Not sure if anyone noticed this, but if you change the language in the menu to Japanese, you also get the Japanese version of the rom. It's kinda cool, and leads me to believe that we just got a worldwide release and everyone got everything.
Bartholamue on
Steam- SteveBartz Xbox Live- SteveBartz PSN Name- SteveBartz
Not sure if anyone noticed this, but if you change the language in the menu to Japanese, you also get the Japanese version of the rom. It's kinda cool, and leads me to believe that we just got a worldwide release and everyone got everything.
Unfortunately, everyone didn't get everything. The line-up doesn't actually change with the language setting, but you do get the regional versions of the included games as you say.
It's kind of a shame, I'd have loved to be able to have MUSHA, Slap Fight, Out Run 2019, etc etc without either hackery or importing another unit.
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
I think you mean Mad City.
I never did finish Bayou Billy. I bought it because it sounded amazing. A beat 'em up, gallery shooter, and a driving game balled up into one game? Made by Konami!? This can't be bad! But the beat 'em up parts felt bad, as did most of the game. It looked and sounded nice, though.
Apparently Konami did that thing where they made the US version significantly more difficult than the Japanese version. Fortunately, someone made a fan translation of the Japanese game.
Apparently Konami did that thing where they made the US version significantly more difficult than the Japanese version. Fortunately, someone made a fan translation of the Japanese game.
Konami often made their games harder in the west. For instance, Contra originally had a health bar.
Totally opposite from Square, who seemed to think western gamers weren’t smart enough to handle their RPGs, so we got easy versions of games like Final Fantasy IV(2). Not to mention Mystic Quest, the biggest insult to western gamers.
Oh man, 8 Eyes was probably one of my most played NES games. It has to be the hardest NES game I ever beat as a kid without any sort of cheat codes/device, nor even a guide. My dad and I played it together and were uncharacteristically tenacious with it. Seriously. There were games that I played for maybe an hour before deciding that they were too hard and giving up on (mostly rentals, admittedly). I think the fact that it was co-op was a big part of it, since we were able to work together toward beating it, and my dad would play Cutris (the bird) since he hated platforming in games and could leave all that up to me. Without any guide, we had to trial and error our way through the same levels multiple times to figure out the completely arbitrary boss weakness order, which we recorded in a notebook along with the gem placement clues and secret power-up locations we found. One of the levels was infinitely looping and worked like a Lost Woods/SMB 4-4 or 7-4 "maze", which we never actually figured out and would only ever complete by random chance.
We played it most nights for weeks, slowly making progress until we finally beat it. We were so pumped and nervous after we beat the final boss and got to the part where you had to place the 8 gems correctly, following the logic puzzle of the clues you had to find over the course of the game. We double and triple checked that we had solved it correctly before we placed the gems, because we had no idea what would happen if you did it wrong and did not want to find out. Then we got the code for the second quest, saw what the second quest actually was, and said "screw it" to trying to beat that. It wasn't until recently that I even found out there was an yet more ridiculously difficult third quest.
We really had a good time playing it together, but I can't imagine I'd have any fun trying to play it by myself now since it was a needlessly punishing and tedious game in hindsight (but not uncharacteristic of games of that era). At that time I'd never played Castlevania so I didn't realize how much of a knockoff it was, but with a much, much shittier primary weapon -- and, admittedly, a unique and interesting but ultimately hard to control gimmick in Cutris. Having a second player to control Cutris did work much better than trying to do it by yourself, though.
Oh, it also helped that the soundtrack was pretty good and varied. Each level had a unique entrance jingle, stage music, and boss theme.
So as far as I can tell, Contra hard corps is where the life bar is present in Japan and removed elsewhere, and that puts it squarely in the 16-bit era when renting was at its peak and there are numerous examples of Western games explicitly toughening up because of rentals. (Blockbuster won in court vs. Nintendo in 1987, just before Contra 1 was released!)
Oh man, 8 Eyes was probably one of my most played NES games. It has to be the hardest NES game I ever beat as a kid without any sort of cheat codes/device, nor even a guide. My dad and I played it together and were uncharacteristically tenacious with it. Seriously. There were games that I played for maybe an hour before deciding that they were too hard and giving up on (mostly rentals, admittedly). I think the fact that it was co-op was a big part of it, since we were able to work together toward beating it, and my dad would play Cutris (the bird) since he hated platforming in games and could leave all that up to me. Without any guide, we had to trial and error our way through the same levels multiple times to figure out the completely arbitrary boss weakness order, which we recorded in a notebook along with the gem placement clues and secret power-up locations we found. One of the levels was infinitely looping and worked like a Lost Woods/SMB 4-4 or 7-4 "maze", which we never actually figured out and would only ever complete by random chance.
We played it most nights for weeks, slowly making progress until we finally beat it. We were so pumped and nervous after we beat the final boss and got to the part where you had to place the 8 gems correctly, following the logic puzzle of the clues you had to find over the course of the game. We double and triple checked that we had solved it correctly before we placed the gems, because we had no idea what would happen if you did it wrong and did not want to find out. Then we got the code for the second quest, saw what the second quest actually was, and said "screw it" to trying to beat that. It wasn't until recently that I even found out there was an yet more ridiculously difficult third quest.
We really had a good time playing it together, but I can't imagine I'd have any fun trying to play it by myself now since it was a needlessly punishing and tedious game in hindsight (but not uncharacteristic of games of that era). At that time I'd never played Castlevania so I didn't realize how much of a knockoff it was, but with a much, much shittier primary weapon -- and, admittedly, a unique and interesting but ultimately hard to control gimmick in Cutris. Having a second player to control Cutris did work much better than trying to do it by yourself, though.
Oh, it also helped that the soundtrack was pretty good and varied. Each level had a unique entrance jingle, stage music, and boss theme.
Man, I'm glad to hear someone had an awesome time with 8 Eyes. My brother and I gave it a shot a few times. We just didn't have the patience for it, and in single player I'd usually lose the bird pretty early on. I don't think I ever managed to beat more than 2 bosses in the game.
For some reason I had Ultima Exodus (probably one of the many bad but well-meaning parent gift games). It was awful and confusing and I could never get anywhere in it. I was definitely too young to understand what I should be doing. I remember finding it interesting that you could fight friendly NPCs, like the King, but of course since I was low level it always ended in disaster.
For some reason I had Ultima Exodus (probably one of the many bad but well-meaning parent gift games). It was awful and confusing and I could never get anywhere in it. I was definitely too young to understand what I should be doing. I remember finding it interesting that you could fight friendly NPCs, like the King, but of course since I was low level it always ended in disaster.
Oh lord, same here. Either the game hasn't aged well, or it was a crappy port, or it didn't translate well to the NES, or all three. And the battle music was so bad. SO BAD.
For some reason I had Ultima Exodus (probably one of the many bad but well-meaning parent gift games). It was awful and confusing and I could never get anywhere in it. I was definitely too young to understand what I should be doing. I remember finding it interesting that you could fight friendly NPCs, like the King, but of course since I was low level it always ended in disaster.
Oh lord, same here. Either the game hasn't aged well, or it was a crappy port, or it didn't translate well to the NES, or all three. And the battle music was so bad. SO BAD.
Hah, I remember this. Honestly, it seems like it would make for a good backing track to a better piece of 8-bit music. It feels like it's missing half the instrumentation or something.
I remember playing a port of the game on my Mac and it felt a lot better. No music, though.
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
I'm still bummed that there are three more Super Famicom games in the Goemon series and we only got the first one here. Someone is working on a fan translation of the second one, though! It seems like they're putting a lot of work into it:
Dunno if they dumbed down the GBA version of DKC3 but the lightning thing totally has a clear visual warning where it will hit, it's not that hard or random once you learn it. Nothing in 100%ing that game is nearly as frustrating as trying to explore in the "water is lava" flooded ship levels of DKC2. Yes that includes some of the bullshit Pacifica levels, I take the fact that I can actually tolerate "mastering" it as an old man that surely there are far less fair games on the system. Like I would never have patience for Ecco 1 these days.
I do miss being a kid and just having to dig into really hard games because it was all I had. Nowadays if a game is too difficult it's just annoying since I have a stack of games to wade through. Why bother with frustration when I can just pop in another game at any time.
Dunno if they dumbed down the GBA version of DKC3 but the lightning thing totally has a clear visual warning where it will hit, it's not that hard or random once you learn it. Nothing in 100%ing that game is nearly as frustrating as trying to explore in the "water is lava" flooded ship levels of DKC2. Yes that includes some of the bullshit Pacifica levels, I take the fact that I can actually tolerate "mastering" it as an old man that surely there are far less fair games on the system. Like I would never have patience for Ecco 1 these days.
Yeah, none of the DKC series should be in a top 13 hardest games list. They were challenging and at times felt cheap and unfair, but there are a sles of SNES games that were masochistically difficult.
Played some Columns on the Mini earlier. Man, I want to like these games more but I feel like they're a little less intuitive than Tetris or Dr. Mario, but ramp up a lot more quickly.
Also tried Columns 3 the other day, and having a competitor in single player really doesn't help matters.
I also played some Sonic 2, and it felt good to cut loose as Super Sonic again. And yes, I used the code. Made a save state of the level select for future convenience, too.
LBD_Nytetrayn on
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Sonic 2's Chaos Emerald gathering was too cheap. The whole 50 ring at the goalpost requirement, and then the levels themselves. I could never get Super Sonic without a code.
Sonic 2's Chaos Emerald gathering was too cheap. The whole 50 ring at the goalpost requirement, and then the levels themselves. I could never get Super Sonic without a code.
Playing as Sonic & Tails made the Emerald gathering crazy hard. The lag on Tails reacting in the Special Stage was rough. It was way easier as a solo character though!
Sonic 2's Chaos Emerald gathering was too cheap. The whole 50 ring at the goalpost requirement, and then the levels themselves. I could never get Super Sonic without a code.
Playing as Sonic & Tails made the Emerald gathering crazy hard. The lag on Tails reacting in the Special Stage was rough. It was way easier as a solo character though!
I see this a lot, but I don't get it. Tails only collects and loses rings you'd have missed anyway.
Nobody remembers the singer. The song remains.
+1
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SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
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My Backloggery
Unfortunately, everyone didn't get everything. The line-up doesn't actually change with the language setting, but you do get the regional versions of the included games as you say.
It's kind of a shame, I'd have loved to be able to have MUSHA, Slap Fight, Out Run 2019, etc etc without either hackery or importing another unit.
Steam | XBL
I never did finish Bayou Billy. I bought it because it sounded amazing. A beat 'em up, gallery shooter, and a driving game balled up into one game? Made by Konami!? This can't be bad! But the beat 'em up parts felt bad, as did most of the game. It looked and sounded nice, though.
Apparently Konami did that thing where they made the US version significantly more difficult than the Japanese version. Fortunately, someone made a fan translation of the Japanese game.
My Backloggery
Another game I had as a kid, and yes, it was too hard for its own good.
Cool idea, though. A Castlevania-style game except a second player could control your falcon!
My Backloggery
Konami often made their games harder in the west. For instance, Contra originally had a health bar.
Totally opposite from Square, who seemed to think western gamers weren’t smart enough to handle their RPGs, so we got easy versions of games like Final Fantasy IV(2). Not to mention Mystic Quest, the biggest insult to western gamers.
Mystic Quest did have cool music though.
We played it most nights for weeks, slowly making progress until we finally beat it. We were so pumped and nervous after we beat the final boss and got to the part where you had to place the 8 gems correctly, following the logic puzzle of the clues you had to find over the course of the game. We double and triple checked that we had solved it correctly before we placed the gems, because we had no idea what would happen if you did it wrong and did not want to find out. Then we got the code for the second quest, saw what the second quest actually was, and said "screw it" to trying to beat that. It wasn't until recently that I even found out there was an yet more ridiculously difficult third quest.
We really had a good time playing it together, but I can't imagine I'd have any fun trying to play it by myself now since it was a needlessly punishing and tedious game in hindsight (but not uncharacteristic of games of that era). At that time I'd never played Castlevania so I didn't realize how much of a knockoff it was, but with a much, much shittier primary weapon -- and, admittedly, a unique and interesting but ultimately hard to control gimmick in Cutris. Having a second player to control Cutris did work much better than trying to do it by yourself, though.
Oh, it also helped that the soundtrack was pretty good and varied. Each level had a unique entrance jingle, stage music, and boss theme.
Weren’t those games around before renting was a big thing? I could be wrong.
What the JP version of the first Contra had that the US one did not was a map like in Ghosts 'n Goblins and cutscenes:
edit: oh yeah, and the JP version has more animation in the background, like the foliage blowing around in the wind.
Man, I'm glad to hear someone had an awesome time with 8 Eyes. My brother and I gave it a shot a few times. We just didn't have the patience for it, and in single player I'd usually lose the bird pretty early on. I don't think I ever managed to beat more than 2 bosses in the game.
I have fond memories of Ultima: Quest of the Avatar. I ripped off so many blind shopkeepers! I had no idea how poorly I was playing that game.
Ultima: Exodus, though? I remember that game not being very good.
My Backloggery
Oh lord, same here. Either the game hasn't aged well, or it was a crappy port, or it didn't translate well to the NES, or all three. And the battle music was so bad. SO BAD.
Hah, I remember this. Honestly, it seems like it would make for a good backing track to a better piece of 8-bit music. It feels like it's missing half the instrumentation or something.
I remember playing a port of the game on my Mac and it felt a lot better. No music, though.
My Backloggery
I just wanted to get some of the weirder ones.
My Backloggery
Hardest SNES games.
Also tried Columns 3 the other day, and having a competitor in single player really doesn't help matters.
I also played some Sonic 2, and it felt good to cut loose as Super Sonic again. And yes, I used the code. Made a save state of the level select for future convenience, too.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
I think this game was altered from the Japanese version.
Edit:Yeah. They shortened the game.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Sword
Playing as Sonic & Tails made the Emerald gathering crazy hard. The lag on Tails reacting in the Special Stage was rough. It was way easier as a solo character though!
I see this a lot, but I don't get it. Tails only collects and loses rings you'd have missed anyway.
Fortunately, there's a fan translation patch for the Japanese version.
My Backloggery