Where I link you will follow

Holy smokes! It’s a giant collection of links to things I’ve written at 1UP. How original and not overdone at all.

Heroes of Mana review: Heroes is racking up very uneven scores, ranging anywhere from mediocre to great. Ever the moderate, my score was somewhere in between, a very solid “good.” It’s not a perfect game by any means — you will curse at your units’ horrible pathfinding AI — but it’s still an enjoyable game. Of course, I’m coming at it from the perspective of someone who doesn’t care much for the RTS genre in general. Anyone who’s into real RTS titles will be deeply disappointed by Heroes, so be warned, StarCraft fans.

Retro Roundup for 8/13: Is it crazy that Metroid is actually the weakest release this week? I mean, I loved the original Metroid. (Which is probably why I won’t shut up about it.) But let us be completely honest with ourselves: It hasn’t aged well. Like, at all. With Super Metroid due next week, yeah… kinda hard to recommend it without a few caveats.

On the other hand, it’s totally better than Metroid II.

A very important poll: I buy exactly one stupidly overpriced game every year. This is your chance to determine what will absorb my precious cash moneys when I hit Akihabara next month. So far, the completely boring Radiant Silvergun is winning, so this is your chance to help win one for justice.

For the record, one Mr. Brahe swears by the Dungeons & Dragons Collection. I think you know what to do here.

44 thoughts on “Where I link you will follow”

  1. I Googled Harmful Park and what I found was… interesting. But the Dungeons & Dragons Collection also looked tempting, so I flipped a coin!

    Looks like Radiant Silvergun is going to win anyway. I might have voted for that, if I hadn’t read your comment on your 1UP blog about being less interested in it than the others.
    It seems Radiant Silvergun and the Dungeons and Dragons Collection have the advantage of being somewhat familiar to more voters.

  2. You could, I dunno, just pick up DnD Collection and ignore the poll. They’ll never know.

  3. the D&D collection is fantastic in pretty much every way. even without the mystara license, the game is probably one of the best arcade side scrollers ever.

  4. Please go for the DnD Collection. I love the idea of action RPGs that are, you know, actually good. Plus they’re mid 90s Capcom beat-em-ups at heart, which is a very good thing, as Martha would say. I think Radiant Silvergun has been beaten to death and back and it’s not nearly as interesting to discuss as a collection of beat-em-up RPGs that are based on an American fantasy license which provided the groundwork for pretty much every computer/console RPG…but never saw release in the U.S. because Sega hates us. Well, hated us.

  5. I don’t know. These recent Sonic games makes the use of the present tense seem perfectly applicable.

  6. Parish, where’d you find that neat painting of Samus that’s used in the Retro Roundup header thingie?

  10. Part of me says D&D, licensing issues and all, the other part of me says you could get it on ebay for less. I lucked into my copy for all of $55.

    Between that and a (well priced) Magical Chase, it’s a tough call. (And with your luck, Hudson could very well announce that for the Virtual Console not long after.)

  11. Regarding this week’s VC Roundup, I wasn’t even expecting a thumbs up for Metroid. Was a little too worn out in 1989 already for my tastes. I was curious about Cratermaze, which from what I hear, I should definitely pick up.

    I’m conflicted about Super Metroid though. On one hand, it really is among the cream of the crop, and being able to access it on the fly from the Wii menu would be aces, but on the other, my Super NES is still hooked up to my set, and AFAIK my cart copy of SM is perfectly functional. The battery might be a different story though.

  12. I got both Radiant Silvergun($150) and D&D Collection($50) last summer on eBay, both mint. I love both games, but I’d definitely say that RS has got more replay value.

  13. For the price of Radiant Silvergun you could pick up Ikaruga and Espgaluda, both of which are far better shooters than RS could ever hope to be.

    Put another way, just because you can spend a lot of money on an overpriced piece of tripe doesn’t mean you /should/.

  14. But I hate Ikaruga so hard. Also, Alien Soldier isn’t actually fun, and I have Princess Crown on PSP — hardly a perfect port, but affordable.

  15. I think you should just disqualify all of the Radiant Silvergun votes, just because of all the hype. I put my vote towards Magical Chase, since during the Sakimoto Q&A at Otakon, he was happy that even two or three people had even heard of the game. But now that I look it up, Harmful Park looks waaaaay cooler than anything else.

    But Metroid II is actually playable by modern standards! And SPIDER BALL! THE REAL THING! Augh, I give up. :|

    cartman414: I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I will buy Super Metroid next week (I might be able to hold off a week or two, after I replay Zero Mission and Metroid II, but it’s all the same), despite owning a cart and a few Super Nintendos to play it on. Maybe it’s to make up for getting my cart used, so Nintendo actually gets some of my money.

  16. Hah. You should have known better than to put RSG in the poll, unless you secretly want to buy it just to add clout to your lack of enthusiasm for it.

    I remember playing that D&D game once at a Red Robin when I was a lad. I remember not playing it enough.

  17. I never really got into the RTS genre, so the portability of the DS mixed with the simplified nature of the game seems to be a perfect fit, for me at least. I’ll have to pick it up, along with the other twelve million games being released this year.

    And I’m really glad that Super Metroid is coming to the VC. I missed it the first time around, so now I have a chance to experience part of gaming history.

    My vote went to Psychic Detective Torumaru, by the way. No idea what it is though, ha ha.

  18. I’m a bit surprised that you own a working Saturn. I assumed all units wept themselves to death back in 1998.

    @ Mon Julpa: The Samus image can be found at http://www.crimsonjassic.com. Browse your way around it, but be careful, there are some nasty pictures there.

  19. Sorry, I gotta cast my vote for Radiant Silvergun. It’s nature’s most perfect shooter. RS has six weapons, each with a strategic use, a fun combo system, devastating super weapons that must be earned by the player, and an epic cinematic presentation that makes all of its competitors seem like small potatoes.

    JR

  23. Tracing. Is that a halfway point between painting a model and plagiarism? It seems a bit gray from where I stand.

  25. You know, if you’d mentioned that Tycho was all about the Dungeons and Dragons collection before, I probably would have voted for that one instead of the ultra cute sounding one.

  27. You know, I’ve never quite figured out the charms of Radiant Silvergun or Alien Soldier, now that I think about it. Maybe it’s all downhill after Gunstar Heroes… (I vouch for Guardian Heroes and Sin & Punishment though).

    As far as expensive games that are actually worth it go, I think ANY game after Rondo of Blood is going to be anti-climactic.

  29. What with my never having seen anything related to Gilmore Girls, any “reference” is a product of your feverish delusions. And Harmful Park has nothing to do with Gunstar Heroes. You’re probably thinking of Gunners Heaven.

  31. I followed my heart and voted for Magical Chase (although I’ve never played it) instead of trying to support the “defeat Radiant Silvergun” cause (of course, the DnD games are great too, but…). I don’t think I have anything else to say that everyone else already hasn’t.

  32. Crap, I didn’t realize that Samus art wasn’t an official Nintendo piece. Better change that….

  33. I have to agree about RSG being really good, but anybody who hates Ikaruga isn’t going to like it either, Sakimoto score and brilliantly Angst-inducing atmosphere notwithstanding.

  34. Please ignore the masses who only vote for what they’ve heard of and go for Psychic Killer Taromaru. I kept seeing it for insane prices and need to know if it’s as kinda-cool as advertised.

    Although Harmful Park does look kind of cute, too.

  35. Mr Parish, please DON’T buy D&D Collection. That would be a terrible mistake.

    This has nothing to do with the quality of the game(s), which I hear are completely awesome. D&D Collection was on my to-get list as well until I did some research.

    Unlike the other two Saturn games in your poll D&DC can be MAME’d easily. The arcade version supports four players and is available in English. Saturn D&DC supports only two players, requires the RAM cart and is only in Japanese. You’ll end up kicking yourself if you buy it, I swear.

  37. The advice was well-intentioned. I just thought you should know these things before you decide on your purchase.

  39. Yikes. What I meant to say was:

    @JuanFrugal: Thanks! I guess I’ll check that out after work.

  40. Parish, if you’re having trouble still enjoying the original Metroid, I seriously recommend trying the re-tiled PocketNES patch:

    http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/118/

    It’s very polished work. Doesn’t change the feel (or gameplay at all), just nicely improves the sprites. I loke Metroid, but even I cringe at Samus’ original sprite…

  41. PS: Emulator hate aside, if you plug in your 360 pad and set the emulator to scanlines, there’s really not THAT much of a loss of the “console” feeling (especially if you output to a TV ^_^).

  42. You should buy Radiant Silvergun, since you love Treasure games so consistently.

    Seriously, if you want a shooter that you might actually like, spend $35 on Spirit Soldier Spriggan for the PC Engine. It’s the most easily enjoyable of the Compile shooters, and it’s got all sorts of weapons and cool little details (like fellow pilots who get shot down if you don’t take out enemies quickly enough).

    Or you could buy Faussete Amour and complete your collection of obscure Bionic Commando-esque games.

    To clear something up: Psychic Detective is a hokey FMV game (and a possibly unrelated series of Japan-only graphic adventures by Data West). Psychic Assassin/Killer Taromaru is the game you might want.

  43. I’d love Fausette Amour, but it’s a little spendy for me this year. I think it normally sells for about twice what the other games on this list command (except maybe Torumaru).

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