Tsundokuist’s New IP Avoid-a-thon

[Tsundokuist]

They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, so in that spirit…

 

Hello, my name is Tsundokuist and I pretty much just play retro collections, remakes and sequels to games that first appeared on or before the PS1.

 

Now Playing:

TBD

 

Shopping List:

          

Edited June 27, 2022 by Tsundokuist

[Tsundokuist]

#50 - Mega Man Legacy Collection

 

 

At one point I thought this would be the game that finally broke my 100% profile completion streak. I shudder thinking back on evenings wasted unsuccessfully going for Gold in a 20 minute long “All Robot Rush” challenge or the time I missed out on Gold in another tricky “No Items” Challenge by less than a single second.

 

That aside, I thought this was a great list. The “Challenges” mode trophies really forced me to learn the levels and the robot bosses’ movements/weaknesses. These challenges are truly a test but the time cutoffs for Gold are fair and the fact you only need 50 of 54 is a godsend.
 

All-in-all, the whole experience left me with a newfound appreciation for the precise gameplay and creativity that went into these games and that’s all you can really ask from these collections?

 

Enjoyment (Actual Game): 9/10

Enjoyment (Trophy List): 9/10

 

Difficulty (100%): 8/10

Playtime (100%): 50-60 hours

Edited June 25, 2022 by Tsundokuist

[Tsundokuist]

#51 - The Disney Afternoon Collection

 

 

I vaguely remember the end of the 16-bit generation but gaming for me really began in the PS1/N64 era. That was a time when “licensed” games were usually just plain awful and for every “Goldeneye 007” there were literally dozens of Superman 64s waiting to disappoint and ruin a kid’s Christmas.

 

For that reason, I’ve mostly always avoided licensed games but after enjoying the Mega Man Legacy Collection I thought I’d tackle Capcom’s 8-bit stablemates of those games in this next Digital Eclipse collection and WOW! What a selection of fantastic games…

From Ducktales’ cane-bouncing mechanic to Talespin’s attempt at two-way shmup-platforming there’s something to distinguish each game in this collection and I really wouldn’t argue with any game here appearing in a Top 10 list of 8-bit generation games. Sure, these games don’t have Mega Man’s difficulty or complexity but that just makes them all the more accessible and enjoyable, which in turn makes the trophy list a breeze and a joy to complete.

 

Enjoyment (Actual Gameplay): 8/10

Enjoyment (Trophy List): 10/10

 

Difficulty (100%): 4/10

Playtime (100%): 15-20 Hours

Edited November 10, 2021 by Tsundokuist

[Tsundokuist]

#52 - Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood

 

Oh! Forgive me father, for I have sinned...
 

My sin is Sloth as I have slept on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for 24 years. I remember the 9/10 review scores and it appearing on every magazine’s “Top 10 Games” list back when it released in 1997 but I was just a child and it looked so dated alongside contemporary games like Tekken 3, Gran Turismo or Tomb Raider 2 that I didn’t even consider picking it up.

 

Even as a “retro gamer” in later life, after I decided Super Metroid may be the greatest game ever made, my disappointment from playing Super Castlevania 4 always suppressed any desire I had to pick up this other founding stone of the “Metroidvania” genre.

Having played it now for the first time in 2021, I won’t ramble on about how great it is, that’s been done to death by others. I can however confirm it is basically Super Metroid in a gothic vampire world and that may even make it a better game! I also think Rondo of Blood is equally as good, sure, it’s a much shorter game but it is also more challenging and looks truly amazing for a 16-bit game, especially those cutscene sequences…

 

Trophy-wise, it’s a good list without any real difficulty. I expect everyone going for the platinum ends up frustratedly starring at two screens, comparing maps to figure out which room they missed for 200.6% in SOTN completion but that’s part of the original game so the only trophy I’d actually do away with is “Scientific Progress goes BOINK!” which had me grinding in and out of a single room for almost an hour just to collect enough money to buy a “Duplicator” that I didn’t use once.

 

Enjoyment (Actual Gameplay): 9/10

Enjoyment (Trophy List): 8/10

 

Difficulty (Platinum): 4/10

Playtime (Platinum): 15-20 Hours

Edited November 10, 2021 by Tsundokuist

[Tsundokuist]

#53 - Castlevania Anniversary Collection

 

Not a lot to say on this one. The quality of the individual games is obviously a little mixed but even looking beyond the revered “treasures”, this Collection mostly holds up. Kid Dracula is a fascinating and fun little curio, the Gameboy games are way more playable on a HD TV than I was expecting. Simon’s Quest is actually the only game I felt was a dud but even that is still interesting as a “Metroidvania” before the console technology was there for it to work well.

 

The trophy list itself is basic to the point of being uninspired but it’s fine. The trophies are all for just completing each game, the only interesting trophies are for completing Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (the best game here in my opinion) with each of the playable characters.

 

Enjoyment (Actual Gameplay): 7/10

Enjoyment (Trophy List): 7/10

 

Difficulty (100%): 3/10

Playtime (100%): 10-12 Hours

Edited November 10, 2021 by Tsundokuist

[AJ_Radio]

I'm actually curious to know what you're going to say about Capcom Arcade Stadium. Great thread so far. I like how you briefly touch on each game you've done and get straight to the point.

[Tsundokuist]

On 08/11/2021 at 5:00 AM, AJ_Radio said:

I'm actually curious to know what you're going to say about Capcom Arcade Stadium. Great thread so far. I like how you briefly touch on each game you've done and get straight to the point.

#54 - Capcom Arcade Stadium

 

Mid-to-late 90s arcade games are absolutely my jam so I’ve been looking forward to this one since it was announced. 
 

It’s a release that nails presentation. The logo, artwork, menus and music all fit wonderfully to enhance the experience. This collection also adds all modern conveniences in terms of negating the coin-munching difficulty of the underlying games (save states, rewind, speed options, challenges, etc). The selection of games will always be hit-or-miss depending on individual tastes. I’m certain nobody would miss one less edition of Street Fighter II in favour of a different title though, other than that I have no complaints. Later/obscure CPS2 titles like Cyberbots, Progear and 1944: The Loop Master even feel like a rare treat.

Trophy-wise it's a shambles. First-off, it’s a list that simply mirrors in-game “Triumphs”, however it only copies 20 “Triumphs” and omits the remaining 10 - including “Complete all Triumphs” which should be a ready-to-go Platinum. That’s a baffling choice but more frustratingly the trophy list has no curve. By that I mean it’s a lot of basic/noddy trophies earned by simply using features like rewind, changing game speed (both a single button press) or starting a game, seeing a Game Over screen etc. I'd popped 75% of trophies in the first 2 hours, completing a single game. I then played another 30+ hours, completing all 20 games in "Pack 2" and "Pack 3" (plus the freebies), I also had a load of attempts at single-credit bonus challenges in SSF2X yet I still ended up roughly 65 hours, 800 games played and an inhuman number of “CASPO” points away from the last three trophies. 

 

It's a missed opportunity because the trophies just don't incentivise or reward playing games that all deserve to be played. It's simply a grind from the start and encourages a player to stick with repeating high CASPO-point yield games. I wish the trophy list had simply been based on completing each game or, if they had to keep things limited to 20 trophies, a list that got more creative (K.O. Ken with a Shoryuken, take down the final battleship in 1942 with a kamakaze crash etc). I thought about parking this 100% in hope/anticipation of DLC Capcom alluded to when the game launched but even if they exceed expectations by including all the Darkstalkers games, Super Puzzle Fighter II X and things like Eco Warriors and Red Earth (Capcom vs SNK, the Marvel/X-Men games and Cadillacs vs Dinosaurs I’m sure are simply a no-go), that would still make little more than a dent in my totals. 

 

Hopefully any DLC (if it happens) takes that game-specific route for any DLC trophies but consider an asterisks on my 100% here because I basically just gave up on it, I loaded Captain Commando up with credits/lives, turned off power-saving settings on my PS4 and left that running for 3 days straight to make the hours total. Then I listened to some podcasts while joylessly dropping in and out of title/character select screens and load menus to clear the other two trophies. I managed to get both done in around 3 hours but it wasn't fun, I only did it so I could play the collection in future without grind on the mind. That's a real shame because in my opinion this is the best retro collection ever made, I'm sure I'll pick up "Pack 1" in a sale at some point and I'll definitely be Day 1 on any DLC (trophies or not) because that has the potential to elevate a truly great game even higher.

 

Enjoyment (Actual Games): 10/10

Enjoyment (Trophy List): 1/10

 

Difficulty: 3/10

Playtime: 30-35 Hours (+70 Away From Controller)

Edited November 10, 2021 by Tsundokuist

[AJ_Radio]

Yeah, real disappointment they made such a poorly designed trophy list. 
 

The trophies aren’t hard at all unless the score/caspo points for one session is giving people trouble. 
 

Normally, I would just get 10 - 16 trophies out of the 20 and leave them, as my friend @enaysoft is doing because the grind is just way too much. But I like to challenge myself and as a completionist, I will be aiming for all the trophies. 
 

Sadly, I was far too young to enjoy virtually all of these firsthand except for those latest arcade titles from the late 1990s, early 2000s. You had to have been a teenager or older back then to really take advantage of these old arcade games. I remember playing games like The Simpsons Arcade and Sunset Riders as a kid at Chuck E Cheeses, but I was virtually lucky since arcades were quickly on their way out. 
 

I find the games in Pack 1 to be too archaic and old fashioned for my tastes. Arcade games from the late 1980s to the mid - late 1990s were simply the best. Although I already know how to run an infinite loop in Pirate Ship Higemaru which will easily net me the 100 hours played trophy. 
 

Missed opportunity and much wasted potential in this trophy list. Glad to hear you’re one of a select few who has earned all trophies in Capcom Arcade Stadium.

[Deadly_Ha_Ha]

This is pretty cool, I respect the hustle. I'll be watching out for what you do here

[CelestialRequiem]

Dude, @Tsundokuist -- you have awesome taste. Greylancer is an AMAZING game. Too bad that trophy list got fucked to shit. I'm gonna follow this. 

[Tsundokuist]

#55 - Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection

 

 

I tend to think of "old-school difficulty" as a synonym for poor game design. A reference to an era when developer vision was hampered by 8-bit-or-lesser technology and games mostly existed to suck coins from consumers or - in the case of console games inflated difficulty to be near-unbeatable so you’d buy the game rather than rent. G’n’G Resurrection is one of the few “throwback” games I can think of that successfully embraces the concept. It’s still a punishingly difficult game and feels like a good dose of nostalgia thanks to clunky old-fashioned controls and enemies spawning infinitely, in large numbers and often placed ready to knock you down insta-death pits. Thankfully however lives are infinite, checkpoints are placed generously and there’s really no punishment for death so - unlike Capcom’s last effort at resurrecting an OG franchise (Mega Man 11) - this game is all very forgiving. 

 

I think visuals/art direction are arguably the most important ingredient in a good 2D Platformer and this game utilises a nice painterly, storybook aesthetic with elements seemingly inspired by Rayman Origins/Legends. It fits the franchise well and looks fantastic in the moment but a day or two later is perhaps a little forgettable. The trophy list never asks for the game to be played on higher difficulties and mostly just serves to highlight elements/mechanics that could otherwise be missed. Even the last few frustrating collectible-related trophies make absolute sense to include on the trophy list, the frustration all stems from a handful of the collectibles only being obtainable in obtuse ways that the game doesn’t explain or even hint at. 

 

Enjoyment (Actual Game): 7/10

Enjoyment (Trophy List): 7/10

 

Difficulty: 6/10

Platinum Time: 15-20 hours

Edited November 20, 2021 by Tsundokuist

[Tsundokuist]

#56 - Castlevania Advance Collection

 

 

I think most gamers would agree Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of Night & Rondo of Blood is a collection of masterpieces, gaming’s The Last Supper and Mona Lisa in a special exhibition. Castlevania Advance Collection is essentially the $20 poster collection you’d buy in that exhibition’s gift shop.

 

All 4 games in Castlevania Advance Collection are reproductions of the two games in Castlevania Requiem. That’s not to say these aren’t all still worth playing. All 4 are good, if not great games, especially for fans of Castlevania Requiem. Even the most maligned game here, Dracula X - a sort of knockoff of Rondo of Blood at about the standard you’d associate with a Hong Kong backstreet market - remains a fun little game because it has the good grace to be quite a short experience. The Gameboy Advance games on the other hand aren’t knock-offs of Symphony of the Night but high quality recreations of the SOTN experience in reimagined versions of Dracula’s castle with an alternate cast of characters.

 

Trophies are fairly basic and mostly stick to completion of story points in each game’s campaign. The exception being each of the 3 GBA games have trophies for completing a second playthrough with characters you unlock in your first. Thankfully these characters are overpowered and the second playthroughs can be completed in about 20-30 mins with a bit of research so these trophies shouldn’t put anyone off going for the platinum.

 

Enjoyment (Actual Game): 8/10

Enjoyment (Trophy List): 7/10

 

Difficulty: 4/10

Platinum Time: 40-50 hours

Edited November 20, 2021 by Tsundokuist

[Tsundokuist]

#57 - Gleylancer

 

Years ago (c. 2007), I was working a secondment in Hong Kong and took an extended weekend trip to Tokyo. There, among a load of other weeb miscellany, I quite randomly purchased a used copy of this game simply because I liked the boxart and it was super cheap (about $10). I’d never so much as heard of the game before and of course, in the 15 years since then at no point have I ever actually owned the Japanese Mega Drive console I’d need to play it so it was a huge surprise to see this cool-looking but rather obscure title get a PS4/PS5 release!

 

In terms of the actual original game, that doesn’t disappoint. It charms by leaning heavily into a gorgeous 90s anime aesthetic and surprisingly for a shmup, it boasts both an actual/prominent plot and well-balanced difficulty. It’s not Super Metroid or Chrono Trigger grade but for a 16-bit game it definitely holds up and is playable today. The “modern” parts are actually what let this release down, it’s a Ratalaika joint so that means it’s basically shovelware for the “EZ plat” audience, you can even set the game to auto-play which is a shame as this fun little title deserves more later-life recognition.

 

Enjoyment (Actual Game): 7/10

Enjoyment (Trophy List): 5/10

 

Difficulty: 0/10

Platinum Time: < 1 hour

Edited June 26, 2022 by Tsundokuist

[Tsundokuist]

#58 - Astro’s Playroom

 

 

It will be a mind-blowingly good game that stops Astro’s Playroom being my “Game of the Generation”. I loved every minute of this. Gameplay-wise it reminded me of Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario 3D World which is basically the highest praise I can give a 3D platformer. Beyond that, it’s just such a lovingly made game and stuffed full of fun little easter eggs and basically serves as a virtual Playstation museum. I also highly doubt a game will ever use the DualSense controller this well again. Team Asobi are instantly now my favourite PlayStation Studio and their next project may be my most anticipated game.

 

The trophy list on this game is also perfect, it covers seeing all content in the game but keeps things short and doesn’t force too much post-game replay or anything that makes the game outstay it’s welcome.

 

Enjoyment (Actual Game): 10/10

Enjoyment (Trophy List): 10/10

 

Difficulty: 2/10

Platinum Time: 5-6 hours

Edited June 27, 2022 by Tsundokuist