Game Sack

[chilled]

if NHL 94 is better on the SNES, why is there a massive cult following on the MD version ? And I mean mainstream pop culture level of cult.

[sull56ivan2010]

if NHL 94 is better on the SNES, why is there a massive cult following on the MD version ? And I mean mainstream pop culture level of cult.

The episode can be looked at seriously and for laughs. Kind of hard to tell. The five player thing helps the SNES version, but I'm not huge on the audio. Better than 93 on the same system, but the sound got better late in the systems' life. The Genesis version was still a smoother experience.

[EddieJ1984]

Yea I am surprised Joe didn't respond saying that NHL 94 on the genesis was better.
Plus if you care about the best audio, than the Sega Cd is the best version, but then again they only touched on sports games (Sports Talk Baseball or the World Series games I would argue are the best ones)

[Team Andromeda]

It sounds like you're unfamiliar with 16-bit JRPGs. The SFC has much more than Square RPG'ish games.

Then there's the PC Engine. The SFC and PCE each have around 100 "RPG" games.

And that's not counting relatively straight adventure or war sim games, let alone some of the random genres that get lumped in as 16-bit Sega "RPGs" around here.

I very familiar with the SNES RPG's I've even been called a SNES fanboy on here too a because I liked the Snes more for its platform and adventure games and to this day will make out Mario IV is platform perfection and the Mega Drive didn't have an answer to Metroid and Castlevania IV is the pinnacle of the series. I didn't like it more for its RPG's or shooters or sports games, I found Square's RPG's to be vastly overrated Game Arts/Studio Alex just made RPG's with a story and more a cast of characters I actually cared for and had an interest in. I'll hold my hand up to not playing Mario RPG mind, but I can't see it beating the Lunar's and I wasn't impressed with the Y's games on the PC Eng (but that's just me) Nobody made a better RPG than GameArts in the 16bit or 32Bit days. When it came to Sim War Games I enjoyed Dune and Third World War on the Mega CD far more than any SNES war game I played, I didn't own many granted, but for me, the Third World War was the best war sim game I played and it's a shame so few every got to play it

I'm not interested in numbers and care more about how good a game actually is for me to play and let me give you an example. It wouldn't matter to me how many more scrolling beat them up a system can boast off and if the Mega Drive only had SOR series; they were perfection and the best, I care not about numbers, but how good the game is (for me).

Yea I am surprised Joe didn't respond saying that NHL 94 on the genesis was better.
Plus if you care about the best audio, than the Sega Cd is the best version, but then again they only touched on sports games (Sports Talk Baseball or the World Series games I would argue are the best ones)

Yep I point that should have been made. It controls and flows better on the Mega Drive, plus the Mega-CD adds in so much more atmosphere with its stadium tracks and samples. When it came to Baseball I thought HardBall III was hard to beat.

[Black_Tiger]

Lunar Eternal Blue is great and defintely one of the 16-bit RPGs/games that hits the "as good as games need to be" ceiling and keeps on going. The English version still took a big hit with WD's localization and game tampering.

Lunar Silver Star isn't even a "great" game. It's worth going through the motions and playing it at least once if you're the kind of hardcore JRPG fan who plays everything. But the end result is still a mess and never came close to approaching its potential.

Super Mario RPG is so small and barely interactive that I don't think it's fair to call it even a "good" RPG or game.

Even if you love Silver Star for what it is, that's still literally the minimum definition of plural. The only of 16-bit Sega Gamearts game I can think of you might be refering to is Uresei Tasura.

[Team Andromeda]

If you don't like it much that's fair enough. I was one of those that was memorized by Lunar game was even sad enough to cry when I finished it.

For many Snatcher is the best cyberpunk game ever made and was reason on its own to get a Mega CD or how Virtua Tennis on its own was the best and only Tennis game you needed on the DC and I feel the same about MSG on the PS, you don't need any other stealth game on the shstrn .

I don't agree with you on Lunar 2 translation sorry, Ok the saves was a mistake but Working Designs did a fantastic job with the game Presentation and also quality voice overs; most Japanese RPGs will see changed to their script for the Western release, I don't think it was only a WD thing, but maybe they changed too much with each game?

[profholt82]

It was good to see the band back together. Great episode, Joe.

[slider1983]

I very familiar with the SNES RPG's I've even been called a SNES fanboy on here too a because I liked the Snes more for its platform and adventure games and to this day will make out Mario IV is platform perfection and the Mega Drive didn't have an answer to Metroid and Castlevania IV is the pinnacle of the series. I didn't like it more for its RPG's or shooters or sports games, I found Square's RPG's to be vastly overrated Game Arts/Studio Alex just made RPG's with a story and more a cast of characters I actually cared for and had an interest in.

To be honest the only RPGs I've managed to get along with is the Shining Force games. Playing a typical 'turn based RPG' feels like torture in comparison.

[gamevet]

To be honest the only RPGs I've managed to get along with is the Shining Force games. Playing a typical 'turn based RPG' feels like torture in comparison.

Are you talking about Strategy RPGs?

My feeling is that Final Fantasy III (US) is the best RPG of the 16-bit generation. It had the best music, graphics and story amongst the bunch. I loved Lunar's music on the Sega CD, but it didn't have the depth or wealth of awesome music that Final Fantasy III had.

[EddieJ1984]

Enjoyed the latest episode on Simpsons games, glad Virtual Bart was covered as I feel that is an underrated game, I played through it recently for the first time in years (with save states I do admit) and its fair, of course has some annoying aspects but if you just stick to it you can overcome it.

[NeoVamp]

I'm having a hard time watching Game Sack ever since I saw Joe admit that he didn't enjoy the Lynx version of California Games.. I mean, who doesn't like the Lynx version? its awesome!

[Joe Redifer]

Who likes ANY version? The Lynx has fewer minigames as well. At least the SMS version has cool overlapping parallax scrolling which is like one of the very few times ever that the programmers went above and beyond with the console's capabilities.

[NeoVamp]

Who likes ANY version? The Lynx has fewer minigames as well. At least the SMS version has cool overlapping parallax scrolling which is like one of the very few times ever that the programmers went above and beyond with the console's capabilities.

I've played all of them, starting with the C64 one. and honestly.. The Lynx version is the only one that's actually fun to play.
the controls are tight and the gameplay is fast, much better than all the other versions.

[Melf]

SMS version is my favorite, but I do love the Lynx game.

[profholt82]

As a kid, I played the Master System and C64 versions at buddies' houses quite a bit. No kidding, a kid down the street had a C64 and another across the street had an SMS. And since I didn't get an NES until 1990, I played most of the multi-port games on the other systems first, and I was generally disappointed once I tried the NES versions (looking at you Double Dragon, Paperboy and Rampage).

Years later, I played the Genesis and NES versions of California Games, and I feel that the SMS version holds up the best. The NES version plays fine, however, it's just not quite as good as the SMS, and has some notable differences.

As far as the ports that I've played (C64, SMS, NES, Genesis and Atari 2600), the SMS is the only version with the card game in between levels, which if you win, gives you a boost in attributes to make the event play easier. And by default, the NES has the fastest hacky sack and (seemingly) the slowest hacky sack player. This makes the event very difficult compared to the others.

The SMS is FM Sound compatible, but neither soundtrack overall is as good as the NES version in my opinion. That port definitely wins for sound. The Genesis port has good music for the most part, but loses points for dropping "Louie Louie" from the opening title sequence. For shame. The Genesis port also dropped the flying disc level which is one of the best events in my opinion. And the sponsorships are gone as well. "You mean I can't play for Casio or Ocean Pacific?! Get the f#$% outta here, Genesis!" That aspect of the game always reminded me of the BMX movie 'Rad' where sponsors played such a big deal.

It's worth noting that the Atari 2600 is fairly playable; well, parts of it anyway. The BMX stage is actually pretty fun, and the controls are surprisingly responsive. There was a weird period during the late 80s/beginning of the 90s when new Atari 2600 games were coming out. I remember recieving some for Christmas one year even though I already had a NES. I doubt my mom knew the difference, but just the fact that she was able to go to a store and purchase new 2600 games in like 90/91 is kind of crazy considering the console originally came out in 1977.

I'll add that the roller skating level is practically identical to the later Genesis/SNES Barbie Fashion Model game. Not sure if they had the same developer or not, but that level is identical in both games. Hey, I've got 3 daughters and they love that Barbie game, hahahaha.