Pokémon Starter Guide

Tags

Alpha Sapphire, JRPG, Move Types, Omega Ruby, Pokémon, Role Playing, Starter Guide

BACKGROUND

What is Pokémon?
Pokémon is a portmanteau word derived from the original Japanese name of the game: Pocket Monsters. It all started back in 1995 – nearly twenty years ago – and it is wholly remarkable how little the core game has changed in all that time. Each Pokémon game involves a young hero, his friends, a team of bad guys, and lots and lots of monsters: which you can defeat in battle or have fighting at your side.

The first goal of the game is to follow the story, defeating bad guys, “gym leaders”, the “elite four”, and usually an additional super-tough cookie. But that’s just the start! If you enjoyed yourself you may feel a strong urge to find all the Pokémon in the game’s region (or country). This is referred to as “completing a Pokédex” – gotta catch ’em all.

THE GAMES

Which game should I buy?
Why are there so many of them?
The “proper” Pokémon games are released in pairs: X/Y, Heart/Gold, Black/White, Ruby/Sapphire, Red/Blue, Diamond/Pearl etc. Each game of a “pair” (for example Ruby and Sapphire) will tell EXACTLY the same story in EXACTLY the same “region” – think of a country in the Pokémon world. The only real difference between Ruby and Sapphire are some of the Pokémon that you can encounter during the game.

For example, each will have a different “Legendary” Pokémon (often the one pictured on the box) and a about dozen other Pokémon that will only appear in Ruby or Sapphire – the other couple of hundred will be the same in both!! The idea being that someone with Ruby will trade unique Pokémon with someone with Sapphire in order to catch all the Pokémon – which is a nice little way of making the game sociable; even if most of the trading is now done on-line instead of with underpowered infra red ports or antiquated link-up cables!

While each pair tells the same story, each different pair will tell a different in a different region, with a different threat to the world’s safety, and an fresh team of baddies. However, some titles have been remade, upgraded and updated, to appear on newer versions of Nintendo’s consoles.

Some story arcs have had a 3rd game published – a kind of “super” version which usually contains all the Pokémon from the other two and a few extras. For example, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were enhanced in Platinum … if you have Diamond or Pearl there’s no need to get Platinum, but if you don’t have either of them then Platinum is the one to go for!

Confused? You might well be. Here is a summary of the games, each column represents on “story” in the Pokémon world. Assuming you want to experience ALL the Pokémon stories, play through one game in each row!

Red/Blue/Green*(GB) Yellow**(GB) Fire Red/Leaf Green(GBA)
Gold/Silver(GB) Crystal**(GB) Heart Gold/Soul Silver(DS)
Ruby/Sappire(GBA) Emerald**(GBA) Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire(3DS)
Diamond/Pearl(DS) Platinum**(DS)
Black/White (DS)
Black 2/White 2(DS)
X/Y (3DS)

*Red and Green were the names of the original “pair” in Japan, elsewhere they were named Red and Blue.
**One of the “special” versions that enhanced the preceding pair (to the left).
If you want to start on the Pokémon road, grab any one of the 3DS games and you’ll be fine.

THE SPIN OFFS

To further complicate matters Nintendo have released a plethora of “spin off” games. While some of these are perfectly adequate games in their own right, they are certainly not as good as the “proper” Pokémon games. They are often considerably cheaper but, unless you’re simply after all Pokémon you can eat, I can’t honestly recommend them. These games are the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, the Pokémon Rangers games, Pokémon Rumble, Pokémon Link, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Battle Revolution, Pokémon Park etc. Don’t get me wrong, they can be fun, but they do not represent a good entry into the world of Pokémon.

GAMEPLAY BASICS

BATTLES!
Pokémon is all about battles but defeated Pokémon aren’t killed; merely knocked out and are soon revived by a visit to a Pokémon centre. Battles are turn-based affairs and each Pokémon can have up to 4 moves; they can be attacking, defensive, or of a stat-boosting variety. Each Pokémon in the battle will choose a move, then each move will occur in turn, with the faster Pokémon likely to go first. This is repeated until all the Pokémon from one team/trainer have been defeated (normally not a long ordeal).

POKéMON TYPES!
All Pokémon have one or two types and each move of a Pokémon is of a single type. At the start of the game most moves are of “normal” type which are “normally effective” against other Pokémon. After a few battles, your first Pokémon will learn a grass/fire/water move depending on its type. Grass moves are “super effective” against water Pokémon, water moves are “super effective” against fire Pokémon, and fire moves are “super effective” against grass Pokémon. This is a neat little triangle and will help you, early on, to gain a significant advantage over your foes. However, Pokémon has MANY types and all of strengths and weakness are not terribly easy to remember. While initially daunting, this chart will really help you (1) realise how deep the gameplay of Pokémon is, and (2) keep one step ahead of most of your foes throughout the game. DESPERATELY DAUNTING TYPE CHART

MOVE TYPES!
You should also be aware that a Grass Pokémon executing a grass move, will perform that grass move at 150% of its normal strength. A fire Pokémon executing a grass move will perform that move at 100% of its normal strength. A water & grass (twin type) Pokémon executing a grass move will perform that move at 125% of its normal strength.

TWIN TYPES!
But is isn’t even that simple! Some Pokémon have 2 types. For example, one could be a Flying and Water type – both of these types are weak to electric attacks, so electric attacks on a fire & water Pokémon will be FOUR TIMES more powerful than normal! Understanding twin types, and how they work, can be critical in the later stages of the game.

STATS!
Pokémon have stats – lots of stats actually – too many to talk about here. But you should know a bit. Each Pokémon has two attack stats: attack and special attack, and two defence stats: defence and special defence. Each move uses either attack or special attack. Some Pokémon have strong special attack stats while other have strong (physical) attack stats, while others still have similar levels of each. Be careful not to give special attacks to your Pokémon that have poor special attack stats. Similarly, attacking a Pokémon with a high special defence with a special attack move won’t do as much damage. You can play perfectly well without paying attention to all of these, but it will explain why some moves perform unexpectedly better than others.

EVOLUTION!
Battle wins provide experience points for the victor and these points equate to an increase in the level, and therefore power, of your Pokémon. These increases may appear small they soon mount up. After a few level increases, your Pokémon may “evolve”. This means that it will turn into a more powerful creature; a good thing. Some Pokémon, however, require a certain item to evolve, or to only evolve in a certain location, or at a certain time of day, or even only after being traded with a friend! The variety here can also be quite daunting, but there are guides to tell you how to evolve each and every Pokémon – and characters in the game’s story will often give you hints.

IN SUMMARY

So those are the main principles, don’t be daunted, leap in and have fun – but be loosely aware of the mechanics in the background. You kids will love it – they’re not violent games and there is a strong ethical sense of right and wrong throughout. Honestly, I’ve been playing games for over 30 years and I can’t recommend this series highly enough. For certain it won’t grab everyone, but it really is worth finding out if you are one of the many of us fall for its many charms!

Captain Commando

Tags

Brawler, Capcom, Captain Commando, Scrolling Beat 'em Up

I love a good brawler. Or a scrolling beat ’em up. You should be familiar with the genre; many folks’ favourite games come from within. Final Fight, Bare Knuckle (aka Streets of Rage), Golden Axe, Dungeons and Dragons, and various others.

There are a few, particularly on the Super Famicom or SNES, that I didn’t play back in the day. The Rushing Beat series, Undercover Cops, Ninja Warriors Again, and Captain Commando, being the highlights. Those games all have something else in common – price. Insanely high prices, in fact. A loose cart of each will most probably cost you the wrong side of £50 ($80). Captain Commando, however, was also released on the Sony Playstation. I had an eBay search going for both versions of this game for a few months, and somehow everyone else in the world forgot to bid on one that sold for $69. Honestly, that is almost 50% cheaper than normal. I felt very lucky.

Anyhow, this game arrived today and I had a brilliant time playing it. I bloody love it … If you have the coins, please do yourself a favour and grab this mad but wonderful game!

It is three player sim! That is fully awesome … I hope to cajole both of my robot daughters into playing it with me one day!

The instruction manual has only this single screen shot! Weird.

Baby Commando! Sure, why not 🙂

Beware the trio of lesbians for they wield electric tuning forks, and they are not afraid to use them. Curiously fetching bunch, too; all called Carol.

This gentleman is tough: interestingly his name seems to be Sh1t Rom Jr.

Turns out a giant sword is pretty effective.

Time for some fun chasing ninjas on motorised surfboards. I’m in.

Now to chase the mad scientist into the sewer! But of course.

One scientist down!

This large lady, with whom I’d have no quarrel, has 2 attacks; one is to hurl you forcefully across the screen and the other is to vomit a pool of purest green at you.

And the last piece of the classic brawler puzzle – the fish-man with extendible claw hands.

SOMEHOW, YOU MUST PLAY THIS GAME!
My day one rating: 9/10.

Tales of Frustration Graces

Tags

dungeon, JRPG, maps, random battles, RPG, strategy, Tales, Tales of Graces, turn-based, Zelda

Tales games.
I should love them. I really should.
I’ve been playing JRPGs for over 20 years.
And I love them.
I love battles and item management.
I even like random battles.
Turn-based and strategy (grid-based) are my favourite types … Zelda is too “actiony” for me.

Tales games have action-based battles, but at their heart they play like a turn-based game. They always feature cool characters, great stories, lovely art, and superb music.

Why then do they make me so cross?
It’s simple.
Or rather, it isn’t.
The battle systems, especially of late, are over-complicated, and any break in play (which happens frequently if you have any semblance of a normal life) means you will most likely forget the subtleties and nuances of the crazy-deep battle more and be reduced to button mashing or setting people to “auto” 😦

There was, in Tales of Graces F – clearly the “F” stands for Frustration, a dungeon that was simple (in concept) yet so samey myself (and my two JRPG daughters) kept losing track of where we were. AND THE INTERNET HAD NO MAP!!! No, really. It’s true. NO MAP. Well, save one that was so hopelessly inadequate it might as well not have been there. There were a few instructions like “up, north, descend, east” etc. But that’s a bit crap if you’ve lost your starting point!

So we made a map and got minced by the boss 😥

Viewpoint – 3rd Level Does Exist

Tags

AES, FM Towns, MVS, Neo Geo, NeoGeo, Viewpoint

About 15 years ago I finally stumped up about £70 (just over $100) for this beautiful isometric shooting game on SNK’s fabled NeoGeo console. I couldn’t get the Japanese version (nicer box art) but I was more than content with the European version because the game was no different.

I loved everything about the game. The type of game is one of my favourites – a shmup – where you control a tiny ship and dodge bullets while shooting waves of enemies. I can’t help it, I’m childish that way.

The graphics are beautiful; the colours are bold, the animation is smooth, and there is a lavish attention to detail. The graphics style is unusual, the game is viewed in “isometric 3D” … SEGA’s Zaxxon was (possibly?) the earliest shooting game to use this perspective. Even now, there are only a handful that do. Parasquad on SEGA’s 32X is one that spring to mind, but that uses what now appears clumsy 3D instead of, the still ever-so-fetching, highly polished 2D sprites of Viewpoint.

The music is very 80s, but screams of fun and somehow works perfectly to set scenes of joyous panic. And the sound effects don’t drown out the tunes … something that can irk me tremendously.

Actually, I lied. I don’t love everything about this game. There is one problem. A pretty big one too. The game is HARD. I mean REALLY BLOODY HARD. I have owned it for 15 years and today, for the first time ever, I reached level 3. LEVEL THREE. That’s really not very far is it? But I was BUZZING. Really pumped as, on my last life, I finally killed that bastard crab at the end of level two. I got so excited I took pictures – not sure if I feared I dreamed it all, or that I would NEVER get there again!

This is the start of level 3. My ship was flashing at the start .. games of this ilk often give you a few second of invulnerability, at the start of the level, when there are no enemies about. Very kind 😦 My previous highest score was about 128,000. Scores don’t really matter in games like this; it’s all about getting past a certain level. But hey 🙂 Level 3.

This big purple robotic slug was brand new. Obviously I had to shoot his (or her?) babies and dive into the black hole behind them.

Somehow, I threaded my way from one “smart bomb” to another and butt-clenched my way through waves of bullets. Did I mention that this was my last life? Meep.

Now this was level 3’s boss. A curious fly that was shooting at me and a rapid centipede like companion that was also shooting at me. I had no idea how their attacks would work. However, I had one trick up my sleeve – if I fired lots of little bullets the game slowed down just enough to give me a fighting chance. And I managed to damage it so that it turned around and showed me his posterior. For reasons of decency, I dare not share that image. Anyway, he killed me. Or his bottom laser did. But I was physically shaking .. so excited after just playing an old-fashioned game. And you know what? I still love Viewpoint. You should too – give it a go, be brave!

My final death score

 

 

 

 

 

Thank goodness for piracy – kind of.

Tags

Android Assault, Bari Arm, Mega CD, Sega CD, SHMUP, shoot 'em up

I have Bari-Arm and it DOES NOT WORK.

The disc appears to be fine, all the music tracks play, yet as soon as I put it into my MEGA-CD the console freezes. The title-screen doesn’t even clear. This is not a region lockout issue. My disc has been buggered and I brought the damn thing so long ago that I can’t remember who to moan at.

I thought that maybe my MEGA-CD drive is a little tired and it can’t read the disc well. So I copied it onto a new shiny blank CD-R via my PC. Without any errors reported. Same problem. Exactly.

So I downloaded a disc image. Bad me. Sod off, I’ve paid for this game and it’s broken. All I can find is the American rom, called Android Assault. Anyhow, the image is weird. There is an ISO file and a bunch of MP3s in a RAR. So I burn the ISO, but it won’t let me add music. Crap. Whatever, I’ll go check if it works. It does!! Hooray. My first ever go and it’s GREAT. Shit though, I bet it’s a truckload better with tunes!

I search for another rom. I find one and this time it’s all inside two nice BIN & CUE files. Burn, baby burn. AND LO… this is me, with my happy face, playing Bari-Arm for the first time. I LOVE IT.

Thank you, piracy.
Kind of.

FM Towns – 20 Years in the Waiting

Tags

After Burner II, Consoles, FM Towns, Fujitsu, Hardware Rotation, Hardware Scaling, Import, Japan, Marty, Retro Gaming, SEGA, Sprites

Some 20 years ago I first saw incredible screen shots, in a magazine, of SEGA’s much loved game “After Burner II”. I had After Burner II on the PC Engine and it was a decent conversion of the impressive arcade original. The trouble was, at the time, none of the home consoles possessed what we called “hardware scaling” – the ability to enlarge or decrease hand-drawn sprites without a tremendous drain on the main CPU. This hardware scaling (and its cousin “hardware rotation” – the ability to rotate sprites without said drain) were key elements in the hardware of SEGA’s arcade machines. These great devices were able to throw sprites effortlessly and smoothly around the screen while leaving the main CPU to cope with all the other demands of gameplay. Home consoles at the time had no such capability and had to swap sprites of varying sizes, and rotations, at carefully timed  intervals to attempt the same effect.

For this reason, after seeing a screenshot of After Burner II, with apparently hardware-scaled sprites, we were astounded, excited, envious, and troubled. How could we get one of the FM Towns computers? How much would it cost to get it shipped? This fantasy slowly faded from the foreground of our minds as we tried to cope with the knowledge that, because our favoured import stores didn’t stock such exotic beauties, we would never be able to own such a device.

As the years past, the FM Towns dream was never quite forgotten, there were more stories of “arcade perfect conversions” and vague whispers about other versions of the FM Towns; all in one super machines, and even a cut-down console-like  contraption called a Marty. The concept became something between a dream and a myth. Off on a tangent, two other items that I didn’t believe were real once upon a time are Phantasy Star 1 on the Megadrive, and the rubbery wonder that is a  Commodore 116.

Sorry for all that drivel, but if you’re still alive, awake, or interested, my hope is that it may suffice as a background to what occurred next.

A year ago, a facebook gentleman (HCK) living in Japan (possibly the best country I’ve never visited) was selling some of his wares (ie, super fantastic wonderful consoles) to gain coin to help a family member. Among the items has was shifting was … you may have sagely guessed … an FM Towns (the Marty version). As my birthday was approaching I decided that I would attempt to gather my funds and buy the device at long last (the price was extremely reasonable). Time passed. Slowly. Nothing showed up. Months went by. Nothing. THEN AT LAST … NEWS!! … it had been sent to the Americas in error! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh. No. No NOOOOOO.

It made a second journey. But again, time was the only entity to move. Nothing reached me, or indeed anyone else. That Marty is, extremely sadly, MIA. So, about a month ago, the splendid gent agreed to send a 2nd Marty. We agreed to go via tracked EMS this time, and go halves on shipping. I was very pleased, for he knew not if I had ever received the first Marty, and I knew not if he had ever sent it. This time it would be tracked. This time we’d both know!

The bastards at customs did their absolute best to make a total mockery of EMS’s 3-5 day delivery. That poor, helpless, and defenceless FM Towns Marty was in Coventry, of all places, for longer than I have ever been and FAR longer than is fair to any electrical device. Those pricks also charged a £13.50 “clearance fee” and £27.74 import tax. Anyhow, sod it. I had, in my sweaty paws, a bloody FM Towns!!! And, after all these years, here she is *sniff*

I love my wife for tolerating my fetish.
Love your spouse too, for we are weird!
And I love my FM Towns 😉

ADDED 1 YEAR LATER:
NOW HELP ME CELEBRATE BY GETTING THIS T-SHIRT –
teespring.com/fmtownsmarty

Xbox One – Microsoft’s Endgame

Tags

Filth, Next Box, Rubbish, Stupid Microsoft, Xbox 720, Xbox One, XboxOne

Guest blog from a Charlie of HKCblog.

A lot of gamers seem to have little to no memory, so let me jog yours, or clue you in. A loooong time ago, Bill Gates had an idea. This was an idea for a set top box that would be a digital entertainment hub; a one stop shop, if you will, for watching movies, looking at TV, accessing the internet, communication, and gaming. He believed that this was the next logical step in fusing computers with entertainment and everyday life.

Mr Gates shopped this idea around to not only console makers, but to cable companies as well; but no one was interested. It was then determined by Micorsoft that if this vision of the future was to come into existence, they would have to do it on their own.

After a lot of research, it was determined that the best way to get the public to accept such an entertainment device was to gradually introduce them to the idea because at the time such a device was cost prohibitive and the infrastructure was not there. Keep in mind that at this time there was no Hulu, no Netflix, no console online gaming, no social networking… nothing. So they introduced the Xbox. Many people guffawed at the idea of MS getting into the gaming biz, and it seemed like they might not last because the Xbox Division was operating at a great loss. Microsoft’s keeping their head in the game was attributed to deep pockets at the time, but that’s not entirely true. They kept going while losing money hand over fist because the prize for them was not winning a video game console war, but rather to get consumers to accept a Microsoft made entertainment product in their living rooms… and it worked. Phase one was a mental success, not a monetary one.

A lot of phase two consisted of offering up movie services and various entertainment products in a digital medium. This can be seen in the Xbox 360. People began to accept the idea of subscribing to a digital service for content delivery. Microsoft tried, and failed, to introduce a physical medium of entertainment consumption via an optional HD-DVD drive, but they bet their money on the wrong horse. This part of the second phase would have to wait on a later date. Overall, though, with the Xbox 360, MS achieved wide acceptance and brand recognition with consumers who identified the Xbox brand with not only game playing, but social interaction and media consumption.

That brings us to today where phase three saw realization. A set top media box that’s a one stop shop for entertainment consumption, just as Bill Gates envisioned. This was the end game. Microsoft never had any long term plans to be in the gaming business… in fact they didn’t want to be in it in the first place. They just wanted to offer the backbone to the machine and rake in license revenue. And that’s why today’s unveiling of the Xbox One was all about TV and movies and media, and a little about games. It’s not a game machine, and they don’t want it viewed as such.

None of this information is secret or conjecture. It’s not from a personal company bias on my part. It’s all part of the public record that people seem to have forgotten or were not able to piece together. And all you irate Xbox gamers can’t really be mad because YOU were what was needed to to make it happen. Welcome to the future of media consumption in America.

Top 10 SNES // SFC Games I *NEED* to play!

Tags

Hagane, Metroid, Ninja Warriors Again, Retro, Secret of Mana, Terranigma, Zelda

Back in the day, I owned a Megadrive and a PC Engine, so owning a SNES too was out of my financial range.

Because I didn’t get my own SFC until I was older (and my early SNES time was on mate’s consoles) my game knowledge on this delightful machine has some rather curious, and large, gaps.

Below are the top 10 games I figure I NEED to, hopefully, buy and play to death…

(1) Hagane
A crazy-looking apparently superb hack & slash platformer. Boxed it is stupidly expensive, I aim to find an unboxed copy.

It is supposed to be a brilliant, but the emulator I tried wasn’t perfect, however, I saw enough to start lusting!

(2) Ninja Warriors Again
I do like Ninja Warriors. It is a lot of fun. I adored the music on the Amiga version, I still listen to it on my phone. This version is supposed to be the bees knees. I gather those are good, but I’ve yet to encounter them.

(3) Super Metroid
This omission of mine is indefensible. I don’t really know how I’ve managed to avoid it, or why I’ve not properly played a Metroid game on any console.

I like platform games, and shooting games, and …. there’s no explanation … I can only apologise 😦

(4) Secret of Mana
There are reasons that I missed this game and the two that follow. You can’t as easily play RPGs on a mate’s console, I was getting all my RPG fixes on my Megadrive, and I preferred turn-based or strategy (grid-based) RPGs. Now, given that I’ve owned this title for ~20 years, I really should shut up, stop writing this crap, and play the game!

(5) Chrono Trigger
I only own this on the PS1, but I haven’t played it. If I had the coins, I’d stump up and buy this version. Whenever possible, I like to play a game on the console it first appeared on. I hear so much good about this game, I really need to find out for myself. Not sure if I’ll ever be able to break that seal though 😉

(6) Zelda – A Link to the Past
Have you ever heard of this game? I had the GB original, and I never really got on with it. Fearing the same, I never got around to playing this version, even though I’ve owned it for 20 odd years, yeah just like S’o’Mana.

I recently tried the first Wii Zelda, and I hated it. Does that make me a bad person? 😉

(7) Spriggan Powered
I love a shooter, me. And until recently I had no idea that the superb PC Engine blaster had this sequel. I must know more. But it is a shooter and therefore horribly expensive … but not quite out of reach!

(8) Captain Commando
I’m also a sucker for a good scrolling fighter and Capcom rocked on the SFC. I never found this in the arcade, so now the time is right for me to correct half a life time of missing out. The graphics look, big, bold and colourful. I want.

(9) Rendering Ranger Z
This looks like a tech demo with all sorts of crazy parallax effects and giant sprites. But it also looks like a Turrican beater, and Turrican gets a mention further down. I yearn to know more about this game which came along late in the day for the SNES. I want to play it with a proper pad (a memory from a very brief emulation session).

(10) BioMetal
Yes, another shooter that slipped me by. I gather it isn’t the very best either. But, and this is the twist, it contains the 2-Unlimited “song” Get Ready For This. How can I resist the urge to shoot and rave at the same time?! I can’t … can you?!

Oh, Ray & Anita, where are you now?

Nearly boys…
Axelay: a shooter, I have played it, but not properly & not in many years.
Rushing Beat: a scrolling scrapper, rumoured to be excellent, with the sequels even better.
Secret of Evermore: a fourth (action) RPG that I own and have not play. Looks absolutely gorgeous.
Sword Maniac: a hack & slash platformer. More affordable than Hagane, so I might play this one sooner!
Super Turrican: I’ve never played a Turrican properly either, but they do look good, and the musician is world class (Chris Husslebeck, sorry for the spelling).
Terranigma: a fifth (action) RPG that a mate swears is the best game ever. Who am I to doubt him? I own it, so I’d be a fool not to find out 😦

Top Ten SNES // SFC Games

Tags

F-Zero, Gradius, SFC, SNES, Street Fighter, Super Famicom, Super Mario, Super Nintendo

Here is a list of my top ten Super Famicom (Super Nintendo, or SNES) games. There are a few reasons why my list is a little odd. Firstly, I didn’t own one right away. As a student I couldn’t afford to keep my Megadrive, PC Engine, a 3rd console, and beer. I haven’t ever played a lot of the really rare titles and even some of the best known classics have eluded me. Maybe a game will be new to you, maybe not 🙂

(1) F-Zero
For me, the greatest racer ever made … except its sequel, F-Zero X which of course would not have been possible without the original. At the time, there was nothing to touch its smooth frame rate and exhilarating speed. Because of its smoothness, it had a tendency to make people to lean while playing it. Especially if you put them on a swivel chair 🙂 Still a very rewarding game with a great soundtrack. Much much love, and the game that made me know that, one day, I would own a Super Famicom.

(2) Act Raiser (music by Yuzo Koshiro)
The music utterly astounded me. We knew the SFC had a great sound chip but we had heard nothing like this before. The game was OK at first, it took a while to realise just how good it was. A curious mix of a sharp & polish platform slasher with, at first, puzzling “build-em up” sections. Great that you could save your progress given the size of the game, as this was not the norm for non RPGs at that time. Still one of my top 3 game soundtracks ever.

(3) Street Fighter II
This is where I first learned the subtleties and thrills of Street Fighter II. This conversion is so good that it allowed me to complete the (same version) of the arcade with 20p. I’m sure you all know this game now, but at the time there was nothing else quite like it … I owe the SNES and Capcom a great deal. Actually, now that I own about 20 Capcom Street Fighter variants, I guess I can consider that debt paid! A top ten beat’em up list is here.

(4) Castlevania
If Act Raiser was a sharp hack and slash, then this was the living epitome of a well crafted platform hacker. Just wonderfully well made, always fair, and with each repeated play, you get a little bit better. Exactly the way games should be, and yet so infrequently are. Why isn’t it about Act Raiser then? Well it’s my list, that’s why.

(5) Super Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts
Man, this game is hard. Not always fair, but bloody bloody bloody addictive. Did I mention a debt I owe Capcom? They can sod off. I love this game. Sort of.

(6) Gradius III
The SFC has a poorer list of quality SHMUPS than the Megadrive or PC Engine. That said I couldn’t put this little bugger down – even though it features all the usual flaws (death means reset or take 30 deep breaths). Oddly, this version is better than the arcade counterpart – which is just FAR FAR FAR too hard – think Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts, and double it. Oh, top tunes, and helpful slow down! I even did my first 1CC of it last year, so happy 🙂

(7) Super Mario World
It a fairly decent platform game. You have to jump and collect coins. There’s a green dinosaur and something about a princess. Come on, your dog knows this game. OK, one thought: the best Mario ever.

(8) Final Fight
Big, massive bold sprites, great tunes (repetitive? Well, the SNES does have a tremendous sound chip), and a great game. May have been a couple of spots higher if it was two player like the sequel or the Mega-CD version, but still, this version is the one I played most. I still love it.

(9) Contra
Hard, punishing (hey, is that as common as good music on a SNES game?), two player co-op, and huge amounts of swearing and fun. Konami really rocked the SFC. Some great mode 7 effects, and super end of level guys. Shooting monsters and people has never been so much fun. But really, you’ve got to watch out for them bullets. Unforgiving.

(10) Top Racer
This is probably the oddest choice in my list. It isn’t the best multi-player game, heck even the music is “stolen” from the Amiga classic Lotus Esprit Turbo – but I do love those tunes in this SNES mix! I enjoyed it back in the day, it was fun, and not too hard early on. But what sold it to me recently was that it kept my two daughters quiet for a good long while, and they actually got fairly good at it. An epic win for those that understand the pain of parenting!

Please feel free to trash my filthy list for not including Final Fantasy (I was all over Phantasy Star, Shining Force, and Ys), Mario Kart (F-Zero), Metroid, and Megaman. I wish I could have included Hagane and Ninja Warriors again, alas, I’m not that rich 😦

One other thing, you may wish to look at another list of fantastic SFC games by a very cool forest based tweeter.

Top Ten 1-on-1 Beat ’em Up Blog VS

Tags

1-on-1 fighters, Beat 'em ups, Mortal Kombat, Soul Calibur, Steet Fighter, Tekken, Virtua Fighter

Now the fight is really on. Anton and I have been joined by Paul and we will reveal our top 10 1-on-1 beat ’em up games. Not scrolling brawlers like Double Dragon, Final Fight, or Golden Axe … that list might be next 🙂

Again, this isn’t a “best” list, but one of favourites.
OK, LET’S ROCK..

Dave’s TOP TEN 1-on-1 BEAT ‘EM UPS

(1) Way of the Exploding Fist (Sinclair Spectrum, 48k, tape).
This was the first ever fighting game I played. For that reason alone it had to feature somewhere. Because I loved it so, and it was the reason (several times) for me returning late home to a parental scolding, it gets the top spot. It is slow, with pretty much black and white outline sprites, but it has plenty of moves and absolute skill is required to win. Practice is rewarded. A real gem, and at the time of release unlike anything else I knew of.

(2) International Karate Plus (C64, tape).
This was an update to International Karate, which was a good “clone” of the above game. This though, was 1-on-1-on-1, but it really plays like a normal 1-on-1 game. In single player mode you fought against 2 guys, and in 2-player mode there was always a computer controlled chap. You had 30 seconds to score 1 or 2 points for hits, which always knocked down your opponent briefly. 6 points won you the round directly – or if time ran out, proving you weren’t last, you stayed in. And it was FAST. Really fast. And it had one of Rob Hubbard’s most loved tunes. Actually, click that link and listen while you read the rest of my filth. Aged 15, I played this game before each of my GCSE exams as a form of stress relief. Or maybe I didn’t like revision that much.

(3) Street Fighter II (SFC, cart).
There was a moment when I first saw this in the arcade. I lost a few coins, I had a good time. I wanted more, but was a bit worried there wasn’t really enough game content to warrant a costly import. I was spectacularly wrong – and delighted. My mate had it on his SFC (Jap SNES) and it was on that fine machine that all the subtleties of this truly great fighter slowly dawned on me. Playing on hardest (level 8) it would take hours and I’d use 100+ continues completing it. That count slowly came down. In truth this game is a lot better than the two above, but without the two above I may not have wanted to play this one quite as much. This game was also responsible for my finest ever spending of 20p. At the arcade of Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) I put 20p into the machine, I fought of 3 or 4 human players and went on to beat the game. That remains the only arcade I have ever 1CC’d.

(4) Street Fighter IV (PS3, blu-ray).
I was quite excited when I first saw the screen shots. Obviously I loved SF2 and I have enjoyed SF3 and many of the in-between games. This edition though could so easily have been butchered and fouled up. It wasn’t. Not one bit. The 2D gameplay remained, only it was slightly faster. Everything I wanted to kept was, and all the new bits were fine. Beating up a Frenchman online was beautiful. Proof that new games can be as awesome as retro ones. Something that doesn’t always appear possible. Thank you, Capcom, for this wonderful update.

(5) Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast, Gd-Rom).
Kasumi is almost solely responsible for me giving 3D a chance. 2 reasons. Yup, you guessed it – her nice big eyes. I have always resisted 3D fighters, but this one had two other things going for it as well: firstly it looked gorgeous, and secondly it was a hell of a lot of fun. I loved the way the moves follow each other as you pummel away on opponents, I adore the multi-level stages as players crash through wall, off bridges etc. Sometimes I had no idea what I was doing, but there is a deceptive amount of depth to the fighting in this game. Counters, throws, and attacks all have advantages over each other. If you’ve never tried it, I can’t recommend it enough — just stay away from the Volleyball games, please!!!

(6) King of Fighters ’99 (NeoGeo AES).
The thing about King of Fighters series being so vast is that, in a list like this, the possibility for a single title to stand out is reduced. I have gone for this version because it was the first BIG, memory wise, NeoGeo AES game I was able to purchase (I think it was £80 on eBay). The whole KoF series is not about glitz, glamour, or gimmick. What you do get is one of the very tightest fighting models anywhere. Practice is rewarded, and a good understand of when and how to use the moves and special moves is essential. A wonderful series that quietly demands your full attention.

(7) Soul Calibur (Dreamcast, Gd-Rom).
My 2nd 3D entry. And it just gets in. I want to leave it out simply because so many people over-hype it. But I can’t, when I had the DC version I went through all the mission levels (so much more fun than the most modern tutorials) and developed a better understanding of the game. This resulted in much more enjoyment, though I confess I have forgotten all the subtleties I once learned 😦

(8) Waku Waku 7 (Sega Saturn, Cd-Rom).
For madness alone, this is a must. you cannot help but show anyone new to Japanese gaming a fine example of their creative mentalness. It plays in a similar vein to other SNK fighters but the characters are plain bonkers. On top of superb two-player madcap fun, the one player game is a solid one. So great that this game is available on the Saturn because the NeoGeo AES version is way too expensive!

(9) Street Fighter Alpha 3 (GBA micro, cart).
Never would I have expected to get such a beast of a game so perfectly ported to such a small device. Paired up with a GBA Micro you have a spectacular rendition of one of the best fighting games in history that fits into the very smallest of pockets. Thy really did a fine job here – this is by some distance the best pocket fighter, that way it can’t be compared to the PSP version 😉

(10) Mortal Kombat (Intel 486 PC, seriously!)
I never wanted to like Mortal Kombat. I didn’t like its digitised graphical style and it wasn’t Japanese. By my mate had it on his PC, and other mates kept playing it, so I was “forced” to join in. After a while I had to admit the fighting mechanic was decent and the game was fun. I even started to like Sonya Blade. And yes, the newer MK games might be better, but this was the most important to me; without it, I wouldn’t own any of the others.

Surprising omission: Virtua Fighter.
It is surprising for me because I am a SEGA fan-boy, but I was hugely resistant to 3D fighters early on. I found them awkward and relied too heavily on vast numbers of moves that need to me memorised, as opposed to a lesser number of techniques to be understood. Basically, I didn’t like losing 😉

Other Kicking Fighters:
There are many other fighter I own and want to play enough so that they stood a better chance of making this list: Ninku (Sat), Arcana Heart 3 (360), Astra Superstars (Sat), Sonic Council (Sat), Mortal Kombat DC Universe (360), Rival Schools 2 (PS), Gal Fighters (NGPC), Guilty Gear Petit (NGPC), Golden Axe the Duel (Sat), Tatsunoko vs Capcom (Wii), Cyberbots (Sat), Battle Fantasia (360), Blaz Blue (PS3), Guilty Gear (PS1), World Heroes Perfect (Sat), Last Blade (DC), Samuari Shodown (NeoGeo), Capcom vs SNK (DC), Capcom Fighting Jam (PS2), Street Fighter III (DC), Street Fighter Zero (Sat), Any of KoF (NeoGeo), Yu Yu Hakusho (MD), Bleach: Heat the Soul II (PSP), Darkstalkers (PSP), Matrimellee (NeoGeo), Groove On Fight (Sat).

Now you’ve done that, please check Paul’s and Anton’s blogs.
By the end of it all, you may consider yourself knowledgeable.