I found this curious game trailer in my personal game movies archive. It belongs to a Microsoft game called Beyond The Limit: Ultimate Climb. It’s a rock climbing simulation published in 1996.
It appears to represent the gaming epoch when real actors were digitized into sprites. Anyway, I love the scene with the bear.
The Batman franchise generally seems to receive a bad rap when it comes to video games. I must say, however, that the Batman NES game based ever so loosely on the 1989 movie remains one of my all time favorite action games. I also have fond yet vague memories of the 1991 followup, Batman: Return of the Joker for the same system. There were Genesis and SNES versions of the same game. The SNES version is not yet listed in the database and so the duty falls to me.
The problems begin with this silly style of depicting our hero that would make even the least talented fanboy illustrator blush:
I gave it an honest chance, of course. I like Batman and I like side-scrolling SNES action games; it stands to reason that this game should have been a lock for casual enjoyment. I admit that it does sometimes get disheartening to hold out so much hope for these games that no one else has bothered to enter into MobyGames. This game was so unremarkable that it has taken me 2 weeks to finish writing this entry. I entered the details into the MobyGames 2 weeks ago, but that’s okay since the queues for new SNES and NES games are severely stalled over there.
I don’t have much to report about this game except that I realized from the MobyGames screenshots for other platforms that the NES, SNES, and Genesis games all appear to be cut from the same cloth. The Gameboy version is probably different altogether.
I’m not sure how much longer I can handle these old SNES side-scrollers. I find myself longing for educational games targeted at the elementary school set. And you had better believe that I still have plenty of those left to process. And they’re worth more MobyGames contribution points to boot.
Update: The final insult came when I tried to submit this game to MobyGames. After languishing in the submission queue for months, it was eventually determined that this title doesn’t count. It was never officially released. The ROM I played was some kind of after-the-fact leak of a never-published game.
At MobyGames:
I found that a coworker has a large amount of Atari paraphernalia in his office (what a nerd-infested company). When I saw the items, I reflexively rifled through the accompanying software. Then I confiscated everything, took the lot of it back to my office, and systematically researched each gaming title through MobyGames. I generously allowed the coworker to keep any software that was useless to me while I took the rest home for media scanning.
So now I find myself learning the conventions of Atari computers. I know there were a bunch of Atari PCs and this is evidenced on certain games — Atari 400, Atari 800 — and this is if they name a system at all. Fortunately, a little research indicates that these computers are all grouped under the umbrella of “Atari 8-bit”. MobyGames also catalogues them as such, similar to the way the database does not draw distinction between various generations of Windows (95+) or Macintosh games.
The only other thing to figure out before I start earning free cover art contribution points is how to deal with double-sided media that has bits for different platforms on each side. It turns out that this is to be handled the same as Windows/3.x/Macintosh combo media (common with Macromedia Director-based games I have entered). An example of a dual-platform floppy (and tape) is seen in the cover art set for Warriors of Ras Volume II: Kaiv. That disc is already in the database so my coworker was allowed to have that title back.
And I had no idea that Lord British was responsible for anything other than the Ultima series:
So I finally sat down and tried to actually enjoy a quality game— in this case, Resident Evil remake for the GameCube. Unfortunately, I soured on the game pretty quickly. I think it’s because it began to feel a tad repetitive. It went something like this:
Yeah, there are walkthroughs out there, but I don’t feel like looking them up. The graphics are phenomenal in this remake. However, they can also get a bit repetitive.
I was heavily into gaming back in the middle 8-bit NES epoch (1989-1992). By 1994, my interest in gaming had pretty much faded. But in 2001, I picked up a used Sega Dreamcast for programming purposes. But I also procured a used copy of Resident Evil: Code Veronica. That game single-handedly revitalized my interest in video games. I hunted down used copies of RE chapters 2 and 3 for the Dreamcast only to find that they were direct PlayStation ports (I’m quite glad I skipped the early 3D epoch of gaming). Then there was Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube which can’t be beat.
So it seems I really ought to enjoy the first RE on the GameCube. There was something else about this game that nagged at me and the problem crystalized when I read this Cracked.com article: The 7 Commandments All Video Games Should Obey, in particular rule #4: Thou shalt make killing fun. I’m quite a ways into the game (though still only on the first of 2 discs) and I still only have a 9mm handgun and a shotgun. I mean, they’re functional, but also a little boring. Well, I have the combat knife too, but that generally stays in cold storage since I don’t have much carrying space to spare. RE:CV was far more generous with the weapons (heck, an early zombie is just carrying a pair of submachine guns for you to take). Handguns, full-auto handgun upgrade, shotgun, crossbow, flaming crossbow, grenade launcher with myriad grenades– those are all just a few of the weapons I remember off the top of my head.
Oh, RE:CV also had a magnum revolver, but that was a special use case. I’m reminded of this because I just got to the point in RE where I obtained a .22 self-defense pistol with 2 rounds. This screams “special use” because it probably wouldn’t even be suitable for shooting one’s own foot.
And of course, Resident Evil 4 switched up the entire series formula in every which way, for the better each time (though I’m probably the only gamer who actually enjoyed the escort mission aspect– I thought it added a fascinating dimension to the gameplay). In fact, I think if I’m looking for a quality after-work diversion game, RE4 might offer some decent replay value.
See Also:
At MobyGames:
I’m trying something new– I’m trying to be a bit more normal in my game-playing habits, at least for a while. I.e., instead of working this like a second job and forcing myself to choke down another unheard-of game that has maybe a 1 in 10 chance of being marginally tolerable and then writing up both an eloquent blog entry and a complete MobyGames entry, I decided to game a bit more “normally” and unwind with some known quantity-type games when I come home from work.
Both games already have complete MobyGames entries and there’s no need for me to even gather more screenshots for either. One is the GameCube remake of the original Resident Evil game. I think I actually picked up this game on release day — even though I didn’t even own a GameCube yet! (I had every intention of purchasing one, and I eventually got around to it, perhaps 6 months later.) I have always appreciated the succinct pre-title scene in a morgue of some sort. It highlights perhaps the smartest action ever taken in a horror movie-type situation:
The other game is a 2003 title that I just picked up used– F-Zero GX, also for the GameCube. I just started playing this and the first thing that confuses me is why the game bothers to present so much on-screen information– I can’t possibly afford to avert my gaze from the insane action to actually study what any of it says. I look forward to improving to the point where that’s possible.
See Also:
At MobyGames:
So far, I have been jumping into these SNES games without knowing what to expect. For a change, I thought I would delve into one where I know precisely what to expect– an action side-scroller based on a Disney animated film, Disney’s Beauty And The Beast in this case. MobyGames already lists 2 unique B&TB titles for the Sega Genesis, but this appears to be a separate game entirely, and done by different companies.
This game follows the movie’s narrative technique known as exposition by stained glass:
I used to enjoy renting Disney NES games because I was guaranteed an easy win. Not so with this game. I think I see where the discrepancy lies– those NES games were by Capcom; this is from Hudson. This game is tough. Well, tougher than those old NES titles. And maybe “tough” isn’t the correct adjective; just “tedious” in the traditional platformer sense.
The game presents an abbreviated version of the story laid out in the 1991 animated film. Then it sets up the conflict by stating that the Beast needs to prevent Belle from finding the magic rose, or some such. The first scene shows Belle darting away from the Beast in a dungeon and Lumiere guides the Beast on where to go in order to pursue her. Except that she doesn’t have to contend with the plus-sized spiders, rats, and bats in the dungeon.
Eventually, I get through the dungeon only to get to the main hall where rogue Lumieres are tossing fire at me and gargoyle statues are coming for me. Seriously, how did the Beast let his castle get away from him like this? Isn’t he the master of this domain? How does this happen?
It’s hard to believe I ever used to have the patience to work through these things.
See Also:
At MobyGames: