VideoGame_Discussion

Happy 29th birthday, Chrono Trigger. Only one more year before college girls no longer find you attractive.

I beat two more DK games: Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat .

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I raced a friend at DKC. To make it a bit more fair for him, I remapped my Joy-Con and played the game with one hand, even putting said Joy-Con in an awkward-to-hold peripheral. I won by a country mile, but we both expected that given my knowledge of DKC.

I love DKC. The challenge, the personality-filled foes, the Animal Buddies, rolling through enemies, finding bonus rooms, etc. the graphics are a product of their time, yet we’re also revolutionary for said time! My personal favorite stage is Misty Mine—you can practically feel the sweat on your brow as the cave becomes a snake-infested sauna! Poison Pond and Tree Top Town are the worst stages—one likes pelting you with fast hazards that come out of the limited camera, the other has annoying barrel cannon sequences.

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As for DKJB, it works way better than it has any right to. The would-be Super Mario Galaxy devs got DK flinging around stages, grabbing bananas, killing enemies with sound waves, and racking up combos… using a bongo-themed controller! The game is crazy fun, and even earned the very first E10+ rating from the ESRB. You beat the ever loving snot out of bosses, sometimes in a straight-up boxing match. It’s a blast, and you should really try it if you get a chance.

Damn, @SupremeSarna is on a roll this month. I know I'm a little behind on badges - both of my PCs are in pieces at the moment - but I'll catch up shortly.

I'm still working on the GBC release of Donkey Kong Country. The 8-bit arrangement of Fear Factory (the music in the factory levels) is the remix I never knew I wanted.

Quake 1 + 2 is on sale on PSN

https://slickdeals.net/f/17357574-quake-1-2-bundle...

Mission complete. I finished Donkey Kong Country for the Game Boy Color.

https://twitter.com/Renaissance2K/status/177030808...

Definitely wild that they were able to cram most of the original game into such a limited platform, but it works fairly well. Unlike a lot of downsized games like this, the smaller viewport didn't seem to hinder the core gameplay all that much. Moving platforms and barrels, however, seemed to be a lot more finicky than their Super Nintendo counterparts. The original wasn't without its frustrating moments, too, but there were a couple of jumps, bees, and barrels that made me want to throw my Pocket out the window.

There was also something funny going on with the A and B buttons when both held down, but I don't know if this was an issue with the game or with the Analogue Pocket. Both seem equally likely. Both the jumpiness of the engine and the imprecision on the Pocket are well documented.

Next on my list is Donkey Kong Land 2. I played through most of the first world when OpenFPGA was released for the Pocket last year and will hopefully work my way through the rest of it before the end of the month. I've also managed to track down cabinets for all three of the original Donkey Kong arcade games at work, so I'm trying to figure out the logistics of hammering on them for a few hours next week.

Renaissance2K wrote:

You work in at a business with arcade machines? Keep an eye out for Donkey Kong 2, which I have played in an arcade. I have no clue if it’s an officially-licensed Nintendo game, but it looks the part.

I also beat DKC on GBC.
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It’s so much better than the GBA port that came two years later. This one feels like an earnest attempt to bring the original DKC to a handheld while adding a few neat extras, rather than an attempt to “improve” the original with really bad sound effects and colors grading (looking at you, GBA). It even contains a couple tunes from DK Land, which was refreshing.

Did you enjoy Necky Nutmare, Renaissance2K? It’s a completely unique stage, y’know.

We're entering the last act of March, so let's look at all the monkeys among us that are the Kings of Kong this month:

BloodPuppetX image Frank image image Renaissance2K image image image SupremeSarna image image image image image image

Many thanks to everyone who picked up a Donkey Kong game this month. Hopefully you found it a-peel-ing.

April 2024 marks a milestone anniversary for Final Fantasy VI and Super Mario Land, two classics that we've played before. Let's start taking nominations for the April 2024 Game of the Month and add some new titles to our pantheon.

We'll start voting on March 26 and call the winners on April 1. What does everyone want to play?

Renaissance2K wrote:

Don't forget my DKC GBC barrel!

I nominate Kirby's (Extra) Epic Yarn , since it scored highly last month.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I work in Big Tech. A bunch of our buildings have dedicated Game Rooms, and some of them have arcade machines or consoles. There's a running spreadsheet of which buildings have which games, and I found two Donkey Kong machines on them. Hopefully, everything is up to date.

(Intentionally not mentioning the company name. I'm sure it's not a big deal, and I may have even mentioned it before on the forums - I know it's come up in Discord - but you never know these days.)

Necky's Nutmare would have been fine, except for those segments where you have to go through a crawlspace while Necky is spitting nuts at you. You have to take advantage of the crummy clipping to jump "through" the edge of the overhang to some extent, but that's not at all intuitive.

@Renaissance2K didn't you say we'd get a barrel if we beat Mario vs. DK last month for Frank's thread? I did that, thought I said it before. I've not been playing much of anything after I beat Lies recently... need to get back into DKC2 and Trepang^2

Slickriven wrote:

Updated. Sorry, I missed your original post where you reminded me that you beat it.

Anybody else a fan of LGR (Lazy Game Reviews)? His videos have been keeping me company lately as I do the dishes.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLx053rWZxCiYWsBE...

He leans very heavily into old PC hardware - especially oddities - but he occasionally looks at old consoles, console mods, and retro games.

He's a bit of a goofy guy, and his sense of humor is probably awesome for some and annoying for others, but I think his scripts are well written. He does an on-point Duke Nukem impression as well.

I've had a blast checking out videos about hardware I had when I was younger or at least wished I had. His videos about Orpheus soundcards, Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro, Zip drives, CompactFlash, etc. were great trips down memory lane. He even posted something on Patreon this week where he restored a Gateway 2000 G6 tower, which was my family's first "modern" PC back in the day.

Renaissance2K wrote:

Yeah, you could say I know him. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO89FPclQjk

Foxhack wrote:

Well, that was a much cooler response than I was expecting. Where on Earth did you find that gun?

On the monkey front, I finished Donkey Kong Land 2.

https://twitter.com/Renaissance2K/status/177133294...

Other than Diddy and Dixie jumping much higher than the monkeys in Donkey Kong Country GBC, I don't have much to comment on here. Toxic Tower was a brutal way to start the endgame, especially not knowing about some of the animals' special moves going in.

I started Donkey Kong Land III immediately afterwards, and while I barely remembered 2, III came rushing back like a nostalgia tornado. The songs that back the overworld and the data screen must have been living in the back of my head all these years without paying rent.

Renaissance2K wrote:

At one of the two flea markets in town. I think it was at the one that burned down four years ago. I left mentioned this in a comment EIGHT YEARS AGO, so I'm updating it a bit:

I bought some of these at my usual thrifts in the early 2010s, and sold them for a bit of cash. Then a few years later, a bunch more showed up; apparently a batch was donated to a Goodwill in California (which is where many of my sources got their stuff.) The online prices on these skyrocketed around that time.

I think I bought a few more and sold them, but kept one around for whatever reason. I found it while cleaning and figured he'd like it so I offered it to him and shipped it out.

Renaissance2K wrote:

I think just adding one new Animal Buddy would've made DKL2 a more memorable experience. DKL1 had a scrapped Animal Buddy--a ram named Rambunkshus, likely intended for the Monkey Mountains--so that idea wasn't off the table when the Game Boy series was conceptualized. It's a little interesting that technically-complicated stages like Castle Crush and Haunted Hall had to be replaced with unique ones, but that's sorta it for DKL2. It just leaned into DKC2 too hard to gain its own identity.

DKLIII at least has a new hub world, new stage names and arrangements, time trials, concentration, and a Bear with a teleporter. That's just enough to keep things fresh, which I appreciate.

I missed out when you explained it earlier, but Donkey Kong Land III got a full-color Game Boy Color port in Japan? I did some save file magic, downloaded a translation patch, and am going to work through that version of the game instead. I made it through the first two worlds already, but at least now I don't have to start over.

Anybody have any other games they want to nominate for next month?

Renaissance2K wrote:

Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness, came out for and if i recall (or any of the Pac-Man World games if that one's too obscure)

There's a version of Maze Madness on GBA as well. I have it on a cart with Pac-Man World.

Ugh I love ms Pacman as well as Dreamcast.

Throw in a trip to Disneyland the LA Arboretum and some princess crap and thats the best 2024
I can imagine at this point. Unless something else pops up to add to
the festivities.

Renaissance2K wrote:

Bear has full animations in the original GB version, but is completely static in the GBC version. They also added a pit to the end of one stage in the GBC version to fix a barrel-related glitch. Small prices to pay for yellow Re-Koil enemies, I say.

I've got more work for you, @Renaissance2K : Four DK barrels, please!
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong 3

I beat the NES ones in both Game A and B, doing multiple cycles and achieving a score of 50,000+ (or 100,000+ for DK3). To boost the challenge, I beat all four of these games with one hand, with the Joy-Con in a bizarre, nonergonomic peripheral that covers some of the buttons!

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DKC2 is excellent! It takes the framework established by DKC and expands it naturally. You can do team-up tosses, fight tougher bosses, use currency to buy help from new Kongs, and unlock secret stages to reach a secret final boss! The new Kong, Dixie, has a ponytail that she can spin like a helicopter--this makes platforming and boss-dodging easier. Additionally, Cranky hid Video Game Hero Coins in each stage, and you can top Mario's legendary rank as a hero if you nab them all. I did just that!

The game isn't perfect, of course. Stages flipflop on having two or three Bonus Rooms, so you can never be certain you've found everything until you finish the stage. Some Bonus Rooms and DK Coins are hidden in particularly obtuse locations, like hiding them inside solid walls with no indication. Two of the DK Coins are rewards you can get by hitting the end-of-stage target, so if you mess up the timing, you have to replay the whole stage. Web Woods is a pain in this regard, especially when using my one-handed setup.

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Donkey Kong is a great arcade game. It's fun jumping over barrels, platforming across girders, and loosening the bolts to defeat Cranky Kong and save Pauline. The fiery enemies are pretty tricky in the final stage, and the Pie Factory stage was removed from the NES version altogether (except on certain Red Wii Consoles in Europe and Australia and through a limited-time 3DS rewards program). Other than that, top-notch.

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I don't like Donkey Kong Jr. It's weird and finnicky, with bizarre obstacle courses that feel poorly thought-out. Climbing ropes isn't as fun as platforming to the top of a construction site, and the timing of the spring bounce in the second stage annoys me. Does anyone actually like the cheeky ape in the tanktop?

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Donkey Kong 3 is weird but fun. It's a space shooter-esque game in which Cranky Kong fools around in a greenhouse for some reason, and Stanley the Bug Man has to ward him off with pesticide. To progress to the next stage, you have to blast the ape with enough bug repellent to make him flee the top of the screen. But if you stick around without fending him off, you can blast the waves of incoming insects to rack up a high score. Which do you choose?

Given that light platforming is factored into this verticle shooter, it can be cumbersome trying to shoot the bugs. I always opt to blast Cranky as fast as possible to get to rack up a score that way.

Sweet monkey Christmas, @SupremeSarna!

I really need to play Donkey Kong Country 2 at some point. Donkey Kong Country is one of my favorite Super Nintendo games, and everybody seems to talk about the sequel like it's a perfect game.

Any other nominations for April?

Renaissance2K wrote:

The whole trilogy is phenomenal. Definitely play 2, 3, and the Competition Cartridge if you can.

SNES DKC is one of the most bland, uninteresting platformers I've ever played.

I've always found the graphical style to be off-putting as well.

Maybe 2 and 3 are better, but I don't get the love for the first one, and never have, even back in the 90s when it was the new hot thing.

It came out the same year as Earthworm Jim, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Super Metroid, any of which make for a far more engaging platforming experience.

Let's start voting on the April Game(s) of the Month. We only had a handful of nominations this time around, so I padding things with some fairly well-known, fairly accessible games that are seeing notable anniversaries this month.

Nominees
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Ms. Pac-Man's Maze Madness
Pac-Man World series
Painkiller (released April 2004)
Super Mario Land (released April 1989)

Either publicly in this thread or privately in a PM to me, give each nominee 0-5 points. Omitting a nominee is equivalent to giving it a vote of 0. The highest-scoring game will be the April Game of the Month.

Here are my votes:

Kirby's Epic Yarn - 5 Ms. Pac-Man's Maze Madness - 4 Pac-Man World series - 4 Painkiller - 3 Super Mario Land - 4

Vote!

Painkiller - 5

Kirby’s Epic Yarn - 5
Super Mario Land - 3
PAC-Man World Series - 1

Kirby's Epic Yarn - 0 (the 3ds version is out of most people's budgets, and I'm one of the few here I think that still has a wii hooked up)
Ms. Pac-Man's Maze Madness - 5 (PS1 version may still be available on PSN for PS3 if I'm not mistaken)
Pac-Man World series - 5 (even the reboot on modern systems has gotten cheap)
Painkiller - 0 (I'm sure the modern versions on GoG are fine, but this had some bad copy protection mallard in it when it came out originally so 0 on principle)
Super Mario Land - 0 (could have sworn we just did this one last year?)

benstylus wrote:
|
I was mistaken. Just Pac Man world. (Keeping my vote of 5 for Ms Pac though)

benstylus wrote:

We did Mario Land 2 in 2022, and Frank's thread played it back in 2020, but we've never done it in the RTT, unless it was picked in prehistoric (i.e., before Lunar started recording them in the OP) times.

Kirby's Epic Yarn - 3 Would play on my WiiU
Ms. Pac-Man's Maze Madness - 3 Sure, why not
Pac-Man World series - 3 Sure, why not
Painkiller - 5 So long as the Black Edition counts, have that from Steam
Super Mario Land - 0 Beat it for Franks' club, then beat 2 for here, neither are worth replaying IMO

Ms. Pac-Man's Maze Madness - 5
Pac-Man World series - 3
Painkiller - 4



I’m still working on DKC1 I started it yesterday but it is, as someone else
mentioned kinda bland. I tried starting DKC2 also but it stopped working
once before I could save my progress and I got annoyed. I figured the
Snes classic mini would be more reliable and I just want to finish one
of them before the month is over. So bland or not Imma try to finish
DKC1.

Maze Madness - 5
Pac-Man World series - 5

I've not made much progress on DKC2 lately, been trying to finish Trepang2 while it's still available via Luna, but also have a sick cat who may not be with us much longer and that's sad, frustrating and draining.
I will seek to beat it eventually, potentially in April as I don't think I'll get through it this month.

Slickriven wrote:

Do whatever you can for that kitty. That's most important.

I beat Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! on TUFST difficulty, using only my right hand, and the controller was in an unergonomic peripheral that covered some of the buttons! The only way to make this tougher is the have someone kick me every time I press the jump button.
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This is one of my favorite games of all time. Many decry it for being gimmicky, but to be fair, the previous games weren't devoid of gimmicky stages. I find very few of these ones intrusive or poorly-implemented--just Murky Mill and Rocket Ride, really. The graphics are top-notch by this point in the series, too. I dig the Northern Kremisphere and its interactive world map, with secret caves to find and NPCs to assist for rewards. The soundtrack is the least of the series, but Eveline Novakovic composed a good one regardless. DKC3 is definitely worth your time if you're on the fence about playing it!

Donkey Kong Land III - erp, I mean Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong - finished rather abruptly.

https://twitter.com/Renaissance2K/status/177356287...
Despite hating Dinky Kong's "What if Baby Huey was a gorilla?" character design, this might be my favorite of the three Donkey Kong Land games. I'm not a big fan of the soundtrack, and losing both lives and Bear Coins with every reset seems like a terrible choice for a portable game, but I enjoyed the breezy level designs, being able to save for free again, and re-gaining access to a bruiser that can take down particularly surly Kremlings. The bosses were really annoying this time around, but I don't blame Rare for overcompensating, considering how simple the bosses in the original Donkey Kong Country/Land were.

In other gorilla news, my plans to play through the arcade Donkey Kong games didn't go as planned. I took a field trip to another office and indeed found a full-size Donkey Kong Jr. cabinet - complete with a CRT - but while I was expecting the game to progress like the console versions (Levels 1, 2, 3, and then 4 before looping), the International arcade release plays out with a 1, 4, 1, 2, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 pattern before it loops. My clumsy gorilla mitts could barely swing through the first instance of Level 4, so I didn't see myself completing all nine on a single credit.

I went down the street in search of an original Donkey Kong cabinet and found one, although this one had been modded with an LCD that wasn't to integer scale. No idea if it was emulation or original hardware with scaled output, but the sound was convincingly filtered, if it was indeed emulated hardware. Donkey Kong apparently follows the same level progression as Donkey Kong Jr., so completing a loop seemed equally unlikely.

I also came to the harsh realization that I just really suck at Donkey Kong. Maybe I'll load up the Japanese releases on MiSTer and see if I fare any better.

I hold the original Donkey Kong Country series in too much reverence to attempt the GBA ports right now, so I scratched the surface of DK: King of Swing. Unclear if it's a brilliant platform or just briliantly annoying, but I'll report back.

I also bought some Donkey Konga bongoes. If there was ever any doubt that @SupremeSarna was a bad influence, there's the proof. Speaking of which, I really need to catch up on barrel badges...

Slickriven wrote:

Big hugs for you and your cat. Regardless of what a bunch of frozen-hearted souls say about pets, I still miss my wife's cat who we lost to cancer back in 2018.

Very sad update about my cat.... we recognized that his body was shutting down and to be as humane as possible we opted to give him rest on Wednesday evening. It was a super difficult decision.

He was my buddy, I found him as a baby kitten across the street (borough property, not someone's home) in a pricker bush and then he lived in a hole in my yard for a few months until he warmed up enough for us to touch him and bring him inside. From then on he lived with us for nearly 16 years and was a big bushy kitty, but often more scared of people vs. overly friendly. When he wanted to be around us though (normally at least once/day) he was a big purrer and would sit on your leg or next to you for long stretches of time and loved his chin scratched. After my wife had to put down our oldest cat a bit over 2 years ago, he grew closer to her, but was still my buddy.

I will for sure miss him but I know that we did the right thing, he had lost over a pound in ~3 weeks btwn 2 visits and stopped eating. We tried to force him to eat and gave him some meds, but he really wasn't interested. He also had his at least 3rd seizure (that we witnessed) in the past handful of years and was just seemingly 'out of it'. I believe his body was giving up even if I didn't want to accept that at first. It was pretty quick as we came home Sunday and he was not himself and isolated beside our bed all day. Monday evening we took him in and that's when we got the meds and mandate to get him eating again. He had some glimmers in the next ~12ish hours, but by Wednesday morning it started to feel cruel forcing meds into him when he just wasn't responding, nor himself. So we scheduled an appointment for that evening and said goodbye.

His nearly 16 years with us were filled with love that encompassed the vast majority of my adult life. It will take awhile to cope with his departure.

@Slickriven You did the right thing. It's very hard losing a longtime feline companion, but 16ish happy years is a generous lifespan for him. May he rest in peace, and may you and your family relish the memories.