VideoGame_Discussion

Fire Emblem: 5
Shantae: 4
Paper Mario: 5

Okay, we have a couple orders of business.

Annual Challenge

Here's the final tally for 2024's Annual Challenge:

1. Psygnosis - 20 points 2. Paper Mario - 15 points 3. Shantae - 13 points 4. Psikyo - 10 points 5. Fire Emblem - 9 points

Psygnosis was a British developer and publisher founded nearly 40 years ago. While they made a name for themselves developing distinct titles for computer platforms like the Amiga and Atari ST, they achieved worldwide fame in 1991 with the release of Lemmings, which sold incredibly well and received tons of accolades from the gaming press. Over time, they developed a reputation for original titles with advanced graphics, which caught the attention of Sony as they prepared for the launch of the PlayStation. Many of the PlayStation's early standout titles were developed by Psygnosis, and they continued to develop new ideas and flesh out franchises on the platform - and others - for nearly two decades afterwards.

The Psygnosis portfolio is massive and diverse, even excluding the games they developed after rebranding as Studio Liverpool. Wikipedia has a comprehensive list that can be sorted and filtered to your tastes, but I've done my best to highlight some standout franchises in the OP.

Beat any game developed and/or published by Psygnosis in 2024 to earn the image Owl icon which will appear next to your username everywhere in the Retro Talkshop Thread.

I'm not going to lie... I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one. Just like with Shining, Castlevania, and the other franchises we've done deep dives into, everyone can still nominate a specific Psygnosis title as an upcoming Game of the Month and get both a bespoke badge and the Owl icon.

Current Game of the Month

I'd normally post a leaderboard update at this point, but after playing through Sonic Adventure a little more, I think I'm going to make a badge for each characters. They all have their own arc, their own play style, and their own credits sequence.

Is anyone else besides me playing it this month?

Next Game of the Month

And as if you haven't had your fill of voting already, it's time to talk about February.

Early last year, we did a first-person shooter month that got a pile of interesting nominees, so I thought we'd do that again since it's February. February... F... FPS... You get the idea. But then I realized that Fighting Game begins with F, too, another retro-centric genre that doesn't win votes all that often. Hmm, decisions decisions.

image

Let's nominate First-person shooters and Fighting games for the February Game of the Month.

We'll start voting on January 26 and call a winner at the start of the month. What are y'all thinking?

Renaissance2K wrote:

The Rumble Fish 2 (or #1, either would be fine)

The Wipeout games are awesome! I hope to play both PSP releases for sure.

I have played Sonic Adventure through the windy level just last night I think.
You weren’t kidding! Those deaths are some of the most unfair in any games we have played
in any game of the month that I have played in. Its frustrating but I don’t dislike the game or
anything. Its just not a walk in the park or an easy day at the office even though
you sometimes feel you are playing on autopilot.

Fighting games? And FPS games?

I’ll nominate

Fighting games ….

Mortal Kombat 9 2011

Primal Rage

FPS ….

Alien VS Predator (either on Atari Jaguar or any AVP FPS games from later systems)

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
SoulCalibur II
Shaq Fu

Power Stone

SupremeSarna wrote:

I'm voting for this now.

It's an important piece of gaming history.

Renaissance2K wrote:

And also way more playable than people give it credit for.

benstylus wrote:

It's like, one step above Street Fighter.

The ZX Spectrum port.

So wait are we having one FPS and one Fighting game each win? After all this Shaq Fu stuff (dont get me wrong I love MDE)
but as much as I am not into conventional FPS games I may have to play one of those instead.

Quake

BleedingViolet wrote:

I was just going to go with whichever single game wins, but why not? We've had double months before.

We'll pick the top (or bottom, in the case of Shaq Fu) fighter and top FPS, and they'll both be Games of the Month.

That sounds perfect! Thank you! 😃

Scratch Smash Ultimate, I'm nominating ARMS in its place.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I'm okay with stretching (no pun intended) the definition of retro, but there's no way ARMS is or is related to a retro game.

Mortal Kombat 9 is pushing it, too, but more and more people are considering the 360/PS3 as "retro" and the game is retelling the story of the first eight games.

Renaissance2K wrote:

Oops, I missed the retro part. Never mind, then--replace both with Super Smash Bros. 64.

We'll start voting tomorrow. We've got a bunch of fighters on the docket, but does anybody want to nominate any more FPS games? So far, the only two on the block are Alien vs. Predator and Quake.

I guess Ill also nominate Doom and Hexen and Star Wars Dark Forces again then too. Maybe that will get people
posting other options.

Also I played some Sonic Adventure this evening. I passed two more levels and am
only at 30% with Sonic and haven’t even tried Tails. Its a frustrating game because of the
cameras and lack of obvious direction. Its still beautiful and if I was able to just sit and play
it at my leisure it wouldnt feel like its a chore but there isnt much time left this month
and the wandering around aimlessly feels hopeless.Im guessing this is why I didnt finish
it on my first Dreamcast over 20 years ago.

The Catacomb 3d series
(Available for 6 bucks on gog)

Where else are you going to get killer bunnies and undead with miniguns?

image

image

We found our flock of fighters and FPSs, so let's all F ourselves for F February and get our votes in.

Fighter Nominees The Rumble Fish 2 Mortal Kombat (2011) Primal Rage Super Smash Bros. SoulCalibur II Shaq Fu Power Stone

FPS Nominees Alien vs. Predator Quake Doom Hexen Star Wars: Dark Forces The Catacomb series

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 fighting game and highest-scoring FPS will each be a February Game of the Month.

Here are my votes:

The Rumble Fish 2 - 4 Mortal Kombat (2011) - 3 Primal Rage - 4 Super Smash Bros. - 5 SoulCalibur II - 5 Shaq Fu - 3 Power Stone - 5 Alien vs. Predator - 3 Quake - 5 Doom - 5 Hexen - 4 Star Wars: Dark Forces - 4 The Catacomb series - 3

fVote!

Shaq Fu - 5
Super Smash Bros. - 2
SoulCalibur II - 2
Star Wars: Dark Forces - 4
Quake - 2

We're gotta stop Sett Ra and get back to that charity basketball game, yo.

Alien vs. Predator - 4
Quake - 5
Doom - 4
Hexen - 3
Star Wars: Dark Forces - 5

Rumble Fish 2 5
Quake 5

So many choices...

Fighter Nominees 0 - The Rumble Fish 2 3 - Mortal Kombat (2011) 2 - Primal Rage 0 - Super Smash Bros. 3 - SoulCalibur II 2 - Shaq Fu 3 - Power Stone

FPS Nominees 1 - Alien vs. Predator 0 - Quake 0 - Doom 2 - Hexen 0 - Star Wars: Dark Forces 0 - The Catacomb series

Pretty low scores here, but I either don't have access to most of the FPS titles or beat them recently (Doom, Quake). The fighters is more of a mixed bag.

Slickriven wrote:

Yeah, there are a lot this month. Hopefully, everyone was okay with having a lot of options.

One more day of votes! Anybody else want to chime in?

Quake - 5
Doom - 5
Hexen - 5
AVP - 5

Mortal Kombat 9 - 5
Primal Rage - 5
Powerstone - 3

Sonic Adventure is gonna play with us some other time. Here are the results from this month:

image Renaissance2K image image

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Jokes aside, thanks to everyone that revisited this Dreamcast classic this month. It hasn't aged as elegantly as some other timeless platformers, but it's an important piece of Sega history nonetheless. If you complete the game with any of its six characters in the future, feel free to share your progress in the thread for your badge.

I'm not sure if double the votes meant double the fun, but here are the final tallies for February's bi-genre Game of the Month:

F is for Fighting Games

1. Shaq Fu - 15 points
2. The Rumble Fish 2 - 14 points
3. SoulCalibur II - 13 points
4. Power Stone - 11 points
5. Mortal Kombat (2011) - 11 points
5. Primal Rage - 11 points
7. Super Smash Bros. - 7 points

My God... what have we done?

At the peak of his presence in the zeitgeist, Shaquille O'Neal could do no wrong. Except free throws. And acting. It was only a matter of time before he would appear in a video game. Shaq Fu is the result of that odyssey, a 2D fighting game released for the Genesis, Super Nintendo, and Amiga - as well as some portables - that pits Shaq Daddy against a bunch of interdimensional weirdos to save a young boy. The game received a middling reception at launch, a sentiment that comically seems to have deteriorated over time. Today, the game is - some would argue, unfairly - remembered as one of the worst games of all time, not because of its objective gameplay quality but because of its blatant absurdity as a cash-in.

Play Shaq Fu on
Sega Genesis
Super Nintendo
Game Boy
Game Gear
Amiga

Complete Story Mode or Duel Mode in any version Shaq Fu to earn the a badge for the character you used: Badges coming soon

And on a completely different end of the gaming spectrum...

F is for First-Person Shooters

1. Quake - 22 points
2. Star Wars: Dark Forces - 16 points
3. Doom - 14 points
3. Hexen - 14 points
5. Alien vs. Predator - 13 points
5. The Catacomb series - 8 points

Quake's impact on its genre is arguably matched only by its older cousin Doom. While not the first fully-3D first-person shooter, its revolutionary engine set the new standard for competing games moving forward. Quake was one of the first killer apps for the PC's nascent 3D accelerator market, came with its own robust scripting language, and launched a multiplayer community and culture that still exists today. While not as omni-ported as Doom, it was later officially ported to the Saturn and Nintendo 64, unofficially ported to numerous other platforms by the homebrew community, and recently remastered by Bethesda for modern platforms.

Play Quake on
DOS & Windows
MacOS
Amiga
Saturn
Nintendo 64
Xbox One
PlayStation 4
Switch

Complete any port or version of Quake to earn the Quad Damage badge: image

Whether it's the boom from a shaka-laka or a rocket launcher, don't be shy about sharing any #BeatIt screenshots.

I have been wanting to play Quake on DC for a LONG time,
Will I play the fighting game …… I do not know.
I may even have a copy but if not then no worries.
At least we have Quake 😃

This month will be fun 😃

I've nominated Shaq Fu multiple times. And now it wins.

Fanatical has Quake in a bundle:

https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-yo...

I'd also recommend getting Dusk, it's a modern style Quake/Doom.

And

Amid Evil. It's like a mix of Doom/Quake with being level based but uses weapons like Heretic/Hexen.

Now I need to buy a shaq fu.

Kommie wrote:

Well, I hope you're pleased with yourself.

https://twitter.com/Renaissance2K/status/175294645...

I tried this on everything but the Amiga last night but finished it on the Super Nintendo. It's as bad as, say, the original Street Fighter game, but it doesn't appear to be blatantly broken or buggy like a lot of other games more deserving of the "worst game ever" moniker. The Shaq integration is eye-rollingly bad. His special moves are Shaq puns, his sprite doesn't look like he does, and the story is exactly what you'd expect. But it's short. And other than the fact that the special moves are nearly impossible to pull off, it's not painfully difficult.

Genesis has more characters (which I'm actually considering a minus, because it makes the Story and Duel modes twice as long), appears to be more difficult, and has that horrible mechanic where you press Start to switch between punch and kick attacks because of the lack of buttons. The AI also seems to be a bit less forgiving in that one. Game Gear is about the same with worse controls.

Game Boy, oddly enough, plays surprisingly well, and it's the only platform on which I could do special moves consistently.

benstylus wrote:

You’d better get one before the Shaq-Fu Liberation Front destroys every copy. https://shaqfu.com/ourmission

I'm tempted to look for the game gear version but I think SNES will probably be easiest to find.

Not sure when I am going to Owensboro next, so I went ahead and bought a copy or two of Shaq Fu online

benstylus wrote:

You madman.

SupremeSarna wrote:

If I was really a madman I would buy the Gameboy version

Hey, my brief experience with the Game Boy version wasn't that bad. It's a lot better than some other more prominent 1-vs-1 fighters the system.

Mortal Kombat on the Gameboy was pretty awful actually. Better than the GameGear version though.
Eh maybe not but they are both really bad.
And I used to be so obsessed with Street Fighter 2
and other fighting games I actually owned another terrible
Fighting game on Gameboy called Raging Fighter I think.

Quake is apparently Free on Xboxlive so I got through the first stage on that already.
I also mistakenly thought that the original Quake was also on Dreamcast.
But there is Quake 3 Arena. So technically I can still play that there.