartridge technical stats ROMsize: 8 Megabits (1 MegaByte) Special Chips: SuperFX (version 1) Market availability: Common, can be had as a loose cart on eBay for $10-20 easily, and trivially (although not as a permanent license) available digitally via Switch. "Super Weekend Competition" versions (a time-limited abridged version used in official competitions for the highest score) also exist, but legit cartridges are rare (repros are less rare). SNES Cart versions Japanese Super Famicom version (version 1.0 and 1.1) North American Super NES version (version 1.0 and 1.2) European "StarWing" PAL version (version 1.0 and 1.1) German "StarWing" PAL version "Super Weekend Competition" US version "Super Weekend Competition" European version Unofficial fan patches for the original game ROM are available at least in Brazilian Portuguese, French, Spanish and Russian. This isn't a story- or text-heavy game, though, you don't have to understand anything to have a fun time.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:50
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:Of course, I was a Genesis kid after the NES, so I was also doing a bit of feigning indifference when friends would talk SNES. That reminds me, at the time I thought it was weird that the SNES was able to churn out a home console 3D game before the Genesis did, due to a couple of factors. Namely, Sega had Virtua Racing so in my kid mind I figured it would make sense for Sega to have a 3D game before Nintendo. Also, the SNES seemed very iffy when running fast-paced action games compared to the Genesis, so the idea of the SNES running a 3D game made me a bit skeptic. Granted, the frame rate of Star Fox wasn't all that hot, but most 3D polygonal anything by this time always felt weirdly slow and floatly so it wasn't as noticeable. A lot of early 3D in media just had this otherworldly aesthetic that was a bit haunting, tbh
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Sep 9, 2019 19:52
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I didn't play the first Star Fox properly until only a few years ago but I was surprised how fun it was. You can really get over that super slow frame rate pretty quickly. It's really amazing what they were able to pull off on SNES. The music is fantastic.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:55
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Now renting: Star Fox Released: JP: 21 February 1993 NA: 26 March 1993 EU: 3 June 1993 General info (from Wikipedia Wikipedia posted:Star Fox was Nintendo's second 3D game after the release of X for the Game Boy in 1992. However, it was Nintendo's first game to use polygonal graphics. It accomplished this by being the first ever game to use the Super FX graphics acceleration coprocessor powered GSU-1. The complex display of three-dimensional models with polygons was still new and uncommon in console video games, and the game was praised as a result. Rental due back before: midnight Friday Sept 20th Edit: thank you VERY much, Univbee!  univbee posted:I wrote up a little technical thing that's excessive, feel free to use it.
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Sep 9, 2019 19:56
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fwiw for people who are going to play the ROM in funky ways, SNES9X on both the original Wii and 2DS/original 3DS worked fine for me with this game at least through the first level (no sound skipping). It may not be 1:1 with the original hardware but it seems on par with the how game runs on a native SNES, so if that's all you got for super-lazy play they should be fine choices.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:02
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Ground floor! I never played OG Starfox until around 2018, despite owning a cart of it and having played 64 ad nauseum. I tried it on the SNES mini but found it janky as hell and stopped within 5 minutes. I'll give it an honest try this weekend. Hopefully there's a good game hiding under all those cobwebs.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:06
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univbee posted:fwiw for people who are going to play the ROM in funky ways, SNES9X on both the original Wii and 2DS/original 3DS worked fine for me with this game at least through the first level (no sound skipping). It may not be 1:1 with the original hardware but it seems on par with the how game runs on a native SNES, so if that's all you got for super-lazy play they should be fine choices. I'll add this to the OP, along with some more wording about the general stance here on emulation (spoiler: it's fine, just don't talk sources for games) Also, I am of course always open to suggestions or input with regards to posts and any info you'd like me to add to the OP. Fan-art, memes, whatever, are also all welcome and will be added to the game's specific post, which is also linked to from the OP. Thank you all already for participating! I can see this virtual rental store maybe not lasting as long as Blockbuster did, but definitely being a more enjoyable place to be
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Sep 9, 2019 20:07
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Good idea for a thread, I've already played a bit of Star Fox when making sure my SD2SNES works but I'll make an effort to actually play the whole thing, too. You can see how much was just remade for Star Fox 64, but it's still a fun game on its own from what I've played. May try out Star Fox 2 also.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:08
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:I can see this virtual rental store maybe not lasting as long as Blockbuster did, but definitely being a more enjoyable place to be See if a mod can make this the thread background. 
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Sep 9, 2019 20:09
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Just finished Corneria, had fun but I can already tell it's going to be hard to parse enemies from the background when nothing has textures. I wish they'd kept the gibberish speak for Fox. Adededebdede....
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Sep 9, 2019 20:25
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Not a Children posted:Ground floor! I never played OG Starfox until around 2018, despite owning a cart of it and having played 64 ad nauseum. I tried it on the SNES mini but found it janky as hell and stopped within 5 minutes. Ha, I was about to make this exact post. Really excited about this thread, and the excuse to continue filling out gaps in my game history.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:26
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I'll be following the thread although I won't be playing Star Fox this time around. Not a fan of that style of game. But definitely interested in the project, I need a good excuse to play more games and the discussion aspect is perfect for that.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:32
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I never played much SNES because we were a Sega household so StarFox is totally new to me, I'll be jumping in tomorrow on Switch.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:38
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I am onboard AF with this thread. I have never played anything more than the first level of Starfox, so I'm ready to see what the game actually is
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Sep 9, 2019 20:41
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Also, I had a 32x as a kid, so I still had my fair share of early 90's janky 3d thank you very much
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Sep 9, 2019 20:42
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star fox was my favorite franchise as a kid. i love low poly. i love the music. i even love the gameplay. with that said space harrier is way more fun to play.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:46
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I remember Star Fox's atmosphere really making an impression on me as a teenager. At the time it felt mysterious and important. But for some reason, the voices are what have stuck with me the most - I still say Falco's "gurgle gwing dabber" line to myself occasionally 25 years later. 
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Sep 9, 2019 20:51
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I'd gladly pay $20 for a Virtua Racing-style remaster on Switch. I know it will never happen.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:57
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I loved the game as a kid but I remember never finding out how to get to the black hole stage. Of course no one at school knew either. I remember years later when we finally had stuff like Gamefaqs I looked it up and finally did it... and it wasn't that exciting. Also the way your teammates aren't actually helping you and are always tailed by that same enemy ship is hilarious.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:58
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I've never played StarFox despite loving the SNES and space shooty games. Gonna try it out when I get home later this week!
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Sep 9, 2019 21:03
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So there's this video of an overclocked Star Fox cart that actually looks pretty dang good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLcw3O7aTgo I don't suppose anybody's figured out a convenient way to do this with an emulator or something? As many fond memories as I have of the game, it's pretty rough going back to that framerate.
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Sep 9, 2019 21:07
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Hey it's the thread I'll sit out this week because I've played Star Fox about 20 million times. If you haven't played it yet, it still holds up really well. Still has bomb music and atmosphere and the controls are easy to pick up. It's still a great game. SNES Star Fox and NES Captain Skyhawk are two of my favorite games on the systems.
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Sep 9, 2019 21:08
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The only Starfox game I've ever played was 64. That was a grand game with stupid awesome dialog, amazing music, and sweet branching paths. I find it hard to believe that this will be as fun as playing Starfox 64 as a pre-teen but I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.
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Sep 9, 2019 21:22
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I am in on the ground floor for this thread! I've got NESFlix, SNESFlix, and Genesis Collection and can get whatever else you throw at me! My Gaming History: Born in 94, but watched my older brother play Atari 2600, SNES, and Genesis growing up. We had an N64 by the time I was old enough to play games on my own, and we later got a PS2, PS3, and then had no console (Just PC games) until I bought a Switch this year. I was just telling the Switch thread that with these classic games I feel like a kid learning how to play video games for the first time again, especially since stuff like 2D platformers and shmups I have no experience with. I'm ready to crunch into some Star Fox for the first time as soon as I'm back from work!
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Sep 9, 2019 21:23
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I didn't have a SNES as a kid, so Star Fox 64 was the first one I got to play, so I'm more nostalgic for that one. For some reason, I associate the original Star Fox with K-Mart. I remember they had this Star Fox wristwatch I really wanted but did not get. I eventually did get Star Fox when I bought a SNES as a young adult. Star Fox is much more difficult than Star Fox 64. I ultimately like 64 much much more, but I appreciate the original for what it is. I own a Super NT and the cart still, so I'll play it on that, but I think I'll see how the Switch version fares too. Detective No. 27 fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Sep 9, 2019 |
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Sep 9, 2019 21:27
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I never got far into the SNES Star Fox after it broke the lid and somehow killed my console. Put in more time on the display in stores while the parents shopped and didn't get past level 2. I became a Genesis kid after that. It wasn't the first and would not be the last system to die like that.
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Sep 9, 2019 21:39
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Put me down as another that’s played it enough to give it a pass. It’s a shame there doesn’t seem to be a way to improve the frame rate without just literally speeding up the whole game. Although seeing it on 60FPS/Turbo mode actually still looks kinda fun. The low poly count does help make the frame rate more tolerable somehow, almost as if it were a stylistic choice and not just a technical limitation, and most importantly it’s still a fun game despite all of that regardless. The SuperFX and it’s fellow enhancement chips really made the SNES shine and without any dumb gimmick add-ons. And really Star Fox was a super strong debut. With other companies throwing around nonsense like Blast Processing or whatever, it proved to people that the SuperFX was the real deal and even the creaky old SNES was gonna get it’s own small piece of 3D action. e: I just realized that Star Fox was early ‘93, as posted above. It was probably also the exact moment in time that Sega of America, being top dog at the time realized how hosed they actually were. Edit 2: It turns out, me and my brother in law may give it a go, since it’ll be fun because he’s slightly younger than me and played it when he was really young, but really came into age in the N64 era and played Star Fox 64 a lot, so it’ll be interesting to see how tolerable he finds its limitations and how much fun he can get out of it. While I can share my point of view, and defend it if necessary, or I may end up agreeing with him on a few points and see it for the relic it might truly be. Laslow fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Sep 9, 2019 |
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Sep 9, 2019 21:39
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404notfound posted:So there's this video of an overclocked Star Fox cart that actually looks pretty dang good: The newest versions of bsnes allow overclocking of various chips such as the fx chip.
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Sep 9, 2019 21:51
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:I am onboard AF with this thread. I have never played anything more than the first level of Starfox, so I'm ready to see what the game actually is Same. I'm going to tackle it ASAP. I do love the music. Who did it? It gives me F-Zero vibes, though I know they're not the same person. The F-Zero lady? who ever did F-Zero and nothing else I think. Not like they had to.
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Sep 9, 2019 21:57
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Holy poo poo, Falco is a dick 
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Sep 9, 2019 22:37
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I played this during my lunch break, so here's some early impressions. The music is great, as expected. Once I figured out how to tell the difference between friendlies and bogies, the absence of textures stopped bothering me. I'm taking the top-most route, not that it's that meaningful right now. Corneria is super challenging but I've beaten it once and made it as far as... I think it was Sector X? The area where Andross' forces are building a base. This is so hard but so thrilling. The music gets me really pumped (in fact, I'm at work listening to the Corneria theme right now) and the incidental dialog from your squadmates really enhances the experience. I love when they enter the scene, get kind of competitive, or call for help. I love that Falco is as much of an rear end in a top hat as I remember him being in 64. I hate that for some reason I keep on accidentally shooting Skippy. So far, this game rules. It's the most fun I've had with a rails shooter not called Star Fox 64. I'm doing the top-most route because it looks like a decent mix of space and planet missions, but is there a recommended order? Rupert Buttermilk posted:Holy poo poo, Falco is a dick Mind your own business, Fox! 
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Sep 9, 2019 22:38
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a friend bought me a starfox cart (or wing, as well call it over here!) for xmas last year so i guess its a good place to start. not that i have a working snes other than a classic anymore tho but anyway, will probably load up the switch version for awhile. tho i did enjoy loving around with the boosted version, overclocked on the classic.
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Sep 9, 2019 23:09
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