Nintendo Switch Online Mini-Reviews - Vol. 1 | Forgotten Worlds

[00:00:01] Hello, party people.

[00:00:22] It's your boy Dre, and per usual on the Nintendo Switch Online beat I am joined by Steve.

[00:00:30] I like video games.

[00:00:32] Woo!

[00:00:33] Says who?

[00:00:34] Me.

[00:00:35] I only asked for my opinion and I researched that one pretty well I think.

[00:00:42] That's not what you said last night.

[00:00:46] That's bad, I didn't really have a joke.

[00:00:49] I had nothing.

[00:00:50] I had no ammo.

[00:00:52] We're back, we're here to talk, Nintendo Switch Online again.

[00:00:57] But this time instead of just going through the latest games which is how we usually

[00:01:01] do this stuff, I wanted to just focus in on a few of them.

[00:01:07] Well, to be more precise, six of them.

[00:01:10] So this way we don't have to chase around.

[00:01:12] Usually we're worried about our episodes going out of date, oh they're going to release

[00:01:16] more stuff by the time this episode goes up.

[00:01:20] We don't have to worry about that this time Steve.

[00:01:22] Oh no, it's going to be another episode where they came out with a fourth Russian beat

[00:01:27] that no one's ever heard of until right now.

[00:01:32] That has yet another US title that's different for us or intro or whatever.

[00:01:39] So yeah, we just picked six games from Nintendo Switch Online.

[00:01:43] We tried to mostly keep it to stuff that we hadn't played before or at least hadn't

[00:01:49] played in a really long time or aren't that familiar with.

[00:01:52] We didn't want to come on here and just talk Mario 3 or something that's boring.

[00:01:56] So we tried to pick stuff that is a little bit off the beaten path but Steve I think

[00:02:03] we should be honest with the people up front.

[00:02:05] We didn't pick too many winners this time guys.

[00:02:08] In our new format here.

[00:02:10] We sure didn't, unfortunately.

[00:02:14] So typically the reason why we started doing these in the first place is because me and

[00:02:19] Steve were sick of the complaining online about the lineups on these apps.

[00:02:25] People kept going where's Chrono Trigger and where's Earthbound?

[00:02:28] Earthbound is there now but like for a long time that's all you heard and we're

[00:02:32] like guys there's so many great things to play on these apps, go play them.

[00:02:38] Yeah and I still like to do that but you know unfortunately not everything is a winner

[00:02:44] because you know even back in the day you were kind of taking life into your own hands.

[00:02:48] We didn't have the internet back then we were at the mercy of magazines and posters

[00:02:53] and you know word of mouth on the playground and you know sometimes we ended up with

[00:02:56] Beethoven's second for the weekend on Super Nintendo.

[00:03:01] That game traumatized you.

[00:03:02] It's not the first time I've heard you talk about Beethoven's second.

[00:03:06] Yeah but it didn't traumatize me as much as at least I didn't own that game.

[00:03:10] What really traumatized me for life was Chester Cheetah Too Cool to Fool which will

[00:03:13] never appear on this thing.

[00:03:15] I'm pretty sure.

[00:03:18] Prove me wrong.

[00:03:19] Actually don't, don't prove me wrong.

[00:03:21] Yeah don't prove him wrong.

[00:03:22] Don't prove him wrong.

[00:03:24] Was that still a Sunsoft joint?

[00:03:26] What?

[00:03:27] Chester Cheetah?

[00:03:28] Oh no that was Kineco.

[00:03:30] Oh right.

[00:03:32] We're not stealing the Namco logo at all.

[00:03:35] Wink.

[00:03:37] Not at all.

[00:03:38] Anyway unfortunately most of the games we picked for this podcast did not turn out to be very

[00:03:45] good.

[00:03:46] We usually do these again to highlight the really good stuff on here but that just

[00:03:52] wasn't the case so forewarned we're not going to tell you about a bunch of hidden

[00:03:56] gems today but I think this will be a fun discussion.

[00:03:59] Well okay let's get started with our first game.

[00:04:04] First up we have Blaster Master Enemy Below which came out in September 2000 for Game

[00:04:12] Boy Color and you could say it's a reimagining of the original NES game of sorts Steve.

[00:04:19] I guess that's the best way to put it.

[00:04:20] It's not exactly the same as that but.

[00:04:24] I mean that's very generous of you to say but to be fair there are a lot of established

[00:04:30] franchises that received a lot of good but overlooked interpretations on the Game Boy.

[00:04:37] I mean everyone should go play Burger Time Deluxe which is on the app but we're not

[00:04:40] talking about that one right now.

[00:04:42] Unfortunately Blaster Master Enemy Below is not one of these adaptations.

[00:04:48] It's very very strange right because it feels like a port of the NES game at first but

[00:04:55] it's not one.

[00:04:57] Like all the same level motifs are there.

[00:05:00] The music is there too in its own special way if you want to call it that.

[00:05:07] It sounded like the first area, we all know the area one music.

[00:05:13] It sounded like it was just drinking too hard all night and it's trying to just get home

[00:05:17] and it doesn't sound right.

[00:05:20] It sounds like it's sick.

[00:05:23] It's the year 2000 and it's sick.

[00:05:25] It's like oh no it's not feeling good.

[00:05:27] We need to get it to the hospital quick.

[00:05:30] It's not S-Y-C-K-K.

[00:05:35] It needs medical attention fast.

[00:05:38] But yeah the level layouts are completely different from NES so it's like based off

[00:05:43] it but not really.

[00:05:45] It's very segmented and maze like because like the first game it was cool at the time

[00:05:51] because it felt so wide open and expansive right?

[00:05:54] Like it felt like oh my god you're in this huge like underground cave thing or

[00:05:58] you're in this like huge underwater thing.

[00:06:00] This doesn't feel big it feels cramped obviously because it's Game Boy Color and I think you

[00:06:06] know what I'm going to say next.

[00:06:09] Screen crunch.

[00:06:11] Oh baby.

[00:06:12] Like they tried to do the NES sprites exactly basically which is not something you

[00:06:20] should be doing on a handheld and something we should learn by the year 2000 not to

[00:06:25] do on Game Boy but Steve they did it here and they shouldn't have.

[00:06:29] You know what's weird because Metroid 2 is also on this app and it's almost a decade

[00:06:35] older if not exactly a decade older and that feels closer to what it's supposed

[00:06:40] to be than you know what Blaster Master is trying to do.

[00:06:44] Trying to feel maze like and such.

[00:06:47] Nothing about this feels right.

[00:06:49] It really doesn't the whole project feels kind of poisoned.

[00:06:54] Blaster Master was in a weird spot at this time if you remember a year after this would

[00:06:58] come Blaster Master Enemy Below on PS1.

[00:07:02] Yes there was PS1 games in 2001 and I actually do like this game for it's like cheesy

[00:07:09] PS1 tank controls charm.

[00:07:11] Yes you're driving a tank but you know what I mean and the music is bitching.

[00:07:16] You know how far that goes with me but also so I feel like they were conscious

[00:07:22] of the screen crunch because the game moves at like a snail's pace.

[00:07:28] You know so they tried to compensate Steve but not really.

[00:07:32] I mean they tried to compensate but it's in the end it still feels like shit because

[00:07:37] I feel like this is we again the Sophia's feels broken like we need to get out and fix

[00:07:41] the tires like it just moves at a snail's pace the jumping feels wrong and then

[00:07:47] and then you get out of the tank and that doesn't feel so well either because you know

[00:07:52] it I feel like the walk around portions are even longer than they were on the NES.

[00:07:58] Yeah and they don't like they're just not nearly as well constructed because you don't

[00:08:03] have the big rooms again like yeah you had like the Zelda like like screen by

[00:08:09] screen sections as well on the NES version but in this it just again it just feels like

[00:08:15] the NES game but worse just everything markedly worse like if the original game were as average

[00:08:21] as it possibly could be. I got through about like two areas of this game Steve I beat the

[00:08:27] second boss and I was like I don't I don't want to play this anymore.

[00:08:31] See you made it a bit further than me I made it to the second area and it felt like

[00:08:35] the rooms were looping and I was getting oddly claustrophobic I'm like who am I trying to

[00:08:41] prove this to and I'm like I'm done. You know what I'm glad you mentioned that

[00:08:47] because actually that was the worst part of the game if you notice an area too you just keep

[00:08:52] going to the right you won't hit a wall those rooms just loop over and over I'm like almost

[00:08:58] like a what would you call it back in the day is warp what's the word I'm trying to think

[00:09:03] of like you know in joust or balloon fight when you go to one side of the screen and then

[00:09:08] or ice climber or something like that yeah I don't know wrap around wrap around wrap around

[00:09:12] okay around yeah like it's fucking man I don't know why the stages are wrapped around

[00:09:19] that doesn't make any sense if you're gonna make an action adventure game you're gonna

[00:09:23] have all the stuff to explore you gotta have people hit a wall so you can get your

[00:09:27] mental like I mean I don't think this game has a map. I was about to say especially

[00:09:32] since I'm about to be a little bitch and say there's no fucking map for me to look at

[00:09:38] I'm less of the type of person to call for a map than Steve but even I was like come on if you're

[00:09:44] gonna make it wrap around you gotta give me that you have to even if it's like the crappy

[00:09:49] map like in Goonies 2 that doesn't tell you anything like at least pretend you know enemy

[00:09:57] below more like oh you already did that never oh my god let's move on to the next game

[00:10:05] so our next game is Excitebike 64 for the Nintendo 64 obviously could you imagine if this was

[00:10:13] for Sega Genesis they just called the game Excitebike 64 anyway it's a 3D update of the

[00:10:20] NES game for the new millennium oh ah the the Y2K millennium because it came out in May 2000

[00:10:33] that's about when I turned 18 that's the right time for me to enjoy some Excitebike 64 but I

[00:10:37] never had this game back in the day Steve. I didn't either and when I turned it on I had

[00:10:43] to say this was incredibly year 2000 yeah I don't know you had this uh faux grunge playing in

[00:10:50] the background and these biker bios like Grease likes to work part-time at the burger shop

[00:10:58] well going to buy more bike parts oh yeah and shit that has nothing to do with anything else

[00:11:05] you're doing in the game or in any meaningful like this is year 2000 is shit I yeah I think

[00:11:12] the idea at the time was like you know whether it's like a skateboarding game or whatever

[00:11:17] or a motocross game like this they're so dedicated to their craft that it's like oh

[00:11:22] man I have to work part-time at Burger King to afford to race because that's all he cares about

[00:11:29] Burger King by day motocross by night or something you know like this very cheesy

[00:11:34] like okay yeah he has a he has a job so he can like fuck off in his in his spare time

[00:11:40] it's not really that cool but yeah that was like a thing back then for some reason I

[00:11:44] really don't know why you mentioned the music I guess we can start there

[00:11:48] God I actually the soundtrack in this oh baby you are correct but here's the thing about it

[00:11:56] it is very year 2000 but at the same time it is also quite mid-90s like you have that very 1996

[00:12:05] ish hip hop like you know before you start the race I don't know if it's like you're

[00:12:09] picking your character or whatever they're showing you a track preview but you have

[00:12:12] that one hip hop track which interests it sounds like something we play on fine time to

[00:12:16] be honest and then I guess it's weird to me this has always been weird to me that this is

[00:12:23] called excite bike 64 it's just your typical motocross game this could have been called

[00:12:28] anything I guess Nintendo just wanted them to call it that for name recognition but like

[00:12:34] what's very exciting like about this Steve see I played through a very very lengthy tutorial

[00:12:42] and we all know how much I love tutorials but holy shit I feel like I needed to take notes on a

[00:12:49] real ass notebook because there was going to be a test on the end for all the shit they wanted

[00:12:54] me to do because you remember excite bike on the NES also on this app how easy that fucking

[00:13:00] was to play sure was like oh do this but here on N64 oh push this combination of buttons

[00:13:10] to do a flip push this one to kind of jump to the side but make sure you push it back

[00:13:15] so you don't crash your ass I just wish all this sort of thing made it sort of feel like

[00:13:21] excite bike but other than sort of clumsily knocking down other racers on occasion it

[00:13:27] really has nothing to do with excite bike other than that and it being named that in the

[00:13:33] title yeah I kind of agree I think they were trying to implement the so you know how in the

[00:13:39] original excite bike you press like in midair you press forward and back to angle your bike

[00:13:44] you know I think this game still has that but it doesn't feel right yeah it doesn't it doesn't

[00:13:51] feel right it's not like wave race where like you're you're pushing forward or back on the

[00:13:57] control stick to like angle yourself over the waves or something because you know in that game

[00:14:01] if you're coming up big wave and you're just holding back you're just going to flip or you're

[00:14:04] going to crash so you can't really do that I feel like excite bike 64 was trying to get some of

[00:14:10] that flavor but I don't really think that works in 3d as well or at least it doesn't in this

[00:14:16] game I haven't played a motocross game in a current one in forever so I don't know but

[00:14:22] it's been a long time since I've really played anything like that too but

[00:14:25] I also need to bring up that since I did play the tutorial in its entirety your reward

[00:14:31] for that is the original as excite bike in its entirety which is redundant in today's

[00:14:40] environment where we have that on you know the other app but in the year 2000 can you imagine

[00:14:45] just having that on your nes like oh thank god there's a good game on here after all

[00:14:51] no you know that that kind of stuff was very sought after back then that that that would have

[00:14:58] you're right that would have been a boon and I probably would have played that way more than

[00:15:02] I played excite bike 64 honestly I just don't have a whole lot to say about this one it's

[00:15:06] just your typical racing game of the time period it's fine but there's just nothing

[00:15:11] that special about it either and you know what the nintendo 64 has a lot of great racers man

[00:15:17] there's f-zero x there's ridge racer 64 there's wipeout 64 even extreme g I would probably

[00:15:24] say is better than excite bike 64 there's just not much reason to go back to this one I don't

[00:15:30] know why it sold so many copies was it a big seller I don't even know it was a big seller

[00:15:35] it's because I feel like it was like they just wouldn't stop advertising it for a while and

[00:15:40] then they just stopped advertising it no it was a big seller it sold a lot of copies

[00:15:46] so I don't know it's fine look if I had received this at the time for a birthday or

[00:15:52] chris or something I'd be like yeah it's fine I would have played it just fine I did

[00:15:55] okay before we move on I did like the outside environments more than like the motocross arenas

[00:16:00] like when you get did you do a course where you're like out kind of like in the mountainous

[00:16:03] area or like I mean I've seen the footage it looks nice enough but I don't know how much

[00:16:08] how much of that I could really you know put up with like you said there's so many other

[00:16:12] better choices uh okay with that let's move on to the next game our next game is pokemon

[00:16:22] trading card game came out April 2000 for Game Boy Color and it's just as it sounds it's a

[00:16:30] video game version of the popular card game still popular today but at that time it was

[00:16:36] just beginning to become popular and this game capitalized on it Steve in a way that

[00:16:43] I think we don't talk about enough I feel like more people probably got into the card

[00:16:49] game because of this game than like just playing the cards at school or seeing your

[00:16:55] friends have them I mean it's very possible I mean Vin discussed this in our pokemon

[00:17:00] spin-off game show however briefly but it's not a big secret the game's bit was outdated

[00:17:06] a month after release it only covers the first three sets and however many promo cards then

[00:17:10] it was already outdated but you know what I still think it's the gold standard for tcg game

[00:17:16] adaptations I still think it's incredibly easy to get just get into and start playing

[00:17:22] I would still say this is like the way to learn how to you know start from the beginning as far

[00:17:28] as learning trying to teach yourself a trading card game is concerned because uh that was not

[00:17:32] easy to do only now we're finally you know sort of making it easy because at the time the other

[00:17:39] trading card adaptations that were available were very uh not beginner friendly or assumed

[00:17:44] you already knew what you were doing or just a big slog and uh here on Game Boy Color no no

[00:17:50] lots of fun and fun things to do and you can actually play people have actually played this

[00:17:54] game before but what about you Andre did you did you like this game I liked this game a lot

[00:18:00] this game was fantastic this was this was honestly incredible the way they explain the

[00:18:06] game yeah you have to get through that because explaining the card game is just tough

[00:18:11] and originally I tried to play this game in Japanese because Pokemon typically has easy

[00:18:16] peasy language and I was good up until we got to explain the card game I was like okay okay

[00:18:24] okay I cannot do this I cannot do this in my second language which is not my second language

[00:18:30] yet because I cannot speak it fluently so I got to switch to English for this if it wasn't

[00:18:35] for that though I would have probably gotten through I should probably if like Pokemon yellow

[00:18:41] or some shit like comes up on here I should try to play that in Japanese I bet that would be

[00:18:45] like nice easy peasy language for me to get through anyway um yeah I really enjoyed the

[00:18:52] Pokemon trading card game there there is a line of dialogue that made me laugh and this

[00:18:59] is going to trigger something we always complain about when it comes to Nintendo Switch online

[00:19:04] is that some NPC was like it might be easier if you read the Pokemon trading card

[00:19:09] instruction booklet while we play well Nintendo well Nintendo how about you let us do that

[00:19:19] sometime huh I love these fucking apps but I don't love that about these apps oh man and

[00:19:26] they could they could so easy never mind I'm not going to get into it yeah this game is

[00:19:31] excellent I love the no frills approach though I love how they just like teach you how to play

[00:19:36] the game and then it's like okay go to any of the eight clubs you want and go play cards

[00:19:41] and that's it that's the entire scenario of the game obviously they didn't want to spend money

[00:19:47] making like a whole like story or whatever and they shouldn't because it's about the card game

[00:19:51] and they leave it about that and that is so smart not just like economically like for a

[00:19:56] game but like just as a design because it just gets you right to the point and you can

[00:20:02] tell I mean I played a decent amount of it but you can tell there's a lot of content here to

[00:20:07] keep you occupied I know everyone I know who has played this game has loved it for a reason

[00:20:13] and I get it now I played it again for the first time in a long time and I did have fun

[00:20:17] going through the eight clubs again again it's you just pop them on a map you're not like

[00:20:22] running around through an overworld or anything I just forgot how much of a time capsule this

[00:20:26] actually was there's a handful of NPCs you can actually trade cards with because this is

[00:20:31] a trading card game and that but then there's freaking ema kerney he's this NPC that's based

[00:20:39] off of a real guy that was on some kind of pokemon new show at the time he is a goddamn

[00:20:46] time capsule of the time and he uh still appears with promo cards irl that like

[00:20:52] aren't good to play they're just they're just gag cards okay then there's other cards that

[00:20:59] were just in the game to be in the game with video gamey effects yes I know a bunch of them

[00:21:06] were printed later to actually work in real life but don't don't at me at that but you had

[00:21:11] things that just randomly did shit and they did kind of try to do that later with the e-reader

[00:21:17] when some of them would had bonus moves that the e-reader would try to make you do oh my

[00:21:22] god yeah it was but you had to actually play the game with somebody in order to do

[00:21:27] that and nobody actually fucking did that because are you fucking kidding oh boy yeah

[00:21:34] that sounds I mean look I've never played the card game irl so I can't speak to it but

[00:21:39] definitely this game I don't think this game would have made me want to I probably mentioned

[00:21:44] before on the show I was like a big like dragon ball z card game person I was probably

[00:21:49] the card game I was going to stick to but yeah um the graphics are exactly what you expect

[00:21:54] in this game but the music is particularly great here I know the big three didn't work on this so

[00:22:02] I don't know who composed this but whoever did hats off to them they nailed it the music in

[00:22:07] this game is stupendous yeah I don't know either because the credits are incredibly vague

[00:22:12] other than that Hudson's name appears at the end of them I'm it might just be someone there

[00:22:17] having a day trip they did a lot of Game Boy Color games they were like two or three

[00:22:22] wars games on there that they like threw it Hudson to do on Game Boy Color like they were

[00:22:28] just day workers on Game Boy Color for in Japan are we sure this isn't a secret Tose joint

[00:22:35] I mean if for it sure it sure feels like it could have been it could have been yeah there

[00:22:41] was a sequel a year later on the Game Boy Color that doesn't go much further and sets

[00:22:47] from this but uh we didn't get that one oddly enough well not too oddly because Game Boy Advance

[00:22:53] was coming and even they weren't gonna commit that much suicide I heard that one has an

[00:22:57] actual story though yes it does and I barely know what it is I never played it all right

[00:23:04] um sorry to do this Steve but now we have to talk about something bad our next game is going

[00:23:12] to be Castlevania Legends released in March 1998 for the Game Boy it's the third Castlevania game

[00:23:20] released for the Game Boy released seven years after the second one starring Sonja Belmont

[00:23:28] I just okay yeah Sonja Belmont I that's a character right I mean like all we really know

[00:23:36] about her is those wild anime portraits which I mean I'm gonna mention them up front Steve

[00:23:43] because that might be the only real good thing about this game is its art oh you didn't like

[00:23:48] the sprite work they did on Sonja where uh they they made damn sure you saw the Belmont

[00:23:54] booty scoot across the screen I mean look if you're gonna have a female Belmont I mean look

[00:24:00] we've established on the show very early on that Belmont's had big dick energy

[00:24:06] not just big dick energy it's just you know it runs in the family so if you're a female

[00:24:10] Belmont you gotta have a little something something you know well she's got something

[00:24:14] something Alucard is in this game at some point and he also has what what's so funny

[00:24:23] oh you know what's so funny I'm asking people at home are never gonna play this so

[00:24:30] you have to fight that Alucard at some point such as you do and right after you

[00:24:35] right after you beat him you get the anime portrait of Alucard again and he goes

[00:24:44] oh man it is this game is special like you guys think the dialogue in like I don't know

[00:24:52] circle the moon is stupid like this is just wow um this game sucks I am a fan of the first two

[00:25:01] Castlevania Game Boy games you are not so much I guess the first I guess you're not a fan of

[00:25:05] Castlevania adventure I kind of forget how you feel about the second one that I can't

[00:25:08] remember but I'm not as big a fan of that either no okay I really like those games and

[00:25:15] I think this Castlevania legend sucks and I think a good way to explain why this game sucks

[00:25:22] is that the theming is really bad and for Castlevania that's like you have to nail that

[00:25:30] but like what even are these levels Steve one screen it looks like you're in a library the

[00:25:36] next one it's like you're in some nondescript ruins so you're thinking like okay am I below

[00:25:42] this like castle or something like that and then you're like god knows where the next second

[00:25:48] you're like outside with some like pillars and it's like okay is this the same place

[00:25:53] there's that sense of like movement in that language like the levels tell the story

[00:26:00] Castlevania Legends does not have that at all and you have to have that in Castlevania

[00:26:06] and you can't use the it's on Game Boy excuse because the first two games do this very

[00:26:11] well you don't like those games and you have to even admit that it does and I think but I think

[00:26:17] Castlevania Teller does tell a story it tells the story of look we need to cross promote a

[00:26:23] symphony of the night with you know other with a smaller game on Game Boy just just crank this

[00:26:28] shit out and then you know you had other little themes along the way like you know some levels

[00:26:33] had pits with monsters in them and other ones had dead ends with monsters in them and that's

[00:26:38] how the developers felt while making this game like they were just trapped

[00:26:43] making shit that was the theme of the game

[00:26:47] how that didn't make any sense at some point I whipped a candle and then I got trapped I got

[00:26:52] teleported into a kind of kill room where like a million zombies would appear and you can

[00:26:58] barely make it out of that alive good luck to you if you don't have a whip power up yet

[00:27:03] and it's just like why did that happen and I thought like at the end of that

[00:27:06] okay it's some sort of bonus room and at the end they'll give me something no you don't get

[00:27:10] anything so see I thought at the end of that you know the candle was at the other side was

[00:27:16] going to drop something but no it drops you into that fucking room again and I'm like no

[00:27:23] we're not doing this shit twice and I'm using the power of Game Boy Nintendo Switch online

[00:27:28] to rewind back to that place because we're not doing this twice we're not doing you

[00:27:34] we are not fucking doing this twice and I couldn't imagine doing that on a Game Boy either I saw in

[00:27:40] the box there's Super Game Boy I couldn't imagine it looking too great on there but oh my god could

[00:27:44] you imagine playing that on your brick of a Game Boy or even the Game Boy Pocket? No I honestly

[00:27:50] didn't know this game existed for years Steve I didn't. I think this is another one of those

[00:27:56] games that's famous for being expensive on eBay except unlike something like Radical Rescue

[00:28:03] you don't want to play this you don't want to fucking play this. What were these fucking bosses

[00:28:08] I feel like those are the touchstone moments of a good Castlevania game the bosses you had

[00:28:14] fucking man bat in the first level ripped right from Batman the animated series like oh ho I'm

[00:28:20] a man that is also a bat and now I'm gonna fight Sonya I'm like oh okay that's great and

[00:28:28] then you eventually end up at Dracula and his pattern could be boiled down to he shoots fireballs

[00:28:36] as you know in his Mandrak form like he usually does and then he shoots more fireballs as spirit

[00:28:42] of Halloween Dracula mask Dracula. That was so wild that was so weird yeah you just have to

[00:28:49] like shoot his mask that's like floating around the screen while like Big Drak is in

[00:28:55] the background it's so stupid and I was so dumb with the game I did start rewinding at that point

[00:29:01] because I'm like I don't want to learn this I don't respect this game at all or like it

[00:29:04] I'm just I'm just cheating I don't care. I feel like the game gave you a good way to cheat

[00:29:10] anyway because once I got the clock I don't know if that was one or two levels in

[00:29:15] I was using that just to cheese like walk right past enemies and show my I'm not dealing

[00:29:20] with any of you people if I don't have to these levels were so big and featureless as you already

[00:29:25] pointed out what am I looking at nothing yeah do you like how they tried to do like a clock

[00:29:31] tower thing for like a third of a level but then that's like not a thing anymore and then you

[00:29:35] just go into some other bullshit it just it was so directionless the music doesn't save

[00:29:42] it here too there's something like good tunes they're not nearly as good as the first two

[00:29:46] games on gameboy so I mean look the Castlevania adventure is cheating I mean that features like

[00:29:52] some choice norio hanan zawa shit I get it you're not gonna match that especially since

[00:29:58] he's gone to treasure at this point but like at the same time come on guys could be a little

[00:30:04] better than that there was I think the first stage starts off with the what I could only

[00:30:08] describe as bloody tears part two I mean kind of yeah that's about all I could say I mean

[00:30:15] it starts out like bloody tears but it's not really that I don't know it was it was a weird

[00:30:20] take on it um you got anything else to say about Castlevania Legends uh yeah don't play

[00:30:27] don't fucking bother okay all right let's move on to our next game all right next up we have

[00:30:38] comic zone released August 1995 for the Sega Genesis and I think a lot of people know what

[00:30:46] this game is but in case you don't it's this very stylish comic book panel beat them up

[00:30:52] and it was developed by Sega Technical Institute you know they made Sonic 2 and 3 and Spinball

[00:30:58] and the ooze the ooze excuse me I have to say it like we do is is Calabunga dudes I have

[00:31:06] played comic zone before I originally played it on virtual console on Wii virtual console back

[00:31:13] in the day didn't really care for it I think it was also on the Sega Genesis compilation for

[00:31:20] 360 the one that also has master system in arcade games for some reason sounds like something

[00:31:26] could be on yeah I just obviously Steve it's a super cool concept that's why everyone knows

[00:31:31] about it and I remember being plastered over all the magazines back in the day but when I

[00:31:37] finally got my hands on it I kind of thought it sucked but for the purposes of this podcast

[00:31:44] because we like to be fair to everything I was like okay I'm gonna wash those memories out of

[00:31:47] my mind I'm gonna approach comic zone completely fresh as fresh as I can and I'm gonna give this

[00:31:53] game another shot we're gonna start over and you know what actually before I say what I think

[00:32:00] why don't you tell me your history with comic zone comic zone is a beat-em-up from

[00:32:05] latter-day Genesis times where you punch things in a comic book motif

[00:32:09] Andre that is the most I knew about this game like forever because you know it'd be on all the

[00:32:16] hidden gems on your Genesis lists and I didn't and I managed to miss it on virtual console

[00:32:21] for whatever reason that was so I was super de duper excited to play it on my

[00:32:28] Switch Sega Genesis collection where I came up to a very similar conclusion as you where

[00:32:35] oh my god this is awful what is wrong with you people but like you I'm trying to re-wipe the

[00:32:45] slate clean for this it's on it's on the NSO open mind and big hearts like oh my god

[00:32:52] this sucks I know the Sega fans love this thing and on paper this sounds like the greatest

[00:32:58] idea in the world but oh my god it just as soon as the game starts you get past that

[00:33:04] funky ass intro and it just trips on itself immediately yeah this game is just not good man

[00:33:13] it's not good and okay I'll say the few good things besides the obviously just the concept

[00:33:19] and everything the low color output of the Sega Genesis actually really works in this game's

[00:33:25] favor because it's comic book style and you know how comic books use that what is it called

[00:33:29] stipulation or whatever to yeah yeah yeah the Genesis obviously does that too because it

[00:33:34] doesn't have the color depth like a super nintendo to do everything at once so it has to rely on

[00:33:38] those techniques so it really does look like a comic book in that regard and I thought the

[00:33:45] the limitations of the system worked in its favor and they used it that way which is cool

[00:33:50] and like I said they nailed the concept all the like you punch people and they turn into

[00:33:56] little pieces of paper or something or you the way you go in between the comic book panels kind

[00:34:01] of leaps between them or swings across them or whatever like they're actually like physical

[00:34:05] things like that's cool they they got all those details right as for what they got wrong

[00:34:13] it's almost everything else can we just start with just the fact that this is a beat-em-up

[00:34:17] and this is maybe like some of the worst combat like at this time Steve for linear

[00:34:23] plane for single plane beat-em-ups we already had ninja warriors s and e s we already had like

[00:34:30] other stuff that was doing this kind of thing way better like compare ninja warriors to this

[00:34:36] it's not even fucking close I mean if you ask me nope not not even not not even a little

[00:34:43] I just so the x y and z buttons use your three items which is very poorly explained

[00:34:51] maybe the manual does it better right gee I wish we had those here and there's not a whole lot of

[00:34:57] like what are they for like did you fuck around with them too much I didn't really

[00:35:01] understand I guess one might be a health power-up I don't know and I tried figuring it out but

[00:35:06] it's not very intuitive based on what it is like you can't look at it and deduce what

[00:35:12] everything is I know we all picked on this with the zombies ate my neighbors like you're

[00:35:18] not going to find it the first time but like eventually I maybe it's because I played zombies

[00:35:22] ate my neighbors to death I feel like I picked up on its logic eventually here I don't think you

[00:35:26] could pick up on it no matter how many times you do it you would need some kind of guide of some

[00:35:31] kind yeah and also it's just fucking awkward because like okay let's say you have a

[00:35:38] item you can throw like a knife or something in on x in other games like final fight if

[00:35:44] you have a knife in your hands because you picked it up and then you're gonna throw or

[00:35:47] stab with it next you know what you're gonna do in this it's like oh wait which item which slot

[00:35:53] x y or z did my item go to oh let me press that one that's so awkward in the middle of battle

[00:36:00] it just doesn't work and then there's like a block button which most beat-em-ups don't have

[00:36:05] but like they want you to use it here but the way enemies attack you is so crackheadish

[00:36:11] that it's like it doesn't feel very good at all Steve like even from the first enemy didn't

[00:36:17] you notice this guy's just kind of like either he just wails on you immediately or you just kind

[00:36:22] of trap him in the corner and you do what you did in gargoyles and you just kind of

[00:36:26] wamp on him and that's it I feel like yes you do wamp on him and it's funny you bring up

[00:36:32] gargoyles because I feel like people here take way too long to kill yeah and which is really

[00:36:38] funny because this is a comic book motif wouldn't you want to you know not make

[00:36:42] it super easy but wouldn't you want to kind of breeze through it a little bit to

[00:36:47] you know not have everything linger on the page quote-unquote for as long as we do I don't know

[00:36:54] yeah it should be it should feel a lot snappier than it is and like the music does

[00:37:01] not work at all there it's 1995 they're going for the grunge thing I get it this

[00:37:06] game even came with a music CD I probably should have listened to it before we before

[00:37:12] recorded this but I didn't so like they're really pushing the music angle of this and

[00:37:18] this soundtrack had like legit bands on it you know you had Jesus in the merry chain

[00:37:22] you had love and rockets you had God lives underwater I actually really liked God lives

[00:37:26] underwater I still do you had Danzig so you had like legit music on here I don't know if

[00:37:31] that was supposed to be the music translated into the game because I haven't really heard

[00:37:35] this stuff but it just doesn't work it's so genesis Steve and you know I hate that

[00:37:42] it just sounds like genesis muddy dreck it's awful you know what this probably boy all boils

[00:37:50] down to is a complaint I've had with right star this was probably too damn soon like I

[00:37:55] think if they went back to the drawing board and fine-tuned it a bit this probably could

[00:37:59] have been a very good Saturn game and we all know that in the right hands and the Renaissance

[00:38:04] we're in someone could make a very very good version of this today in the middle of the

[00:38:09] beat of a Renaissance we're in but you know instead we're in the position where we are and

[00:38:14] we're looking at I guess this is the best we can do over at the Sega Technical Institute in 1995

[00:38:23] I mean it probably is but then there's there's just a lot of baffling decisions like you

[00:38:28] notice like when you punch the doors to open them that hurts you hitting the doors hurts you

[00:38:35] why does that happen that is a baffling decision somebody had grand ideas and they did not have

[00:38:45] time I just want to know what decisions get made how does this get discussed like when

[00:38:52] you're creating a game hey guys I think opening the doors I think punching the doors open should

[00:38:58] hurt you okay let's do that how does that decision get made I guess everyone at Sega

[00:39:06] Technical Institute had a door allergy and they're like look we need our we need our

[00:39:11] debilitating disability represented in game we we are moving on to our next and final game

[00:39:19] of the set our last game today will be Elysia Dragoon this is released April 1992 for the

[00:39:30] Sega Genesis you could say it's a character action game of the day featuring the titular

[00:39:37] Elysia she can shoot lightning from her hands it's all you need to know it's cool as fuck

[00:39:41] and it was a collaboration between Game Arts and the anime studio Gainax and boy can't you

[00:39:49] tell Steve because holy shit this game is great and not just because we flanked it with a bunch

[00:39:58] of other shitty games no this game is truly I've said it before on the show and I'll say

[00:40:05] it again I think this is the best 16-bit action game there is it has everything you get these

[00:40:15] wonderful anime visuals like I said from Gainax helping out you get swamps castles ruins

[00:40:22] spaceships the soundtrack is incredible too you get risk reward gameplay my favorite thing

[00:40:29] you get a pretty beefy challenge too on top of it and it's a fair challenge and it's

[00:40:35] a fun challenge and it's an attainable challenge it's not unfair it's tough

[00:40:41] but it's very doable I think this game is a masterwork I really do I do feel like my

[00:40:49] opinion is a bit of an unusual opinion though and since we're kind of fashioning this as

[00:40:55] us being you know games that were newer too and I'm quite familiar with Elysia Dragoon

[00:41:00] already I want you Steve to talk about this a little more more than me because

[00:41:04] I'm in the tank already for Elysia Dragoon.

[00:41:08] Well okay I really don't know what I could say about Elysia Dragoon that Andre doesn't say

[00:41:14] or won't say to anyone that asks him and won't continue to ask him to say about Elysia Dragoon

[00:41:20] he has made it his new religion and purpose in life to spread the good word of Elysia

[00:41:25] Dragoon sure I mean I'll start by saying my time reacquainting myself with the game

[00:41:30] before the show for you know a level or two became almost beating the damn game again

[00:41:35] because it really is that good look I need to you know bring us down back to reality just a

[00:41:41] smidge it's not really for the faint of heart you know the newcomers out there your character

[00:41:47] is powerful she shoots lightning out of her hands she has a handful of dragon familiars

[00:41:52] and one fireball guy that eats bullets and things they're all super powerful but you don't

[00:41:59] exactly get to walk in and push the button to win either you have to find your lives you start

[00:42:05] out with what you got and there's no lives and there's no continues and there's no real easing

[00:42:11] you in in such a way that folks are used to now but Steve I played comic zone and they only

[00:42:16] give you one chance to do that game too okay but you know why comic zone sucks it had all

[00:42:21] that did you listen to all the great stuff Andre said at least your Dragoon has yeah so

[00:42:27] yeah it's got everything you'd ever want just about in 1992 and more so in that way

[00:42:35] put on those big boy pants settle down and get good better that you do that here than an alien

[00:42:44] soldier a handful of you people still pretend to like alien soldier just come in and play

[00:42:48] Alisa Dragoon too if at least that that's actually good then it rewards you for your

[00:42:54] patience and learning how the mechanics work instead of that game totally alien soldier

[00:43:02] yeah we we can't we are we are renowned alien soldier haters on the show so sorry like just

[00:43:09] humor humor us here explore the levels though and the way they kind of want you to it's not

[00:43:13] like I say explore it's not like Metroid where you gotta like go everywhere like like

[00:43:18] poke over there and see what's going on and bop those other guys and play around with the

[00:43:24] familiars or options or whatever you want to call them like just play around with the game I don't

[00:43:30] want to lean on this analogy too much but pretend you're us as young people we're renting

[00:43:36] the game for the weekend it's yours for two days now and finally you didn't end up with

[00:43:43] Beethoven second on Super Nintendo you ended up with Alisa Dragoon on Sega Genesis and it's

[00:43:49] kicking your ass okay now you could go back to psionic 2 where it's safe and you know what's

[00:43:57] gonna happen or you could put in a little work and find something really special couldn't

[00:44:04] have said it better you the time you put into Alisa Dragoon you will be rewarded for it

[00:44:11] you will I promise that's this game is incredible at doing that for you the the better you get at it

[00:44:18] the more time you spend getting a grip with its mechanics and what the game wants from you

[00:44:23] meet the game where it's at and you will be greatly rewarded for it couldn't have said

[00:44:28] it better myself Andre I have a small big question about the Alisa Dragoon game before

[00:44:34] we get off of this okay shoot do you think any amount of you or even other people liking

[00:44:42] this game as it's appeared in the mini console or Nintendo switch online has to do with it

[00:44:48] simply just not being the part of the usual rogues gallery of games that

[00:44:52] Sega likes to throw at us and then their Sega Genesis times like oh boy it's Sonic 2

[00:44:59] and the rest again yeah I do think that's the case and also

[00:45:06] I think there have been more people like me than I thought because I only discovered this game

[00:45:13] on the Sega Genesis mini the one that came out in late 2019 I got it in early 2020 like

[00:45:20] shortly before the rona started so like and I who know that who knew that was going to happen

[00:45:25] they were going to be locked in their houses for that long so I was glad that I had this mini

[00:45:30] console to play and so I did get around to Alisa Dragoon because you know me it's the whole

[00:45:35] reason why we do this show like we said at the top we play we want to play the games that

[00:45:39] we generally have not played before for the most part we don't want to go in there and

[00:45:44] play sonic again or something I mean I might once in a while but it's not really what we're

[00:45:48] there for so stuff like Alisa Dragoon that's what we're there for and I think more and more

[00:45:55] people are starting to do that kind of stuff whether it's from that mini console or a Sega

[00:46:01] Gen Assistant and switch online that gives you a level of exposure I guess we can just end on

[00:46:07] this is that more and more on classic games on YouTube because I like to read YouTube comments

[00:46:14] a lot just to see what people are saying and more and more people are saying hey I used to

[00:46:19] play that on Wii Virtual Console hey I used to play that on 3DS Virtual Console you know and

[00:46:25] it's like wow people are really being exposed to these things like you don't really think about

[00:46:29] like is everyone gonna go spend you know three dollars and 99 cents on some obscure Famicom only

[00:46:37] game that they never heard of the answer is more likely yes than we might think there's

[00:46:41] always going to be those people who are going to be like where's Chrono Trigger every single

[00:46:45] time Nintendo updates these apps and that's never going to change but I think more and more

[00:46:50] Steve we are seeing a flip in this where it's like yeah we do want to play something different

[00:47:00] so that's a long-winded way of me just saying yes I agree with you yeah I think it's uh

[00:47:06] yeah me and Kevin were just talking about this in the Super Mario RPG episode the good thing

[00:47:11] about these apps and these re-releases is that you have had chance of people talking

[00:47:17] about these with you yes I could load everything up onto the pie and play anything anytime I

[00:47:22] want but with Nintendo Switch online apps these are all available on things everyone has and you

[00:47:32] can just go up to your friend and say you know you could just go play Alessia Dragoon

[00:47:38] and it's a lot of fucking fun you guys whoo you sure can and that's the great thing about these

[00:47:45] apps and that's why we will continue in the future to just pick out games here and talk

[00:47:52] about them in this format hope you guys enjoyed this and as more games come out in the service

[00:47:57] or we can just go in the depths and find some other stuff we haven't really played too much yet

[00:48:02] or want to revisit even we can do that as well but going forward this will probably be the

[00:48:07] format for the Nintendo Switch online stuff but until we do this again follow us on twitter

[00:48:13] at FindTimePodcast and look in the description of this podcast to find our

[00:48:17] names also on Blue Sky see you next time bye so tell of you when you're coasting with

[00:48:23] find time